The Web Of The Web

1. Late in the 15th Century, the ooze and slime of the Spanish Inquisition popularized waterboarding as an enhanced interrogation technique.
2. The United States Army introduces the "water cure" during the 1902 Filipino insurrection, thus leading to the first reform movement opposing this particular technique. "It is a terrible torture," writes one soldier.
3. In 2005, ABC News reports that the CIA uses a "modern form" of water boarding on suspected terrorists.
4. On March 8, 2008, President Bush announces that he has vetoed a bill proscribing the use of waterboarding.
5. That same day, I blog about the veto.
6. A comment by Scrumpy's Baker's gets me to thinking about the notion of American Exceptionalism.
7. I read up on the topic of American Exceptionalism in Wikipedia.
8. The article makes a reference to the French Revolution. I've never quite understood why historians view the impact of the American Revolution as a pistol shot compared to the atom bomb of the French Revolution. The Wikipedia article isn't much help, but it does refer me to Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution, developed jointly by George Mason University and the City University of New York. (The web site clears up the question, but that's another blog entry.)
9. The web site includes an essay on Songs of the Revolution. I decide that I want to hear "La Marseillais," but the connection speed is too slow.
10. I download a 1930's rendtion by the Spanish tenor Miguel Fleta ("The Lord High Keeper of the Seal of the Ancient Vocal Method.")
11. I burn the download onto a CD and play it at max volume, which garners a bemused mention from Premium T.