Tennessee plates

Maybe even more interesting are the registration plates, and the bullet hole.

Securing his legacy as war criminal

In a radio address yesterday, the White House resident George Bush, defended one of the few vetoes of his presidency. He vetoed a bill which would outlaw the use of waterboarding and other torture methods in interrogations by the CIA.

Trotting out his usual list of dubious illustrations which allegedly prove that torture works, Bush once again spoke about preventing terrorists from flying an airliner into the Los Angeles Library Tower (now the Bank Tower). The actual details of this amazing act of preventative intelligence has been questioned, and debunked by several sources since it was originally reported by Bush in 2005. Keith Olbermann made it the centerpiece of one of his notable Special Comments.

Of course, that didn't stop Bush from using it once again in the defense of his immorality. Worse still, it didn't stop any media sources from printing it verbatim, as if it were the truth. That includes the LA Times, which was one of the original debunkers.

How will we ever stop the lies, when the liars can count on the media to validate the lies?

Why quibble about a few moments of terror when an election's at stake

Creepy Joe™ Lieberman is a man of principle, though his principles seem to shift as opportunity dictates. In the past, he's said "Torture, bad." Now he says, "Torture, good."

The "conscience of the Senate" likes a little torture now and again

Creepy Joe™ Lieberman couldn't abide a blow job in the oval office, and he said so from the floor of the Senate. But torture, well, that's as American as detention camps, slavery and burning witches.

Joe Lieberman stated yesterday that torture is necessary to squeeze information from reluctant prisoners. And he says that the president (does he realize who's in charge now?), should have the right to make that decision.

If a nuclear bomb is about to go off in a U.S. city, and the government has a person in custody who has vital information, he said, "You want to be able to use emergency techniques to get the information out of the person." He thinks the president should be able to, in only those extreme cases, authorize the use of waterboarding — a technique that makes a person feel as though they are drowning.

He said the record shows it has been successful and doesn't believe it constitutes torture under the Geneva Conventions.

"I think that we have to allow the president to allow the toughest measures to be used when there is an imminent threat to our country," he said. But in most cases, he said, a more standard regime of persistent and non-physical interrogation should be used.

Oh, if a nuclear bomb were about to go off. Isn't that one of those "hypotheticals" that politicians are so reluctant to discuss. Maybe he's been watching one too many episodes of "24."

He says hot coals against the skin would not be okay. (How about beatings with rubber hoses?) But making a prisoner think he, or she, is going to drown, is swell. It's just "psychological" torment. Creepy Joe™ says it leaves no permanent scars. Maybe he's never talked to a veteran about post-traumatic stress syndrome. If he had, he might not be as gung ho about sending soldiers off for extended tours to an unjust war.

It's more chickenhawk talk. And I'd wager that if one US soldier underwent waterboarding by Iraq insurgents, Creepy Joe™ would readily condemn them. But I guess now that his buddy John McCain has abandoned his principles when it comes to torture, it's okay for Creepy Joe™ to get in on the pig pile, Abu Ghraib style.

McCain's tortured logic

The Senate finally made some sense today and passed a bill which bans waterboarding.

No surprise, Creepy Joe™ Lieberman voted against the ban on torture. He obviously loves torture based on how he tortures his constituents.

But John McCain who has taken a strong stand against torture, also voted against the ban.

George Bush promises to veto the bill.

I'm just a simple president.

Yes, he said it. And we're pretty sure he wasn't lying.

But then again, when it comes to the ways in which waterboarding has protected America, he also said this.

And for those who criticize what we did in the past, I ask them, which attack would they rather have not permitted — stopped?

And, a lot, about civil liberties:

I would say that they want to be very careful that we don't overstep our bounds from protecting the civil liberties of Americans. And I understand that, a lot.

And he said this about the economy, though while it could be applied to the US economy, it's really his thoughts on Iran:

We respect you as a people but it's your government that has made the decisions that are causing you the economic pain that you're now having inside your country.

And this about, future history?

It's very hard to write the future history of America before the current history hasn't been fully written.

This all from an interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News, proving once again that Bush doesn't have the courage to face a real reporter, nor the sense to keep his mouth shut when he doesn't know what he's talking about.

Here's a video of his comments on the legality of waterboarding.

Sure, great, let's try it out on Laura

I was never quite sure what unmitigated gall was, but I'm sure now that the Bush administration has it.

So, countries across the globe, including this country, have said that waterboarding is torture. Still, the Bush administration, in admitting it has used waterboarding, is now declaring it's not illegal.

Of course. Neither is it illegal to spy without warrants on American citizens, or outing CIA operatives, or to hire and protect the illegal actions of mercenaries, or to arrest American citizens without habeas corpus.

So what else is new?

And can I ask, George, would it be torture if used on Laura, or Barbara or Jenna or Daddy?

The American squirm

Attorney General Michael Mukasey is demonstrating today, to those of us who had strong doubts about his appointment, that he is a Bush man before anything else. Principle be damned. Rule of law be damned. Freedom and liberty be damned.

Mukasey won't give a direct answer to any question about waterboarding, torture, contempt citations or FISA. He's a mealy-mouth apologist for a criminal administration. In his refusal to answer questions, he's no better than his successor.

Here Senator Kennedy asks him the wrong question about waterboarding. The question should have been, "Would it be torture if it were practiced on your wife, or your son, or your daughter?"

Theme music for waterboarding?

As you may know, I'm in the film and video business.

A composer who creates music for some of our shows called today and told me about a phone conference he had with an ad agency who represents the CIA. Seems the CIA needed some music for a project they were working on, and they wanted an estimate from the composer. The composer had a lot of the usual questions: what was the piece about; what kind of tempo; what style of music; how contemporary?

The CIA rep would not reveal the subject of the video which would accompany the music. He said, "I can't really tell you anything about the piece. Just that we'll know the right music when we hear it."

The composer begged for a crumb of information that would serve to inspire or inform him about what the music should sound like. The CIA rep was adamant that he couldn't reveal that information.

So, in the hopes of using humor to pry some info, the composer said: "What is this theme music for waterboarding or something?"

The CIA representative said: "Just send us an estimate," and hung up.

In a later conversation with the ad rep, the composer asked, "So do you think I messed up my chances of getting that job?"

The ad rep said: "You just better hope you don' t get waterboarded."

Bush waterboard thyself

As this man warns, a little water can be a dangerous thing, and a lesson.

Waterboard, waterboard, morning noon and night, and what do we get?

Apparently not much of anything, but a reputation as a 21st century Spanish Inquisition.

Republicans love waterboarding

Republican Senators blocked a bill which would have prevented the CIA from using harsh interrogation methods. A Christmas gift from the Repugnicans to the CIA. Peace on earth, etc.

I ask again. What if they wanted to waterboard your son, or daughter, Senator?

Torture 'R' Us

So it was only mock horror that Nancy Pelosi, Jay Rockefeller and other Dems displayed at the thought that the United States was engaged in an interrogation technique invented, or perhaps perfected by the Nazis.

Yes, the Speaker of the House not only knew about waterboarding, she tacitly approved it by never objecting to it.

Of course anyone can change their mind about a horrible practice which convinces the subject of the torture to believe he is drowning, because in fact he is drowning. But that would mean you would have to admit that initially you thought it was okay to use drowning as an interrogation technique.

What have you got to say for yourself Ms. Speaker?

As much as I'd like to say, "Take off your jacket, lie down on the table, and stuff this sponge in your mouth..."

I wouldn't really want to see waterboarding practiced on John Ashcroft, or any other trampler on the Constitution. It's too inhumane, too sick or a technique to think of using on a fellow human being. It would only help prove their point, that waterboarding is "make believe" drowning, when in fact, experts have testified that it is real, actual, controlled drowning. Just like sticking someone's head into a bathtup filled with water. Besides, what kind of useful information could we ever get out of John Ashcroft?

All these right-wing jackasses are raising their hands now saying "Waterboard me. Waterboard me," knowing full-well that it will never happen. It's a chickenhawk ruse, "Why I'd be proud to serve, except I'm too old, too valuable or my anal cyst is too delicate."

As a nation we need to say that torture of any kind is immoral, and unAmerican. And if some wing-nut wants to expound on the value of waterboarding, or electrodes to the genitals, or lopping off portions of digits, or stress positions, ask them, "Can we try it out on your mother first?"

Still, my most wicked side wonders that if in waterboarding John Ashcroft, his mind could be changed, maybe..... No, let's not even consider it.

Thanks Charley, thanks Dianne, may your dreams be haunted by victims of torture, and the ghost of the Constitution

How many times will the Democratic party fail us before we begin to understand that they are part of the same damned machine that conspires to strip of liberty, justice and our civil rights.

Anyone else ready to admit that Ralph Nader was right?

The Democratic Senate, upholding freedom to capitulate

Judge Michael Mukasey is apparently not morally or legally grounded enough to reveal whether he thinks waterboarding is torture, yet now two key Democratic Senators have decided he's good enough to be Attorney General because he's not Alberto Gonzales.

It's beginning to look like the Democrats like the way things are going, after all.

The question remains, what if they did it to your son or daughter

Michael Mukasey answered hundreds of questions, on record, and in writing, to try to secure his nomination as Attorney General. Among them are his response to the question "Is waterboarding torture." As expected he danced around the issue, and in the end, refused to acknowledge that it is.

As I've said before, a simple reframing of the quesiton might solicit a different answer.

So, Judge Mukasey, would waterboarding be torture if they did it to your son Marc, or your daughter Jessica?

Would it be torture if they did it to your son or daughter?

That's the question that needs to be asked every time someone wonders whether a certain technique, like waterboarding, is acceptable, and is in fact, torture.

Joe Scarborough thinks 90% of Americans would accept our use of waterboarding. I hope, no I'm sure, he's wrong. If we are that kind of country, I want to live somewhere else. What happened to the idea (wrongheaded though it is) of a Christian nation?

And if Mukasey can't figure it out, he ought not be Attorney General.