Comments Posted By Philadelphia Steve
Displaying 1 To 10 Of 13 Comments
THE DEBATE OF ALMOST, MOSTLY, REPUBLICANS
Re: "Why is McCain to blame for the ‘amnesty’ bill but not Bush?"
Because Conservatives are not permitted by The Party to hold George W. Bush accountable for anything. Policies and blunders that eminate from the Bush Administration are like rain falling from the sky: Something that "just happens" and are, of course, not George W. Bush's fault, ever.
Comment Posted By Philadelphia Steve On 31.01.2008 @ 10:57
Re: "My opinion is that the Dems can go on record and pass legislation declaring what is and what is not legal in regards to interagation. If they won’t do that, then they should just STFU."
Actually the US Congress and President did, many years ago when they ratified the Geneva Convention regarding torture.
Except that Attorney General Gonzalez and president Bush declared the Geneva Conventions "inoperative".
Now, to re-establish that law, Democrats must get past a certain Republican fillibuster and Bush veto.
Conservatives, who cannot tell the difference between fictional "24" and real life, have defined torture as whatever Presdient Bush wants: Given the fact that they have decided they are more loyal to the man personally thanthey are to their conscience (those who sitll know what that is).
Comment Posted By Philadelphia Steve On 10.12.2007 @ 16:44
Re: "Someday a city will be obliterated and then the ‘true’ nature of society will reveal itself. We certainly won’t be fretting then about ‘stressful techniques’. One can only hope that, in the meantime, the ‘fretting’ beforehand does not in itself actually lead to that dire result."
Exactly the plot line of "24". And Conservatives now accept a fictional TV series as absolute truth.
Can any Conservative here document when an actual (not fictional) ticking bomb has been discovered via torture?
However that is the justification that Conservatives are now required to accept for the United States now routinely sanctioning torture, regardless of the actual facts of the case.
That is like my saying that I have proof that aliens have visited the Earth because I have watched "The X Files".
Comment Posted By Philadelphia Steve On 9.12.2007 @ 02:38
Re: "3. To say the United States should not have engaged in water-boarding even in the extremely limited (4 in total) cases we have seems incredible naivety.â€
In terms of naive, do you really believe that only four individuals have been tortured under presidential orders? Where in George W. Bush's track record have you EVER seen his administration admit the truth, until it is literally dragged out of them?
I will guarantee that the number of people tortured under Presidential orders numbers into the hundreds. This will, of course, not be found out for at least a year: By which time Conservatives will declare it "old news" and give Mr. Bush another of their automatic free passes.
As I said before: A great stain on America's national honor is that we now officially sanction torture of prisoners. The only claim Conservatives can make is that we don't torture as much as radical terrorists: "We are not the worst" is about all we can say. The United States no longer stands for higher standards or ideals. It only "doesn't torture as much" as the worst ones out there.
Thank you George W. Bush. And thank you to all the "patriots" who have cheeringly brought us down to this level.
I know I will be sneered at by the "Patriots" out there: They do it so well. I welcome their condescension. I welcome those who look down on me for being willing to say "torturing human beings is wrong, no matter who is doing it": "No matter what fictional TV show they use as justification": "No matter how many of them declare 'it isn't so bad' ".
And the worst part is the torturing can't be undone. It cannot be "taken back". Unlike Bill Clinton’s famous "mulligans" or the second tries our spineless media give the White House every time they are caught in a lie. The world will always remember the Administration that shifted America's ideals from higher standards to that of torturers, gleefully and enthusiastically.
And not one Conservative will shed a tear for that loss. Not one.
Comment Posted By Philadelphia Steve On 7.12.2007 @ 22:46
Re: "The CIA literally has huge warehouses filled with evidence and case files from the past. They archive everything. The idea that they would destroy these dvd’s for any reason other than to save their own asses is ridiculous."
We all know that hte CIA did not destroy the tapes. The Bush Administration (through its CIA appointees) is just SAYING that the tapes were dewstroyed.
After all, who is going to do anything about it?
Are any Congressional committees going to put the CIA Director under oath to testify, under penalty of purgery, that the tapes were destroyed, then work their way down the command chain, asking each one, in turn, who was responsible for custody of the tapes, until someone admits that s/he was the one who personally destroyed them?
Of course not.
Comment Posted By Philadelphia Steve On 7.12.2007 @ 15:33
Re: "get the hysterics from our political opponents and examine the issue not as a partisan but as question of simple human decency. If we Americans have lost that – if we’ve forgotten that we hold ourselves to a higher standard than the brutes we are fighting and their allies in the hypocritical third world, then we will have lost a very important component of what makes us an exceptional nation."
Long gone.
Unfortunately virtually everyone on the political Right now believes the TV series "24" is fact, not fiction, even quoting lines of dialogue in their commentary.
Republican Presidential candidates are vieing to see qho can endorse better torture on behalf of their cause.
And, thanks tothe complicity of Democrats such as Jay Rockefeller and Joe Lieberman (now an Independent), the Bush Administration is going to get away with it.
America now officially stands for tortuting its prisoners. The only way we are "better" than those who oppose us is that we "our torturing is not as bad as their torturing" (as least to the extent of the torturing we know about right now).
Isn't that a wonderful thing for America to represent to the world?
Comment Posted By Philadelphia Steve On 7.12.2007 @ 09:41
And, thanks to the active complicity of Democrats such as Jay Rockefeller, "Independents" such as Joe Lieberman and the entire Republican Party, the Administration is getting away with it.
Comment Posted By Philadelphia Steve On 7.12.2007 @ 09:32
SIPPIN' SOME KOOL ADE ON THE VERANDA WITH MY BUDDY OBAMA
Re: "The point is that negotiations are going to occur one way or another prior to the outbreak of hostilities."
Not if the NeoConservatives at the American Enterprise institute have their way.
Comment Posted By Philadelphia Steve On 2.11.2007 @ 14:48
"WILL NO ONE RID ME OF THIS MEDDLESOME TERRORIST?"
I do have to admit some surprise that any item that casts doubt on the brilliance of George W. Bush would ever appear on FoxNews. So we are occasionally surprised.
However I'm sure it must have been some sort of accident and the editor who permitted the FoxNews article is now flipping burgers at the FoxNews commisary.
If the article is accurate about the Bush Administration allowing Osama bin laden to get away, again, then two items are sure:
1. The story will never, ever be aired on Fox again (as opposed to the "Bill Clinton let Osama get away" items that Fox airs almost weekly).
2. We can expect a long series of articles from the American Enterprise Institute detailing how none of this is actually George W. Bush's fault: He the President who is the embodiment of Abraham Lincoln in the 21st Century.To me personally, this is not anything terribly new: Just another in a long, almost weekly, series of incompetencies, blunders and political hackery that has reached the level when another botched Bush Administration action no longer even merits front-page coverage. In fact, the stories that do make headline coverage, such as the FEMA rescue work in California, are when the Loyal Bushies actually do something right (but then, as with the "press conference", they can always be counted on to make fools of everyone who ever believed them).
Comment Posted By Philadelphia Steve On 29.10.2007 @ 11:58
THE RACE TO POLITICIZE TRAGEDY
Re: "Good post and you are correct. Foxnews already began the speculation on whether it is terrorist related. Another site is speculating about how many illegals were involved."
I bet they were dissapointed when it turned out to be a kid without ties to either OBL or MoveOn.org.
Comment Posted By Philadelphia Steve On 2.11.2007 @ 14:44
