Posted without comment, from a reader:

Jonah,
I was recently reading Richard Norton Smith’s biography of Col. Robert McCormick of the Chicago Tribune. It seems that when McCormick was a student at Groton he was subjected to the school tradition of “pumping.” In this quaint ritual the initiate had his head held under a pump and water was forced over him until he felt as if he were drowning. Waterboarding isn’t torture, its just part of the New England patrician experience. A more recent Groton alum tells me that with the advent of indoor plumbing the pump is no longer used. The initiate has his head held in a toilet and is flushed instead.
Just thought it might add something to the debate…