Just answer the Damn Question, please?

I'm having one of those days.

There are just too many things to do and not enough time to get to any of it.  I've got these confusing thoughts and questions jamming my airwaves, making it impossible to concentrate on any of it. My mental plate is just too full.

Here's the problem: Why can't we get any REAL answers to questions that keep being asked but are always side-stepped, slicked-out and spun so much we forget the original question? Maybe that's the planned effect - we keep asking and they keep avoiding. I guess it's working, because my head still hurts.

Still, it would be nice to get just a few honest answers to the pressing questions of the day. A REAL answer might just lead to a REAL solution, and how scary would that be? I'm not holding out much hope, but here goes:

1. Former VP Dick Cheney: He says the use water-boarding to gain information is a "no-brainer" and that "a dunk in water can save lives." The former VP insists that water-boarding is not torture, which is good because water-boarding is specifically banned as "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment" by the Geneva accords. Water-boarding dates back to the Spanish Inquisition, and those guys knew a thing or two about torture. So does the United States. In 1901 Major Edwin Glenn was court martialed and sentenced to 10 years hard labor for using the "water cure" on insurgents in the Philippines. Japanese soldiers who subjected US prisoners to water-boarding were prosecuted as war criminals after WWII, and in 1968, a US army officer was court martialed for helping to water board a prisoner in Vietnam.

Question for Mr. Cheney: "Are you freakin' kidding me?"" I guess the former VP is saying anything goes in the New World Order, so its open season on our soldiers if captured by Al Queda, Iran, the Taliban or Syria. Here's what I think. Anything done in dark places because you don't want others to see what you are doing is inherently bad - like torture - and calling it anything else is disgusting.

2. Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic Congressional Leadershiphave got things all locked up and still the MAJORITY can't get much done. Democrats control The White House, The Senate and the House of Representatives, and yet nothing is being accomplished to solve the nation's serious health care issue. For all the change we were promised, it's still business as usual in Washington, DC. -politicians debate and the country moves closer to a full economic meltdown because we can't find an answer to our woeful health care system. Speaker Pelosi has all the cards on her side of the aisle and her favorability rating with the American public is on par Dick Cheney! Is that what we really wanted from the Election of 2009?

Question for Madame Speaker: "WTF?"You better lock it up Ms. Pelosi and you better do so quickly. We voted the Republicans out office because they lied to us and didn't govern effectively. What are you and the Democrats in power doing differently? Stop gloating over your big election win and start governing - pass a health care bill that offers real reform and get this country moving forward. America doesn't want ultra-liberal politics any more than it wanted right-wing extremism. We want a government that listens, works and makes us proud. Do Better.

 3. The Family : The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Poweris a new and scary book by author Jeff Sharlet about a Washington DC-based political organization (The Fellowship Foundation) best-know for its National Prayer Breakfast at which every U.S. President since Eisenhower has spoken. The Family is led by Douglas Coe, perhaps the most important religious leader you've never heard of. Author Sharlet infiltrated the group and reveals some troubling relationships between The Family, and many current and former Washington insiders, including members of Congress. The Fellowship has been the subject of controversy for its secrecy, involvement in sex scandals, ties to third-world dictators and oppressive regimes, and approving references to Adolph Hitler.

Question for America: Why haven't you read this book? A National Prayer Breakfast is a good idea - but a group which refers to itself  "the new chosen" isn't a group I want having influence with members of Congress - some of whom rent rooms from the organization's controversial and sometimes secretive Washington rowhouse known as "C Street."

OK, I've asked. Now let's see if we get any answers. I won't hold my breath.