Re: Pain Porn: Maybe, just maybe Sullivan actually thinks that torture is something that Should not be condoned and supported by the American Government? Maybe he believes that Torture is fundementally Abhorrant and evil? And maybe he was trying to show that one time, America executed people for doing the same thing being condoned by the Administration? So, instead of giving a good counter arguement, you make a smarmy comment and try to dismiss the entire issue. Having trouble defending your position?

At first, I thought that was a Jack Davis cartoon at the bottom. Whose is it?

If the United States really did and could execute people for depriving other people of sleep, or compelling them to be alone, or eat food that, while heatlthy, is not their first choice, then college professors and administrators and the managers of those doing McJobs are all in serious trouble.

What the heck are you talking about, Mark? Apparently you believe that waterboarding, isolation and psychological intimidation are the moral equivalents of summary executions, gang rapes, permanent and grotesque body mutilations, and the torture of children in front of their parents.

THAT is an indefensible position; at least for decent and rational men. And trying to pre-determine the terms of the debate by chanting "Bush does too condone torture, nah nah nah nah nah" may make you feel morally superior, but reality is not on your side. This administration does just about the same as almost all administrations have done throughout America's history. No more, no less, and hopefully to the same victorious effect as the measures we took against other tyrants, dictators and butcherers.

We are at war and must treat those who would kill us as enemy combatants. That is an issue you cannot dismiss, twist and turn the facts as you may. You are correct that there is something very big and very evil at large in the world today, Mark; you simply have grasped the moral compass by the wrong side and see collaborating evils where really there is only fierce, and desperate, resistance to slaughter and slavery.