Last week, a 75-year-old Saudi woman was sentenced to 40 lashes and four months in prison for receiving two unrelated men in her home. It didn’t matter that they were only delivering bread, or that she is elderly and practically raised one of the men as her her son. In Saudi Arabia, the law strictly bans a woman from mixing with men unrelated to her by blood or marriage.

Meanwhile over at the National Organization for Women, there’s no mention of this story. Instead they’re too busy fretting about the “epidemic of gender-based violence” in the United States.

“We need earmark reform, and when I’m president, I will go line by line to make sure we’re not spending money unwisely,” Obama said at the first presidential debate last October.

Now listen to Craig Crawford on Imus in the Morning making excuses for Obama. Imus has none of it.

I still say that the definition of torture cannot possibly include anything that people are willing to endure in order to protest it.  I posted an example before and pointed out that the guy in the video actually paid $800 to have it done and then laughed about it a few minutes later.

A quick YouTube search reveals that there is apparently a long line of leftists, including Christopher Hitchens, who are perfectly happy to be “tortured” on video to demonstrate how unacceptable waterboarding is supposed to be.

Holder’s pronouncement is more than just wrong.  It’s dangerous.  From Andy McCarthy at The Corner:

Holder increased the pressure he will face to take action against Bush officials … by gratuitously opining that waterboarding is torture, something AG Mukasey refused to do—even though it turned what should have been an easy confirmation into a horse-race—precisely because he [Mukasey] refused to imperil with reckless remarks American officials who had taken action in defense of this country. As I noted earlier, a UN official is now demanding prosecution of President Bush and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld on the theory that the U.S. solemnly pledged to prosecute all torturers in its jurisdiction when it ratified the UN Convention Against Torture (and a quick perusal of Articles 6 and 7 of that treaty indicates that this is not a flimsy theory). By declaring waterboarding to be torture, Holder has not only set himself (and us) up for this claim, he has increased the likelihood that foreign governments will try to prosecute Bush, Rumsfeld and others under the treaty. Nice job—good to see his judgment has really improved since those pardons.

Real torture causes excruciating pain and permanent, disfiguring injuries.  Real torture isn’t something reasonable people can disagree about.  It’s obvious.  It’s bloody.  It’s illegal, and it’s wrong.  You don’t see people lining up to have it done to them on camera just to make a point.

I’m still flabbergasted that the Democrats’ anti-waterboarding fetish gets so much attention and support.   In the free world, we wring our hands over imposing a few minutes of discomfort and fear on a few of the worst terrorists on the planet.  In a way it’s good.  That’s what makes our way of life better than the world that the terrorists want to impose through mass murder.

I just wish Democrats could make their arguments for coddling terrorists without torturing the language.  When the soon-to-be Attorney General uses the wrong word, it could have some serious consequences.

Thanks, Eric Holder.

UPDATE: Okay, this is too funny not to post. A transcript of Holder’s actual answers to the questions about this video are available at the New York Times. However, the parody below (emailed to me by a friend) is much more entertaining.

Sen. GRASSLEY: I’d like to show you an FBI surveillance video secretly recorded in a Chicago apartment and ask you some questions. This chilling video shows Edwin Cortes and Alejandria (sic) Torres. These were two of the terrorists who received clemency from President Clinton after you directed that the Justice Department change its recommendations. The video shows Cortes and Torres in the process of building a bomb. Were the two terrorists in this video in the group that you asked the pardon attorney to draft a positive recommendation for?

HOLDER: Senator, I can’t answer that question. I can’t be expected to remember the names of all the terrorists for which I have recommended pardons. I know that they had Spanish names of some sort.

GRASSLEY: OK. Well, as I said, their names were Edwin Cortes and Alejandria (sic) Torres. At the time you directed the pardon attorney to draft a neutral options memo, had you ever seen this video before?

HOLDER: No, but the soundtrack is awesome.

GRASSLEY: Are you weren’t aware that the video existed?

HOLDER: Absolutely not. My strict policy is to only recommend pardons for terrorists who are smart enough not to be videotaped while preparing their explosives.

GRASSLEY: Were you aware that after this video was taken, a search to the apartment led to the seizure of 24 pounds of dynamite, 24 blasting caps, weapons, disguises, false identification, and thousands of rounds of ammunition?

HOLDER: Well, sure. They wouldn’t be real terrorists if they didn’t have explosives and firearms, would they? Come on, Senator, be reasonable.

GRASSLEY: Were you aware that FALN terrorists threatened to kill the judge at their sentencing hearing?

HOLDER: But they didn’t actually kill the judge, now did they? My strict policy is never to recommend pardons for terrorists who actually kill the judge at their sentencing hearing. Sends the wrong message, I think.

* * *

GRASSLEY: Well, earlier today, you said in response to a question from Senator Sessions that the people who received clemency didn’t actually hurt anyone and that you thought that the granting them clemency was reasonable, but isn’t it true that the only person that the people in the video didn’t hurt anyone is — or why they didn’t hurt anyone — is because the FBI caught them before they got a chance to do their damage.

HOLDER: Yes, that might be so, but that is, nevertheless — you know, it’s a difference between let’s hypothetically say murder and attempted murder. If some — there’s an intervening act that stops the person from committing the crime that they wanted to do, the person’s intent is certainly nefarious and worthy of punishment but the ultimate crimes are fundamentally different ones. [editor’s note- no improvement possible]

First, McCain has never been exactly my first choice, but I’d rather have almost anyone right of center than almost anyone left of center in any sort of elected office.  To be completely honest, the last few years I’ve been rather uninterested in politics.  Sure, it’s fun to debate different issues and pick apart this bill or that speech.  But the parties often blend into some sort of middle mush and the candidates are largely interchangeable.

I like Gov. Palin.  Sorry, can’t help it.  No, she’s not the most articulate person in the world.  But she’s not just like all the others and she has pretty good conservative instincts.  And I’m just in awe of a mom who has achieved as much as she has without obviously putting her family on hold.   I couldn’t do it, but then I don’t want to.

And the fact that Sen. McCain chose her as his running mate is rather astounding.  Look at the initial reaction to her from the party base and independents.  The left’s response was rather predictable.  After the first 48 hours of “Is she qualified?” they dove straight into their favorite characterization of conservatives, that they aren’t really all that bright.  Somehow Sen. Biden is allowed to say all sorts of idiotic and inacurate things without being called stupid.  I have no idea what Gov. Palin’s IQ is.  But I’ll wager it’s at least as high as most candidates for office at all levels, Democrat or Republican.

Well, my time has run out.  I had intended to comment on the presidential debate last night, the economy and education in this post, but I guess those issues will have to wait for another time.  Two-thirds of my children are hovering behind me (one of them screaming) waiting for me to fix dinner.  Hopefully we’ll keep the blog going at least through the election and not let another year get by us between posts.

Blessings.

Our fellow human beings were not “lost” in 1993 or on 9/11. They were torn to pieces. We must not give the enemy any quarter. We must confront the reality of their acts.

We must refuse to be fooled by their propaganda, which is meant to appeal to our own moral vanity - the belief that we can appease them by responding to their outrageous demands for accommodation, their open threats and their hateful rhetoric with even more forbearance.

Several months after the Sept. 11 attacks, I was asked to look through a thick, three-ring binder put together by the FBI, a catalogue of objects - photographed and numbered - that were the unclaimed personal effects of the 184 victims who perished at the Pentagon. They included things such as buttons, uniform insignia, house and car keys, wedding rings, shoes, personalized coffee mugs and, saddest of all, a miniature, hot-pink luggage tag with a flowery design meant for a little girl’s travel bag.

These mundane objects, the commonplace detritus of lives cut short, were deeply moving to see, perhaps because they were not some grand eulogy or noble tribute, but simple reminders of the fact that people like you and me went to work or boarded those planes on that lovely Tuesday morning, never dreaming that this was the last clear blue sky they would ever see.

Perhaps it is human instinct to turn away from suffering that goes on too long. We should celebrate life rather than wallow in grief. But we should vigilantly guard against self-delusion and denial as a means of coping with the terrible reality that we all lived through six years ago. There was a reason that we felt unified then.

The horror of what we experienced, individually and together, stripped away all the things that divide us today. We clung to each other, forgave each other, and were kind to each other, knowing that, in the end, we would only persevere together. Today of all days, that is something we should never forget.

MSNBC is re-airing their real-time coverage from that day. All the cable stations should do that every year.

Below are links to accounts of our own memories of that day.

BACKGROUND: Five Years Later | Four Years Later

But [Army. Captain Stacy] Bare’s mission here is complex and subtle. He takes territory from the insurgents and militias a neighborhood at a time, by asking questions and fulfilling promises rather than by applying direct force. In the Al Salam neighborhood a mile or so from [Forward Operating Base (FOB)] Justice, in fact, the use of force in what the military calls “kinetic activity” has become counterproductive according to Bare’s commander, LTC Steve Miska.

* * *

Setting aside the weapon and body armor is one of many signals that Bare and his troops give to show their Iraqi hosts that they have come for peaceful reasons and that they trust their hosts. Today he’s here to meet with the NAC, or Neighborhood Advisory Council, a group of local citizens who have come together over time to make life in their community better by asking the Americans for help, and by helping the Americans when asked. Similar groups all over Baghdad meet with American troops weekly, but Al Salam’s NAC is one of the most successful to date in turning their neighborhood around.

* * *

Though Al Salam and Haifa Street aren’t far apart geographically, they might as well be in separate countries. Masked insurgent gunmen fire on Coalition forces from every imaginable sniper nest on Haifa; in Al Salam, the American Army rides in to a friendly reception. If there are hostile forces in Al Salam, they are nowhere to be seen today and haven’t caused much trouble in a month or so.

* * *

Through his terp, Armyspeak for interpreter, Bare first delivers two boxes that represent promises made and promises kept. Local women have decided that they want to learn sewing in order to find work. The boxes contain two brand new Brother sewing machines. Fatima, the council’s lone woman member present, smiles broadly and says “shukra”–”thank you” in Arabic. Local women will learn to sew, find work, and help make their families and their community stronger. And they will remember that the Americans made it possible.

* * *

CPT Bare, who has been working on several issues with leaders of local elementary schools, suggests dropping those floundering projects in favor of finding contractors to bid on providing meals for a school breakfast and lunch program. Surely a shop in Al Salam can fulfill the contract. The NAC agrees. A little bit of Head Start comes to Baghdad. If only the liberals back home knew what the Army’s finest were up to over here.

* * *

It’s much less about firepower than it is about the power of basic services to bring about peace. It’s about bringing “good government” and civil liberties and human rights to war torn Baghdad, a city that has seen none of those things in decades, if ever. At least half the war’s most vital action takes place in meetings like this one in Al Salam to discuss works projects, school re-buildings and urban renewal. It’s all part of the complex mission in Iraq, a mission that morphed from the defeat of an entrenched dictatorship to one focused on building a civil society that will survive after the Americans leave. CPT Bare and the rest of the US military are trying to build a nation that Saddam Hussein broke, both by keeping the Iraqi people under his boot heel for 35 years and by leading it into needless wars to establish himself as a latter-day Nebuchadnezzar.

Sewing machines and elementary schools. Come on! How can you be against that?