When Bush Did it, it was called "enhanced interrogation". When the Iranians Do it, Its called torture.
Virtually every tactic which the article describes the Iranians as using has been used by the U.S. during the War on Terror, while several tactics authorized by Bush officials (waterboarding, placing detainees in coffin-like boxes, hypothermia) aren't among those the article claims are used by the Iranians. Nonetheless, "torture" appears to be a perfectly fine term for The New York Times to use to describe what the Iranians do, but one that is explicitly banned to describe what the U.S. did.
What Is Sarah Palin Thinking? One Alaskan's Perspective
The time in front of the cameras was also used, many felt, to "play the victim card." Palin spent a considerable amount of time castigating the very media that was there covering the event, for being too critical. But the principle objects of Palin's venom were private citizens who had filed ethics complaints against her. She also referenced a photoshopped image on a local blog that showed her snuggling a baby with the head of a local radio shock jock that Palin and her lawyer favor with appearances. Palin said the photo was making fun of her son Trig. She seems unable, even when delivering a speech that is destined for national coverage, to rise above the fray, and refrain from sounding petty.
It is said that it's not the mountain ahead that wears you down, it's the grain of sand in your shoe. Was it one too many grains of sand that wore her down? And if so, how would she be able to handle the job as President of the United States? Most of the ethics complaints have been dismissed. But, Alaska has no Ethics Board. Ethics complaints are handled by a three-member governor appointed Personnel Board, whose jobs depend on the sitting governor who can fire them at will. Was the deck stacked? Many say yes. But despite the dismissal of the majority of complaints, there were ethics complaints that resulted in a finding by the Legislature that she had abused her power and violated the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act in the Troopergate fiasco, a directive for a high level staffer to undergo ethics training due to a string of "troubling emails" and a recent payment from Palin to the state for almost $10,000 to reimburse for her charging the state for her children's travel expenses. So, were all the ethics complaints "frivolous?" Even if we take the results of the Personnel Board at face value, the answer is no. But all this may not matter much soon. The rule of law still applies to private citizens, but there is no "Private Citizens' Ethics Act."
Then there is the other matter. In Alaska it's become known as "the iceberg." The iceburg is rumored to be a piece of news that's so damaging, and so big, it will sink the S.S. Palin. The rumors also exist that it's coming soon. Speculation about IRS problems, issues with other three-letter organizations, more ethics complaints, and embezzlement abound. Questions have been raised about the construction of Palin's house by a bunch of Todd's buddies, at the same time that a giant sports complex was being built in Wasilla, and right after building codes had been abolished by the then mayor of Wasilla, one Sarah Palin. Do we know anything for sure? No. But the recent claim that the breaking of this scandal is imminent seems coincidental to say the least. Alaskans hesitate to get too excited about rumored indictments, though. Despite the indictment and conviction of several state legislators, and the indictment-conviction and now un-conviction of former Senator Ted Stevens, the slow process has taught us patience. We still await rumored indictments of Congressman Don Young, and former State Senate President Ben Stevens (son of Ted Stevens.) Did I say, you can't make this stuff up?
Other breaking items in the news recently, include an unflattering 5000-word article in Vanity Fair, and a CBS News release of an email exchange between Palin and McCain strategist Steve Smith which gave a glimpse at "the real Sarah Palin," and how she thinks. The exchage involved Palin asking the McCain campaign to make a statement that her husband Todd had only accidentally been a member of a secessionist political party, because he checked the wrong box. And didn't notice it for seven years. Schmidt cut her request off by stating that the McCain campaign had no intention of making it more of an issue than the media was, a habit that Palin has had for a long time.
Fox's Glenn Beck Gives the Nod to Destroying America to Save It
It's not only neocons who desperately need enemies, like Ahmadinejad, to succeed so that they'll have an excuse to bomb bomb bomb Iran, or any place they damn well please. It's also the paleocons and the concons (conspiracy conservatives), or whatever Michael Scheuer, former head of the CIA's bin Laden unit, could be called these days.
Hard to categorize and hard to completely dismiss, Scheuer is the thickly bearded guy who's been all over the media the last few years calling his cable hosts "Sir," speaking out against the Iraq war, and making the sensible case that one reason "they hate us" is because of our support of Israel--not unlike paleo Pat Buchanan. But Scheuer's getting so wigged-out lately (writing in his most recent book, Marching Toward Hell, that Americans are now in "a place worse than hell"), that he's been finding common ground with Fox News' brightest conspiracy star, Glenn Beck. On Beck's show the other night, the two got themselves into such a froth over lax security on the Mexican border that Scheuer let loose with this:
"The only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States."
Come again? "Only Osama can execute an attack which will force Americans to demand that their government will protect them effectively, consistently, andwith as much violence as necessary."
Beck bobblehead-nods his assent. This is the kind of doomsday scenario he's been predicting on his laughable "War Room" segment, in which Scheuer has served as one of the hysterics, saying that if "bubbas" take up arms against the government, "I don't think you want to defuse it."
Actually, Beck does have his standards when it comes to whackjob guests. Last week, he hustled Congresswoman Michele Bachmann off the air as soon as she likened the U.S. census to the U.S. internment of Japanese-American citizens during WWII. That was over the top for him, but Scheuer's bin Laden thesis, well, it's philosophically sound!
