I watched the MSNBC recently. These are my impressions.

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(Article changed on February 8, 2013 at 13:38)

(Article changed on February 8, 2013 at 10:18)

Water is such a peculiar substance. It has a unique anomaly   between 0C and +4C; ice is lighter than cold water. Ice thus floats and we all live because of that. It is the main   cause of life thriving on Earth and   it is not yet   fully explained. Water has many other unique features. I am a scientist and an engineer and I study it. I have   theories in my head, lots of them, my math   is perfect, I feel that I   know in advance the explanation for many phenomena. But I can't get direct answers. I have to design experiments, buy   or   build   expensive   equipment, get money, work with other people, purify samples,   follow the rules and regulations, etc. etc. I   have   to work and that is so frustrating. How easy it could be if   water   had feelings.   I could torture it, inflict pain and intimidation, deprive it   of sleep, make it suffer so that it could confirm my theories and my perceptions. It   would be good for everyone;   imagine how many good things we could design together, how fast we could progress ahead. Of course, other scientists could torture it   too to get confirmations for their theories; thus I would have to develop   the ingenious torturing techniques but    that would be no problem, piece of cake compared to the   travails of the real science when after years of tedious research that   clear   fluid just bubbles in front of you and leaks, and   escapes and pushes back and laughs at you. In case of torture you are in control, you define when to start and when to stop. Oh, that sweet   feeling of power. In real science Nature has all the cards; you are nothing but a humble servant; it is so intimidating, How great   it would be if we could torture   natural objects, how easy, how gratifying. How great it would be if we could do   to them what we do to people.

I was watching the MSNBC, a "liberal'   station with Mika B. and   Mr. B., her father and also Donny D.,    sort of   a business analyst- and they were "discussing' the Brennan hearings, torture and drones. They all were immaculately dressed and groomed and looked good;   that's how our medieval folks usually    look when they appear in public; snouts and snarling   fangs   are carefully hidden. And then Mr.B with that falsely somber face of his says that   although he personally does not approve   of torture   (he also specifies that   for him torture is only inflicting pain, other things like for instance   sleep deprivation or intimidation are not- MS), there could be circumstances   when you (sic!) "know' that a person has crucial info and you (sic!) have no time to spare, then... you can do it. He is   very sorry. Then Mr. D. comes in and "salutes' Mr. B for his clever definition and   he agrees and even    goes further- he extrapolates that if   the relatives the  of 9/11 dead would  have been asked if they would have approved torture to save   the 9/11 victims, they surely would   have approved. That' s what he says. Then   the encouraged Mr. B. proceeds about drones and says that yes,   we are at war with "organization' and that if the members of that organization   "gather somewhere' and plot "something', you (sic!) can kill them all and also those around them, sorry for the collateral damage. That's what they were saying and if   you (sic!) peer into the screen you could see the fangs    and snouts but you had to look attentively   because by that time they changed to sports and   we all know   how   short the attention span is nowadays. Oh, yes,   they also praised   our democracy.

When I watched that Twilight scene   I felt   as if the whole history of Humanity, the proud   species to which I belong   fell to dust.    I am not going   to refute those arguments- those are not the arguments to even consider.   Humanity went a long way, thousands and millions of people died   for a firm and proud   statement of a free man, 'We, the people do not torture human beings, never ever.' We do not inflict pain, we do not deny water and food, we do not intimidate, we do not threaten children   in front of their parents, we do not deprive of sleep.   I could have speculated that   if we used Mr.D's argument a lot of folks   from the administration of that time should have been subjects to enhanced interrogation but no, even in that case any of such abominations would be what it   would be-  an abomination, nothing more and a nothing less.   Torture, drone killings, - those things are evil, those who discuss them in cold blood become evil, those who do that under any pretense are evil and   we, the people   should in no way rely on them, evil, inhumane beings for our security and our survival. They   do not work for us and they do not protect us. They only work for evil and they protect only themselves because   evil corrupted them and    showed them the   seemingly easy way -- and they succumbed.

But how then can we protect ourselves, people would ask. If we cannot be evil, then how?

And the answer is -- we must be more honest, that's all. In science we treat Nature with honesty and dignity, we design experiments and we test theories again and again, and we fail, and we get up and we go to other people and we listen to them and we publish and we criticize, and we argue   and we cry from helplessness many times until at one glorious   moment   all falls in place and we have a string theory or   a Gothic Cathedral. In   intelligence   it is the same- we connect the dots, we promote honest people (Ray McGovern says now that CIA had become a mafia- type organization and if that is so, how can we the people rely on it for any actions?-MS). Honest people are not just the good workers- they are immune from evil and if we had honest people in   our intelligence right now they would have   laughed   their ears off at the speculations of those werewolves from MSNBC. They would have said that they could take anyone of them,   B, D, R, whoever -- and in 5min. each of them would   have confessed to being an Al-Qaeda operative plotting to destroy the US. They, those honest professionals would have said that it   was   exactly   the destruction of   the honest work in the US intelligence that first lead to terrorism and   then-to the appearance of   torture and drones and that also lead to   the breeding of the creatures of the night in   all    layers of elite and its servants. Darkness in minds creates monsters. They those monsters   come   out on TV and   discuss   our fate. Not only they do that but   they claim to do that in our name.   Every Century has its medieval times (the phrase by Slavomir Mroszek, the Polish writer). Our medieval times is now. But it is not the time of Gothic architecture. It is the time of killing drones. The people in the   Middle Ages were better than us. They were honest. We are not.

Come to think of it, I am happy I cannot torture water or fire or   put a piece of metal in a painful position. I am happy    also    that I know that if I was in the intelligence community I would have been as honest as I am in science and   that is not an opinion of a nave idealist. It is the opinion of a professional. Professionalism and education are   the things which make us civilized, make us   independent and   proud.    They also   make it possible to spot the creatures of the night even if they hide in a plain sight. I saw them on MSNBC. I am telling you about them. Now you know. You cannot pretend not to know anymore.

It is good to   be a scientist.

Authors Bio:

The writer is 67 years old, semi- retired engineer, PhD, PE. I write fiction on a regular basis and I am also 10 years on OEN.