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Moron waterboarded and concludes – it is torture

On one hand I like to commend this guy, conservative talker Eric “Mancow” Muller for being brave enough to be waterboarded. On the other hand, though, when you read descriptions about it, it’s clear that waterboarding is torture. I don’t have to hit my head against the wall to know that it’s going to hurt. I have no desire to jump out of a speeding car to find out that I could break bones. I have no desire to have somebody put a wet cloth over my nose and mouth while I aspirate water. I feel pretty confident that that’s drowning. Also… what took him so long? The United States has been waterboarding since 2002 and I posted my first video of somebody getting themselves waterboarded back in 2006. That was three years ago. Where’s this guy been?

Watch the video:

From TP:
Turns out the stunt wasn’t so funny. Witnesses said Muller thrashed on the table, and even instantly threw the toy cow he was holding as his emergency tool to signify when he wanted the experiment to stop. He only lasted 6 or 7 seconds.

“It is way worse than I thought it would be, and that’s no joke,”Mancow said, likening it to a time when he nearly drowned as a child. “It is such an odd feeling to have water poured down your nose with your head back…It was instantaneous…and I don’t want to say this: absolutely torture.”

“I wanted to prove it wasn’t torture,” Mancow said. “They cut off our heads, we put water on their face…I got voted to do this but I really thought ‘I’m going to laugh this off.’”

By ecthompsonmd|2009-05-22T22:32:10-04:00May 22nd, 2009|Party Politics, Torture|Comments Off

O'Reilly takes credit

A friend of mine is somehow convinced that Bill O’Reilly is a moderate voice of reason. So, in order to convince this friend that O’Reilly is a name-calling “loon,” I am going to post some things over the next several days on Bill O’Reilly. With luck, my friend will see the light.

From TP:

Last month, torture advocate Bill O’Reilly launched a “boycott” of Spain after Spanish prosecutors were considering a probe of Bush administration officials who gave legal cover for torture. “There will be a boycott and there will be ill will towards Spain. This is going to become a huge story and it’s not going to be good for Spain,” he claimed.

Spanish prosecutors have now recommended throwing out the criminal complaint. The news elicited a declaration of mission accomplished from O’Reilly last night. Discussing the investigations with Megyn Kelly, O’Reilly explained the economics behind how his boycott brought down the probe:

O’REILLY: Now, I don’t know whether “The Factor” was a Factor in this decision, but I am taking full credit for it.

KELLY: Shocker.

O’REILLY: You bet. Because Spain, according to The Economist magazine, is pushing 19 percent unemployment. We were going to boycott Spain. That means millions of Americans would have at least been exposed to the idea. And they folded pretty darn fast. We started this last week. Today no mas. … Well, we’re taking full credit for that, ladies and gentlemen, whether deserved or not.

Kelly seemed skeptical but still played along. “There is some travel from American citizens. It would have hurt a little. Maybe that played a role in it. I don’t know,” she said. Watch it:

Fox Nation is also touting the meme today: “Spain Caves After O’Reilly Boycott Threat.” Of course, the brash comments aren’t surprising from O’Reilly, considering his massive ego about his show’s alleged influence. Last year, when Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was behind in the polls, O’Reilly told his viewers that McCain was behind because he wasn’t appearing on The Factor. Some others:

– O’Reilly saved Christmas: Producer Jesse Watters bragged in December: “We saved Christmas last year.”

— O’Reilly brought down the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Seattle’s “nutty-left newspaper” went under after O’Reilly’s staff ambushed publisher Roger Oglesby.

– O’Reilly lowered gas prices: After oil execs supposedly artificially raised oil prices after Katrina, O’Reilly said they “got scared. Because of my reporting and the reporting of some others.”

– O’Reilly brought down O.J.: Responding to the cancellation of Fox’s interview with O.J. Simpson, O’Reilly said, “It’s a culture-war victory. The folks did it; and I am the messenger.”

It is surprising that O’Reilly is so heavily promoting his “boycott” of Spain. When ThinkProgress launched campaign urging O’Reilly’s advertisers stop supporting his show, O’Reilly said on March 27 that our tactics were “Stalinist” and “certainly not Democratic.”

O’Reilly may be declaring victory too early. Reuters reports that Judge Garzon of Spain “is def[ying] pressure to drop the case.”

By ecthompsonmd|2009-04-19T06:07:15-04:00April 19th, 2009|Bush Administration, Media, Party Politics|Comments Off

Dallas Police Officer Resigns

There is no doubt in my mind that it is extremely difficult to be a police officer these days. All major police departments, including Dallas, have video cameras mounted in the squad cars. No matter what you do, you will be second guessed. I guess, overall, this is not a bad thing.

Ryan Moats, Houston Texans star running back, was speeding to the hospital with his wife in the car. His wife’s mother was dying. He was pulled over just in front of the hospital parking lot. (Watch the video.)

What unfolded appears to be inexcusable. (This is been picked up by major blogs.) Some will point to this video and see racism. I’m not sure that’s true. I think that this police officer has trouble controlling his own emotions. I think that he has some authority issues. I feel extremely sorry for him. I feel awful about Ryan Moats and his family. His mother-in-law did die while he was being confronted by the police officer. This very easily could’ve been something else entirely. Imagine a police officer actually helping Ryan Moats get to the hospital. What would have been lost? It’s extremely sad.

From the Dallas Morning News: Dallas police Officer Robert Powell resigned Wednesday, a week after he garnered national notoriety for detaining an NFL player outside a hospital where his mother-in-law lay dying.

“With a heavy heart and great sadness, I resigned from the Dallas Police Department this morning,” he said in a statement issued by his attorneys. “I made this decision in the hope that my resignation will allow the Dallas Police Department, my fellow officers, and the citizens of Dallas to better reflect on this experience, learn from the mistakes made, and move forward.”

The resignation won’t end the internal-affairs investigation into Powell’s actions, police officials said.

The officer was accused of misconduct after he stopped Houston Texans running back Ryan Moats for rolling through a red light while rushing his wife and her family to the hospital the night of March 17. Squad-car video shows Powell berating Moats during a 13-minute episode while his mother-in-law died. He publicly apologized last week for adding to the family’s grief.

By ecthompsonmd|2009-04-03T03:50:07-04:00April 3rd, 2009|Domestic Issues|Comments Off