The Senate is full of about 69 Senators that don't seem to recall that they are supposed to uphold the Constitution. Earlier this week they voted to extend the FISA bill to protect Americans by enabling the White House to warrantlessly spy on Americans phone calls, emails and web browsing habits.
Yes that's right they are probably spying on you right now!
After rolling over for the President on FISA and after protecting their own deficiencies by sticking up for one of the largest lobbyist groups in the country, telecommunications, Senate then decided to shove bamboo slivers under the Presidents finger nails by passing a bill making waterboarding illegal.
Despite the fact that the CIA now tells us that only 3 people were tortured by waterboarding to get information that the Government could not get by tapping your phone and reading your emails, they now think that they must always have the ability to torture people by waterboarding.
Never mind the fact that the US government tried, convicted and executed Japanese POW's for waterboarding American soldiers during World War II when Japan was faced with an eminent nuclear attack from the US.
Weirdly Senator Chuck Hagel an anti-war Republican came out very strongly against torture as the bill was passed while Senator John McCain the future Republican nominee who was tortured during the Vietnam War when held as a POW wants to keep his options open in case some day as President he may need to have the CIA go torture some people. Obviously, he wants every tool at his disposal from spying on you (he voted in favor of that) to torturing you if you are deemed to be someone worthy of torture in a secret prison somewhere outside of the US
"There must be no doubt in the world that this great nation does not torture," said Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, one of the bill's chief sponsors. Waterboarding, a simulated drowning technique, has been widely condemned by human rights groups and other countries as torture and illegal.
But White House spokesman Tony Fratto said aides would recommend a veto. "Parts of this bill are inconsistent with the effective conduct of intelligence gathering," he said.
Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the leading Republican presidential candidate and an author of previous anti-torture legislation, voted against the overall intelligence bill. The interrogation provision says the Central Intelligence Agency must adhere to limitations in the U.S. Army Field Manual.
"I made it very clear that I think that waterboarding is torture and illegal, but I will not restrict the CIA to only the Army Field Manual," McCain said before the vote. Congress votes to outlaw CIA waterboarding
If this weren't so serious, it would almost be surreal. Unfortunately, we are not living in the twilight zone. Our Congress and our President want to spy on you and be able to torture people. If that is not the most clear reason why we need to vote both parties out of office come November, I do not know what is. Both parties are putting up candidates that have no moral compass no matter how much they may spout on about their religious faith. Somewhere along the way, they missed the moral lesson about not torturing people and not coveting thy neighbors telephone conversations or emails.
Its nice and cute that John McCain and his cronies in the Senate have found a loophole that enables him to defend his vote against a bill that would make torture illegal, but I find his logic tortured. If he were worth his weight in bamboo splinters, he'd work with Senator Chuck Hagel to simply remove the reference to the Field Manual or require the CIA to put forth their own Field Manual for review and approval. The bottom line is that he is offering a pathetic excuse. It is as flimsy as telling a patient that suffers from cerebral palsy that they cannot be given cerebral palsy therapy until they first pass an physical and mental aptitude test. Its just stupid, but its also dangerous and in that the politicians in the Senate that vote for FISA need to be shown the door and replaced as soon as possible. (for a list of Senators that voted for FISA)
Last night I watched the debate and saw even the supposedly anti-war Barack Obama state that yes he would not only bomb Pakistan if terrorists were there, but he would also re-invade Iraq after pulling out if terrorists went back to Iraq.
