Countdown's <I>Bushed!</i>: Hidden Agendas Edition
By Nicole Belle Tuesday Apr 29, 2008 11:45am
Download | play 
Download | play (h/t Bill W.)
The continuing sagas that make up the life under the Bush administration...
First up is Marc Halcon, owner of American Shooting Range in San Diego, California, who has divested himself of his interest in a vocational training school being developed by front companies for Blackwater, because of Blackwater's growing notoreity.
Next is a sad statement on the value of healthcare and marriage today, with a Kaiser Family Foundation poll that found that 7% of respondents either was or knew someone who married solely for access to their spouse's health benefits. And the GOP wanted me to believe that same sex marriages somehow cheapened the sanctity of my marriage.
And finally, in an ironic twist in the Nexus of Politics and Terror, the original prosecutor of the Hamdan case, Col. Morris Davis, is testifying on behalf of Salim Hamdan and speaking out over the kangaroo courts that the Bush administration is demanding to be able to claim progress in their War on Terror™.
Davis didn’t just say the Hamdan argument wasn't right, since it permits the use of evidence obtained by coercion or torture, to say nothing of hearsay, he also quoted the former general counsel of the Defense Department who he says told him “We can’t have acquittals. We’ve been holding these guys for years. How can we explain acquittals? We have to have convictions.” Col. Davis put it simply: he was under pressure to hurry through cases and get those convictions, so President Bush could use them politically before the 2006 mid-terms (elections). And there it all is in a nutshell. The military co-opting the Constitution and the sacred freedoms for which the heroes of that military fought and died as part of some kind of crazed worship of or fear of a cheap political hack and his gang. And as distant as it all seems, just plug yourself into that equation. You somehow wind up in Gitmo, in Salim Hamdan’s place. And you say, “but I’m an American citizen!” and the guard and the torturers standing behind the guard says to you, “Oh yeah? Prove it. Without a lawyer. Without the right to trial. Prove it. And until then, you want some water? Poured up your nose?”
Login or Register to post comments.
Pray tell!
Anyone who is still clinging to to the hope that there might be a little flame of humanity still flickering in the souls of the RepuBNeoCons.
Let it go.
But Justice Scalia says torture is not punishment. All they have to do is admit guilt, and the torture will stop. Everybody wins!!
Um...did I say "Justice" Scalia?
It’s a far cry from the freewheeling spending of the 90's, when teens splurged on $100 Coach wristlet handbags, $60 Juicy Couture T-shirts and $80 skinny jeans from Abercrombie & Fitch.
L.A. Confidential @ 2:
souls?
Samson- @ 5:
Seceded from the human race.
Just announced ....
Al Queda is back to pre-911 strength.... and growing.
OK GOP spinmeisters, get to work !
Well, we can thank Bernake for lowering the rate again, making our dollar meaningless. How do these people sleep at night. I guess you guys are right, the neo-cons have no souls.
Chico Hussein @ 7:
Next thing you know Powell will be back at the U.N. showing sketches of Iran's clandestine WMD labs.
Patty D. @ 8:
Better then most of us with Millions in reserve in tax free shelters. The only logical explanation.
LA, perish the thought!
Chico Hussein @ 7:
They'll blame the Dem controlled congress for not passing the Protect America Act.
L.A. Confidential @ 9:
Probably recycle the Iraq ones to save paper, show how environmentally sensitive the Shrub admin is...
L.A. Confidential @ 4:
Kids today have to get jobs to help their parents pay for rent and food. I'm not exaggerating; I know of quite a few families in this situation.
Chico Hussein @ 7:
It is time to invade another country that:
1) - has nothing to do with al Qaeda and
2) - has oil.
NORWAY!!!!
I like Pie @ 14:
I know people who make $200,000 a year combined and they have nothing left after all the bills.
I got to get things done see you later.
is it just me or is the country falling apart?
L.A. Confidential @ 9:
No .. Powell's out .. they got a new guy to do that this time ..
As always, Olberman hits the nail on the proverbial bell. BUT! These kind of atrocities have been going on for so long, with lots of Olbermans delivering the message.....and nothing gets accomplished. When the Hell is the revolution going to start? And don't tell me that Obama will take care of these things. I've go news for you: Obama will not get anywhere near the White House. The Repubs have demonstrated that they know how to fix elections and now Hillary is beginning to understand those techniques. Good luck if you think anything is going to make this work.
L.A. Confidential @ 2:
excellent advice and I'm takin' in!
right on! @ 21:
er ah I mean I'm takin it!
The Police stole my ID wallet gift cards worth over 200 dollars, besides beating me up over speaking out about 911. The Police are arresting people with no ID. What is with this country when it's own citizens are attacked and illegal immigrants get credit cards without even a social security number. BAnk of America.
Unfortunately, Mr. Olbermann fails to mention that Col. Davis wholeheartedly believes Hamdan to be guilty of the charges. The matter in question is the kangaroo courts, not the sad plight of Bin Ladens buddy.
Keith is on the mark over the torture gate.
But somehow this isn't illegal? Not impeachable? We need to just put it behind us?
Each and every day this goes by lacking the justice scrutiney it provides the Cheney argument of Unity President and the Nixon slur that if, " the President does it. Then it is legal".
How do the republicans/conservatives rationalize this? We all know damn well they would impeach a Democratic President doing this. Hell they impeached for a Dem President having consentual sex between adults. Theese are sad days in America.
What sort of country do we hand over to our kids?.................................
War crimes tribunals. There is no other way to begin to remove the shit stain that Bushco has put on this country.
Is that a problem? What's important is that Davis has principles that the malAdministration does not, and he's standing up for them. Not entirely unlike John Adams?
There are guilty people at Guantanamo Bay. A few, some, many, Hamdan may be one of them - who knows any more? The whole process has been so hopelessly tainted (the word Davis used too) by the criminal conduct of the detention and prosecution that justice CANNOT be served any more. The choice becomes to either damn the innocent, or let the guilty go.
Well done, Dubya.
Olbermann:
Now what is it about this that is so hard for many Americans to understand?
Login or Register to post comments.