People sometimes ask me why we are working to promote non-incumbents. This week two Democrats came out to defend a Republican Attorney General Nominee that would not take a stand on the constitutionality of Water Boarding, an ancient form of torture. Senator Schumer (d) and Senator Feinstein came out Friday and said that they would support the nominee who couldn’t recognize torture if . . . if he were being tortured himself.
For the record Senator Schumer actually suggested the nominee to Republicans himself offering up what he thought was an example of a Judge that could pass through the nomination process easily.
That’s just great by my book. We really need more acquiescence by the parties. Democrats just do not give in to Republicans enough. Furthermore, we really need more acquiescence by Congress to the President. Republican Congress men and women should stop working to hold power from George Bush. How is George Bush supposed to lock up power and assume full control over the government if members of his own party block him in Congress?
Senator McCain, I’m speaking to you on that one. You were originally a foe of George Bush and then for several years you became the acquiescent lap dog of the President, offering up a few ‘I wouldn’t do it quite that way’ protests. But now that the President has found a second potential Justice Department leader that supports torture (by not setting a line in the sand to define known examples of torture) you are finally getting a little concerned. You were tortured, held prisoner and you of all people should be doing something to stop our country from becoming everything that you despised and everything that enabled you to be tortured yourself.
Get off your complacent protective rear end and start actually doing something to protect people. Hell, I supported you for your bid going into 2000, but you have been locked up in a cell or something for the last 7 years. You need to get out of your self imposed prison and start exhibiting some of the strength and leadership that you appeared to have back then. If you can’t, if the religious right has some dirt on you somewhere that has kept you bridled, well then just get out of the way, because you are doing more harm than good right now.
In Your Defense (Your own words)
However, Why are you not doing anything to follow up. The Administration ignored you, ignored Congress and tortured people anyway. Why is the Congress not holding the administration accountable for torture? For breaking the Geneva Convention? For not following the rules set by Congress?
Any parent knows that if you tell a child they can not do something and you do not hold them accountable, they will often times do it. After they do it, if you still do not hold them accountable, they will do it again if they so choose.
By failing to hold the Administration accountable, you are just as guilty of allowing torture to continue as the people that gave the orders.
You have not punished the people that gave the orders.
You enable the people to continue giving those orders.
You CAN do something now to start fixing this problem. HOLD Bush, accountable, HOLD Cheney accountable, HOLD Gonzales accountable (losing his job removes him from power, but does not set an example for the next AG).
So now it looks like this new nominee, will be pushed towards confirmation thanks to Democrats that protest but really give in. The incumbents in Congress need to go. If Congress can not recognize a Judge too stupid and ignorant to understand what torture is, then they are too stupid to keep their own jobs and need to be voted out of Congress post haste.
THE ENDS DO NOT JUSTIFY THE MEANS
There are two very fundamental problems with the concept that the ends of torturing people justify the means of getting that information.
1. Its wrong. If you have to do something evil to stop evil, then you have not stopped evil at all. You have just made greater evil. Anyone that actually studied the teachings of religion would understand that the concepts or constructs that embody evil (for Christian types, I’m talking about the devil here) will always try and set up a checkmate situation where evil happens almost no matter what. So if you are a Christian Conservative or an Islamic Fundamentalist or believe in good and evil, then you eventually have to learn that evil wins when you commit evil to stop evil. You can only stop evil and do good by finding a non-evil solution to the problem.
What Would (Jesus/Buddha/Allah) Do?
They sure as shit would not water board someone to get answers!
2. The history of torture (we humans have a very long history of torture and a very recent history as well) has taught us that when you torture someone, they will tell you anything. Anything to end the torture, anything to get a break from the torture. They won’t even remember some of the things they tell you themselves because they are at the breaking point. They become delusional, they see things, they hear things, they hallucinate, they start putting the words in your questions into statements spoken back to you. The information is useless.
To follow up from the first point, if you torture someone for information, you essentially become evil, do evil, and get no benefit to actually stop evil.
Why the AG Nominee should no that Water Boarding is Torture
- He is an educated person.
- He is a Federal Judge.
- He is a person.
That should be enough but in the crazy twists that are destroying our country, rotting it from the inside out, that seems to not be enough.
Well here are some descriptions and images of the practice. Maybe this will shed some light on it for the people in the cheap seats. If it doesn’t then I suggest that anyone that doesn’t believe in water boarding as torture should get together and volunteer to be subjected to water boarding. Just drop by your local FBI office, tell them that you might be a terrorist and will not tell them any more until they subject you to water boarding.
I know a number of very good FBI agents and they will not torture you for information. Most of the non-political professionals at the FBI and Justice Department are not any where near that stupid. But obviously, unfortunately, some of the people in our Government like our VP Cheney, look at things differently and this is why they have enabled clandestine groups to take people out of the US, Canada, Europe and other areas and take them to places like Syria of all places where torture techniques such as water boarding are apparently more acceptable to the police and enforcers of justice. If that doesn’t tell you something about whether water boarding is torture or not, then well again just go get your self water boarded.
Here’s some Water Boarding Images to Help Prepare a few of you pin heads for your future Experience
You and Your Grandchildren are Next!
By the way, the history of torture has taught us after many centuries that people empowered to torture eventually start torturing all peoples for almost any reason. Today they torture suspect terrorists. Tomorrow they may torture you or your children or grand children or all of you together. You can put a stop to it now, before this sickness in our society gets worse.
Humans are not chia pets, if you harm them they feel pain. If you scare them they react. Torturing people has negative consequences. Enabling torture is evil and begets more evil. Enabling people that give the order to torture people for information, is evil. If you voted for someone that enables people to torture, they have committed evil in your name. We have to put a stop to torture. Its very simple. Allowing it to continue is evil, and is dangerous for all of us.
[…] then flew the Senators back to the US where Friday they both indicated that they would, NOW agree to vote to pass Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey out of the […]
Schumer is SOL if he ever tries to get a vote or a check out of me. DiFi will never get a dime from me.