Is waterboarding Torture?

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Not according to the Senate in 2006 (53-46).

"In September 2006, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., authored the amendment to the military tribunals bill that would have effectively defined waterboarding as torture and made it subject to Common Article 3 under the Geneva Conventions.

The amendment itself focused on conduct of other countries, but said: "should any United States person to whom the Geneva Conventions apply be subjected to any of the following acts, the United States would consider such act to constitute a punishable offense under common Article 3 ... ."

The amendment listed "forcing the person to be naked, perform sexual acts, or pose in a sexual manner; applying beatings, electric shocks, burns, or other forms of physical pain to the person; waterboarding the person; using dogs on the person; inducing hypothermia or heat injury in the person; conducting a mock execution of the person; and depriving the person of necessary food, water, or medical care."

The amendment failed to gain the needed 50 votes, failing 46-53. Specter and then-Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island were the only Republicans to vote in favor. Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., was the lone Democrat to oppose the measure."

Watch: Arlen Specter

Republican In Name Only, Sen Specter will switch to the Democratic Party to try to save his seat. It looked like he was going to lose in the Republican primary. As the Republicans lose their fast spending and/or liberal members, they will become a stronger party. The Republican politicians lost their way in the past, hopefully a new crop of Republicans will lead the way out of the wilderness.

Transparency for Obama's friends?

I guess transparency is not good for Obama's friends. The unions and the left-wing bought this election for Obama and he is paying them back. NBC promoted him heavily and GE (NBC's corporate parent) could earn millions (or billions) if Obama's cap-and-trade materialized.

Obama team reverses union transparency

"The Obama administration, which has boasted about its efforts to make government more transparent, is rolling back rules requiring labor unions and their leaders to report information about their finances and compensation."

"The Labor Department noted in a recent disclosure that "it would not be a good use of resources" to bring enforcement actions against union officials who do not comply with conflict of interest reporting rules passed in 2007. Instead, union officials will now be allowed to file older, less detailed conflict reports."

"Critics worry that the rollback of union reporting requirements will keep hidden potentially corrupt financial arrangements aimed at rooting out corruption"

Global Warming: Video Clips

25 Global Warming Debunking Videos Al Gore Doesn’t Want You To See

Original Earth Day Predictions

http://www.ihatethemedia.com/earth-day-predictions-of-1970-the-reason-you-should-not-believe-earth-day-predictions-of-2009

"Let me just give you some of the predictions from scientists in the last 35, 30 years. Scientists and environmentalists, okay? Here they are. Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against the problems we're facing as mankind. Biologist George Wald, Harvard. Yeah, made that statement in 1970. So... I didn't know we were all dead by 1985. Oh, yeah, we all died in 2000.

"By 1995 somewhere between 75 and 85% of all species of living animals will be extinct." Wow. That came from a senator, Senator Gaylord Nelson. Like Senator Al Gore. No, he's bigger than the senator. He's vice president, a Nobel Prize winner.
"Because of increased dust, cloud cover and water vapor, the planet will cool. The water vapor will fall and freeze and a new ice age will be born," Newsweek magazine. "The world will be 11 degrees colder in the year 2000. That's twice what it would take to put us in an ice age." That's good. "By 1985 air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching Earth by 1/2." Wow. By 1985. That would have been sweet, huh? Especially now with this global warming. Wouldn't it be convenient if we only got 1/2 the sunlight? "Air pollution is certainly going to take hundreds of thousands of lives in the next few years alone," biologist Paul Erlich. By the way, he also -- that was 1970. In 1973 he also went on to say 200,000 Americans would die from air pollution and that by 1980 the life expectancy of Americans would be 42 years. I've been dead for three. So, sucks to be me."