Torture:   The infliction of severe pain as punishment or a forcible means of persuasion, 2. Great suffering or anxiety.

Terrorist: A person who uses violence and intimidation in the pursuit of personal or political aims.

The Wall Street Journal is up in arms against a report issued under the aegis of Senator Carl Levin. The report discloses the actions of the 'higher ups' responsible for incidents of torture perpetrated by 'lower downs' against prisoners of the United States of America. Certain 'lower downs' of course, are in prison as I write this.

"As for Mr. Levin, his real purpose is to lay the groundwork for war-crimes prosecutions of Bush officials like John Yoo, Jay Bybee and Jim Haynes who acted in good faith to keep the country safe within the confines of the law. Messrs. Obama and Holder would be foolish to spend their political capital on revenge, but Mr. Levin is demanding an "independent" commission to further politicize the issue and smear decent public servants."

Senator Levin and others may even be thinking of prosecuting others like Cheney, Doug Feith, Wolfowitz, Rummy, and scores of others.

I am in total agreement with the Wall Street Journal.  Let us see if torture can help get to the truth of things.

"As Mr. Levin put it in laying on his innuendo this week, a commission "may or may not lead to indictments or civil action." It will also encourage some grandstanding foreign prosecutor to arrest Mr. Rumsfeld and other Bush officials like Pinochet if they ever dare to leave the U.S. Why John McCain endorsed this Levin gambit is the kind of mystery that has defined, and damaged, his career. We hope other Republicans push back.

Mr. Levin claims that Bush interrogation programs "damaged our ability to collect accurate intelligence that could save lives." The truth is closer to the opposite. The second-guessing of Democrats is likely to lead to a risk-averse mindset at the CIA and elsewhere that compromises the ability of terror fighters to break the next KSM. The political winds always shift, but terrorists are as dangerous as ever."

These good people of w's administration were trying to save America in crisis. They were acting on the side of Truth, Justice and the American Way.  These men were courageous and took a stand for something.  America is better off because of it. In Times of Crisis extraordinary measures must be taken. As Jason intimated recently, try to find a President who has not broken laws or ignored some clause in the Constitution.

I am in total agreement with the Wall Street Journal.  Let us see if torture can help us  get to the truth of things. If you cannot beat them, join them.
   
Mr. Madoff has admitted to misappropriating over $50 Billion Dollars.  What is the consquence of such a deed as this? 

Thousands lost everything or a substantial portion of the their 401ks.  Many of these people worked their entire lives to build up a fund to take care of them in their old age.  A fund that would insure they could stay in their homes or apartments. A fund that would ensure they could purchase health insurance to cover what Medicare cannot. A fund that could help them as age and illness incapacitates them. 

Was this not the infliction of pain, of loss on an innocent group? Were Mr. Madoff's actions not premeditated.  As premeditated as a man who straps explosives to his chest and blows up a store in Bagdad? 

It turns out that charitable trusts lost billions of dollars due to Mr. Madoff's intentional conduct.These billions provided monies for food shelves.  These billions provided clothes for those wearing rags.  These billions provided warmth for those who faced the cold due to lack of funds for heating oil. These billions provided medical care for the ill and the injured, who had no funds or insurance to help them in their hour of need. 

Was this not the intentional infliction of pain, of loss on an innocent group of human beings, citizens of our country?

Ten of thousands of people in one way or another are directly affected by the actions of Mr. Madoff, and others who were part of his organization.  People who were paid millions of dollars to handle the funds of others. These people were acting  in the position of trustee for those funds.

And there were auditing firms who neglected their duties and were paid millions of dollars to oversee Mr. Madoff's funds.  They acted intentionally and they acted for their own personal aims.

What happened to these funds?  Where are these funds?  Where are the funds that were paid to professionals who shirked their duties over the last ten years? 

If these evil people purchased Ming vases, grand pianos, land or buildings, great pieces of art, stock in other companies, we need to repossess these things and make partial restitution to those who lost everything.

But everything is hidden, deeply, in books, in emails, and in diaries.  We must find this information so that we have all the facts.

Our legal system plods along way too slowly. The oil tanker Valdez destroyed sea shores and wild life.  Its damage was enormous.  Twenty years later the matter was heard by the Supreme Court and SENT DOWN TO THE LOWER COURTS FOR FURTHER DELIBERATION.

Let's grab Mr. Madoff and waterboard him right now.  Let us get the facts right now.

Let's grab Mr. Madoff's entire family and make them stand in the dark for a couple days while they listen to heavy metal music from the eighties without food or water and see what information we can glean from this action.

Let's grab the top members of the auditing firms that were supposed to oversee Mr. Madoff's funds and put them in Sing Sing for a couple weeks.  Lets see what information is gleaned from that.  No lawyers, no visitors, no charges, no inkling as to when they can get out.

Lets grab some people from the SEC, strip them naked, and pile them on top of one another and take pictures of them and then put the pictures on the internet.

All these people are terrorists and have caused more money damages than hundreds of other terrorists.  They have taken monies from poor people, old people, children and the helpless all for their own economic and political gain.

Lets do the same thing to Blago.  We could get some real information concerning how Chicago works.

Lets do the same thing to the people who caused the rest of our economic crisis for their own economic and political gain. The professionals responsible for throwing a million people out of their homes and million people who were thrown out of their jobs.

Torture for Truth Justice and the American Way.