blech.
You probably shouldn't read this post from Billmon about our possible military junta future. It's too depressing:

It doesn't necessarily happen all at once, or as the result of a traditional military coup d'état. The story of the German army's entry into politics after World War I - first as a source of weapons and freelance talent for right-wing militias (the so-called "Freikorps") then as an actor in the parliamentary conspiracies that brought the Nazis to power, and finally as a key player in the "Night of the Long Knives," which consolidated Hitler's personal rule - may not be directly relevant to contemporary America, but its a powerful lesson in how gradualism can obscure some truly revolutionary institutional changes.

Also pretty depressing is this NY Times story about military recruiting in my hometown.

"You see, according to President Bush, he's going to hand power over in Iraq on June 30," Mr. Nelson explained, as he sat on his front porch. "I expect Iraq will be over before I even get out of boot camp."

A long, depressing article on our new American policies regarding the fundamental okay-ness of torture is here. A depressing analysis of such policies is here.

This, however, brightens the world considerably. As does this.

Now that you feel better, why don't you do something productive like tell your senators to oppose torture by supporting the Durbin Amendment to a defense appropriations bill now being considered. (And how creepy is it that "opposing torture" is enough of a political football that we actually have to call our elected officials to get them to do so?!?) You can look up your senators' phone numbers here. And if you live in Colorado, perhaps you'll also want to help collect petition signatures for this effort. (My former boss's generally lame response to having a state's electoral votes divvied up proportionally rather than winner-take-all, can be found here. Poor Mike! He's been so partisan for so long that now all he cares about is winning. He argues positions now that he never would have taken in his more reasoned past. Save us all from his fate.)