Who Knew Sado-Masochistic Games Were the Christian Games du Jour?

With so many pseudo-religious groups fully backing the Bush administration, you have to wonder if they ever read or if they live under a rock some place. Where is their moral indignation when they learn that with the approval of the White House, the U.S. military is openly engaging in sado-masochistic behavior? Not since the Holy Inquisition has any religion openly supported torture, and yet these so-called Christians turn a blind eye to the U.S.military's abuse of prisoners in Iraq for their amusement. God is probably reserving a special place of honor for the Human Rights Watch for investigating and reporting this sadistic behavior. I wonder what place He's reserving for Bubba and Bubbette who swear up and down that Bush is right, virtuous and God-like?

Cocktails in the Great Room
Barry fixed us a new cocktail, a Smoky Martini that he made with vermouth and whiskey. Different, to say the least, but really quite good. It really isn't cold enough to light the fireplace, but Max thought it would be fun to at least light a small fire since we haven't used the fireplace since last spring. The teenagers and children were all busy talking to each other, which was just as well, since the subject of sadistic behavior is so ugly. Elizabeth said that since the major Christian churches have not stepped up to accuse the government, they are tacitly condoning behavior Human Rights Watch finds unconscionable.

Torture, to get information is horrendous enough, but torture for amusement? The Bubbas and Bubettes have really allowed this entire administration to get away with unspeakable crimes against humanity. Human Rights Watch reported one soldier saying: "We would give them blows to the head, chest and stomach. This happened every day." And a sergeant reported: "They wanted intelligence. As long as they didn't come up dead, it happened. We kept it to broken arms and legs." Jane said that coming from an administration whose leader croaks constantly about being a born-again christian, she found that pretty chilling and very telling.

Amusement. Guess we'll have to look that word up in the dictionary. Maybe the White House is using a different version from ours. And we want to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people?

Just as the kids started clamoring that they were hungry, Liz told us this from John 3:19, "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."

The Kids Were Right, It Was Time For Dinner
Shelley and Cathy prepared almost our entire dinner. They do it with such aplomb you'd think they were professional caterers. They're not of course, they're horse people like so many of us are. Right after we took our places, they served us very small Blue-cheese and Sesame Seed biscuits. From their wine cellar, they brought some Schramsberg Brut Blanc de Blancs to have with these exquisite little biscuits. A good dinner was clearly waiting for us tonight. Cathy next served us Prawns and Spinach Risotto. We know these two ladies give a lot of thought to their wine-pairing, and we were delighted with their choice of a 2002 Château St. Jean la Petite Étoile Vineyard, Russian River Valley Fumé Blanc, one of the best Sauvignon Blancs we've sampled in a while.

The risotto took the place of the soup and first course, so the servings were just a little bit larger than what we normally serve. We normally always serve a fish course, first because we all like fish, but secondly because it's heart-friendly food. However, tonight Cathy and Shelley thought we'd have enough because of the super-hearty Burgundy Beef they had prepared. This classic dish of course comes with numerous vegetables and was so satisfying. It truly is comfort food, especially paired with the 2002 Schug Heritage Reserve Pinot Noir they brought for us.

Our dessert was simple but extraordinary at the same time. Simple hazelnut biscotti served with an outstanding Italian Vin Santo.

Summary:
No government that calls itself great should condone torture. Nevertheless, this administration, via Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice and Myers have not only condoned it, they foment it, and when they don't practice it directly, they export people to be tortured in other countries, thus offending the few allies we still have.