Priests Protesting Torture Jailed

"Louis Vitale, 75, a Franciscan priest, and Steve Kelly, 58, a Jesuit priest, were each sentenced to five months in federal prison for attempting to deliver a letter opposing the teaching of torture at Fort Huachuca in Arizona. Both priests were taken directly into jail from the courtroom after sentencing. Fort Huachuca is the headquarters of military intelligence in the U.S. and the place where military and civilian interrogators are taught how to extract information from prisoners. The priests attempted to deliver their letter to Major General Barbara Fast, commander of Fort Huachuca. Fast was previously the head of all military intelligence in Iraq during the atrocities of Abu Ghraib."

Full article here

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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." - Schopenhauer

Wait a minute, these guys tried to get onto a military base?

The headquarters of military intelligence?

Jeez - no wonder they're in jail.

I mean, you can't fault the gov for that one, right? That's the gov being vigilant, I'm glad they're doing their jobs.

Darn priests oughta read their Bible - like, don't forget about the "render unto Caesar" part, right?

I mean, I agree that trespassing on a military installation does deserve some kind of recourse, however is the purpose of imprisoning two priests for 5 months? Instead of paying for criminals in the prison system, we are now paying for non-violent religious figures as well??? It's just a little ridiculous... Where do we draw the line? An angry mob of protesters is one thing... but two priests who were kneeling and praying??? I don't even go to church and this is kinda bugging me. I think they were more deserving of a simple 24 hours in jail. I understand that the law says they were trespassing on a military installation, and I'm sure there is a minimum penalty for it, but I definitely don't agree with it. They were delivering a letter for crying out loud... there was no malicious intent. In my opinion, this is misdirected justice. It's also kind of suspect that no one knew these two were on base until they were halfway up the driveway to the gate. Gee wiz.

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Blind acceptance is a dangerous practice.

Yeah, I hear you - but that's just stupid, right?

I mean "even if you're a priest", you gotta realize that trespassing into the friggin' headquarters of military intelligence is going to carry some pretty stiff penalties, right?

I mean, I'd like to pray in the friggin' War Operations Room, that would turn me on to no end, but I can't do that, right?

You know, it's like, Jeez guys, there's gotta be a better way - know what I mean? It's like, there's no need to sacrifice yourself unless you're getting something in return - I mean, "besides" six months in jail. You know, you could have gone on TV or something - ane maybe even have gotten paid for it, and think of all the wonderful things you could have done with that money - supported charity, or maybe even started a political group if you felt strongly enough about it....

See what I mean?

I mean, you're saying we're supposed to forgive these guys 'cause they protested in the only way they knew how, and as gently as possible? I mean, yeah, but.... they were on a freakin' [U}military base[/u], for cryin' out loud.....

I mean, these guys could have been "anyone", right? Maybe they could have been some of those radical "social justice" types from El Salvador or somewhere, you know, highly suspect, leftist political bent and all that.....

Bull. They weren't arrested for their views on the war, they were arrested for breaking onto a military base - "Both priests were charged with trespass on a military base and resisting orders of an officer to stop."

Yep. That's the "gotcha" right there. I mean, man with a rifle tells you to stop, and you don't, you're lucky to even be alive. I'll bet if the guys had stopped when told, they might even have gotten away with saying they "didn't know" or something, you know, like they'd "gotten lost" - "left their glasses at home", something like that - whatever ( ) - and I'll even bet the gov would have gone along with it, and in that case there probably would have been just a slap on the wrist.

But this "resisting arrest" thing is serious - I mean, I can tell you a funny story in that regard - once when I was knee-high to a grasshopper (and in quite excellent physical shape, at the time), I got busted for trying to buy pot on the street - I mean, stupid right? - but it was like, this guy, this undercover cop, didn't identify himself, didn't say, "stop, police, you're under arrest", or anything like that - I just kinda felt this hand like, going into my wallet, kinda-thing, and I thought someone was trying to rip me off or something (turns out he was just trying to get some cuffs on me) - and so I turned around and hauled off and hit the guy, I mean smacked him really hard, 'cause I thought he was just a street urchin trying to rip me off for drug money or whatever - but see, I got charged with "assaulting a police officer", and..... yeah ( ) - so I'm sitting there explaining all this to the judge, right? And the guy's shaking his head, probably going, "you know, I've heard some good ones in my time, but this one takes the cake".....

So yeah, I can relate. You do stupid stuff, you get stupid penalties. I got really lucky on that one, the cop actually admitted that he didn't identify himself, and unfortunately I had a different baggie entirely, in my other pocket when they arrested me, so.... I went down. Not too hard though, I got into the "drug court" thing, and that was like in the very first year they had it out here in California, it was like the year after it went big in New York City, and became such an overnight success there - so the whole thing eventually got expunged off my record and all that (yeah, I got incredibly lucky, like, if the cop hadn't been such an upstanding citizen, I might be doing ten years right now) -

And then there was this other time.... oh, never mind - it's a good story though It involves a rifle being pointed about that far ===> . <=== from my nose.

So yeah, I mean, I feel sorry for those guys, 'cause they were probably trying to do the right thing, but.... I'm still laughing, dig?

Yeah, now we have the Republicans, Democrats, and Libertarians spinning stories. Looks like it doesn't matter how many political parties we get, I won't be able to believe any of them.

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If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

Paranoid much? hahaha

No, I see your point. However, I think a little amnesty is in order for the peaceful priests for trying to deliver a letter requesting that the teaching of torture practices come to an end.

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Blind acceptance is a dangerous practice.