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In The MediaWATERBOARDING - Aint nothing like the real thing///
A grim-looking man in army fatigues places my hands behind my back and leads me to a decline weight bench covered with a camouflage blanket. Another man dressed in fatigues shoves a rag in my mouth. A dishtowel is placed over my head. My heart is beating wildly and I'm short of breath.
The first few cold drops of water hit my upper lip. Then it's like my face is under a faucet. For what seems like several seconds, water covers my face and fills my nasal cavity. Then I feel a particularly cold blast shoot up my nose and into my throat. Panic sets in.
I am being waterboardedIn the matter of the wiretapping bill , at least as of today, the battle is still going on for the right of the people of America and the world to have a US government ruled by virtue and democratic law, rather than corruption and tyrannical rule. As it has been years since the revelation of the wiretapping of the US administration, that went on for years without congress and legal approval and oversight. Some things were revealed along with that program that I think should be repeated when we now see further proof of the US political elite’s agenda to increase it’s power over the US population and isolate itself from all law and regulation. Democracy Now Headlines for December 23, 2005 Daschle: Bush Administration Was Denied Spy Authority
In Washington, former Senate Minority leader Tom Daschle has disclosed previously unknown details that challenge the Bush administration’s claim it has legal authority to eavesdrop on Americans and foreign nationals in the US. The White House says the authority was implicitly granted in the joint Congressional resolution authorizing the use of force passed shortly after 9/11. But in today’s Washington Post, Daschle claims the Bush administration requested, but was denied, the authority it now claims it was granted.
- Former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle: “Literally minutes before the Senate cast its vote, the administration sought to add the words ‘in the United States and’ after ‘appropriate force’ in the agreed-upon text. This last-minute change would have given the president broad authority to exercise expansive powers not just overseas—where we all understood he wanted authority to act—but right here in the United States, potentially against American citizens. I could see no justification for Congress to accede to this extraordinary request for additional authority. I refused.”
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Instead of speaking of conspiracy as if it was something extraordinary and mystical, why not take a look at one example of just how common place and simple a procedure the coming together for mutual benefit – i.e conspiracy – really is.
Let’s drop the whole term conspiracy – since it might make people less likely to listen – and just call it networking.
In this case the purpose of the networking is to prevent political decisions and concerns for national security, from obstructing financial interests.
Strategy To Protect Wealth Funds
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Mukasey's Paradox
Jonathan Turley, professor of law at George Washington, writing today in The Los Angeles Times: The recent decisions of Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey to block any prosecution of Bush administration officials for contempt and to block any criminal investigation...
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I guess that, now that Iraq is “going so well”, this might not be as prominently published as it should be
A high profile trial for two former high-ranking Shiite government officials accused of kidnapping and killing "scores of Sunnis" has ended abruptly, despite intense preparation for the trial and extensive evidence, because prosecutors dropped the case. A U.S. legal adviser believes that this stunning collapse "shows that the judicial system in Iraq is horribly broken" and "sends a terrible signal: If you are Shia, then no worries; you can do whatever you want and nothing is going to happen to you."
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Congressional and Judicial oversight and regulation over the executive branch is blocked, decreased and given away.
The White House now wants federal whistleblowers not to go to anyone outside the executive branch with reports about wrongdoings and flaws – even when those risk the security of the nation.
Two notices about both:
When Edgar Domenech, the 23-year veteran of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (he was second-in-command for four years), told the Justice Department about mismanagement at ATF, Justice first ignored him but then demoted him, denied him a bonus, and attempted to give him a poor job review. Domenech, who yesterday filed a complaint with the Office of Special Counsel, realizes that "In retrospect, I was naive to believe that the department would welcome my honesty." (Washington Post)
The White House issued an executive order on Friday that takes some of the powers given to the Intelligence Oversight Board and shifts them to the Director of National Intelligence. The administration says the change is designed to strengthen the office of the National Intelligence Director, while critics argue that it will weaken oversight and "dilute the independent board's investigatory powers in favor of a member of the president's administration." (AP)
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Looks like the Iraqi government is taken after the behavior of its’ US master…
In April 2007 the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki’s office issued a directive that "effectively immunize[d] the Iraqi president, the Council of Ministers, and any current or former ministers from being prosecuted for corruption without the Prime Minister’s consent." Representative Henry Waxman has requested that Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice provide the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform with all documents relating to Maliki's order. (Committee on Oversight and Government Reform)
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The original bill – H.R 1955 – was horrifying in the way it opened up for any administration to exploit the vague language to go after social and political dissent, rather than specific ways of expressing and acting upon it.
And just in case you did not read it then, I republish here an article from late January about how some of the worst parts of a bad bill are being implemented even as the senate version is awaiting approval.
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Before deciding where you stand on the issue of Iran’s potential of becoming a nuclear threat, and what to do about that, why not listen to a man I wish we had listened to before invading Iraq.
He was one of the weapon inspectors from US who insisted that the US claims of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq were incorrect.
He was right then….
Patience Is the Best Iran Policy
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Erased, barred, denied?
Nobody wants to hire you, you can’t get a loan or credit, and your wife acts like she doesn’t know you?
You just might have been
LISTED!
A Wave of the Watch List, and Speech Disappears
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Birds of a Feather
Legal Torture, Religious Fundamentalisms, Victim Narrative, Fear of “the Other” is used for political purposes and the Military is a subject of cult
Let’s hope the similarities between US and Israel stop there…
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HEY! They’re sneaking away with our money and lives AGAIN!
The US administration is again going for making a deal that would lock the US into endless expenditure of money and lives on military ventures for the sake of exploiting other people’s lands
U.S. working on two agreements on future Iraq ties
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Boycotting Chavez?
Let’s not get stuck on stupid!!
Should Americans boycott Saudi Arabian oil?
Don't panic... Your war questions answered
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| WASHINGTON (AP) FBI Director Robert Mueller says an internal Justice Department report has found more improper use of national security letters by FBI agents seeking personal data on Americans during terror and spy investigations. |
