btw, let me take you to the edge a sec...

and just see what you think. this has been on my mind the past few weeks, and i finally decided to explore it (as opposed to logging in-world and getting some -work- done...)

"waterboarding." you've heard of it; you may think you know it... "simulated drowning." funny, isn't it? doesn't sound like something that'd scare suspected terrorists... "it's -simulated- drowning!" "what're you doing?" "holding a fish underwater! it's -simulated- drowning!" "yeah... but... it's a -fish!-" "yeah... scary, huh? wanna confess?"

no... no, it's not -simulated- drowning. it's -real- drowning, up to an inch of their lives (as long as the on-site handlers know what they're doing).

"Holding mock executions is banned in international law, yet simulated drowning is specifically intended to persuade subjects that they are about to die.

Known as "waterboarding," forms of simulated drowning have been used to torment prisoners since the Middle Ages. Victims experience an automatic gag reflex and acute terror, quickly and inevitably pleading for the ordeal to end."
http://news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=367282006

no matter the cursory judgement leveled there at that story. read it in your heart. wanna let your father go a round of it? or your son? or your daughter? or your mother?

how about if gwb ever goes up for warcrimes (which he is -very- much considered for already in many parts of the world - parts that, no matter how much you consider irrelevant, -are-?), maybe if he resists, they oughta put him thru a few rounds of "waterboarding"?

after all, it's only "simulated drowning."

thank y'all for following me to the hypothetical edge... gonna be here all week; tip your waitresses...

Bush rewards Abu Ghraib military lawyer with federal judgeship
"William Haynes II, the Pentagon’s general counsel, has been closely involved in shaping some of the Bush administration’s most legally and morally objectionable policies, notably on the use of torture. The last thing he is suited to be is a federal judge, but that is just what President Bush wants to make him. The Senate has been far too willing to rubber-stamp the president’s extreme judicial nominees. But there is reason to hope that strong opposition to Mr. Haynes, including from the military, may block this thoroughly inappropriate choice."
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/07/bush-rewards-abu-ghraib-military.html

Yeah thats me a few years ago.

really?? peter garrett/midnight oil would appreciate your interpretation much more than mine. ultra-surfpunk!! (pre 'diesel and dust'

ohhhhh, i gotta copy them again... i soooooo want a live concert on the national mall with midnight oil headlining...

Best of Both Worlds - Midnight Oil

You say times are tough,
We’ve got the best of both worlds!
You say things are rough,
We’ve got the best of both worlds!
You say times are tough,
We’ve got the best of both worlds!

The real world is not as calm
as it appears to be from here,
The old world is not as safe
with the new world closing in,
The great south land can be as great
as the one it could have been...
The one it could have been!

You say times are tough,
We’ve got the best of both worlds!
You say things are rough,
We’ve got the best of both worlds!
You say times are tough,
We’ve got the best of both worlds!

The real world is not as calm
as it appears to be from here,
The small world is not as strong
and the testing ground is near,
The old world is not as strong
as the one we could have seen,
The great south land can be as great
as the one it could have been,
The one it could have been!
The one it could have been!

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

The Power and the Passion - Midnight Oil

People, wasting away in paradise.
Going backward, once in a while,
Moving ahead, falling behind,
What do you believe, what do you believe,
What do you believe is true...
Nothing they say makes a difference this way,
Nothing they say will do.

Take all the trouble that you can afford...
At least you won’t have time to be bored...
At least you won’t have time to be bored.

Oh, the power and the passion...
Oh, the temper of the time...
Oh, the power and the passion...
Sometimes you’ve got to take the hardest line...

Sunburnt faces around, with skin so brown,
Smiling zinc cream and crowds,
Sundays the beach, never a cloud,
Breathing eucalypt, pushing panel vans,
Stuff and munch junk food,
Laughing at the truth,
'cus gough was tough til he hit the rough,
Hey - Uncle sam and John were quite enough.

Too much of sunshine too much of sky...
It’s enough to make you want to cry...
It’s enough to make you want to cry.

Oh, the power and the passion...
Oh, the temper of the time...
Oh, the power and the passion...
Sometimes you’ve got to take the hardest line...

I see buildings, clothing the sky, in paradise,
Sydney, nights are warm,
Daytime telly, blue rinse dawn,
Dad’s so bad he lives in the pub, it’s a underarms and football clubs,
Flat chat, pine gap, in every home a big mac,
And no one goes outback, 'fact that’s that.

You take what you get and get what you please,
It’s better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!
It’s better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!

Oh, the power and the passion...
Oh, the temper of the time...
Oh, the power and the passion...
Sometimes you’ve got to take the hardest line...

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

with a -huge- brass section for both songs... most expensive fireworks display ever, huge, huge crowd-surfing, moshpit susceptible to broken bones... oohhhh, it'd be soo beautiful....