You a jack-0-lantern.

If there is anyone who thinks that torture is not routine in US prisons then let me disabuse you of that notion, Sixty minutes did a piece not too long ago about a man who died of thirst in prison. Occurrences like that, while not perhaps as severe, are happening every day in our prisons and jails.

-- Aycharaych

That person didn't belong in a prison. He belonged in a hospital for the mentally ill. Do you happen to know why all the mentally ill end up in prisons now, mr. "liberal" ?

Yea.

No inhale the chain-saw fumes,

from a Stihl brand log cutter.

chris dowd... Growing up as a young "National Review" reading conservative- I was exposed to quite a bit of anti Soviet and anti communist tracts and authors.

You've been scarred for life. It explains so muuch.

Anonymous

You a jack-0-lantern.

-- bebop-o

or maybe just a jack ass.

;-)

Torture is almost never about "getting the truth". State sanctioned torture is about spreading fear and terror for the purposes of power.

Soviet interrogators didn't believe any of the confessions they beat out of their victims- many of them fantastical to the point of being silly. They knew the "plots" they were "uncovering" were entirely fictional (though it was considered polite behavior to mouth belief in them while in mixed company). The point of the torture was to keep the terror going- to get new names- to keep a constant state of fear and panic and threat in the population. Entire fictional "subversive" organizations were created by these methods- and that "everyone" believed existed. They were complete fantasy and yet hundreds of thousands of people were arressted and executed for being "members" of these fictitious "treasonous" organizations.

The detail on these groups was quite extensive as well. That is what convinced many people that at least "some of it has to be true."

Torture is key to sustaining the WOT. "Al Queda" is almost entirely a fiction itself. False "intelligence" that is obtained through torture gets pumped into the "intelligence community" and is then acted upon. And it is important to remember that most of the agents and investigators acting on this intel think it is real- it is the truth. The teams carrying out arrests in foreign countries think their subjects are "Al Quada members". They don't know any better. In fact- most of the intelligence bureaucracy thinks it is all real. When in fact- it is all a bunch of lies extracted under torture- to keep the whole sick engine of the WOT going.

Keep in mind that the prison population soared during the incumbency of Bill "I didn't inhale" Clinton.

-- Aycharaych

We can smell a Pauliac from a mile away. You are a bit more subtle than that loon Chris Sinnard but you still have your head up your ass just the same. Clinton was the best Republican president since Eisenhower.

PRISON POPULATION SWELLS UNDER REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTS, STUDY SAYS

http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/prispop.htm

If it wasn't for our prisons and our gulags, we'd have all these sadistic mofos hanging around with nothing fun to do, whining at their Moms "But i"m bo-o-o-o-o-red."

I mean, there's just not enough government offices to elect ALL of them to office.

I was about to say that.

But if the 'otter' one,

I like to think of you as,

A happy lit pumpkin face.

Smile. Say Mozzarella, rosemary, Parmesan, crispy brown, and crusty flaked pastry. Then: Just sprinkle the orange pumpkin with re-chewed, tasty toasted almonds, or yummy melted ricotta cream cheese with sprinkles of brown, dusty, confectioners sugar on the Pumpkin top. Any body yet dare read Floyd yet? I'm afraid to...

Oh lighten up everyone!

If it wasn't for our prisons and our gulags, we'd have all these sadistic mofos hanging around with nothing fun to do, whining at their Moms "But i"m bo-o-o-o-o-red."

I mean, there's just not enough government offices to elect ALL of them to office.

-- KevinHayden

Bebop is the only heavyweight here.

;-0

There are several answers to your line of inquiry:

1) This is about condoning torture as a matter of policy. I am not aware of any US state or the Federal government sanctioning torturing prisoners. Someone being tortured by a guard or other prisoners illicitly is not the same thing.

2) The US policy on and treatment of foreigners held under the War On Terror is a significant point of moral judgment by the world of America. Torturing 1 POW is far worse as far as the world is concerned than 1000 domestic prisoners dying in squalor. This is not merely optics, it affects how the world treats America and even influences how other countries view torture as policy. The US condoning torture could result in many more people around the world being tortured, and the US having no moral credibility to stop it.

3) I dislike how you characterize liberals as unconcerned with the state of the US prison system. This is seen by liberals as a problem. What "liberals" are you talking to who aren't concerned with the overuse of incarceration in America?

Liberals advocate against things like 3-strikes laws, for felon-voting, for rehabilitation programs, against mandatory minimums, and against the general thrust of the war on drugs as a solely criminal matter. Liberal policies would result in many fewer prisoners, and many fewer criminals to begin with.

Further, that prisoner populations ballooned under Clinton is a weak point since most prisoners are in state prisons, Clinton is not a liberal, and there was a Republican congress.

Let's open Water Boarding Booths at all our state fairs and we can all try it out and see what it's like. Then we'll all know if it's tortuous or not. Then we can reflect, as all good Christians do, whether or not we should water board people or not, based on whether or not we ourselves would like to be water boarded again. Our super-duper-Christian VIP's first, of course.

Think of me as a plain jack ass but remember that I have a really tiny penis :D