Please join C&L and the ACLU to tell your members of Congress: Don't Look the Other Way on Torture
By John Amato Sunday Apr 13, 2008 4:15pm 
(graphic Digby) Yesterday the ACLU and C&L got together to promote an action alert.
In a stunning admission to ABC news Friday night, President Bush declared that he knew his top national security advisers discussed and approved specific details of the CIA’s use of torture. Bush reportedly told ABC, “I’m aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved.” Bush also defended the use of waterboarding.
“We have always known that the CIA’s use of torture was approved from the very top levels of the U.S. government, yet the latest revelations about knowledge from the president himself and authorization from his top advisers only confirms our worst fears,” said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. “It is a very sad day when the president of the United States subverts the Constitution, the rule of law, and American values of justice.”
The American Civil Liberties Union is calling on Congress to demand an independent prosecutor to investigate possible violations by the Bush administration of laws including the War Crimes Act, the federal Anti-Torture Act, and federal assault laws…read on
We received an incredible amount of support so we're going to continue the push. You can read the pdf here of the "Ten Reasons Why Congress Should Demand that the Attorney General Appoint an Independent Prosecutor for the Investigation and Prosecution of Any Violations of Federal Criminal Laws Related to the Interrogation of Detainees, Including Any Obstruction of Justice."
You can send a message to Congress here...
I'm just getting started on this project. I'm also going to be pushing the media to cover this story and figure out why it's been ignored for the most part---so please join me in demanding action be taken.
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Yeah, stop the torture! Then the war! Then the surveillance! Then the lies! Then the corporate elitism!
The truth: We're in too deep. The next step will be the revolution. Until then, STAY VIGILANT
Who cares about torture when we have to discuss Obama's bowling score and his middle name.
Feinstein’s response-
“At this time, however, I believe that impeachment proceedings against President Bush will only divide the country even further, frustrating our hopes for a meaningful change in direction, while having little chance of success.”
My response to her-
This is why many of your constituents are experiencing a feeling of disappointment with the Democratically held senate and house of representatives. As more and more evidence mounts of war crimes committed in the name of the great United States of America by our highest elected officials, our elected representatives in congress are more concerned with image and emotion than the substance of the charges at hand. Truth and justice are the backbone of our democracy. In the interest of unifying our nation and re-establishing America as the “land of liberty and justice for all”, an independent prosecutor must be named to determine if the President and his cronies are guilty of these most heinous crimes.
(I hope I am still not being Filtered...so this is a test). I am glad that you are bringing this Bitter Disgusting Issue- This is why we have C&L - the MSM won't touch this issue- too "harsh " for them.....I am a member of the ACLU- so I will try to learn more and pay more attention to this....and Sign Anything that forwards your efforts.thanks
members of congress have $196million invested in the war machine.
Vince @ 3:
Thank you for your comments to Dianne Feinstein. You are absolutely right and she is absolutely wrong. There is only one thing that will unite our country and that is the truth. And it is her job and that of the rest of Congress to find it. The law is the law, and laws have OBVIOUSLY been broken!
The ACLU? Did I hear this right???? The ACLU is a bunch of elitist lackey morons who are playing civil containment. They can't even clean up LA County Jail!
Sheesh! People do your homework. The ACLU is evil- and all evil is, worthless.
I hope John and the ACLU are also doing a media blitz on this. They need to be fully aware of what C&L and the ACLU are trying to achieve. The MSM is a HUGE part of the problem!
bush and chenny are no better then the people they demonise you could very easily mix their names with other torturers past.
like adolph hussine bush. one of the biggest piles of shit to ever hit the earth!
Vince @ 3:
i fully agree with you. additionally, if Feinstein continues with this attitude, then
she is demonstrating her contempt for the Constitution and only wants to
maintain her seat. traitors come in many packages and ignoring the
crimes of those is the highest offices IS one form of being a traitor.
Here's the latest link I have seen on the U.S. Military being involved in torture. This is highly unsettling information:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/12/151937/351?detail=f
There is no member of Congress of the Bush Administration who can run and hide from this. Nor can the MSM.
I hate to be cynical, but good luck trying to get Congress to take an interest in this. They haven't raised an eyebrow over Bush/Cheney's various other crimes against the U.S.A. Why start now?
Darrell Kern @ 7:
this sounds remarkably like a gop talking point, are you a repub?
dadams @ 13:
lol . . . my thoughts exactly.
7 Darrell Kern Says: The ACLU? Did I hear this right???? The ACLU is a bunch of elitist lackey morons who are playing civil containment. They can’t even clean up LA County Jail!
Sheesh! People do your homework. The ACLU is evil- and all evil is, worthless.
=================================
Check your programming. A few of your sound bites stray a bit from the party line. Sieg heil.
Darrell Kern @ 7:
Well I'll quit supporting them right away on our say so.
Sean Hannity says shit like that, even though they won a case for him. He never mentions that while trashing them.
42Long
48Short
44Regular...
I'm ordering orange jumpsuits...
Am I missing anyone?
8 Abbybwood Says: I hope John and the ACLU are also doing a media blitz on this. They need to be fully aware of what C&L and the ACLU are trying to achieve. The MSM is a HUGE part of the problem!
========================================
We go to war with the MSM we have, not the MSM we'd like to have.
Darrell Kern @ 7:
ask rush.
Mpls_Dem @ 14:
Ya, you're not going to start molesting us with a falafel are you?
I signed on as soon as I saw the link (from C&L, I think). Keep up the good work and let us all know if there is more we can do. Collective action is our ONLY hope for change.
What's the point of fighting anyway? When you are as morally bankrupt as that against which you set out to vanquish, you might as well join hands as allies.
Thanks John.
I am on board and passing the link.
below_me @ 19:
The ACLU is the only reason that we even know about this stuff. We owe them a lot!
-slag
sign the listener's petition to support Sam Seder
...A stunning admission...friday night, (data dump friday a-gain)...
by this president. Knew, condoned, signed off (approved if you want to split hairs)... on torture.... Against standing laws on the books and our 200 plus years of established behavior and protocol in dealing with our 'known' enemies... Let alone these unindicted, in some cases not even charged, but nevertheless incarcerated people whom may or may not have anything to do with any actual crime or crimes against the United States or other allies ....
And yet...what Bush admitted to..Somehow, still, not impeachable acts against the constitution and the American people... What am I missing here? Except for the gutless, equivocating, excuse making nature of this current generation of legislators in at least one house of congress if not both... So far, other than that, I don't see a damned thing that should have prevented Bush and Cheney and all the rest of them from being in jail awaiting a impeachment hearing (for Bush and Cheney), along with a war crimes and crimes against humanity trial already (for the whole lot of them and we all know who 'they' are)...
Please, any rightwing concern/excuse making trolls out there monitoring this thread, please do enlighten me... I'm interested in you types take on all this ... I want to be up on the latest excuses being floated about over this one.....JD
enor @ 17:
LOL
Just go ahead and get a trunkload of One Size Fits All. Who cares if some of those crooks swim in the jumpsuit and others get pinching man-toe? At least that still wouldn't torture by their own definitions.
:)
The Republicans impeached Bill Clinton for lying about infidelity. The Democrats have said nothing about this President authorizing torture. TORTURE! And admitting it! I'm dumbfounded.
This has to be, hands down, the biggest story of the last 20-30 years.
Duuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I certainly hope so.
Iraq's financial free ride may end
AP - 36 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Iraq's financial free ride may be over. After five years, Republicans and Democrats seem to have found common ground on at least one aspect of the war. From the fiercest war foes to the most steadfast Bush supporters, they are looking at Iraq's surging oil income and saying Baghdad should start picking up the tab, particularly for rebuilding hospitals, roads, power lines and the rest of the shattered country.
Bonkers Hussein @ 26:
*wouldn't be torture
i don't usually write letters or pass on petitions and such, but i just can't stand to be silent about torture. My husband and i signed it and i just sent an email to everyone i know with the link- even to my neo-con parents. i'll post it in my blog too. i don't have any clout, really, but it's better than standing by and doing nothing.
Where is the mainstream media? And where is Congress? Our children live in a country in whcih the President feels free to order torture ... what have we become. Here is a video our family band made to try and raise awareness of this ... Extraordinary Rendition
JD - I would not hold your breadth on actual answers to this - just lots of fearful rants about terrorists ...
Good hunting John...This issue is beyond the limit when a sitting president admits, on national tv that he ok'd torture in the name of the US.. it's over the line.
The ACLU note that is sent to each congressman is replied to with some BS form letter from most them but hopefully the sheer numbers will clog the congress folks' servers until they fail..
The Japanese and the Germans were successfully prosecuted for war crimes for the very same exact torture that Bush and Rumsfeld, Cheney and Rice, Yoo and Gonzales, and many others had perpetrated and institutionalized throughout our military and mercenary corpse.
There is absolutely no reason why Bush and Cheney should not be standing trial at the Hague right now, the directive came from on high, and those on high should stand accountable for their monstrous crimes.
I know, I know, good luck in this broken world, especially in this most corrupt and morally bankrupt of all countries.
Abbybwood @ 6:
Well stated by you both ; I'm amazed how anyone , Republican or Democratic politician , believes that "perception" is seemingly more important now than the truth or the law................
While we're on the subject, don't forget Amnesty International's project.
Isn't there some way American's can drag there representatives to court for dereliction of duty (or something) for allowing these pieces of sh#t to get away with all the things they get away with?
There must be some class action activity that democrats (and outraged republicans) could get rolling, to get the lazy, complicit assh*les names out in time for the elections.
Darlings,
Due to both witting and unwitting participation
ABC, NBC, CNN, CBS = CIA, FBI, NSA
Remember the "unwitting" part. It is important part of this laim.
Fox = Australien + Right Wing black ops.
Mainstream Media is neither.
Thanks Amato and the rest at C&L
With respect and kindness to all.
My senator is John Kerry and I expect him to be as spineless now as he was during the '04 election. But... I sent the letter anyway, we'll see... :(
This may well be the most important thing any of us can do today.
-AF
Andrew Sullivan Is A Fraud
Done .. emailed my CongressPerson last night ..
John@31;
(Sigh) yea.. I know.... It was mostly rhetorical though I am iching for a debate on this with someone who thinks it's a-OK for us do these acts even while paying lip service to condemning others for exactly what we have been doing here. I pretty much figured this one was too hot for the freepers to want any part of... I'm actually more inclined to think they will want to work the 'ignore it till it goes away' strategy which makes what John Amato and The ACLU is doing all the more critical in keeping this issue front and center... BTW, l liked your family vid and the tune is pretty nicely crafted and haunting. Especially like the choice of the sax or is it clarinet for the solo bit.. A decent protest song for a new age. Might ultimately rank up there with Country Joe down the road... On the vid... the obvious hypocracy it reveals get irritating, but that's O.K. It should irritate anyone seeing it... Reality is, the actions of the Bush administration really should be doing more than just irritating the hell out of all of us. While watching, I mostly felt like breaking George Tenets raised index finger in half at his bullshit lies, and punching Dick Cheney lights out, over his 'no brainer' snark...And, I'd really like ten minutes in a room alone with GDub.. I hear he's so fit and all... I like to find out if it's true....
You and I and everyone here all know that they all in that decrepit administration need renditioned to the Hague.. I can gaurentee you that If that unlikely circumstance would actually happen, I wouldn't be put off at all if asked to pull the lever on the hangmans platform.. after a fair trial reached a guilty verdict and they were condemned to their fate. I am not a big fan of capital punishment, I'd rather it didn't have to exist but understand why it does... But for me? Pulling that lever under those circumstances... the action that would send all these immoral people to hell in one fell swoop?? Well, not to sound too snarky about it, but it would be, as Cheney likes to say a 'no brainer' for the crimes they have purpitrated and the horrible stain they have put upon our flag and nation....
P.S. John A? Did that petittion signing bit... We'll just have to see on that.. I'm pretty much waiting on the hokie excuse making form letter from the usual suspects who claim to represent me and the state of California... If I see DiFi and congress actually take action in response to this latest, I will be the first one to back Paul in L.A.'s usual defense of Nancy and the rest. IF they get up off their asses and respond appropriately, for a change, to this clear admission of a crime by this sitting president....JD
I signed it yesterday. Got a form letter from Senator DeMint. It seems like he had a form letter created just for the ACLU letter. He just said he was on top of the issue without stating whether he agreed or disagreed with the President's actions. However, he is one of the many republicans that voted against banning torture. I wrote him again and kindly asked him to respond to my questions and not send me another form letter. I will see if he responds. Maybe I will write him everyday on this issue and irritate the hell out of him.
I've enjoyed visiting C&L for the past couple of years although it may make me angry, sad, disgusted, weak kneed and cause the occasional spilladge of vomit to escape my mouth only to splash into my morning bowl of Cheerios. This post was a little later in the day and again I made the mistake of eating while trying to find out what's really happening in the great, GOD(?) fearing bastion of world democracy to the south of me. The shrimp that exited my left nostril at super sonic speed, bounced off my monitor and was snatched, mid air, by my ever vigilant Beagle.
I only wish the American people the best and hope that your revolution comes quickly. Or is it too late to take back what's left of your fragile existence as the U.S of A of old?
Canadians are going down the same slippery slope as most "free" people's across the globe, but no where near as fast and as blatant America.
When are you all going to "take to the streets" and demand that all your traitors be rounded up and dealt with accordingly?
Waiting for "change" at the hands of any of your current "front runners" is pure folly as is the case with your current congress.
Sadly, I think it's to late and the only thing left is another diversion, say.........World War III.
Jack Damage @ 41:
[emphasis added]
It's not just PiLA....This is one of the problems that I've had with those folks who pile on both Paul and Pelosi. FEINSTEIN IS NOT PELOSI! The only issue that you can use to draw that conclusion is impeachment. What are their votes on other touchstone issues, such as telecom immunity in the FISA Bill? Why not link Pelosi to Cornyn? They are, after all, both in Congress, both from the US, and both elected. It's not such a leap, when you use fallacious logic, to do just that.
John and Crew- Quick Messege- this is a little off subject ( I would have left on Open thread if one was up)- but I wanted to let you know that on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams there is a story about the Texas Compound ( YFZ )/ Warren Jeffs and it has PENTAGON Contracts- BIG story, 1.5 Million Dollars ( unreal..Lisa Myers did good job) . Just wanted to let the West Coast People know....thank you.
Andy K. Jong II;
Hmmm, well, maybe I need to make myself clearer on all this.. It is impeachment that is the linking issue for DiFi and Nancy with me. And their collective dithering and frantic excuse making for not immediately initiating impeachment proceedings anytime during the last four years with plenty of evidence to start with and continuing to mount over time. And isofar as dems were suppose to have been put in control of congress last year to get past republican obstructionism and put a break on this Bush initiated shit, it is infuriating! As for the other issues you raise as a point of issue in how these two may have voted, let me make it clear...
IF they in their respecitive posts;
Voted 'for' immunity for telcoms, I'm pissed at them both for that action... I don't think that was the case with Pelosi. As for linking Feinstein with Conryn... I don't have a problem with that if he has been backing this administration and making excuses for their criminal acts... But as far as I know, Cornyn doesn't represent California, and I was speaking specifically about the California reps... in both houses... Oh yea.. not that it matters that much, as he's a big boy and can defend himself O.K. from what I've seen... but the deal is, I tend to back Paul in L.A. about as often as I take issue with him...Ummm yea, about a 50/50 split on that...............JD
the fotos are from Mike McGrath who was tortured during his stay in hanoi, along with mccain..
if it was wrong to do it to them, why is it OK to do it to those ins U.S custody?
Its outrageous that the legacy of this administration will be the acceptance, legitimization, and tolerance of this type of behavior..
here are teh rest of the drawings..
link that to your congressional rep
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/honor/gallery/index.html
Pfft! You're wasting bandwidth talking about this for two reasons.
a) The President is above the law. (Nixon had the original idea, and Ford made it a reality.)
b) In the grand scheme of things, this isn't nearly as important as Obama's 'bitter' remarks.
So, let's talk about something that matters.
My bad in earlier post, I meant to say linking Pelosi with Cornyn...
Otherwise... just correcting the error on who I was speaking about... JD
Abbybwood @ 6:
The velvet glove is off of the iron fist, and the general populace is indifferent. We The People are asleep at the wheel. Collectively we appear to be moral and intellectual midgets. We are an addict in denial, and I am afraid only bottoming out is going to change that. I just hope the bottom is as low as can be imagined.
The murderous and thieving mafia that disguises itself behind the illusion of constituional government deserves to be subjected to a fair trial for their violation of laws.
If the USA is to survive, it must return to the rule of law, not men. Rule of law at the pinnacles of power is fiction at this time. If the rule of law neeeds apply to anyone in a society, it is indeed those at the pnnacles of power, for their unlawful behavior inflicts far more damage to a nation, a society, and a world, than an every day common citizen ever could by unlawful behavior. A reckless citizen might kill at most a handful of people, and cost society thousands of dollars. A reckless president can kill millions and cost trillions.
Justice must prevail, especially for those in positions of power.
OOOPS TYPO my apologies . . .
"I just hope the bottom is NOT as low as can be imagined. "
Jack Damage @ 46:
[emphasis added]
Feinstein voted for, Pelosi against.
I haven't seen PiLA in a bit- I think he's taking a well-needed breather- but I've been too busy at work to visit the site much in the last week. But I know that he's stated that he worked against DiFi in her last primary. Unsuccessfully, of course. But she won that primary by a wide margin, and her general election by, iirc, a record margin for US Senatorial races in CA.
And I'm gonna say what I have said over and over again, with no prompting (not this time, not ever!) from PiLA:
Given the history of the partisans in this administration- the history of, "I don't remember," and, "I don't recall"- when "testifying" in front of Congressional commitees is disgustingly consistent. But Congress cannot compel these assholes to do otherwise. They can't make someone remember. And it's damned near impossible to catch someone in a lie if they don't remember. Do you expect any of them to peel off from the pack and pull a John Dean? I have my hopes that Ashcroft might be the guy to do just that, but I wouldn't put $5 on it.
But let's say that Ashcroft cracks and the House finds enough evidence to impeach. Then what? Again, returning to recent history, the Republicans in the Senate will stonewall. Think not? Just drop down a thread or so. Those fuckers won't even show up for quorum calls to fill the empty seats on the FEC! How many times have we seen them vote against cloture? All it takes is all of the Dems in the Senate plus 10 votes from Republicans for cloture. For conviction on impeachment charges it requires all of the Dems plus seventeen Republicans!
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Gather the evidence and let a DoJ led by an AG appointed by a Democratic President press charges in a real court, in front of a jury made up of everyday citizens. The "memory loss" of the witnesses will clear up when they're facing contempt charges and time in jail.
theWalrus @ 27:
you said it in a nutshell !!!
Vince @ 3:
Word for word this is the same response I got from here from a letter I wrote a month ago on the issue of impeachment itself and not the recent scandal. Not that I expected her to write original letters for every response. Regardless, I'm going to hound Pelosi, Boxer and Feinstein from now on. Will it be wrong of me to send them pictures of torture (from Abu Ghraib), to remind them what's been done in the name of America?
sah @ 54:
The real story here is that the Democrats are just as evil as the Republicans. The GOP is just less opposed to running smear campaigns and hitting below the belt-- they're the more churlish fascist party. The Republicans want to be the ones in complete control; although, with either party in control we are equally as screwed. It's no one's fault but our own that this nation hasn't kicked both parties into the Atlantic and Pacific, respectively. God Bless this Mess.
Right on, John Amato. The MSM resemble today, post-9/11, resemble nothing so much as a sailor who's been caught getting a blowjob in an alley (or, come to think of it, Bill Clinton in the Monica scandal): sheepishly embarrassed, but not truly willing to really come to terms with their own tawdry ways.
John, great work but please do not bust a gut. It is obvious now that the media wants us to be a fascist torturing state. They love it. Spy on Americans? Oh, maybe make a rumble for day and then let it drop, who needs a constitution when you are going to ignore it anyway?
They think it is cool to promote torture, it makes us a tough and the agenda comes with tax cuts.
BTW -- Anyone who thinks they are going to let Obama become president is a fool.
Abbybwood @ 11:
WE ARE A NATION OF WAR CRIMINALS.
Ponder @ 58:
Yup. I don't understand why anyone thinks Bush is going to leave office at this point. I really don't. He seems very, very invested in the amount of power he has now.
This message is a bit profane but it does get its point across.
http://nataliedee.com/012405/ribbon-based-economy.jpg
Before I vent, I must say, it is a very valiant effort on your part John. Having said that. I now must laugh. This crap has been going on for decades and nothing will be done about it this time either.
Question to all my American friends. Do you feel even a twinge of guilt for the massacre of thousands of innocent Japanese, that did NOTHING to you at all? How about Koreans? Haitians? Afghans? Iraqis? Germans? Italians? What was the difference? Oh, their government was EVIL so they had it coming to them, right?
Petitions are about as productive as laws with this regime and regimes of the past. They will do whatever they feel like, and have.
Darrell Kern @ 7:
I have done my homework, and if standing up for civil liberties is "evil" then I guess all of us members of the ACLU are going to hell.
It's the price we have to pay to keep morons like you free.
Apparently, the terrorists have won, cuz ya know what?
I just don't care anymore.
Torture is a War Crime! Face it, the neocon bush admin is guilty, and will be held accountable.
Indict, Impeach, Convict and Sentence, then off to The Haugue, to face the War Crimes Tribunal for the attrocities they've commited in our name. Bush and Cheney must face accountability, or the world will never recover, nor will the nation.
No taxation without representation
Date: 2008-04-11, 10:33PM EDT
"No taxation without representation"
What do I get for my federal taxes? Our public schools are failing, Social Security is insolvent, Medicare & Medicaid are run by a corrupt government that uses taxpayer money to overpay the corporations that run it. Our military is in shambles, our economy is on the brink of complete collapse and all our leaders can think of to do in order to solve the problem is to use our tax dollars to bail out the mistakes of corporations while Americans end up homeless and broke. And stuck with the bill.
Do people understand how much money we have spent in Iraq? Seriously really, get a grip and really GET how much money has gone down the hole? And even if they do, do they realize that the Iraq bill, from a dollar perspective, HASN'T COME DUE YET??? The shit going on with the economy right now has NOTHING to do with the THREE FUCKING TRILLION DOLLARS that this clusterfuck in Iraq will eventually cost us.
$3,000,000,000,000 / 300,000,000 = $10,000/ea.
That means that RIGHT NOW, without ANY interest, each and every American in this country is in for $10 fucking K. On top of our current federal and state income tax burden.
Now, I pay for electricity. I pay for internet. I pay for television and I pay for my phone. The tax I pay at the pump covers most of the cash either state or federal government spend on shit like road repairs, but whatever. I pay for the gas to heat my home and cook my food. I pay a shitload at the hospital and even pay tax on some of that shit. I pay sales tax. I even pay retail tax, even though the corporations pass ALL their taxes on to me when I buy their shit. So what the fuck do I get?
A military that is now broken. An infrastructure that is crumbling. A justice system that favors their own, the rich and the politicians, and if to add insult to injury, herd me like a fucking piece of cattle and actually go out of their way to find a reason to make me pay them for some bullshit slight.
So what the hell is a rational guy supposed to do? What did our forefathers do, when faced with this kind of bogus farce of representation, when bullied into paying for something they don't even want or need?
When a man with a checkbook has greater sway than a million voices, OR EVEN ONE FUCKING VOICE, then hasn't our grievance become that of the founders of this country?
* Location: The People
* it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
PostingID: 639254501
Can anything ever really be done? bush and his regime rightfully belong on trial in The Hague but the money, power and military might of his office allow him leave to commit any atrocity no matter how heinous, for the remainder of his time.
Got a nicely worded form letter back from Senator Durbin. Read between the lines however and he isn't about to support any investigations along the C&L/ACLU line.
Yeah we can do something.. TODAY INFACT.. you ready??
DO NOT PAY YOUR TAXES UNTIL BU$H IS IMPEACHED.
I second the comment above me, that said no taxation without representation. There USE to be a reason why you had to PERSONALLY pay for taxes. Not your job...
Also, you only had to pay sales tax. Personal income tax is a crime. Read your history and your constitution.
In a stunning admission to ABC news Friday night, President Bush declared that he knew his top national security advisers discussed and approved specific details of the CIA’s use of torture. Bush reportedly told ABC, “I’m aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved.” Bush also defended the use of waterboarding.
So!! Who's going to do anything about it? Nancy (impeachment is off the table) Pelosi and the democratic congress? I think not, they're too worried about not making any waves and getting re-elected. Sell Outs!!!
Disgusting, illegal, treasonous and still this pansyarse congress remains silent on impeaching & removing these thugs from office & prosecuting them.
Is this Congress being blackmailed by Tricky Dick #2 & his puppet, with the material acquired from telephone tapping, email intercepting??
FINALLY.
It isn't as if Congress hasn't known for a couple of years that this was going on. WHY they have not taken action drives me totally out of my mind.
On another front, Barrack Obama told an interviewer that, if elected, he would have his AG look into violations by the Bush administration.
He repeated an oft quoted line. "No one is above the law."
Amen.
Please consider creating a series of blog buttons, banners and graphics for people to use to declare that they and their blogs reject and repudiate torture. Could you geniuses at C&L create a blogroll of participants?
This story is being extraordinarily renditioned to a secret black site, and there is a mass blackout by traditional media.
That leaves it up to new media, and bloggers in particular, to continue to disseminate the news, to organize and to serve as the nexus of torture resistance.
Thanks for your consideration. The link at my name is a post I wrote yesterday after discovering a very intriguing address in May 2007 by the South Africa Constitutional Court Chief Justice Pius Langa to the Yale Law School Commencement attendees. I believe that what we are just learning now has been known in the Yale law Community for some time.
Andy@53;
Andy, I don't really have anything to take issue with regarding your post. I tend to agree with your assessment. I recognize the current limitations in congress to get anything done and it nevertheless pisses me off... I'm sick of this game they are playing. And the world doesn't care about how many repubs are needed to get something real done to hold this criminal pack accountable. In the end, if this legislative branch doesn't pull its head out of its ass and start doing what is right by the nation instead of what might help them all personally in this or any given situation, it will be all of us who will be tarred by the world for allowing this shit to continue to fester... You know it I know it...
The people in Germany and Japan and all the other nations who have felt the wrath of the larger world when fascism or any form of totalitarianism has taken hold in these lands and then tried to export itself onto others who don't want anything to do with it.. knows it too. Their ultimate fate in those circumstances will be our fate if something isn't done... What will happen if the world in the form of NATO or just a collective of nations who have had enough, launches invasions of the Carolinas or the West coast from the seas just like d-day 44... or maybe since this is the 21st century, they decide to just nuke our asses back into the stone age, environmental conesquences be damned??? Who will anyone blame??? Them or us?
Some would immediately take issue with that last statement as an impossible scenario, irrational fear mongering.. But I put to all of us, nothing happening in this world right now is rational in the least.. Not what is happening in Iraq, not what's being planned in some circles regarding Iran, not what is going on in this nations highest government circles every damned day now.... Who would have thought as recently as 2000 prior to that phony election that we would ever have to even discuss an American president condoning, encouraging, approving torture, any kind of torture against anyone foreign or domestic for any reason....who?
Look Andy, I ain't arguing your position, I agree with it, I'm just not satisfied that we, any of us can allow it to go on and it pisses me off that we are dangerously close to having only options that kills everything good about ourselves in order to kill this cancer that is ruining everything we ever thought or aspired to be as a nation. That may sound naive but it really wasn't that long ago that we, (regardless of all our warts and there are many) was still nevertheless regarded by a majority in the world as the real deal, the true guiding light to a rational equitable humane world, the best deal in town for human rights so to speak... Noone is holding the U.S. in that regard any longer, nor will the world ever see us the in that light again for the forseeable future. Certainly not as long as we continue to condone thru our actions and more to the point, our inactions regarding the crimes our national leadership commits.
We have ourselves truly painted into a corner now, I'd like to see the DOJ take the actions you describe, that would actually be reassuring on several levels but I do not know at this point after the Gonzales tenure/debachle, if that arm of justice doesn't remain completely coopted. I second what you say about someone breaking ranks and spilling the truth. It would be nice and go a long way towards giving the rest of this planet a reason not to regard us as a rogue superpower in need of a spanking, but I wouldn't even put up the 5 bucks that you would offer on that, for any of them, Ashcroft? Powell? Any of them. They are all coopted and in way too deep. I wish I had a pat answer, I'm looking for something to hang my hat on, a reason to hope that there is anything worth encouraging my own offspring to stick around for. At this point, encouraging my children to immigrate to someplace else is actually becoming a valid bit of 'good' advice, and that is truly a shame.
You seem to be an activist in the PiLA fashion I think, can't be sure but it really doesn't matter, you seem to care and that does matter. I wish you luck in your endeavors. I too try to be activist in some small way. I am not nearly as front and center as you and others currently are. But I think all of us who desire a real America we can all be proud of try to help in our own individual ways. I wish us all luck along with the few politicians here and there who also put it on the line. May this nation heal and correct its course. I think all our futures and fates along with the very concept of America hangs in the balance in a manner none of us, even I, truly grasp properly. But I do know if that famous next smoking gun turns out to be a mushroom cloud rising and hanging over some region or city of this nation, it will be those motherfuckers in D.C. for which the ultimate responsibility and blame lays..... Not the sicko 'lone gunman' type who may have planted it, nor the nation or collective of nations who launched it in fear of a rogue nation who made 'pre-emtive strikes' for no good reason a reality we all live with now. I'm just basically asking now, America? Where the hell are our 'real' leaders? We need them to step up, I don't know for sure if Obama is one or not, but I damn well know most of the rest of these cretins are NOT real leaders save maybe Kucinich and a precious few others. At least I can't prove it by their actions....................JD
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