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	<title>Comments on: It&#8217;s not torture&#8230;</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.scohen.org/scohen/2006/09/18/its-not-torture/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.scohen.org/scohen/2006/09/18/its-not-torture/</link>
	<description>This is the web site of Steve Cohen, programmer, motorcyclist, kayaker and all around geek</description>
	<pubDate>Tue, 06 Jan 2009 04:18:20 +0000</pubDate>
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		<title>By: scohen</title>
		<link>http://www.scohen.org/scohen/2006/09/18/its-not-torture/#comment-9323</link>
		<dc:creator>scohen</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 21 Feb 2007 23:09:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.scohen.org/scohen/archives/2006/09/18/its-not-torture/#comment-9323</guid>
		<description>Jim,
That was a whopper of a comment, but do I understand you that you think that the prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment by the government applies only to American citizens?

It seems mighty hypocritical to me to have two sets of rules for those who are citizens of your country and those who are not. I prefer not to be a hypocrite when I don't have to be. 

Maybe we differ on that.&lt;!-- X-spaminator-strike: whitelist, -3 --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: IP check --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: email check --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: author url --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: comment body --&gt;</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Jim,<br />
That was a whopper of a comment, but do I understand you that you think that the prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment by the government applies only to American citizens?</p>
<p>It seems mighty hypocritical to me to have two sets of rules for those who are citizens of your country and those who are not. I prefer not to be a hypocrite when I don&#8217;t have to be. </p>
<p>Maybe we differ on that.<!-- X-spaminator-strike: whitelist, -3 --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: IP check --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: email check --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: author url --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: comment body --></p>
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		<title>By: scohen</title>
		<link>http://www.scohen.org/scohen/2006/09/18/its-not-torture/#comment-9322</link>
		<dc:creator>scohen</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 21 Feb 2007 22:40:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.scohen.org/scohen/archives/2006/09/18/its-not-torture/#comment-9322</guid>
		<description>&lt;blockquote&gt;
My, our snarkiness quotient is off the charts today! But then again, you wrote the book on it, huh. 
&lt;/blockquote&gt;

No, but I did write &lt;a href="http://www.scohen.org/scohen/archives/2006/09/02/rules-for-successful-snarkiness/" rel="nofollow"&gt;a post&lt;/a&gt; on it. I admit, I'm pretty good at snark.

&lt;blockquote&gt;
It looks to me like the burden of â€˜proofâ€™ is upon YOU, to simply step up to the plate like a man, answer the question and state what â€˜factsâ€™ I do not have â€˜straightâ€™!
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
Namely where I object to reasonable pressure. I object to those things that Mark detailed above, not the things you listed. Continue to make a strawman argument, but I won't let you get away with it.

&lt;blockquote&gt;As for your snide remarks about my spelling â€˜errorsâ€™...&lt;/blockquote&gt;
I pointed that out because you were being pedantic about my 'grammatical error' --he who is without sin and all. I don't care that you made spelling errors, but the fact that you were criticizing grammar of all things points to something about your method of debate. Have you read blogs? It's a conversational style with loose grammar. 

&lt;blockquote&gt;Why are you not concerned about the purposeful DESTRUCTION of those same values by enemies of America, begun in the 60s and proceeding with increasing vengeance today?&lt;/blockquote&gt;

Which enemies are you talking about, the ones on the left, or the ones on the right? Oh right, Communists. It's always those hidden secretive communists messing things up. 

&lt;blockquote&gt;
Itâ€™s obvious that youâ€™re a Democrat - what else could you be? 
&lt;/blockquote&gt;

Funny, the post I've been working on is titled "Why I'm not a Democrat". I don't feel I'm adequately represented by any American political party. The Democrats are just the Republicans beholden to different special interests. 

&lt;blockquote&gt;
They(Republicans) are only marginally better (than democrats)
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
Swap the two party names and we agree on something.

&lt;blockquote&gt;
Michael Savage holds Masterâ€™s degrees in BOTH medical botany AND medical anthropology AND earned his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in Epidemiology and Nutritional Science (not â€˜ethnomedicineâ€™ â€“ no such nonsensical degree!)
&lt;/blockquote&gt;

I took my information from &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Savage_(commentator)" rel="nofollow"&gt;his Wikipedia page&lt;/a&gt;. It was a direct cut and paste, go correct it there if you wish. It did cite that reference as being taken directly from his PhD dissertation. Next time I'm at Cal, I'll look it up and take pictures. Your claim that there is no degree falls on deaf ears. The CEO of my company made his own major at Harvard, and I fail to see why Mr. "Savage" couldn't do the same. 

Furthermore, you still haven't touched on my argument. How are *any* of those degrees relevant to politics?

&lt;blockquote&gt;
Yet YOU have no trouble criticizing him, and proselytizing at great length on your distorted, ill-informed political views! How, may I ask, is YOUR CS degree more relevant?

It's not, but I tell you to that my opinions are more valid because of it either. I make it a point to never do that. Even in CS, I would never fall back on my degree as a club to prove that my ideas are correct. 

&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;
FYI, the number is 1 800-449-8255. If you donâ€™t have the jewels to call, you can email him.
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
It has nothing to do with "jewels", I don't &lt;em&gt;care&lt;/em&gt; about him. I don't &lt;em&gt;care&lt;/em&gt; what he says. He doesn't matter to me. That was what I was illustrating above. Michael "Savage" is &lt;em&gt;irrelevant&lt;/em&gt;.

&lt;blockquote&gt;
Oh, I forgot - the government schools, and your confused liberal upbringing taught you so! Well for your edification, we had far better race relations in 1956 than now .
&lt;/blockquote&gt;

Wow... just wow. I'm going to assume that you're black, because if not, your opinion on race relations is useless. How can you possibly claim that? I'm going to have to disagree with that due to conversations I've had with many people that lived through that era, and due to the fact that Black people can sit at the same lunch counter as white people. I'd like for you to find some examples of minorities that agree with you for I have never encountered a single one, and doubt I ever will. 

&lt;blockquote&gt;
What nonsense! What makes you think I was born later? 
&lt;/blockquote&gt;

My mistake. You're older than my Dad. However, my point still stands --age alone doesn't make your opinions more valid. 

&lt;blockquote&gt;What makes you think I want or need a backlink from your (wow) PR 4 site?&lt;/blockquote&gt;

Because you filled out the backlink from my site? So you know, my &lt;em&gt;comment&lt;/em&gt; page has a PR of 4 while my main site has a PR of 6. Seriously, your new site needs usability help. Listing your qualifications really doesn't mean anything when you have a static block of text at the top that prevents people from buying things. Go ahead and rest on your past accomplishments, but I didn't see usability among them. 

Here are some tips: 
&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Use clear, unambiguous differentiated categories&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Remove any text that isn't helping the user get work done&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Place navigation at the top of the page&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Test on multiple browsers, even opera&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Use CSS for positioning/styling of the page&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Remove the center tags&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

I do have about 35,000 users of my open source software, and it's constantly praised for its high usability. In addition, I've worked at several big-name sites (see the resume) that were likewise praised when I was there.

&lt;blockquote&gt;
Finally, I find it eerily coincidental that I too am a motorcyclist, for many years. Shades of â€œZen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenanceâ€?! Thatâ€™s a little scary! Almost like matter and anti-matter! Most of us are pretty conservative
&lt;/blockquote&gt;

I'm assuming you're a Harley rider (and that you're confusing Conservative with Libertarian). I have a Sporty bike, and we have a good mix of political beliefs, but I just like to ride with my riding buddies, not talk politics. Still, keep &lt;a href="http://flickr.com/photos/scohen/sets/805033/" rel="nofollow"&gt;the shiny side up&lt;/a&gt;.


Also, care to comment on Scrape's comment? He's hardly a Liberal, yet seems to 'get' what I'm saying --and agree with it.

As for the grunting and throwing feces, you were supposed to be doing that to me, because I'm an airhead. I fail to see why that would upset you at all.

&lt;!-- X-spaminator-strike: whitelist, -3 --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: IP check --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: email check --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: author url --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: comment body --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-strike: url dashes, 3 --&gt;</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote><p>
My, our snarkiness quotient is off the charts today! But then again, you wrote the book on it, huh.
</p></blockquote>
<p>No, but I did write <a href="http://www.scohen.org/scohen/archives/2006/09/02/rules-for-successful-snarkiness/" rel="nofollow">a post</a> on it. I admit, I&#8217;m pretty good at snark.</p>
<blockquote><p>
It looks to me like the burden of â€˜proofâ€™ is upon YOU, to simply step up to the plate like a man, answer the question and state what â€˜factsâ€™ I do not have â€˜straightâ€™!
</p></blockquote>
<p>Namely where I object to reasonable pressure. I object to those things that Mark detailed above, not the things you listed. Continue to make a strawman argument, but I won&#8217;t let you get away with it.</p>
<blockquote><p>As for your snide remarks about my spelling â€˜errorsâ€™&#8230;</p></blockquote>
<p>I pointed that out because you were being pedantic about my &#8216;grammatical error&#8217; &#8211;he who is without sin and all. I don&#8217;t care that you made spelling errors, but the fact that you were criticizing grammar of all things points to something about your method of debate. Have you read blogs? It&#8217;s a conversational style with loose grammar. </p>
<blockquote><p>Why are you not concerned about the purposeful DESTRUCTION of those same values by enemies of America, begun in the 60s and proceeding with increasing vengeance today?</p></blockquote>
<p>Which enemies are you talking about, the ones on the left, or the ones on the right? Oh right, Communists. It&#8217;s always those hidden secretive communists messing things up. </p>
<blockquote><p>
Itâ€™s obvious that youâ€™re a Democrat - what else could you be?
</p></blockquote>
<p>Funny, the post I&#8217;ve been working on is titled &#8220;Why I&#8217;m not a Democrat&#8221;. I don&#8217;t feel I&#8217;m adequately represented by any American political party. The Democrats are just the Republicans beholden to different special interests. </p>
<blockquote><p>
They(Republicans) are only marginally better (than democrats)
</p></blockquote>
<p>Swap the two party names and we agree on something.</p>
<blockquote><p>
Michael Savage holds Masterâ€™s degrees in BOTH medical botany AND medical anthropology AND earned his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in Epidemiology and Nutritional Science (not â€˜ethnomedicineâ€™ â€“ no such nonsensical degree!)
</p></blockquote>
<p>I took my information from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Savage_(commentator)" rel="nofollow">his Wikipedia page</a>. It was a direct cut and paste, go correct it there if you wish. It did cite that reference as being taken directly from his PhD dissertation. Next time I&#8217;m at Cal, I&#8217;ll look it up and take pictures. Your claim that there is no degree falls on deaf ears. The CEO of my company made his own major at Harvard, and I fail to see why Mr. &#8220;Savage&#8221; couldn&#8217;t do the same. </p>
<p>Furthermore, you still haven&#8217;t touched on my argument. How are *any* of those degrees relevant to politics?</p>
<blockquote><p>
Yet YOU have no trouble criticizing him, and proselytizing at great length on your distorted, ill-informed political views! How, may I ask, is YOUR CS degree more relevant?</p>
<p>It&#8217;s not, but I tell you to that my opinions are more valid because of it either. I make it a point to never do that. Even in CS, I would never fall back on my degree as a club to prove that my ideas are correct. </p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote><p>
FYI, the number is 1 800-449-8255. If you donâ€™t have the jewels to call, you can email him.
</p></blockquote>
<p>It has nothing to do with &#8220;jewels&#8221;, I don&#8217;t <em>care</em> about him. I don&#8217;t <em>care</em> what he says. He doesn&#8217;t matter to me. That was what I was illustrating above. Michael &#8220;Savage&#8221; is <em>irrelevant</em>.</p>
<blockquote><p>
Oh, I forgot - the government schools, and your confused liberal upbringing taught you so! Well for your edification, we had far better race relations in 1956 than now .
</p></blockquote>
<p>Wow&#8230; just wow. I&#8217;m going to assume that you&#8217;re black, because if not, your opinion on race relations is useless. How can you possibly claim that? I&#8217;m going to have to disagree with that due to conversations I&#8217;ve had with many people that lived through that era, and due to the fact that Black people can sit at the same lunch counter as white people. I&#8217;d like for you to find some examples of minorities that agree with you for I have never encountered a single one, and doubt I ever will. </p>
<blockquote><p>
What nonsense! What makes you think I was born later?
</p></blockquote>
<p>My mistake. You&#8217;re older than my Dad. However, my point still stands &#8211;age alone doesn&#8217;t make your opinions more valid. </p>
<blockquote><p>What makes you think I want or need a backlink from your (wow) PR 4 site?</p></blockquote>
<p>Because you filled out the backlink from my site? So you know, my <em>comment</em> page has a PR of 4 while my main site has a PR of 6. Seriously, your new site needs usability help. Listing your qualifications really doesn&#8217;t mean anything when you have a static block of text at the top that prevents people from buying things. Go ahead and rest on your past accomplishments, but I didn&#8217;t see usability among them. </p>
<p>Here are some tips: </p>
<ul>
<li>Use clear, unambiguous differentiated categories</li>
<li>Remove any text that isn&#8217;t helping the user get work done</li>
<li>Place navigation at the top of the page</li>
<li>Test on multiple browsers, even opera</li>
<li>Use CSS for positioning/styling of the page</li>
<li>Remove the center tags</li>
</ul>
<p>I do have about 35,000 users of my open source software, and it&#8217;s constantly praised for its high usability. In addition, I&#8217;ve worked at several big-name sites (see the resume) that were likewise praised when I was there.</p>
<blockquote><p>
Finally, I find it eerily coincidental that I too am a motorcyclist, for many years. Shades of â€œZen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenanceâ€?! Thatâ€™s a little scary! Almost like matter and anti-matter! Most of us are pretty conservative
</p></blockquote>
<p>I&#8217;m assuming you&#8217;re a Harley rider (and that you&#8217;re confusing Conservative with Libertarian). I have a Sporty bike, and we have a good mix of political beliefs, but I just like to ride with my riding buddies, not talk politics. Still, keep <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/scohen/sets/805033/" rel="nofollow">the shiny side up</a>.</p>
<p>Also, care to comment on Scrape&#8217;s comment? He&#8217;s hardly a Liberal, yet seems to &#8216;get&#8217; what I&#8217;m saying &#8211;and agree with it.</p>
<p>As for the grunting and throwing feces, you were supposed to be doing that to me, because I&#8217;m an airhead. I fail to see why that would upset you at all.</p>
<p><!-- X-spaminator-strike: whitelist, -3 --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: IP check --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: email check --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: author url --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: comment body --><!-- X-spaminator-strike: url dashes, 3 --></p>
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		<title>By: Jim</title>
		<link>http://www.scohen.org/scohen/2006/09/18/its-not-torture/#comment-9306</link>
		<dc:creator>Jim</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 21 Feb 2007 16:28:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.scohen.org/scohen/archives/2006/09/18/its-not-torture/#comment-9306</guid>
		<description>Looks like I had an extra space in the URL for Savages' site - here's the correct one:

http://www.homestead.com/prosites-prs/index.html&lt;!-- X-spaminator-strike: whitelist, -3 --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: IP check --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: email check --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-strike: empty field - author url, 1 --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: author url --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: comment body --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-strike: url dashes, 2 --&gt;</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Looks like I had an extra space in the URL for Savages&#8217; site - here&#8217;s the correct one:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.homestead.com/prosites-prs/index.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.homestead.com/prosites-prs/index.html</a><!-- X-spaminator-strike: whitelist, -3 --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: IP check --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: email check --><!-- X-spaminator-strike: empty field - author url, 1 --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: author url --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: comment body --><!-- X-spaminator-strike: url dashes, 2 --></p>
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		<title>By: Jim</title>
		<link>http://www.scohen.org/scohen/2006/09/18/its-not-torture/#comment-9301</link>
		<dc:creator>Jim</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 21 Feb 2007 15:30:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.scohen.org/scohen/archives/2006/09/18/its-not-torture/#comment-9301</guid>
		<description>Hello again Cohen,

My, our snarkiness quotient is off the charts today! But then again, you wrote the book on it, huh. However, I'm starting to get a little bored with this banter. As expected, one cannot have a discussion of the facts with a 'liberal' - it's like trying to nail jello to the wall! Therefore, this will be my last post to your lovely little ego-trip blog. Assuming you have the guts to post this, I have a few parting observations and comments:

1. 
In my last post, I asked you to please re-read my original comments. E.g. "If it had been up to â€˜nobleâ€™, liberal fools like yourself to â€˜interrogateâ€™ WWII Japanese and German prisoners, you would either be a lampshade or would be speaking German!" Your response was the non sequitur: â€œJim, We didnâ€™t torture soldiers in WWII. Get your facts straight. Didnâ€™t even come closeâ€?

And so I responded, by asking you, ONCE AGAIN to please indicate what â€˜factsâ€™ I stated, which you claim to be wrong. And so, in true liberal fashion, once again your specious, non sequitur response was:

"I donâ€™t object to reasonable pressure, I object to things like waterboarding, which was a war crime in WWII â€œ You also state: â€œNo American GIs ever came close to torturing the enemy during that war, and the burden is upon you to prove otherwise.â€? 

Well, Iâ€™m much older than you are (and significantly older than your daddy), but I donâ€™t think alzheimer's has set in YET. Have I forgotten something? What is your problem? Where did I state that American GIs tortured the enemy in WWII?  What I did IMPLY was that todaysâ€™ cockeyed PC liberal thinking about the â€˜moral high ground, and "rights of our enemies", and "panties on heads is torture" is suicidal at best, and treasonous and seditious at worst (I lean towards the later). It is nothing but leftwing obfuscation, legalism and obstructionism, and serves only to aid and embolden our barbaric enemy, and to throw roadblocks in the path of our military. Do you suppose maybe that just might the goal of the radical left, of which you are so enamored ? 

As Jack Web said in the 1960s series â€œDragnetâ€?  - â€œjust the facts, maâ€™am (or man), just the factsâ€?. Youâ€™re probably too young to remember anything about that, but what â€˜factsâ€™ do I need to â€˜get straightâ€™? It looks to me like the burden of â€˜proofâ€™ is upon YOU, to simply step up to the plate like a man, answer the question and state what â€˜factsâ€™ I do not have â€˜straightâ€™!

2. 
As for your snide remarks about my spelling â€˜errorsâ€™, I find it noteworthy that you referred to my first post, but not my last. I must confess that you have finally succeeded in getting me to acknowledge that I was at that point (and rightfully so), angered over your support for the agenda and tactics of the radical loony left, which always seems to aid our enemies, and harm America, (how coincidental) while hiding behind our constitution. 

By the way  â€“ the American Constitution is NOT a suicide pact! Nor is it, as you contend, simply a â€˜statement of American valuesâ€™ â€“ what nonsense!  Anyone, who portends to understand what it is about, knows that it is written legal contract, created for the purpose of constraining our GOVERNMENT against unlawful actions and abuses against AMERICAN CITIZENS. If you have any doubts about this fact, all you need to do is to spend some time reading the writings of the men who pledged their  lives, fortunes and sacred honor to the cause and establishment of this (formerly) free REPUBLIC (emphasis mine): 

â€œThere remains but one other view of this matter to conclude the point. The truth is, after all the declamations we have heard, that the Constitution is itself, in every rational sense, and to every useful purpose, A BILL OF RIGHTS. The several bills of rights in Great Britain form its Constitution, and conversely the constitution of each State is its bill of rights. And the proposed Constitution, if adopted, will be the bill of rights OF THE UNION (notice it does not say of the WORLD!). Is it one object of a bill of rights to declare and specify the political privileges of the CITIZENS in the structure and administration of the government? 

Federalist Papers, #84 â€“ Alexander Hamilton

But your socialist side refuses to accept this FACT, because liberals and socialists are citizens of the world  first (except the NAZIs, who were national socialists), and citizens of America second (if at all). You are all for UNLIMITED government power and â€˜democracyâ€™ (mob rule). After all, how else can socialists force their â€˜superior  intellect and wisdomâ€™ on the â€œcommonâ€? people and the â€˜massesâ€™?  Their agenda is clear, hence my anger, hence two or three TYPOS â€“ well excuuuse me!  (relax â€“ not a typo!). Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa! In particular, it is blatantly disingenuous and hypocritical of you to criticize my spelling  and grammar, when God knows you have nothing to crow about in that department! A phrase comes quickly to mind, something about â€œthe pot calling the kettle blackâ€? â€“ hmm.  

But Cohen,  youâ€™re so rational and logical â€“ whatâ€™s YOUR excuse? Following, just a sampling from posts by you - can you find the misspellings and grammatical errors?:

"and if youâ€™re all for totrure, letâ€™s have that discussion." 
"Iâ€™ll say it again. Torture. Perpetreated by Americans."
"Iâ€™ll remind you about the eighth ammendment again:"
"writhing in the floor in constant agony. (please enlighten me - how does one "writhe in the
floor?)
"Yes, Iâ€™m a 60â€™s retread despite that even a modicum of link-clicking indicates that I graduated high school in 1994." (Can you say "run-on sentence?)

3)
And some of your more ridiculous statements:  

".and I have about 50 IQ points on you, so what?" (now this one is beyond the pale!):

What orifice did you pull that one from? How the h... do you know what my IQ is? Once again, in typical liberal fashion, you establish a false premise, without supporting facts, and then expand on it to absurdity. FYI, if yours is not significantly greater than 200, Iâ€™m so very sorry, but Iâ€™m afraid your wrong again!

"Of course America was a different place in 1956. It was, from my perspective and the perspective of a great many minorities, worse ..."

How would you know? I LIVED it, you certainly didnâ€™t - your daddy was only 10 years old. Oh, I forgot - the government schools, and your confused liberal upbringing taught you so! Well for your edification, we had far better race relations in 1956 than now . Thanks to the radical left and their liberal friends and â€˜useful idiotsâ€™ ("be one with it - be the ball") who have purposely radicalized and corrupted our culture, and our race relations, to wit: â€œEvery minority group in America has been targeted for indoctrination in racial resentment by the "progressive" intelligentsia and the duplicitous media. Most of the racial tension in American life now is a product of the reactive matrix created by this racial assault.â€?  Yes, right out of the Communist Manifesto â€“ thesis, antithesis, synthesis.  Anyone who has taken the time to educate themselves on the strategy and tactics of the communist movement in America, and worldwide, would know what that means. I have done my homework, having been heavily involved in anti-communist, pro-American activities and organizations since 1960. I know what I am talking about. Credits to David Horowitz, a  former 60s radical and Bolshevik. He was a major player in the communist-inspired 60s â€˜revolutionâ€™, which began the long road to the destruction of  our American culture, morals  and values. You prate on and on about American values, complaining about  â€˜abuseâ€™ of enemies of America at Gitmo! Why are you not concerned about the purposeful DESTRUCTION of those same values by enemies of America, begun in the 60s and proceeding with increasing vengeance today? Most nauseating, these seditious activities are being spearheaded by the same gang today, but now they are now running the radicalized, seditious Democratic Party?  David Horowitz â€˜got itâ€™, and woke up. When are YOU going to wake up?

"My father was born in 1946, and by your logic has more perspective and experience than you do, yet agrees with me"

What nonsense! What makes you think I was born later? Once again, in true liberal fashion, you come to a conclusion with no supporting information! FYI, I was born in 1938. And the fact that he 'agrees with' you tells me only that you were raised by, and influenced by â€“ another confused  liberal. Why am I not surprised?

"As for Michael Savage, I donâ€™t care how many PhDâ€™s he has, heâ€™s still a blow-hard"

Well, far be it from me to defend Savage. I'm sure he's more than capable of defending himself! Why don't you step out of the safety net of your little pinko mini-blog, and tell him yourself? It IS a call in talk show, after all! Or don't you have the guts? FYI, the number is 1 800-449-8255. If you don't have the jewels to call, you can email him. Here is the link code to his site:

&lt;a&gt;Paul Revere Society&lt;/a&gt;

And of course, you are not (a blow-hard) â€“ give me a break!

Itâ€™s obvious that youâ€™re a Democrat - what else could you be? Why else would you support their moronic, seditious leftist positions? If anyone expected anything different than this â€œpanties-on-heads-is-tortureâ€?  crap, from the DNC, now under the full control of ex 60s SDSers, radical socialists, marxists and the peace-at-any-price, America last crowd, they are seriously deluded and misinformed. 

And just in case you are tempted to label me a schil for the Republicans, wrong once again. I have no use for them either. The Republican Party is now controlled by the elitist globalist, leftist Rockefeller wing of the party. They are only marginally better, with their betrayal of their conservative, Christian base, their sellout of our southern border and our culture, to invasion by millions of illegals, criminals, gangs and drug dealers from Mexico (and probably thousands of terrorists), while Bush kisses Vincenteâ€™s ass, and marches in lockstep to the  CFR globalist â€˜drumbeatâ€™. 

4)
"Mr. Savage has a PhD in nutritional ethnomedicine (now, thatâ€™s what we call useful) from Berkeley, yet you quote him when he speaks on politics. How is his degree relevant to that"

Once again you are very wrong, and have grievously understated and misrepresented the truth (either purposely or through ignorance), e.g.

Michael Savage holds Masterâ€™s degrees in BOTH medical botany AND medical anthropology AND earned his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in Epidemiology and Nutritional Science (not â€˜ethnomedicineâ€™ â€“ no such nonsensical degree!). And he has written 18 books, with three  #1 bestsellers. And FYI, he is not my hero â€“ he doesnâ€™t see the big picture yet. But when you minimize and distort the facts, I need to correct you. More to the point: where do you come off questioning his right to comment on matters political, when you by comparison, have only a bachelors in CS (last I checked, polysci was not a component of that course curriculum). Yet YOU have no trouble criticizing him, and proselytizing at great length on your distorted, ill-informed political views! How, may I ask, is YOUR CS degree more relevant?

5)
 â€œIâ€™m also removing the link to your commercial site. You donâ€™t get free page rank from me. Lord knows you need it with a page rank of 2. Maybe the reason itâ€™s so low is that Google is liberalâ€?

Oh, how you wound me! Gee, I think I figured that out a while back.  What makes you think I want or need a backlink from your (wow) PR 4 site? Especially since my link popularity is almost 3000, while yours is an unimpressive 381! My current site is only up about 6 months â€“ my previous one was PR 6, with even higher link popularity than my current site.  But if it makes you feel â€˜superiorâ€™ â€“ go to it, see if I care! When I pass you in PR, Iâ€™ll wave when I go by!

6)
â€œP.S. You might want to work on the usability on that siteâ€¦.â€? (Etc.,etc. ad nauseam.)

Thatâ€™s funny â€“ I havenâ€™t had any complaints from any of my customers about it (how many customers do you have?). Could it possibly be that you are being somewhat petty? Why, I cannot believe that! Not someone as liberal and â€˜tolerantâ€™ as yourself! In any case, I do not feel threatened by your  perverse and petty barbs.  I have over 25 years of software development experience, as a Hardware Systems Diagnostic Software Engineer, Senior Software QA Engineer, Senior Software Test Engineer and Software Consultant I was employed by Potter Instrument, Anderson Jacobson, Intel, Kentrox, and other corporations. I did software QA consulting for the last ten years before my retirement in 2001 â€“ primarily with Intel and Kentrox.  I have been responsible for software program development in numerous macro and assembler languages, including: PL/M, ADA, C, Visual C, Visual C++, Pascal, QuickBASIC, VisualBASIC, Microsoft Assembler, Prime/Honeywell Assembler, C-shell, Bourne-shell, etc., in DOS, Windows, Unix BSD, XENIX, RMXII, RMXIII and Sun environments, as well as test development and engineering with MS Test, Visual Test,  ATE testing, and more. So I am very comfortable in my engineering skin, thank you very much!

Finally, I find it eerily coincidental that I too am a motorcyclist, for many years. Shades of  â€œZen and The Art of  Motorcycle Maintenanceâ€?! Thatâ€™s a little scary! Almost like matter and anti-matter! Most of us are pretty conservative â€“ you would appear to be a rare exception. But ONLY because you are a fellow rider, Iâ€™ll ignore the "grunting and throwing feces" crack, and still extend to you â€“ a â€œkeep the shiny side up!â€? (isn't that big of me?).

I rest my case.&lt;!-- X-spaminator-strike: whitelist, -3 --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: IP check --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: email check --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-strike: empty field - author url, 1 --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: author url --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-strike: comment body - cialis, 5 --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: comment body --&gt;</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hello again Cohen,</p>
<p>My, our snarkiness quotient is off the charts today! But then again, you wrote the book on it, huh. However, I&#8217;m starting to get a little bored with this banter. As expected, one cannot have a discussion of the facts with a &#8216;liberal&#8217; - it&#8217;s like trying to nail jello to the wall! Therefore, this will be my last post to your lovely little ego-trip blog. Assuming you have the guts to post this, I have a few parting observations and comments:</p>
<p>1.<br />
In my last post, I asked you to please re-read my original comments. E.g. &#8220;If it had been up to â€˜nobleâ€™, liberal fools like yourself to â€˜interrogateâ€™ WWII Japanese and German prisoners, you would either be a lampshade or would be speaking German!&#8221; Your response was the non sequitur: â€œJim, We didnâ€™t torture soldiers in WWII. Get your facts straight. Didnâ€™t even come closeâ€?</p>
<p>And so I responded, by asking you, ONCE AGAIN to please indicate what â€˜factsâ€™ I stated, which you claim to be wrong. And so, in true liberal fashion, once again your specious, non sequitur response was:</p>
<p>&#8220;I donâ€™t object to reasonable pressure, I object to things like waterboarding, which was a war crime in WWII â€œ You also state: â€œNo American GIs ever came close to torturing the enemy during that war, and the burden is upon you to prove otherwise.â€? </p>
<p>Well, Iâ€™m much older than you are (and significantly older than your daddy), but I donâ€™t think alzheimer&#8217;s has set in YET. Have I forgotten something? What is your problem? Where did I state that American GIs tortured the enemy in WWII?  What I did IMPLY was that todaysâ€™ cockeyed PC liberal thinking about the â€˜moral high ground, and &#8220;rights of our enemies&#8221;, and &#8220;panties on heads is torture&#8221; is suicidal at best, and treasonous and seditious at worst (I lean towards the later). It is nothing but leftwing obfuscation, legalism and obstructionism, and serves only to aid and embolden our barbaric enemy, and to throw roadblocks in the path of our military. Do you suppose maybe that just might the goal of the radical left, of which you are so enamored ? </p>
<p>As Jack Web said in the 1960s series â€œDragnetâ€?  - â€œjust the facts, maâ€™am (or man), just the factsâ€?. Youâ€™re probably too young to remember anything about that, but what â€˜factsâ€™ do I need to â€˜get straightâ€™? It looks to me like the burden of â€˜proofâ€™ is upon YOU, to simply step up to the plate like a man, answer the question and state what â€˜factsâ€™ I do not have â€˜straightâ€™!</p>
<p>2.<br />
As for your snide remarks about my spelling â€˜errorsâ€™, I find it noteworthy that you referred to my first post, but not my last. I must confess that you have finally succeeded in getting me to acknowledge that I was at that point (and rightfully so), angered over your support for the agenda and tactics of the radical loony left, which always seems to aid our enemies, and harm America, (how coincidental) while hiding behind our constitution. </p>
<p>By the way  â€“ the American Constitution is NOT a suicide pact! Nor is it, as you contend, simply a â€˜statement of American valuesâ€™ â€“ what nonsense!  Anyone, who portends to understand what it is about, knows that it is written legal contract, created for the purpose of constraining our GOVERNMENT against unlawful actions and abuses against AMERICAN CITIZENS. If you have any doubts about this fact, all you need to do is to spend some time reading the writings of the men who pledged their  lives, fortunes and sacred honor to the cause and establishment of this (formerly) free REPUBLIC (emphasis mine): </p>
<p>â€œThere remains but one other view of this matter to conclude the point. The truth is, after all the declamations we have heard, that the Constitution is itself, in every rational sense, and to every useful purpose, A BILL OF RIGHTS. The several bills of rights in Great Britain form its Constitution, and conversely the constitution of each State is its bill of rights. And the proposed Constitution, if adopted, will be the bill of rights OF THE UNION (notice it does not say of the WORLD!). Is it one object of a bill of rights to declare and specify the political privileges of the CITIZENS in the structure and administration of the government? </p>
<p>Federalist Papers, #84 â€“ Alexander Hamilton</p>
<p>But your socialist side refuses to accept this FACT, because liberals and socialists are citizens of the world  first (except the NAZIs, who were national socialists), and citizens of America second (if at all). You are all for UNLIMITED government power and â€˜democracyâ€™ (mob rule). After all, how else can socialists force their â€˜superior  intellect and wisdomâ€™ on the â€œcommonâ€? people and the â€˜massesâ€™?  Their agenda is clear, hence my anger, hence two or three TYPOS â€“ well excuuuse me!  (relax â€“ not a typo!). Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa! In particular, it is blatantly disingenuous and hypocritical of you to criticize my spelling  and grammar, when God knows you have nothing to crow about in that department! A phrase comes quickly to mind, something about â€œthe pot calling the kettle blackâ€? â€“ hmm.  </p>
<p>But Cohen,  youâ€™re so rational and logical â€“ whatâ€™s YOUR excuse? Following, just a sampling from posts by you - can you find the misspellings and grammatical errors?:</p>
<p>&#8220;and if youâ€™re all for totrure, letâ€™s have that discussion.&#8221;<br />
&#8220;Iâ€™ll say it again. Torture. Perpetreated by Americans.&#8221;<br />
&#8220;Iâ€™ll remind you about the eighth ammendment again:&#8221;<br />
&#8220;writhing in the floor in constant agony. (please enlighten me - how does one &#8220;writhe in the<br />
floor?)<br />
&#8220;Yes, Iâ€™m a 60â€™s retread despite that even a modicum of link-clicking indicates that I graduated high school in 1994.&#8221; (Can you say &#8220;run-on sentence?)</p>
<p>3)<br />
And some of your more ridiculous statements:  </p>
<p>&#8220;.and I have about 50 IQ points on you, so what?&#8221; (now this one is beyond the pale!):</p>
<p>What orifice did you pull that one from? How the h&#8230; do you know what my IQ is? Once again, in typical liberal fashion, you establish a false premise, without supporting facts, and then expand on it to absurdity. FYI, if yours is not significantly greater than 200, Iâ€™m so very sorry, but Iâ€™m afraid your wrong again!</p>
<p>&#8220;Of course America was a different place in 1956. It was, from my perspective and the perspective of a great many minorities, worse &#8230;&#8221;</p>
<p>How would you know? I LIVED it, you certainly didnâ€™t - your daddy was only 10 years old. Oh, I forgot - the government schools, and your confused liberal upbringing taught you so! Well for your edification, we had far better race relations in 1956 than now . Thanks to the radical left and their liberal friends and â€˜useful idiotsâ€™ (&#8221;be one with it - be the ball&#8221;) who have purposely radicalized and corrupted our culture, and our race relations, to wit: â€œEvery minority group in America has been targeted for indoctrination in racial resentment by the &#8220;progressive&#8221; intelligentsia and the duplicitous media. Most of the racial tension in American life now is a product of the reactive matrix created by this racial assault.â€?  Yes, right out of the Communist Manifesto â€“ thesis, antithesis, synthesis.  Anyone who has taken the time to educate themselves on the strategy and tactics of the communist movement in America, and worldwide, would know what that means. I have done my homework, having been heavily involved in anti-communist, pro-American activities and organizations since 1960. I know what I am talking about. Credits to David Horowitz, a  former 60s radical and Bolshevik. He was a major player in the communist-inspired 60s â€˜revolutionâ€™, which began the long road to the destruction of  our American culture, morals  and values. You prate on and on about American values, complaining about  â€˜abuseâ€™ of enemies of America at Gitmo! Why are you not concerned about the purposeful DESTRUCTION of those same values by enemies of America, begun in the 60s and proceeding with increasing vengeance today? Most nauseating, these seditious activities are being spearheaded by the same gang today, but now they are now running the radicalized, seditious Democratic Party?  David Horowitz â€˜got itâ€™, and woke up. When are YOU going to wake up?</p>
<p>&#8220;My father was born in 1946, and by your logic has more perspective and experience than you do, yet agrees with me&#8221;</p>
<p>What nonsense! What makes you think I was born later? Once again, in true liberal fashion, you come to a conclusion with no supporting information! FYI, I was born in 1938. And the fact that he &#8216;agrees with&#8217; you tells me only that you were raised by, and influenced by â€“ another confused  liberal. Why am I not surprised?</p>
<p>&#8220;As for Michael Savage, I donâ€™t care how many PhDâ€™s he has, heâ€™s still a blow-hard&#8221;</p>
<p>Well, far be it from me to defend Savage. I&#8217;m sure he&#8217;s more than capable of defending himself! Why don&#8217;t you step out of the safety net of your little pinko mini-blog, and tell him yourself? It IS a call in talk show, after all! Or don&#8217;t you have the guts? FYI, the number is 1 800-449-8255. If you don&#8217;t have the jewels to call, you can email him. Here is the link code to his site:</p>
<p><a>Paul Revere Society</a></p>
<p>And of course, you are not (a blow-hard) â€“ give me a break!</p>
<p>Itâ€™s obvious that youâ€™re a Democrat - what else could you be? Why else would you support their moronic, seditious leftist positions? If anyone expected anything different than this â€œpanties-on-heads-is-tortureâ€?  crap, from the DNC, now under the full control of ex 60s SDSers, radical socialists, marxists and the peace-at-any-price, America last crowd, they are seriously deluded and misinformed. </p>
<p>And just in case you are tempted to label me a schil for the Republicans, wrong once again. I have no use for them either. The Republican Party is now controlled by the elitist globalist, leftist Rockefeller wing of the party. They are only marginally better, with their betrayal of their conservative, Christian base, their sellout of our southern border and our culture, to invasion by millions of illegals, criminals, gangs and drug dealers from Mexico (and probably thousands of terrorists), while Bush kisses Vincenteâ€™s ass, and marches in lockstep to the  CFR globalist â€˜drumbeatâ€™. </p>
<p>4)<br />
&#8220;Mr. Savage has a PhD in nutritional ethnomedicine (now, thatâ€™s what we call useful) from Berkeley, yet you quote him when he speaks on politics. How is his degree relevant to that&#8221;</p>
<p>Once again you are very wrong, and have grievously understated and misrepresented the truth (either purposely or through ignorance), e.g.</p>
<p>Michael Savage holds Masterâ€™s degrees in BOTH medical botany AND medical anthropology AND earned his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in Epidemiology and Nutritional Science (not â€˜ethnomedicineâ€™ â€“ no such nonsensical degree!). And he has written 18 books, with three  #1 bestsellers. And FYI, he is not my hero â€“ he doesnâ€™t see the big picture yet. But when you minimize and distort the facts, I need to correct you. More to the point: where do you come off questioning his right to comment on matters political, when you by comparison, have only a bachelors in CS (last I checked, polysci was not a component of that course curriculum). Yet YOU have no trouble criticizing him, and proselytizing at great length on your distorted, ill-informed political views! How, may I ask, is YOUR CS degree more relevant?</p>
<p>5)<br />
 â€œIâ€™m also removing the link to your commercial site. You donâ€™t get free page rank from me. Lord knows you need it with a page rank of 2. Maybe the reason itâ€™s so low is that Google is liberalâ€?</p>
<p>Oh, how you wound me! Gee, I think I figured that out a while back.  What makes you think I want or need a backlink from your (wow) PR 4 site? Especially since my link popularity is almost 3000, while yours is an unimpressive 381! My current site is only up about 6 months â€“ my previous one was PR 6, with even higher link popularity than my current site.  But if it makes you feel â€˜superiorâ€™ â€“ go to it, see if I care! When I pass you in PR, Iâ€™ll wave when I go by!</p>
<p>6)<br />
â€œP.S. You might want to work on the usability on that siteâ€¦.â€? (Etc.,etc. ad nauseam.)</p>
<p>Thatâ€™s funny â€“ I havenâ€™t had any complaints from any of my customers about it (how many customers do you have?). Could it possibly be that you are being somewhat petty? Why, I cannot believe that! Not someone as liberal and â€˜tolerantâ€™ as yourself! In any case, I do not feel threatened by your  perverse and petty barbs.  I have over 25 years of software development experience, as a Hardware Systems Diagnostic Software Engineer, Senior Software QA Engineer, Senior Software Test Engineer and Software Consultant I was employed by Potter Instrument, Anderson Jacobson, Intel, Kentrox, and other corporations. I did software QA consulting for the last ten years before my retirement in 2001 â€“ primarily with Intel and Kentrox.  I have been responsible for software program development in numerous macro and assembler languages, including: PL/M, ADA, C, Visual C, Visual C++, Pascal, QuickBASIC, VisualBASIC, Microsoft Assembler, Prime/Honeywell Assembler, C-shell, Bourne-shell, etc., in DOS, Windows, Unix BSD, XENIX, RMXII, RMXIII and Sun environments, as well as test development and engineering with MS Test, Visual Test,  ATE testing, and more. So I am very comfortable in my engineering skin, thank you very much!</p>
<p>Finally, I find it eerily coincidental that I too am a motorcyclist, for many years. Shades of  â€œZen and The Art of  Motorcycle Maintenanceâ€?! Thatâ€™s a little scary! Almost like matter and anti-matter! Most of us are pretty conservative â€“ you would appear to be a rare exception. But ONLY because you are a fellow rider, Iâ€™ll ignore the &#8220;grunting and throwing feces&#8221; crack, and still extend to you â€“ a â€œkeep the shiny side up!â€? (isn&#8217;t that big of me?).</p>
<p>I rest my case.<!-- X-spaminator-strike: whitelist, -3 --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: IP check --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: email check --><!-- X-spaminator-strike: empty field - author url, 1 --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: author url --><!-- X-spaminator-strike: comment body - cialis, 5 --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: comment body --></p>
]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>By: Scrape</title>
		<link>http://www.scohen.org/scohen/2006/09/18/its-not-torture/#comment-9127</link>
		<dc:creator>Scrape</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 Feb 2007 09:04:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.scohen.org/scohen/archives/2006/09/18/its-not-torture/#comment-9127</guid>
		<description>&lt;blockquote&gt;I agree 100% with Amy. She gave a very cogent, rational defense of properly interogating the detainees (islamo-fascist thugs) at gitmo, necessary to gain information to save American lives.&lt;/blockquote&gt;

"Islamo-fascist thugs", of course, is hardly a technical term. It is the same sort of rhetoric as calling the Germans "dirty Huns" during WW2. As I indicated in a previous post, there seems to be little legal ground [currently] for a "tween" position between criminal and prisoner.

Virtually every country ever to wage war has claimed for itself the moral high ground in doing so. The rules of just war, considered long before the Geneva Conventions (eg Augustine), but formally continued through them, establish an external process to help ensure uniformity of conduct -despite- the dehumanizing effect that the propaganda of war tends to have on one's enemies. Among other things, rules for the treatment of prisoners ensure that -we- remain humane towards fellow humans (created, after all, in the image of God--editorial comment, certainly nowhere in the GC) even when everything we -believe- about them causes us to view them as sub-human.

&lt;blockquote&gt;Michael Savage is dead-on when he says â€œliberalism is a mental diseaseâ€?.&lt;/blockquote&gt;

Savage is a neo-conservative, but hardly a conservative. Neo-conservatism is "conservative" only in that it -claims- that its policies will be preserving the nation. Of course, it's willing to not "conserve" anything else (people, materiel, ethics) in its quest. Neo-conservatism is today's Machiavellianism. (and yes, I probably spelled that wrong)

&lt;blockquote&gt;What do you know about torture anyway? I venture to guess that the closest you have come to torture was missing your latteâ€™ for a day!&lt;/blockquote&gt;

Did I miss (I may have) some evidence that you've presented to demonstrate that you -do- know something about torture? If you are a former military man and have undergone some form of resistance training, then I will assume you are familiar with, among other things, the story of Germany's most effective interrogator during WW2, and his techniques.

&lt;blockquote&gt;Besides, where does it say in the Geneva convention that we must grant itâ€™s protections to non-conscript, rag-tag terrorist baby-killers, head-choppers and throat-slitters?&lt;/blockquote&gt;

There are two items that obliquely assist this portion of your argument. First is the question of "war." If we're not in a declared "war", do the Geneva Conventions apply? Yet, that's rather disingenuous, as it relies on the academic separation of a technical definition from its underlying reality, and rests upon the unfortunate consolidation of war-making powers in the hands of one branch of government (Gulf of Tonkin). Second, it relies on the definition of combatant. The Geneva Convention does refer to uniformed soldiers of a state, which arguably the detainees were not (although, certainly one could argue that the Taliban were soldiers of a government state, perhaps without uniforms). Either way, I would point out that consistent application of this principle across the board would have proved potentially unfortunate for the US had the Geneva Convention existed throughout our history: the British could have done with American prisoners as they wished (and perhaps they did) legally during the, by definition, illegal Revolution, as early on at least, Americans were relatively un-uniformed and certainly were not soldiers of a sovereign state. Likewise, the North with respect to the South.

&lt;blockquote&gt;And how nice of you to quote our constitutional prohibition against cruel and inhuman treatment. You know damn well (or should - maybe you donâ€™t!) that those are protections for private American CITIZENS, from our government, not intended for external 6th century barbarians, bent upon destroying your country, family and everthing you and I hold dear (well, maybe not you).&lt;/blockquote&gt;

The reason, of course, that those prohibitions apply only to our own citizens has a much more common-sense basis than the "us-versus-them" rationale that you offer above: our citizens are the only people over whom we have actual, physical jurisdiction. The underlying moral principles upon which the Constitution was built were outlined in the Declaration of Independence, which began referred to the universal equality of man (in a judicial sense). The Constitution was a practical outworking of said principles in the jurisdiction of a political state. We don't apply the legal principles to people in, say, Russia, because we -can't-, not because it would be wrong to. So to say that we oughtn't strive to apply the same principles to others when they come -under- our jurisdiction is to validate hypocrisy.

&lt;blockquote&gt;Just one more thought: I wonder where your noble concern for the so-called â€˜rightsâ€™ of the horribly abused and â€˜torturedâ€™ islamo-fascist vermin will be, when/if their imbedded friends manage to set off one or more nukes in America?&lt;/blockquote&gt;

More Machiavelli? When push comes to shove, we can sidestep moral debate by so-called pragmatism?

&lt;blockquote&gt;Finally, you state that you graduated high school in 1994 - thatâ€™s very nice, I graduated HS in 1956, so I have a few years of living, and perspective, and experience on you.&lt;/blockquote&gt;

True. That establishes potential credibility, but not accuracy/validity.&lt;!-- X-spaminator-strike: whitelist, -3 --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: IP check --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: email check --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: author url --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: comment body --&gt;</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote><p>I agree 100% with Amy. She gave a very cogent, rational defense of properly interogating the detainees (islamo-fascist thugs) at gitmo, necessary to gain information to save American lives.</p></blockquote>
<p>&#8220;Islamo-fascist thugs&#8221;, of course, is hardly a technical term. It is the same sort of rhetoric as calling the Germans &#8220;dirty Huns&#8221; during WW2. As I indicated in a previous post, there seems to be little legal ground [currently] for a &#8220;tween&#8221; position between criminal and prisoner.</p>
<p>Virtually every country ever to wage war has claimed for itself the moral high ground in doing so. The rules of just war, considered long before the Geneva Conventions (eg Augustine), but formally continued through them, establish an external process to help ensure uniformity of conduct -despite- the dehumanizing effect that the propaganda of war tends to have on one&#8217;s enemies. Among other things, rules for the treatment of prisoners ensure that -we- remain humane towards fellow humans (created, after all, in the image of God&#8211;editorial comment, certainly nowhere in the GC) even when everything we -believe- about them causes us to view them as sub-human.</p>
<blockquote><p>Michael Savage is dead-on when he says â€œliberalism is a mental diseaseâ€?.</p></blockquote>
<p>Savage is a neo-conservative, but hardly a conservative. Neo-conservatism is &#8220;conservative&#8221; only in that it -claims- that its policies will be preserving the nation. Of course, it&#8217;s willing to not &#8220;conserve&#8221; anything else (people, materiel, ethics) in its quest. Neo-conservatism is today&#8217;s Machiavellianism. (and yes, I probably spelled that wrong)</p>
<blockquote><p>What do you know about torture anyway? I venture to guess that the closest you have come to torture was missing your latteâ€™ for a day!</p></blockquote>
<p>Did I miss (I may have) some evidence that you&#8217;ve presented to demonstrate that you -do- know something about torture? If you are a former military man and have undergone some form of resistance training, then I will assume you are familiar with, among other things, the story of Germany&#8217;s most effective interrogator during WW2, and his techniques.</p>
<blockquote><p>Besides, where does it say in the Geneva convention that we must grant itâ€™s protections to non-conscript, rag-tag terrorist baby-killers, head-choppers and throat-slitters?</p></blockquote>
<p>There are two items that obliquely assist this portion of your argument. First is the question of &#8220;war.&#8221; If we&#8217;re not in a declared &#8220;war&#8221;, do the Geneva Conventions apply? Yet, that&#8217;s rather disingenuous, as it relies on the academic separation of a technical definition from its underlying reality, and rests upon the unfortunate consolidation of war-making powers in the hands of one branch of government (Gulf of Tonkin). Second, it relies on the definition of combatant. The Geneva Convention does refer to uniformed soldiers of a state, which arguably the detainees were not (although, certainly one could argue that the Taliban were soldiers of a government state, perhaps without uniforms). Either way, I would point out that consistent application of this principle across the board would have proved potentially unfortunate for the US had the Geneva Convention existed throughout our history: the British could have done with American prisoners as they wished (and perhaps they did) legally during the, by definition, illegal Revolution, as early on at least, Americans were relatively un-uniformed and certainly were not soldiers of a sovereign state. Likewise, the North with respect to the South.</p>
<blockquote><p>And how nice of you to quote our constitutional prohibition against cruel and inhuman treatment. You know damn well (or should - maybe you donâ€™t!) that those are protections for private American CITIZENS, from our government, not intended for external 6th century barbarians, bent upon destroying your country, family and everthing you and I hold dear (well, maybe not you).</p></blockquote>
<p>The reason, of course, that those prohibitions apply only to our own citizens has a much more common-sense basis than the &#8220;us-versus-them&#8221; rationale that you offer above: our citizens are the only people over whom we have actual, physical jurisdiction. The underlying moral principles upon which the Constitution was built were outlined in the Declaration of Independence, which began referred to the universal equality of man (in a judicial sense). The Constitution was a practical outworking of said principles in the jurisdiction of a political state. We don&#8217;t apply the legal principles to people in, say, Russia, because we -can&#8217;t-, not because it would be wrong to. So to say that we oughtn&#8217;t strive to apply the same principles to others when they come -under- our jurisdiction is to validate hypocrisy.</p>
<blockquote><p>Just one more thought: I wonder where your noble concern for the so-called â€˜rightsâ€™ of the horribly abused and â€˜torturedâ€™ islamo-fascist vermin will be, when/if their imbedded friends manage to set off one or more nukes in America?</p></blockquote>
<p>More Machiavelli? When push comes to shove, we can sidestep moral debate by so-called pragmatism?</p>
<blockquote><p>Finally, you state that you graduated high school in 1994 - thatâ€™s very nice, I graduated HS in 1956, so I have a few years of living, and perspective, and experience on you.</p></blockquote>
<p>True. That establishes potential credibility, but not accuracy/validity.<!-- X-spaminator-strike: whitelist, -3 --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: IP check --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: email check --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: author url --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: comment body --></p>
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		<title>By: scohen</title>
		<link>http://www.scohen.org/scohen/2006/09/18/its-not-torture/#comment-9025</link>
		<dc:creator>scohen</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 18 Feb 2007 03:09:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.scohen.org/scohen/archives/2006/09/18/its-not-torture/#comment-9025</guid>
		<description>Jim,
&lt;blockquote&gt;
you re-read my comments, and then please indicate what â€˜factsâ€™ I stated, which you claim to be wrong
&lt;/blockquote&gt;

I don't object to reasonable pressure, I object to things like waterboarding, which &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding#Legality"&gt;was a war crime in WWII&lt;/a&gt;. No American GIs ever came close to torturing the enemy during that war, and the burden is upon you to prove otherwise.  Find an instance where Americans used one of the methods enumerated above by Mark.

&lt;blockquote&gt;
Didnâ€™t even come close.â€? is an incomplete sentence - where is the subject?
&lt;/blockquote&gt;

Thank you. Your grammar pedantry is greatly appreciated. I went through your post and cleaned up all the spelling errors without calling attention to them, would you prefer that I put them back? Someone who fails to spell Amy correctly really shouldn't bring up grammar problems. Do I need to remind you of the conversational nature of blog posts?

&lt;blockquote&gt;
IN MY OPINION, the likely result would have been at best, many more allied casualties, or at worst we would have lost the war. 
&lt;/blockquote&gt;

And that opinion is based on what, exactly? Lost the war eh? Even with atomic weapons? Please, do us all a favor and don't become a history teacher.

&lt;blockquote&gt;
why must I have to explain everything to you?
&lt;/blockquote&gt;

It must be your massive intellect and the fact that I'm such an idiot. I'm an airhead, remember? Maybe if you used smaller words I'd be able to understand. Then again, even that would confuse me (being a fool and all). Try grunting and throwing feces --hopefully that'll get through to me. 

&lt;blockquote&gt;
God save us all from marxist fools and â€˜useful idiotsâ€™ such as yourself - you will get us all killed!
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
So you believe all this because you're afraid of the terrorists? Awesome, let's compromise our values then! We have nothing to fear but fear itself --except for terrorists, in which case we can throw all our civil liberties in the waste basket. Jim, I beg you, pray to God to change my beliefs. I guarantee it'll work. 

&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;My comments stem not from anger, but from contempt &lt;/strong&gt; for your airhead, liberal ideas. Of course, &lt;strong&gt;I am angry&lt;/strong&gt; that our country and our culture has become so perverted by thinking such as yours.
&lt;/blockquote&gt;

How very consistent of you. And pleasantly nuanced to boot. (look, I started a sentence with 'and'!!!)

&lt;blockquote&gt;
Finally, you state that you graduated high school in 1994 - thatâ€™s very nice, I graduated HS in 1956, so I have a few years of living, and perspective, and experience on you.
&lt;/blockquote&gt;

..and I have about 50 IQ points on you, so what? Of course America was a different place in 1956. It was, from my perspective and the perspective of a great many minorities, &lt;em&gt;worse&lt;/em&gt; then. My point was that I'm not a hippie retread as you claimed and that you don't know what you're talking about. You would have had to click a single link to find out that your accusation was wrong, but you didn't even bother. Why should I trust your other opinions then?  The logic of this argument doesn't even make sense. My father was born in 1946, and by your logic has more perspective and experience than you do, yet agrees with me. Living a certain amount of time doesn't guarantee your opinions will align a certain way, and it certainly doesn't mean that they are more valid than mine. Otherwise, we'd all have to kowtow to the oldest person in the world.
Jim, notice how many times  you've called me names, and notice how many times I've called you names. You might be older, but I'll leave it up to the audience to decide who's more mature. 

You also might want to re-read that 'small minds' thing above. Internalize it. Become one with it. Be the ball.

As for Michael Savage, I don't care how many PhD's he has, he's still a blow-hard, and you still don't have a leg to stand on. Having a PhD doesn't make one infallible, especially when the degree is outside of the field of conversation. Mr. Savage has a PhD in nutritional ethnomedicine (now, that's what we call useful) from Berkeley, yet you quote him when he speaks on politics. How is his degree relevant to that?  You shouldn't rely on others to make your case for you, stand on your own two feet and try to address any of Mark, Scrape or my points --because you haven't even tried. You're just so angry --sorry, full of &lt;em&gt;contempt&lt;/em&gt;-- that it clouds your thinking. You should come back when you've calmed down a bit and can discuss things in a rational manner.

I'm also removing the link to your commercial site. You don't get free page rank from me. Lord knows you need it with a page rank of 2. Maybe the reason it's so low is that Google is liberal.

Damn liberals.

P.S. You might want to work on the usability on that site. And ditch the center tags. And possibly add more tabs at the bottom of the page. And go back to 1998 and get more graphics. And try putting the products at the top of the page where they are, you know, useful. Seriously, try adding a fifth electronics category, because they're not obtuse enough. Every web site worth its salt has at least five electronics categories (it's called web 2.0). Amazon just put in Electronics37, you have a long way to go to catch up --better get cracking.

P.P.S. I know several of the above sentences start with 'and'. Please don't comment on it.

&lt;!-- X-spaminator-strike: whitelist, -3 --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: IP check --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: email check --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: author url --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: comment body --&gt;</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Jim,</p>
<blockquote><p>
you re-read my comments, and then please indicate what â€˜factsâ€™ I stated, which you claim to be wrong
</p></blockquote>
<p>I don&#8217;t object to reasonable pressure, I object to things like waterboarding, which <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding#Legality">was a war crime in WWII</a>. No American GIs ever came close to torturing the enemy during that war, and the burden is upon you to prove otherwise.  Find an instance where Americans used one of the methods enumerated above by Mark.</p>
<blockquote><p>
Didnâ€™t even come close.â€? is an incomplete sentence - where is the subject?
</p></blockquote>
<p>Thank you. Your grammar pedantry is greatly appreciated. I went through your post and cleaned up all the spelling errors without calling attention to them, would you prefer that I put them back? Someone who fails to spell Amy correctly really shouldn&#8217;t bring up grammar problems. Do I need to remind you of the conversational nature of blog posts?</p>
<blockquote><p>
IN MY OPINION, the likely result would have been at best, many more allied casualties, or at worst we would have lost the war.
</p></blockquote>
<p>And that opinion is based on what, exactly? Lost the war eh? Even with atomic weapons? Please, do us all a favor and don&#8217;t become a history teacher.</p>
<blockquote><p>
why must I have to explain everything to you?
</p></blockquote>
<p>It must be your massive intellect and the fact that I&#8217;m such an idiot. I&#8217;m an airhead, remember? Maybe if you used smaller words I&#8217;d be able to understand. Then again, even that would confuse me (being a fool and all). Try grunting and throwing feces &#8211;hopefully that&#8217;ll get through to me. </p>
<blockquote><p>
God save us all from marxist fools and â€˜useful idiotsâ€™ such as yourself - you will get us all killed!
</p></blockquote>
<p>So you believe all this because you&#8217;re afraid of the terrorists? Awesome, let&#8217;s compromise our values then! We have nothing to fear but fear itself &#8211;except for terrorists, in which case we can throw all our civil liberties in the waste basket. Jim, I beg you, pray to God to change my beliefs. I guarantee it&#8217;ll work. </p>
<blockquote><p>
<strong>My comments stem not from anger, but from contempt </strong> for your airhead, liberal ideas. Of course, <strong>I am angry</strong> that our country and our culture has become so perverted by thinking such as yours.
</p></blockquote>
<p>How very consistent of you. And pleasantly nuanced to boot. (look, I started a sentence with &#8216;and&#8217;!!!)</p>
<blockquote><p>
Finally, you state that you graduated high school in 1994 - thatâ€™s very nice, I graduated HS in 1956, so I have a few years of living, and perspective, and experience on you.
</p></blockquote>
<p>..and I have about 50 IQ points on you, so what? Of course America was a different place in 1956. It was, from my perspective and the perspective of a great many minorities, <em>worse</em> then. My point was that I&#8217;m not a hippie retread as you claimed and that you don&#8217;t know what you&#8217;re talking about. You would have had to click a single link to find out that your accusation was wrong, but you didn&#8217;t even bother. Why should I trust your other opinions then?  The logic of this argument doesn&#8217;t even make sense. My father was born in 1946, and by your logic has more perspective and experience than you do, yet agrees with me. Living a certain amount of time doesn&#8217;t guarantee your opinions will align a certain way, and it certainly doesn&#8217;t mean that they are more valid than mine. Otherwise, we&#8217;d all have to kowtow to the oldest person in the world.<br />
Jim, notice how many times  you&#8217;ve called me names, and notice how many times I&#8217;ve called you names. You might be older, but I&#8217;ll leave it up to the audience to decide who&#8217;s more mature. </p>
<p>You also might want to re-read that &#8217;small minds&#8217; thing above. Internalize it. Become one with it. Be the ball.</p>
<p>As for Michael Savage, I don&#8217;t care how many PhD&#8217;s he has, he&#8217;s still a blow-hard, and you still don&#8217;t have a leg to stand on. Having a PhD doesn&#8217;t make one infallible, especially when the degree is outside of the field of conversation. Mr. Savage has a PhD in nutritional ethnomedicine (now, that&#8217;s what we call useful) from Berkeley, yet you quote him when he speaks on politics. How is his degree relevant to that?  You shouldn&#8217;t rely on others to make your case for you, stand on your own two feet and try to address any of Mark, Scrape or my points &#8211;because you haven&#8217;t even tried. You&#8217;re just so angry &#8211;sorry, full of <em>contempt</em>&#8211; that it clouds your thinking. You should come back when you&#8217;ve calmed down a bit and can discuss things in a rational manner.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m also removing the link to your commercial site. You don&#8217;t get free page rank from me. Lord knows you need it with a page rank of 2. Maybe the reason it&#8217;s so low is that Google is liberal.</p>
<p>Damn liberals.</p>
<p>P.S. You might want to work on the usability on that site. And ditch the center tags. And possibly add more tabs at the bottom of the page. And go back to 1998 and get more graphics. And try putting the products at the top of the page where they are, you know, useful. Seriously, try adding a fifth electronics category, because they&#8217;re not obtuse enough. Every web site worth its salt has at least five electronics categories (it&#8217;s called web 2.0). Amazon just put in Electronics37, you have a long way to go to catch up &#8211;better get cracking.</p>
<p>P.P.S. I know several of the above sentences start with &#8216;and&#8217;. Please don&#8217;t comment on it.</p>
<p><!-- X-spaminator-strike: whitelist, -3 --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: IP check --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: email check --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: author url --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: comment body --></p>
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		<title>By: Jim</title>
		<link>http://www.scohen.org/scohen/2006/09/18/its-not-torture/#comment-8937</link>
		<dc:creator>Jim</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 16 Feb 2007 21:02:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.scohen.org/scohen/archives/2006/09/18/its-not-torture/#comment-8937</guid>
		<description>"Jim, We didnâ€™t torture soldiers in WWII. Get your facts straight. Didnâ€™t even come close." 

First, Cohen, I suggest you re-read my comments, and then please indicate what 'facts' I stated, which you claim to be wrong. What 'facts' am I wrong about? My statement was "If it had been up to â€˜nobleâ€™, liberal fools like yourself to â€˜interrogateâ€™ WWII Japanese and German prisoners, you would either be a lampshade or would be speaking German!" This is tiresome - why must I have to explain everything to you? That is not a fact, it is simply my OPINION as to the result of allowing fools such as yourself to conduct interrogations in WWII. IN MY OPINION, the likely result would have been at best, many more allied casualties, or at worst we would have lost the war. Oh, by the way "Didn't even come close." is an incomplete sentence - where is the subject?

What part of that simple statement do you have such difficulty in understanding? In particular, where do I say that we 'tortured' them? Or is your superior, 'noble' liberal 'intellect' not able to understand the difference between 'torture' and application of reasonable physical discomfort and mental pressure to gather information  which may be vital to saving American lives? Oh, but I forgot - liberals are more concerned about "noble pricipals', 'moral highground' and protecting our ENEMIES rights and 'feelings' than about anything so mundane as doing the same for our own country and citizens. God save us all from marxist fools and 'useful idiots' such as yourself - you will get us all killed!

Secondly, your interpretation of my comments as 'angry' is just wrong. My comments stem not from anger, but from contempt for your airhead, liberal ideas. Of course, I am angry that our country and our culture has become so perverted by thinking such as yours - what right thinking American would not be angry! 

Finally, you state that you graduated high school in 1994 - that's very nice, I graduated HS in 1956, so I have a few years of living, and perspective, and experience on you. America was a different place then. Had thinking such as yours prevailed then, we would probably not be having this conversation. Finally, in response to your comments about Michael Savage, how many PHDs and New York Times (yuk) #1 best-seller books do YOU have sir. I stand by my original comments. Have a nice day.&lt;!-- X-spaminator-strike: whitelist, -3 --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: IP check --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: email check --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: author url --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: comment body --&gt;</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&#8220;Jim, We didnâ€™t torture soldiers in WWII. Get your facts straight. Didnâ€™t even come close.&#8221; </p>
<p>First, Cohen, I suggest you re-read my comments, and then please indicate what &#8216;facts&#8217; I stated, which you claim to be wrong. What &#8216;facts&#8217; am I wrong about? My statement was &#8220;If it had been up to â€˜nobleâ€™, liberal fools like yourself to â€˜interrogateâ€™ WWII Japanese and German prisoners, you would either be a lampshade or would be speaking German!&#8221; This is tiresome - why must I have to explain everything to you? That is not a fact, it is simply my OPINION as to the result of allowing fools such as yourself to conduct interrogations in WWII. IN MY OPINION, the likely result would have been at best, many more allied casualties, or at worst we would have lost the war. Oh, by the way &#8220;Didn&#8217;t even come close.&#8221; is an incomplete sentence - where is the subject?</p>
<p>What part of that simple statement do you have such difficulty in understanding? In particular, where do I say that we &#8216;tortured&#8217; them? Or is your superior, &#8216;noble&#8217; liberal &#8216;intellect&#8217; not able to understand the difference between &#8216;torture&#8217; and application of reasonable physical discomfort and mental pressure to gather information  which may be vital to saving American lives? Oh, but I forgot - liberals are more concerned about &#8220;noble pricipals&#8217;, &#8216;moral highground&#8217; and protecting our ENEMIES rights and &#8216;feelings&#8217; than about anything so mundane as doing the same for our own country and citizens. God save us all from marxist fools and &#8216;useful idiots&#8217; such as yourself - you will get us all killed!</p>
<p>Secondly, your interpretation of my comments as &#8216;angry&#8217; is just wrong. My comments stem not from anger, but from contempt for your airhead, liberal ideas. Of course, I am angry that our country and our culture has become so perverted by thinking such as yours - what right thinking American would not be angry! </p>
<p>Finally, you state that you graduated high school in 1994 - that&#8217;s very nice, I graduated HS in 1956, so I have a few years of living, and perspective, and experience on you. America was a different place then. Had thinking such as yours prevailed then, we would probably not be having this conversation. Finally, in response to your comments about Michael Savage, how many PHDs and New York Times (yuk) #1 best-seller books do YOU have sir. I stand by my original comments. Have a nice day.<!-- X-spaminator-strike: whitelist, -3 --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: IP check --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: email check --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: author url --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: comment body --></p>
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		<title>By: scohen</title>
		<link>http://www.scohen.org/scohen/2006/09/18/its-not-torture/#comment-5500</link>
		<dc:creator>scohen</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 13 Dec 2006 01:24:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.scohen.org/scohen/archives/2006/09/18/its-not-torture/#comment-5500</guid>
		<description>&lt;blockquote&gt;
Additional point â€” some would argue that repeated feeding of filet Oâ€™ Fish to detainees also constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
&lt;/blockquote&gt;

If it's filet o' fugu, I wholeheartedly agree.

Seriously, nice post. Either you ignore what's going on, or you admit that we torture people or at the very least show depraved indifference when we hand people over to Syria to be tortured.&lt;!-- X-spaminator-strike: whitelist, -3 --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: IP check --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: email check --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: author url --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: comment body --&gt;</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote><p>
Additional point â€” some would argue that repeated feeding of filet Oâ€™ Fish to detainees also constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
</p></blockquote>
<p>If it&#8217;s filet o&#8217; fugu, I wholeheartedly agree.</p>
<p>Seriously, nice post. Either you ignore what&#8217;s going on, or you admit that we torture people or at the very least show depraved indifference when we hand people over to Syria to be tortured.<!-- X-spaminator-strike: whitelist, -3 --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: IP check --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: email check --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: author url --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: comment body --></p>
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		<title>By: Mark Dinan</title>
		<link>http://www.scohen.org/scohen/2006/09/18/its-not-torture/#comment-5488</link>
		<dc:creator>Mark Dinan</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Dec 2006 16:35:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.scohen.org/scohen/archives/2006/09/18/its-not-torture/#comment-5488</guid>
		<description>The right wing reaction:

* The detainees aren't *really* tortured any more than we are when we travel: prolonged standing, little sleep, lack of grooming.

* Anyone who disagrees with the Bush administration and their pro-torture policy is a wuss who wouldn't stand up to a bully who is hitting old ladies and stealing candy from children.

Seems like there is a disconnect once more between the right wing  and reality. What the USA has been doing is:

* Water boarding
* Beating detainees
* Outsourcing  extreme torture to third party contractors in the Middle-East, Syria, etc
* Prolonged sleep deprivation.

It is completely false to argue that the USA has not been torturing people . The intellectually honest way of presenting this is saying "Hell, yea! I am for torturing people. I do not believe in due process, Habeas Corpus, or key parts of the Bill of Rights."  

Additional point -- some would argue that repeated feeding of filet O' Fish to detainees also constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: IP check --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: email check --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: author check --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-strike: empty field - author url, 1 --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: author url --&gt;&lt;!-- X-spaminator-passed: comment body --&gt;</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The right wing reaction:</p>
<p>* The detainees aren&#8217;t *really* tortured any more than we are when we travel: prolonged standing, little sleep, lack of grooming.</p>
<p>* Anyone who disagrees with the Bush administration and their pro-torture policy is a wuss who wouldn&#8217;t stand up to a bully who is hitting old ladies and stealing candy from children.</p>
<p>Seems like there is a disconnect once more between the right wing  and reality. What the USA has been doing is:</p>
<p>* Water boarding<br />
* Beating detainees<br />
* Outsourcing  extreme torture to third party contractors in the Middle-East, Syria, etc<br />
* Prolonged sleep deprivation.</p>
<p>It is completely false to argue that the USA has not been torturing people . The intellectually honest way of presenting this is saying &#8220;Hell, yea! I am for torturing people. I do not believe in due process, Habeas Corpus, or key parts of the Bill of Rights.&#8221;  </p>
<p>Additional point &#8212; some would argue that repeated feeding of filet O&#8217; Fish to detainees also constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.<!-- X-spaminator-passed: IP check --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: email check --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: author check --><!-- X-spaminator-strike: empty field - author url, 1 --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: author url --><!-- X-spaminator-passed: comment body --></p>
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		<title>By: scohen</title>
		<link>http://www.scohen.org/scohen/2006/09/18/its-not-torture/#comment-5451</link>
		<dc:creator>scohen</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 11 Dec 2006 15:50:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.scohen.org/scohen/archives/2006/09/18/its-not-torture/#comment-5451</guid>
		<description>Oh, one more thought Jim,
How about the people who are tortured because they were wrongly accused of terrorism? What do you say to them?

Learn about human rights and basic manners, then come back when you have a leg to stand on.

And while you're educating yourself, read Scrape's last comment. He is a military person who clearly understands what he's fighting for.
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		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Oh, one more thought Jim,<br />
How about the people who are tortured because they were wrongly accused of terrorism? What do you say to them?</p>
<p>Learn about human rights and basic manners, then come back when you have a leg to stand on.</p>
<p>And while you&#8217;re educating yourself, read Scrape&#8217;s last comment. He is a military person who clearly understands what he&#8217;s fighting for.<br />
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