Five Before Chaos

… most certainly stands for Pantspoopers. It’s so freakin’ hilarious and pathetic, how the Party Of Macho has their collective panties in a wad about the radical notion of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed standing trial in New York.. you know, the place where the actual crimes of 9-11 took place. What a concept! Oh, the faux outrage (which is really about the fact that they’d love to keep the Gitmo Torture Mill open for business)”:

“The Obama administration’s irresponsible decision to prosecute the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in New York City puts the interests of liberal special interest groups before the safety and security of the American people,” Boehner said in a news release.

Ooh! Scary! This Republicdouche is a bit more honest at least… it’s about the torture:

Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said trying the alleged terrorists in New York could afford them constitutional rights which would prevent the use of information obtained through enhanced interrogation.

So, in the Party of Tough Guys, apparently they somehow think the Sheikh is gonna go all ConAir/Castor Poe and escape? As if this guy isn’t going to have a mini Alcatraz wherever he goes? WhinyAssTittyBabies, I tells ya. All of ‘em. Even Tough Guy “I can break 2×4′s with my neck” Democratic Senator Jim Webb:

“They do not belong in our country, they do not belong in our courts, and they do not belong in our prisons,” Webb said in a news release.

Well, considering they committed a crime in our country, that don’t pass the smell test, Senator.

Did I ever mention we’re a stupid, stupid country? Some people who shit their pants on 9-11 still haven’t stopped shitting. See a doctor, already.

Andrew Cohen has a coherent piece cutting through a lot of the bullshit, here.

These extraordinarily chaotic times we live in make whomever’s going to be the next president’s job a difficult one, not to be envied; global warming, Iraq, the imploding economy and cleaning up the endless pile of all the other shit Bushco’s done. So of course there’s no shortage of issues for them to be talking about (which, ultimately, even though Obama’s got it all but wrapped up, makes a lot more sense than constantly trying to attack each other).

The latest outrage, about Cheney an other top-level people micromanaging torture in the White House basement (chronicled here by Froomkin at the WaPo) is yet another biggie that will probably go unpunished, when we really should be putting together a good old-fashioned firing squad at this point (note to Secret Service – I’m not going to be on the firing squad or put it together, so move along).

It is so apparent that so much has been going on and this hard-on for torture permeates the administration so deeply, that what I want to hear from the Dem candidates is some reassurance that they’re going to not only purge the cloud of torture from the White House/CIA/DOJ, but they’re going to hold those people accountable, even if it means charging them with crimes and putting them on trial. And it should be one of the first things they do, too. This issue is just as important as the economy or any of the other big ticket items out there, it’s just that the WH and the more-than-obliging MSM have somehow managed to numb the country from any sort of outrage. It’s time for someone to fill that leadership vacuum ASAP, but I’m not holding my breath.

Actually, no. And neither are most conservatives, as I’ve pointed out previously, especially when they try to be. The latest, via ThinkProgress about some Foxnews dumbass who’s just sooo funny that they gave him the 2 am slot, who thinks waterboarding is a “good thing”:

Now, waterboarding might be torture, but as long as people I hate also hate waterboarding, then I love it more than life itself. … So I cherish waterboarding. I want to make it our national sport, our national bird. I want to make the waterboard the state flower of Vermont, instead of the Birkenstock.

There’s the obvious brain damage thing where he thinks waterboarding and Birkenstocks are somehow flowers (or wait – he’s trying to be funny!). The piece also says how John Ashcroft would be willing to try being waterboarded. Where do I sign up to help on that one?

As torture increasingly becomes just another household word in America, I’m finding myself increasingly disturbed that there’s not more outrage from the public over this. And, no, some talent-free hack making cracks about it isn’t really the issue, here. That kind of stuff is expected, just like they find “Larry the Cable Guy” funny.  It’s scary, because I think that many are getting numb to it, because we’re still so far removed from any of the pain we’re causing in theis world. And this whole think with Pelosi going to the CIA and being briefed on it was jolting, to say the least. So what now? No clichés, please.

UPDATED below the jump.

It looks like this might is going to have to become a regular column on here, at the rate she’s going, bi-weekly. This time, our crazy, clueless conservative Charity, over at She’s Right, just really “isn’t sure” if torture is wrong. Now if you’re a regular reader of hers, you know she’s, uh, logically challenged, to be PC for the sake of snark. Actually, logic seems to be conspicuously absent over there. Put your brain around this and tell me if it starts to hurt:

If I was to take the premise that no credible intelligence comes from torture as true, along with the premise that credible intelligence was obtained using waterboarding, wouldn’t I have to conclude that waterboarding is not torture?

It looks like a form of torture to me. I mean, what else would you call it?

The only option left is to declare one of my premises to be false. If it is false that torture does not produce credible intelligence information, and in fact it does, that sure does undermine the most reasonable argument against the use of torture.

Just a side note here, that a civilized people should not use torture is not a reasonable argument. It is an emotional argument. If we based our laws on whether or not a practice makes some people feel icky when presented with a detailed description, we would have to end legalized abortion, now wouldn’t we?

So where does that leave waterboarding?

The answer is, I don’t really know. I think it is disturbing, but that in and of itself is not a reason that it should not be done.

No, it wasn’t one of George Bush’s speeches, although the flow is strikingly similar. See, like most of her ilk, she fails to grasp what humane behavior is, whether it’s not letting kids go without healthcare, or torturing people, whatever. And of course, torture of a living, breathing sentient human being is no different than aborting a fetus. Gotta throw that one in there.

Civilized people do not torture. That’ s part of what makes us civilized. What’s so hard to understand about that?

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