burn in hell, NPR

So the Bush administration torture memos that the ACLU sued to have released finally came out yesterday, and to the Obama administration's credit, they were not heavily redacted. To their shame, they promised no prosecutions of anyone involved.

Last night, after the memo reports broke, NPR referred directly and bluntly to the torture described within, and actually, directly used the word "torture," as do the memos themselves. I hoped, briefly, that this indicated that one particular lie - the lie of "harsh" or "enhanced" interrogation techniques - had been put aside.

I was wrong; this morning, as I was getting ready for the day, NPR was exclusively - and it seemed to me, pointedly - using the term "harsh interrogation techniques" again, and not using the word torture except in the usual "some describe it as" sort of way. Someone clearly got a memo, and that memo is that they, as the New York Times, as the Washington Post, and all the rest of that dying, wretched lot, will continue the pretence that torture is not torture if Americans do it. And their language will reflect that.

I don't know how you can do this and call yourself a journalist. I don't know how you can do that when one of the torture techniques is copied-and-pasted from the climatic white-room sequence in George Orwell's 1984 and not call it torture. (Substitute "rat" for "stinging insect" and it's exactly the same scene.) I don't know how you can have direct, positive, unassailable proof of the Bush administration and the United States Government stealing from the all-powerful supergovernment of Orwell and continue that lie.

I really don't.

Not to mention the whole waterboarding thing, the Nazi SS-perfected stress positions, the techniques borrowed from the Stalinists directly, and everything else described therein. And yet the sheep chorus brays on.

That last link is to the torture memos themselves. Greenwald's initial analysis here. Commentary on the slavish role of the political media in continuing the lie, here. Sullivan on the banality of bureaucratic evil, here.

eta: I had missed this - genuinely, I hadn't seen it - but I'm not the only one to catch the 1984 identity.

lest we forget

In other news, I don't want it lost that the Obama administration has not just endorsed the Bush administration's secrecy and wiretapping programme, but has now moved beyond it, making claims in court even Chief Executive Bush's lawyers declined to make. Functionally, they are working to stop any action against administration acts on the basis that they can declare all documents related to these acts secret and withhold any and all evidence from court consideration, even if the documents are already public. See also here, and much more, here, for Chief Executive Obama's embrace-and-extend approach to Mr. Bush's executive immunity claims.

BUY ME A BOUZOUKI!

Okay so I've been visiting this Irish bouzouki down at Trading Musician for the last several months, picking it up, playing it a little, twonking about on little bits here and there every time I go nearby, and today I made a very serious mistake: I sat around and played it for about an hour.

Christ, that was stupid. I want it. I want it bad. I mean, we technically have the money - we got our tax refund a few weeks ago - but we're still paying off the debt racked up over the last few years of medical adventures and the like. But even worse, annathepiper thinks I should get it, so this is a disaster. A disaster of awesome. (She's totally being a Bad Idea Bear about this. Totally.)

So I'm throwing the problem at you! GIMMIE MONEY TO BUY A BOUZOUKI! If you want. Or don't! That's okay too. This isn't like sponsoring my CD - I'm not promisin' nothin'! Other than I'll have a bouzouki. Which is, y'know: super-cool. For me. (CD sponsors please don't jump in, seriously, I'd feel really guilty about that, so don't for real. All CD sponsor money goes to the CD.)

Note: I am not pleading poverty here. We are not poor, we are not in financial trouble; in fact, we're finally working ourselves out from that. I haven't earned it; I don't deserve nothin'. I just want this instrument. Badly. Now. Hi, I'm Veruca Salt! A Veruca Salt terrified of spending money.

So if you've been all "hey, why doesn't she have a tip jar on this site?" ... well, okay, that's really because it's Livejournal and not a real blog. But! Lookie! It's a tip jar! Well, okay, it's my paypal email address, which you can use to paypal me money. That's close enough, right? Blink and you'll miss it: kahvcommurkworks.net - ha! Gimmie! Or don't. That's okay. ^_^