TWO FROM THE HOUSTON
CHRONICLE EDITORIAL BOARD

It's not often that the Chronicle runs two editorials with which I wholeheartedly agree. Today is such a day.

First, an essay on our new Attorney General's nudge-nudge-wink-wink attitude on the issue of torture:

TORTURED LOGIC

The Bush administration defines torture as the infliction of severe injury resulting in organ failure or death. That leaves out, without explanation, the infliction of terrible but temporary pain, humiliation and anguish — treatment that certainly does not correspond to American values or law.

In one breath, Gonzales states that torture is against administration policy, but in the next he seems to discount or excuse mistreatment that falls short of death or severe injury. The attorney general said mistreatment of prisoners short of torture could not be prosecuted under the laws barring torture. True, but mistreatment can be punished under other laws. Enlisted soldiers who mistreated Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib Prison are serving or face years in prison. Why can't the attorney general bring himself to speak out strongly against such behavior, whether or not it falls into his narrow definition of torture?

Click here for the rest.

I'll speak more plainly; Alberto Gonzales is a scumbag. Really, the Chronicle ought to simply lambast him. This is torture we're talking about here. Torture, for Christ's sake! There is absolutely no moral ambuguity about such a subject. Torture is immoral and utterly unacceptable. Period. Gonzales' words about torture make him completely unqualified to be the county dog catcher, let alone Attorney General of the United States. That anyone would even engage him or anyone else from the corrupt and crooked Bush administration on the subject is a sign of just how bad things have become. Think about it: America tortures people now. That's pretty F'ed up.

Next, an essay on rampant Christian fundamentalism at the Air Force Academy:

SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL

As the academy probed more, students spoke more openly: Classmates had plastered the walls with posters for the film The Passion of the Christ; chaplains had urged students to proselytize classmates who were not born again; some cadets harassed Jewish peers. The Rev. Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State called it the worst "series of religiously discriminatory acts I've seen in any federal government context," according to The New York Times.

Click here for the rest.

Taken in the context of the overall fundementalist intrusion into government and the public sphere in general, this is clearly not a case of religious boys simply being a bit overzealous: are the right-wing Christians attempting to infiltrate the military? It sounds like they already have to some extent, and if it gets worse, it's not alarmist at all to worry about the armed forces remaining loyal to their Commander-in-Chief should he or she ever end up being a Democrat someday. Remember, many fundamentalists have already proclaimed that voting against Republicans is tantamount to siding with Satan. Literally. One Southern Baptist church has already purged itself of all Democrats. Imagine such attitudes permeating the military. This could be big trouble down the road.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$