Can't believe I missed this yesterday, but apparently, the USGov has voted to ban torture--again.

The above screencap comes to us from a February 13, 2008 article at NYTimes.com (here: http://moourl.com/9mu3x ) and it reports that:

"The Senate voted 51 to 45 on Wednesday afternoon to ban waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods used by the Central Intelligence Agency against high-level terrorism suspects."

The funny thing is that water boarding has been classified as a type of torture for centuries. I'm pretty sure the Inquisition used it as one of their tactics. I read someplace that it's listed in a French book on torture from the 1800s. Torture is already illegal, yet now our fearless leaders in Washington have banned it again.

There are actually two laws on the books prohibiting covert propaganda. This is thanks to Congress wanting to look like it was addressing the issue of the White House violating the first federal law banning covert propaganda. Rather than seeing that the first law is enforced, they pass a new one.

Same deal here.

Of course, the punchline to this joke comes in the final two paragraphs:

"Senate Democrats, sensing an opportunity to highlight a policy dispute between the White House and Senator John McCain, the likely Republican presidential nominee, had been hoping that Republicans would make a procedural challenge to the provision on interrogation methods.

Mr. McCain, a former prisoner of war, has consistently voiced opposition to waterboarding and other methods that critics say is a form torture. But the Republicans, confident of a White House veto, did not mount the challenge. Mr. McCain voted “no” on Wednesday afternoon."

Yep. A man who was tortured in Vietnam, a man who supposedly can't raise his arms above his head, a man who millions call an American hero, just voted to NOT ban torture.

Sure, I just got done pointing out how stupid it is that Congress has passed a second law banning torture, but I'm thinking that a guy who *was* tortured *might* want to vote "yes" on even redundant bans on the practice. And regarding other Republicans trusting Bush to veto the ban, doesn't that send an even worse message?

Now, in case you happen to be one of those people that doesn't understand why torture is alwaysalwaysalwaysalwaysalwaysalways wrong--even if there's a bomb that you KNOW is about to go off--let me explain it in very simple terms:

Do we want them to do it to us?

Then we can't do it to them.

It's the Golden Rule, folks--don't do unto others what you would not have them do unto you. That's all there is to it.

Of course, in the end, it's too bad our government can't, you know, enforce the laws that already exist.