Skip to main content

Republican candidates heart torture

The latest thing that we learned from the Republican presidential debates is that these candidates are really enthusiastic about torturing people and that they would reinstate waterboarding as an interrogation technique on their first day in office.  Furthermore, we learned that a Republican audience would wildly applaud and cheer such action.  None of this should be a surprise to anyone who has paid any sort of attention to these debates.

Throughout the debates, they have been all about who can stake out the craziest, most extreme position and stick to it.  Whoever wins this race to the bottom usually gets to be the frontrunner for that week or at least the one who gets the most buzz for the week.

The whole thing is beyond depressing.  How can anyone take any of these guys seriously?  They are not serious people.  They will do and say anything that they believe will give them the advantage with the Republican base, and, excuse me, but the Republican base is batshit crazy!  They are for letting people without medical insurance die in the street.  They are very much in favor of the death penalty. (They would probably like to extend it to jaywalking.)  They will boo a soldier who is serving this country in harm's way if he happens to be gay.  And they love the idea of torturing people with no restraint or guidelines on those activities.  And these are the people who will select the next Republican candidate for the presidency.

Even cranky old John McCain, who actually knows something about torture, was outraged at his party's candidates' stated support for waterboarding.  I didn't know he had the capacity to be outraged about anything any more.

These candidates for the presidency are so ill-informed, intellectually incurious, and completely without principle that the thought that one of them may actually become the leader of this nation is enough to make one break out in a cold sweat and rush to start packing one's bags to emigrate to Canada or Costa Rica.  At least those countries believe in having universal health insurance and not letting people die in the street because of lack of money for medical bills.  Plus, I believe they have a dim view of torture, too.  Two points which place them far above your average Republican on the evolutionary tree.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...
19 comments
Read more

Poetry Sunday: Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney

My mother was a farm wife and a prodigious canner. She canned fruit and vegetables from the garden, even occasionally meat. But the best thing that she canned, in my opinion, was blackberry jam. Even as I type those words my mouth waters!  Of course, before she could make that jam, somebody had to pick the blackberries. And that somebody was quite often named Dorothy. I think Seamus Heaney might have spent some time among the briars plucking those delicious black fruits as well, so he would have known that "Once off the bush the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour." They don't keep; you have to get that jam made in a hurry! Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust ...
6 comments
Read more

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...
24 comments
Read more