The recent flap over Ted Nugents comments started me thinking…
More often than not I read or watch news broadcasts and find myself saying WTF? It’s led me to the conclusion the reason the world thinks we’re nuts is beacuse of News like the following bits of psychosis.
Here for your amusement is the first installment of Psycho News…
Mr Nugent said some things that the liberal media blew up into a “potential threat”. The media flap cost the American Taxpayers a chunk of change because the secret service felt obligated to investigate.
Really?
Ted Nugent NEVER, I REPEAT never threatened the president. At worst his comments sounded to me like he expected to be in jail because of his participation in protests of acts of civil disobedience. It’s not like we haven’t seen people arrested in recent years during protests… That Nugent said it was possible that he might be dead speaks to a general belief among conspiracy theorists that vocal dissenters end up having “Accidents“.
It’s all in how you choose to interpret the information. In this case a simple statement was blown out of proportion by an overly sensitive liberal sensationalist media.
Then I saw an interview on 60 Minutes with Leslie Stahl where she was interviewing a former CIA operative Jose A Rodriguez Jr. about his book Hard Measures.
As I watched the 60 Minutes piece I couldn’t help noticing the squeamishness of Ms. Stahl while Mr Rodriguez calmly and rationally explained the mechanics of getting information from detained terrorists.
Ms. Stahl appeared at points downright argumentative. She kept using the word torture like a hammer. Yeah by any stretch of the imagination we tortured detainees. We didn’t slit their throats, or saw off their heads on camera. We engaged in “Torture Lite”, we had protocols and rules and with few exceptions we followed those protocols.
My opinion of the interview was that Ms. Stahl was trying to spin the CIA, Mr. Rodriguez, and our interrogation methods as negatively as possible.
I found Mr. Rodriguezs reasoning sound. In defense of my nation well…. In all honesty I would have been far less humane about how I gathered information. I’m a firm believer that communication is best facilitated when you’re speaking the same language.
In the case of Al Qaeda and The Taliban the language that they use to make their point is a language of brutality and torture. Torture, I might add that is far worse than anything the CIA has done.
I could see dusting off Torquemadas‘ and the Marquis de Sades‘ reference books on the subjects of compliance and conversion then pulling out all the stops. Just imagine The Rack powered by a wench motor!
However, were I to speak to Al Qaeda and The Taliban in this language I’d be labeled a “War Criminal” and no doubt be brought to trial. In the case of the Al Qaeda and Taliban murderers… It’s obvious there will never be any changes filed in any court either here in the US or in The World Court at The Hague.
Last Sunday a preacher in North Carolina advocated torture of effeminate boys as he ranted against a ballot measure 1. So much for freedom and tolerance guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and the Constitution… and where the hell is Leslie Stahl? Shouldn’t she be interviewing people in this church? Where is the liberal medias sensitivity in this case?
What does it mean when we’ll express concern over torturing combatants in war, and yet remain silent when a man of the church espouses torture of our own children because of perceived sexual orientation in prepubescent boys. Dr Robert Cargill asks a chilling question at the end of a blog entry about this story. The question is below, Dr Cargill’s blog is worth reading don’t pass it up.
“at what point can we conclude that advocating violence against children – for whatever reason, but especially for reasons of bigotry – from a Christian pulpit is ABSOLUTELY NO different than when militant preachers of other religious traditions advocate violence from the pulpit?? Can we condemn one and not the other? And can we go ahead and admit that inciting violence in the name of God is reprehensible and unworthy of the protections commonly afforded religious institutions?“
Yet we have National outrage because a woman in New Jersey took her child to a tanning salon. It’s not even clear if the woman allowed her 5 year old to be in the tanning booth. The mother in question looks like a poster child on the ills of tanning and skin cancer and is seriously scary looking. That however doesn’t automatically make her a bad mother or a criminal.
This week, Mitt Romneys campaign lost Richard Grenell due to the so called religious base in the GOP bitching because Grenell is an out Gay man. This is hysterically funny since as an out gay man he’s living his life honestly.
Think about it, what kind of scandal is likely to come out of an open gay mans life? The worst the GOP base had to worry about is that Mr. Grenell might be caught in bed with… a woman (gasp)!
The scandals that have rocked our country have been those created by “Discovery” that the Jerry Sanduskys, and Larry Craigs are “straight” but like sucking or fucking boys or men in restrooms or public showers.
The GOP Religious wingnuts ignore those facts and instead bitch and whine loud enough that the best qualified person for the job feels compelled to step aside for the benefit of the campaign and arguably for the benefit of the American People as a Nation. Not because he’s ashamed or intimidated, but because he was concerned about the controversy damaging the campaign
Presumably Grenell believes that Mitt Romney is the best man for the office of President. If you get right to it, by extension he was attempting to act in the best interests of our Nation by working for the Romney campaign.
By that logic… you can argue that the GOP Wingnuts did a disservice to the country, because they may have weakened Romneys staff.
That’s it… These are the news stories that have left me saying WTF this week.
As I sit shaking my head I sometimes consider getting my backpack, tent, Bow and supplies and just heading out into the forest.
Perhaps there is such a thing as too much information….