Dissenting GOP Senators Surrender on Torture

THE “COMPROMISE”—as the mainstream media is calling it—seems to be less of an agreement between Senators McCain (R-.AZ), Warner (R.-VA), and Graham (R.-SC) and more of a victory for the Bush administration. Though the TORTURE BILL will not redefine the Geneva Conventions clause on torture, it won’t contest President Bush from defining his own interpretation on what the Geneva Convention means by torture. In other words, the torture will go on.

Barring secret evidence from tribunals, however, was a minor victory for the GOP senators. But the remaining results of the so-called compromise seem to indicate a complete capitulation from McCain, Warner and Graham. Originally, they wanted to ban evidence gained from coercion. According to this bill, evidence from coercion can be used upon judicial approval.

What is even more startling is that the TORTURE BILL allows for this:

It allows the president to declare any foreigner, anywhere, an “illegal enemy combatant” using a dangerously broad definition, and detain him without any trial. It not only fails to deal with the fact that many of the Guantánamo detainees are not terrorists and will never be charged, but it also chokes off any judicial review.—New York Times

Sounds like the Alien and Sedition Acts during John Adams’ day, doesn’t it?

Hugo Chavez Is the New Oprah

Apparently, Hugo Chavez can sell books. Hegemony or Survival, Noam Chomsky’s latest work condemning U.S. foreign policy and claiming America has imperialist ambitions, hit #1 on Amazon today because of his rant at the UN.

I’m not a big fan of Chomsky but I must admit I haven’t read much of his work other than what I’ve perused at my local Barnes & Noble. What I did read was mostly polemic, unequivocally condemning, and outlandishly partisan.

The books I like to read are those that are driven by facts and supplemented with opinion; instead, works from Chomsky, Coulter, Limbaugh, and Franken are driven by opinion supplemented by facts.

But maybe I’ll drink the KoolAid and pick it up at the library. But probably not.