Curly, Larry, Moe, Torture

"'We were getting asked about combinations -- 'Can we do this and this at the same time?'" recalled Paul C. Kelbaugh, a veteran intelligence lawyer who was deputy legal counsel at the C.I.A.'s Counterterrorist Center from 2001 to 2003."

Evidently, the government of the United Sates of America - your government and my government - has been torturing human beings for years. The Bush Administration has denied it, deplored it, and secretly authorized it. Field agents have been calling in for legal clarification as to what specifically they can and can't do.

Under Bush, Cheney, and Gonzales, it's been the Spanish Inquisition with a sound track by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys - and a tip of the hat to Curly, Larry and Moe.

"Can I poke him in the eyes, then slap him upside the head...? No...? Well can I make him hit the top of my fist and spin my arm around to hit him on top of the head...? Maybe...? Grab his nose with a pliers...? Take a blowtorch to his butt..."

"Is it legal to say, 'Hey, Porcupine! C'mere. Why I oughta...?'"

"Bap. Whap. Zap. N-yuk, n-yuk, n-yuk."

It would be a lot funnier, were it not for the fact that the government of the United Sates of America - your government and my government - has actually been torturing people for years. This is real. These are our tax dollars at work promoting democracy around the world.

And yet somehow, the enormity of that fact refuses to rise to the surface. The majority of the American people - of us - remain apathetic. The mainstream media reports this incredible truth in one breath, then turns its attention to Britney Spears' child custody woes. Even the more politically attuned among us get sidetracked by the latest outrage from O'Reilly or Limbaugh.

Meanwhile the government has been torturing human beings for years.

There is a point where a political administration becomes a regime. Are we there yet?