Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Politics, Society

New York Senator Calls For The Torture Of Boston Bombing Subject

200px-Gregball2UnknownNew York State Senator Greg Ball (R) took little time after the Boston bombing to call for the torture of 19-year-old Dzokhar Tsarnaev. Ball went to Twitter to call for the teenager to be tortured in the name of all of the values we hold dear as Americans.


Ball sent out a tweet stating “So, scum bag #2 in custody. Who wouldn’t use torture on this punk to save more lives?” It is the new normal in America. Ball feels entirely comfortable in speaking of torture in the most casual terms. It also shows how torture is always the answer since you cannot say for sure that there are not more bombs after an attack.

Later, Ball dismissed notions that torture (which is a federal crime and a violation of international law) is wrong: “If people find that offensive, they’re going to have to check their own conscience,” he reportedly said.

Later his office issued a statement:

170px-AbuGhraibScandalGraner55

“Terrorists play by a different set of rules by manipulating the greatest strengths of our open society against us. One of the questions to be asked is this: is “torture” ever justified in the war against terror, if it can save lives? I am not shy in joining those who say yes, and I believe we must give those tasked with protecting us every constitutional and effective tool to do so.”

“Every constitutional and effective tool” for Ball includes a tool long defined as a war crime. I have previously written about the corruption of American values on torture.

The willingness of politicians like Ball to embrace torture is a product not simply of the Bush Administration’s legitimation of torture but the Obama Administration’s refusal to prosecute anyone for torture. As I have written before (here and here), the Obama Administration has destroyed some of the core Nuremberg principles, particularly in its revisal of the “superior orders defense” to excuse U.S. officials. The failure to prosecute has allowed those who ordered the torture program to continue to speak out in favor of torture. It has destroyed any credibility of the United States in demanding prosecutions in other countries and given support for politicians like Ball to rally supporters behind a banner of torture.

Ball’s bio states that he “grew up on the family estate of Stephen and Jean Kennedy-Smith, sister of President John F. Kennedy, where his parents were both caretakers. He is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans, Homeland Security, and Military Affairs.” He is a graduate of United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) and is currently completing his Thesis for his Master’s of Arts in Liberal Studies with a concentration in International Affairs from Georgetown University.

Source: Raw Story

190 thoughts on “New York Senator Calls For The Torture Of Boston Bombing Subject”

  2. Well Dredd… Thanks… I knew that at one time….I was not a Reagan supporter at all…. But the more the US goes down its sink hole….. I’m seeing him as the last good presidents…..

  3. Anonymously Yours 1, April 22, 2013 at 1:21 pm

    So can we torture or should we be able to torture people who have violated the laws…..
    ==========================================
    His new nick name may become Humpy Ball:

    Ronald Reagan was in office as U.S. President from 1981 – 1989.

    In 1983 his DOJ prosecuted a republican Texas Sheriff for the crime of waterboarding:

    In 1983, Texas Sheriff James Parker was charged, along with three of his deputies, for handcuffing prisoners to chairs, placing towels over their faces, and pouring water on the cloth until they gave what the officers considered to be confessions. The sheriff and his deputies were all convicted and sentenced to four years in prison. [NPR Link]

    Humpy Parker was at the center of a law enforcement scandal in the 1970s and 80s that was finally interrupted in 1983 when an undercover FBI agent was arrested and subjected to water torture and other illegal tactics. Gary Parker was a patrol sergeant at the time the corruption scandal was uncovered. Parker’s deputies testified at trial that they would park on U.S. 59 and watch for “long-hairs” driving vehicles displaying a bumper sticker for Houston radio station K-101.

    “Humpy” Parker died in 1999 of cancer after he served a 10-year sentence in federal prison. The American Civil Liberties Union also won a judgment against San Jacinto County for three Kentucky residents and a Baytown man. The county was ordered to pay $40,000 per year until each person named in the class action lawsuit received $1,500. News reports at the time indicated thousands of people may have joined the class action lawsuit. The long-running corruption scheme was the subject of a book and movie, “Terror on I-59.” [East Texas News]

    (Amazon Askville). Dick “Chain Man” Cheney is openly advocating the use of waterboard torture in the United States, which is the same as telling people to commit felonies.

    He and his cronies, like Rush Limbaugh, are talking about how Ronald Reagan is their mentor, as they try to justify the federal crime of torture.

    Ronald Reagan would have been their jailer, not their mentor.

    (President Reagan Puts Cheney In Jail). Humpy Ball should be careful, because someone may step up to join him in a conspiracy to torture, which is a federal crime too.

  5. Pingback: The use of torture against terrorism suspects | The Atrocity complex

  6. Another “Lawmaker” suggesting to ignore the Constitution he swore to defend and protect.

  8. Joe Kennedy was 44th Ambassador to the United Kingdom, 1938-1940, who resigned after stating,”Democracy is finished in England. It may be here, [in the US].”

  9. “…call for the teenager to be tortured in the name of all of the values we hold dear as Americans….”

    At last check, America holds no value in torture. Obviously, conservatives don’t share the same values as America the nation or as WE, the majority of American people, but then we’ve known that for a quite a while.

  10. This guy should be made to sit and watch the Gerald Baron’s documentary, “Lost Airmen of Buchenwald”, until he understands it. Hermann Goering had more ethics than this graduate of the USAAF. That’s sad.

  11. So can we torture or should we be able to torture people who have violated the laws…..

  12. Onlooker from Troy…And what public office did Joe hold? do you have a clue what you are talking about?

    Are you presuming to denounce the Kennedy influence in American political and cultural history? On the world?

    1. Bruce

      You implied that some high ethics would be imparted upon him by associating with the Kennedy clan. Not so much.

  14. Source materials:
    http://www.senate.gov/reference/reference_index_subjects/Censure_vrd.htm

    Censure

    “Less severe than expulsion, a censure (sometimes referred to as condemnation or denouncement) does not remove a senator from office. It is a formal statement of disapproval, however, that can have a powerful psychological effect on a member and his/her relationships in the Senate.”

    Who Has Been Censured in the Senate?

    Read more about censure and expulsion and see a list of expelled and censured Senators.

  16. …..Is Ball Chechen by any chance? …(My apology to Chechnya…)

    He sounds like a “hands on” type of guy..I guess he didn’t pick up any ethical perspectives from his name dropping self-proclaimed Kennedy connection; …but he does remind me of “Cheney” in many ways. I think he should be censured.

    .

  17. I love it when they double down. Because much like the fictional Col. Aldo Raine, “We like our Nazis in uniform. That way we can spot ’em just like that.” That brown shirt looks good on you, Ball.

  18. I can see how growing up on a Kennedy estate would make you a Republican, but this is a despicable statement.

  19. Graduate of the USAFA, isn’t that one of the military academies that has a “Are your the right kind of Christan test” for their cadets.. I guess they were too busy reading the Bible when they should have been reading the CONSTITUTION!.

    Some times in my dark dreams I think may be people who love torture should have an opportunity to experience it; then I wake up and give myself a good talking to about the Constituion. But that’s just me.

  20. Graduate of the USAFA? Wonder what they taught him about the constitution and effectiveness of torture? Or maybe he should have a sitdown with McCain whom I believe said torture does not result in truth or works.

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