I’ve been seeing advertisements on VH1 for a new show called Daisy of Love. We all know about Rock of Love, with Bret Micheals. Ick. Then there’s Flavor Flav, the Bachelor, the Bachelorette, and it goes on and on. We have the internet; we have telephones, clubs, libraries, grocery stores, millions of places where other people, including rock stars and famous people, have found love on their own without the help of a TV show before.

What is your major malfunction people? The problem I have with these shows is that the people on them are hardly sincere; they’re going on a TV. show for crying out loud! They’re either aspiring thespians, overly dramatic during their five minutes of fame, or trying to use these shows as a springboard to something else. We now have celebrity reality show stars that are on other reality shows…um yeah – springboard. Like that show I Love Money where the contestants form alliances with other contestants and the closer to the end it gets, the more people turn on each other.

Do we not get enough of that in real life? Watch the news if that’s entertainment for you, there’s plenty of reality on TV to be had, without manufacturing it. What really gets me is that these shows have taken over the few remnants I had left of TV. In all their ridiculousness I’ve lost my MTV and VH1, both used to be channels that I could turn on in the morning and not change until I went to bed. I don’t have that kind of channel loyalty anymore. I can’t watch Headbanger’s Ball anywhere anymore, ahem MTV Fail! I’m stuck with pop and country music, they occasionally throw me a bone with rock, but there’s no metal anywhere on TV or most of the other music I enjoy the most. Thanks premium channels for forsaking me for reality show stupidity.

You know I wonder if MTV will ever get a clue and create a channel clone of their channel in the 80’s and early 90’s, when there was music all day, every day, and the shows were showcasing different genre’s of music, not stupid nonmusic related shows. MTV 2 didn’t fit the bill, Paladia or whatever it’s called now is mostly concerts-and I hate live performances unless I’m at them. What gives MTV?? You suck now, that’s what.

This is why I only watch one show, and ironically it’s a reality show. Hell’s Kitchen is the only show I make sure I’m home to see. At least that show makes sense, now that’s entertainment. All these shows with people finding love or turning on friends they make or doing outrageous things are old hat. Find something new, or better yet, recycle from back when I loved TV. TV is losing the war with activity because it sucks now!

Last week, the Department of Justice released memos from the former administration which authorized the use of “enhanced interrogation” techniques. The memos describe in horrifying detail techniques authorized by the Department of Justice on detainees in Gitmo and other black sites. Upon the release of the memos, the President said, “In releasing these memos, it is our intention to assure those who carried out their duties relying in good faith upon legal advice from the Department of Justice that they will not be subject to prosecution.” He goes on to say, “This is a time for reflection, not retribution.” In other words, we aren’t going to prosecute war criminals. With all due respect Mr. President, the last time I checked, justice is not retribution.

First off, the memos attempt to justify the acts of torture as not torture, even though our own government acknowledges these techniques as torture prior to September 11th. In the memos, they go on to say that because the interrogations do not take place in areas under US control (aka black sites), they are exempt from Geneva Conventions. In reading the memos, this infers that even if the techniques are torture (which they are) the US would be above the law because technically, the torture is taking place in others countries outside of US control. It is perfectly clear, even to someone that never had any law training; the memos were a lame attempt at justifying an illegal act as legal.

Some have said that waterboarding is not torture. Here is an account of waterboarding recipient, Ramon Navarro, as described in 1947 court proceedings in the trial of a WWII Japanese war criminal:

Col. Keeley: And then did he take you back to your room?

Drowning. You could hardly breathe.

Anti-torture legislation in the US clearly prohibits techniques that employ the “threat of imminent death” (18 USC Sections 2340 and 2340A). Simulating drowning is a threat of imminent death. But the US did not just stop at waterboarding. The Department of Justice authorized the use of sleep deprivation (up to 7 ½ days at a time) and strict liquid-only diets to be used in conjunction with the waterboarding techniques.

To those who say that is not torture, would you want any US service member to endure this? Would you want these techniques used against you if you were accused of committing a crime? Would you want any of these acts committed under your name? If we do not prosecute these acts, how then can we justify prosecuting future war crimes against us? Mr. President, by refusing to prosecute, you have gone against your oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, specifically Article VI, paragraph 2.

(You can read the memos and sign the petition requesting independent prosecutor to investigate and, if warranted, prosecute individuals who authorized and used torture here.)