'Countdown with Keith Olbermann' for Friday, June 24th, 2011
video 'podcast'
screencaps
Special Comment:
Why Petraeus is Wrong (and Stupid) on Torture
Video:
via Current
via YouTube, h/t cathyferkleheimer
ShowPlug1: The Cantor Debt Walkout was staged, Baucus reveals Medicare cuts on the table. W/frmr WH Comm Dir Anita Dunn, @DavidShuster
ShowPlug2: At CIA Petaeus would be a bit ok w/torture. Like being a bit pregnant. Analysis: @JohnWDean; my Special Comment: he must withdraw
ShowPlug3: Bill proposed to apply Federal Judicial Ethics rules to SCOTUS - especially Justice Clarence Thomas. w/Jonathan Turley
ShowPlugLast: Worsts: Christie The Hypocrite, and Glenn Beck wants to kiss Rick Santorum "in the mouth." & The return of Fridays W/Thurber
Segments:
'Raising The Stakes', Anita Dunn, David Shuster
YouTube: part 1, part 2
'Abuse Of Power', John Dean
YouTube
Special Comment: Why Petraeus is Wrong (and Stupid) on Torture
Current.com, YouTube
Time Marches On!
YouTube
'Lest Ye Be Judged', Jonathan Turley
YouTube, Current.com (excerpt)
Worst Persons: seal slapper, Gov. Chris Christie, Glenn Beck
Current.com
Fridays with Thurber: The Sheep In Wolf's Clothing, The Hen Who Wouldn't Fly, The Peacelike Mongoose
YouTube
Web Extra: Contradictionary: "Palin Comparison"
Current.com, podcast
Special Comment:
Now as promised, a Special Comment on what General Petraeus has said in defense of torture.
He has, in short, declared himself unfit to serve as head of Central Intelligence.
You don't even have to get to the morality question to understand that torture serves no purpose but to satiate sadism or revenge fantasies. As an interrogation tool it is useless for the simple and unanswerable reason that people will tell you anything -- true or not -- to get you to stop.
A civilian who does not understand this is merely foolish, uninformed, or stupid.
A military man -- or a government official -- who does not understand this, is a positive menace to the endurance of the nation. Frankly, in the case of General Petraeus it suggests he has a non-military I-Q of about 40.
What, General, makes you suppose that your "ticking time bomb scenario suspect" is going to tell you how to dismantle that nuke under the Empire State Building while you are water-boarding him?
Why, if he was already suicidal or evil enough to be involved in some sort of terror plot to detonate a nuclear device, would he not also be simply smart enough to lie to you to get the pain to stop? More over, has it never occurred to you, General, that he might be suicidal or evil enough under that scenario to give you explicit instructions on how to dismantle the device that actually turn out to really be instructions on how to detonate the device immediately.
My God, it's one of the stupidest things I've ever heard, and it's coming from a man we are going to put in charge of the C-I-A!
You're testifying to the Senate Intelligence Committee and giving them half-remembered plot outlines from "24" or "lethal Weapon" -- why not Saturday Night Live? Why not reserve the right to torture in case Superman was German during World War Two, or if Al-Qaeda getsHarry Potter's Invisibility Cloak, or if the country was flooded with women suicide bombers who also were considering a late-term abortion?
Mr. President, you have to withdraw David Petraeus' nomination as C-I-A chief.
He just made a fool of himself to a degree -- and in a manner -- from which there is no possible return. If confirmed, he will do the same to you.
If you do not, you run the risk of what Vietnam did (with the help of the late great George Carlin) to turn the phrase "Military Intelligence" into an oxmoronic brand name.
Only this time it'll be for the C-I-A, where the "I" for Intelligence will be meant ironically, because its chief is so naïve he thinks you can torture the truth out of a suicide bomber as his bomb is about to go off!
Worst Persons:
Time for Countdown's top three nominees for today's Worst Person In The World.
The bronze to Cameron Cayaban, a nineteen year old man, who was ordered to pay a one hundred dollar fine for walking up to an endangered Monk Seal named Kermit on a Hawaiian beach, and slapping it.
He said he'd never seen a seal before and he wanted to find out what they felt like.
Hmmm...slapping the seal?
I've never heard it called that before.
The bronze, to Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey.
He's critical of Mr. Obama's approach to the Debt Ceiling negotiations. Told a TV morning chat show, quote:
"First, the president can show up. I mean, you can't negotiate through a secondary person."
Wait -- by Christie's definition, shouldn't House Majority Leader Eric Cantor have showed up and stayed showed up, instead of pulling a pre-staged stunt walkout?
What a self-inflating hypocrite Christie is, honestly.
But our winner: Lonesome Rhodes Beck.
Now, in ma time, I've a-heard him say a lot of strange things, but this here...this, to former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, this is pretty damn strange.
The cut cap (whatever) pledge, you know it? SANTORUM: I liked it signed it. BECK: You signed it? I could kiss you in the mouth. BECK: I'm just kidding. I don't want to kiss you in the mouth
Not on the mouth. In.
Uh-oh. Or is that... ruh-roh?
You may recall that On April 7, 2003, in a recorded interview with the Associated Press, Mr. Santorum said he opposed same-sex marriage because, quoting...
"In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That's not to pick on homosexuality. It's not, you know, man on child, man on dog...
So Beck wants to kiss Santorum in the mouth.
And Santorum infamously invoked 'man on dog' sex...
All of which might finally explain... this.
Lonesome Rhodes Furry Beck... Today's Worst Person In The World