Top 5: If Hollywood Was Your Only Source of History
by John Nolte
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If present-day Hollywood had their way here are five things you’d never know…
1. That JFK had way more in common with Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush than most of today’s Democrats: By modern standards, Kennedy was a fairly conservative Republican; forward-leaning on national defense and a tax cutter who may not have called it trickle-down but to improve the economy and grow the treasury he cut taxes across the board (yes, including the evil rich). Kennedy’s “tax cuts for the wealthy” not only worked but would become the starter blueprint for both the Reagan and Bush II tax cuts.
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From the Jaws of Victory…
2. That Richard Nixon won the peace in Vietnam: It took longer than anyone would’ve liked, but Nixon and Kissinger did stop the war in Vietnam and protect the South’s sovereignty with the 1973 Paris Peace Accords. Our combat troops came home and our Vietnamese allies were able to safeguard themselves with only a billion-plus dollars in annual American aid. Congressional Democrats, however, couldn’t stand the thought of America not losing the Vietnam War and gave the North the greenlight to invade with the introduction of a bill that would dramatically cut our support to a sovereign ally we were pledged to protect. Three domino’s fell — South Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos – and a few million people died. But whatever, America was put in her place and Hollywoodists have worked overtime since to lay the blame on those who felt stopping a holocaust (which John Wayne predicted would happen way back in 1968 in “The Green Berets“) was something worth fighting for.
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3. That the Pope, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher might have had more to do with winning the Cold War than boozy, womanizing Democrats: We’ve had one big-budget mainstream film about the end of the Cold War and Hollywood credits a guy who belonged to the party whose policies mostly sided with the enemy. Pure, unashamed propaganda – but also an admission of how wrong they were.
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4. That those who served in Vietnam and Iraq are not psychotics and victims: Because Leftists wholly own our culture and the news media, in order to forever button up their defamatory image of America and those conflicts, heroes cannot be allowed to emerge from either conflict. After all, if the general public were to ever learn that it was good, brave, selfless, and honorable people who served in both wars and were willing to die in order to bring liberty to strangers, all the Left holds dear might disintegrate into a new era of moral clarity. You’ll also discover that the soldiers and Marines portrayed as moral and mentally sound in these films are usually those opposed to the war they’re fighting (translation: want to abandon millions of innocents to slavery, death and torture).
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Nick Nolte (no relation) “Down and Out in Beverly Hills”
5. That most homeless are in fact not mystics and wise men: On a clear day I can smell Santa Monica from here. Having lived in two metropolitan areas, I’ve seen homeless folks in desperate need of compassion and psychiatric care and others in desperate need of a kick in the ass, but a unique insight….? Uhm, no.
Obsessive, leftist trolls will leap in with one or two exceptions to these examples but don’t let them accomplish Mission Axelrod and wrap you ’round the argument axel. You should also come up with your own list: FDR interred the Japanese? RFK was a ruthless Commie hunter? The Rosenbergs were guilty? Alger Hiss was guilty? You know the drill…
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204 Comments
Those are all excellent entries, John.
Here's a few off the top of my head:
1. The Catholic Church has actually PUSHED the progression of Western Civilization, not hindered it.
2. Islam is not a "religion of peace" and the actions of Jihadists really aren't the reaction of the ever encroaching "imperialist" U.S. foreign policy.
3. The Patriot Act does not violate the Fourth, Fifth, of Sixth Amendments of the Constitution in ANY way.
3. Guantanamo Bay really wasn't a death camp.
5. An unstoppable warming force created by the excess of man is most likely NOT going to overheat the Earth and sent us all to a watery death.
I love number five.
NeoConJedi- great list. It is amazing how people can just ignore the Church's (Catholic/Protestant) role in Western Civilization, which used to be known as Western Christendom.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican.
Corollary: what would MLK think about the millions of aborted black babies and Planned Parenthood abortion clinics on inner city street corners?
As the nephew of a two-tour Vietnam vet, can't thank you enough for #4, John!
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/1037...
It might stun some that the US is not an imperialist nation. If that were true, there would be no Canada, no Mexico, no Western Europe, no Japan, no Phillipines and so on and so on and so on…
Another one: Civil rights were not supported by the Republicans. (i know they were all racists but somehow they brought themselves around).
Oh I have 2 more: Hookers will be rescued by rich white guys. And pregnant teens are more eclectic and witty that any other american.
This is one of those posts that literally open Pandora's box- Mr Nolte's list plus that of Mr Jedi basically scratch the surface… if you believe, truly believe in Liberty and Freedom and Individuality of spirit these are horrifying times. The government will not call Islamic fundamentalists 'terrorists' but casually refer to returning Vets in such a cavalier manner. We especially like the nexus of Pope John Paul, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.
Their contributions to the demise of the Worst System Designed by Man were complete and total. It is a sad statement that we have lost the desire to triumph over flawed (and evil) ideology.
Gil Scott Heron was wrong. This Revolution (metaphorically waged, of course) WILL be televised…
I find #5 especially appropriate (although I agree with ALL of your points) because those same lefties who are ever soooo compassionate to the homeless will also call the police if a homeless person comes within a 15-block radius of their own homes. Case in point was the journalist who posed as a homeless person and set up camp on the PUBLIC sidewalk outside Rosie O'Donnell's mansion. He wasn't there 15 minutes before a security guard came out to roust him, and when that failed she called the police.
That Bill Ayers was a proud member of the Weather Underground, a pro-Communist, anti-American terrorist group with confirmed kills.
How can we build Oceania with this attitude?? I think Obama (all hail) had it right, when he said there were 57 states, but we should have even more. We can add Carribia, Pacifica, Air Strip One, 10 canadian provinces, 31 Mexican States…
That the Catholic Church has done more to enable women's liberty and security and rights than any other religion or government. Where Christianity is the dominant religious view, women are equal and free. Where anything other than Christianity dominates, women are chattel and serfs.
Great thoughts John. The inherent tenent of Capitalism is that some will fail, as you said, either through no fault – mental illness and/or disability, or downright laziness and slothlike behavior. The safety net has always been there, initially through the caring outreach of charity. When Govt decided to shoulder this responsibilty, through the great society and other derangements, a permanant underclass of abled body drones resulted – entitlements flourish and IMO, the population got greedier. Now they want everything provided, down to the HDTV and car.
The crime is how much we spend on our schools, and yet, per capita, we are one of last in the world in actually educating anything. Their answer – throw more money at it – I think not. I'd like to clean out the nests of tenure and restart the engine. Fat chance with the NEA, but it would improve everyone's quality of life – except bad teachers and assinine administrators.
That white people in the Appalachian Mts aren't all inbred, wife-beating, stupid, bigoted, hicks and that yes, they are just as poor and "underprivileged' as any minority in the urban ghettos.
Suburbanites are repressed and not to be trusted and will possibly kill you or secretly cross-dress or both.
The fall of the Roman Empire was actually very bad for the world, pushing Europe into about 1000 yrs of decline.
Oh, and yes, I lived through JFK's brief tenure. He was NO liberal as defined today. And, that is why I remember him fondly.
The South contains areas and people not portrayed in Deliverance.
On the flip side, I love the Mini series John Adams.
Indeed, When you look at the history of Imperilaism, where is our Empire? Shoot, all that evil and nothing to show for it.
Slamming terrorists up against a movable wall is not torture. John McCain was tortured. Look it up.
And that there was and continues to be rampant racism in the North.
That the Crusaders weren't a bunch of whacked out, rabid Christians intent upon conquering the Muslim's rightful homeland. There's a reason it was called "The Holy Land". Christ was born, lived, walked and died there six hundred years before Mohammed was even BORN. The Romans (pagans) had it when Christ died — Constantine converted to Christianity in the fourth century. Alexander the Great (a Pagan) had it before the Romans and the Jews before Alexander. The truth is Islam poured out of Arabia and CONQUERED the Holy Land by the sword. The Crusaders were just trying to take it back.
Welcome back, Harry, with a great post.
"…no Western Europe, no Japan…"
The Germans and the Japanese, if their birthrates are any indication, are taking care of that themselves. Within a century or two, German and Japanese will be spoken only in Hell.
Oh, but I can hear the environmentalists now: The world is overpopulated. Humans are pollution. Rich countries use all the resources so their population needs to be whittled down to a manageable level.
Apart from the considerations about deciding who should prosper and who should remain in squalor, birthrates cannot be reversed by flipping a switch or turning a dial. No social program can survive an eroding tax base for long. Stopping high birthrates is easy — a one-child policy coupled with promotion of hedonism. Stopping the opposite problem, however, is blasted difficult. After all, destroying something is easier than building something.
I have to politely disagree, Bonnie. Israel.
That Ronald Reagan lowered taxes when he presided over the largest tax hike in U.S. history (adjusted for inflation)…
That conservatives weren't incensed that Reagan adopted a more moderate stance towards the Soviet Union in the last years of his presidency…
That propping up a corrupt and unpopular regime in South Vietnam would make the war winnable…
Yes, let's puncture some of those myths propagated by the media…
That Ronald Reagan lowered taxes when he presided over the largest tax hike in U.S. history (adjusted for inflation)…
That conservatives weren't incensed that Reagan adopted a more moderate stance towards the Soviet Union in the last years of his presidency…
That propping up a corrupt and unpopular regime in South Vietnam would make the war winnable…
Yes, let's puncture some of those myths propagated by the media…
And oh yes, the favorite, that torture is justified because bad guys recoil instantly under the first sign of pain and reveal all their nefarious plans in detail.
Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. There was not second shooter. There was No Magic bullet
Oh, rats. I forgot about Israel, the one and only place where the Jewish faith is the predominate religion. And women there are free, brave, and I must say, look darned good holding an Uzi.
Your 5 are the most glaring that liberals conveniently forget. I like to remind them when they talk about Bush and how he destroyed the constitution, of FDR's internment of Japanese. How about that the KKK was founded by the Democratic Party.
The American people loved McCarthy and Joseph Welch had just come off hours of gay-baiting McCarthy's assistant Roy Cohn before lamenting, "Have you no sense of decency?"
So I'm a little confused. Liberals agree with just about everyone that the internment of the Japanese was a dark chapter in the history of the U.S., and that the KKK was founded by the members of the Democratic party, and that is a stain on the party's past.
However, we'd also argue that in the 1960's, the Southern (racist) Democrats shifted to the Republican party and formed the basis of Nixon's "Southern Strategy."
We'd also argue that the internment of the Japanese which almost everyone agrees was wrong (as well as the fact that Lincoln suspended Habeus Corpus during the Civil War) did not justify the constitutional abuses of the Bush Administration. And now that conservatives are cowering in fear of the latest DHS report, I'd think you'd agree with us now…
The Brits are not always the bad guys, and we do actually fight by your side, except for a couple of mis-understandings in 1776 & 1812 (Sorry about the White house by the way. The British Army can get a little over-enthusiastic sometimes, it looks lovely now though!). Ah well at least it keeps Gary Oldman, Ian Mckellan, Patrick Stewart and all in work. Sigh.
In order:
1) JFK was certainly more conservative than current Dems. So was EVERY other Democratic politician, given the times. Movies that worship JFK and Camelot are rarely about politics anyway. So this doesn't really fly.
2) You actually cited 'The Green Berets' — a movie that famously tells us the sun sets in the East, an assertion every bit as factual as the rest of the film — so there's no need to address this one.
3) The end of the Cold War was due to a kind of perfect political/cultural storm. Reagan and Thatcher certainly played a large role in this. And yes, more than Tom Hanks did. But the cultural factors played a large role also. My Czech relatives wanted to live their lives in freedom. They also wanted to wear American jeans. (Their dream came true, of course. Now they're the Czech distributors for Oakley sunglasses. Times change!)
4) You need to differentiate between Viet Nam and Iraq. In a general sense, yes, Viet Nam vets were poorly served by their movie counterparts. (Tho' in fairness, Platoon offers up heroic soldiers as well as crazy ones.)
5) Fair enuf.
I always love when people say those racist Dems shifted to the Republican party after starting the KKK. If that's true, then didn't those racists Dems vote in larger numbers for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as Republicans, than the Dems in the Democrat Party. I'd hope you'd agree with that? So by your logic, they saw the errors of their ways, being racist Democrats and went to a far more compassionate party of Republicans? Just wondering.
Who was being tortured?
Um, the Southern (racist) Democrats shifted their votes for George Wallace in 1968. FAIL!
And evidently Robert Byrd didn't get the memo to change parties.
The view there on the end of Vietnam needs more explanation. Suffice it to say there isn't room here. But the Democrats in Congress actually started and maintained the war in Vietnam [along with LBJ]. Nixon won the office because he promised peace. He then invaded Cambodia…
In short ALL of government was corrupt and stupid. Which isn't surprising.
Anyway, Nixon, Kissinger and then Ford wanted out just as much as the [evil] Democrats. So let's not pretend like the Democrats wanted to lose the war. The peace negotiations were drawn up but there was no way we could have forced peace there. Why? They were in a civil war. There was no way to stop it. And at the time the war was very very unpopular. Mainly because we really could not win. We could only honorably step away. Should we have stayed on for more years? Go back in time and ask the public to support that position. No way.
This is the same old tired arguments that Dems want to use to revise history and sweep under the rug, their racist history. But if I had a history, as they do, of segragation and the KKK, I guess I would do what I could to whitewash it too.
John, these are sitters at the net.
1. Before the Summer of '68, Americans all resembled Tony Dow and lived lives of repressed hypocrisy. Timothy Leary made the scales fall from our eyes.
2. Until this point, women couldn't vote or have unprotected you-know-what.
3. Most if not all Civil War solidiers ruthlessly killed Indians and spent the rest of their lifes tortured about it. Some even went to Japan.
4. At some level, all terrorist plots are masterminded by white corporate types trying to build a trans-Caspian gas pipleline.
5. Nazism and Apartheid are the only two objective evils of the past 60 years. Everything else, well, it's more complicated than that.
Yes, I know that Bush Adminstration came up with a rather dubious new definition of torture that only acknowledges "great physical harm," but torture as defined by international law (to which the U.S. is a signator) includes waterboarding–just to cite the most egregious example. The there's the revelation that waterboarding was performed on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed 183 times in one month, and 83 times on Abu Zubaydah. And this treatment failed to get any truthful information. Are you seriously going to argue they weren't tortured?
Also, were you aware that 30 detainees *died* while under U.S. supervision?
And what party did Strom Thurmond join in 1964?
Not sure what's worse–Democrats trying to sweep the past under the rug or Republicans trying to sweep the present under the rug…
U.S. was a "signator" to "international law" and that "international law" explicitly lists water-boarding as an egregious example of torture? Fascinating. Are you aware that U.S pilots get water-boarded as part of the S.E.R.E. training? Would you suggest that the U.S. military tortures their own personnel?
Also, were you aware that 30 detainees *died* while under U.S. supervision?
Of course, that automatically leads you to assume that they were murdered and, of course, America bad.
That American Indians are not all non-laughing enviromentalist wisemen who can only speak truth while being victimized by the "white-eye". In truth they were/are people. Some good, some bad, some funny, some serious, some smart, some stupid, some were peaceful, some were murderers, etc…
What present? That Bush didn't destroy the Constitution? That Bush had a great economy for nearly 7 years despite 2 wars and a terrorist attack? That Bush gave the Democrats an olive branch of letting them spend billions of dollars with Medicare and educational spending? That Bush did more for AIDS in Africa than any previous president, to include Dems and Republicans? He wasn't perfect, and I didn't appreciate him spending money like a drunk Democrat, but he wasn't the evil person you people portrayed him to be.
I did not know what waterboarding was when I first started hearing about it. And then when I looked it up, I could not BELIEVE that this was what people were crying about. That's torture? Spare me!
I agree with you with but one country….we did make a somewhat abortive attempt at Canada but did not do a very good job at it. But your point is entirely correct and it amazes me that the Left cannot see things like this. Our country has done more good for more people than any other in the history of mankind. That is not to say that we have been perfect, but no one else has come close to our record IMHO.
1. The 60's & Hippies were all about peace love doves and social utopias. It sowed the seeds for a plague of STD's (many of which regular bathing had eliminated centuries before) domestic terrorism (the Weather Underground) and as many have mentioned, the abandonment of our allies in South East Asia.
2. All journalists are stalwart crusaders for truth justice & decency. Walter Duranty anyone? The Western media's coverups of Marxist crimes against humanity continues to this day.
3. Corporate interests & the military-industrial complex killed Kennedy. Jackie said "It. It had be some silly little communist." Part of this is ignoring that a mere 3 hours before being killed, Kennedy had been saying that he was going to be pushing for $.50 of every federal dollar to be spent on the military fighting communism around the globe.
4. The 50's were a time of immense soul-crushing social conformity & un-ending paranoia, leading to suburbia becoming a sort of prison for the mind.
5. All Romans had English accents. I just thought this one had to be put in.
That George W. Bush won the 2000 Presidential Election. That George W. Bush won the state of Florida in the 2000 Presidential Election. That George W. Bush won the recounts in the state of Florida in the 2000 Presidential Election. That the United States Supreme Court did NOT decide to "hand the election to George W. Bush," (as I've already seen at least one history textbook claim) but rather, that they decided that Florida Democrats actually had to follow the rules and use the same SET of rules in every (heavily Democrat) county where they were conducting their sham recounts!
That the Koran teaches hatred of and therefore conversion, subjugation or murder of unbelievers.
That the slaughter of 9/11 was committed by a group of Muslims in accordance with and obedience to those religious texts.
That people who do not agree with same-sex marriage (and therefore do not wish to see the definition of marriage changed) do not hate homosexual people or wish them any harm.
Are you aware that almost every "detainee" taken by the enemy has died while under their supervision? That includes civilians taken before anyone ever heard the name Abu Ghraib, before you start the whole "They did it because we did." thing. Of those 30 who supposedly died under US "supervision" what were the causes of death exactly? Preexisting conditions? Old age? Clean living gone bad?
Which leads me to wonder what constitutes "US supervision" too? Do you mean directly at Gitmo or do you mean anyone, anywhere who was at any time a US detainee? Since the US "supervises" Iraqi and Afghan security forces are you including people that they handled as being under the definition of US "supervision" too?
So. Who was actually a KKK member? Does the name Byrd come to mind? Your "So is your dad" arguments are the weak ones your side of the aisle keep throwing out there. The history shows your party is racist and them is the facts.
And they aren't all 'Jesus Freak-Holy Rollers' who speak in tongues, yet are 99% sexual perverts and sadists, who sometimes chop up innocent, stranded travelers with satanic glee.
Republicans still voted in higher numbers for it than Dems. So what's your agument? That this one didn't?
That's why you gotta create the term "cultural imperialism" That way, campus losers can equate Coke machines in Nepal as genocide.
COOOLLL!!!! any video on this??? If not, let's do it again!!!
I suggest you be waterboarded 6 times a day for a month, and then tell me if that's torture or not. And then also tell me if you were more likely to spill your guts on the 180th time than it was the first 179 times.
We executed German soldiers in WWII for waterboarding prisoners. It seems like the radical conservatives have become the advocates of relativistic morals.
Sorry that Mel who stirred up that pot. I liked the Patriot and Braveheart, but can see that he might have a little "issue" with you guys.
We like the Brits vary much but are a bit concerned about your cultural suicide.
I read the book "Charlie Wilson's War" before I even heard there was going to be a movie. The book only barely dealt with the larger cold war. Wilson did a lot for winning Afghanistan, but it was just one domino among many. Haven't seen the movie. I gather neither Wilson nor his main lady friend cared for it.
I'm referring to the 33 detainee deaths the U.S. Army is conducting criminal investigations into…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46...
The "water cure" you reference about German soldiers involves forcing an individual to drink large quantities of water in a short time. That is quite different from water-boarding.
Why no. They all choked on bon bons or were electrocuted when they tripped on their fuzzy slippers and their champagne glasses cut the wires to their cable TV hookups.
You're purposefully ignoring the my first comment. Do you assert that 183 waterboardings in a month is not torture?
I've heard that claim somewhere. Do you have a link?
Okay so 33 cases investigated, half are natural causes, 4 are justifiable homicide and only 9 cases still open, one of those being likely natural death as well. So 8 still under investigation with potential for being homicide. But the headline "Over Half of Detainee Deaths Natural Causes" doesn't make for a good anti-military headline does it?
1) Most American corporations provide products and jobs that benefit the world (particularly pharmaceutical companies.)
2) The Nazis were Socialists.
3) The PLO, Hamas, etc. do not want peace with Israel, they want to destroy Israel.
4) There are child molesters in the public schools, government agencies and many other places and not just in the Catholic priesthood.
5) Tort lawsuits in this country do much more harm than good.
There's more to Jewish History than the Holocaust.
Israel is the only democratic country in the MIddle East, the only one tolerant of those not like them, the only one where everyone is free to worship any religion openly and without fear, the only one where women are equal to men in the eyes of the law and can even serve the government in leadership positions.
You're purposefully claiming that the Germans were shot for waterboarding, which as Mishu pointed out wasn't in the German playbook at the time. Even if it was I highly doubt any Germans executed were done so based *only* on them using water to extract information in whatever form.
Admit it, basically what you're doing is trying to insinuate the old "US soldiers are as bad as Nazis" trope that's been around for a few years now is true. Not only is it untrue, but it's frankly pretty offensive.
"Women there are free, brave, and I must say, look darned good holding an Uzi."
Yes, they indeed do.
(although they tend to go for M4s these days)
Before Roe v. Wade, teenage girls were NOT being butchered in "back alley abortions" on a daily basis.
Reagan didn't sit idly by and allow gays to die by AIDS because Jesus told him to. AIDS research funding skyrocketed under Reagan, doubling each year of his presidency to $1.6 billion in 1988.
I like Gary Oldman and I appreciate the Brits being one of the most reliable allies we've had out of Europe.
Nope, I never compared U.S. Troops to Nazis, nor would I. I have a high respect for our troops and sympathy for the conditions they're under. I just don't turn a blind eye to the few bad apples and try to excuse their behavior. Nor do I try to rationalize torture that violates the principles the U.S. says it upholds, especially when it was condoned by our highest levels of government.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_an...
Yeah, I know it's the New York Times so you probably won't believe it…
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_an...
Yeah, I know it's the New York Times so you probably won't believe it…
Whoops! Make that the London Times…
What? It’s my new show (Thanks For The MMRS, Fallout Boy) about a 24 year old male that joins the navy at 19 and wakes up one day in college on the west coast. Without knowing why…he fakes it through classes and befriends a middle aged female judge. Next thing you know he is finding himself tied up in relevant current events that are strangely guided by his “playlist”. With strange assistance from the DOD and other “Agencies”….he travels the globe…does his homework and saves our country. Titled “Playlist”. I was inspired by Leonard Cohen. lol polo……wait…..let me check my card. Things aren't always what they look like.
What? It’s my new show (Thanks For The MMRS, Fallout Boy) about a 24 year old male that joins the navy at 19 and wakes up one day in college on the west coast. Without knowing why…he fakes it through classes and befriends a middle aged female judge. Next thing you know he is finding himself tied up in relevant current events that are strangely guided by his “playlist”. With strange assistance from the DOD and other “Agencies”….he travels the globe…does his homework and saves our country. Titled “Playlist”. I was inspired by Leonard Cohen. lol polo……wait…..let me check my card. Things aren't always what they look like.
And I'll have to research the "waterboarding" vs. "water cure," and will admit if I'm wrong.
Down and Out in Beverly Hills is a remake of a 1932 Jean Renoir movie, Boudu Saved From Drowning, which in turn was based on a play. The "holy fool" concept has a lot of antecedents, particularly in Russian literature. The idea that poverty simultaneously puts a man in touch with "real life" and even confers mystic wisdom may not have much to do with reality, but you can hardly blame it on Hollywood, let alone modern Hollywood. Come to think of it, isn't there a poverty-embracing, wandering mystic in the New Testament?
Actually, the article says 75 deaths were investigated. And if you really think the conditions and treatment of the prisoners didn't play a role, I've got a used bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you.
Six inches to down and to the left make all the difference. Even mythbusters got it right.
But Badgeman would be a good name for a band.
Here's from wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding
During World War II both Japanese troops, especially the Kempeitai, and the officers of the Gestapo,[64] the German secret police, used waterboarding as a method of torture.[65] During the Japanese occupation of Singapore the Double Tenth Incident occurred. This included waterboarding, by the method of binding or holding down the victim on his back, placing a cloth over his mouth and nose, and pouring water onto the cloth. In this version, interrogation continued during the torture, with the interrogators beating the victim if he did not reply and the victim swallowing water if he opened his mouth to answer or breathe. When the victim could ingest no more water, the interrogators would beat or jump on his distended stomach.[66][67][68]
Chase J. Nielsen, one of the U.S. airmen who flew in the Doolittle raid following the attack on Pearl Harbor, was subjected to waterboarding by his Japanese captors.[69] At their trial for war crimes following the war, he testified "Well, I was put on my back on the floor with my arms and legs stretched out, one guard holding each limb. The towel was wrapped around my face and put across my face and water poured on. They poured water on this towel until I was almost unconscious from strangulation, then they would let up until I'd get my breath, then they'd start over again… I felt more or less like I was drowning, just gasping between life and death."[29]
The article was bringing up specific cases, cases are cleared by cause, not by numbers so even if it was 75 deaths over the course of how many years, is that really all that earthshattering to anyone not trying to put out an attention grabbing headline?
Conditions of merely being alive play a role in deaths every day. Hundreds of people die in domestic prisons every month. Were they all murdered by guards, no, did the conditions and treatment they were under a factor in some of their deaths? Probably, and still not worthy of a "shocking" headline.
The world isn't a perfect place, and bad things happen everywhere. But if I were given the choice of being held in a US military detention facility or some Islamists' basement, you can bet I'd pick the Marines, and so would you.
So that must be what those secret CIA torture sites were for. They were waterboarding with Coke (not Pepsi) and force feeding McNuggets. Thank all that is holy that Our Dear Leader (ODL) is shutting them down! Only the Good Lord knows what we were forcing on those poor unfortunates at Gitmo? The world will now be free to eat crickets and bee larvae…
Crickets aren't too bad if you roast them with a zippo first, but no I wouldn't eat them by choice either.
You know George Wallace was a Democrat, right?? Am I missing something?
Great post John, but you forgot one:
That the Hollywood "Black list" was the crime of the century…
OK, you're probably right about this one. I shouldn't have quoted death statistics without further research, and I shouldn't have muddled a conversation about torture with those death statistics.
Bush didn't destroy the Constitution, but he certainly maimed it. It's particularly galling to see conservatives feign outrage at the scary DHS and blame Obama when the DHS is carrying out Bush Administration policies. Same goes for the deficit. And as for the economy, you seem to forget that when he was running for re-election, he was seriously in danger of becoming the first incumbent to have presided over a net loss in jobs. If you look a the stats, economic growth was lower per year than under any President in the past 30 years.
I didn't start the "so is your Dad" argument, you did. Me, I'm going to switch to the "I'm rubber and you're glue…" argument.
The Canadian operation was over on one snowy night in late 1775(are there any other kind up there?) with Col. Bendict Arnold with a bullet in his leg and another short seige in Quebec. Thankfully the Canucks still control they're vast open air walkin freezer and summer time mosquito hatchery! ( B.C. is just beautiful, just teasing ya Canada!)
No we are not imperialistic in such a way as England, Germany, Scandanavia, et al all were…. Hence the reason we didn't lay claim to any regions of Africa either when it was devided up after the World Wars (With a possible except to Liberia which was created to allow blacks to go back to Africa if they chose to do so)….However, with that said, we do have imperialistic tendencies… which is why we do have military installations on ever continent of the planet.
The egregious torture the Gitmo pigs have to endure! That of having to choose between name brand athletic shoes (Nike, Reebok, Converse, etc.) with which to play soccer and basketball in, ohhhh the humanity. Little arrows painted everywhere pointing these swine toward Mecca for their five time a day face plant. Three hots and a cot, in sceanic Southern Cuba….it's horrible, inhumane and "no civilized country" should engage in this type of treatment of savage theocratical killers. Puh-leez! It cost me a pretty penny to take the future-ex to Cancun once a year. The only difference I see is a pool with a swim-up bar. Oh, and the dirtiest most shameful element of Islam, women.
Please include a list of which sections of the Constitution Bush supposedly "maimed," if you can. Oh, and since we've apparently entered a history class here, please take note that Bush began his presidency with a recession that began at the end of Clinton's term thanks to the bursting of the dot-com bubble, then aggravated by Enron and 9/11.
"4. The 50's were a time of immense soul-crushing social conformity & un-ending paranoia, leading to suburbia becoming a sort of prison for the mind. "
Yep, that's the big one for me, I loved the list but cannot believe this wasn't on it, I think it is really the most destructive and pervasive lie, since it is the key one that justifies their destruction of all standards and values ever since the 50s. The absolute worst movie that exemplifies this: Pleasantville. As someone who lives on TCM like many around here, to see this movie, which argues that you need some teenage girl sleeping around to bring color and love into boring and hateful black and white lives, wow, does it ever upset me.
Same crap, different coast.
Wait, wait…I know the other liberal, we're not racist story. Lincoln only ended slavery because he was forced to by popular opinion. He really didn't want to do that. That's my favorite liberal history rewrite.
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