Put It In Perspective

The Rude Pundit makes an inciteful analogy regarding torture and Americans' emotional responses to its use in entertainment:

Here's what's going on: you know all those movies, like Lethal Weapon, Rambo, etc., etc., where the American hero is chained like a dog while men in uniforms, usually either with Russian accents or Middle Eastern or Asian skin, approach said American hero and tell him, "Tell us what you know," and when the American hero says he doesn't know anything, they beat him, or threaten to rape his wife, or turn on the electricity, or thrown water on him to wake him up, or whatever. You know the films. They're calculated to make you wanna see that torturing motherfucker get the worst possible death. Yeah - drop kick 'em on the spiked fence. That'll teach 'em to torture Bruce Willis. Well, reverse it, motherfuckers. Change the context.

'Cause what's going on right now is the opposite. The people chained up are Middle Eastern. The uniformed young men walking into the room are American. Now, do you think maybe the Middle Easterners who learn of this shit don't want the worst possible death for those who perpetrate the torture? And if you can abide this torture, if you don't give a shit about what's being done in your name, then you deserve whatever America you are allowed to have, not whatever America you can make.

2+2=4, fighting homicidal attacks with homicidal attacks = double the homicide, arab prisoners + american troops on a sadistic trip = lots of angry arabs... or something like that. Where are the "values" so many American's voted for?

Moral Values... The most amusing chart yet

Teen pregnancy rankings by state.

Source: CDC (PDF) via It affects you via Daily Kos

These charts never get old. Now someone needs to get the data on abstinence-only programs vs. real sex education... I have a feeling there would be a connection.

On the recent Abstinence education study:

....people make mistakes, so teach them how to responsibly deal with their 'mistake' of sex when it occurs. Abstinence-only is a great idea in terms of judeo-christian values, but in terms of practicality and effectiveness it's completely worthless. Here's a good Op/Ed from my hometown paper. And here is a Reuters article on the study of Abstinence-Only Education programs:

Youngsters participating in federally funded abstinence-only sex-education courses frequently receive inaccurate or misleading information, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.

According to a congressional staff analysis, some courses teach that touching a person's genitals can lead to pregnancy, abortion can lead to sterility and suicide, and half the gay male teenagers in the United States have tested positive for the AIDS virus, the Post said.

"So, it's necessary to bring more American forces."

Where will they come from?.. Hopefully this is not a the prelude to a draft.

The top US commander in Iraq has expressed concern about the ability of Iraqi forces to cope with security in the run-up to elections next month.

A Reminder of Our "Agenda"

In the debate surrounding medical marijuana, its good to have a strong, sturdy Conservative voice to remind us liberals of our true goals. Courtesy the grapevine that is the blogosphere:

Yet selfish, self-centered Liberals don’t care about any of that – they just want their marijuana, cocaine, or whatever designer drug is in fashion. What they won’t admit is that many cannot enjoy their sexual activities without using the drugs – this is the dirty little secret that nobody wants to talk about. The effects of marijuana and cocaine are often more powerful than Viagra. The Liberal guy pushes drug use because everyone knows drugs sweep away a woman’s natural reluctance to behave like a barnyard goat.

Thanks for the reminder Gary.