Here’s the problem – it wasn’t Kennedy’s speech that got us on the moon. Words by themselves do nothing – they can only stir the soul to action but they alone do nothing. It was the hard work of NASA scientists, engineers and brave test pilots and astronauts that got us to the moon. And it happened surprisingly under Nixon.

Words do not cause great events to unfold – great action propels great events.

President Obama has repeatedly outlined what he would like both from Congress and the Private Sector in terms of cleaner and renewable sources of energy – yet both have decided not to listen.

This is not the Moon Mission.

Our space program first started under the military’s direction until NASA was formed to run our space exploration efforts.

There is no such body like NASA for energy. Yes we have an Energy Secretary but we do not have, as a government, our very own institution that could create and distribute large scale renewable energy. In order to do that we would have to form such a body and given this country’s other addiction – to profiteering – it’s not likely to happen fast that way.

If people would like this to change very quickly it will take great sacrifice by all of us. It will take you and I closing the caps to our gas tanks permanently and it will take you and I putting an end to purchasing any products made by or with oil.

The reality is, as Obama said in his Oval Office address – this leak has tested the capability of human technology and we will be dealing with the consequences of this leak for months to years.

What we have to ask ourselves is simply – do we take the risk of continued drilling or do we make the tough decision to put the oil can down? Someone’s got to take the first step. Is it you?

Recently a devastating storm slammed into Guatemala, causing some fatalities and extensive damage – including a rather impressive sink hole. When pictures surfaced of the sink hole folks left comments both at the Huffington Post and CNN.com calling the photo a fake and decrying it as a “photoshop” job. Never mind that the sink hole is in fact real but it’s 2010 and a picture is no longer worth a thousand words nor proof of anything. The first casualty of this new era of media technology is belief.

When Brittany Murphy died people refused to believe that her death wasn’t caused by drugs but rather a bad case of pneumonia. Heck the Huffington Post turned their entertainment page that day into an all out assault on Murphy’s credibility, confirming that they are at times nothing more than a tabloid extension of TMZ. Never mind that the investigation was still under way and never mind that her family and fans were no doubt still mourning.

And the list goes on. When Brett Michaels was hospitalized after his brain hemorrhage some chose to not believe it and insisted that he was just doing a PR stunt. When the Apollo mission landed on the moon rumors of a sound stage cover up flourished. Heck some even thought 9/11 was staged and the planes fake – despite that many saw it happen before their very eyes.

And for some Elvis is still alive.

It’s happened to me. I was covering some LaRouche volunteers as they were hanging out on a street corner in Toluca Lake, CA denouncing President Obama when a woman came by and tore down their anti-Obama sign and took their cell phone/camera. The ensuing verbal altercation and short bit of action as the lady expressed how angry she was with their depiction of Obama as Hitler was caught on my camera. After editing the piece just to clean it up and putting it up on CNN.com – some viewers posted that I had staged the entire event. I didn’t of course but that didn’t ease their suspicions.

And of course then there’s the case of President Obama – not only do some people not believe he was born in the U.S. (despite ample proof), they also think he’s a Muslim and that Acorn stole the election – even though none of that is true.

Mind you those same people believe James O’Keefe when he staged meetings with Acorn by editing the footage to make it seem like they were taking him seriously in his attempts to get help for his “prostitution business”.

So what does it take to tell the truth and have it believed? Here at the AVJ we’re all about finding the truth through understanding but what happens when people just simply don’t want to believe truth – how do you ever find understanding ?

Is there any hope anymore for the truth?

Dylan Ratigan on the Huffington Post decried “Mr. President, Defend America”.

Keith Olbermann has started counting up the days since the oil spill much like he used to count the days since the beginning of the Iraq war.

And the list goes on of people angry about the spill and looking for some action.

And many of these folks are pointing to President Obama to fix this. To stop this leak. To end the devastation in the Gulf. To do the ever elusive “more”.

And it is devastating. Underwater news coverage from ABC showed that the dispersant and the oil have combined to form tiny balls of oil that may, according to their report, be small enough to get into a fishes system and poison it. Some reports have the oil slick moving into the major waters of the Atlantic. Fishing has stopped in many areas. Oil is now in the marsh lands and has hit the coast coating birds and wildlife.

So why hasn’t the President fixed this crisis yet? Why hasn’t he come down to the gulf, gotten on a ship and he himself try to collect the oil or perhaps he himself dive down to the depths of the gulf and cap the leak? Why hasn’t he done that? Is he too busy to save the Gulf? Does he care more about Health Care and the Afghanistan War and the situation on the Korean peninsula more than the Gulf?

How can he even look his children in the eye?

To answer that last one, quite easily, as none of this is his fault and speeches and naval vessels do not invent new methods over night.

The cold hard truth, the reason that Carville, Ratigan, Olbermann and the like are up in arms, the real reason everyone’s upset is…

…this can not be fixed.

We don’t like it when there’s no one to blame and no one to click on a computer tablet to fix a problem. We don’t like it when we’re reminded that we’re not bigger than the planet. We don’t like facing the consequences of our actions.

I type this on a computer made of plastic, sitting in a chair that contains plastic, I’m eating a lunch currently that has food that was shipped over ground by gas powered trucks and even I drive around in a gas powered car. I am addicted to oil and my addiction is killing the planet. And so is yours.

I have for some time been more than a little peeved at the generation that came before mine – the boomers. You see in the 1970′s while I was a child living in the Amazon jungle apparently America was going through a big gas crisis with huge lines and a shortage. And instead of getting off of oil and embracing a host of other technologies the boomers kept their gas guzzlers and doubled down on big oil by consistently electing leaders with strong ties to the oil industry. (notice how quiet the Bush’s and the Cheney’s have been lately?)

And during this entire period no one spent nearly the same energy on counter measures if for some crazy reason any of this oil ever spilled anywhere. Oh we can pump it out but we can not put it back and we seem unable to just clean it up. Probability dictates that this would eventually happen and I suspect probability also dictated that we would blame someone else rather than the real culprit, ourselves.

Now could more be done? No. Sorry. They appear to be doing everything they can to stop the leak – it’s at a depth that is not easy for humans to get to and we do not appear to have the technology to stop it quickly. I doubt even BP for all it’s regulatory missteps and immaturity, I doubt they really want to be losing so much oil – let’s not act like they wanted this to happen.

Now eventually I do think they’ll get it stopped but the oil that spilled, well….it’s not as easily cleaned up. The reality is we can not change that fact. The reality is we put a hole in the earth and it spewed out its decomposed and toxic plant and animal matter and the Gulf is forever changed because of it.

All we can do is try to move forward, past oil, past this immature nonsense and make sure we do not repeat our mistakes. But the damage is done and it is real and not even President Obama can fix it.

And that’s the truth.

He ended the phone call by thanking all of the volunteers and supporters for being his inspiration and asking them for their continued efforts in the weeks and months to come.

Here is the audio from this fascinating and rather historic conference call:

Obama Thanks His Volunteers On Conference Call

I have always said that polls are polls of people who agree to take a poll. This is true. You have to agree to do it in order to be counted at all. But take Gallup’s recent Presidential Tracking Poll – they do a three day rolling average pretty much non-stop. The media only tends to report big swings or tension building results – tension sells after all. Right now Ben Smith over at Politico has a short entry on his blog about how Obama is now at 46% approval. Now Ben’s a good guy and does his job well, although I wonder if he looked at the Gallup breakdown. If he had he would see a trend that I think points to where this country is heading.

18-29 Year Olds approve of the job President Obama is doing by 61%.

Think about that.

And think about those same voters in 2012, 2016…61% is not small and these folks do not stay 18-29 forever. They get older and as they do they are more and more likely to show up at the real polls – the voting booth – on election day.

30 to 49 year olds – my block – approve at 49%. I wonder why my block has a 20 year span and 18-29 is just an eleven year….I’d love to see the breakdown between 30 and 39…I have a feeling we’re not far below the 61%. In fact if anyone has an answer to this please email me or leave a comment below.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. We are in a generational shift in this country not a political one. Politics, as practiced currently, is a marketing game. The true differences between the parties are small – otherwise we would have had more than one Civil War. It simply boils down to how to pay for things and what should be private and what should be public. We are made to think we are different for the sake of easy politics. It’s no different than two fans of opposing Baseball teams – you may think they hate each other but they still both love the same game, Baseball.

Now what is dragging Obama’s numbers down? Those over 50. The demo 50-64 has him at 46%.

What’s fascinating is Gallup has an article up – you have to work to find it – about how President Obama is doing much better with the younger block of voters than either President George W. Bush or President Bill Clinton.

Clinton managed to get 57% approval from young voters and Bush only 46%.

Long story short – President Obama is doing just fine. Now Congress on the other hand…

Peace. Something we shy away from really – we act as if it’s some goal we want to achieve but our actions never quite match up – we relegate the concept to beauty pageant parody.

Peace. Seems easy enough.

“I wont hit you if you wont hit me. Agreed?” Someone asks no one in particular.

In his short 9 months President Barack Obama has had anything but peace. Between Republican tantrums and their at times fringe stonewall opposition and the tapping foot of the liberal left impatient that in his short 9 months President Barack Obama hasn’t brought about World Peace or even had the decency to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell – peace has been far from the Oval Office. Very very far…until now.

President Barack Obama just won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Not that winning a Prize from some Norwegian Nobel Committee means fast as lightning world peace – but it does signal an understanding, at least from the thinkers of the world, that there’s something to President Obama’s approach that is different and rare. Something to examine and to emulate, not because it’s popular but because it’s working.

Perhaps talking first and shooting later can work. Maybe neither side has much fight left in them and maybe the people of the world just want their parental leaders to work it out. Give peace a chance for a change.

Amid all the media babble and political news jockeying it’s easy to miss what’s really changed in the world since President Obama took office. The stories of peace are not nearly as interesting as angry right wing citizens at town halls screaming and fighting with the angry left wing citizens at town halls. The stories of peace are not nearly as sensational as spreading and then denouncing the rumors about Death Panels, Birth Certficates and Beer with Cops and Professors. Peace stories are not nearly as interesting as race stories.

So they get missed.

In the last 9 months:

North Korea released two U.S. Journalists,

North Korea then opened it’s border allowing families from the North and South to meet after fifty years of separation,

Cuba wants to talk peace,

Iran’s election proved to put a serious dent in the iron clad Iranian leadership

Russia and the U.S. stood together on sanctions for Iran’s Nuclear mis-steps and deceits – a first for the country formerly the center of the Soviet Union.

Iran now wants to talk,

The United States is out of combat operations in Iraq

and

President Obama and his administration is attempting to bring the Palestinians and Israeli’s to the peace table once again.

Not all of this is because of President Obama but as the Nobel committee indicated – he’s set a tone and acted as a catalyst for another form of climate change – the global cooling of international tension.

Maybe we can finally take the concept of peace seriously, begin a dialog and act as if it’s a real goal rather than just a safe answer.

Although odd that he wins this prize the same day we’re attacking the moon. But that’s another story…

NEWS LINK:
–
President Barack Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize according to CNN.

Such a cynical view is why our international and even domestic relations never improve with great speed. That great distrust. The xeno-phobic relationship we all have with anyone who is not literally us.

Mr. Starobin paints a rather gloomy picture of the Russian people. He says of these people : “For Russians, life tends to be lived in the bittersweet key of tragedy.” And though I doubt anyone looking at Russian history would argue that it isn’t one wrought with tragedy and tension – but he almost seems to argue that they like it. Although he does say that they are not “gloomy pessimists”. Either way his portrait of a gloomy Russian shivering in the cold with a shot of vodka is rather 1980′s of him. The world has changed Mr. Starobin.

Mr. Starobin, and to his credit many others, seem to share the gloom he paints the Russian people in and perhaps has his lens set with a permanent Cold War filter attached. One thing most in the media and the like are missing is that technology has changed the world – in spite of the world’s leaders. The Iranians are not suffering in silence – we hear their cries in every Tweet and YouTube Video despite the silliness of the technology’s name. The Russian people have for the last nearly twenty years gotten to know the west and vice versa – and it’s accelerated now with the internet. We are no longer strangers to each other.

It is unfair to act as if Russians all look at the world with a singular view just as it is unfair to think all Americans shared the vision of former Pres. Bush. It simply is not so – we are far more complex creatures than that.

And considering the Russian governments’ influence over the media in that country I’m sure many there do not feel they can speak out against the decisions being made. The Russian people have a lot in common with those Iranian protesters.

He is right that the Russian government (the word government was only used once in his writing) would probably like the U.S. out of it’s “neighborhood” and would like an end to our missile defense plans – or part of them. But that has nothing to do with how the Russian people themselves think nor what they want. Russia is not the Soviet Union – despite it’s current leadership’s desires – Russia is a young, very young Democracy.

What Obama can and will most likely do in his trip is plant seeds for future talks and actions with the Russian Government – and if he does a Cairo like speech to the Russian People – he won’t be speaking about territorial lines, oil, the KGB, the Russian Mafia nor the missile defense – he will speak of freedom and the common chord we all share – the desire to speak our minds and follow our hearts.

That grand universal right to freedom.

Rich Gov, Poor Gov: Why Obama can’t Fix the Economy

(Originally posted on http://patriotroom.com/article/rich-gov-poor-gov-why-obama-can-t-fix-the-economy)

Last night, as I reread Robert Kiyosaki’s 1997 Bestseller Rich Dad Poor Dad, I realized why Barack Obama will be unable to do what is necessary to fix America’s economy. It’s not just that he believes in government intervention in business, although that’s a big part of it. But what makes it even worse is that President Obama is Poor Dad.

For those who haven’t read the book, let me give you the gist so you can follow along. The author uses a fable, loosely-based on his life growing up. The purpose is to compare and contrast the differences between his highly-educated and professional father (who he refers to as Poor Dad) and his best friend’s father, an informally educated, business savvy mentor (who he calls Rich Dad). I don’t wish to debate the merits of the book, which I believe are plenteous if you can distinguish the good advice from the bad. It’s irrelevant here, because I am only going to focus on the advice that is, in fact, generally good and true.

Let’s get into it…

1. Poor Dad accumulates liabilities, while Rich Dad accumulates assets.

Rich Dad believes that most people spend their whole lives never getting out of the rat race because they accumulate liabilities instead of assets. They accumulate lines of credit, mortgages that they will never pay off, toys that depreciate the minute they are bought, etc…

This is not true of Obama in his personal finances. He has gotten some good advice recently. While President Obama didn’t accumulate much of anything until his book revenue started coming in. Since then, he has shown that in his personal life, he understands building assets. He and his family are doing well.

But as we regularly see with Obama, what is good for his life is not what he advocates for America. What has Obama proposed and accomplished since taking office? The Federal Government has purchased one liability after another. Obama has purchased failing financial institutions, auto companies and picked up consumer credit debt. He has set America on a path of borrowing that seems as if it will never end. And if he gets his way, it never will.

That’s because he also hopes to create a health care system that would eventually become the largest entitlement (government debt) program in the history of the world. He seeks to turn American productivity (an asset) into a cap and trade program (a liability) whereby productive companies will be taxed punitively for the very productivity they have created.

Obama has clearly signaled his intent to use the Federal Government to accumulate liabilities and punish America’s greatest assets.

2. Poor Dad believes the rich owe the poor.

My two dads had opposing attitudes in thought. (Poor Dad) thought that the rich should pay more in taxes to take care of those less fortunate. (Rich Dad) said, “Taxes punish those who produce and reward those who don’t produce.”

So he promises to raise taxes on the top 5 percent of income earners, which only serves to unnecessarily punish the poor, who rely on the rich for jobs. Now relate this one to Obama’s nanny state mentality, where we are the kids:

(Poor Dad) said, “The reason I’m not rich is because I have you kids.” (Rich Dad) said, “The reason I must be rich is because I have you kids.”

So Obama says that America is going further into debt because he has to take care of us kids, instead of deciding that America’s finances must be made sound, so that us kids don’t have to spend the rest of our lives taking care of government.

3. Poor Dad doesn’t give charitably, Rich Dad gave liberally (by which I mean “not at all like a liberal.”)

My Rich Dad gave lots of money away. He gave to his church, to his charities, to his foundation… (Poor Dad) always said, “When I have some extra money, I’ll give it.”

Both Obama and Joe Biden are Poor Dads, here. They are both downright stingy in their personal lives, with Obama apparently changing the above quote to: “When I’m trying to get elected President, then I’ll give it.”

Biden, in fact, makes an even better Poor Dad than Obama, having bragged that in all his time in Congress, he’s still never really made anything of himself. (Joe Biden: Stingy, Hypocritical Bastard)

Poor Dad thinks government gives, not people.

4. Poor Dad thinks management (capital) exploits labor.

Rich Dad: “When it comes to money, most people want to play it safe and feel secure. So passion does not direct them. Fear does… (Obama loves to talk about the fear of average Americans today, which he sympathizes with and utilizes to make them more dependent on government.)

Some people say I exploit people because I don’t pay as much as… the government. I say the people exploit themselves. It’s their fear, not mine…

And besides, more money will not solve the problem. Just look at (Poor Dad). He makes a lot of money and he still can’t pay his bills.”

My point is not that the working class shouldn’t make what they are worth. My point is that labor is not worth what capital is worth, because it is capital that takes the risk of losing all that it invests. If management loses all its investment, labor still gets paid for the time it worked. This is part of the trade-off between choosing your profession.

The safe route is generally not going to result in Obama trying to limit your pay. No, that is a penalty reserved for the capitalist, in Obama’s world.

5. Most importantly… Poor Dad, while highly educated, doesn’t understand economics.

Kiyosaki notes that knowledge of personal finances and economic principles are simply not taught in school, unless one actively seeks them out. I know this to be true, as I recently graduated from Arizona State University, and I never was required to take an economics class. In most courses, college professors belittle capitalism. It certainly is not understood by most professors, who have never had to succeed in anything but academia, where their ideas are never put to the test.

Poor Dad was brilliant, but knew nothing of how wealth is created. Clearly, neither does Obama. For he is the most Anti-business President this country has ever seen.

Democratic presidents are not famous for appointing businessmen, merchants, or entrepreneurs to their cabinet or senior White House staff. These are people who have started or run private businesses, created jobs, met payrolls, and made profits. Thus they might be sensitive to how government can help or hurt business enterprises, especially during an economic downturn.The number of such people appointed by Obama: zero. Members of his cabinet and White House staff come predominantly from government, academia, think tanks, and the law. True, several were business consultants, Defense Secretary Bob Gates and Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki served on corporate boards, and White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel spent four years as an investment banker between government jobs.

But there’s no one who ran a company, hired or fired workers, or was an entrepreneur. Obama doesn’t qualify either. He worked as a lawyer, law school instructor, and community organizer. As a community organizer, he did many things, but starting a profit-making business and creating jobs weren’t among them.

When Obama speaks of getting America back to work, of “creating or saving” jobs, he knows nothing of which he speaks. He has never created a job. He has never made a profit for a shareholder. He believes that government creates jobs, while business screws labor.

When Obama announced last week the acceleration of his economic “stimulus,” he was referring only to programs run or funded by the federal government. He offered nothing, not even a tiny tax incentive, to encourage investment in business and private job creation. This reflects Obama’s policy initiatives across the board. They rely entirely on more government spending, regulation, and control.

For these reasons alone, President Obama cannot and will not come up with policies that will improve the economy over the long haul. Sure, our economy should improve eventually, if only because America’s greatest asset is its productive citizenry and the fact that things can hardly get worse. But Poor Dad’s policies will never restore America to what it could, and should, be.

For that, we need someone who thinks like Rich Dad.

A breathless op-ed in the New York Times called for further scrutiny of the Bush administration over the acts discussed in these memos.

Until Americans and their leaders fully understand the rules the Bush administration concocted to justify such abuses — and who set the rules and who approved them — there is no hope of fixing a profoundly broken system of justice and ensuring that that these acts are never repeated.

But
what of the acts discussed in these memos? Do the acts constitute torture in the minds of most Americans? In my view, most of them sound like activities that fraternity pledges willingly submit themselves to during Hell Week each and every year in our academies of higher learning. I would like for you to decide for yourself.

In the first memo dated August 1, 2002, we learn the following:

You have asked for this advice in the course of conducting interrogations of Abu Zubaydah. As we understand it, Zubaydah is one of the highest ranking members of the Al Qaeda terrorist organization…

Zubaydah
is currently being held by the United States. The interrogation team is certain that he has additional information that he refuses to divulge.Specifically, he is withholding information regarding terrorist networks in the
United States or in Saudi Arabia and information regarding plans to conduct attacks within the United States or against our interests overseas. Zubaydah has become accustomed to a certain level of treatment and displays no signs of willingness to disclose further information.

In other words, the terrorist had become accustomed to the prayer mats, the Quran reading time, the Muslim chefs preparing three squares a day and the five prayer breaks each day that made Club Gitmo a favorite vacation spot for terrorists in the first place.

Moreover, your intelligence indicates that there is currently a level of “chatter” equal to that which preceded the September 11 attacks. In light of the information you… wish to move the interrogations into what you have described as an “increased pressure phase.’”

As part of this increased pressure phase, Zubaydah will have contact only with a new interrogation specialist, who he has not met previously, and the Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape (“SERE”) training psychologist who has been involved with the interrogations since they began. This phase will likely last no more than several days but could last up to thirty days. In this phase, you would like to employ ten techniques that you believe will dislocate his expectations regarding the treatment he believes he will receive and encourage him to disclose the crucial information mentioned above.

I think most of us can agree that this seems reasonable so far. The terrorist likely knows of future attacks and the interrogators wish to trick him into believing that he may face actual torture if he doesn’t cooperate. Unfortunately, thanks to the release of these memos, future terrorists now know that we won’t ever actually do so. Let’s look at the ten techniques noted in the first memo:

1) The Attention Grasp (It sounds more sinister if you say it in a hushed tone.)

The attention grasp consists of grasping the individual with both hands, one hand on each side of the collar opening, in a controlled and quick motion. In the same motion as the grasp, the individual is drawn toward the interrogator.

Compare that to this example of 1950s fraternity hazing techniques:

The Attention Grasp: Torture, Fraternity Hazing or Just Right

( online polls)

2) Walling

For wailing a flexible false wall will be constructed. The individual is placed with his heels touching the wall. The interrogator pulls the individual forward and then quickly and firmly pushes the individual into the wall. It is the individual’s shoulder blades that hit the wall. During this motion, the head and neck are supported with a rolled hood or towel that provides a c-collar effect to help prevent whiplash. To further reduce the probability of injury, the individual is allowed to rebound from the flexible wall. You have orally informed us that the false wall is in part constructed to create a loud sound when the individual hits it, which further shock or surprise in the individual. In part, the idea is to create a sound that will make the impact seem far worse than it is and that will be far worse than any injury that might result from the action.

A little push into a collapsible wall and a loud noise? I’m not even going to bother finding more butt-paddling to compare this one to.

Walling: Torture, Fraternity Hazing or Just Right?

( online polls)

3) The Facial Hold

The facial hold is used to hold the head immobile. One open palm is placed on either side of the individual’s face. The fingertips are kept well away from the individual’s eyes.

Do I really need to ask?

The Facial Hold: Torture, Fraternity Hazing, Just Right or How you place your hands when going in for a kiss?

( polls)

4) The Insult Slap (May be used in conjunction with the prepare-to-kiss move.)

With the facial slap or insult slap, the interrogator slaps the individual’s face with fingers slightly spread. The hand makes contact with the area directly between the tip of the individual’s chin and the bottom of the corresponding earlobe. The interrogator invades the individual’s personal space. The goal of the facial slap is not to inflict physical pain that is severe or lasting, instead, the
purpose of the facial slap is to induce shock, surprise, and or humiliation.

I hear the usual reaction is, “Allah-damn it! I thought he was going to French-kiss me, but instead he French-slapped me.”

The Insult Slap: Torture, Fraternity Hazing, Just Right or Can we get to some real torture?

( polls)

5) Cramped Confinement

Cramped confinement involves the placement of the individual in a confined space, the dimensions of which restrict the individual’s movement. The confined space is usually dark. The duration of confinement varies based upon the size of the container. For the larger confined space, the individual can stand up or sit down; the smaller space is large enough for the subject to sit down. Confinement in the larger space can last up to eighteen hours; for the smaller space, confinement lasts for no more than two hours.

In other words, treating terrorists like we treat poorly behaving prisoners. I see now why the Times is so sure this is all torture. It sounds almost as bad as this more recent fraternity hazing technique:

Two freshmen at Ohio State University were brought to the “dungeon” of their prospective fraternity house after breaking the rule requiring all pledges to crawl into the dining area prior to Hell Week meals. Once locked in the house storage closet, they were given only salty foods to eat for nearly two days. Nothing was provided for drinking purposes except a pair of plastic cups in which they could catch their own urine (Described in Cialdini, 1985).

Cramped Confinement: Torture, Fraternity Hazing, Just Right or Routine Police Tactic?

( online polls)

6) Wall Standing

Wall standing is used to induce muscle fatigue. The individual stands about four to five feet from a wall, with his feet spread approximately to shoulder width. His arms are stretched out in front of him, with his fingers resting on the wall. His fingers support all of his body weight. The individual is not permitted to move or reposition his hands or feet.

Stretching exercises, anyone?

Wall Standing: Torture, Fraternity Hazing, Just Right or Health Club Workout?

( online polls)

7) Stress Positions

(T)hese positions are not designed to produce the pain associated with contortions or twisting of the body. Rather, somewhat like walling, they are designed to produce the physical discomfort associated with muscle fatigue. Two particular stress positions are likely to be used on Zubaydah:

1) sitting on the floor with legs extended straight out in front of fhim with his arms raised above his head; and

2)
kneeling on the floor while leaning back at a 45 degree angle. You have also orally informed us that through observing Zubaydah in captivity, you have noted that he appears to be quite flexible despite his wound.

Good, we wouldn’t actually want to hurt the poor terrorist, would we? More calisthenics?

Stress Positions: Torture, Fraternity Hazing, Just Right or Boring?

( online polls)

8 ) Sleep Deprivation

Sleep deprivation may be used. You have indicated that your purpose in using this technique is to reduce the individual’s ability to think on his feet and, through the discomfort associated with lack of sleep; to motivate him to cooperate: The effect of such sleep deprivation will generally remit after one or two nights of uninterrupted sleep. You have informed us that your research has revealed that, in rare instances, some individuals who are already predisposed to psychological problems may experience abnormal reactions to sleep deprivation. Even in those cases, however, reactions abate after the individual is permitted to sleep. Moreover, personnel with medical training are available to and will intervene in the unlikely event of an abnormal reaction. You have orally informed us that you would not deprive Zubaydah of sleep for more than eleven days at a time and that you have previously kept him awake for 72 hours, from which no mental or physical harm resulted.

It seems we get all our good ideas from the Greeks on campus:

Drinking bottles of liquor, not sleeping for days, streaking, being chained and drug around campus, fighting, not bathing, and humiliating themselves are all parts of a pledge’s hazing process.

Sleep Deprivation: Torture, Fraternity Hazing or Just Right?

( online polls)

9) Cramped Confinement Box plus Insect

You would like to place Zubaydah in a cramped confinement box with an insect. You have informed us that he appears to have a fear of insects. In particular, you would like to tell Zubaydah that you intend to place a stinging insect into the box with him. You would, however, place a harmless insect in the box. You have orally informed us you would in fact place a harmless insect such as a caterpillar in the box with him.

Caterpillars? Oh my!

Cramped Confinement: Torture, Fraternity Hazing, or Just Right ?

( online polls)

10) Waterboarding (Maniacal, evil laugh here.)

In this procedure, the individual is bound securely loan inclined bench, which is approximately four feet by seven feet. The individual’s feet are generally elevated. A cloth is placed over the forehead and eyes. Water is then applied to the cloth in a controlled manner. As this is done, the cloth is lowered until it covers both the nose and mouth. Once the cloth is saturated and completely covers the mouth and nose, air now is slightly restricted for 20 to 40 seconds due to the presence of the cloth.

This causes an increase in carbon dioxide level in the individual’s blood. This increase in the CO2 level stimulates increased effort to breathe. This effort plus the cloth produces the perception of “suffocation and incipient panic,” i.e., the perception of drowning. The individual does not breathe any water into his lungs.

During those 20 to 40 seconds, water is continuously applied from a height of twelve to twenty four inches. After this period, the cloth is lifted, and the individual is allowed to breathe unimpeded for three or four breaths. The sensation of drowning is immediately relieved by the removal of the cloth. The procedure may then be repeated. The water is usually applied from a canteen cup or small watering can with a spout…

(A) medical expert with SERE experience will be present throughout this phase and that the procedures will be stopped if deemed medically necessary to prevent severe mental or physical harm to Zubaydah.

This is the only one that I can see a majority being concerned about. You will be pleased to know that those who go through SERE training voluntarily consent to all of the above methods. The memo states the findings of a person with ten years SERE experience:

(H)e trained 10,000 students. Of those students, only two dropped out of the training following the use of these techniques. Although on rare occasions some students temporarily postponed the remainder of their training and received psychological counseling, those students were able to finish the program without any indication of subsequent abnormal health effects…

Another trainer noted the following:

He informed you that there was one person who did not complete the training. That person experienced an adverse mental health reaction that lasted only two hours. After those two hours, the individual’s symptoms spontaneously dissipated without requiring treatment or counseling and no other symptoms were ever reported by this individual.

Waterboarding: Torture, Fraternity Hazing or Just Right?

( polls)

The second memo included a couple new techniques:

1) Dietary Manipulation.
This technique involves the substitution of commercial liquid meal replacements for normal food, presenting detainees with a bland, unappetizing, but nutritionally complete diet.

2) Nudity.
This technique is used to cause psychological discomfort, particularly if a detainee, for cultural or other reasons,is especially modest. When the technique is employed, clothing can be provided as an instant reward for cooperation. During and between interrogation sessions, a detainee may be kept nude.

Diet Manipulation and Nudity: Torture, Fraternity Hazing or Just Right?

( online polls)

The New York Times, the ACLU and the liberal media and academic elites now know our interrogation techniques, and they are hysterical. Al Qaeda now knows our interrogation techniques, and they are laughing at us.

This issue doesn’t cleave neatly at the center of the left-right political spectrum. Heck, left-wing authoritarian governments spent most of the 20th century perfecting methods of torture. But in America today, liberals tend to object, strenuously, to any tactic that even hurts a prisoners feelings, as shown by the fact that some readers have called “The Attention Grasp” torture.

Conservatives tend to view protecting the citizens of the United States as a larger and more important objective of the federal government than prisoner comfort.

Shouldn’t there be a middle way? Can’t we recognize that, yes, we do have a moral obligation to treat our prisoners as humanely as possible, and yes, a primary duty of our government is to protect the safety of its citizens.

I believe we can. I believe reasonable people can agree on these things, and support a policy that never puts a prisoner through anything that the person conducting the interrogation has not gone through himself. A policy in which all but the most high-level subjects are never subjected to any of the aforementioned questioning tactics, but one which allows reasonable tactics to be used on people who definitely have information that will save American lives and who will not divulge said information under other circumstances. Is taking any possible
action officially off the table really an intelligent way to handle those who wish to do harm to Americans?

Let’s not forget, these tactics unquestionably prevented further attacks and saved American lives. For this we should all be thankful.

Most Americans won’t read the reports for themselves. They will read the paper, watch the MSM and conclude that we were doing Jack Bauer. In my opinion, we were mostly doing Jack, and thank God we did.

What say you?