Disconnected now, certainly. The pro-torture fraction of the GOP electorate is very small.

Disconnected now, certainly. The pro-torture fraction of the GOP electorate is very small.

Actually our enemies already use much worse techniques then this. Im sure our enemies are not shaking in their boots over waterboarding 2 or 3 people a year.

The heart and soul of America wanted Revenge for 911. The 80 percent who voted to go to war in Iraq wanted Revenge. George W. Bush proclaimed that this would be a long war. A hard war. We did not care. We wanted Revenge.

Revenge as a motive can last only so long. Once we feel that we have gotten our Revenge then we no longer can sustain the emotion of the moment. However GWB and friends were left with a war that everyone feels as if we have exacted our Revenge. Our thirst is satisfied.

Now we as a nation want revenge against those evil Neocons who took us to war. Who exacted our revenge and now make us feel dirty.

Actually our enemies already use much worse techniques then this. Im sure our enemies are not shaking in their boots over waterboarding 2 or 3 people a year.

The heart and soul of America wanted Revenge for 911. The 80 percent who voted to go to war in Iraq wanted Revenge. George W. Bush proclaimed that this would be a long war. A hard war. We did not care. We wanted Revenge.

Revenge as a motive can last only so long. Once we feel that we have gotten our Revenge then we no longer can sustain the emotion of the moment. However GWB and friends were left with a war that everyone feels as if we have exacted our Revenge. Our thirst is satisfied.

Now we as a nation want revenge against those evil Neocons who took us to war. Who exacted our revenge and now make us feel dirty.

But the dire predictions about what will happen when (not if) we leave may have little more credibility than the predictions by the same idiots about the “cakewalk” and “greeted as liberators” jive. Robert Dreyfuss dissects them in a 2006 article in the Washington Monthly. My summary is HERE.

Dreyfuss also echoes my view that Iran has already won and the US is powerless to stop it. In fact, we facilitated it.

Despite its very public saber-rattling against Iran, however, the United States has spent most of the past five years in a de facto alliance with Iran in support of the Shiite-led (and US-installed) regime in Baghdad. The most powerful component of that regime, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) and its disciplined Badr Corps militia, is also Iran's closest Iraqi ally. Taking advantage of the political vacuum created by the US destruction of Saddam Hussein's government, Tehran has established a vast presence, both overt and covert, in Iraq, with enormous influence among nearly all of its western neighbor's Shiite and Kurdish parties. “The American military occupation of Iraq has facilitated an Iranian political occupation of Iraq,” says Chas Freeman, a former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

But the dire predictions about what will happen when (not if) we leave may have little more credibility than the predictions by the same idiots about the “cakewalk” and “greeted as liberators” jive. Robert Dreyfuss dissects them in a 2006 article in the Washington Monthly. My summary is HERE.

Dreyfuss also echoes my view that Iran has already won and the US is powerless to stop it. In fact, we facilitated it.

Despite its very public saber-rattling against Iran, however, the United States has spent most of the past five years in a de facto alliance with Iran in support of the Shiite-led (and US-installed) regime in Baghdad. The most powerful component of that regime, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) and its disciplined Badr Corps militia, is also Iran's closest Iraqi ally. Taking advantage of the political vacuum created by the US destruction of Saddam Hussein's government, Tehran has established a vast presence, both overt and covert, in Iraq, with enormous influence among nearly all of its western neighbor's Shiite and Kurdish parties. “The American military occupation of Iraq has facilitated an Iranian political occupation of Iraq,” says Chas Freeman, a former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

K.: 1) I really think there is a legal CYA effort here. 2) McCain apparently has made “progress” and even further sabotaged his campaign — trying to appeal to that pro-torture part of the “base”! Apparently he expressed support for a veto. So now the anti-torture McCain is … pro-torture?

* * *

I wonder if McCain would switch positions on daylight savings time, or Eastern vs. Central time, which are issues with which Indiana is still grappling.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120406767043794…

[NOTE: I'm actually in disfavor of daylight savings time, not just from a naturalist standpoint, but because I see the practical issues in the morning as well as in the evening, even though I'm a night person. In California, where I grew up, the 50-100 mile morning commutes often made partly or wholly in the dark would have been safer if made in more daylight.]

Time to go out on the road (it's not subzero any more) … in that daylight …

K.: 1) I really think there is a legal CYA effort here. 2) McCain apparently has made “progress” and even further sabotaged his campaign — trying to appeal to that pro-torture part of the “base”! Apparently he expressed support for a veto. So now the anti-torture McCain is … pro-torture?

* * *

I wonder if McCain would switch positions on daylight savings time, or Eastern vs. Central time, which are issues with which Indiana is still grappling.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120406767043794…

[NOTE: I'm actually in disfavor of daylight savings time, not just from a naturalist standpoint, but because I see the practical issues in the morning as well as in the evening, even though I'm a night person. In California, where I grew up, the 50-100 mile morning commutes often made partly or wholly in the dark would have been safer if made in more daylight.]

Time to go out on the road (it's not subzero any more) … in that daylight …

So let's see…. Bush is the commander in chief of the military…. so he can tell some of his people (the military) that they can't torture, but when he puts another hat on, he allows his folks in the CIA to torture. So, when the military has a suspected terrorist they captured lawfully in battle, Bush can have that suspect transferred to the CIA, where they can torture him. That is so f*&ked up.

By the way, the US has prosecuted servicemen in the past for torture, waterboarding to be specific (if I recall it was during WWII). I guess the military forgot to transfer the enemies to the CIA so the CIA could take care of it.

So let's see…. Bush is the commander in chief of the military…. so he can tell some of his people (the military) that they can't torture, but when he puts another hat on, he allows his folks in the CIA to torture. So, when the military has a suspected terrorist they captured lawfully in battle, Bush can have that suspect transferred to the CIA, where they can torture him. That is so f*&ked up.

By the way, the US has prosecuted servicemen in the past for torture, waterboarding to be specific (if I recall it was during WWII). I guess the military forgot to transfer the enemies to the CIA so the CIA could take care of it.