Below the jump, is a post I first wrote for the Bloggernacle Times on 09/23/06.  We were several years into the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and the natural abuses of war were being made manifest.  Here we are almost five years later and the United States still maintains troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan, for reasons that frankly escape me (particularly in light of the extreme heat–but very little light–generated by the far right about deficits, balanced budgets, and the like).  Regardless, I think the message behind Christ’s injunction, i.e., The Golden Rule, is as relevant and important today as they ever were–even in times of war.

Dick Cheney, one of the primary architects of the Iraq war, and of the Bush Administration torture policies has just published his long anticipated autobiography–so called.  In it, Mr. Cheney makes no apologies and pitches his torture philosophy all over again.  He did the same in a recent interview at media friendly Fox News Sunday. I find the idea is still antithetical to Christ’s teaching of treating others as we would be treated.

The links in the old post should all work (at least the vast majority of the ones I tested did).  You may have to wait a minute for the link to actually link through to the original source, as it first takes you to the cached web page of the provider first, then takes you to the actual original link.    (more…)