Wednesday, March 21, 2007

KSM

Today, Suzanne Plunkett donated a photo shoot for new headshots as a prize for one of the bowlers at this coming Monday's Bowl-O-Rama, Season of Concern's annual bowling fundraiser.

Yes, a "bowling fundraiser." Don't judge.

After watching REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER last week, I think I know the person who needs this prize the most. This is from Bill's NEW RULES section...

New Rule:
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed must get a new head shot.



















Dude, I don't care how long your resume is; with this photo, you'll be lucky to get a gig blowing up a dinner theater.


Look at you. You're like the Arab Nick Nolte. You look like Ron Jeremy with a hangover!

You think you were tortured before? Wait until we start waxing off that chest hair!

And, by the way, "Shaikh" -there's nothing chic about that outfit. That shirt doesn't say "Death to America." It says, "Flashdance, What a Feeling."

I can't believe we have the same agent.


Funny stuff, but guys, does anyone actually believe that this man was the "mastermind" behind the 9/11 attacks?

The news has been all atwitter about KSM's (Khalid Shaikh Mohammed's) "confession"...

...and can I just say that our use of the English language is both lazy and ridiculous when "foreign" names are shortened so we won't have to be bothered with difficult tasks like "understanding someone else's culture" or "learning how to spell."

...and yes, I did put quotation marks around the word "confession" because it is utterly idiotic to believe anything KSM "confesses to" after being tortured by waterboarding.

I chose to display this picture of waterboarding because the pictures I've seen of actual waterboarding make me feel sick and disgusted - - with the picture and my country.

If you waterboarded me, I would say anything, I would do anything, I would confess to anything because I would think to myself...

"If I tell them something, even if it's a complete lie, they won't kill me. And I don't want to die."

A year or so ago, I was watching the episode of SIX FEET UNDER where David picked up a hitchhiker who pulled a gun on him and took him through a city-wide terror ride of stealing and drugs and violence. Near the end of the episode, the hitchhiker pours gasoline all over David, has a lighter in one hand, a gun in the other and asks him which way he wants to die.

Usually, when you watch a television show that is airing in the middle of the season, you know that a major character will not be killed off or die. It's like watching a highwire act and knowing that the acrobats won't get hurt because there's a saftety net below them.

But watching that episode of SIX FEET UNDER, I didn't relax because there was no safety net. If any television show would have killed off a major character out of the blue with no rhyme or reason, it would have been SIX FEET UNDER.

So, I was terrified as I waited to see what would happen next.

Until recently, Americans all shared a safety net - - the Constitution, the Bill of Rights - - and while we knew that there were people in other countries who may want to harm us, but we didn't fear our own government.

Now, we have Torture. We not only have it, we condone it. We rationalize it. Some people even praise it for the "information" that we are receiving.

But how much of that information is legitimate? How many tortured prisoners are saying anything, lying and confessing to things they have never done, so that the torture will stop?

And what if you're innocent, but you won't create a false story or you won't confess to an crime you did not commit just to make the torture end? I guess the U.S. will simply continue to torture you - - dumping water down your throat - - until you die.

Before, American citizens, as well enemies of the American people, knew in their hearts that the United States would never kill someone "out of the blue with no rhyme or reason."

Now, KSM and others like him know that America will hurt, maim, torture and quite possibly kill you if you don't tell them what they want to hear. It seems like America doesn't want the truth, they want you to tell them what they want to hear.

So, KSM is waterboarded and later on confesses to being the brains behind 9/11 and many other planned attacks.

A CNN online poll shows that 74% do not believe all of the claims made by KSM.

That what happens when you no longer have a safety net and don't trust the government of your own country.

So here I am again, terrified as I wait to see what happens next.

1 comment:

whimsical brainpan said...

Stephen, I know I've said this before but I love you. And you are right, anyone with two functioning brain cells wouldn't believe anything that man confessed to. It sickens me to no end that I am ashamed to be an American somedays (which is not to say that I don't love my country).

You want to feel more outrage? Go to my blog and see what the "great" state of S.C. is up to.

And chest hair? Dude what about that back hair!