Dodgy Logic

"The torture called waterboarding is a pretty violent business.

"The torturer straps down the victim, feet elevated above the head, then covers the subject's face — often with cloth or cellophane — and pours water onto it. This triggers the gag reflex, persuading the mind that the body is drowning, provoking an atavistic terror. The straining and flailing against the restraint straps can sometimes break bones. If the torture is protracted, lung and brain damage can occur."(Neil MacDonald from CBC.ca)

But as the article points out, the official line is that the US doesn't torture, despite the fact that waterboarding happens in US custody around the world and it's clearly torture. It's all semantics and murderous, bureaucratic doublespeak you see. Read the article. It's miserable and frustrating reading.

Here's some other miserable techniques I've heard about: in Uzbekistan they boil prisoners alive; others pull off your fingernails; others strip you naked and subject you to freezing temperatures; others beat your extremities into a pulp; remember the Russian Roulette game in the Deer Hunter? I haven't seen these new torture movies like the Passion of the Christ, Hostel or Saw and I never plan to but I'm sure you could get more violently ill there. Someone is clearly enjoying all this misery which makes me once again ponder the rotten heart of civilization. But I ask: would you, who rejoices in torture, enjoy being subjected to it yourself?

I oppose torture because I believe in the Golden Rule; much like the Four Nobel Truths, it makes sense. Jesus said: "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." George W. Bush once stated that Jesus was his favourite philosopher. I guess all that money in his pocket and power in his hands has silenced the little voice in his head. Good luck at the pearly gates George.