vector art

It has the smell of a middle school science project. We have a hypothesis and an experiment by a Junior Left Science Club member. One that he might pull off in his parents' basement. As he explains it:

I was thinking about the AG confirmation and how Mukasey isn't certain that waterboarding constitutes torture. And then I started thinking about how Rudy Giuliani doesn't believe waterboarding is torture either.

So I figured I'd find out for myself. I mean if it isn't torture, it can't be that bad, right?

Let me tell you this, it's not pleasant. And we were operating under circumstances where we absolutely knew that the other person wasn't going to kill us with the technique.

Hot Air then picks up the scent:

“[I]f it isn’t torture, it can’t be that bad, right?” our hero wonders rhetorically before declaring it most definitely bad — and recounting how he went in for one, two, three, four rounds of the stuff. Which, incidentally, was fewer than his brother managed. A possible alternative standard: If it is torture, you probably wouldn’t be so willing to have it done to you.

Hot Air provides a video of another water-boarding experiment, that of Fox's Steve Harrigan. Neither Harrigan nor the JLSC member doesn't seem much the worse for wear.

But--boy!--did he come up with a Certified Left conclusion.

So yeah, it's torture. And if Rudy or Dick Cheney or anybody else doesn't think it is, well, I'd like to see how they would react if they had it done to them.

And there are members of the Right Wing Blogosphere who don't want to give the Left any style points for originality.

It'd be original if the Left spent 1/10th the time trying to recreate the victims of terror's experience: being blown to bits, fingers and hands chopped off, the beheadings. Perhaps they might bring a more useful perspective to the discussion of what constitutes torture.

Of course, all that would really mess up the basement.

by Mondoreb

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by Mondoreb

David Fredosso of The Corner at National Review Online makes the same point that has been bothering any fair-minded observer of the feeding frenzy that is all things Ron Paul:

On the Right, or in parts of it anyway, hatred of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) arguably matches or even exceeds antipathy toward Hillary Clinton. So eager are conservative bloggers to pounce on Paul that a number of them have accused him of "paying" $1,300 to 9/11 conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

Fredosso then goes on to reveal this little gem:

The "payment" to Jones (and yes, it is that same Jones) was not a payment at all, but a partial refund of Jones’s $2,300 contribution. It is clearly marked as such, if you look in the right place on the electronic FEC forms. Paul's spokesman said he put a line in to the campaign treasurer when he noticed it being discussed on the blogosphere, but that's the answer he's going to get.

That sound you hear is certain bloggers scooping up myriad forks and knives to help choke down the barrels of ink written damning Paul for "paying" this scoundrel. One doesn't have to be a Ron Paul supporter to note the salacious glee that every tainted contribution brings to a select portion of the right wing blogging brotherhood.

Sure, Paul has his crazed minions; so does Hillary, Rudy and anyone running for President. But there's something of the smell of chum in the water when the Paul campaign pulls a boner.

Allah Pundit of Hot Air, offers a tight-lipped apology--sorta.

Duly noted and duly corrected. You’ll find the disbursement here about three-quarters of the way down. I could have done without the insinuations of laziness (”bloggers can’t be bothered to do five minutes of research”), especially when bloggers are credited in the same post for having discovered the donation from Don Black — can the campaign “not be bothered” to police for that sort of thing, given their unsolicited yet rising support among white supremacists? — but kudos to Paul for returning, well, not quite all of Alex Jones’s filthy $2,300 but a good-sized chunk of it.

Call it an apology with an attack addendum added to the end. A. Pundit goes on to add one more observation.

The first step is always the hardest.

Couldn't agree more. A little less Attack -Paul-on-Autopilot might be good advice for my fellow right wing madmen.

It takes a big pundit to admit a mistake.

UPDATE: He is a big pundit. Allah puts up a Paul ad video "to make amends". That's the spirit. As MadisonConservative comments at Hot Air: "The integrity of Hot Air stands untarnished. Let’s see Kos make such a retraction." Those were my thoughts exactly. They'd be heading to the mattresses and hunkering down.

At the same time, some over-zealous Paulistas attack DBKP for quoting those who link Jones with white supremacy and the Troofers. I need another cigar.

Like the man says: some days, no good deed goes unpunished.




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[image:cnn]

by Mondoreb

What's an old guy to do? It's not so funny to waddle out on the stage with a walker and complain about that pain in your shoulder. George Carlin, looking for some attention these days, opens his mouth and out come the purest of "feelings". No thoughts were included.

From Allahpundit, over at Hot Air, complete with dual videos:

No need for grandiose outrage here. He’s been saying stuff like this for decades. In fact it’s a core part of his act, which is why he’s allowed to skate.

Everyone’s a sheep, everyone’s a follower, blindly obeying the great They that keeps us all in line. All except him, of course. And that nutroots imagining of Edward R. Murrow sitting across the desk from him.

Bits Blog addressed a troublesome point:

The only outstanding question about all of this, to my mind, is where are all the people who were complaining so loudly about Glenn Beck, last night?

Then almost like a telemarketer with a mark, Chuckie picked up the scent and answered.

Yes, Mr. Bits, I do think what he said was totally wrong and idiotic as hell. They Deserved it?!?!?! Yikes. I know I’d be quite ticked if someone had said that, if I was involved in it.

So that's George Carlin in a nutshell. He's the same guy he's always been, except trends have passed him by. His shtick stills goes over well in Berkeley and New York City, but elsewhere, he's just some guy in an ever-present sweat suit with a pony-tail

Outrage? For anyone who rolled around 30 years ago in a weed-induced fog of merriment, laughing at Carlin then, it's hard to feel anything but sad.