The Washington Post reports that Bush officials are working the halls and telephones of the Justice Department with the formal end of the internal investigation into former Justice officials involved in the Bush torture program, including Ninth Circuit Judge Jay S. Bybee, Berkeley professor John C. Yoo and Steven G. Bradbury. They are reportedly working over former colleagues to soften the language and recommendations of the department. I will be discussing disucssed this and other related stories on this segment of MSNBC Countdown.
An earlier draft report recommended disciplinary action by state bar associations against two former Justice officials — pretty light punishment for participation in a war crime. However, even that recommendation was too much for former Attorney General Michael Mukasey who delayed the report and ordered further examination. Mukasey and then-Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip wrote a 14-page letter rebutting the report of its own investigators before leaving office.
The investigation could, however, disclose new information given the five years of work by the department into the matter. The deadline for the investigation ended on Monday of this week.
Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich has informed members of Congress that Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and Deputy Attorney General David W. Ogden “will have access to whatever information they need to evaluate the final report and make determinations about appropriate next steps.”
The Justice Department continues to insist on total control over the investigation of its own attorneys and department in a clear conflict of interest. Not just political appointees but career attorneys were involved in the program. The department is now reviewing whether the department itself facilitated in the commission of a war crime — a finding that would be an embarrassment to the department as a whole. This is like having a hospital review its own doctors to determine if those doctors and the hospital as a whole committed criminal malpractice.
The fact that there is lobbying going on between current and former Justice Department officials shows the highly inbred aspect of this inquiry. These same former officials would not think of trying to influence a special prosecutor, who is supposed to be appointed in such conflicted circumstances. Not surprisingly, a report from the New York Times indicates that the Justice Department will use this report to conclude that its lawyers should not face criminal charges when facilitating such programs.
In this context, discussion of bar charges appears rather laughable. It is not that such action is not warranted, but rather it is treating participating in a possible war crime as something less than a misdemeanor offense.
In the meantime, the Senate Judiciary hearing will reportedly hold an equally offensive hearing that will explore in part whether the torture program was effective in getting information. The clear import is that it is somehow relevant or mitigating if our torturing of individuals yielded information.
For the full story, click here
A Bully In the White House
May 5, 2009
Barack Obama’s lawless conduct in connection with the Chrysler bankruptcy is sending shock waves through the business community. It is important to understand what is happening here. Many think that Obama is merely engaging in crony capitalism, favoring his political supporters (most notably the Auto Workers Union) at the expense of others. That’s true, of course, but it is much worse than that: Obama has tried to bully those who have not bought his favor–Chrysler’s non-TARP secured creditors–into giving up their legal rights by threatening to use the powers of the White House to damage their businesses. This sort of lawlessness is common in some of the more corrupt Third World countries, but it is brand new to the United States.
Business Insider headlines: “Hedge Funds Outraged At Obama Bullying But Also Cowering In Fear.” It reproduces a letter written by Cliff Asness, managing partner of AQR Capital Management. Here are some excerpts:
The President has just harshly castigated hedge fund managers for being unwilling to take his administration’s bid for their Chrysler bonds. He called them “speculators” who were “refusing to sacrifice like everyone else” and who wanted “to hold out for the prospect of an unjustified taxpayer-funded bailout.”
The responses of hedge fund managers have been, appropriately, outrage, but generally have been anonymous for fear of going on the record against a powerful President …. Furthermore, one by one the managers and banks are said to be caving to the President’s wishes out of justifiable fear. …
Here’s a shock. When hedge funds, pension funds, mutual funds, and individuals, including very sweet grandmothers, lend their money they expect to get it back. However, they know, or should know, they take the risk of not being paid back. But if such a bad event happens it usually does not result in a complete loss. A firm in bankruptcy still has assets. It’s not always a pretty process. Bankruptcy court is about figuring out how to most fairly divvy up the remaining assets based on who is owed what and whose contracts come first. The process already has built-in partial protections for employees and pensions, and can set lenders’ contracts aside in order to help the company survive, all of which are the rules of the game lenders know before they lend. But, without this recovery process nobody would lend to risky borrowers. Essentially, lenders accept less than shareholders (means bonds return less than stocks) in good times only because they get more than shareholders in bad times.
The above is how it works in America, or how it’s supposed to work. The President and his team sought to avoid having Chrysler go through this process, proposing their own plan for re-organizing the company and partially paying off Chrysler’s creditors. Some bond holders thought this plan unfair. Specifically, they thought it unfairly favored the United Auto Workers, and unfairly paid bondholders less than they would get in bankruptcy court. So, they said no to the plan and decided, as is their right, to take their chances in the bankruptcy process. But, as his quotes above show, the President thought they were being unpatriotic or worse.
Let’s be clear, it is the job and obligation of all investment managers, including hedge fund managers, to get their clients the most return they can. They are allowed to be charitable with their own money, and many are spectacularly so, but if they give away their clients’ money to share in the “sacrifice”, they are stealing. …
The President’s attempted diktat takes money from bondholders and gives it to a labor union that delivers money and votes for him. … Shaking down lenders for the benefit of political donors is recycled corruption and abuse of power. …
Last but not least, the President screaming that the hedge funds are looking for an unjustified taxpayer-funded bailout is the big lie writ large. Find me a hedge fund that has been bailed out. Find me a hedge fund, even a failed one, that has asked for one. In fact, it was only because hedge funds have not taken government funds that they could stand up to this bullying. The TARP recipients had no choice but to go along. The hedge funds were singled out only because they are unpopular, not because they behaved any differently from any other ethical manager of other people’s money. The President’s comments here are backwards and libelous.
Bullying, lying and lawless: President Obama has achieved a sort of trifecta of dishonor in connection with the Chrysler cram-down.
Former Dem: What you should do is follow the example above, copy paste the first paragraph, provide the link, then comment. I used to do the exact same thing you do. It’s the whole copy paste thing that people get annoyed at because anybody can do that.
Former Dem.
You can state the obvious by looking within your soul. Apparently you nor your fodder fool have that much less a conscience. So were you teased because of some glaring defect which is obvious to many on this list?
THE CIA HAS HAD IT WITH OBAMA WORLD:
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The CIA’s war against President Bush was motivated by ass covering, or by political partisanship. But with President Obama, it’s personal.
Many are furious about Obama’s disclosure of explicit details of the interrogation methods used on some al Qaida bigwigs, and his waffling on whether or not those who employed them will be subject to prosecution.
Others are incensed by his decision to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, and to let some of those incarcerated there loose in the United States.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held two hush hush meetings with CIA Director Leon Panetta and Democratic members of the Intelligence Committee last week.
“Her fear and frustration have apparently given way to panic after word reached her of the CIA’s reaction to the damage she, President Obama and other Democrats have done to the spy agency in the last three months, wrote Jed Babbin, a former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense, in Human Events May 1. “Pelosi learned that her actions and those of President Obama have so damaged CIA morale that the agency’s ability to function could be in danger.”
The upshot of the meetings was an unprecedented letter from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-Tex) to Mr. Panetta, making a quasi-apology. Rep. Reyes asked the CIA director to “disseminate it to the CIA workforce as soon as possible.”
But the CYA nature of the letter, and Mr. Reyes’ pledge of more oversight are unlikely to mollify many at Langley. Other Western intelligence services regard the Obama administration with contempt and rising concern as an officer of the DGSE, France’s military intelligence agency, informed the CIA last week.
“All of us in our little community are worried — us, our friends in Berlin, London, Tel Aviv,” the DGSE officer said. “It is not like the barbarians at the gates. It is every barbarian horde in the world being told there are no gates.”
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/05/05/the_cias_fight_with_obama_96333.html
WASHINGTON — An internal Justice Department inquiry into the conduct of Bush administration lawyers who wrote secret memorandums authorizing brutal interrogations has concluded that the authors committed serious lapses of judgment but should not be criminally prosecuted, according to government officials briefed on a draft of the findings.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/06/us/politics/06inquire.html?_r=1&hp
FORMER DEM:
YOU NEED TO STOP POSTING, I DONT EVEN READ WHAT YOU WRITE AND I VOTED FOR BUSH. I JUST SCROLL THROUGH. EVERYONE ELSE JUST SCROLLS THROUGH AS WELL. NO ONE IS READING YOUR POSTS, WHY ARE YOU WASTING YOUR TIME. IS THIS SOME SORT OF FRATERNITY HELL WEEK REQUIREMENT?
AS MIKE A SAID DO YOU HAVE AN ORIGINAL THOUGHT?
As Morgan Freeman said in the Shawshank Redemption and I am paraphrasing “if you ever decided to shoot yourself, that bullet would be the first original thing to enter your skull in quite awhile”
I am not suggesting you kill yourself, so don’t get all puffed up with righteous anger.
Mr. T, I liked the simile you used on Olbermann’s show regarding the information we currently have about the governments torture policy: ‘it’s like taking a tour of a crime scene and nobody arresting the murderer who’s standing in the same room.’ Considering how many people died under interrogation (16 I think) it could also be a metaphor. It was a good segment, well done.
Uh, the near BANKRUPT Washington Post? What did they do, copy an article of the BANKRUPT New York Times!
Obama must be in some trouble today so they need to run interference for the ONE from any one of these or others:
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.
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Al-Marri’s sweetheart deal
May 5, 2009 Posted by Scott at 7:08 AM
Al-Marri, the terrorist sent to the United States by al-Qaeda to carry out a second wave of mass-murder attacks, was permitted by the Justice Department to plead guilty to a single count of material support to terrorism, maximum sentence 15 years’ imprisonment with the possibility that al-Marri may simply be given credit for time served and released.
The Obama administration has already outright released, with no trial, Binyam Mohammed, an al-Qaeda operative who, like al-Marri, was assigned by KSM to carry out mass-murder attacks in the United States after 9/11. Now, al-Marri has been given a plea agreement that grossly undersells the grave seriousness of his war crimes.
If Holder’s objective was to demonstrate that George W. Bush was wrong to detain al-Marri as an enemy combatant and that the criminal-justice system “works,” this sweetheart deal suggests the opposite.
Jihadists were not impressed by our strategy of fighting them in the courtroom through the 1990s.
Wonder what they’re thinking now.
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Just heard on the news that after 12 billion dollars in taxpayer money, another 25 billion that financial firms are being forced to write off and after all that the Union being given 55% ownership of Chrysler; the Union just announced they are going to SELL THEIR 55% and put the proceeds into a Union Trust Fund!
What a con JOB! What a rip off of the American Taxpayer! What a rip off of the creditors that funded Chrysler!
Unbelievable!
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House Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave Obey said he was “very dubious” about the chances of success in the region and wants a “fish or cut bait” assessment in a year’s time that will determine how long the U.S. continues on this path. “It gives the president one year to demonstrate what he can do.” said the Wisconsin Democrat.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22083.html
NOTHING LIKE TELLING THE ENEMY IN AFGANISTAN THAT DEMOCRATS AREN’T EVEN BEHIND THIS PRESIDENT IN STRIVING FOR VICTORY, EH GARY???!!!!!!
LIBERALS IN CONGRESS WILL DO ANYTHING TO MAKE US LOSE A WAR IF THEY THINK IT GAINS THEM POLITICALLY NO MATTER HOW MANY LIVES IT COSTS.
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PHANTOM AIR FARCE PICTURES
By JEREMY OLSHAN
AP
May 5, 2009
The $328,835 snapshots of an Air Force One backup plane buzzing lower Manhattan last week will not be shown to the public, the White House said yesterday.
“We have no plans to release them,” an aide to President Obama told The Post, refusing to comment further.
The sole purpose of the secret photo-op, which sent thousands of New Yorkers running for cover, was to take new publicity shots of the presidential jet over the city.
“The photos . . . are classified — that’s ridiculous,” Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., said.
New Yorkers said they could not understand how a president who shares intimate snapshots from the White House could justify classifying these.
“So we’re not gonna see the fruits of this cruel joke?” said Frank Antonelli, 39, one of the Wall Street traders spooked by last week’s flyover.
.
.
.
.
The CIA’s war against President Bush was motivated by ass covering, or by political partisanship. But with President Obama, it’s personal.
Many are furious about Obama’s disclosure of explicit details of the interrogation methods used on some al Qaida bigwigs, and his waffling on whether or not those who employed them will be subject to prosecution.
Others are incensed by his decision to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, and to let some of those incarcerated there loose in the United States.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held two hush hush meetings with CIA Director Leon Panetta and Democratic members of the Intelligence Committee last week.
“Her fear and frustration have apparently given way to panic after word reached her of the CIA’s reaction to the damage she, President Obama and other Democrats have done to the spy agency in the last three months, wrote Jed Babbin, a former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense, in Human Events May 1. “Pelosi learned that her actions and those of President Obama have so damaged CIA morale that the agency’s ability to function could be in danger.”
The upshot of the meetings was an unprecedented letter from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-Tex) to Mr. Panetta, making a quasi-apology. Rep. Reyes asked the CIA director to “disseminate it to the CIA workforce as soon as possible.”
But the CYA nature of the letter, and Mr. Reyes’ pledge of more oversight are unlikely to mollify many at Langley. Other Western intelligence services regard the Obama administration with contempt and rising concern as an officer of the DGSE, France’s military intelligence agency, informed the CIA last week.
“All of us in our little community are worried — us, our friends in Berlin, London, Tel Aviv,” the DGSE officer said. “It is not like the barbarians at the gates. It is every barbarian horde in the world being told there are no gates.”
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/05/05/the_cias_fight_with_obama_96333.html
What a shame that as a country we have become so corrupt to break international law and then turn a blind eye to justice. The iconic statues of blind justice have now been replaced with the three monkeys, hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.
I think we can say the constitution reflected an enormous blind spot in this culture that carries on til this day and the framers had this same blind spot. I don’t think the two views are contradictory to say that the constitution was a remarkable political document that paved the way for where we are now and to say also that it also reflected the fundamental flaw in this country that continues until this day.
Uh, the near BANKRUPT Washington Post? What did they do, copy an article of the BANKRUPT New York Times!
Obama must be in some trouble today so they need to run interference for the ONE from any one of these or others:
Al-Marri’s sweetheart deal
May 5, 2009 Posted by Scott at 7:08 AM
Al-Marri, the terrorist sent to the United States by al-Qaeda to carry out a second wave of mass-murder attacks, was permitted by the Justice Department to plead guilty to a single count of material support to terrorism, maximum sentence 15 years’ imprisonment with the possibility that al-Marri may simply be given credit for time served and released.
The Obama administration has already outright released, with no trial, Binyam Mohammed, an al-Qaeda operative who, like al-Marri, was assigned by KSM to carry out mass-murder attacks in the United States after 9/11. Now, al-Marri has been given a plea agreement that grossly undersells the grave seriousness of his war crimes.
If Holder’s objective was to demonstrate that George W. Bush was wrong to detain al-Marri as an enemy combatant and that the criminal-justice system “works,” this sweetheart deal suggests the opposite.
Jihadists were not impressed by our strategy of fighting them in the courtroom through the 1990s.
Wonder what they’re thinking now.
Just heard on the news that after 12 billion dollars in taxpayer money, another 25 billion that financial firms are being forced to write off and after all that the Union being given 55% ownership of Chrysler; the Union just announced they are going to SELL THEIR 55% and put the proceeds into a Union Trust Fund!
What a con JOB! What a rip off of the American Taxpayer! What a rip off of the creditors that funded Chrysler!
Unbelievable!
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave Obey said he was “very dubious” about the chances of success in the region and wants a “fish or cut bait” assessment in a year’s time that will determine how long the U.S. continues on this path. “It gives the president one year to demonstrate what he can do.” said the Wisconsin Democrat.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22083.html
NOTHING LIKE TELLING THE ENEMY IN AFGANISTAN THAT DEMOCRATS AREN’T EVEN BEHIND THIS PRESIDENT IN STRIVING FOR VICTORY, EH GARY???!!!!!!
LIBERALS IN CONGRESS WILL DO ANYTHING TO MAKE US LOSE A WAR IF THEY THINK IT GAINS THEM POLITICALLY NO MATTER HOW MANY LIVES IT COSTS.
PHANTOM AIR FARCE PICTURES
By JEREMY OLSHAN
AP
May 5, 2009
The $328,835 snapshots of an Air Force One backup plane buzzing lower Manhattan last week will not be shown to the public, the White House said yesterday.
“We have no plans to release them,” an aide to President Obama told The Post, refusing to comment further.
The sole purpose of the secret photo-op, which sent thousands of New Yorkers running for cover, was to take new publicity shots of the presidential jet over the city.
“The photos . . . are classified — that’s ridiculous,” Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., said.
New Yorkers said they could not understand how a president who shares intimate snapshots from the White House could justify classifying these.
“So we’re not gonna see the fruits of this cruel joke?” said Frank Antonelli, 39, one of the Wall Street traders spooked by last week’s flyover.
The CIA’s war against President Bush was motivated by ass covering, or by political partisanship. But with President Obama, it’s personal.
Many are furious about Obama’s disclosure of explicit details of the interrogation methods used on some al Qaida bigwigs, and his waffling on whether or not those who employed them will be subject to prosecution.
Others are incensed by his decision to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, and to let some of those incarcerated there loose in the United States.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held two hush hush meetings with CIA Director Leon Panetta and Democratic members of the Intelligence Committee last week.
“Her fear and frustration have apparently given way to panic after word reached her of the CIA’s reaction to the damage she, President Obama and other Democrats have done to the spy agency in the last three months, wrote Jed Babbin, a former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense, in Human Events May 1. “Pelosi learned that her actions and those of President Obama have so damaged CIA morale that the agency’s ability to function could be in danger.”
The upshot of the meetings was an unprecedented letter from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-Tex) to Mr. Panetta, making a quasi-apology. Rep. Reyes asked the CIA director to “disseminate it to the CIA workforce as soon as possible.”
But the CYA nature of the letter, and Mr. Reyes’ pledge of more oversight are unlikely to mollify many at Langley. Other Western intelligence services regard the Obama administration with contempt and rising concern as an officer of the DGSE, France’s military intelligence agency, informed the CIA last week.
“All of us in our little community are worried — us, our friends in Berlin, London, Tel Aviv,” the DGSE officer said. “It is not like the barbarians at the gates. It is every barbarian horde in the world being told there are no gates.”
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/05/05/the_cias_fight_with_obama_96333.html
OPR has been rather a longstanding joke.
This, from the article, is the part I was looking for…
——
” The Office of Professional Responsibility, which has been conducting the investigation, itself has been a focus of criticism from defense lawyers and judges, who say it moves slowly and operates with too much secrecy. Last month Attorney General Holder transferred its longtime leader, H. Marshall Jarrett, to another senior post and replaced him with federal prosecutor Mary Patrice Brown. The report on Yoo, Bybee and Bradbury is now in her court, department sources said.”
Prof., I apologize in advance, but I think anger is appropriate in this situation.
WASHINGTON!
This really is the kind of thing that leads to anarchy and mass disobedience.
This is no joke.
There is no hyperbole.
I have no cute point to make.
You morons in Washington are a hair’s breadth away from making the Federal government illegitimate in toto.
Is that clear enough for you idiots?
If you let the torturers go, our legal system from top to bottom is not only unconstitutional, but the very definition of tyranny that should be resisted and actively so by citizens who value our Constitution and laws more than you value your re-elections and ego worship. If the guilty are not made to pay, you will ALL be made to pay in one way or another – this means your lobbyist and corporate masters too.
You had your chance and your choice is apparently giving We the People the collective finger. Well, sports, that has a consequence too. It’s won’t happen fast, but it will certainly happen. History tells me so. Soon the time for talking will be over. Any blood that results will be on the hands of those of you in Washington providing cover for the criminals.
You are on the shores of the Rubicon. You can still do the right thing, but once you cross? You’ll have killed the America my grandfather’s generation fought for more dead than a terrorist ever could have because you’ll have become the very thing our real enemies desired – torturing lawless authoritarian thugs just like them. You might as well let the House of Saud move into the White House. You in Washington will officially and for all time in future history books be the enemy of We the People of the United States if you give these guys and Bush Co. a walk. “Why yes, Timmy XJ3127, violating the Constitution was blatantly stupid. It was indicative of the greed and shortsightedness of American politicians – often openly purchased by K Street graft merchants and openly acting against the interests of their constituents in favor of the corporations – that at the turn of the 21st Century that led to the fractionation of that country. This was followed by a rather disorganized civil war that ended with everyone in Washington and on K Street being strung up like Christmas hams, or like Mussolini from a lamp post if you’re Kosher, leading to the formation of the Republican Southern Empire which rapidly reintroduced slavery for both people of any color and women. They too had a short lifespan as a sovereign state as soon all the old rich white men in power were killed by angry mobs and lack of procreation. That’s what happens when the governing forget they only rule at the consent of the governed, Timmy. Next question?”
You get the picture yet, Washington hammerheads?
The laws I swore to defend? You know, the same oath you took? I still take that oath seriously, but you are the ones you are blatantly and rapidly destroying the Constitutional basis for government. An oath means more to a man than to you clowns obviously. You are, R & D both, taking a right long piss on the Constitution. And if “your law” doesn’t apply to all? It’s neither mine nor does it apply to me, sport, nor any other American citizen. No one is above the Constitution and anyone who claims they are is the enemy of the United States even if they are an office holder. Does “defend against enemies foreign and domestic” ring a bell? It should. Don’t talk to me anymore about law. Laws? “Your laws”? The ones that apply to everyone but you bunch of “elected” graft weasel scumbags? The Constitution you swore to uphold yet try to circumvent to your personal benefit every chance you get?
I don’t think so. Your right to pontificate about “law” is spiraling down the drain as fast as your credibility. It’s about time for the adults to stand up and administer a whipping.
I’m not a vassal. I’m not a lobbyist whore. I’m not a subject. I’m a free man. The laws this country were founded upon tell me so.
And worse for you, I’m an American in the mold of Jefferson. Don’t tread on me. Well you can try, but you won’t like what happens. Screw you and the horse you rode in on.
My loyalty is to the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. It cannot be bought by any PAC or Halliburton or Exxon or any other sleazy corporate shield acting as a hiding place for the sociopaths and criminals that are ruining not just this country but the world. You sold your souls, but keep your blood money off mine.
You reap what you sow, you greedy self-absorbed bastards. And right now, when you cross that river (are any of you smart enough to know the allusion to crossing the Rubicon?), you are going to be sowing the seeds of your eventual destruction – party affiliation will not save you, your lobbyist graft will not save you, “what does ‘know’ mean” will not save you, “I don’t recall” won’t save you. When the People have had enough, nothing will save you. But you never understood history, in particular French history, did you? Too wrapped up in your little dreams of glory and how special you are to be elected/purchased as a candidate. Marie thought that all the way until the blade fell and she was left with a couple of seconds of consciousness to ponder her headless body.
And this? Letting torturers and war criminals go free while we have the largest per capita prison population on the planet due to your other money making venture, the “War or Drugs”? Prisons full of non-violent offenders who should be in treatment instead of prison and torturers, sadistic killers, get a walk and sometimes a raise and a medal?
I don’t think so.
That’s injustice writ large. That’s a legal poke in the eye. That’s something that WILL NOT BE FORGIVEN. EVER.
Even before the open violence starts, and it will eventually – mark my words, enjoy the huge amounts of subversion and non-compliance coming your way from the populace once people know for a fact that the law is only for “the little people”. If nothing else, you’ll be guaranteeing that every future tax return filed is fraudulent. People will find they can do all kind of business without a license or paying taxes. Why pay the government “protection money” when they aren’t doing the job of protecting the Constitution, much less provide the universal health care every other Western democracy has? Why should we cooperate when billions go to bankers for FAILING TO DO THEIR JOB but you are set to put hundreds of thousands of people out in the streets because you won’t let the courts modify the fraudulent and criminally negligent loans the banks used to get into this situation in the first place?
Let the eat cake, eh?
The little people way out number your lot, but then again, math wasn’t your strong point. Too busy kissing ass and selling out to stay in office to have any common sense. To paraphrase “Fight Club”, “Look, the people you are [screwing over to save your own rotten careers while you violate the Constitution] are the people you depend on. We cook your meals, we haul your trash, we connect your calls, we drive your ambulances. We guard you while you sleep. Do not… fuck with us.”
That plain enough for you idiots to understand?
Did I mention even our allies will stop and have already started to stop cooperating with stated U.S. goals and they’ve done so specifically over the torture issue? It is a SHAME that a Spanish judge has the balls to do what none of you on the Hill does and call a crime a crime and be willing to prosecute it.
Sad when a foreign court has to be relied upon to uphold the letter of U.S. law via international law. So pucker up, Judiciary! It’s not only the Congress and Executive screwing up here.
Tortures go free equals you will pay the price for your weak, evil, craven and illegal behavior. Maybe not tonight. Maybe not tomorrow. But real soon you’ll come to We the People. You’ll want to be re-elected. And we’ll say “No.” You can only rig the elections so many times too, morons, so unless you want to hasten your downfall, go easy on that. People are watching after Bush. Then you’ll be begging for help for some corporate idiot who lost all his money and thinks there should be no consequence for his incompetence and we’ll say, “No.” We don’t care how much money he gave your campaign. You’ll beg us to give you of both parties another chance and we’ll say “No.” You’ll beg us and lie to us to start another war for your personal profit, most likely as a distraction to stay in power, and we’ll say “No.” You’ll tell us “we’re special, laws don’t apply to us, we’ll do as we like!” one too many damn times.
And then it’s going to be on.
We’ll treat you like baby seals.
Except seal hunters don’t use the guillotine when they’ve finally reached a breaking point. We the People might not be that kind either since you insist on backing us into a corner.
This is not a threat. This is a prediction. Ignore it at your peril. My name is not Cassandra and my batting average is way above the norm. Me personally? I prepared for whatever happens, but I’m going to tell you right now – “I told you so.”
Prove me wrong, Washington.
Do the right thing and prosecute. I’d like to be wrong about what I see coming. But I’m not. There is, however, still time to change the road you and We the People are collectively on.
The choice is yours. Return to being a Beacon for Justice or Fall Like Rome.
I fully expected that there would be some intense lobbying by supporters of the recently displaced. I hope someone has the sense to preserve copies of all of the draft versions of the report before the final edition is published. Following the evolution of the document might be very interesting.
A good assesment of the mentality that makes it all possible and worth the read.
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7117#more-7117
Now, not only do the Bush II crime bosses have a plant in the DOJ, Arlen Specter is saying Norm Coleman should win the court case and be seated in place of Al Franken. Arlen must be a plant too:
http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2009/04/specter-of-pop-cornyn-saving-america.html
Thank you Professor Turley for your work on Countdown and Maddow. You’re the only honest person I ever see on TV. Each time you stand up for the rule of law and the constitution.
Thank you for your hard work. Though the term has lost most of it’s meaning, I hope you’ll understand when I say, you’re a great American.
Sounds like what they have been doing for years, propaganda:
http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2009/04/tortured-record-of-bush-ii-torture.html
Also, I found this site yesterday. It has the testimony of the man being tortured in the picture on the right.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13379
“Torture at Abu Ghraib: “The Man Behind the Hood”
Full Transcript of Ali Shalal’s Testimony”
If you scroll down the page you will get to the actual testimony. It has graphic pictures and descriptions.
I heard additional information on this during the “blurb break” on NPR. The Spanish Court has demanded a report from the administration as to what action they intend to take. I believe they want the report by tomorrow. If the administration’s actions are minimal then Spain plans to proceed on the prosecutions.
It is absolutely outrageous that anyone being investigated should be contacting people involved in the investigation. It is even more outrageous that their phone calls are being returned. This just doesn’t look inappropriate, it is inappropriate. This is worse than Pete Domenici calling David Igelsias to see if he’d pushed along Pete’s special prosecution plans. This is like having the local mob boss and henchmen give a call to the police before they bring evidence to the prosecutor. There should be no contact.
As to a hearing on torture’s efficacy–propaganda works in changing the issue. That question is irrelevant. The proper question is, did we violate our laws? That hearing can be concluded in about 5 mins.
How many rotten apples spoil a barrel now?