Jesse Ventura: You Give Me a Water Board, Dick Cheney and One Hour ...

[meegbear]

and I'll Have Him Confess to the Sharon Tate Murders

On Larry King Live Jesse Ventura takes on the Bush administration chickenhawks and Rush Limbaugh, and defends Colin Powell. After being waterboarded himself in the SERE program, Ventura makes no bones about it. Waterboarding is torture. I'd like to see Hannity have Ventura on his show to debate the issue.

King's reaction to Ventura's straight talk on how terrible of a President W was is amusing. He's shocked...just shocked I tell you, that anyone would talk so badly about our former President.

<snip>

KING: All right already with Bush.

VENTURA: No, I live in Mexico now, Larry. So I do a lot of reading. I don't watch much TV. This year's reading, I covered Bush's life. I covered Guantanamo and a few other subjects. And I'm very disturbed about it.

I'm bothered over Guantanamo because it seems we have created our own Hanoi Hilton. We can live with that? I have a problem. I will criticize President Obama on this level; it's a good thing I'm not president because I would prosecute every person that was involved in that torture. I would prosecute the people that did it. I would prosecute the people that ordered it. Because torture is against the law. KING: You were a Navy SEAL.

VENTURA: That's right. I was water boarded, so I know -- at SERE School, Survival Escape Resistance Evasion. It was a required school you had to go to prior to going into the combat zone, which in my era was Vietnam. All of us had to go there. We were all, in essence -- every one of us was water boarded. It is torture.

KING: What was it like?

VENTURA: It's drowning. It gives you the complete sensation that you are drowning. It is no good, because you -- I'll put it to you this way, you give me a water board, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I'll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders.

KING: Even though you know it's not going to happen -- even though before it, you know you're not going to drown.

VENTURA: You don't know it. If it's -- if it's done wrong, you certainly could drown. You could swallow your tongue. You could do a whole bunch of stuff. If it's it done wrong or -- it's torture, Larry. It's torture.

(.....)

<snip>

<snip>

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/node/28083

[Fleshdancer]

1. that is one hell of a quote

I'm still amazed people are questioning whether water boarding is torture or not. That must really drive people like Venture crazy since he's experienced it.

[Lorax7844]

40. Ventura is infinitely quotable

Read his wiki page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Ventura

I don't always agree but I've always been a fan.

From wiki, Ventura on religion:

"In a Playboy interview, he said, "Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers. It tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people's business." In his 1999 best-selling memoir I Ain't Got Time to Bleed, Ventura responded to the controversy sparked by these remarks by elaborating on his views concerning religion: "I’d like to clarify about religious people being weak-minded. I didn’t mean all religious people. I don’t have any problem with the vast majority of religious folks. I count myself among them, more or less. But I believe because it makes sense to me, not because I think it can be proven. There are lots of people out there who think they know the truth about God and religion, but does anybody really know for sure? That’s why the founding fathers built freedom of religious belief into the structure of this nation, so that everybody could make up their minds for themselves. But I do have a problem with the people who think they have some right to try to impose their beliefs on others. I hate what the fundamentalist fanatics are doing to our country. It seems as though, if everybody doesn’t accept their version of reality, that somehow invalidates it for them. Everybody must believe the same things they do. That’s what I find weak and destructive."<22>

Ventura endorsed equal rights for religious minorities, as well as people who don't believe in God, by declaring July 4, 2002, "Indivisible Day" through this proclamation:

"WHEREAS: The unique feature of this nation at its founding was its establishment of a secular Constitution that separated government from religion - something never done before; and WHEREAS: Our secular Constitution has enabled people of all worldviews to coexist in harmony, undivided by sectarian strife; and WHEREAS: President James Madison made clear the importance of maintaining this harmony when he said, "The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the endless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries"; and WHEREAS: The diversity of our people requires mutual respect and equal protection for all our citizens, including minority groups, if we are to remain "One nation, indivisible"; and WHEREAS: It is the unfettered diversity of ideas and worldviews that have made our nation the strongest and most productive in the world; and WHEREAS: Eternal vigilance must be maintained to guard against those who seek to stifle ideas, establish a narrow orthodoxy, and divide our nation along arbitrary lines of race, ethnicity, and religious belief or non-belief. NOW, THEREFORE, I, JESSE VENTURA, Governor of Minnesota, do hereby proclaim that Thursday, July 4, 2002 shall be observed as: INDIVISIBLE DAY In the State Of Minnesota."

Love him.

I nominate Wanda Sykes, Jeanne Garofalo, and Jesse Ventura heros for the week.

[KittyWampus]

46. I'm also both a fan of Ventura's and wholly aware he's occassionally off the track.

[Fleshdancer]

60. I completely forgot about his Playboy quote

I LOVED that quote and can remember how PISSED people got over it. :rofl:

I really do admire his style.

[LakeSamish706]

2. I can't imagine how Cheney would survive waterboarding.... and that goes for ....

many of the asses on Fox noise as well.... They would die from shear fright.

[Uncle Joe]

21. I don't believe he would survive just as I imagine some of the prisoners; in better shape

than Cheney, didn't.

[crazylikafox]

3. He'll only need 5 minutes.

Ole Cheney's ticker won't last any longer than that.

[Ohio Joe]

13. I think your wrong...

But there is only one way to find out :evilgrin:

[Autonomy]

41. From what I've read about waterboarding

The toughest nut can be cracked in less than two minutes. Cheney would probably expire in less than 20 seconds. But he would give up state secrets before even being strapped down.

edit: from wikipedia: "CIA officers who have subjected themselves to the technique have lasted an average of 14 seconds before caving in.<13>"

Cheney would only last a nanosecond.

[shadowknows69]

4. Whatever else you may think of Ventura he has balls the size of the moon

And he knows of what he speaks. King once again proves he's the most worthless interviewer on television.

[Fuzz]

7. Well, that's a gravitational force I wouldn't want to be effected by for certain.

[Egnever]

15. LOL

Duzy!

[KittyWampus]

47. So funny! Hahahaha What great snark.

[Tuvok Obama]

16. The stupidest question I ever heard King ask...

He was interviewing a young woman whose father had died in an earthquake.

She mentioned how her father had also been in a bad one in 1964.

"And he survived that?" King interrupted.

She ignored the interruption and kept talking, because it was THE STUPIDEST QUESTION SHE'D EVER BEEN ASKED, because she was young -- undoubtedly born sometime in the 1980s -- so yes, her father had survived the 1964 quake and had gone on to inseminate her mother two decades later.

"And he survived that?" King interrupted again, more loudly than the first time, forcing the woman to stop telling her story and answer.

I was SO wishing she would say something like, "Yes, my father died just the one time," or "No, Larry, he died, but his sperm lived for twenty more years, and crawled around until it eventually found my mother's eggs."

[gratuitous]

17. I don't know, check his question to Ventura

In response to Ventura's description of the sensation of being waterboarded, King comments, "Even though you know it's not going to happen -- even though before it, you know you're not going to drown."

Yeah Larry, you know you're not going to drown. Somewhere in a very small corner of one's mind is the knowledge that you're not going to actually drown from this procedure. Of course, that small corner of the mind is completely overwhelmed by the part of the mind that's preoccupied with things like breathing, which has taken over every other thought process, and is in a state of panic about the fact that you feel like you're drowning. But I'm sure that Mr. King, consummate Vulcan that he is, with the most disciplined mind on the planet would laugh off waterboarding because he would know that he's not going to drown. Only scared little pussies would actually find any discomfort in being waterboarded, eh Larry?

[EC]

56. How stupid can one person be...must have been coddled his

whole life...

Even when my mom used to wash my hair in the kitchen sink, I would accuse her of trying to drown me when water got up my nose...if I could accuse someone I loved and trusted - I can imagine stranger to stranger...

[vanbean]

62. Nevertheless, it was a legitimate question.

[gratuitous]

67. No, it wasn't

And by posing it, King gave away his ignorance and his bias. The fact a person isn't actually going to drown is irrelevant to the discussion at hand.

[Tuvok Obama]

68. By that standard, so is "Are you a fucking idiot?"

If a "legitimate question" is defined merely as an interrogative expression, then any question, regardless of how fucking idiotic, can be considered "legitimate."

[lunatica]

27. LOL!

"Yes, my father died just the one time,"

Bears repeating!

:rofl:

[MajorChode]

43. You don't have to watch King for long to find a dumber one

The man has to be the most overrated interviewer in history. All he can ever manage is stupid questions and softballs. It's no wonder the Repugs love to be interviewed by him.

[okieinpain]

55. I love larry for one reason, during desert storm he let the troops do

shout outs from kuwait or somewhere over there and it was the most amazing and touching radio show I had heard in a long time. for that one show I'll always cut larry some slack for his dumb ass tv show.

[AlbertCat]

50. Larry never met...

....a UFO or spectral sighting or Bigfoot expert... or any supernatural crap... he wouldn't want to do an interview for a week. He is useless. At least it's late night.

[valerief]

59. What do you expect from the channel who gave us Rapture Index reports a few years ago?

:rofl:

[Vinnie From Indy]

30. You are correct on all counts!

Cheers!

[Goblinmonger]

5. Ventura is an ass in a lot of ways

but you always know where he stands. That is a GREAT interview from a first-hand perspective.

[sixmile]

10. I think Ventura is the future

He's an evolved everyman full of common sense, truth and old-fashioned grit. I tend to agree with much he says and writes.
And yes, you always know where he stands unlike 99% of the other paid help.

[Aviation Pro]

52. He is more than "common sense"....

...which is vastly overrated (Two Shoes used his Gut and "common sense" and look where that got us today). He actually reads proving that he is anything but an Idiot American.

[Johonny]

39. I agree

People like him because he gives you his honest thoughts. He seems pretty modern in his moral values. Too bad his libertarian government structure ideas are like 6000 years debunked.

[merh]

6. Video well worth watching

youtube links & discussion in the political forum
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x310956

[Karenina]

23. I've slept in a t-shirt that says

"My Governor Can Beat Up YOUR Governor,' around a caricature of Jesse for YEARS. The man is a TRUTH-TELLER!

[demwing]

54. Wow, big DUH moment for me

Two actors, both making their pre-acting mark on the media in pseudo-sports, go on to become state governors.

The pseudo-sports? Wrestling and Bodybuilding

The movie? Predator

The governors? Ventura and Schwarzenegger

Is reality weirder than weird, or what?

[Soylent Brice]

8. yet not one citizen arrest or formal arrest has been made.

i'm perplexed why this is even being debated.

thank you Mr. Ventura for saying what everyone else is afraid to. military folk she be all over the media explaining the same thing.

[pacalo]

12. What's perplexing to me is WHY this continues to be debated without any action.

There are only two glimmers of hope that prosecution will take place:

-- AG Holder told David Swanson "you will be proud of the U.S." on his way out of a hearing about torture; and

-- Cheney & his family members are all over the tv rationalizing why waterboarding (retroactively) "saved lives". They are bviously worried, & if Cheney has informants in positions to know what's going on in Obama's administration, he could have heard something to give him reason to panic.

Anyone who has seen the Abu Ghraib pictures knows that waterboarding wasn't the only torture performed, but it happens to be the only torture procedure already publicly admitted by Bush/Cheney.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

57. Yeah the Liz Cheney interviews are what got me hopeful

If Dick has his daughter fighting his battles for him, he knows he might be in over his head. I dont think I saw her for the entire 8 years of the Bush admin and now I see her everyday.

[Lasher]

9. So King doesn't like for people to talk about Junior.

I get that from a lot of wingnuts who don't want to have to defend the indefensible. That's in the past, they say. Let's just look forward, they say.

[Mythsaje]

11. And how long have we been hearing about Clinton's penis?

I'm telling you--Republicans are defective.

[lunatica]

28. Well you do have to admit that the Clenis is much more interesting...

[blm]

29. King wouldn't interview Kitty Kelley in Sept 2004 when her Bush book came out...

though he interviewed consistently on every earlier book she wrote. King is close with Poppy Bush and his Saudi royal pals who bought controlling shares of AOL/TimeWarner/CNN.....Kingdom Holdings.

[SpiralHawk]

14. Thanks Jesse, for telling the truth about the Republicon Chickenhawk Torture Freaks

Coming from a veteran who actually served in the US Armed Forces, you can be sure the Republicon Homelanders will pay no attention -- They worship their Chickenhawk leadership for their consumate skill in AVOIDING SERVICE to America, while pimping their Anti-American, anti-Christian Republicon Torture Feakery

Ptooey

[AnneD]

18. I love that quote....

"I'll put it to you this way, you give me a water board, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I'll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders."

I may not always agree with him-but I can respect him. He is the old school GOP that I grew up with. Yes you disagreed but you could hash things out, get as much of a win win deal as you could, then go out togather for a drink or two.

[ejpoeta]

20. i think it has to do with his ability to use his own words rather than parrot someone else

and i think he would actually listen to what you have to say instead of just talking over you and louder, which most of these idiots do. i don't always agree with what he has to say, but i believe that it's not just a knee jerk reaction and that he probably thought about it and looked it up first.

[AnneD]

22. That's it exactly.....

you know he is listening to you. Also like his comments on tv vs newspapers.

[Jack Rabbit]

19. They should play that tape for Liz Cheney, Hannity, Rivkin

. . . or any other know-nothing who tries to employ some sophistry to assert that waterboarding is not torture.

[Ezlivin]

24. In the first minute Cheney would give up the goods on

The Kennedy Assassination
Robert Kennedy's Assassination
The Missing 18 Minutes
The OK City Bombing
9/11

And much, much more!

But, wait, there's more. Waterboard him longer and you'll discover who the male prostitute Jeff Gannon was visiting and his favorite stress positions.

[The Wizard]

64. The missing 18 minutes were deciphered

It was "Alice's Restaurant."

[The Hope Mobile]

65. Yup - that would be scratching the surface.

I wonder if the US citizenry could actually handle the truth about these things and so many others.

What happened to that lost nuke last year?
Why did we really go to war?
How much money did they really steal from the US in these illegal wars?
Bay of Pigs?
Iran contra?
S&L scandal?
MLK?
Plane crashes?
Hotel roof jumps?

Oh Lord! SOOOO much more!! People would be walking around like zombies (especially Pukes) in profound disbelief and shock. It could take a long time to recover but it would be a necessary first step to turning this country around.

[riverdeep]

25. Ann Coulter was flaming on over the weekend.

The gist was why would reporters volunteer to be waterboarded? If waterboarding is really torture, then no one would volunteer. She gave the example that no one would volunteer to have electrodes hooked up to their testicles (interesting she thought about that torture, but I digress).

My response to that would be simple. Just because something doesn't cause permanent damage, doesn't mean it wouldn't fall under torture. And when you waterboard someone 180+ times, I'm pretty sure the mental damage is certain. Secondly, have there been any reporters that have volunteered TWICE?

edit: spelling

[The Hope Mobile]

66. She should volunteer . . . and actually go through with it. nt

[wroberts189]

26. knr

[mzmolly]

31. Great quote!

:toast: to the Gov. ;)

[KakistocracyHater]

32. I'm impressed

wooaah

[rateyes]

33. For whom is it a good thing that he's not president? For Bush/Cheney

and all the other war criminals in that administration. Obama should take Ventura's advice and prosecute every damned person involved, from the torturers to those who authorized it.

War crimes like this carry the death penalty.

[Wednesdays]

34. K&R

:kick:

[spanone]

35. i'm sure dick cheney would take ru$h limbaugh over jesse venture cause he's a chickenshit

chickenhawk

cheney is truly demented

[Muttocracy]

36. thanks, Jesse. nt

[MnFats]

37. Jesse Ventura talking sense? Pigs must be orbiting the moon....

I go back a ways with him. was never impressed with him at all.
but if he's going to START making sense............I don't know what all.......

[Hepburn]

38. I got the gag, the bucket and the board....

...could one of you guys please get Cheney?

Then we meet up with Jesse, OK? :evilgrin:

[Manifestor_of_Light]

42. Jesse makes a lot of sense.

I liked a lot of his opinions when he was governor.

He actually thinks and reasons.

[harun]

63. I think he has a lot of good ideas about what is wrong with the system.

[City Lights]

44. I'd pay good money to see The Dick confess to the Tate murders.

:evilgrin:

Recommended.

[eridani]

45. Hell, I could make him confess to

--putting the Ram in the Ramalamadingdong, faking crop circles, and killing Albus Dumbledore and Jon Benet Ramsey.

[RoccoR5955]

48. If they waterboarded the lot of Bushco, Inc., and put it on pay per view...

...it would get the economy back on track, bail out the banks, and the auto companies, as well as zero the national debt!

[Aviation Pro]

49. James Janos (Jesse Ventura) is the real deal....

...any debate over whether he was UDT or SEAL is moot. The man is a SEAL to the core. An hour with Shitstain? It would take all of 15 seconds to reduce that fucking poseur to the quivering mass of shit that he is.

[Bluenorthwest]

51. Jesse

speaks for me on this. I'd go after all of them.

[okieinpain]

53. wow and that dude is no lib. n/t

[Last Stand]

58. I have come to like the guy's honesty. I think he really is an Independent.

He gives great interviews, doesn't lie and says what he thinks regardless of who might disagree. He siad they would never want him in the White House because he would find out who really killed JFK and what happened at Rockwell. He hates institutional politics. He can be pretty convincing because he just says what he thinks.

[pleah]

61. K&R