Maynard Ferguson and Al Hirt
“I Can’t Get Started”

I love this song.

Mike McConnell says that waterboarding “would be torture“… if used against him!

He goes on to say:

“If it ever is determined to be torture, there will be a huge penalty to be paid for anyone engaging in it,” McConnell told The New Yorker, which published a 16,000-word article Sunday on the director of national intelligence.
[...]

“If I had water draining into my nose, oh God, I just can’t imagine how painful! Whether it’s torture by anybody else’s definition, for me it would be torture,” McConnell told the magazine.
[...]

McConnell said the legal test for torture should be “pretty simple.”

“Is it excruciatingly painful to the point of forcing someone to say something because of the pain?” he said.

Sounds like torture to me, Mike! How about we let the men that have been subjected to it have their day in court? No? Then how about a national dialog on the subject? Oops, I see the whole subject is off limits:

White House spokesman Tony Fratto refused comment Saturday on waterboarding.

“We don’t talk about interrogation techniques. And we are not going to respond to every little thing that shows up in the press.”

Ignoring the threat from Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf that a U.S. military mission to capture Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil would be unwelcome and “against the sovereignty of Pakistan,” McConnell said if the U.S. got a lead on Osama bin Laden’s location, it would not hesitate to cross the Pakistan border to capture or kill him. “You cannot indiscriminately attack a sovereign nation, [but] we’ll bring it to closure.”

Would someone PLEASE remove these f*ck-ups from my government, already!

“You cannot expect people to believe in the promise of a better future when they are jailed for peacefully petitioning their government,” Bush said. “And you cannot stand up a modern, confident nation when you do not allow people to voice their legitimate criticisms.”

I guess in America, Bush decides what’s legitimate. If it’s criticism of him and his administration, it’s not legitimate.

And the beating of the war drums continues:

United Arab Emirates - President Bush said Sunday that Iran is threatening the security of the world, and that the United States and Arab allies must join together to confront the danger “before it’s too late.”

“Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terror,” Bush said in a speech about democracy that he delivered about midway through his eight-day Mideast trip, which began with a renewed push for an Israeli-Palestinian peace pact - an accord he said whose “time has come.”

SUNDAY TALK

MTP: Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY)

FTN: Mitt Romney (R-MA); Mike Huckabee (R-AR)

This Week: Sen. John Kerry (D-MA); Newt Gingrich (R-GA); roundtable of EJ Dionne, Claire Shipman, Jay Carney and George Will

FNS: Rudy Giuliani on whether he can “reestablish his relevance”

Late Edition: Mitt Romney (R-MA); Fred Thompson (R-TN); Mike Huckabee (R-AR); John Edwards (D-NC); Iraqi Defense Minister Abdul Qadir al-Obeidi

TV ALERTS

Political Capital w/ Al Hunt (Bloomberg, repeats throughout weekends): Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson; reports on NV caucuses & SC primaries; Bob Novak and Margaret Carlson

Tim Russert Show 1/12-13: NYT’s David Brooks, USAToday’s Susan Page, Politico’s Roger Simon on the presidential primary race

Chris Matthews Show 1/12-13: Bob Woodward, David Brooks, Michele Norris, Gloria Borger discuss “Hillary and Obama: Who has the biggest set of challenges now? Is John McCain the consensus GOP candidate?” Quotes here.

60 Minutes (CBS, Sun): Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg; bluefin tuna sushi; women rape victims in Congo’s ethnic conflict

Q&A (C-SPAN, Sun, 8pm): ABC senior national security correspondent and The Weekly Standard’s Jonathan Karl 1/13

Martha Stewart Show: Former Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona 1/14

The Daily Show:

The Colbert Report:

Dem forum in Las Vegas, NV (sponsored by Caucus of African American Nevadans and Impacto), 1/15, 9-11pm, on MSNBC, Brian Williams moderates with Tim Russert and Natalie Morales. Edwards, Clinton, and Obama participate.

Tavis Smiley (PBS): Joe Klein 1/16; David Frum 1/18

Source: Newsie8200