Darn that ticking bomb!

Someone named John Quiggin I'd never heard of before I ended up on his blog (and of course I've forgotten again how I reached it, so I can't credit the other blogger who got me there. That's because I suck. I am a link-plagiarizer) has an excellent response to the ticking bomb problem It's very short, so go read the whole thing. His conclusion: "Since, to my knowledge, no torturer has ever made an immediate and voluntary confession, the practical impact is that the ticking bomb scenario should be disregarded in any consideration of the legal and political response to torture." That is just exactly what I was thinking! Only now I don't have to write it down.