Why waterboarding isn't torture

Some have attributed the assault on and killing of Osama Bin Ladin to waterboarding.

Others continue to assert that waterboarding is torture.

From the bus garage comes this post from October 31, 2007...


The Hardy Boys.....if you grew up boy you knew the Hardy Boys, Frank and Joe and their friends Chet and Brit plus a slew of others.


Somehow the boys always solved the caper in the nick of time. Often with a hint of wry humor.


In the course of our web travels we came across this entry: How gay were the Hardy Boys?. We read it and laughed and found inuendo in just about every sentence we remembered from the Hardy Boy books we read as a young boy and the 10 minutes episodes on the originial (sorry Britney and Justinyou two just don't compare) Mickey Mouse Club...Jimmy Dodd....Darlene, Annette, Tim Considine.... Spin and Marty (Way out west on the triple R, Yippee Yay, Yippee Yi, Yipee Yo).....and of course, the Hardy Boys.


Then, it hit us. We are about the same age as W, about 10 years younger than Cheney and the attorney general nominee, Mukasey.

If we could remember the Hardy Boys with fondness and longing, perhaps they could too.


Destiny references "The Secret of the Caves" for its hidden homosexual agenda (not that there's anything wrong with that), we found it a lot more engorging for its defense of waterboarding:

They were just approaching the cliff that hid the cave from view when Frank halted and peered through the fog at the base of the rocks some distance ahead.

"Do you see somebody lying there, Joe...? Seems like a man sprawled on the sand...."

The boys hastened across the rocks in the direction of the figure on the shore...

They came up to the man sprawled on the sand. He was not dead. An empty bottle lying by his side told the reason for his slumber.

"He's drunk!"

He was quite senseless from the effects of the liquor he had drunk... "This is luck!" exclaimed Frank.

"What shall we do with him? asked Joe.

Frank groped in his pocket and produced a length of stout cord.

"We'll tie him up first!"

"What if he puts up a fight?"

"He's too drunk."

They throw hat-fuls of water into in his face to revive him — but when he wakes up, they keep throwing more water at him.
"Hey! What's this?" roared the car thief indignantly. He had just discovered that his wrists were bound.

"Just a little joke," said Frank.

Water was streaming down the man's face. He was thoroughly aroused by now.

"I'll say he is!" ejaculated Chet Morton.

Sounds like waterboarding to me, and it is just a little joke! A little joke is not really torture because if it were torture, the Hardy Boys wouldn't do it. We all know that.

Billy Long deletes @Auctnr1 tweets that slammed Panetta and disclosed embargoed information

This post deals with screen captures of various twitter accounts. Click on the images for a larger view.

Both the Huffington Post and Politico have picked up on Billy Long's tweets from yesterday..... the ones he didn't delete that is.

From The Huffington Post:

So as Navy SEALs hunted down one of the greatest threats to America's security in a highly dangerous undercover operation, what was Leon Panetta thinking about? "On Monday, Panetta fielded questions from 25 congressional freshmen during a long-planned and, as it turned out, well-timed tour of CIA headquarters. Rep. Billy Long tweeted from the tour, "Panetta 'watching it unfold live I thought- this is like watching a Harrison Ford Movie' when asked who should play him- he said 'Al Pacino.''" Robert Gates' uncanny resemblance to Ruby Dee really is an asset right now. [Politico's Karin Tanabe]

From Politico:

Movies will certainly be made about the death of Osama bin Laden and the CIA-led operation that killed him.

When that happens, CIA Director Leon Panetta suggests that Al Pacino play him.

On Monday, Panetta fielded questions from 25 congressional freshmen during a long-planned and, as it turned out, well-timed tour of CIA headquarters.

Rep. Billy Long tweeted from the tour,

Long tweeted that the tour was arranged “some time ago,” adding “what a day to tour CIA Headquarters and have a Q & A with Director Leon Panetta- incredible- riveting recap of events.”

The Missouri congressman said the details of “how everything unfolded” were “incredible” and “remarkable.”

“What planning, preparation and execution,” he tweeted.

At 9:40 PM, May 1, JamesMNHarris retweeted a tweet from a BenjaminHackett, which Billy Long, tweeting under the pseudonym of "Auctnr1" retweeted: RT JamesMNHarris RT @benjaminHackett House Intelligence committee aide confirms that #Osama Bin Laden is DEAD. US has the body.(click on image for larger view.)

Twenty minutes later, at 10:00 PM, Auctnr1 made the following tweet (referencing the previously scheduled tour of CIA headquarters for twenty-five freshman reps):

We're scheduled to tour the CIA tomorrow and hear remarks from Leon Panetta. Wonder if plans will change or we'll hear Panetta's the best ever!

Several members of new media in Southwest Missouri picked up on that tweet. Randy Turner was the first one to notice it. He was also the first to notice that Long had deleted the tweet

Seventh District Congressman Billy Long rapidly deleted a sarcastic tweet about he expected to hear tomorrow about how great CIA director and soon-to-be Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is.

The tweet, of course, was made before the news that a CIA-led operation resulted in the death of terrorist Osama bin Laden.

Long must have realized that his tweet was in poor taste, even for him and deleted it.

Fortunately for those who are not into revisionist history, Long's tweets and re-tweets were captured through an iPhone app. This was not Billy's first rodeo.Billy Long in Neosho with his ever-ready iPhone

The next morning, Long tweets about his tour of CIA Headquarters in Langley with quite a different attitude from the previous night:These are the tweets the DC new media picked up on:

Timing is everything--what a day to tour CIA Headquarters and have a Q & A with Director Leon Panetta- incredible- riveting recap of events.

Then this one (I almost wish Long was have used the phrase "Penatta's the best ever" in this tweet):

Director Panetta was rightfully proud of our incredible Men & Women in the Military& Intel Communities.

And finally this one:

“Panetta 'watching it unfold live I thought- this is like watching a Harrison Ford Movie' when asked who should play him- he said 'Al Pacino.’”

Ok, picture this: CIA HQ on the day after the President announced to the US and the world (ok so Billy announced it first on Twitter)that Osama Bin Laden had been killed in daring raid on his compound in Abbottabad.

I can just imagine Director Panetta describing the events that lead up to the raid, the intelligence gathering, the planning, the discussions with the President, the final go-ahead and, when the mission was underway, the atmosphere in the White House Situation Room.*
Perhaps sensing that he was losing some of the members of the tour with the details, I can imagine Director Panetta saying, to describe the night in a framework that even Billy could understand, that it was 'watching it unfold live I thought- this is like watching a Harrison Ford Movie'.
Then I can imagine Panetta opening up the floor for questions. Questions all of us would have wanted to ask: How long was this planned? How did you find where Bin Laden was living? What happened to his body? All questions pertaining to the mission.

Then, a member of the tour asks, "Who will play you in the movie?"

I just hope it wasn't Ozark Billy who asked that question.

But then again, I maybe hope it was so the rest of the twitter universe can see what a lot of us down here in MO 7 see: the man is out of his league.Billy Long with his ever-ready iPhone.

While I was gathering information and screen shots for this post, I went back to Long's Twitter account and Harris's twitter account to nail down the times the tweets came across.

Not only was Long's sarcastic tweet about Panetta deleted, but Long also deleted his retweet of JamesMNHarris announcing the death and capture of Bin Laden's body:

The tweet is here:


Later, the tweet is gone-- it was between the tweet about Geraldo and Greenwood:


Remember, Billy Long retweeted Harris' tweet at 9:40PM, but when I went to Harris' tweets, I can't find it.

I have deleted some of my tweets before, usually for grammar corrections or because I couldn't nail down the facts. But Long, while known for smack talking and code-talking, also tweets some pretty outlandish stuff.

No, don't get me wrong, he did the right thing by deleting them. He screwed up by posting them in the first place. I expect more from a member of congress and a member who secured an appointment to the Homeland Security Committee.



I guess to some in D.C., Billy seems amusing, but that dog don't hunt too much down here.Can Billy Long be trusted with state secrets? Does he need his iPhone taken away from him? Do we want to trust Billy with state secrets? Anyone with access to a computer knew Sunday night that 25 US Representatives were going to be enroute to Langley on Monday morning-- Didn't Billy realize that?

*President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with members of the national security team, receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House, May 1, 2011. Seated, from left, are: Brigadier General Marshall B. “Brad” Webb, Assistant Commanding General, Joint Special Operations Command; Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough; Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton; and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Standing, from left, are: Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; National Security Advisor Tom Donilon; Chief of Staff Bill Daley; Tony Binken, National Security Advisor to the Vice President; Audrey Tomason Director for Counterterrorism; John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism; and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. Please note: a classified document seen in this photograph has been obscured. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

(By the way JamesMNHarris, reading your tweets... what kind of vehicle do you drive? I have spent over $125 to fill the tank on my Chevy Suburban, but it's got a 454 motor and I haul our Airstream with it. For my daily driver I drive a 10 year old 4 cylinder 5 speed S-10 that gets about 25 mpg. Maybe you ought to think about getting a car that gets better gas mileage?)

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Auctnr1 tweets.....

Billy Long was tweeting last night. He probably should have just watched it play out on TV and stayed away from the internet.

These tweets came across between 9:40 and 10:00 our time: (This is not the first time Long has retweeted Harris, either.)Long must have thought his tweet was in poor taste even for him because he quickly deleted it. But nothing on the internet is gone forever, it just moves to a different place.

Today, Long had his CIA tour. He tweeted about it.


Billy's tweets about Panetta remind me of Eddie Haskell:



I keep remembering that Peter King put Billy on the Homeland Security Committee "Peter King was looking for people who could take the tough votes," Rep. Long said. "So, for me to be named Vice Chairman—for a freshman, that's a pretty tall honor." Apparently thoughtful analysis and an understanding of the nuances and complexity of issues was not a requirement.

Helicopter Crash in Abbottabad: Blogger liveblogs the raid without knowing

Twitter feeds have captured some moments like this Billy Long tweet which Long deleted shortly after it became public knowledge that Panetta was the mastermind behind the killing of Osama bin Laden:
Auctnr1 is the Twitter screenname for Billy Long, my congressman, MO 7, R. He or members of his staff frequently ride the bus. Here is a recent post comparing recent visits to the district by Congressman Long and Senator McCaskill one Tuesday during Easter break. Long is the congressman who turned over to the F.B.I. the names of local bloggers who were writing critical posts about him, saying they were "worrisome" to him. (Long also is semi-famous for his views on how to keep a free market free.)



Then there are these tweets from yesterday by Sohaib Athar (ReallyVirtual):

Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event). about 18 hours ago via TweetDeck

Go away helicopter - before I take out my giant swatter :-/ about 18 hours ago via TweetDeck

A huge window shaking bang here in Abbottabad Cantt. I hope its not the start of something nasty :-S about 18 hours ago via TweetDeck

@m0hcin all silent after the blast, but a friend heard it 6 km away too... the helicopter is gone too. about 18 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to m0hcin

@m0hcin http://bit.ly/ljB6p6 seems like my giant swatter worked ! about 18 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to m0hcin

@m0hcin the few people online at this time of the night are saying one of the copters was not Pakistani... about 18 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to m0hcin

han3yy
OMG :S Bomb Blasts in Abbottabad.. I hope everyone is fine :( about 18 hours ago via web Retweeted by ReallyVirtual

@raihak I try, man, I try about 17 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to raihak

@raihak Funny, moving to Abbottabad was part of the 'being safe' strategy about 17 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to raihak

Since taliban (probably) don't have helicpoters, and since they're saying it was not "ours", so must be a complicated situation #abbottabad about 17 hours ago via TweetDeck

@raihak yep, the mad power cuts have reached abbottabad - 14 hours daily - luckily I have a generator AND a UPS at the coffee shop about 17 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to raihak

@tahirakram yea. *hides his giant swatter* about 17 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to tahirakram

@kashaziz technically, it is unidentified until identified, and it is a flying object, so year, why the hell not, we have seen weirder stuff about 17 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to kashaziz

@tahirakram they're not saying anything about 17 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to tahirakram

The abbottabad helicopter/UFO was shot down near the Bilal Town area, and there's report of a flash. People saying it could be a drone. about 17 hours ago via TweetDeck


@wqs figures, if they have the right to shoot planes flying over the president house, the must have the same instructions for PMA about 17 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to wqs

@smedica people are saying it was not a technical fault and it was shot down. I heard it CIRCLE 3-4 times above, sounded purposeful. about 17 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to smedica

@tahirakram very likely - but it was too noisy to be a spy craft, or, a very poor spy craft it was. about 17 hours ago via TweetDeck

@smedica It must have been more, I started noticing the helicpoter when the noise got irritating - which part of Abbottabd are you in? about 17 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to smedica

@smedica I live near Jalal Baba Auditorium about 17 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to smedica

@smedica 'safer' is a relative term that has lost its meaning in Pakistan about 17 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to smedica

Here's the location of the Abbottabad crash according to some people >>> http://on.fb.me/khjf34 about 17 hours ago via TweetDeck

Two helicpoters, one down, could actually be the training accident scenario they're saying it was >> http://bit.ly/ioGE6O about 17 hours ago via TweetDeck

terminalxpk
A Major of the #Pakistan #Army's 19 FF, Platoon CO says incident at #Abbottabad where #helicopter crashed is accidental and not an "attack" about 16 hours ago via web Retweeted by ReallyVirtual

terminalxpk
The Major also says no "missiles" were fired and all such exaggerated reports are nothing but rumours #Pakistan about 16 hours ago via web Retweeted by ReallyVirtual

and now I feel I must apologize to the pilot about the swatter tweets :-/ about 16 hours ago via TweetDeck

And now, a plane flying over Abbottabad... about 16 hours ago via TweetDeck

@raihak The day there is uninterrupted electricity in Lahore for a whole month, I will start packing my bags, until then, Abbottabad is home about 15 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to raihak

ibi2010
1 dead and 1 injured in Abbottabad for heli crashed about 15 hours ago via Snaptu Retweeted by ReallyVirtual

Interesting rumors in the otherwise uneventful Abbottabad air today about 11 hours ago via TweetDeck

naqvi
I think the helicopter crash in Abbottabad, Pakistan and the President Obama breaking news address are connected. about 12 hours ago via web Retweeted by ReallyVirtual

Report from a taxi driver: The army has cordoned off the crash area and is conducting door-to-door search in the surrounding about 11 hours ago via TweetDeck

@kursed What really happened doesn't matter if there is an official story behind it that 99.999% of the world would believe about 11 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to kursed

@kursed Another rumor: two copters that followed the crashed one were foreign Cobras - and got away about 11 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to kursed

@ahmedbilal @kursed Sadly. We should start learning how to spread believable stories and recreate a reality that suits us. about 11 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to ahmedbilal

@kursed True, but stranger things have happened. I just hope they don't find my giant helicopter swatter. Must hide it :-/ about 11 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to kursed

Report from a sweeper: A family also died in the crash, and one of the helicopter riders got away and is now being searched for. about 11 hours ago via TweetDeck

@kursed Well, there were at least two copters last night, I heard one but a friend heard two, for 15-20 minutes. about 11 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to kursed

@harisn we are both right outside Islamabad :-) about 11 hours ago via TweetDeck in reply to harisn

BradleyK8Olsen
Abbottabad just became a sexy new spring break destination. about 10 hours ago via txt Retweeted by ReallyVirtual

kryanth
how long before the "Call of Duty : Abbottabad, Pakistan" expansion hits the stores? about 10 hours ago via web Retweeted by ReallyVirtual

Damn its getting hard to RT some funny Abbottabad tweets, they're scrolling so fast :-( about 10 hours ago via TweetDeck

I need to sleep, but Osama had to pick this day to die :-/ about 10 hours ago via TweetDeck

Uh oh, now I'm the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it. about 10 hours ago via TweetDeck

was this the type of helicopter he heard?

Just how afraid is Billy Long? Afraid enough to avoid any face to face contact with his constituents in a townhall meeting

Looks like Billy Long is, in spite of what he said last September ("I ain't afraid of anybody, anywhere, anytime"), afraid of somebody-- angry constituents who expect answers as to why he voted to "kill medicare".

Both The Turner Report and Bungalow Bill's Conservative Wisdom are reporting that, according aides of Long, he will not be hold any 'live' townhall meetings with constituents of the 7th district.

The Turner Report:

Anyone waiting for an opportunity to ask Seventh District Congressman Billy Long about the issues that affect southwest Missouri and the nation might as well forget it.

Long's aides are letting it be known that the Congressman feels he reached more people through his recent telephone town hall meeting than he could reach through in-person meetings.

Left unmentioned is the obvious: With the telephone meeting, Long may have reached thousands of people, but all they had a chance to do is listen to Long reel off folksy one-liners and take questions from carefully pre-screened listeners. I might add that in the one hour town hall meeting, Long only fielded five questions, with one of those being specifically about one man's problems with the Veterans Administration.

Since the most recent recess began, Long has made a point of saying what he has been told by the people of southwest Missouri. Since he only talked to five people during the electronic town hall meeting and has held no face-to-face meetings, who are these people and what have they told the Congressman?

Without the dealings with the public that are expected of all elected officials, how are we going to believe anything except that the only ones who have the ear of Congressman Billy Long are the ones who can provide sizable contributions to his campaign account?

Bungalow Bill's Conservative Wisdom:

Claire McCaskill has more balls than Billy Long. Doesn't it seem a little hypocritical that in August 2009, candidate Billy Long showed up outside of the Gilloz Theater to promote his own political career slapping Billy Long for Congress stickers on as many people as he could as Claire McCaskill prepared to face angry voters. I am no fan of Claire Mama Caskill, but Billy Long is beginning to impress me less, especially when you consider McCaskill is willing to give town hall meetings in the Republican dominated 7th District and Billy Long won't allow public town hall meetings unless they are in a controlled environment like the tele town hall meeting where voters can call in and listen to Billy Long answer the questions in a controlled environment.

Of course this means one obvious thing. Billy Long is afraid of the voters of Southwest Missouri. He fears accountability and tough questions that might actually show that Billy Long is a "fed up" hypocrite. No town hall meetings Billy? I thought you weren't afraid of anyone, anywhere, any time.

The voters of Southwest Missouri deserve better than Congressman Long and his rehearsed one-liners. Billy Long knows a live town hall meeting will confirm his own political incompetence. He is afraid of them knowing they would pose as the massacre that would end his political career.

SN-L plunges into discussion the bus held over three years ago

From today's SN-L come this article, "Plunge into tax? Not now"
From the article:

The economy is shaky. Unemployment rates remain very high. Average incomes here remain relatively low, with many people on fixed incomes. Even those with good jobs have lived through three years with minimal pay raises, while the cost of living (health care and gasoline, for instance) continues to increase...But we ask: can we slow down some new projects? Can we find some alternative revenue sources, such as user fees?


The march toward a tax increase has been on automatic pilot, with little thought to affordability, or to the possibility of more important priorities. We urge the commissioners, and the Park Board, to take another look and see if a way can be found to avoid increasing the tax at this time.

Frequent bus riders may recall a similar sentiment expressed by the bus driver in February, 2008:

We voted in the sales tax for the park, indeed I voted for it, in good times. Now that we are hitting bad times, there are probably more important things to spend our money on than million dollar horse and pony shows and a tricycle park

This from March 31, 2008 "Will City Council Vote Against These Kids?"

Mayor Carlson, to his credit, said the core mission of the city was to provide minimum basic services and there was considerable debate where the parks department and supporting non-profits fit in that core mission.

Councilman Burlison asked about diverting the park sales tax to fix the pension issue. Some of the tax is going for operations, some of it going for new stuff. I have put forth idea before and, like Councilman Burlison, didn't get a solid answer

.