Friday, December 16, 2005

Torture Ban Will Be Law Soon   McCain's heart-felt campaign to see to it that our government does not continue to treat prisoners as he was treated as a POW in Vietnam has achieved victory.  Given Wednesday's filibuster-proof majority in the House for a ban on US government torture, which followed the Senate's earlier filibuster-proof majority on the issue, it was probably inevitable that the President give in and sign a ban on torture.  His alternative would have been both politically damaging and humiliating:  First, the President would have had to use a veto for the first time, when he has allowed hundreds of billions of dollars in pork barrel to pass across his desk without a quibble, in order to support torturing and murdering helpless prisoners.  And then he would have had to watch as majorities of his own party, and every Democrat, rejected his stand.  It's possible that a President as popular as stinky cheese might have hung tough on "principle" (what principle endorses beatings and attempts at drowning is not entirely clear to me), but this President?  Not so much. The White House is trying to portray the final outcome as a victory for the administration, and whether they know it or not, it is.  A civilized nation does not torture its prisoners, and there is some value to our rejoining the ranks of civilized nations. 2:14:41 PM    comment []

Other Ways the Terrorists Might Win   Leaving Iraq is probably not the only thing unrelated to the "war" on terror we can do that will help the terrorists win.  I bet if we don't mind our p's and q's, the terrorists win.  If we don't fight plaque, the terrorists win.  If we don't do the Funky Chicken, the terrorists win.  If we don't eat our vegetables, the terrorists win.  If we don't recycle the terrorists win.  If we don't use Spell Check, the terrorists win.  If we don't take only as recommended, the terrorists win.  If we don't what we're doing, but we know who we're doing it to, the terrorists win.  Finally, if we don't put our hands in the air like we just don't care, the terrorists win. 7:41:42 AM    comment []