We interrupt your lefty blog reading experience to bring you this important information about to be crammed down your throat by every Wingnuttistan outfit imaginable: http://www.reachm.com/amstreet/archives/2009/04/22/they-tell-us-that-torture-works/
Also from American Street:
Ali Soufan refutes the claim that torturing prisoners was effective. He makes the case, simply, that the use of torture harmed our national security.
This, from an interrogator with direct experience with the techniques, the men being questioned, and the actual intel.
And let us keep in mind why Bush administration officials will continue to make the claim that the torture was useful and necessary.
That's all they've got.
They're aware that there's a push to have them prosecuted as war criminals. So they have to try and pre-emptively defend themselves, hoping to avoid such a trial.
They're not really concerned with national security. They're just trying to cover their asses. And as long as people like Mr. Soufan keep speaking up, they're likely to find their ain't enough silk in China to handle asses that supersized.
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Ryan Grim at the Huffington Post reports:
In a meeting with House Republicans at the White House Thursday, President Obama reminded the minority that the last time he reached out to them, they reacted with zero votes — twice — for his stimulus package….
Obama also offered payback for that goose egg. A major overhaul of the health care system, he told the Republican leadership, would be done using a legislative process known as reconciliation, meaning that the GOP won't be able to filibuster it.
Congress has until October 15 to pass health care or student lending reform under the normal process. If it doesn't, reconciliation can be used to eliminate the 60-vote requirement.
Commenting on the same news, Chris Bowers at Open Left says:
Without the filibuster available to Republicans, it is highly likely that in 2009 Democrats will succeed where they failed in 1994. This might be the biggest legislative victory for progressives in, well, about as long as I can remember.
However, Grim at HuffPo notes that the Repubs have a plan to counterattack — by whining!
A GOP source familiar with the meeting said that the president was extremely sensitive — even "thin-skinned" — to the fact that the stimulus bill received no GOP votes in the House. He continually brought it up throughout the meeting.
Look for the "thin-skinned" meme to start getting heavy airplay at Drudge and establishment media outlets near you.
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When I heard that Sean Hannity had jauntily offered to allow himself to be waterboarded, I confess to a moment's small, viciously gleeful anticipation. However, archy makes a good case for not doing it. After all, if it really is torture, and torture is wrong, and we argue that we shouldn't even be doing it to putative terrorists…we also shouldn't be doing it to the small, weak-minded, and stupid.
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Verbatim Bill "Wrong About Everything" Kristol:
Of course, everyone's first choice for president in 2012 is Dick Cheney. But Liz Cheney's boffo performance yesterday in the lefties' den, MSNBC, defending sensible interrogation policies in the war on terror, surely puts her in contention for the runner-up position.
And if you think this is the stupidest thing they have ever posted over at The Weekly Standard, then you probably forgot that Goldfarb still writes there:
As to the morality of the methods used, I don't see anything immoral about smacking around a terrorist or making him sit in the cold or dunking him in the water, but you can argue it either way. Still, I wonder why the same people squealing about the alleged moral indignity to which these monsters were subjected are the same people who want the government to keep morality out of their bedrooms and doctors' offices. Why should the government be forbidden from making a moral judgment about gay marriage or abortion but compelled to make a moral judgment about the treatment of terrorists plotting to murder Americans citizens?
Michael Goldfarb's parents should ask Princeton for a full refund. Maybe even sue for damages...
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Former GOP lawmaker and KKK member arrested in Prague
…Fisting!
Yes, this is the actual and official logo for the next anti-tax event the mouth-breathers are planning.
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It's been confirmed that at least eight of the students "probably" had swine flu, city health officials say. Two cases confirmed in Kansas City.
People are so mobile now, this could really be a disaster:
The New York City health department dispatched a team of investigators to a private school in Queens on Friday after dozens of students complained of symptoms that officials believed were consistent with a strain of swine flu that has swept Mexico City.
The agency said about 75 students at St. Francis Preparatory School had complained Thursday of nausea, fever, dizziness and aches and pains. Several of the students were said to have recently traveled to Mexico, where as many as 61 people have died and possibly hundreds more have been infected in an outbreak of swine flu in recent weeks.
Gov. Rick Perry today in a precautionary measure requested the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provide 37,430 courses of antiviral medications from the Strategic National Stockpile to Texas to prevent the spread of swine flu. Currently, three cases of swine flu have been confirmed in Texas.
According to a recent DailyKos/Research 2000 poll, "37% of Texans and 51% of Lone Star Republicans agree with Gov. Rick Perry's recent suggestion that Texas may need to leave the United States. ... Imagine the outcries of patriotism (or lack thereof) if Massachusetts or New York hinted at secession during the Bush years," writes NBC's Mark Murray. And imagine how Texas would deal with the swine flu without federal assistance.
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