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May 1st, 2008
02:52 pm - Ron Paul's Manifesto
I don't know if anyone else here is concerned with the constant erosion of our freedoms, by this administration or others, but for me it is a huge, major issue. "Who best protects my rights" is how I tend to decide who gets my vote at election time.
Anyway, as the only politician who really seems to give a damn about the constitution and preserving it, Ron Paul's new book is probably a worthwhile read. You may not agree with his politics in general, but for the constitutional issues alone it is worth a shot. I'm ordering mine as soon as I get paid.
Amazon link: The Revolution: A Manifesto
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November 5th, 2007
07:03 pm - Humorous... Sean Hannity says 911 commision & CIA's comments are "Conspiracy Theory"
Heh... how revealing. Here's a transcript from a call to the Sean Hannity program regarding Ron Paul.
Hannity: Mitzy, hi.
Mitzy: Hi Mr. Hannity. I was calling to let you know that I agree completely with everything you’ve said regarding amnesty today and the rule of law. However that only makes me all the more confused as to why it is you’re smearing Ron Paul and trying to silence him.
Hannity: I’m not trying to silence Ron Paul I put him on Hannity and Colmes after the debate the other night. I just had a disagreement. I find his remarks offensive. I find him totally and completely outrageous and wrong. I think he’s ill-informed. Look here’s what he said:
Paul [recording]: They’re attacking us because we’ve been over there. We’ve been bombing Iraq for ten years.
Hannity: I’m sorry I find his analysis naive, ill-informed, and frankly ridiculous. I’m not trying to silence him, I put him on TV that night.
Mitzy: Well his comments come directly from the CIA’s own comments and the 9/11 commission report.
Hannity: Listen, listen, go believe whatever conspiracy you want. I’m not going to sit here and waste time on the air arguing with you. You believe that…let me tell you something. You got to understand this enemy is coming here. They’ve dedicated their lives to destroying us. And if you don’t get that and Ron Paul doesn’t get that I just gently disagree.
Um... the 911 report is a "conspiracy"? If that is Ron Paul's position, which is basically saying the same as the CIA and the 911 Commission report, doesn't that mean that Hannity thinks those sources are "naive, ill-informed, and frankly ridiculous"? HAhahahahaha.
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October 30th, 2007
11:57 pm - I listen to a lot of talk radio.
I listen to a lot of talk radio, aka "right wing" talk radio. I used to listen to it mainly on lunchbreak and on the drive home. I now also listen to it on the drive in, since my local radio station filled the gap left by Imus with Bill Bennett.
I know others who also listen to these programs, and parrot the content back faithfully as fact. I find it disturbing, because some of these folks consider themselves independent thinkers. They have uncovered the truth of the matter, by cleverly listening to talk radio. I like to take it with a grain of salt myself.
It is in that spirit that Sean Hannity's flippant cheerfulization of waterboarding got to bothering me. "You put a rag over someone's face, and pour water on it, and it simulates drowning." I'm paraphrasing, but that doesn't sound so bad. Heck, I remember being a kid, lying in the tub, and pulling a wet washcloth over my face. I could see how it could be a little spooky if someone was splashing you, but it wasn't torture. Yet... why the big fuss then? Of course, that is what Bush/Cheney and the talk radio folks are arguing, "What's the big deal with pouring some water on a guy?"
"Simulated drowning", I keep hearing that phrase a lot, sometimes coupled with the word "harmless".
Here's an excerpt from someone with an educated and strongly opposing viewpoint:"Waterboarding is a controlled drowning that, in the American model, occurs under the watch of a doctor, a psychologist, an interrogator and a trained strap-in/strap-out team. It does not simulate drowning, as the lungs are actually filling with water. There is no way to simulate that. The victim is drowning. ... A team doctor watches the quantity of water that is ingested and for the physiological signs which show when the drowning effect goes from painful psychological experience, to horrific suffocating punishment to the final death spiral.
Waterboarding is slow motion suffocation with enough time to contemplate the inevitability of black out and expiration –usually the person goes into hysterics on the board. For the uninitiated, it is horrifying to watch and if it goes wrong, it can lead straight to terminal hypoxia. When done right it is controlled death. Its lack of physical scarring allows the victim to recover and be threaten with its use again and again."
--Malcolm Nance, former Master Instructor and Chief of Training at the US Navy Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape School (SERE)
I find the following article well thought out, you should give it a read:
http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2007/10/waterboarding-is-torture-perio/
Another article, with testimony from a victim of waterboarding at the hands of the Japanese, can be found here:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_mallick/20061106.html
Food for thought.
Luckily I post mostly late at night, so it's easily ignored.
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