Bush gives a big speech yesterday, telling us that torture is not really torture, and that one long-time captive in our secret jails is a "big clever fish" in global terrorist networks, when, it seems, he is merely a "small loony fish."   So, should we believe him?

     With so many untruths, evasions, omissions and outright lies, over the past five years, it is hard, indeed, to trust anything Bush says.  Maybe he should just stop talking, as Confucius would advise:

The Master said: "The ancients spoke little.  They were too ashamed when their actions fell short of their words."
(Analects, 4.22).

     Some quieting shame could be a good thing, long about now.

UPDATE: And Mencius chimes in on the importance of shame, and, perhaps, Bush’s lack of it:

Mencius said: "Shame is a great thing for people.  Crafty schemers have no use for shame.  And if you aren’t ashamed of being inhuman, what will ever make you human?" (237).