It Ain't Skateboarding!

Lately there has been a lot of talk about waterboarding. This is a little technique that the CIA has reportedly used in the past to interrogate people who are suspected of having knowledge that could save American lives in the "War on Terror." In the past few weeks we have had a lot of discussion on the matter for a couple of reasons. First we had the Senate Confirmation Hearings of Michael Mukasey. Senators were upset when Mukasey refused to say whether he believed waterboarding was in fact torture. Then we have the upcoming Presidential elections. On the Republican side you have John McCain, the only current presidential candidate who has actually been tortured, defining the practice as such, and then calling for the US to stand against it, condemn it, and move on. Most of the other candidates have tried to stay out of the discussion, lamely claiming to not have an opinion, or desiring to know more facts. As most of you know, I lean to the left of the political ledger. I don't think you should be president if you cannot, in this day and age, make a decision about whether waterboarding is torture. I may not like your decision, but c'mon, you've got to have an opinion. Is McCain the only GOP candidate willing to stand up for what he believes? But lest it seem as if I am being harsh on the Republicans, allow me to cite a report that has recently surfaced. I am not sure how many of you know the names Nancy Pelosi, Jane Harman, and Jay Rockefeller. They are three leading Democrats and frequent critics of the Iraq war, torture, overseas CIA detention centers, and who knows what else. The reason I bring these names up is because while they have been publicly hammering the Bush Administration on the waterboarding issue, we now know they were aware of it and even pushed for harsher tactics in the days after 9/11. This is the kind of stuff the turns people off in regards to politics. The GOP will not speak out against the practice for fear of alienating their political supporters on the right who believe the US gov't could never do something wrong and that the ends justifies the means if the means are what you want. The Dems, hammer away at Bush publicly, totally for the benefit of their supporters who belive Bush is Satan incarnate, and yet in private, to his face, they agree with him. This stuff is incredible. Is it any wonder participation in the electoral process is down? The Mission Update. Bob Sheer from Truthdig.com has weighed in on this. His perspective is important because Scheer is known for his decidedly liberal viewpoint. In the second half of his article, he works through the Pelosi issue and finally calls on her to answer the "What did you know and when did you know it" question. Astounding.