Shocking news! Waterboarding not good for you!

Soon to be released, a declassified 2004 memo that indicates "the techniques used to interrogate terrorist suspects 'appeared to violate the U.N. Convention Against Torture' and did not produce desired results."

OMG! We SO didn't know!

However, previously known and reported:

" '…in the DoJ opinion, the subject's airflow is disrupted by the firm application of a damp cloth over the air passages; the interrogator applies a small amount of water to the cloth in a controlled manner. By contrast, the Agency interrogator... applied large volumes of water to a cloth that covered the detainee's mouth and nose."

"Medical personnel at the detention facility protested the use of the waterboard in that form, stressing that "there was no a priori reason to believe that applying the waterboard with the frequency and intensity with which it was used by the psychologist/interrogators was either efficacious or medically safe.' "

All the above quotes gleaned from the Huffington Post. Please read more at:

IG Report: Waterboarding Was Neither "Efficacious Or Medically Safe"

Americans, I ask you, are you going to snooze your way through this scandal?

How to Help End Torture - Impeach Bybee

Sign the petition. Impeach Bybee.

Sources:

1. "Pressure grows to impeach Bybee over 'torture memos,'" The Times of London, April 29, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51375&id=16033-9477049-Z23tvkx&t=5

2. "Podesta Calls For Bybee Impeachment On CNN, Delivers Your Petitions To Congress," Think Progress, April 26, 2009
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/26/podesta-impeach-bybee/

3. "The Torturers' Manifesto," The New York Times, April 18, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/opinion/19sun1.html?_r=1

Why a Torture Investigation Matters

“…one of the newly released torture memos reveals that Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times and Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times.”
Torture Was Used to Try to Link Saddam With 9/11

Those numbers were for one month, not the entirety of their confinement!!

You have to ask yourself, if waterboarding works, as claimed by Dick Cheney, then why the need for so many “treatments”?

New questions will now be asked.

Will Obama allow Cheney, Rice, and the rest of the “Torture Team” to be extradited to Spain, where a judge is currently investigating their actions under an international treaty signed by the U.S.?

Did you know the U.S. prosecuted Japanese who waterboarded their prisoners during WWII?

Did you know all the “enhanced interrogation” techniques used at Guantánamo were the techniques learned from the Chinese Communists during the Cold War?

You can hear the answers to these questions and more. You'll also get an idea how the torture story will likely be played out, and how it really is a scandal and a disgrace to our democracy. Listen to the link on Fresh Air, Spanish Court To Investigate Bush's 'Torture Team'

Don’t let the Torture Team slither away. Learn more and do all you can to bring them to justice.

We're America, We Don't Torture :-)

"I call on all governments to join with the United States and the community of law-abiding nations in prohibiting, investigating, and prosecuting all acts of torture…"

President Obama? No.

This was June 26, 2003. President George W. Bush.

Read more.

So there it is. We should all be in agreement. Let's get to work and prosecute "all acts of torture".

According to a Fox News report, we'll be violating international law if we don't.


Please watch more here. :-)

Don't let them escape amid the chaos!

"He expressed confidence that files will some day be publicly accessible offering specific evidence that waterboarding and other policies he promoted — over sharp internal dissent from colleagues and harsh public criticism — were directly responsible for averting new Sept. 11-style attacks." - Politico

Extend the Statute Of Limitations
on Bush and Cheney's
Wiretapping and War Crimes

Please help Americans recover their values.

Help Convict Dick and W

The Bush cabal's time may be coming to a close, but their crimes will live on in history. Do your part to help bring them to justice, and show the world we care about atonement and correcting this foul time in America.

Follow the instructions below. Your message will go straight to Obama's people:

1. Sign in at http://change.gov/openforquestions and remember you have to set up a login for yourself at that site to vote.
   
   
2. Click on "Additional Issues" under "Pick a Topic" on the left.
   
   
3. The special prosecutor question started by "Bob Fertik" should be the one leading the top of that section (and now leading all questions over all topics with 16,000 votes).
   
   
4. Look right for the checkbox, mouseover it so it goes from white to dark, then click to cast your vote.

Please cast your vote as soon as possible, as the voting may close at any time. They may not work straight through holiday weekends, but we DO.

What this means is that Obama will now have to ANSWER this question on his official site, just as if he had accepted this question at a real press conference. And we're going to keep the heat on in every other possible way, just stay tuned.

Brought to you by PEN

Watch Out for the Right, Even If Obama Wins!

Expect the swirling swamp gas of hate to continue and build after the election. You don’t think Sarah and Mac and their hate machine will take defeat gracefully, do you?

“Out in the stucco deserts of Limbaughland, moreover, fear is already being distilled into a good ol' boy version of the "stab in the back" myth that rallied the ruined German petite bourgeoisie to the swastika.

“…In other times, Sarah Palin's imitation of Father Charles Coughlin -- the priest who preached an American Reich in the 1930s -- in drag might be hilarious camp, but with the American way of life in sudden freefall, the specter of star-spangled fascism doesn't seem quite so far-fetched.”

Can Obama See the Grand Canyon?
On Presidential Blindness and Economic Catastrophe

While the bankers are double dipping despite the worldwide turmoil they created, the fear felt by we ordinary unfortunates can and will be stirred to the boiling point. It is an opportunity for chaos that won’t be wasted.

Privilege for the McCains - at your expense, of course.

The McCains are more about oligarchy than any horse manure they throw out to the contrary. You will serve them, they won’t serve you. A recent example is the exclusive cell tower placement brought to one of the McCain mansions in a remote area of Sedona, Arizona, at the request of Cindy. AT&T and Verizon went out of their way to oblige. They love the McCains.

Verizon and AT&T Provided Cell Towers for McCain Ranch

These are the ties between McCain and Verizon/AT&T as quoted from the story:

“Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and his campaign have close ties to Verizon and AT&T. Five campaign officials, including manager Rick Davis, have worked as lobbyists for Verizon. Former McCain staff member Robert Fisher is an in-house lobbyist for Verizon and is volunteering for the campaign. Fisher, Verizon chief executive Ivan G. Seidenberg and company lobbyists have raised more than $1.3 million for McCain's presidential effort, and Verizon employees are among the top 20 corporate donors over McCain's political career, giving his campaigns more than $155,000.

“McCain's Senate chief of staff Mark Buse, senior strategist Charles R. Black Jr. and several other campaign staff members have registered as AT&T lobbyists in the past. AT&T Executive Vice President Timothy McKone and AT&T lobbyists have raised more than $2.3 million for McCain. AT&T employees have donated more than $325,000 to the Republican's campaigns, putting the company in the No. 3 spot for career donations to McCain, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.”

Why waste your money by subscribing to AT&T or Verizon services. It’s like making a donation to the Republican Hate Machine. Why not choose a company like CREDO, who will put your money to work for worthy causes?

In a related story, “McCain seeks special 'fair use' copyright rules for VIPs ”. McCain doesn’t mind being nasty to others, but he can’t stand it when the tables are turned. He wants special permission to pull YouTube videos he doesn’t like. He’s the perfect spoiled brat.

You get a fair idea of what his presidency would be like, an empire even more insidious than the Bush debacle.

Related Tags:

Father, bail me out!

The lipstick now belongs on the pig’s ass.

A year ago Treasury Secretary Paulson testified before Congress that “the economy is ‘marvelous, absolutely marvelous’”. Paulson is the former Goldman Sachs CEO who, in 2005, “earned” a $38 million bonus. He was one of the highest paid executives in America for ten years. Now he wants $700 billion to pass out to his Wall Street friends to get them back on their feet.

Since Bush became President, the top 400 individuals in the U.S. “earned” $670 billion. Staggering. As many are saying, even some key Republicans, Treasury Secretary Paulson’s bailout plan is just socialism for the rich. Do you hear the cheering? That’s Wall Street. Real economists hate it. Paulson’s original proposal was totally ridiculous.
Listen to David Herszenhorn of The New York Times tear it apart.

This “bailout” attempt goes hand-in-hand with the massive dishonesty and monstrous incompetence of the Bush Administration. Imagine the nerve, for the administration to say a month ago the fundamentals of the economy were strong. The code-speak there? Our rich friends are doing well. Now the fox wants a golden key to the hen house.

The Bush cabal have absolutely no regard for the middle class. We don’t exist. It is survival of the fittest for us. In 2007 Wall Street’s top firms paid out $39 billion in performance bonsus. Take a breath and read that again. $39,000,000,000.00. Right now, the top 1% of Americans earn more than all the bottom 50% combined. Yet universal health care is socialism, helping poor people heat their homes this winter is socialism, helping them send their kids to college, socialism. Bail out that wealthiest 1%? Absolutely necessary, with no judicial or legislative review. A total blank check. “Trust us”. . . . on a pig’s ass we will.

And don’t expect real help from John McCain. Phil Gramm/John McCain hold the prize for being the most rabid, super deregulators in Congress. The government’s last big bank bailout involved McCain, his poor judgement and joyous connivance with the banks - the Keating Five scandal.
Listen to a short, interesting refresher course on the S&L bailout.

As James Joyce proposed, life is an intensely serious low comedy. How could he know the “free market” buffoons would play it so perfectly?

Time is short to reassure the world about our capability. It can be measured in days. The next act in this low comedy could be ugly.

U.S. Army on a mission from God - Palin

Is Palin another possible commander-in-chief who talks with God? (Does God issue secret commands to Exxon/Mobil, too? He never talked to me about oil.) Are we colonizing Islamic nations to be Christian-lite or die? Is her God an angry white man with a long beard who issues commands from "up there"? And just what are HIS commandments?

"Sarah, this is GOD speaking. Let me put this in a friendly way for now, babe, since you're not very humble and don't take criticism well. Let's work on that, but for now, we need to get you and your buddies that oil, the oil I misplaced in the sands of Iraq. Oh, what was I thinking! We need that gas pipeline for Alaska, too. Do that for me, honey. I'll give you a free pass to kill some more moose! OK? Atta girl."

Read more about some troubling beliefs of Sarah Palin.

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If you don't know about NewsTrust.net, go there and read their story picks. Here are some top picks today:

• McCain's Convenient Untruth
  Washington Post - By Sebastian Mallaby - Sep. 8 (Opinion)
  Higher tax rates mean a lower budget deficit. According to the Tax Policy Center, over the course of a decade Obama's plan would result in a national debt $1...
  (4.3)
  

  See Reviews | Review It
  
  
• Her deadly wolf program
  Salon - By Mark Benjamin - Sep. 8 (Special Report)
  Palin didn't think Alaskans should be allowed to chase wolves from aircraft and shoot them -- they should be encouraged to do so. Palin's administration put a bounty on wolves'...
  (4.2)
  

  See Reviews | Review It
  
  
• An e-mail to friends from Wasilla becomes Internet hit
  McClatchy - By S.J. Komarnitsky - Sep. 8 (News Report)
  In all the coverage of Palin, Kilkenny's e-mail offers something maybe unique: a critique from someone who has known Palin since 1992 and been observing her up close for many...
  (3.9)
  

  See Reviews | Review It
  
  
• The Perilous Price of Oil
  The New York Review of Books - By George Soros - Sep. 8 (Special Report)
  The public is asking for an answer to two questions. The principal question is whether the sharp oil price increase is a speculative bubble or simply reflects fundamental factors...
  (3.8)
  

  See Reviews | Review It
  
  
• Storm Troopers at the RNC
  Consortium News - By Ray McGovern - Sep. 8 (News Report)
  On the fringes there was some property damage and further arrests. What violence there was bore the earmarks of provocation by the likes of Sheriff Fletcher and his Homeland...
  (3.8)
  

  See Reviews | Review It

I'm White, I'm Right, I Love to Kill (Moose)

Bullwinkle, beware. A foxy girl with a high tech rifle feels entitled to kill you. She's a perfect choice for warrior McCain, who feels we should have gone into Iraq AND Iran long before we did. Making war is his métier. Same old story - it's your money but his toys. (He is apparently unaffected by all the "collateral damage" he caused in the city of Hanoi as an Air Force pilot.)


I was personally ashamed of all the gushing praise from the mainstream media, including NPR, of Sarah Palin. Any questions of the wisdom of her as a choice for the vice commander-in-chief are considered unfair attacks of the "elite, left coast media". Yet the vicious, nonsensical rebuttals from these smug, self-satisfied candidates continued to intimidate the media. You thought the Bush/Cheney arrogance and secrecy were intolerable. You might well be going to jail under McCain/Palin if you dare have an opinion outside official doctrine.

Take a listen:


What is it about the people with money and personality disorders? They think anything they say is sacrosanct, and how dare you have another opinion! That's the oligarchy speaking, the bullying of a dying military-industrial complex, the last gasping breath of the angry white men of America, the self-entitled looters of the U.S. treasury, the folks who privatize profits but socialize the costs. The Ugly Americans of the 1950's have returned, in spades.

Unfortunately, the future of our country is in the hands of the undecided voters, the voters who are disconnected from any real skills of independent evaluation, the folks whose values have been programmed by the commercial culture they feel lost without. Yet one more bad choice by the "undecided" will certainly send us into oblivion.