Kim Jong Ill

The South Korean news agency YTN reports that North Korean Stalinist thug and all-around waste of human flesh Kim Jong Il has life-threatening pancreatic cancer.  Well, they may have said he is a life-threatening cancer; I’m not really sure.  Either way, he is not expected to live more than five years, during which the demons and devils in Hell will no doubt be stirring the River Phlegethon in the Seventh Circle, eagerly awaiting his arrival.

Kim Jong Il, looking even more like the piece of shit he is than ever before

I’d like to wish him a speedy recovery, but I just can’t bring myself to do it.  The best I can do is hope that he has access to the same high-quality, state-sponsored health care that he and his late unlamented father failed to provide for the suffering people of the country they ruined.

The sooner this subhuman piece of filth is gone from the earth, the better.

The dominoes begin to fall

Until yesterday, the only media personalities who actually had the courage to submit themselves to waterboarding have been mainly from the left.  Though some may have been skeptical at first, all were arguably predisposed to believe waterboarding and torture are, at the very least, synonymous.  That is, that waterboarding is torture and therefore illegal and immoral.  All their experiences did was confirm their own preconceptions.

Until now.  Finally, a conservative radio talk show personality has had the integrity to find out, once and for all, for himself what waterboarding feels like.  No, unfortunately it’s not Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage or G. Gordon Liddy.  Erich “Mancow” Muller volunteered to do what Sean Hannity said he’d do a month ago and has so far been too much of a

to do it.  Here’s the video:

The best quote from that video, of course, is “I do not want to say this.  Absolutely torture.”

My hat is off to Mancow.  He lasted 6 seconds, probably about 4 seconds longer than I would have.  If Hannity had done it, that’d be $6,000 to charity from Keith Olbermann.

Inadvertent truth from a Republican

Every now and then we hear some unvarnished truth from the national embarrassment that the Republican party has become.  Take, for example, yesterday’s words from Senator John Ensign (R-NV) regarding the political prisoners detainees currently being held at Guantanamo Bay:

“They get better health care than the average American citizen does.

And if that don’t say it all, nothing does.  We are an international disgrace.

So many targets, so little time

It’s been a busy time lately, but I still like to keep up with the news.  So, in a nutshell, here’s my take on … fuck it.  Here’s some shit to read:

Dick “Torquemada” Cheney: I used to wish he’d go away and die slowly, but I’ve changed my mind.  Who needs waterboarding when you’ve got a paranoid motormouth for an ex-Veep?  Every time he opens his fat yap he reveals more secrets he probably didn’t want anyone to know.  Keep it up, Dick.  The cameras are still rolling, and everything you say WILL be used against you.  Traitor.

Miss California: Nice tits.  You, however, may shut up already.  We’re not interested in your mind, only your body.

Rush “Fat Bastard” Limbaugh: Just shut the fuck up.  We’re not even interested in YOUR tits, even though they are bigger than Miss California’s.

The (non)release of Torture pictures: For God’s sake, Mr. President, grow some balls already.  It’s not the fucking pictures that people are upset about, it’s the fact that we tortured people.  The sooner we prosecute and the perpetrators, the sooner we can put this behind us.  Throw Dick in the dock and Bush behind bars and move on.  Or face this issue for the next four to eight years.

Sean “Waterboard Me” Hannity: It’s been three weeks, asshole.  Even Keith Olberman called you a pussy.  Or did you miss the “here, kitty” comment just before “Oddball” last night?  Come on, are you a man or a mouse?  Oh, wait.  You’ve never served on active duty.  I guess we know the answer to that.

Torture Defenders: You’re all going to hell, you know.  Every last one of you, even the so-called “Christians” among you.  Because torture is not just a crime, it’s a mortal sin.  And defending it makes you guilty of it.  You know what’s the best part about occupying the moral high ground?  I’ll never have to change my mind about this. Torture is wrong.  Waterboarding is wrong.  And anyone who defends it is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.

Sarah Palin’s Book Deal: Oh, please, don’t get me started.  This is a comedian’s dream come true.  The woman who can’t form complete sentences without a TeLePrompTer is going to write a BOOK?  OMFG!  YGBSM!  LOL!  Shit, I think I just wrote her first paragraph for her.  Oh, wait – I’ve got the title, too!  How’s “The Audacity of Hypocrisy”?  Or maybe “Goin’ Rogue”?  How about “Throw Alaska Under the Bus”?  Or “How to Succeed in Politics Without Really Trying”?

Who would Jesus waterboard?

Just when you thought the torture debate couldn’t get any worse, there comes this report from CNN:

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of suspected terrorists, according to a new survey.

More than half of people who attend services at least once a week — 54 percent — said the use of torture against suspected terrorists is “often” or “sometimes” justified. Only 42 percent of people who “seldom or never” go to services agreed, according to the analysis released Wednesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

White evangelical Protestants were the religious group most likely to say torture is often or sometimes justified — more than six in 10 supported it. People unaffiliated with any religious organization were least likely to back it. Only four in 10 of them did.

The analysis is based on a Pew Research Center survey of 742 American adults conducted April 14-21. It did not include analysis of groups other than white evangelicals, white non-Hispanic Catholics, white mainline Protestants and the religiously unaffiliated, because the sample size was too small. …

Click here for results of the survey.

Now, while the sample size was admittedly very small (742 is hardly a valid statistical representation of American Christians) and limited, the results are still disturbing.  For me, it shows that a sizeable majority of people who claim to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, have no idea what those teachings actually are or how they should be applied to daily life or national policy.

It also speaks to a toxic moral relativism that has been creeping through our culture for a long time.  It’s the contagion of an “ends justify the means” philosophy, the sort of thinking that allows all manner of legal, ethical and moral abuses as long as the goals are agreeable.

It also shows a shocking level of ignorance on the part of many Christians.  How can anyone who claims to follow a faith founded on the teachings of a political prisoner who was tortured and brutally executed, possibly support our nation’s use of torture?

This is wrong.  Torture is wrong, it is evil, and there can be no justification for us or any other nation engaging in it.  In fact, we have a moral obligation NOT to do it, because we hold ourselves to a higher moral standard.  The fact that we’ve done it doesn’t make it right, it makes it doubly wrong because in doing so we have ceded the moral high ground to the animals within our own society.  We have willingly sacrificed that which we claimed to hold most precious, on the altar of political expediency.

We will pay for this.  We will pay dearly.  The torturers, their enablers, and their supporters are all traitors to this great nation.  They have led us down the path of destruction and death.  It will be years, perhaps decades, before we can regain our standing in the world.

The moral high ground, once lost, is rarely regained.

I’m shocked

Funny thing about spouting off at the mouth in public; people sometimes take you up on your word.  If you visit SeanHannity.com and search for “waterboard” or “waterboarding”, this is what you get:

Gee, I wonder why?

It’s been a week and his nose is still dry.  In a way, this is more fun than actually seeing it happen.  Hannity’s put himself between a rock and a hard place here.  Either he

a) backs out and doesn’t put our money where his mouth (and nose) is, thereby proving to the world that he’s a liar and a coward; or

b) he submits to the full experience of waterboarding according to the methods described by the CIA memos, in which case he will in all likelihood crack and be forced to admit waterboarding is torture and the Bush administration are therefore war criminals.

Of course, to get the full experience he must first be subjected to the full range of “enhanced interrogation methods” used by the CIA.  To wit:

• Six or more days of sleep deprivation
• Being held in “stress positions” for hours at a time
• Forced confinement in a small box filled with insects (or whatever creepy thing Sean is afraid of, perhaps Nancy Pelosi)
• Being slapped around for several minutes, time TBD
• Alternating freezing and hot room temperatures

All at the same time.  Then, and only then, should he be waterboarded.

But we all know he won’t do it.  He’s a coward, a liar and a fraud.

At least ONE person at Faux News gets it

Here’s Shepard Smith, explaining clearly and succinctly, what the waterboarding debate is all about:

I couldn’t agree more.

Hannity’s Bluff Called – AGAIN!

Right-Wing bloviator and subhuman waste of flesh Sean Hannity must be regretting last week’s moment of stupidity.  You’ll recall (hell, it’s only two posts ago) that Mr. Hannity offered to allow himself to be waterboarded “for the troops’ families”.  Well, that night Keith Olbermann called his bluff publicly, offering $1000 per second, if he actually goes through with it.  Last night Olbermann found a volunteer to actually do it…

But we all know Hannity won’t do it.  He’s a coward and a clueless chickenhawk.

I’ve got my checkbook, when do I send the money?

Yesterday on his program, Sean Hannity, in a desperate attempt to look anything other than the coward and fraud he is, made the worst mistake of his life.

He volunteered to be waterboarded “for the troops”.  Here’s the video:

Response was swift and predictable.  On Huffington Post, hundreds of people responded with suggestions and comments on how it should be done, which techniques should be used, and many even volunteered to do it themselves.

I personally wouldn’t want to do it, because I have a conscience and I don’t believe that should be done to anyone, even someone as despicable as Hannity.  However, if he’s offering up himself to take a hit for the troops, then I’ll be ready with my checkbook whenever he does it.  Keith Olbermann upped the ante last night during his “Worst Persons” segment:

He’s right.  This is no game.  I’m not a wealthy man, but I’ll say right now that if Hannity actually goes through with this, and doesn’t chicken out like we all know he will, then for every second he endures it, I’ll give $10 to a veterans’ charity to be named later.  If Rush Limbaugh joins him, I’ll double that.  If Karl Rove joins him, I’ll make it $50 per month for the next year.

Because this is no game.

266

That’s how many times the illegal, unethical, immoral and unjustified “harsh interrogation method” known as waterboarding was used “sparingly” by agents of the CIA under the authorization of the Bush administration.

That’s how many times it was used on two men, both al-Qaeda operatives, AFTER they’d already given up any useful information they had.

This was not interrogation.  It was revenge.  It was punishment.  It was torture.

And it was wrong.  The men who wrote the memos authorizing it should be condemned, prosecuted and put in prison for a very long time.  The men who did the torture must be brought to justice.  And the so-called “leaders” who still, against all available evidence, insist it was necessary we do this to protect our national security should be held accountable to their crimes.

And maybe they should be waterboarded, but that’s not for me to say.  I doubt Cheney or Bush would survive even the first five waterboardings, much less 266.  Perhaps 266 years in prison for each of them, one year for each time this act of vicious revenge was committed, would suffice.

266.  Six times a day for a month for Khalid Shayk Mohammed.

266.  That’s what Bush & Cheney thought was “justified.”

266.  The new Number of the Beast.  Further proof, if we needed it, that neither of them have any morals whatsoever.  This was not about protecting America.  This was nothing more than abuse.  This was torture.

266.