[Ninong]

"I did not have sexual relations with that woman." -- Bill Clinton

"We do not torture." -- George W. Bush


The first statement, the one by President Clinton, depends on a narrow definition of what consitutes "sexual relations." His argument being that oral sex does not constitute sexual relations in a strictly biblical sense, which has some merit to it since oral sex would be considered sodomy in a strictly biblical sense. In any case, this was a misleading statement about someone's private, consensual, extra-marital infidelity. Something that most governments in other countries wouldn't even be concerned about.

The second statement, the one by President Bush, is so absurdly false on its face that it is laughable to anyone outside the administration and especially anyone outside this country. It turns on the fact that the administration has redefined torture in the same way that the Kansas school board redefined science. According to Dick Cheney, Vice President for Torture, we employ "enhanced interrogation techniques." We do not torture. According to our government's new definition of torture, the pain inflicted must be knowingly inflicted with the intention of causing pain such as that associated with organ failure. Therefore, if the person being interrogated happens to die during the course of "enhanced interrogation techniques," it's not torture unless we intended to kill him and it was filmed and the film gets released. And I think it also would require at least two witnesses to testify that we intended to kill the victim.

Waterboarding is not torture according to our government. It is merely another one of those "enhanced interrogation techniques." Exposing the detainee to extremely loud noise for hours on end is not torture. Exposing him to extremely cold conditions is not torture even if he dies. His death would be accidental because we really didn't intend for him to die. Sleep deprivation is not torture because we did not intend to cause organ failure and we did not intend to kill the detainee. Stress positions are not torture unless they cause organ failure and then only if it was our intention to cause organ failure. Otherwise it would be accidental and not torture.

When President Bush said that Abu Ghraib didn't represent America's values, he was correct! It represented his own depraved morality. Now they have pulled Dick Cheney out of the freezer and unleashed him on the selected audience speaking tour. The new and improved Dick Cheney, now with double lying power. Lying about not lying.

P.S. -- I saw the Iraqi Interior Minister on TV defending his agency's interrogation techniques on those recently discovered 170 "detainees" by saying that they haven't beheaded anyone. Why does everyone think they gain points by comparing themselves or us to Saddam Hussein or Abu Musab al-Zarqawi?

The new and improved Iraq. Sort of like the old Iraq but with more car bombs.

[Ninong]

I'm watching Hardball right now. Bush just repeated his charge that "When Democrats say that I misled the Congress and the American people to get into war in Iraq, that's irresponsible." (I didn't mislead y'all, y'all just misfollowed. Now look at the mess ya got me into.)

They just trotted out an Army bird colonel live from Iraq who opened by saying, "Good morning ladies and gentlement. It's a beautiful day in the free country of Iraq." (A beautiful day??? What about the dozens of people who are blown up every day? No mention about those people. Let's not let reality creep into our "beautiful day." It would have been better to change his opening line considering that the car bombs went off around 8 a.m., BEFORE his "beautiful day" speech!!!)

Oh, what a beautiful morning. Oh, what a beautiful day. I've got a terrible feeling, nothing's going our way.

P.S. -- One day later and it's another beautiful day in the free country of Iraq! I don't know how much more freedom they can take over there.

[Ninong]

Crazy woman Jean Schmidt just said that she was relaying a message to Rep. Murtha: "Cowards cut and run, Marines never do." She was appropriately booed down. What a dippy crackpot. She just said that on the floor of the United States House of Representatives. Of course, it's not as bad as the language the Vice President uses on the floor of the United States Senate.

Oh, and yes, she did refer to Congressman Murtha by name, which is against House rules. You know they're really desperate when all they can think of in response to their critics is to attack their patriotism.

So now we have crazy Jean calling Jack Murtha, a 37-year Marine Corps decorated veteran (Colonel), a coward. Where does Ohio come up with these people? Hopefully most of them will be indicted soon in that gigantic web of corruption that seems to involve most of the Republican officeholders in the state. I guess crazy Jean won't be caught up in that since she was just recently elected.

[Ninong]

House Republicans will call for a vote on the pullout from Iraq this evening after a call from hawkish Democrat Jack Murtha (D-PA) for the U.S. to immediately begin removing troops from Iraq.

Unlike the resolution Murtha proposed, which called for the removal of troops to begin immediately, the Republican resolution calls for all troops to be pulled out at once. Democrats say this dramatically changes the nature of Murtha's original proposal.

The House will reconvene shortly. The Tax Reconciliation Act has been pulled, however, the Republican Leadership is bringing to the floor THEIR VERSION of Representative Murtha's Iraq Resolution H.J.Res 73.

[Ninong]

The House recessed so that the Republican Leadership could take crazy Jean to the woodshed. No word on whether her campaign manager Spankin' Joe Braun's services were employed.

In any case, when they reconvened, crazy Jean apologized to the House and withdrew her remarks about Murtha. What a dingbat!

[Ninong]

Congressman Murtha is responding on TV to Dick Cheney's attack on him. He says it always amazes him when those who refused to serve, refuse to accept suggestions from those who did. I take it Colonel Murtha is not impressed with the Vice President's war credentials. Unlike Colonel Murtha, who received a bronze star and two purple hearts in Vietnam, the Vice President had "other priorities." Three years ago Colonel Murtha received the Semper Fidelis Award from the Marine Corps Foundation, the highest award in the Marine Corps.

OK, I realize this is a stretch, but what if Dick Cheney had actually volunteered for the military? Yes, I know, he "had other priorities" but what if he had somehow found the courage to join up. What are the chances he would have volunteered for a tour of duty in Vietnam?

Instead of talking about whether Colonel Murtha's proposal makes him a "coward," lets talk about someone who did everything in his power to avoid military service. That's when he was not being charged with drunk driving. What's up with him and Bush and all these drunk driving convictions?

1959-1965: Cheney received four student deferments; took SIX YEARS to get a college degree, attended three different schools. He attends Yale, drops out, then returns to Yale, then drops out again in 1962. In 1963 he attends Casper Community College (Wow! From Yale to Casper Community College!) and then moves on to the University of Wyoming. It took him a total of six years to complete his undergraduate education.

1965: Finally finished with his undergraduate education, Cheney decides to stay in school and get a masters' degree.

October 26, 1965: Selective Service lifts the ban on drafting childless married men.

January 19, 1966: Cheney receives a fifth deferment, this time for having a pregnant wife.

July 28, 1966: The Cheneys' first child is born. That's nine months and two days after childless married men were deemed eligible for the draft. This would seem to indicate that the Cheneys were seized with uncontrollable passion the moment Dick Cheney became eligible for the Vietnam draft.

Wanna see Dick's DUI arrest record? http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/cheneydwi1.html

Wanna see Dick's second DUI arrest record?
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/cheneydwi2.html

So now we know what Dick meant by "other priorities." Two DUIs in eight months!

[Ninong]

"Mr. Speaker, We're making great progress in Iraq." -- Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX)

That was said last night on the floor of the House and it represents what the Republicans actually believe. And if you disagree, you're a coward who hates our troops.

In the meantime, Rumsfeld is making plans to begin withdrawing troops early next year but don't tell anybody -- not yet anyway. We will declare "victory" and begin pulling out before April so that the Republicans can have a prayer of holding onto both houses of Congress in the 2006 elections.

[Reinhold]

Tell us how you really feel, Ninong.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Reinhold

Tell us how you really feel, Ninong.

[Ninong]

Here are a few of the "enhanced interrogation techniques" that are approved by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney: http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/print?id=1322866

All of those techniques are not torture according to the people who are running America. Into the ground!

Detainees will reportedly say whatever they think their inquisitors want to hear. Al-Libby confessed to lots of stuff. He even confessed to things that they later found out he had no knowledge of but he figured it was stuff we wanted to here. Dear Leader even used some of his confession to proclaim the success of our methods. Unfortunately the part he used turned out to be the part that was strictly made up.

It's sort of like when Dear Leader decided that those aluminum tubes were for a centrifuge even though the nuclear power engineers at our own Department of Energy dissented. That the word they used in the footnotes to describe the fact that the only people qualified to make such a determination did not agree with the determination made by the military experts. Unfortunately the Congress only sees the finished product, the "consensus" report. They don't see all the discussion, including contrary opinions, that went into the finished report. The stuff they don't see says that the stuff they do see is full of sh!t. Sort of like that.

So now we're using "enhanced interrogation techniques" we adopted from the the former regimes we despised at the time they were using these same techniques to gain false confessions. The key phrase here is "false confessions." Torture doesn't produce accurate intelligence. People being tortured will say whatever they think we want to hear to get us to stop doing what we're doing to them.

But remember, we don't torture. Don't ever let anyone tell you that America's "leaders" condone torture, because they don't. They have approved "enhanced interrogation techniques" but NOT torture.

Did we win yet?

Three more years. How much worse can it get? In fact, that's the good news. We are so screwed right now that things can only get better.

I'm so glad George W. Bush has returned honor and integrity to the White House like he promised to do.

[Ninong]

The White House has denied that we used white phosphorous (willy pete) in Falluja as an anti-personnel weapon even though our own military have previously admitted that we did use it in this fashion and now the Brits are admitting that they did the same in Basra: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...20/nphos20.xml

Seems like they have a problem because they signed that treaty on conventional weapons. We didn't. We did sign the Geneva Conventions but Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, when he was White House Counsel, said that they were "quaint" and didn't apply to modern warfare. Then the White House said we would abide by the Geneva Conventions but that they only applied to prisoners of war and we didn't have any of those. We redefined "prisoners of war" just as we redefined "torture." Sort of like the Kansas school board.

[Ninong]

Last week Vice President Dick Cheney said that claims that the administration manipulated intelligence to go to war were "reprehensible and pernicious." ("Reprehensible and pernicious" may not be quite as strained as "nattering nabobs of negativity" but it does show that Republican Vice Presidents do have a way with words when they're attacking their critics.)

Looks like the German intelligence guys have had about enough of Cheney's lying and are now speaking out about how we manipulated the intelligence they gave us and how we ignored their repeated warnings that Curveball was insane and unreliable and that nothing he said could be substantiated: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...home-headlines

We do not lie. We do not torture. Things are going great in Iraq. Anyone who says otherwise is a coward who hates our troops. So says Dick "Five Deferments, Two DUIs" Cheney!

P.S. -- Remind me again, how long does a throe last? These "last throes" sure seem to be taking a very long time.

[Ninong]

They knew that the administration's case for going to war in Iraq was based on weak, unsubstantiated intelligence. They knew that the administration was determined to invade Iraq regardless of the intelligence. They knew that this decision had been made much, much earlier than claimed.

Here is what the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee at the time of the vote to authorize the President to go to war against Iraq has to say about what he knew and why he voted against giving Bush that authority: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...111802397.html

[schrocat]

Whooo Doggy!!! Break out the bactine!
Bob just came out of the stands, climbed the ropes, and hit "Big Five Time" with an atomic elbow!

caveat emptor.

ouch

[Ninong]

Bush wins one in China, declares victory and heads for Mongolia:

[Ninong]

The President was holding a press conference but strode away from reporters looking annoyed after one said he appeared "off his game".

President Bush tugged at both handles on the double doors before admitting: "I was trying to escape. Obviously, it didn't work."

Mr Bush flies to Mongolia on Monday to complete his East Asia tour, but first he has to figure out how to get out of the room!


Talk about No Exit Strategy:

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by schrocat

Whooo Doggy!!! Break out the bactine!
Bob just came out of the stands, climbed the ropes, and hit "Big Five Time" with an atomic elbow!



ouch

Yes, you might say that.

Selected excerpts:

In February 2002, after a briefing on the status of the war in Afghanistan, the commanding officer, Gen. Tommy Franks, told me the war was being compromised as specialized personnel and equipment were being shifted from Afghanistan to prepare for the war in Iraq -- a war more than a year away. Even at this early date, the White House was signaling that the threat posed by Saddam Hussein was of such urgency that it had priority over the crushing of al-Qaida.

...

At a meeting of the Senate intelligence committee on Sept. 5, 2002, CIA Director George Tenet was asked what the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) provided as the rationale for a preemptive war in Iraq. An NIE is the product of the entire intelligence community, and its most comprehensive assessment. I was stunned when Tenet said that no NIE had been requested by the White House and none had been prepared. Invoking our rarely used senatorial authority, I directed the completion of an NIE.

Tenet objected, saying that his people were too committed to other assignments to analyze Saddam Hussein's capabilities and will to use chemical, biological and possibly nuclear weapons. We insisted, and three weeks later the community produced a classified NIE.

...

Under questioning, Tenet added that the information in the NIE had not been independently verified by an operative responsible to the United States. In fact, no such person was inside Iraq. Most of the alleged intelligence came from Iraqi exiles or third countries, all of which had an interest in the United States' removing Hussein, by force if necessary.

[SPasse]

Man,

I sure do miss the Internet version of "Air America"

Regards,

Scott

[schrocat]

Hey SPASSE!


Better than Air America!! ...Franken has NO tips on eleminating nuisance algae.

[Ninong]

"There's no question in my mind that we did. There's no question in my mind that we may be still doing it." -- Larry Wilkerson, Colonel, US Army (Ret.), Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, last night on CNN's "Late Edition."

"There's no question in my mind where the philosophical guidance and the flexibility in order to do so originated -- in the vice president of the United States' office," he said. "His implementer in this case was [Defense Secretary] Donald Rumsfeld and the Defense Department."

At another point in the interview, Wilkerson said "the vice president had to cover this in order for it to happen and in order for Secretary Rumsfeld to feel as though he had freedom of action."

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/20/torture/index.html






That sort of talk is "reprehensible and pernicious."
Dick "Five Deferments, Two DUIs" Cheney
Vice President for Torture