*sigh* Another political rant *sigh*
I was realizing that my journal tends to veer a bit in to politics, but some of that just gets in to a sense of privacy about what I post online. Many of my own most interesting stories involve other people, and even if it is innocuous enough, I have a bit of a worry about accidentally gossiping something in such a public forum without previous permission. So it tends to make my LJ a bit cerebral and dry. I find my more personal posts are the responses to other people's posts, as I riff off of their more personal (and often interesting) take on day to day life. Politics provides me with a subject where I can talk passionately about something that deals with no person's personal life except for the landscape inside of my own head (which I'm happy to share). So my apologies in advance if my political rants get old.
So what inspired me to post today was reading of Bush's veto of the bill that would have prevented the CIA from using waterboarding. He said, "This is no time for Congress to abandon practices that have a proven track record of keeping America safe." Gaah! Where to start? First, torture doesn't give you reliable information so it isn't a useful tool. Second (and probably most importantly), the morality of being the country that endorses torturing of its opponents makes me want to take up violent opposition against the government. Only knowing that this government has less than a year to exist keeps me from feeling morally obligated to take up arms to try to topple these oppressors by violence. I take heart in knowing that McCain himself was tortured in Vietnam and that neither Clinton nor Obama would support this practice, so I really can't see any of the possible future presidents supporting this abomination. Of course any legislator who voted against the act should be voted out of office goes without saying. Unfortunately the system is rigged to preserve incumbency and is getting more and more rigged every day. I say that if Bush thinks that this is an ok practice that he should be subjected to it himself. Just like someone who wants to own a taser should get shocked themselves before they consider shocking anyone else. Waterboard Bush, and then let him watch Laura and his daughters and his mother have this done to them. If he's convinced it isn't torture then, perhaps he'd have some legitimacy to his claim. Heck, you could waterboard him until he admitted that waterboarding was torture.... Lastly, torture is a crime against humanity. Bush here admits that he endorses torture and has authorized its past and future use. He needs to be hauled in front of the Hague. Good for Brattleboro, Vermont for issuing arrest warrants for Bush and Cheney.
Well, off to go work on stained glass: utilize some of this energy to create something lasting, beautiful and good in the world and offset some of that darkness.
So what inspired me to post today was reading of Bush's veto of the bill that would have prevented the CIA from using waterboarding. He said, "This is no time for Congress to abandon practices that have a proven track record of keeping America safe." Gaah! Where to start? First, torture doesn't give you reliable information so it isn't a useful tool. Second (and probably most importantly), the morality of being the country that endorses torturing of its opponents makes me want to take up violent opposition against the government. Only knowing that this government has less than a year to exist keeps me from feeling morally obligated to take up arms to try to topple these oppressors by violence. I take heart in knowing that McCain himself was tortured in Vietnam and that neither Clinton nor Obama would support this practice, so I really can't see any of the possible future presidents supporting this abomination. Of course any legislator who voted against the act should be voted out of office goes without saying. Unfortunately the system is rigged to preserve incumbency and is getting more and more rigged every day. I say that if Bush thinks that this is an ok practice that he should be subjected to it himself. Just like someone who wants to own a taser should get shocked themselves before they consider shocking anyone else. Waterboard Bush, and then let him watch Laura and his daughters and his mother have this done to them. If he's convinced it isn't torture then, perhaps he'd have some legitimacy to his claim. Heck, you could waterboard him until he admitted that waterboarding was torture.... Lastly, torture is a crime against humanity. Bush here admits that he endorses torture and has authorized its past and future use. He needs to be hauled in front of the Hague. Good for Brattleboro, Vermont for issuing arrest warrants for Bush and Cheney.
Well, off to go work on stained glass: utilize some of this energy to create something lasting, beautiful and good in the world and offset some of that darkness.