“Do we want to live in a place where the U.S. government can torture and kill people at will? Or do we not?” asks Vince Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights. A new Amnesty International report says that thousands of detainees in Iraq, many recently transferred from U.S. custody, are still at risk of torture, and back in the U.S. the Obama administration continues to use "national security" as justification for everything from dismissing lawsuits to searching laptops.

Vince joins Laura in studio to discuss all this and more, and he points out that he is free to discuss all these issues publicly on GRITtv, while the only place the accusations cannot be discussed is in a court of law.

"Your real friends are the ones who respect you enough to tell you when you're not thinking straight," says Jay Smooth, videoblogger, DJ and commentator. In his latest blog, a collaboration with GIANT magazine, Jay defines the term "got-no-sensitive" for us and traces its history back to Joseph McCarthy.

Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin was the sole vote against the PATRIOT Act--that you probably know. But he's also been willing to stand up against his own party, voting against Tim Geithner's confirmation and more recently, against the financial reform bill that passed, saying it would do more harm than good.

Laura caught up with Senator Feingold last weekend at Fighting Bob Fest in Wisconsin, and discussed the Citizens United case and corporate influence on politics, voting on principle, and why he's willing to stand up to Democrats.

Finally, what's worse than corporations spending unlimited cash on elections? How about hiking up your insurance premiums to do so?