My Recent Comments

• Sockrattis, There is, in my view, no down side to speaking out and condemning torture. Consider what happened during the Third Reich when Roehm was killed. (The Night of the Long Knives.) In that case, many officers who served Hitler as front line commanders were murdered. Many were tortured. No doubt, not a few of those officers were "good" Germans." Many, if not most, may not have spoken or plotted against Hitler; their names fell into Gestapo hands via torture. Put another way, the question was not whether an individual or a group happened to be an active or outspoken threat to the regime. The deciding factor has to do with the perception and purposes of those in power. Something similar happened in Stalin's Russia. Many of those killed or ended up in a gulags were loyal and important members of the Socialist Revolution; some were innocent foreigners whose only mistake was nothing more than showing up. ... It is a well known fact that those who advocate torture often justify themselves by claiming to need--at any cost-- vital information. Is this true? In Chili, Argentina, etc. torture was employed to threaten, intimidate and above all SILENCE South American populations. That's exactly why beatings, electric shock, rape, water boarding, etc., etc., etc. was carried out in buildings located on public beaches or near crowded market places. (A number of the techniques employed during "interrogations" have been traced back to Field Manuals used by U.S. agencies.)Then, consider how members of the press are frequently arrested, tortured and killed? Again, my point: We are dealing with a tribal mentality. I am convinced that folks who advocate torture are either liars or fools; that is, they consciously work to frighten folks into accepting their closed racist, religious or ethnocentric world view. Otherwise they are individuals who have been seduced to believe wild claims such as being a member of a master race or God's chosen, etc. In that way, policies put in place by an errant and brutal regime may well operate counter to the well being and safety of the population, yet go unquestioned by a cowed populace. ... Hence it is extremely important to vociferously oppose--at every opportunity-- the traitorous and unAmerican voices that are at work "softening up" the U.S. population. Water boarding is torture.
  May 16, 2012
• Note to Abstract01. ... Not only is the way torture gets defined of concern, but the populations that end up being tortured are as well. Good to keep in mind: "First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist." Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me." ... If they torture innocent people that get picked up on the street, they will torture you!
  May 15, 2012
• The United States is a member of the United Nations. Regarding participation in undeclared war(s), not only is the United States Government at odds with our sacred Constitution, the government is in conflict with protocols established in the Geneva Convention. Torturing folks by water boarding is only an outcome of a war that is, in the first place illegal. . Taking of foreign nationals who, had the war been legal, would have been protected by the Geneva Convention is a violation of international norms. Splicing and dicing the term "water boarding," given the gross illegalities that this government is mired in, is--in my view--a trip to Disney Land. . . . Who actually reads the Quran? Do Muslims read it? How many folks can read or write the language the book is written in? Is the translation reliable? Given that Christianity is fractured into hundreds of denominations, who can honestly say that all Muslims interpret the Quran in the same way? What about metaphors and other figures of speech? I mentioned earlier that factual evidence when brought to folks who want to focus on ethnicity, religion and other tribal factors gets translated as a threat--if you will--against the very soul. Religious zealots wants the U.S. Government to conduct foreign policy in accordance with THEIR interpretation of Muslim doctrine.
  May 15, 2012
• Sockrattle, Thanks for your reply. (Not sure how I would append to your post. ) What needs to be understood, I think, is that those who demonize Muslims are as scientifically savvy as you. In addition, the movers and shakers promoting hatred for religious reasons are aware that fomenting hate for an entire ethnic group cannot be defended on rational grounds, and it runs counter to tradition; hence, they retreat to religion. They know that religion appeals to tribal instincts and the introduction of factual evidence to those who have been brain washed works to threaten core beliefs involving self. Scientific evidence to the contrary AIN'T going to work.. ... In my view, those opposing propagandist who manipulate via religious brain washing must proceed by demanding that Americans choose sides. I stand, for example, on the side of the United States, its traditions and its Constitution. My Constitution makes statements such as, wars should not be declared without the participation of the national legislature and as prescribed by rules clearly promulgated in the Constitution. My side argues that any war not in compliance with the Constitution is an ILLEGAL war; moreover, it follows that actions against foreign nationals during an illegal war are also ILLEGAL. My side says that once a war has been LEGALLY authorized that this nation is bound by treaties and traditions sanctioned by the international community. My side says water boarding is torture. ... What does their side say? They say, those who attend a church and worshipping according to the Muslim religion gives cause to throw out the Constitution of the United States, our sacred American traditions and our hard won liberties. We are, then, to reduce our selves to primitives and savages and base our national policies or rites and rituals. You say, Islamophobes don't descend from apes. Your argument to prove.
  May 14, 2012
• Water boarding is torture. It's especially heinous when it's used against individuals who have not been duly tried--that is given due process before a jury of their peers--and convicted. it's silly to think otherwise. . . . It's torture, but of another category, to invite others to view the world through Islamophobic lens. Yes, I am aware that there are those who, for political reasons, want to take us back to the days preceding the Scopes/Monkey trial. Reductionist who want it believed the word "all" applies to any ethnic, racial or religious group is irrefutable proof that man descended from apes.
  May 13, 2012
• They say they were here before we were. Right and look at what happened to the Native American. Gives you some idea of what our South American neighbors may have in store for North Americans. They say they are victims of racial profiling, but how many give census data claim to be white? (I must admit, it's a clever tactic--that is, the way they show up for the census, but get lost when our sheriff comes around.) The hard, undeniable, irrefutable truth is this: any country, any country that finds itself deluged by an invasion of illegal aliens must act to protect it's borders. It's laughable, it's laughable to have local law enforcement authority brought up on charges for protecting his community from an influx of non citizens. Actions against local authority is especially egregious when you consider the level of crime, viz. U.S. penal institutions, overburdened hospitals, a crisis in education. Consider, especially, drug trafficking, drop houses, gangs, etc.
  May 13, 2012