Comments on: On public piety http://www.neptunuslex.com/2007/12/14/on-public-piety/ The unbearable lightness of Lex. Enjoy! Sat, 20 Mar 2010 18:26:03 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: JLFuller http://www.neptunuslex.com/2007/12/14/on-public-piety/comment-page-1/#comment-419050 JLFuller Mon, 17 Dec 2007 19:13:28 +0000 http://www.neptunuslex.com/2007/12/14/on-public-piety/#comment-419050 This morning some woman called in to C-SPAN to say she heard from her niece's husbands mother's third cousin about some a rumor she heard about a rite performed in the Mormon temple and boy was it awful! The ignorance and obvious bigotry of the caller is only eclipsed by C-SPAN's willingness to allow it on the air. The point is, discussion of religious belief has sunk so low that even the paragons of American thought and political neutrality have abandon good sense in order to accommodate religious sleaze. This morning some woman called in to C-SPAN to say she heard from her niece’s husbands mother’s third cousin about some a rumor she heard about a rite performed in the Mormon temple and boy was it awful! The ignorance and obvious bigotry of the caller is only eclipsed by C-SPAN’s willingness to allow it on the air. The point is, discussion of religious belief has sunk so low that even the paragons of American thought and political neutrality have abandon good sense in order to accommodate religious sleaze.

]]> By: Justthisguy http://www.neptunuslex.com/2007/12/14/on-public-piety/comment-page-1/#comment-419060 Justthisguy Sun, 16 Dec 2007 21:53:30 +0000 http://www.neptunuslex.com/2007/12/14/on-public-piety/#comment-419060 P.s. I think I read somewhere, that when Arthur McArthur (Doug's Dad) was commanding in New Orleans after The War, some of the unreconstructed arranged for some very cute and effectively-dressed young ladies to visit him in his office, sort of "lean" across his desk, so to speak, etc., further deponent sayeth not, except that... and so on. He was supposed to have sent a letter back to Washington City along the lines of "They are getting close to my price. Request I be relieved as soon as may be." This is a good reason for young servicemen to get laid a lot, so as to have some resistance to this method. I tellya, it would work entirely too shamefully quickly on me, though maybe not so much now that I am old and grumpy and suspicious P.s. I think I read somewhere, that when Arthur McArthur (Doug’s Dad) was commanding in New Orleans after The War, some of the unreconstructed arranged for some very cute and effectively-dressed young ladies to visit him in his office, sort of “lean” across his desk, so to speak, etc., further deponent sayeth not, except that… and so on.

He was supposed to have sent a letter back to Washington City along the lines of “They are getting close to my price. Request I be relieved as soon as may be.”

This is a good reason for young servicemen to get laid a lot, so as to have some resistance to this method. I tellya, it would work entirely too shamefully quickly on me, though maybe not so much now that I am old and grumpy and suspicious

]]> By: Justthisguy http://www.neptunuslex.com/2007/12/14/on-public-piety/comment-page-1/#comment-419049 Justthisguy Sun, 16 Dec 2007 21:41:53 +0000 http://www.neptunuslex.com/2007/12/14/on-public-piety/#comment-419049 My thought on this has always been that if one is not more willing to die horribly and painfully than submit, and the enemy is willing to use ALL means, from being excessively nice to one, to being horribly revoltingly godawful, _taking enough time_, anyone can be broken. Maybe folks, like safes, should be rated for the time they're able to resist certain kinds of attack? My thought on this has always been that if one is not more willing to die horribly and painfully than submit, and the enemy is willing to use ALL means, from being excessively nice to one, to being horribly revoltingly godawful, _taking enough time_, anyone can be broken.

Maybe folks, like safes, should be rated for the time they’re able to resist certain kinds of attack?

]]> By: MaxDamage http://www.neptunuslex.com/2007/12/14/on-public-piety/comment-page-1/#comment-419069 MaxDamage Sun, 16 Dec 2007 06:19:35 +0000 http://www.neptunuslex.com/2007/12/14/on-public-piety/#comment-419069 Waterboarding is a red herring, a sound bite to get folks to tune in to the story. There are all sorts of uncomfortable and downright painful things a person can do to you in order to make you talk. Eventually you'll probably break, spill your guts, offer a few tidbits in order to make the pain go away, hope you offered inconsequential bits and tell yourself you'll hold out a little more tomorrow. But the long and short of it is any man can be broken, given enough time. We don't wish our servicemen to undergo this, thus we don't torture as a matter of principle. We assume our enemies will also not torture our servicemen as a matter of the same principle. Being honorable folks, we expect enemies to be likewise and to honor such agreements. The Islamists don't waterboard prisoners. They saw their heads off with knives, then parade the bodies around to whatever crowds and cameras they can muster. Nobody knows what happens prior to that fatal and sickening scene. I fail to see how an order to stop waterboarding is going to make the Islamists suddenly turn to the International Red Cross and ask that they inspect prisoner facilities, or make them suddenly decide to, you know, actually hold prisoners in a POW camp. Enemies with honor will respect this policy. I contend the Islamists we're currently fighting have no such instinct, and thus the debate is useless. - Max Waterboarding is a red herring, a sound bite to get folks to tune in to the story. There are all sorts of uncomfortable and downright painful things a person can do to you in order to make you talk. Eventually you’ll probably break, spill your guts, offer a few tidbits in order to make the pain go away, hope you offered inconsequential bits and tell yourself you’ll hold out a little more tomorrow. But the long and short of it is any man can be broken, given enough time.

We don’t wish our servicemen to undergo this, thus we don’t torture as a matter of principle. We assume our enemies will also not torture our servicemen as a matter of the same principle. Being honorable folks, we expect enemies to be likewise and to honor such agreements.

The Islamists don’t waterboard prisoners. They saw their heads off with knives, then parade the bodies around to whatever crowds and cameras they can muster. Nobody knows what happens prior to that fatal and sickening scene.

I fail to see how an order to stop waterboarding is going to make the Islamists suddenly turn to the International Red Cross and ask that they inspect prisoner facilities, or make them suddenly decide to, you know, actually hold prisoners in a POW camp.

Enemies with honor will respect this policy. I contend the Islamists we’re currently fighting have no such instinct, and thus the debate is useless.

– Max

]]> By: Jim C http://www.neptunuslex.com/2007/12/14/on-public-piety/comment-page-1/#comment-419059 Jim C Sun, 16 Dec 2007 02:12:00 +0000 http://www.neptunuslex.com/2007/12/14/on-public-piety/#comment-419059 As far as McCain... I agree, he's rock solid on the war... except for one thing. He's against waterboarding. I honor the man's service to our country, and I would never pretend to understand what he went through at the hands of the North Vietnamese. But, I also think that what he went through has adversely colored his opinion of that tactic. As far as waterboarding; I don't believe it's torture. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've heard that we use it to train our own troops. In addition to that, the congress has had the power to declare it torture, and to make it illegal to use that technique... they haven't. It has also come out in the last couple of weeks that both Democrats and Republicans were briefed on the tactics that we were using on some of our detainees back in '02, '03-'04. None of them objected. In fact, it was asked at the time IIRC if we were being tough enough. I don't think it should be used a lot, but I do believe that it should be part of our arsenal. If nothing else, if the terrorists think we can do it, we may be able to get results without actually having to do it. Jim C As far as McCain… I agree, he’s rock solid on the war… except for one thing. He’s against waterboarding. I honor the man’s service to our country, and I would never pretend to understand what he went through at the hands of the North Vietnamese. But, I also think that what he went through has adversely colored his opinion of that tactic.

As far as waterboarding; I don’t believe it’s torture. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve heard that we use it to train our own troops. In addition to that, the congress has had the power to declare it torture, and to make it illegal to use that technique… they haven’t. It has also come out in the last couple of weeks that both Democrats and Republicans were briefed on the tactics that we were using on some of our detainees back in ‘02, ‘03-’04. None of them objected. In fact, it was asked at the time IIRC if we were being tough enough.

I don’t think it should be used a lot, but I do believe that it should be part of our arsenal. If nothing else, if the terrorists think we can do it, we may be able to get results without actually having to do it.

Jim C

]]> By: Skippy-san http://www.neptunuslex.com/2007/12/14/on-public-piety/comment-page-1/#comment-419048 Skippy-san Sat, 15 Dec 2007 23:34:17 +0000 http://www.neptunuslex.com/2007/12/14/on-public-piety/#comment-419048 When one is looking for a hottie-politics are not the first consideration. Looking at her pictures, she looks pretty "fair and balanced" to me! :-) When one is looking for a hottie-politics are not the first consideration. Looking at her pictures, she looks pretty “fair and balanced” to me! :-)

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