Last night we went out to find a coffee shop with wifi, to no avail. The two coffee shops in town close at 3pm and 5pm respectively. It is absolutely amazing to me how early things across the midwest shut down, even in a decent-sized city like Austin. Austin has nearly 25,000 people. Do none of them drink coffee after 5pm? If Starbucks or Caribou is listening: this town is ripe for the picking.

After we ate a simple meal at one of the local bars (nearly the only thing that seemed open at 8pm), we rode back to the hotel. I intended to blog, but we got into a longer conversation with each other that lasted nearly till 10:30. It was good to just relax and talk for a while.

Then I got on the computer and Melissa turned on the TV. As she flipped through the channels, I noticed John Yoo was on C-Span, and blurted out "that's the torture memo guy." It turns out that he and David Addington, Cheney's former counsel and now Chief of Staff were appearing before a House Subcommittee (I believe the Constitution Subcommittee). We watched for about an hour and a half as Yoo dodged and parsed questions, and lamely asserted that he'd been instructed by the Justice Department (where he formerly held a post under AG Ashcroft) not to answer this or that question. Addington was much more smooth, confident in his demeanor. Perhaps he feels he has less at risk here.

Whatever the case is, it seems obvious that these men (among others) are responsible at least in part for creating a policy that allowed torture, and likely still allows it, to occur in the name of the United States. It is incredibly frustrating that they can sit in front of the Congress and merely say that they "don't remember" seeing torture, or that they cannot answer a question that would divulge classified information.

My apologies for those who might be put at risk by the divulging of classified information, perhaps even including my fiancee who is across the table writing, my family and my friends, but if someone is being tortured in my name, I want to know about it. Classified information be damned. We elect officials to run this country on our behalf. If we elect a president who allows heinous crimes against humanity in our name, we all bear responsibility for it, and the notion that any such activities would be hidden from public view by the facade of it being sensitive information is insulting.

Tell us what's being done in our service. If we like that, we can keep voting for it. If we don't, we won't. If we can't survive in this world with a transparent system of governmental operation, maybe we need to rethink how we are being governed.

I'm not saying that we should open up the government intelligence archives, or out all of our covert agents or something. I'm saying that someone like John Woo should be able to tell us whether we are torturing people and how, if he has that knowledge. I'm saying that what my country is doing is my business. I pay taxes. I vote. I am a citizen of the United States. The actions of my government are, by extension, my actions. Tell me what I'm responsible for.