The nuance of the pro-torture Left (HRW edition).

Because it’s different when THEY do it, you see.

Good term, Wizbang: I like it. Anyway, via Dissenting Justice (via Instapundit) we can see in miniature the… ah, evolution of the Left’s stance on Obama’s reversion to rendition. Our hypocrites for the day are Human Rights Watch*:

April 7, 2008 to at least January 19, 2009:

The US government should:

·Repudiate the use of rendition to torture as a counterterrorism tactic and permanently discontinue the CIA’s rendition program;

Some time after January 20, 2009:

“Under limited circumstances, there is a legitimate place” for renditions, said Tom Malinowski, the Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. “What I heard loud and clear from the president’s order was that they want to design a system that doesn’t result in people being sent to foreign dungeons to be tortured — but that designing that system is going to take some time.”

Translation: all that stuff about the need to end rendition? “Oh, that’s just what we call pillow talk, baby, that’s all.”

Moe Lane

PS: Remember. Eastasia. We’ve always been at war with Eastasia. Continue reading The nuance of the pro-torture Left (HRW edition).

Snakes on a bill!

…look, you simply have to endure the pun.  Plus, yes, yes: “Snakes.  Why did it have to be snakes?”

File this in the “Elections have consequences” folder.  R.S. McCain:

Democrats in Congress are pushing legislation that would devastate the hobby — and damage the small businesses — of a group of American hobbyists: Snake collectors.

The Nonnative Wildlife Invasion Prevention Act (HR669), sponsored by Del. Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam.) and co-sponsored by several House Democrats including Alcee Hastings and Ron Klein of Florida, has got the “reptile geeks” up in arms…

Essentially, somebody apparently watched some deep ecologist agitprop, got into freakout mode, and now wants to pretty much ban the import of animals into the USA.  At least, that’s how the U.S. Association of Reptile Keepers is framing this, and when you’ve got Alcee Hastings and Neil Abercrombie on one side of a debate and a bunch of sixteen year old kids who like boa constrictors on the other I know who I instinctively trust to have a better grasp of reality.  Hint: it ain’t a bunch of Democrats.

The good news is that this only has nine co-sponsors, so it’s not too high-profile (they must not have been able to figure out a way to sneak it into the Obama-Reid-Pelosi Debt Bill).  The bad news is that it’s not too high-profile, and the Democrats have sufficient numbers on hand to pass whatever damfool legislation they choose. Including bans on snake importations.

As I said: elections have consequences.

Crossposted at RedState.

Hey, how many Obama acolytes does it take to Change a light bulb?

THAT’S NOT FUNNY.

Andrew Malcolm has a few thoughts on the subject, and this is one time where the title is enough: “Oh, c’mon, laugh! Pres. Obama does have big ears.” You’re either going to click through with a chuckle, or purse your lips, wrinkle your forehead, and frown. For the latter, permit me to show you what vibes you’re increasingly setting off in other people’s heads:


Continue reading Hey, how many Obama acolytes does it take to Change a light bulb?

Yo Joe?

OK, here’s the problem. This is what I want:

And this is what they’re going to give me:

…the question is, is this going to be close enough? It looks promising, but that’s no guarantee. There’s also the problem that, between Iron Man, The Dark Knight, and Kung Fu Panda I’m kind of overdrawn at the movie karma bank right now.  So do I really have the right to fanboy, here?

I think that self-deprecation is only half of the key to humor.

[I have had it pointed out to me that the term is obviously ‘self-deprecation‘ – so add ‘semi-literate’ to the list.]

Although I certainly agree with Ace that far too many of our esteemed opposite numbers utterly lack any tendency towards it – anyway, when you’re trying for effective comedy involving others it’s only half the story. The other half is empathy. It is my opinion that really good comedy about others has with it the subtext That could be me that this is happening to, and if you can’t believe that about yourself, then you’re going to be, at best, merely savagely mocking your target. Which is fun, admittedly, but it’s not as effective as people think.

Yes, thank you, I’m quite well aware that this argument possibly indicts me as a puerile sort of person. I’m a bit of a sadist, too. Plus, I have dandruff. Your point?

Crossposted on RedState.

Excellent news: David Duke LOATHES the Steele pick.

Which I only found about because of the trackback from the Hot Air story on Obama’s new torture policy to a Moderate Voice post that happened to link to this Jack & Jill piece that mentions it. Hey, did you know that there’s a David Duke wing of the Republican Party? Hey, it must be true: I just read it on the Internet and everything. How we balance that with, say, our supposed subservience to the International Zionist Conspiracy… well, I’m sure that they’ll figure it out eventually.

The New Transformers Trailer.

Or, a reason why to watch the Super Bowl, particularly on a big screen TV:

(Via Shortpacked!)

Yeah, baby.  Michael Bay knows what you need.  Michael Bay knows what you crave.  You want what you wanted when you were twelve, only real.  Well, have some.

Moe Lane

PS: No Dinobots.  Never mind the suits’ explanation: they gotta save something for further sequels, that’s all.

Looking for someone to read? (Tim Powers)

(Today’s author: Tim Powers)

Tim Powers is one of those authors who doesn’t exactly fit the standard criteria. Yes, it’s sort of fantasy; yes, it’s sort of modern fantasy, or sort of historical fantasy; and yes, there’s a sort of urban fantasy feel to his stuff. On the other hand, most authors don’t meticulously interweave historical accuracy in with the fantastic elements, and Tim Powers does. Read The Stress of Her Regard and you will totally buy the idea that the history of literature is the history of vampires, at least while reading it; and we are so conditioned now to accept that Voudon goes along with piracy* that we forget that this was first suggested by On Stranger Tides*.

If that hasn’t scared you away yet, good: because you’ll want to read Declare. This book involves three themes: the Catholic Church; the Cold War; and the secret occult origins and sustenance of the Soviet Union – with the last being treated in much the same way that modern fantasy treats the occult trappings of Germany’s Nazi regime. The book is written in a very classic Cold War spy fiction style: Len Deighton would have loved it (by the way, his SS-GB is one of the classics of the alternate history genre).  So check it out.

Continue reading Looking for someone to read? (Tim Powers)

Obama embraces torture.

[UPDATE, 05/08/2009] Welcome, Instapundit readers. I went into the Pelosi thing somewhat more bluntly here.

I told you.

I damned well told you.

Rendition is back, you pro-torturing, posturing, hypocritical Leftist fools:

Obama preserves renditions as counter-terrorism tool
The role of the CIA’s controversial prisoner-transfer program may expand, intelligence experts say.

Under executive orders issued by Obama recently, the CIA still has authority to carry out what are known as renditions, secret abductions and transfers of prisoners to countries that cooperate with the United States.

Current and former U.S. intelligence officials said that the rendition program might be poised to play an expanded role going forward because it was the main remaining mechanism — aside from Predator missile strikes — for taking suspected terrorists off the street.

The rendition program became a source of embarrassment for the CIA, and a target of international scorn, as details emerged in recent years of botched captures, mistaken identities and allegations that prisoners were turned over to countries where they were tortured.

[snip]

But the Obama administration appears to have determined that the rendition program was one component of the Bush administration’s war on terrorism that it could not afford to discard.

Continue reading Obama embraces torture.