>All I'm saying is that if you do your smarty-pants "cost/benefit
>analysis" you will lose the argument to an asshole who has gotten lucky.
>If you read the original posting, you'll see that EVEN SCALIA has done
>that math (coming up with a different result than you, 'natch), and
>he's, no doubt, smarter than you.
I've never been so insulted! I've seen sheep who are smarter than that senile old cretin. How dumb to you take me for anyhow?
>[*] Yes! It does happen! Sometimes you pick someone up who does have
>actionable information and "Yes, you can!" beat it out of them (never
>mind how else you might have gotten the same information). This is what
>has happened in the last few years: a few people got "good" information
>tortured out of them, and the results have gone all the way to the top.
Nonsense. The very fact that the information was tortured out of your informants means that the information is no good. It might turn out to be true of course, but that is irrelevant. The information has to be assumed to be incorrect because of how it was obtained. You can't act on it as if it were reliable, you might as well act on a pure and honest guess. Obviously you can't understand that, which goes some way (but only some way) towards explaining why you think Scalia is smart.
>This is why it's very important to not just say "Well, everyone knows
>that it's unreliable" -- because the people who have seen it "work" will
>just think you're an idiot. Dick Cheney, for example, thinks you're an
>idiot, and he's willing to say it on National TV.
I've never heard him say that. Maybe he was being tortured when you heard him say that?
> You must -- if you're
>looking to oppose the use of torture in a civilized society -- you
>absolutely must address the moral issue and not the cost/benefit issue.
>If you try to do a cost/benefit analysis YOU WILL LOSE.
You want me to address the moral issue? And you expect to win the argument that way? With people like Scalia and Bush and Cheney? Yeah, that's going to work for sure! And you reckon I'm stupid?
Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas