As loyal readers of this lofty blog know so well by now, I, personally, did everything I could to vote for Obama last November.

I'd only lived in Ohio for 2 years at that point, but I'd already voted once here before the presidential election, so I showed up very early at my, by now, well-known polling place here in hardcore Republican-ville.

I stood in line and waited very patiently, completely behaving myself.

I even saw the ex-love of my life (who'd moved here with me from NYC) in the very same line and we chatted amicably and I said nothing at all about how he had shattered my heart, how devastating the whole relationship had wound up being, how it had taken me a good six months to finally stop thinking about killing myself, how I doubted I would ever, ever, EVER love anyone, in this lifetime anyway, as much as I'd loved him, nor did I ask him why a relationship that had been so unbelievably erotic & exciting & life-changing, had wound up putting me through so much hell, etc., etc. -- rather than say any of that, I just stood in line with him very patiently and chatted about Obama and then he gave me a really cool Obama button for my jacket.

And then, of course, when it was my turn to get a voting machine and actually cast my vote for Obama, a couple of the happy pollsters took a look at my driver's license and were suddenly not-so-happy and everything came to a screeching halt and I was told to "please step over here." Then hardcore Republican-ville caging tactics came down around my pretty ears. And as I was deprived of my legal right to vote, I did my best to keep my (unfortunately legendary) Irish temper under control and was only partially successful but that was that; and then after we'd left the polling place the ex-love of my life told me in an uncharacteristically quiet and patient way that I "probably shouldn't be blogging about Bush being guilty of war crimes" and I once again realized, so glaringly, how far away I truly was now from New York...

Okay.

So, everyone knows all that by now, and that Obama won anyway, and even though I'm just as happy to see a sexy fashion show in the White House now as much as the next non-Republican guy or gal, however... I once again have to side with John Cusack on the war crimes situation.

His blog post last night to the Huffington Post said, in part:

"It seems most people are quite clear -- the law says if someone should be held underwater repeatedly on no sleep until he thinks he's drowning, or tortured in other ways, the people who ordered it or did it should be be arrested, charged, tried, and sent to jail. And even if, say, 40% of the country wants to advocate breaking the law -- they should still be resigned to see those who did it pay the price for it. How that is a left /right debate is beyond me. How that is even debatable is also beyond me.

"Of course, I think it is legitimate for the Commander-in-Chief to be concerned for the safety of his soldiers. I am as well. But the reality is that anti-American sentiment has already been inflamed in Iraq, Afghanistan and across the Muslim world by horrific acts of torture and detainee abuse (not to mention arbitrary detentions and civilian casualties). The photos are evidence of what Afghans and Iraqis already know has taken place. And their number -- there are up to 2000 photos allegedly up for release -- is further proof that torture and abuse were widespread and systemically accepted in US detention facilities.

"Whether or not the Obama administration releases them now, the pictures will eventually come out. And if Obama wants to make a true break with Bush/Cheney's 'War on Terror' -- and not simply rebrand it -- releasing the photos would be an important step, and send a signal to the rest of the world. If the move is judged too dangerous for US troops, the president could at least ask the Department of Defense to release the photos to an independent council charged with investigating and prosecuting those at the highest levels responsible for mandating and creating a culture of torture and abuse. So far, he has done neither."

The above exceprt is c- John Cusack. You can read his entire post here.