Dick

At the Gerald R. Ford Foundation National Press Club, Dick Cheney said:

“I think that freedom means freedom for everyone,” replied the former V.P. “As many of you know, one of my daughters is gay and it is something we have lived with for a long time in our family. I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish. Any kind of arrangement they wish. The question of whether or not there ought to be a federal statute to protect this, I don’t support. I do believe that the historically the way marriage has been regulated is at the state level. It has always been a state issue and I think that is the way it ought to be handled, on a state-by-state basis. … But I don’t have any problem with that. People ought to get a shot at that.”

The Republican party remains largely split on the issue of equality, but the momentum is shifting towards civil rights for all.  Republican strategists can see the writing on the wall — young voters (even Evangelicals) overwhelmingly support equality.  They realize that in order to win in the future they need to evolve on certain social issues.  As it stands most young people see the Republican party as cruel and mean for opposing equality.  Megan McCain (former presidential candidate Sen. John McCain’s daughter) has been on a press junket lately calling for a change in the Republican party.  She supports marriage equality and thinks the party should too.

The damage has been done, though. The Republican party is largely responsible for the 31 state constitutional amendments throughout the country restricting rights for gays and lesbians.  Even if the party does change their views, it will take a long time for some of us to forgive them.  Even so, any support is welcome support.

Waterboarding

A Senate intelligence report says  Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice both authorized the CIA’s use of waterboarding and other “alternative interrogation methods”. According to CNN, “On July 17, 2002, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, who later became secretary of state, said the CIA could proceed with “alternative interrogation methods,” including waterboarding, when questioning suspected al Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah.”

Furthermore in 2003, the CIA wanted confirmation they were acting legally, “In a meeting that included Vice President Dick Cheney, CIA Director George Tenet, Ashcroft, Rice and their legal counsels, “the principals reaffirmed that the CIA program was lawful and reflected administration policy,” the report said.

If you have not had a chance to read the torture memos, you should. They are highly disturbing. Any reasonable person can deduce that the techniques used were indeed torture. Even President Obama has declared waterboarding torture, which according to the memos was used over 200 times on one suspect.

It would be doing this country a disservice to let Rice, Cheney and others get away with war crimes. It is time to prosecute these citizens and to let a jury decide their guilt or innocence. If we do not prosecute them for torture, then we are no better than our enemies.  We would set a dangerous presidence that some people are above the law.  We will send a message to the world that we know our leadership committed crimes, but we are going to let it slide. How could we ever have any moral authority on human rights again if we let them get away with it? We could not.

Edit:

Event the traditional conservative talking heads are realizing the truth.  Check out this video from yesterdays’ Fox News:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEtFMj6ZiHM]