Water Bored

Ken Kerr Bio

Last week, Sean Hannity of Fox News offered to be water boarded to show that it is not torture—it's just harmless "enhanced interrogation.' When pressed, he said he'd do it "for charity." Keith Olbermann then called this bluff and offered $1000-a-second for every tick of the clock Hannity could handle enhancement. I wouldn't hold my breath (pun intended) waiting for this event. Hannity will soon sober up and realize what he has offered.

Or, Hannity thinks this will be a hoot. After all, Ollie North claims to have been waterboarded and told Hannity there is nothing to it. It's kind of like a roller coaster—you're not going to really die, it just makes you experience what it might feel like. You get the thrill without the real danger. The heart races, the adrenalin flows and we scream with glee rather than fear. I suspect Hannity and those of his stripe see this as little more than a fraternity prank or an episode of Punk'd—you see, we're not really going to drown you, only we don't tell you that until it's over and we all have a good laugh.

After all, it did not result in "death, organ failure, or serious impairment of bodily function. Quite the opposite, the forced enema Kalid Sheik Mohamed received prior to his waterboarding actually enhanced his boldly function. I wonder if Hannity is signing on for one of those as well.

But Hannity's offer to experience the thrill and excitement of drowning gave me and idea. How about if we get Rush—'It isn't Torture if You Can Survive It"—Limbaugh, Bill—"it's just putting a little water on their face"—O'Reilly, Glenn—"we need to find somebody who is willing to be water boarded by professionals and show if it's torture or not"—Beck, Michael—pouring water over a terrorist's face--Savage and invite them to put their lungs where their mouths are.

I have my checkbook out-and-ready.

If they agree, they can always reconsider. All they have to do is go before the same camera or microphone and admit they were mistake—it is torture, and it is unworthy of the United States of America.

I'll even still send my check.

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Democratic Chatter 3-23-2009

George Wenschhof Bio

President Barack Obama returns to the White House from Camp David this morning - later the president will discuss the energy independence part of his proposed budget. Increased funds will be provided for clean energy technologies. Tomorrow night at 8:00 PM ET, the president will address the nation during prime time. He is expected to address the A.I.G. bonuses and efforts being made to correct the dismal economy. Time.com has more here.

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Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announces the latest bailout plan for Banks - this has been talked about for some time but the details were lacking on this proposed public-private partnership to purchase up to 1 trillion of troubled mortgages and related assets of banks. CNN.com has more here. Initially the Treasury would buy between 75-100 billion of bad debt and then auction the debt securities to the private sector. There is already hesitancy from the private sector due to the government attempting to limit executive pay so don't expect the private sector to be lining up to buy these bad debt securities.

Geithner has an Op-Ed which appeared in the Wall Street Journal today describing this program and the efforts to date of the Obama administration to stem the financial crisis. You can read his Op-Ed column here.

Perhaps the Obama administration has finally realized Geithner is not a good public relations man - Dr. Christina Romer, chair of the White House council of economic advisers is the one appearing on TV early today to push the program.

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Wall Street reacts favorably to Geithner's plan - at least for this morning. The Dow Jones is up 150 points after stocks in Asia and Europe gained on news of the latest U.S. government plan to aid troubled banks. Bloomberg.com has more here.

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For those of you who are MSNBC junkies - Chris Matthews and Keith Olberman have signed contracts through the 2012 campaign - this will ensure loyal viewers these political pundits will be discussing the first term of the Obama administration and the 2012 election. Politico.com has more here.

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On the foreign policy front, Obama spoke yesterday on "Sixty Minutes" of the need for a comprehensive strategy and exit plan for Afghanistan - he spoke of the need to improve the economy, further diplomacy with Pakistan and increase regional assistance in the effort. The exit strategy is important as this was absent in the planning when George W. Bush administration sent U.S. troops into Iraq. MSNBC.com has more here.

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