Okay, frankly, I'm losing interest in this Dick Durbin story. Yes, in my ideal world, most Americans would agree that chaining someone to the floor and letting them shit all over themselves is not the way to treat other human beings, but apparently that's too much to ask. What really keeps me up at night is the fact that we have complete fucking idiots running Congress:

Asked what the next step for Durbin would be, an aide to Frist told FOX News, "Well, when you say something that appears all over Al Jazeera, you have a lot of work to do."

Now I've seen drones like Hugh Hewitt and Glenn Reynolds engage in this sort of mindlessness about al-Jazeera before, but that's fine, it's expected of people who don't know anything about the Middle East and, frankly, aren't much interested. Bill Frist and his merry band of Oompa-Loompas, however, should know better. You know, given that we're fighting The Most Important War Ever over in the region and all. It might help to know, for instance, that Zarqawi and his goons despise al-Jazeerah for hurting their cause. It might help to know that al-Jazeerah is one of the few forums in the Arab world for legitimate debate about the future of democratic reform. But no, it seems the top priority for Frist and company is to undercut al-Jazeerah to the point where the only major news network left in the Middle East will be everyone's favorite Saudi propaganda outlet, al-Arabiyya. You know, if I were in the pocket of King Fahd this would be my strategy too. Except I'm not.