Embracing torture as an American value

I took Ofjoshua and JC II to the Central WA State Fair last night. As always, I headed straight to the Constitution Party's booth to discuss the communist / tri-lateralist / bankster conspiracy with them, but unfortunately, they didn't have a booth this year. I blame international communism for that. I'm sure they used their influence to give the Party's space to the wooden toy people--I noticed a little too much proletarian joy in the caterpillar pull toy's expression.

So I decided to take in the Yakima County Republicans' booth. It's always fun to check it out in all its red, white, blue, and glittering glory, looking like what Las Vegas would look like if it was built by a bunch of Baptists.

It was manned by a guy in his sixties or early seventies and two women of about the same age. I told them how excited I was about the new torture legislation, and how I hoped we could start "torturing people right and left soon."

That seemed to stun them for a moment. Indeed, one of the ladies looked horrified. Finally, the old guy smiled and said, "yeah, more torture." The lady to his right repeated it, "more torture." And then the horrified one relaxed, smiled and spoke the same words as well, "more torture."

That's when it became a little weird, because they kept repeating it, three or four times each, stuttering "more torture, more torture, more torture," as I stood there in front of them, dumbfounded. I'm not making this up.

It was very strange. It was as if repeating it like a mantra allowed them to embrace the new, albeit horrendous, standard of what it means to be a patriot--that is to embrace torture as an American value.

As one of the most patriotic men in America, I'm a little worried about their reaction. It was a little too slow, and their chant was a tad unconvincing--there just wasn't enough sadistic joy in their facial expressions. I hope that isn't the case in the Senate. Perhaps we need to contact them to ensure they step up to this new level of patriotism.

The commenters at Lac de Chien du Feu created a postcard you can send to your senators. Please consider sending one and let me know how they respond.

Update: David Neiwert of that fish blog, Orcinus, will join Goldy of that horse's ass blog to talk about torture on KIRO radio tonight. You can stream it live from 7-10 pm Pacific or download the podcast, later.