Hey parents, your little ones may posses stronger wills than a hardened Guantanamo Bay detainee. Some of the kid-friendly entertainment consumed on a mass scale by children, including Barney the Purple Dinosaur and the Sesame Street puppets, is being used for so-called enhanced interrogation of suspected terrorists:

Read the whole article by AP here.

Using G-rated jingles from childhood is a curious method to break suspected terrorists, not so much because the songs are meant to sooth and entertain children than because of the feeling that this practice doesn't come across as very surprising. There seems to be a point in our lives when our toddler-years immersion in kiddie media gives way to a wholesale rebuke of this entertainment, sometimes going so far as to result in a phobia. After all, who doesn't know at least one fully grown adult who suffers from coulrophobia? (Perhaps we can just chalk that one up to the clown scenes in the TV miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's "It.")

But I'd like to know: What's on your torture playlist? What list of songs, played repeatedly at high volume, would make you cry,"Stop!"? Would Barney and Big Bird break you? Post your list of songs as a comment below.

-- Paul Thornton

Photo credit: AP

Columnist Jonah Goldberg foresees clouds ahead for the Democrats -- in fact, a coming storm so severe that it could end Democratic control of Congress. It's building from the Tea Party movement, which Goldberg sees as an heir to the Ross Perot third-party movement of the 1990s. "If the GOP can convincingly align with and exploit the growing Perotista discontent, it very well might ride to victory on a tsunami the Democrats can't even see."

Also on today's Op-Ed page, scholar Giles Dorronsoro explains why U.S. attempts to win hearts and minds in Afghanistan's Pashtun areas in the south and east are probably doomed to fail. And ACLU National Security Project chief Jameel Jaffer decries an attempt by Congress to circumvent the courts by giving the secretary of Defense the power to withhold photographs of combatants "engaged, captured or detained" by the U.S. during the Bush administration.

On the Editorial page, The Times weighs in on Atty. Gen. Eric Holder's policy change on medical marijuana. Though we're happy that federal prosecutors will make marijuana cases a low priority in states like California that have passed laws approving its medicinal use, we think that's the wrong approach. The administration shouldn't be picking and choosing states in which to enforce federal law -- rather, it should de-emphasize medical marijuana cases in all 50.

We also note that the best place for local health departments to conduct swine flu vaccinations is at public schools -- yet that's not where the inoculations will take place in Los Angeles, thanks to a failure by the school district and the county to properly coordinate.

And we muse on the bizarre spectacle presented by Colorado's Heene family, accused of perpetrating the "balloon boy" hoax in an attempt to drum up publicity for a reality show. "As much as some people will do just about anything for a Hollywood contract, a good number of the rest will lap up the juicy story of their wrongdoing. In reality, perhaps we all get what we wanted."

Illustration by Jonathan Twingley / For The Times

Former Times staff writer Johanna Neuman polled Washington insiders for the cause of today's hyper-partisanship in the Capitol, and names the most-cited culprit: Newt Gingrich. The architect of the Republican takeover of Congress in the mid-1990s also changed the congressional calendar and urged Republican lawmakers to spend their weekends at home, not mingling with colleagues of both parties in D.C. as they'd done before.

Updated at 1:05 p.m.: Neuman will discuss her Op-Ed on the "Michael Smerconish Show" at 7 a.m. EDT Wednesday, in case you're up that early and want to listen online. Or if you're in Philadelphia.

Columnist Jonah Goldberg eulogizes the "godfather of neoconservatism" Irving Kristol, who died last week at 89 -- and who had a major impact on Goldberg's political thinking.

On the Editorial Page, The Times examines the much-delayed work of the blue-ribbon panel trying to reimagine California's tax structure, and wonders if it might be a little too innovative. Its business receipt tax might not stand up to legal scrutiny, and its attempts to decrease revenue volatility appear to come at the expense of the poor and middle class.

We also address the backfiring strategy of seven former CIA directors who sent a letter to President Obama urging him to abort a Justice Department inquiry into torture... er, enhanced interrogation techniques... by the CIA under the Bush administration. The directors seem not to have realized that they were asking the president to abandon his assurances that Atty. Gen. Eric Holder would put the law above loyalty to the White House. The unintended result: Obama was forced to renew his promise, the opposite of the outcome they wanted.

And on the tangled question of Net neutrality, we weigh in on the side of new FCC chief Julius Genachowski, who wants to develop new rules governing what Internet service providers can do with the data that travels through their networks. Without such rules, the major phone and Internet companies have too much power to quash innovation in the name of "managing congestion."

Cartoon by Tom Toles / Washington Post

-- Dan Turner

In today's Los Angeles Times opinion pages, Rep. Howard Berman (D-Los Angeles) writes about the coup in Honduras. There, he said it: Coup.

Luis J. Rodrigez, author of the L.A. classic "Always Running: La vida loca, Gang Days in L.A.," has something to say about City Attorney Carmen Trutanich's vow to crack down on graffiti:

The Times editorial board weighs in on the return of film to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and critiques the Obama administration's failure to depart, sufficiently, from the Bush standard on rendition.

And last, but hardly least, columnist Meghan Daum analyzes the phenomenon of the tea-partying, Whole-Foods-shopping conservative.

Sen. Jim Webb (D-Virginia) arrived in Myanmar earlier today and will meet with the country's leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, marking the first diplomatic visit a U.S. official to the junta-controlled country in more than a decade. The United States implemented sanctions against Myanmar, also known as Burma, in 1990 after the country's dictatorship ignored the opposition's election victory and continued its rule.

The visit comes on the heels of the junta's re-arrest of opposition and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who will be forced to stay in her home for the next 18 months, effectively hindering her ability to campaign for the 2010 elections. Webb has requested a meeting with San Suu Kyi, but the request is not expected to be granted.

Burma has been called the Darfur of Asia, and human rights abuses in the country abound. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has denounced the arrest of the San Suu Kyi, but she also has said that sanctions have not weakened Burma's repressive government and may be eased. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited the country last month, drawing attention to repression by the government and asking for the release of 2,000 political prisoners. He came away disappointed, with all of his requests rejected.

Webb's visit may signal a change in U.S. relations with Burma. While human rights organizations are decrying the meeting as a legitimization of a government guilty of abuses, some engagement is better than none; as Clinton said, the status quo of sanctions and tough rhetoric hasn't worked. Perhaps this change should be welcomed as a baby step on the path to progress in bilateral relations and the slow restoration of democracy in Myanmar. 

-- Catherine Lyons

Credit: EPA/STR / Stefan Zaklin

The Times editorial board weighs in today on the prospect of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder appointing a special counsel to investigate the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques." The board does not hold much hope for the effectiveness of such a counsel because evidence problems and sympathetic juries could make it impossible to obtain convictions. 

The board comes to this conclusion:

That is not a reason for a prosecutor to throw up his or her hands and refuse to gather as much evidence as possible. But it's a reminder that the criminal justice system is an imperfect remedy for a pervasive policy of subordinating human rights to an unrelenting war on terror -- a policy in which Congress often was complicit.

What are your thoughts? Leave a comment!

Is the Mexican army the solution to battling the violent drug cartels, or part of the problem? The Times editorial board considers the question in light of allegations of rape and other abuses leveled against troops deployed by Mexican President Felipe Calderon in the front lines of the drug war:

Calderon was taking a gamble when he sent combat forces to fight the drug war, which involves police and intelligence work among civilians -- a role the Mexican military isn't fully trained to play. Now, U.S. and Mexican human rights activists say they have documented the murder, rape and torture by soldiers of scores of Mexicans believed to be innocent civilians, and the country's National Human Rights Commission received 559 complaints against members of the army in the first six months of this year. Although Mexican law calls for the military to prosecute its own criminal abuses, advocacy groups note that there has not been a successful military prosecution of a human rights case in the last decade.

The board also notes that U.S. government actions on behalf of religions might be constitutionally banned if performed in this country, but might be a necessary part of foreign relations in nations with state religion--such as repairing mosques damaged in the Iraq War. Still, the board cautions, the government must not see this as an excuse to fund missionary work or in other ways promote religion abroad.

On the other side of the fold, two trade specialists chide resident President Obama for what they call his "de facto protectionism." And the author of a newly published biography of baseball legend Leroy "Satchel" Paige remembers back to when the Negro League player finally won recognition from the Hall of Fame -- and how racism in baseball did not completely die on that day.:

Six months after they announced his election to the Hall of Fame, Paige was in Cooperstown for the induction. The public had weighed in with outrage at the spectacle of a segregated museum, forcing baseball's rulers to agree to hang his plaque alongside the rest. He quieted his competing instincts by siding, as he always had, with moderation over militancy. "Thank you, commissioner, and my fans and baseball players from all around as far as Honolulu, Mexico, and I don't know where the rest of 'em come from. I know they're my friends, I know that," Paige said as he looked out at the mostly white audience.

His remarks were touching and funny. He talked about barnstorming across the country in cars so tightly packed that his knees were "sticking up in front of me. For five years, I didn't know where I was going. I couldn't see."

Photo of Leroy "Satchel" Paige from MLB Photos via Getty Images.

Here's a look at the blogosphere's reactions to the work of the Times' Opinion Manufacturing Division this week:

The Opine Editorials, a blog in defense of marriage, disagrees with this week's Times' editorial about the California Marriage Amendment, chiding its remarks as "marriage neutering."

In this post, the No More Tobacco Taxes blog puts forth a different take on the proposed tobacco tax, arguing that tobacco should not be targeted because it's "PC." This -- and the press release from the International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers also posted on the blog -- both mention the Times editorial, which favors the tax and the much-needed revenue it would generate for California.

Global Americana Institute President Juan Cole's blog, Informed Comment, linked to Babak Rahimi's op-ed in its broader discussion of the media coverage of the political turmoil and protests in Iran.

John Brown's Public Diplomacy and Press and Blog Review, Version 2.0 included Ben Ehrenreich's op-ed on torture as part of America's tradition in his roundup of blogs related to public diplomacy.

The Mahablog picked up on Douglas W. Kmie's op-ed that stated substituting the term "civil union" for "marriage" in the ongoing struggle for gay marriage legality would be a win-win situation. The Mahablog counters that the two terms are not the same, "marriage" implying that the status is backed by both the state and a religious entity while "civil union" only ensures the former's support.

American Chronicle cited the Times' June 17 editorial against the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to deny prisoners access to DNA testing, saying the editorial voiced the "dismay of millions within US and rest of the world on the subject."

Finally, KCET's blog used two of Tim Rutten's columns on traffic congestion and the implementation of toll roads in its discussion of the equity of congestion pricing in Los Angeles.

In Thursday's editorial pages, the Times focuses on the continuing fallout from this week's controversial election in Iran. 

The editorial board comes down hard on the Islamic republic, dismissing its absurd allegations that the United States is behind the current unrest, and blasting the Iranian government for its efforts to squelch coverage.

While it's true that the U.S. may have urged Twitter to keep its global network functioning, or opened its Voice of America site to video and messages from Iran, those were efforts at the margin. The real Iranian fight is internal. Until now, elections in Iran have given legitimacy to the religious government, but this time the vote is widely believed to have been stolen, and that has divided the country's ruling elite along with its citizens. Today's conflict is between factions in the religious elite.

On the Op-Ed page, Judith Lewis gives a shout-out to a sometimes intriguing, often annoying medium that did allow some information to get out: Twitter.

It's important not to get carried away here. There is no revolution being Twitterized, as some have reported, only a possible desire for one. There is certainly no direct line from Twitter to democracy. But Twitter is, by its very nature and architecture, destined to at least democratize information: Google and Yahoo executives can help Chinese authorities censor and rout out opponents with only minor public relations damage. But if Twitter betrays its base of millions, it ceases to exist.

See Lewis' previous op-eds for the Times here.

Also, writing from Iran, UC San Diego professor Babak Rahimi -- who has also studied the role of new media on Iranian politics -- compares this revolution to the one in 1979, which overthrew democracy and established the Islamic republic. This one, he says, is different:

This time, the protesters seek a more democratic state, transparent in structure and accountable only to its citizens.

But we're not only about Iran; we're also thinking about the Uighurs. The editorial board looks at the resettlement of Guantanamo detainees and argues that the best way to get recalcitrant Europeans to open up their countries to Uighers and others who can't be returned to their homes is for the U.S. to set the example:

Obama seemed to make such a commitment in a speech last month in which he reminded nervous members of Congress that hundreds of convicted terrorists are already held in "supermax" prisons from which no one has escaped. The president mustn't waver from that position.

The board also calls for an increase in Community College fees, and columnist Meghan Daum tries to get Barack Obama to light up.

Photo: AP / Getty Images

Echoing today's Times editorial comparing the poisonous effects Fidel Castro and Dick Cheney are having on the administrations that succeeded them, Al Gore this morning called on Cheney to stand down and quit the fear-mongering over President Obama's torture ban:

In a CNN interview this morning, former Vice President Gore got involved in the political feud over his successor Dick Cheney.

Gore said he wished Cheney would have given President Obama more time in office before criticizing national security policy. A stern critic of Bush policy over the years, Gore told CNN's John Roberts that "I waited for two years after I left office to make statements that were critical, and then of policy."

Gore may be speaking up in defense of the current Democratic administration, but his words can also be taken as free strategy advice for the GOP. As an article in the Washington Post Thursday pointed out, the guy who serves as the public face of the Bush administration's failure (and was never very good at public relations to begin with) isn't the best one for the GOP to spotlight right now. A Gallup poll released in early April shows that a nearly filibuster-proof majority of Americans have an unfavorable opinion of former vice president. Quoth an unnamed GOP strategist in the Washington Post piece:

"Even if he's right, he's absolutely the wrong messenger," this strategist said. His main worry, he added, is that Cheney keeps the public focused on the past, rather than the future. "We want Bush to be a very distant memory in the next election. The more Cheney is on the front burner, the more difficult it's going to be."

In the same article, former Cheney spokeswoman Mary Matalin speculates that his principles led him to speak out, and that he was provoked by Obama's precipitous move to reverse policies that he strongly believes in:

"If Barack Obama had come in and done what he said he was going to do and look at the stuff and see what is working, then Cheney would have continued to do what he was doing -- working on memoirs, finishing his house," she said. "He's got a good life. He's got stuff going on. He doesn't care about being on TV. There's no more politics there. He's not settling any scores. He just wants people to understand."

Torture works, in other words. With the ex-VP motivated by such ghoulish "principles," the GOP may be dealing with its Cheney problem for far longer than it wants.  

Cheney photo credit: Karin Cooper / AP
Gore photo credit: Eric Piermont / AFP/Getty Images