Boys and Guns

So a five year old boy got busted at his local elementary school for carrying a (capless) cap gun to school, where he spent TWO HOURS (really?!) being questioned by the authorities (what in the name of God were they asking him??!!) during which the poor kid peed his pants.

Things sure have changed since I was a kid, when walking around with a cap gun and holster were practically required for all boys under the age of twelve (when you graduated to a real .22).

I only have one photo of this dangerous period in my life (that's me with the bad haircut next to my younger brother, who is holding the family BB gun next to his leg) and I guess I'm kind of happy that there were no iphones around to capture me at the age of six, when I found three Nazi daggers buried under my porch while living in postwar Germany and strapped all of them on and rode my bike around the neighborhood waving them at any German kid I came across.

A scofflaw like me would never have made it out of that principal's office...

Torture

The Left can be so dense sometimes. Take the Average Progressive Position (APP) on torture. Every conversation you have with them on this subject ends up going something like this:

PROGRESSIVE:  Torture is terrible.
CONSERVATIVE:  Yes it is.
PROGRESSIVE:  So why don’t you denounce it?
CONSERVATIVE:  Because it sometimes provides useful information that may help protect us in the future.
PROGRESSIVE:  No it doesn’t! Torture doesn’t work!
CONSERVATIVE:  Yes it does. We can point to many specific instances where torturing someone saved lives.
PROGRESSIVE:  No you can’t! It’s a lie! It’s been scientifically proven that torture doesn’t work!

For most of us, this is where the conversation ends. Because, of course, Progressives are perfectly correct in saying that IF torture never produces useful intelligence, THEN there’s no reason to torture anyone.

No reason save one. The conversation continues:

CONSERVATIVE:  So if it doesn’t work, why have we been torturing people?
PROGRESSIVE:  Because you’re sadists!

Let’s pause for a moment and review how perfectly this fits into the left’s Narrative.  Because it’s been scientifically proven that torture doesn’t work, the only possible reason for torturing anyone is to get a sadistic pleasure out of it. Bush and Cheney probably watched the videos while they jacked off!

Obviously the conversation can’t move forward. The problem with torture is that it DOES work sometimes. It saves lives sometimes. And we know this, dare I say it, scientifically.  That is, the EVIDENCE supports the contention that torture sometimes produces useful information that saves lives. By choosing to ignore the evidence, leftists can assume the position on the high moral ground where they prefer to live. But we conservatives, being swamp creatures, face a real dilemma -- whether torture is worth the price (and there IS a price) we pay for information gained from such an awful practice.