CIA to Remain as Nation’s … uh … Top Torturer?

The Hill is reporting that the controversial bill I mentioned in my last post that would have levied criminal punishments on intelligence officers for harsh interrogations was pulled this evening.

House Republicans charged Democrats with trying to sneak a provision into the intelligence authorization bill that would establish criminal punishment for CIA agents and other intelligence officials who engage in “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” during interrogations.

Democrats inserted an 11-page addition into the bill late Wednesday night as the House Rules Committee considered the legislation.The provision, previously not vetted in committee, applied to “any officer or employee of the intelligence community” who during interrogations engages in beatings, infliction of pain or forced sexual acts. The bill said the acts covered by the provision would include inducing hypothermia, conducting mock executions or “depriving the [detainee] of necessary food, water, sleep, or medical care.”

…

“This will fundamentally change the nature of the intelligence community by creating a criminal statute governing interrogations,” said Rep. Pete Hoesktra [sic] (R-Mich.).

He added that it had appeared “out of nowhere” in a manager’s amendment.

“Would someone on the other side please explain the rationale behind this and why the majority was unwilling to have hearings on this issue?” he said.

On Thursday night, Hoekstra lauded the GOP effort against the bill.

“Republicans brought this to the attention of the American people, who were rightly outraged that Democrats would try to target those we ask to serve in harm’s way and with a unified push we were successful in getting them to pull the bill,” Hoekstra said in a statement. “The annual intelligence bill should be about protecting and defending our nation, not targeting those we ask to do that deed and giving greater protections to terrorists.”

So … I suppose this means the CIA can continue it’s reign of torture and mayhem without pause or fear of retribution. Oh, could you pass me the Iron Maiden please?

CIA Slated to Become Daycare Center

Andy McCarthy, the former Federal prosecutor most noted for convicting the terrorists that in 1993 bombed the World Trade Center, writes today over at National Review Online about a new provision stealthily inserted by the Dems into the intelligence bill being considered today in the House today. I’m going to post Mr. McCarthy’s entire article because I don’t see a good way of clipping the “important” parts. It’s all important!

While You Are Distracted by the Summit, Obama Democrats Are Targeting the CIA [Andy McCarthy]

The Obama Democrats have outdone themselves.

While the country and the Congress have their eyes on today’s dog-and-pony show on socialized medicine, House Democrats last night stashed a new provision in the intelligence bill which is to be voted on today.  It is an attack on the CIA: the enactment of a criminal statute that would ban “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.” (See here, scoll [sic] to p. 32.)

The provision is impossibly vague — who knows what “degrading” means? Proponents will say that they have itemized conduct that would trigger the statute (I’ll get to that in a second), but it is not true. The proposal says the conduct reached by the statute “includes but is not limited to” the itemized conduct. (My italics.) That means any interrogation tactic that a prosecutor subjectively believes is “degrading” (e.g., subjecting a Muslim detainee to interrogation by a female CIA officer) could be the basis for indicting a CIA interrogator.

The act goes on to make it a crime to use tactics that have been shown to be effective in obtaining life saving information and that are far removed from torture.

“Waterboarding” is specified. In one sense, I’m glad they’ve done this because it proves a point I’ve been making all along. Waterboarding, as it was practiced by the CIA, is not torture and was never illegal under U.S. law.  The reason the Democrats are reduced to doing this is: what they’ve been saying is not true — waterboarding was not a crime and it was fully supported by congressional leaders of both parties, who were told about it while it was being done. On that score, it is interesting to note that while Democrats secretly tucked this provision into an important bill, hoping no one would notice until it was too late, they failed to include in the bill a proposed Republican amendment that would have required full and complete disclosure of records describing the briefings members of Congress received about the Bush CIA’s enhanced interrogation program. Those briefings, of course, would establish that Speaker Pelosi and others knew all about the program and lodged no objections. Naturally, members of Congress are not targeted by this criminal statute — only the CIA.

More to the point, this shows how politicized law-enforcement has become under the Obama Democrats. They could have criminalized waterboarding at any time since Jan. 20, 2009. But they waited until now. Why? Because if they had tried to do it before now, it would have been a tacit admission that waterboarding was not illegal when the Bush CIA was using it. That would have harmed the politicized witch-hunt against John Yoo and Jay Bybee, a key component of which was the assumption that waterboarding and the other tactics they authorizied [sic] were illegal. Only now, when that witch-hunt has collapsed, have the Democrats moved to criminalize these tactics. It is transparently partisan.

In any event, waterboarding is not defined in the bill. As Marc Thiessen has repeatedly demonstrated, there is a world of difference between the tactic as administered by the CIA and the types of water-torture methods that have been used throughout history. The waterboarding method used by the CIA involved neither severe pain nor prolonged mental harm. But it was highly unpleasant and led especially hard cases like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (i.e., well-trained, committed, America-hating terrorists) to give us information that saved American lives. The method was used sparingly — on only three individuals, and not in the last seven years. The American people broadly support the availability of this non-torture tactic in a dire emergency. Yet Democrats not only want to make it unavailable; they want to subject to 15 years’ imprisonment any interrogator who uses it.

What’s more, the proposed bill is directed at “any officer or employee of the intelligence community” conducting a “covered interrogation.” The definition of “covered interrogation” is sweeping — including any interrogation done outside the U.S., in the course of a person’s official duties on behalf of the government. Thus, if the CIA used waterboarding in training its officers or military officers outside the U.S., this would theoretically be indictable conduct under the statute.

Waterboarding is not all. The Democrats’ bill would prohibit — with a penalty of 15 years’ imprisonment — the following tactics, among others:

- “Exploiting the phobias of the individual”

- Stress positions and the threatened use of force to maintain stress positions

- “Depriving the individual of necessary food, water, sleep, or medical care”

- Forced nudity

- Using military working dogs (i.e., any use of them — not having them attack or menace the individual; just the mere presence of the dog if it might unnerve the detainee and, of course, “exploit his phobias”)

- Coercing the individual to blaspheme or violate his religious beliefs (I wonder if Democrats understand the breadth of seemingly innocuous matters that jihadists take to be violations of their religious beliefs)

- Exposure to “excessive” cold, heat or “cramped confinement” (excessive and cramped are not defined)

- “Prolonged isolation”

- “Placing hoods or sacks over the head of the individual”

Naturally, all of these tactics are interspersed with such acts as forcing the performance of sexual acts, beatings, electric shock, burns, inducing hypothermia or heat injury — as if all these acts were functionally equivalent.

In true Alinskyite fashion, Democrats begin this attack on the CIA by saluting “the courageous men and women who serve honorably as intelligence personnel and as members of our nation’s Armed Forces” who “deserve the full support of the United States Congress.” Then, Democrats self-servingly tell us that Congress “shows true support” by providing “clear legislation relating to standards for interrogation techniques.” I’m sure the intelligence community will be duly grateful.

Democrats also offer “findings” that the tactics they aim to prohibit cause terrorism by fueling recruitment (we are never supposed to discuss the Islamist ideology that actually causes terrorist recruitment, only the terrible things America does to provide pretexts for those spurred by that ideology). These “findings” repeat the canards that these tactics don’t work; that they place our captured forces in greater danger (the truth is our forces captured by terrorists will be abused and probably killed no matter what we do, while our enemies captured in a conventional war will be bound to adhere to their Geneva Convention commitments — and will have the incentive to do so because they will want us to do the same); and that “their use runs counter to our identity and values as a nation.”

Unmentioned by the Obama Democrats is that officers of the executive branch have a solemn moral duty to honor their commitment to protect the American people from attack by America’s enemies. If there are non-torture tactics that can get a Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to give us information that saves American lives, how is the use of them inconsistent with our values?

Here is the fact: Democrats are saying they would prefer to see tens of thousands of Americans die than to see a KSM subjected to sleep-deprivation or to have his “phobias exploited.” I doubt that this reflects the values of most Americans.

There are practices listed in this bill that are used by local law enforcement on Americans suspected of committing crimes.Were these provisions singed into law, The CIA may as well either close their doors or become a daycare center for wayward jihadists.

It is shenanigans such as this that cause most American’s to not trust Democrats when it comes to keeping America safe from the Radical Islamists that have vowed to destroy us.

Thank you Andy McCarthy for keeping us informed about these threats to our freedom!

Socialized Medicine Redux

Attempts by the Democrats to socialized medicine is nothing new. FDR tried it in the thirties, Givem’-Hell-Harry tried in the forties, and of course we’re all to familiar with Hillary-care in the nineties. A few States have implemented one form or another of a state-run health care plan, but as a Federalist, I have no problem with States experimenting. That’s where the experimenting should be done; not at the Federal level.

In 1961, Ronald Reagan recorded a 10 minute speech on the dangers of socialized medicine.

Reagan says that “Government has invaded the free precincts of private citizens,” stating that the U.S. government owns “1/5th of the total industrial capacity of the United States.” Reagan says “One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine.

Someone has created a Youtube video of that recording and that message from almost 50 years ago is as valid today as it was then.

Obama and the Dem leadership are in the middle of  doing their Kabuki Theater with the Repubs as I write. When they adjourn, the Dems will declare that those “dastardly Republicans” aren’t willing to roll over and play dead act in a bipartisan manner, requiring that the Dems work to do what’s necessary to jamb this piece of crap get the legislation to the President’s desk to gain unprecedented amounts of power they’ve dreamed of for decades respond to the American people’s desire to have universal health care. Well … bully!

Government – Protecting and Serving

Ahh! Isn’t it comforting to know that we have government looking after our best interests?

Maybe we could ask Obama to to do this everywhere!

Healthcare Jihadists

President Obama has scheduled a “healthcare summit” with Congressional Republicans on Thursday. In preparation for that meeting, Obama posted “his healthcare proposal” on the White House’s web site. The proposal is pretty much an amalgamation of the House and Senate bills passed at the end of last year with some changes around the margins. He has also insisted that the secession be televised live on C-Span.

The general consensus among conservatives is that the President’s sole purpose for the meeting is to allow him to claim afterward that he tried to reached out to Republicans and they “rejected bipartisanship.” The Senate and House leadership has been working feverishly to craft an approach that would allow them to jam the Obamacare bill through using a procedure called reconciliation, of which I’ve written of previously.

I find the Dems’ lust to make this power grab unfathomable … not that I don’t understand why they want this legislation so badly … it’ll ultimately give them power over every aspect of every American’s life. It’s just that I’ve never lusted after something with such gusto.

The results of the election in Massachusetts on January 19th was a clarion rejection of Obamacare by the voters of that state and by proxy, the American public. Yet here we have Obama, Pelosi and Reid doubling or tripling down for another run at legislation that would ultimately destroy not only the greatest health care system in the world, but transform this country into something unrecognizable by previous generations of Americans.

It is blatantly clear to anyone able to fog a mirror (well … maybe not quite that clear) that the runs the Dems have been making at Obamacare over the past nine or ten months have badly damaged the Democrats [see: Scott Brown, (R-MA)].Yet here they are, back behind their closed doors, trying to find support among their party to come up with some trick way of getting around Senate rules that require 60 votes to stop a Republican filibuster.

On Friday, political expert Charlie Cook predicted that there are 53 House seats currently held by Dems that are now competitive, while only six Republican seats fall in that category. Were the mid-term election held tomorrow, there would be a very good chance the Democrats would loose control of the House. I suspect it would be very unlikely the Republicans could take control of the Senate, put they could pick up as many as eight more seats.

However, if the Obami actually pass, and The One™ signs anything that even smells like Obamacare, the mid-term election will be a bloodbath for Democrats, both House and Senate. And if the Repubs don’t screw up again and think they can go back to their drunken sailor mode, they will certainly take the Senate in 2012.

The Dems can’t be so stupid that they don’t know that. So why would they sacrifice themselves by passing Obamacare? The answer I’ve arrived at is that they are Obamacare Jihadists. Now don’t start reading into that statement that I’m calling the Dems terrorists or any such! All I’m saying is the behavior they are exhibiting an awful like that of the Islamist Jihadists; wanting to reach their goal with such fervor and devotion to their cause that they are willing to give their all towards achieving that goal. How else would you describe it?

I am praying that the Dems are unable to find 218 suckers Representatives in the house or 51 fall guys Senators willing to fall on their swords for the cause, but like Freddie Kruger, Obamacare just doesn’t die.

Sophomoric Diplomacy

Last week Obama finally met with the Dalia Lama after snubbing him last year. However, the Dalia Lama was required to enter and leave through one of the back doors of the White House.This by itself was a slap in the face to one of the truly great men of our age. Adding insult to injury, the trash was still piled up outside the door because the waste disposal couldn’t get in to pick it up due the the snow storms in the capital the previous week.

Now the final rub … The President gave the Dalia Lama a departing gift … get this … a set of Presidential cuff links! Look at the picture  … notice anything about the Dalia Lama? I think this actually beats the iPod he gave to Queen Elizabeth loaded with Obama speeches.

This is just another example of our president’s sophomoric diplomacy in action. Things like this don’t happen when we elect adults as our leaders.

CPAC 2010

I hope you’ve had the opportunity to catch some of the videos being put up of the speakers at CPAC 2010 which ended yesterday. The keynote speaker at this year’s’ CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) was Glenn Beck. Glenn was as controversial as is his wont, taking it to the Republicans as well as the Democrats.

One of the many outstanding speakers was the former Congressmen from Ohio, Bob McEwen. I’ve been fortunate to have had the opportunity to speak to Bob on several occasions and have even been lucky enough to have had dinner with him. He was the cause of my youngest sons political awaking after hearing Bob speak at a conference in Phoenix several years ago. So … here’s Bob!

First Rule of Holes … when you’re in one, stop digging!

Wow! Good thing Congress is raising the debt limit from $12.374 trillion to $14.3 trillion … wait, uh oh!

WASHINGTON — The US debt is on track to hit a congressionally proposed debt ceiling of 14.3 trillion dollars by the end of February, the Treasury said Wednesday, a day ahead of a key vote to raise it to that level.

“Based on current projections, Treasury expects to reach the debt ceiling as early as the end of February. However, the government’s cash flows are volatile, making it difficult to forecast a precise date,” the Treasury said in a statement.

The current limit on the public debt of the United States is 12.374 trillion dollars.

The US debt exceeded 12.349 trillion dollars on Monday, according to Treasury data.

The US House of Representatives will vote Thursday on whether to raise the US debt limit to a historic 14.3 trillion dollars, allowing the United States to borrow another 1.9 trillion dollars.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said representatives would take up the measure a week after the Senate approved the higher debt ceiling in a 60-39 vote.

In December, both houses agreed to increase the debt limit by an interim amount of 290 billion dollars to ensure the US government would continue to function.

The Senate also last week passed an amendment to legislation raising the debt ceiling that requires new budget items to be paid for, dubbed “pay-as-you-go.”

The measure is intended to prevent the federal government from spending money it does not have and to control the massive US budget deficit.

The House has adopted a similar measure.

Obama’s proposed 2011 Federal Budget includes revenue from “health care savings” of $156 billion and $650 billion from “cap and trade” income. Obama is not going to be able to put either of these programs in place this year … or any other year. Both are DOA.

So if Congress adopts his budget, the deficit will not be the reported $1.6 trillion … it will be more than $2.4 trillion!

I just hope the Republicans in the Senate hold their now 41 votes together and force the Democrats to go back and develop a budget that actually CUTS spending, rather than the unsustainable spending spree Obama has taken up.

POTUS’ peroration

This is just to funny!!!

… and yes … that really is Pat Boone.

Some new technology coming your way …

I ran across something new today that is probably going to revolutionize the way we do many things in the future … liquid spray-on glass!

(PhysOrg.com) — Spray-on liquid glass is transparent, non-toxic, and can protect virtually any surface against almost any damage from hazards such as water, UV radiation, dirt, heat, and bacterial infections. The coating is also flexible and breathable, which makes it suitable for use on an enormous array of products.

The liquid glass spray (technically termed “SiO₂ ultra-thin layering”) consists of almost pure silicon dioxide (silica, the normal compound in glass) extracted from quartz sand. Water or ethanol is added, depending on the type of surface to be coated. There are no additives, and the nano-scale glass coating bonds to the surface because of the quantum forces involved. According to the manufacturers, liquid glass has a long-lasting antibacterial effect because microbes landing on the surface cannot divide or replicate easily.

Liquid glass was invented in Turkey and the patent is held by Nanopool, a family-owned German company. Research on the product was carried out at the Saarbrücken Institute for New Materials. Nanopool is already in negotiations in the UK with a number of companies and with the National Health Service, with a view to its widespread adoption.

The liquid glass spray produces a water-resistant coating only around 100 nanometers (15-30 molecules) thick. On this nanoscale the glass is highly flexible and breathable. The coating is environmentally harmless and non-toxic, and easy to clean using only water or a simple wipe with a damp cloth. It repels bacteria, water and dirt, and resists heat, UV light and even acids. UK project manager with Nanopool, Neil McClelland, said soon almost every product you purchase will be coated with liquid glass.

Follow the link above to read the entire article. Fascinating stuff.

Obama’s 2011 Federal Budget

This morning the White House delivered its 2011 Federal Budget, announcing proposed spending of $3.83 TRILLION! That budget projects a deficit of $1.56T. Just last week the White House announced that next year’s deficit would be $1.35T. How did the deficit grow by $210 Billion in one week?

Another point … the President’s proposed “spending freeze,” scheduled to start in a year, projects such a freeze would save $250B over the next 10 years. $250B in savings out of what … an average of $4T per year for 10 years … $40T … is what percent? 0.0625%, less than 1/10 of 1 percent!!! Further, did $210B of that $250B just get wiped out?

The “freeze” is nothing more that political slight-of-hand. I ran across the video below that describes in very simple terms what Obama proposed and what the ‘effect’ will be.

Swami Obama amazes his audiences with his mastery of the art of prestidigitation!