I wanted to extend a shout out to the TPM staff and TPM machine.  Thanks Guys & Gals (and robo-borg servers) for giving us a place to meet, share ideas, blow off steam, and elect Barack Obama.  You were part of the solution and no doubt will continue to be in our new 24/7 (OK 21/7 for Josh) world.

I wanted to help draw attention to an article by Andrew Sullivan on The Daily Dish because, as he says, it matters.

A U.S. military officer warned Pentagon officials that an American detainee was being driven nearly insane by months of punishing isolation and sensory deprivation in a U.S. military brig, according to documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union and provided to The Associated Press...

This was not even in Gitmo. It was in a military brig in Norfolk, Virginia and Charleston, South Carolina, where the torture occurred on American soil and even against an American citizen, Jose Padilla.

The goggles and earmuffs block out all sound and light, and he is manacled hand and foot, while being taken to have a tooth fixed. 

These people we made insane are the people we were trying to get intelligence from! You think insane people give us reliable information?

He is no security threat, but he is treated like an animal.

This lack of basic humanity is appalling. The established legal definition of torture is: infliction of "severe mental or physical" "pain or suffering" to gain intelligence.

From Reuters: IMF warns of financial meltdown

Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard University professor and former IMF chief economist, said the G7 would have been better served adopting some version of the British plan so that banks would feel confident enough to loosen their grip on lending.

"Saying that they'll take all steps necessary leaves hanging the question of whether they know what is best and necessary," he told Reuters. "It was a signature moment for the G7. I think markets are going to be very disappointed."

Followed by today's IMF announcement: IMF endorses G7 plan to fight global credit crisis

The G7 countries have not described any specific plan, but have promised to work together and focus on the following key promises:

• Prevent the failure of major banks
• Get credit markets flowing
• Reinforce deposit insurance programs
• Fix the mortgage financing system
• Help countries with growing economies also affected by the crisis

So that means the big boys are endorsing a plan of no specific action.  The markets are not going to like this.

I have to say, Nouriel Roubini is a pleasure to read -- given the subject matter... here's the latest, it's not getting better.

The world is at severe risk of a global systemic financial meltdown and a severe global depression.

http://www.rgemonitor.com/blog/roubini

For those of you looking for yet another analogy to explain the current financial mess: http://blogs.ft.com/wolfforum/2008/10/henry-paulson-and-mount-vesuvius/

I actually came across this via http://www.rgemonitor.com/ where I think Nouriel Roubini is undeniably the man when it comes to the understanding this crisis.