There's a trend afoot. Unlike the auto industry downturn, the image restoration industry is in full swing, spewing mass apologetics in regards to the myriad war criminals in the Bush administration.  Many of the top torture enthusiasts are in a pre-Nuremberg limbo.  Not yet charged with war crimes, and not yet pardoned by Bush.

Bush set up the following defense with Charlie Gibson,  (shorter Bush)  "If only I hadn't relied on all that fake evidence we created, this whole thing would have happened anyway, but I'd look less culpable".   Whatever you might think about torturing the testicles of the children of suspected Saudi, Iranian, Iraq 'terrorists' doesn't matter.  According to John Yoo, testifying before Congress (not.."some people say"...) the President can do so with impunity.

Sfgate.com, the online version of the San Francisco Chronicle has been running  stories about the community movement to brand this man a war criminal.  He's a tenured professor at Berkeley.   According to a college spokesperson (emphasis mine):

Yoo is a well-liked professor who encourages a wide range of thinking in his classroom, she said. As a tenured professor, he is protected by the university's academic freedom policy unless he's convicted of a crime and sent to jail.

Let's hope that happens and he has a lot of company.  He can examine or encourage any crackpot version of justice he wants at Berkeley, but when he puts his soul on the line in support of torture I have no sympathy for the suffering he ought rightly receive.  Another example I see making the news is the story of the five Iraqi mercenaries (Blackwater) now being charged with war crimes.  But the Washington Times and other rightwing outlets also want you to know this:

WASHINGTON - The five Blackwater Worldwide guards indicted for a deadly 2007 Baghdad shooting are all decorated military veterans who have served in some of the world's most dangerous hotspots.

They're freakin' war heros so they can't be criminals.  Get it?

If you do a little research it isn't hard to come up with some eerie historical examples of other admitted torture enthusiasts who were also very pleasant.

When the journey ended, the Jewish prisoners were led before an SS officer. His handsome face was set with a kind smile, his uniform impeccably tailored, cleaned and pressed. He was cheerfully whistling an opera tune, one of his favorites by Wagner. He carried a riding crop to indicate which direction he selected them to go in left or right. Unbeknownst to the prisoners, this charming and handsome officer with the innocuous demeanor was engaging in his favorite activity at Auschwitz, selecting which new arrivals were fit to work and which ones should be sent immediately to the gas chambers and crematorium.

Some will disagree, but Ted Bundy seemed more amiable than Rumsfeld to me although perhaps not so much as Condi Rice.

Given the chance to participate in the corruption of his Chicago political environment, Obama so offended Blago by not playing along that he cursed Obama!   Justice Department makes no claim that Obama was involved in any way.  Rightwing Bloggers proclaim Obama a noncitizen terrorist tainted by scandal.  Huh?   Maybe Sarah could explain it for us?

Enjoy.

In the old days, a Republican asshat from Nowhere, South Carolina,  suddenly quitting his "exclusive" country club, wouldn't even register on the media map.  As it is, he's hoping this is all we ever see or know about it:

S.C. GOP chairman quits whites-only country club.

Dawson seeking national party post; he calls club's longtime practice 'unacceptable'

Mr. Dawson hopes you won't read the whole thing.

In this newfangled electronic era he's not gonna be so lucky.

His sudden epiphany of the wrongness of his club's policy neatly coincides with his expanded political aspirations.  Country club is just a fancy term for a private golf course, and they're usually quite expensive.  He apparantly didn't have a problem with their policies in the previous TWELVE years he CHOSE to play/pay there.  I can't imagine playing a good round of golf carrying around the moral burden that I'm paying large sums to support racism, and still be able to focus on a good putt!!  But I digress.  He obviously wouldn't be a Republican leader with a bright future if he didn't have the ability to rationalize and compartmentalize on a scale equal to priestly child molesters.  I'm in no way suggesting that the State GOP Chairman of South Carolina, one Mr. Katon Dawson is a child molester or supporter of same.  I have no idea where he stands in regards to John Yoo's assertion before congress that it's ok for his Republican President to order children's testicles tortured in Iraq.  In other words I'm unsure of whether he is pro children's testicle torture or against it, but seeing how he's gunning for higher status in his party and it's a relevant issue maybe somebody in the press could ask?  It might even spur another epiphany.

So with these spiffy new tubes, (and faster than OJ can run in Vegas),  you've got yourself not only a nice controversy, but also one that highlights the very nature of Republicanism at large.  Opportunistic moral relativism.  Probably won't hear much on that listening to Rush or the other rightwing media though.  They're too busy right now, what with their "war on fairness" and all.

Enjoy.