Speaking truth with power.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

What in the World to Do With Waterboarding?

President Obama has acted quickly to undo the legacy of the previous administration with regard to the treatment of prisoners/enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay and other facilities. Obama almost immediately shut down Gitmo and has since repudiated the notorious interrogation technique of waterboarding. At his press conference last week, President Obama was quoted as saying, 'I believe waterboarding was torture, and it was a mistake.' Well that settles that. Only no it doesn't.



It's nice that Barry admitted to this. It's nice that he stood up to the country and to the world, and said, "You know what? Our bad." But, now that we've admitted to waterboarding, we've also admitted to taking a dump on the Geneva Convention. And in owning up to that, we must now deal with the ramifications of harboring obvious war criminals, who go by the names of Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld. This threesome of unprecedented douchebaggery knew exactly what they were doing. They surrounded themselves with legal experts who justified their agenda, and when, at times, this couldn't be found, they acted anyway. They had little to no regard for justice or decency, and, despite their intentions to do the opposite, have actually left America much less safer. But what can you do with them now?



One obvious answer would be to waterboard them, or at least make them stand trial. Trot those twats up in front of a jury of their peers and make them stand accused. The trouble with this, besides it being highly unlikely, is two-fold. First, the political backlash from going after a former President could bring an unholy shitstorm down on Obama that would make Monica Lewinsky look like a walk in the park. Republicans would line up to take a crack at bringing down this administration for the next 3-7 years. Of course, the problem Obama faces by not pursuing some sort of reparation is the backlash from his own party for not going after such obvious war criminals. Secondly, the Obama administration would expend its energy and political capital on the sins of the past, rather than on the problems of the present and the future. Many would argue our time and resources should be directed toward more important obstacles. But, in any event, it doesn't leave Obama with an easy decision.



And while we here at Muck Breaker won't go so far as to say what should be done practically with these criminals, we will say, that on a 'you get what's coming to you' scale of justice, these three should be first against the wall.

Getting Gay in Iowa, Vermont and DC

Long before the volleyball scene from Top Gun, "the gay" has threatened to infiltrate the very fabric of our society. This movement took a step backwards with the passage of the controversial Proposition 8. It seemed the same get out the vote campaign which brought voters to the polls (nh) for Obama, also helped pull the gay out of California. Who could have seen that coming? For as this blog pointed out, in error:

California can't outlaw the gay. California is the gay. Isn't the state flag of California a picture of two gays with an adopted Asian baby?

But of course, Prop 8 did pass. And while the left was thrilled with the election of Obama, it remained scratching their heads at the passage of this fear-based legislation.



But then Iowa continued to challenge the rest of the nation's preconceptions of the Hawkeye State, and officially legalized the gay on April 3. Later that week, Vermont got gay, too, with DC following a short while after that. And with measures being voted on in New Hampshire, Maine and New York, those closet-cases Rhode Island and Connecticut don't stand a chance. It's only a matter of time before the gay reaches around to them, too.



However, maybe the most interesting development to the already stiff gay-rights movement was the recently published study, which suggested that attitudes toward the gay differ with generations. So basically, as soon as the all of the old intolerants pass away, the gay will be free to prance from sea to shining sea.



But, as the study surely went on to suggest, even some of the young folks will forever remain ignorant. This is, after all, still America.