Random Thoughts

Did Leon Panetta just fold? Under questioning of Kit Bond, Panetta retracted his previous accurate statement that the US renditioned people to be tortured. Bond claimed that this was a rumor on leftwing blogs. Not true, it's been well documented in books and in the press quoting Bush Administration officials that we captured suspected terrorists and flew them to countries where we knew they would be tortured in order to get information. Key elements of Colin Powell's speech to the United Nations justifying the Iraq war were extracted from one such suspect--who obviously made it all up.

Panetta also said that the Obama administration would not prosecute our own "torturers" because they were "following orders". In the Convention against Torture, which was ratified by Ronald Reagan, it is quite clear that such an argument is not a defense. But what is more troubling are the revelations out of the U.K. that the United States threatened to cut off intelligence sharing with London if that Government made public the information that one of its citizens was tortured in Gitmo.

Since it's now public, political pressure is mounting in Parliament that the U.K. abide by its commitment as a country that ratified the Torture Convention by legally pursuing those Americans who did. One of the obligations of signatories of this Convention is to pursue other countries' abuses. Last month, for instance, our own federal courts convicted the son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor of torture and sentenced him to 99 years.

While the Obama Administration would like to throw this under the rug and get beyond these issues, they may be put in the awkward position of either defending former officials or allowing other governments to pursue investigations.

In the Green Mountain State of Vermont, namely the towns of Brattleboro and Marlboro,there are already warrants out for the arrest of Dick Cheney. Orders to arrest him on sight may prevent him from travelling there to be honored by the American Fly-Fishing Society.

Our top secret mole at the African Unity meetings said that the heads of state were insulted when Muammar Qaddafhi asked them to bestow on him the title of "King of Kings". They said they were outraged (probably because they each thought they were) and Muammar stormed out of the room. But they continue to accept the Big Bobster, Robert Mugabe as a brother.

Well, It didn't take long. Michael Steele, the first African-American chairman of the Republican Party, has some 'xplaining to do. Seems the feds have been investigating his 2006 Senate race and discovered he paid his sister big bucks for services not rendered.

American's favorite secessionist, the Eskimo Man himself, Todd Palin was cited with contempt by the Alaska legislature for failing to answer questions about Troopergate.
Meanwhile,his loving wife Sarah has invited President Obama to Alaska so she can beg for stimulus money to build her gas pipeline. Alaska is the only state Obama has not visited.

If people are outraged that Sandy Koufax lost everthing to Bernie Madoff, then baseball fans have to be concerned about Jim Bunning's sanity. His statements on the floor of the Senate during the current debate are gibberish--not because of ideology--but because it is clear this man has Alzheimers or something similar.