Mukasey, Torture - A Question?

Michael Mukasey has refused to state plainly whether or not he views water boarding as torture and prohibited by law. He has had the technique plainly explained to him but he insists he cannot comment on a procedure he has not been briefed on. The briefing he is referring to would be one by the Bush administration containing an unknown refinement of the information he has been provided. There are two apparent problems with his problem answering, one Bush could brief him at any time - more highly classified information is regularly given to non-governmental contractors and one would assume the AG nominee was vetted; and two, the procedure is what it is, on its face regardless of circumstances, it is either torture or not - this is not a case of situational ethics unless torture is approved of.

Understand this, I am not in the least squeamish, I have shot and killed large animals and then been elbow deep in warm blood in their insides entirely without qualm. The animal had every advantage in the woods minus intellect and the ability to reach out. I can easily conceive of situations resulting in my taking a human life, but not any circumstance can convince me to torment a helpless being - animal or human. Any reasoning creature that can tolerate the idea of such a thing being perpetrated in their name is morally defective and probably mentally damaged.

If Michael Mukasey cannot discern such then he is not only unfit for AG, but should also be impeached from the bench. That such tolerance is even considered speaks volumes to the cultural degradation that has occurred over the past decades and particularly over the last 6 years. While the Republicans seem obsessed with cultural decline they seem to hold a near patent on its effects. The most noxious spouters of cultural collapse drivel seem to be most subject to its symptoms, particularly the most violent and the most sexually degrading aspects and that citation neglects greed and avarice.

The Bible stroking born again spoiled child of privilege George II is personally responsible for more death and destruction than all agents of the "axis of evil" and "Islamofascists" you can name put together. You can study the Bible until Armageddon and not find a single word quoted of Jesus Christ advocating warfare and greed but you will find extended passages referring to pacifism and supporting the poor as the path. It is Christ - ianity, not Paulism or Mosesianity, if you make claim to the title Christian then the man's words are the rule, not the damn exception. I make no such claim for myself, I don't belong to exclusive clubs, particularly where they refer to salvation, so I have no qualms about my stated stands.

Terence Hunt - AP has Bush's response to Congressional mutiny on Mukasey's nomination:

Bush later Thursday raised the stakes about Mukasey in a speech to the conservative Heritage Foundation.

"It's wrong for congressional leaders to make Judge Mukasey's confirmation dependent on his willingness to go on the record about details of a classified program he has not been briefed on," Bush told his audience. "If the Senate Judiciary Committee were to block Judge Mukasey on these grounds, they would set a new standard for confirmation that could not be met by any responsible nominee for attorney general. That would guarantee that America would have no attorney general during this time of war."

There are several untruths in this statement, AG nominees have been forced to make statements previously and to promise actions - see Ruckleshouse re Nixon and secondly absent a Congressional declaration George's opinion that we are at war is just that and thirdly no briefing is needed to determine what a clearly defined action is. This man is dangerously out of touch and obsessed with personal power, he proposes to use terror as a part of a war against terror and that such a thing is not only lawful but reasonable. Crimes committed by the Commander in Chief or his minions in his name are no less criminal and no less prosecutable than a simple thief. Is this nation really so degraded that such is no longer clear? Is the nation of the Revolution so cheapened by fear that this is the best we can do? How many brave people have died to produce this result? I'm too irate to spit.