This “torture stuff” is complete and utter nonsense.  Everyone, take a look at the Al-Qaeda torture handbook, you can read it here.  Now, ask yourself why every pundit, Berkeley student, news reporter, and radio DJ is willing to be “waterboarded” and not willing to be subjected to any of the torture techniques listed by our good friends at Al-Qaeda?  To determine what is torture, in a non-legal sense but in an emotional sense, isn’t the only scientific way to test it against something that we KNOW and all agree is torture.

So, for those of you willing to be “tortured” by a training procedure used on our own Navy SEALs, allow me to personally invite you to my soundstages in Louisiana for a little scientific experiment.  First, waterboarding. Next up, you can pick any of the torture methods from the Al-Qaeda book you like. 

May I recommend “Eye Removal” or “Blowtorch to the Skin”?  Those are two of my favorites. (more…)

Declassification of the torture memos was big news a couple of weeks ago, with the glaring omission of what terror attacks were prevented by the water boarding. The news media did not seem to care though. Instead of “moving on” they enjoyed their “back to the future” moment of wallowing in the gloried past of the Bush administration’s “atrocities.” 

This week the Obama administration is going to give us another dose of the “America is evil” evidence by releasing photos and other visual evidence that shows Bush, Cheney and others allowing rogue CIA agents to do terrible things to helpless Muslims who were innocently targeted and hustled off to Guantanamo. 

This has made me think of other images of atrocity that I would actually like to see to remind me of our enemy’s brutality. 

On September 11th, 2001 numerous people plummeted 1200+ feet out of the world trade center because they determined that dying of an impact on concrete after falling about ¼ mile to earth at a speed of 32 feet per second squared (the speed of gravity for those of you who aren’t into physics) was preferable to burning to death in the stricken towers.  (more…)

The Los Angeles Times tries hard to present different viewpoints on its Op-Ed page. But last week, they hit a new low with a column by a lawyer named Joseph Margulies, pleading for mercy on behalf of one of the three terrorists America has water-boarded since 9/11: Abu Zubaydah. Here’s some of what the column said: “Partly as a result of injuries he suffered while he was fighting the communists in Afghanistan, partly as a result of how those injuries were exacerbated by the CIA and partly as a result of his extended isolation, Abu Zubaydah’s mental grasp is slipping away.

“Today, he suffers blinding headaches and has permanent brain damaage. He has an excruciating sensitivity to sounds, hearing what others do not. The slightest noise drives him nearly insane. In the last two years alone, he has experienced about 200 seizures.

“But physical pain is a passing thing. The enduring torment is the taunting reminder that darkness encroaches. Already he cannot picture his mother’s face or recall his father’s name. Gradually his past, like his future, eludes him.” (more…)

Today, “The Last House on the Left” debuts in theaters.  It’s a remake of Wes Craven’s 1972 movie of the same name.  The movie–while infinitely better than the original (which was supposedly making an anti-war statement, but was just torture porn)–is still torture/snuff-porn, and I don’t recommend it (see my reviews of this weekend’s new movies, including “Last House”).

But one point in the movie bears noting–the use and applause for waterboarding.

The story of “Last House” is that of a girl and her friend tortured by a gang of criminals. The girl (Sara Paxton, who “graduated” from kids’ show “Darcy’s Wild Life” to snuff-porn–talk about regressing)  is raped and left for dead.  When her parents discover that the people they welcomed into their house are the perpetrators, they take revenge. (more…)