The Obama Administration told a UN committee investigating torture by the US and its adherence to the Convention Against Torture (CAT) that it wants to guarantee future US torture victims no more than four hours of sleep.
Four Hours of Sleep is Enough
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication, WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "The Stringer."
8 Comments. Leave new
Crazy and sad, but not unbelievable… Your average American will never even know about the torture or human rights topic illustrated in the cartoon, but will probably have a rock-solid opinion about the latest “white cop killed a black man” story. Gruber made the mistake of telling the truth – most Americans are just plain ignorant or stupid when it comes to issues like this – and God forbid that they should ever realize that they live in a nation controlled by big money, corporations and special interests. Instead, they get wrapped around the axle on the small shit, and never realize that they are being completely ripped off, have lost most of their rights, and treated like idiots most of the time. All the info is easily available to them, but all they consume is the treacle that the media feeds them in their daily exposure to crap “newz”.
Your average American never makes the connection. If it’s legal for the government to commit torture & murder in the quest for justice, then those same standards can be applied to them.
I dream about the likes of Rich Limpbone being drug off screaming, “Wait! No! Not me, I have rights!”
No, actually, if the Prez decides you’re guilty, then you’re guilty. You were sitting on the sidelines cheering him on. It’s a little late to complain about it now.
Albert Einstein supposedly slept 10 hours per day, so 4 hours should be enough for terrorists and suspected terrorists!
😀
I remember when I was a kid that when we learned about the Nazis in school, the big question was always the one of how it happened.
And on the subway, every day, the announcement plays, “Backpacks and other large containers are subject to random search by the police.” If you try to resist, you will be arrested, that’s for sure. And then the judge will lecture you like you’re a naughty child. And everyone just sits there, typing away on their cellphone or listening to their iTunes.
How could it happen? How hasn’t it happened yet? And this time around, whoever the group is that gets picked to be picked on (I’m betting the Muslims), there’ll be all the Zuckerbergs, lined up to help because “information wants to be free, we can’t help if this tech is used to round these people up. When we turned over the whole damned database of everyone on Facebook to the gummint, we had NO idea they’d use it to track people! I mean, it’s not like there’s a precedent for that!”
I wonder what it’ll be like, 60 years from now, when people are able to see all the iPhone footage in glorious living color, rather than those dull black-and-white shots from the camps.
What is it with you and Zuckerberg? Did he rape your sister or something? I find it interesting that you are far, far angrier at Zuckerberg than the NSA.
You do realize that it’s the NSA who is spying on us, right? Yet in your rant above, you don’t even mention them.
So how do you see it happening? Was Z sitting around the dorm with his roomie saying, “you know, if we write this little website for our college buddies, in ten years we’ll be billionaires and we can sell everyone’s data to the NSA?” Or maybe he planned it all when he was in high school and wrote a sharing site for his family?
‘cuz I don’t think it happened like that. I’m pretty sure that Zuck didn’t hold any guns to anyone’s heads & force them to post incriminating data. Nor do I think he’s working for the NSA intentionally, any more than you are.
It’s easy to criticize someone when you’re not in their shoes. If the NSA showed up at your door, what would you do? Call the cops? Write your congressman? Quietly present a rational argument for why they shouldn’t violate your rights?
Yeah, sure, let me know how that works out for you.
Have the cops ever asked to search your backpack? Did you let them? ‘cuz if you did, you’ve got zero room to complain about someone else doing the same thing.
CrazyH,
I really don’t know how to answer your question. I’ve tried writing several things, and ended up deleting them.
At its simplest, it goes like this. Every day on the subway, I get to listen to the “backpacks and other large containers” announcement. And no one ever flinches anymore. No one acts upset or annoyed.
THAT has a direct effect on my exercise of my liberties. If everyone acted like me, the police wouldn’t search bags. But as it’s just me and maybe four or five percent of the population who objects to random bag searches, I become the oddball.
I will try to concretize it. Give me some time. …
It’s downright scary the way that Duh Pipple have accepted the new normal. That we can agree on, my friend.
For that matter, we agree 98.6% of the time. If it was 100%, I’d have to change some of my opinions just to keep it interesting.
Keep on fighting the good fight,
CH
Loved that character to the right, Ted ! Now, at last, we know the answer to the question posed by that well-known anti-abortion activist, Phillip Kindred Dick – do androids dream of of electric sheep ?…
Henri