LIFE IN AMERICA 2/12/08

Editor:

Recently, a video came across the web, showing a cow, laying down in a building and someone was spraying it from a water hose. The caption said the cow was being “sprayed with cold water” to get it to walk to the slaughtering site. I don’t know what the temperature of the water was but this exploded into an example of mistreatment of farm animals. The sprayer lost his job. The company CEO made a public apology and worst of all, beef sales declined. Schools across the nation took beef off of their lunch menu. Obviously, we are very concerned about the comfort and well being of our farm animals. We are sensitive and caring people.

Meanwhile, for several years now we have seen this administration defending Enhanced Interrogation Techniques(EIT) as a useful tool to get information from suspected terrorists. EIT, has been called torture by those who respect the Geneva Conventions. This Administration has called that document, probably written by bleeding heart liberals, obsolete and inappropriate for the world we live in.

Vice President Dick Cheney recently spoke at a Conservative Political Action Conference. He contended that EIT, including waterboarding, isn’t torture and we need enhanced techniques. He got a standing ovation. When Senator John McCain spoke to these compassionate conservatives, he was booed. McCain has spoken out forcefully against torture. He has his reasons, having spent time in a Vietnamese prison.

The current working definition of torture is any treatment that causes organ failure or death. What EIT includes, other than waterboarding, is classified information. There is always the danger that terrorists might train to withstand EIT if they knew how we interrogated.. The secrecy, maybe intentionally, leaves much to the imagination.

Waterboarding itself came to us from the Spanish Inquisition in the Middle Ages, a golden age of EIT. Those professionals also gave us thumbscrews. Who among us could not become brilliantly creative if a screw were slowly twisting into our thumb or finger? We also are indebted to the Middle Ages for the rack. This is a device on which a person is slowly bent backwards and stretched. It dislocates the joints, causing excruciating pain but the beautiful thing about it is that there is no organ failure or death.

Whether EIT, even something as mild as waterboading, is an acceptable way to treat human beings doesn’t seem to matter to the public. The debate is mostly legalistic and scholarly. One can only conclude that if you are a cow, on the way to becoming a double cheeseburger, your comfort and peace of mind is of national concern.

If you are a human being however, especially a Muslim and are suspected of evil, your comfort and peace of mind is of no concern to anyone. You will disappear down a black hole. Your future, if you have one, will rely on tedious discussions by legal scholars debating the significance of Habeas Corpus, Due Process, the Magna Carta and the 5th Amendment to the Constitution. For any human being anywhere, it’s best not to fall into the hands of King George and his loyal henchmen.

We don't know whether she read or heard the speech. This is Hillary Clinton we're talking about: truth and openness is not her game.

Ever her admirers will admit this: Hillary is a craft, cunning politician. She knows what to say and when to say it.

She claimed not to have read or heard the speech in order to avoid answering specific questions about the speech. Such as, "Is Senator Obama's dismissal/rejection of Reverend Wright enough?" Or "Do you agree with Senator Obama about X?"

Remember: this is Hillary Clinton, a politician, a lawyer, a proven liar, and a cold, calculating...

Well, you know the rest. Like I said, even her admirers admit to this. It is, they claim, her #1 advantage over Barack Obama. Sure, they dress it up in nice words like "experience" and "pragmatism." But they know as well as anyone: she'll say anything, do anything, vote anything, without regard to personal beliefs or consistency, as long as it is beneficial to her.

She's a Good American!

The real issues facing our country are not race. They are about the direction that our country will take in the next 4 years. Do we want someone as President who will lecture us to death about not having enough "hope" or do we want someone who will get us where we need to go?

Obamais a great speaker. So what? I'm tired of the entire self-righteous act, him, and that campaign staff that is intellectually dishonest as the day is long.

Does anyone really think Barack Obama would be talking about race if he WASN'T FORCED TO TALK ABOUT IT? Hell no! After all, he's had over a year to say these same things and he hasn't. And let me tell you why: Because if he talked about race, he loses. He knows it, his strategists know it, and so does his staff. And that is why he and his wife have rehearsed their standard operating responses to the issue of their race - and why it has not been a part of the Obama-Rama Side Show.

And today I am reminded of that cutesy Camille Paglia's comments that Obama is still too "dewey and reserved" for the working class to have gotten a chance to know him yet. What bullshit. Written like a true pompous ass who thinks that the only reason why anyone would outright reject the guy as President is because they just don't know him "like we do."

What arrogance, intellectually dishonest, and pompous asses are associated with Obama's side show. And that's why I am not supporting him and won't vote for him this November. I have nothing in common with him or his backers.

I'm not surprised Hillary didn't read his speech before commenting. It's another "not Muslim as far as I know" moment for her. If she acknowledges Obama, she empowers him. She's not munificent enough for this - or, as a result, large enough to be president, either, I'm afraid. Republicans don't look for that in a candidate - hence their last two choices - but Democrats, when offered, should seize the gift of humanness, decency and magnanimity Obama possesses. It's novel to find these qualities in a politician and I'm sure that's why everyone's so flummoxed.