michelle
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I have broken any attachments I had to the Ascended Masters and their teachings; drains your chi!
Posts: 2,100
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Post by michelle on Jul 22, 2007 9:12:26 GMT 4
After you read the following, you must see today's postings at: Re: MARTIAL LAW? « Reply #15 on Today [07/22/07] at 8:55am » [glow=red,2,300]We're at a showdown with the Bush Adminstration, Folks![/glow] airdance.proboards50.com/index.cgi?board=america&action=display&thread=1128575253&page=2Impeach Now Or Face the End of Constitutional DemocracyBy PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS July 16, 2007 Unless Congress immediately impeaches Bush and Cheney, a year from now the US could be a dictatorial police state at war with Iran.Bush has put in place all the necessary measures for dictatorship in the form of "executive orders" that are triggered whenever Bush declares a national emergency. Recent statements by Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff, former Republican senator Rick Santorum and others suggest that Americans might expect a series of staged, or false flag, "terrorist" events in the near future. Many attentive people believe that the reason the Bush administration will not bow to expert advice and public opinion and begin withdrawing US troops from Iraq is that the administration intends to rescue its unpopular position with false flag operations that can be used to expand the war to Iran. Too much is going wrong for the Bush administration: the failure of its Middle East wars, Republican senators jumping ship, Turkish troops massed on northern Iraq's border poised for an invasion to deal with Kurds, and a majority of Americans favoring the impeachment of Cheney and a near-majority favoring Bush's impeachment. The Bush administration desperately needs dramatic events to scare the American people and the Congress back in line with the militarist-police state that Bush and Cheney have fostered. William Norman Grigg recently wrote that the GOP is "praying for a terrorist strike" to save the party from electoral wipeout in 2008. Chertoff, Cheney, the neocon nazis, and Mossad would have no qualms about saving the bacon for the Republicans, who have enabled Bush to start two unjustified wars, with Iran waiting in the wings to be attacked in a third war. The Bush administration has tried unsuccessfully to resurrect the terrorist fear factor by infiltrating some blowhard groups and encouraging them to talk about staging "terrorist" events. The talk, encouraged by federal agents, resulted in "terrorist" arrests hyped by the media, but even the captive media was unable to scare people with such transparent sting operations. If the Bush administration wants to continue its wars in the Middle East and to entrench the "unitary executive" at home, it will have to conduct some false flag operations that will both frighten and anger the American people and make them accept Bush's declaration of "national emergency" and the return of the draft. Alternatively, the administration could simply allow any real terrorist plot to proceed without hindrance. A series of staged or permitted attacks would be spun by the captive media as a vindication of the neoconservatives' Islamophobic policy, the intention of which is to destroy all Middle Eastern governments that are not American puppet states. Success would give the US control over oil, but the main purpose is to eliminate any resistance to Israel's complete absorption of Palestine into Greater Israel. Think about it. If another 9/11-type "security failure" were not in the works, why would Homeland Security czar Chertoff go to the trouble of convincing the Chicago Tribune that Americans have become complacent about terrorist threats and that he has "a gut feeling" that America will soon be hit hard? Why would Republican warmonger Rick Santorum say on the Hugh Hewitt radio show that "between now and November, a lot of things are going to happen, and I believe that by this time next year, the American public's (sic) going to have a very different view of this war." Throughout its existence the US government has staged incidents that the government then used in behalf of purposes that it could not otherwise have pursued. According to a number of writers, false flag operations have been routinely used by the Israeli state. During the Czarist era in Russia, the secret police would set off bombs in order to arrest those the secret police regarded as troublesome. Hitler was a dramatic orchestrator of false flag operations. False flag operations are a commonplace tool of governments. Ask yourself: Would a government that has lied us into two wars and is working to lie us into an attack on Iran shrink from staging "terrorist" attacks in order to remove opposition to its agenda? Only a diehard minority believes in the honesty and integrity of the Bush-Cheney administration and in the truthfulness of the corporate media. Hitler, who never achieved majority support in a German election, used the Reichstag fire to fan hysteria and push through the Enabling Act, which made him dictator. Determined tyrants never require majority support in order to overthrow constitutional orders. The American constitutional system is near to being overthrown. Are coming "terrorist" events of which Chertoff warns and Santorum promises the means for overthrowing our constitutional democracy?--- Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions. He can be reached at: PaulCraigRoberts@yahoo.comSource:www.counterpunch.org/roberts07162007.html------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Related article:Bill Moyers: On Impeachmentwww.truthout.org/docs_2006/071407B.shtmlBill Moyers Journal says, "Impeachment ... the word feared and loathed by every sitting president is back. It's in the air and on your computer screen, a growing clamor aimed at both President Bush and Vice-President Cheney. This week's news only agitated the clamor." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Orange Revolution Begins in Six Days. Will You Be A Part of It?On July 23, 2002, the head of British intelligence reported that Bush and Cheney were intent on invading Iraq and planned to "fix the intelligence and facts around the policy"--i.e. lie to do so. Five years later a million people have died as a direct result of these lies and there's no end in sight. Meanwhile, torture has been institutionalized, habeaus corpus eviscerated, and illegal spying made routine. New Orleans lies devastated--along with our Constitution and the rule of law. And Bush and Cheney are making a mockery of the Democrats' feeble gestures towads accountability. Enough is enough and this July 23rd a new phase in the movement for peace and justice will be launched. We call it the Orange Revolution because starting that day will wearing orange will signify that you want Congress to START IMPEACHMENT and STOP THE WAR. The majority of Americans want to see Bush and Cheney impeached and want an immediate end to this war. But they are rendered largely invisible by a complicit corporate media. Wearing or displaying orange will be our signal to one another--and to the world--about where we stand. Anything orange will do: a t-shirt, a wristband, a ribbon--get creative and post your images and ideas on ImpeachSpace.com. Here are a couple of items to get you started: Orange "Drive out the Bush Regime" bandanas Available at www.worldcantwait.net/Orange "Impeach Bush and Cheney" t-shirts Available at www.beachblogger.net/barbara/The Orange Revolution will be launched with acts of civil disobedience in Washington and elsewhere to show Congress that we are serious.In D.C., Cindy Sheehan, Ray McGovern, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Col. Ann Wright, Debra Sweet, Dave Lindorff, David Swanson, Jodie Evans, Medea Benjamin, Kevin Zeese, Tina Richards, and others will march from Arlington National Cemetary to the office of Congressman John Conyers. They will sit in Conyers' office reciting the U.S. Constitution until they are either arrested or he agrees to start impeachment. All are welcome to join them. See www.afterdowningstreet.org/sit for time and location. Similar actions will take place at the offices of Rep. Howard Berman in California, Rep. Pete Visclosky in Indiana, and Rep. Conyers' district offices in Detroit. If you are willing to risk going to jail for justice you are encouraged to go to Washington or to stage a sit-in at your own Representative's district office. See www.democrats.com/sit for more information and tools to help you organize this. If you cannot participate in civil disobedience, please wear orange in solidarity with those that are and please call Congressman Conyers that day and ask him to move on impeachment: (202) 225-5126. The march in D.C. is also part of Cindy Sheehan's Journey for Humanity from Crawford, Texas to New York City. Participants in this Journey for Humanity share the goals of ending the occupation of Iraq, impeaching Cheney and Bush, restoring New Orleans, and funding human needs at home and in Iraq and Afghanistan. The march will include stops at the district offices of House Judiciary Committee Members Mel Watt, Howard Coble, and Bobby Scott along the way, before arriving in Washington, D.C., on July 23rd. For more information and to get involved visit www.thecampcaseypeaceinstitute.orgEssential Viewing: Bill Moyers on ImpeachmentOn Friday, PBS aired a one-hour special on impeachment featuring Bruce Fein, Deputy Attorney General under Ronald Reagan and well-known Republican, and John Nichols, author of "The Genius of Impeachment" and well-known Democrat, both arguing for impeachment. If there's one video to share with your friends and family who are still skeptical about impeachment, this is it. Fein and Nichols argue with passion and eloquence that the necessity of impeaching both Bush and Cheney is not about politics, but about salvaging our Constitutional form of government. Watch the video at www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07132007/profile.htmland pass it along! How to Get Impeachment into the Next Democratic Presidential DebateAlso on July 23rd, the Democratic presidential candidates will take part in an evening debate run by CNN, Google, and Youtube. You can submit your own questions on video to the candidates through Youtube--and everybody can vote for which questions they most want to see asked. Right now a question about impeachment is the second most popular video out of more than a thousand submitted. Please go to www.communitycounts.us/cgi/demdebate and help vote that video up to number one. And please use the search feature on the site to look for other videos on impeachment and vote those up too! And let's flood the site with more questions about impeachment! All you need is to video yourself for thirty seconds and put it up on YouTube. No fancy equipment necessary--a webcam or video shot on your camera is just fine. Be sure to include the word "impeachment" in your video's title so everybody can find it. Much more on this through www.worldcantwait.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4174&Itemid=223
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michelle
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I have broken any attachments I had to the Ascended Masters and their teachings; drains your chi!
Posts: 2,100
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Post by michelle on Jul 22, 2007 9:56:00 GMT 4
More fuel for you to start the[glow=red,2,300]Orange Revolution [/glow] From: Steve Bhaerman info@wakeuplaughing.com"> A Call For Political Climate Change: Time to Fire the Nitty-Gritty GridJuly 20, 2007 by Steve Bhaerman Well, we fired up the grid last Tuesday, or maybe the grid fired us up. [Note: See recent posts at the Wake Up World thread] Now that we proved that invisibly or visibly (as with the Live Earth events of two weekends ago), the loving heart of humanity can be activated, it's time to move our feet. It's time for the upwising of awareness and upwelling of love to burst into action. It's time to address the political climate crisis. The Political Climate Crisis is Real!Earlier this year, I wrote a piece called "The Self-Impeaching President." My point was that because the Bush-Cheney Administration had so violated the letter and spirit of not just our Constitution, but international and commonly-held moral law, they would necessarily stonewall any attempt to investigate. Consequently, they would end up making the case for impeachment by their own actions. Eventually, it would come down to George Bush's challenge of several years ago: "You're either with me or against me." And now it has. It's George Bush (and his cheney of command) against the Constitution, against the Bill of Rights, against the Declaration of Independence, against the American people, not to mention the people of the world. The inconvenient confrontation that most peace-loving people generally try to avoid is finally at hand: Standing up to the bully. Here's why it's happening now, and here is how it is happening. The Bush Administration has already played the fear card and nobody is listening anymore to the little boy who cried wolfowitz. Bush and Company only have two cards left -- force, and the fear of force. This is a hand they cannot afford to lose, because when the cards fall it will bring down not just this Administration but the entire philosophy that supports absolutely corrupt power taken in the name of "national security" -- the protection racket disguised as "protection." So if you're wondering why this absurdist rationalization called "executive privilege," that's why. He's an executive who wants to hold on to his privilege. Meanwhile, here is another inconvenient truth that is making itself manifest, and if we don't face it we're in even bigger trouble: The mechanisms for fascism are already in place. Can We Use the F-Word?OK, you eye-rollers -- put your eyes back front and center so you can see what I mean. The very simple definition of fascism is this: Fascism is interlocking political, military, industrial force run more like a criminal gang than a government. Does that sound familiar? Because the government is involved, it conveniently has the force of "law" behind it. Consider that everything that Hitler did after he took office was "legal." Similarly, George Bush is proceeding under the cover of law to enact executive order after executive order as arbitrary, irrational and unjust as any policy a dictator might dictate. And, as we are finding out, his legal shills in judicial positions of power are acting solely on his behalf. So, yes ... he has the cover of law. Just as the original coup, the "election" of 2000, was absurdified by five partisan Supreme Court jesters who wouldn't allow a recount to take place in Florida. The 97-pound weakling of a body politic allowed the bully to kick sand in its face in 2000, and that just invited further abuse. Now the abuse is becoming more intense, more over the line -- and we find that the dictator-in-chief has conveniently covered his bases with judges. So what do we do? First of all, we face this inconvenient truth and at the same time, keep our eye on the prize. Because the "prize" -- a world where we use our resources to heal instead of hurt, where the GNP can be truly measured in "goods" and not "bads," where we live by the Golden Rule not the rule of gold -- is where we are going. What we have now is the challenge that will make us strong enough to stop doing what we've been doing and try something new for a change. We're Becoming Stronger -- Whether We Like It Or NotSeveral years ago, I spent a year in a ch'i kung practice that involved strengthening the ch'i by banging ourselves in the solar plexus first with our fist, then with a wooden block, finally with a brick. Next came the two person practice where we would hit each other full force in solar plexus to "light up the ch'i." While this might sound like a rationalization for sadomasochism, we came to realize that each blow made the ch'i stronger. In fact, we no longer even felt the punch. All we could feel was our shield "rising" to absorb the blow. George Bush is bringing up the ch'i of the body politic, and it's up to us to recognize and use that power. Each blow to the spirit of the law, to our Founding Fathers, to decency is strengthening us for our true evolutionary destiny -- to overgrow the false dichotomies of left and right and stand for what the vast, vast majority hold in common. In other words, we must turn the demoralized majority into a New Moral Majority that holds honesty, justice, integrity and transparency above ideology or short term financial self-interest. We Are the New Moral MajorityHere's more good news, something I call The Law of 75. You may have read it here before, but it is worth mentioning again. It's based on something that happened to spiritual psychologist Patricia Sun a number of years ago. She was set to speak at a "new age" bookstore, and noticed there were four fundamentalist Christian pickets outside. "I'm going to talk with them," Patricia said. The store owner was skeptical. "You can't reason with those people," she said, but Patricia did it anyway. A short while later, three of the four picketers had put down their signs and were hugging Patricia: "You're saying just what Jesus said!" they told her. The fourth picket refused to be swayed and continued protesting. So why is this important? I devised the totally made-up Law of 75 to describe this phenomenon where three out of four people are susceptible to loving communication that calls forth what we hold in common -- the desire to live in peace and happiness, and the willingness to grant others who play by those rules the same freedom / responsibility. 75% of us -- or more -- want the same things, and those same things are far, far more important than the differences that are used to keep us divided and conquered. I'm willing to bet that 75% of Americans don't want to live in a corrupt fascist system where George Bush's word is law, and where our greatest fear is our own government. I could be wrong. Maybe it's 95% and not 75%. And what does this mean? It means that Democrats AND Republicans, Greens, Libertarians, Independents -- most Americans -- given a choice (and hey, I say we give it to them) will just say NO to fascism. That 75% of Americans by the way includes rich people and poor people, rural conservatives, urban progressives and even -- and maybe especially -- members of the military, who are experiencing some of the system's abuse firsthand. On the eve of last November's election -- where, by the way, the body politic finally showed some muscle -- the four military publications representing each branch of service called for the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld. Now sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, but I read it differently. I read it as a signal from the military that if George Bush tried any funny stuff, he couldn't count on their support. My strong sense is that those people in all echelons of power who have not been "ethically-cleansed" will stand up for justice -- if we will. And -- to quote the football coach George Allen, "the future is now." Right now, the Bush Administration has the momentum as it illegally uses the law to hide from scrutiny, and sends out kingly decrees equating protest with treason. Bush can't help it, folks. He has to do it to survive. Time to Bring Left and Right Front and CenterAt the same time we realize he will not and cannot back down, we must remember that 75% of us (a conservative estimate, again, of those who don't want fascism) -- nearly 200 million people -- are standing on the other side. Now all we have to do is understand our numbers and our bottom line -- fascism in any form must be taken off the table now. To paraphrase the old saying, those who fail to learn from history flunk it and have to take it over. What was it that allowed Hitler to come to power, to use questionable legal leverage in an illegal way until the disease had so metastasized that it could no longer be cured by the German body politic's immune system? It was the failure of the parties on the left, the parties on the right and the parties in the middle to unite to face the common danger. There's a scene in the documentary, Bringing Down a Dictator -- the story of the fall of Slobodon Milosovic -- where all the leaders of the opposing parties realize they must form a coalition if the dictator is to be stopped. As you look at the expressions on the faces of these leaders, you see how distasteful a task this is for them. And yet they do it. They unite around one alternative candidate, and they are ultimately successful. The pivotal moment, by the way, is when the soldiers realize they will be firing on their brothers and sisters and ultimately put down their guns, and the palace falls. [*see link below]So, again, what do we do? As part of the "up-wising" there is a growing field of awareness among Americans of all stars and stripes that "we're not in Kansas, anymore Toto." There is a groundswell swelling on the ground, but no significant leadership has yet emerged at the top. We can only guess that there is an epidemic of cowardice and denial, and most importantly a "misunderestimation" of the American people, and our own legacy and destiny. We don't need a revolution in this country. We already had one. But we are at an evolutionary tipping point, and we the people can't wait for some big scorer to come lumbering down the court. We have to tip it in ourselves. In other words, we have to face the truth with courage, and we must communicate with others to strengthen the field of truth and weaken the field of lies. The time is now ripe for a national organization that stands up and uses the F-Word to Just Say NO To Fascism. Maybe it can be called the New Moral Majority or Patriots Against the Patriot Act (PAPA) or the Jefferson's Witnesses or the American Citizens Union. As an individual I'm not in a position to make this organization happen. But each of us as individuals can put the idea out and call on those who we know are leaders to speak directly to this issue, and some already are. It's very important IN FACT ESSENTIAL that this be a bipartisan or transpartisan group. In addition to calling on people like Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and elders like Bill Moyers, Elizabeth Holtzman and Jimmy Carter, we must include those on the right who have called for impeachment or who are concerned about America's loss of liberties, including Bruce Fein, John Dean, Paul Craig Roberts and Rep. Ron Paul (R, Texas).In addition, now is the time for prominent folks to use their bully pulpit to help oust the bully-in-chief from his -- whether it's a spot on Leno or Letterman, or like Michael Moore it's on CNN. In fact, watch this and be inspired as we finally have someone break through the media soundless barrier and speak to the betrayal of the American people by the media. Take heart too that Richard Mellon Scaife, one of the most vicious attackers of Bill Clinton and loyal supporters of Bush has now has begun to question the President's mental stability. It's Up to Us to Put the Decider Through the Decider MillNo matter who we are, no matter how much or little influence we think we have, we all (75% to 95% of us, anyway) share the same mission: To awaken all 200 million adult Americans to draw the line and tell the "Decider" that we the people are the Deciders, thank you. And we have decided he will do no more deciding on our behalf. Impeachment notwithstanding, we need a long, long, long piece of paper with 50 million or more adult American signatures calling on the President and Vice President to step down. We can call it Total Recall, but I like the idea of a physical scroll of signatures. As Benjamin Franklin ("we must all hang together or else we will surely hang separately") understood, the more of us who sign it, the safer we all will be. As with that other King George some ten score and eleven years ago, this bloodless evolution, this firing of a few Big Shots will be seen and heard around the world. One morning, possibly very soon, we will wake up and realize the tides have shifted. The headlines will reveal it, and we will see it in the faces of our fellow Americans -- people no longer afraid of their own government, people ready to face the real challenges ahead of us as a people and a world without the vicious diversions of problems generated to keep us apart. If we don't do it, no one will. And if we do, not just America but the world will change course for the better. May God bless America, and may Good bless us all. Contact Information: email: info@wakeuplaughing.com web: www.wakeuplaughing.com--- *Related resources and article A Force More PowerfulA Force More Powerful, a three-hour documentary series, explores one of the 20th century's most important but least-understood stories - how nonviolent power overcame oppression and authoritarian rule all over the world. Narrated by Ben Kingsley, it premiered on PBS in September 2000.Bringing Down A Dictator, a one-hour documentary, is the inside story of how Milosevic was brought down - not by smoke and flames, but by a courageous and risky campaign of political defiance and massive civil disobedience. Narrated by Martin Sheen, it premiered on PBS in March 2002. The feature-length documentary, Orange Revolution, captures the songs and spirit of a unique moment in Ukrainian history, when the 2004 stolen election brought citizens together on the streets for 17 days to defend their vote and the future of their country. Confronting the Truth, a 75-minute documentary, examines how countries which have experienced massive human rights violations have created truth commissions to air and acknowledge the abuses so that victims can regain their dignity and society can be rebuilt. *Go to:www.aforcemorepowerful.org/films/index.php
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michelle
Administrator
I have broken any attachments I had to the Ascended Masters and their teachings; drains your chi!
Posts: 2,100
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Post by michelle on Jul 23, 2007 14:41:59 GMT 4
[glow=red,2,300]DON'T TREAD ON ME:[/glow] [envision the original revolutionary flag with a rattlesnake on it.] We Don't Need Any More Stinkin Investigations!!!!! There's no course left but Impeachment! Come on, people, only 3 more Reps needed to start proceedingsCall Congress Today for Impeachment We've reached the impeachment moment for Vice President Dick Cheney. We've pushed the cosponsor list for H. Res. 333 up to 14. Chairman John Conyers says that if we get 3 more he'll begin the impeachment proceedings. And many Congress Members must be recognizing that there is no other path available. Cheney and Bush have repeatedly refused to comply with subpoenas, ordered former staffers not to comply, and announced that the Justice Department will not enforce contempt citations from Congress. When a special prosecutor attempted to hold this administration accountable, Cheney's chief of staff obstructed justice, and Cheney persuaded Bush to commute his sentence. There is no course left for Congress but Impeachment. On Monday, July 23rd, the fifth anniversary of the meeting that produced the Downing Street Minutes, Cindy Sheehan, Ray McGovern, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Ann Wright, Debra Sweet, Dave Lindorff, David Swanson, Jodie Evans, Medea Benjamin, Kevin Zeese, and Tina Richards will lead a march to Chairman Conyers office and not leave until he agrees to begin impeachment proceedings. If you cannot be there, you can take two minutes on Monday and do two things: phone Chairman Conyers at 202-225-5126 and ask him to start the impeachment of Dick Cheney; and phone your own Congress Member at 202-224-3121 and ask them to immediately call Conyers' office to express their support for impeachment. Your Congress Member might be one of the three needed, not just to keep impeachment activists out of jail but to keep this nation from devolving into dictatorship. Also email your Representatives: www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/73
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michelle
Administrator
I have broken any attachments I had to the Ascended Masters and their teachings; drains your chi!
Posts: 2,100
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Post by michelle on Jul 25, 2007 14:02:19 GMT 4
Impeach Vice President Cheney Impeach Alberto Gonzales Conyers Wimps OutOn Monday, Rep. John Conyers brushed off the heroic impeachment efforts of Cindy Sheehan, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Ray McGovern, Medea Benjamin, David Swanson, 300 dedicated impeachment marchers, 1 million petition signers, resolutions from dozens of cities and towns, and activists who called his office every 30 seconds. His reasons? First, he doesn't have the support of a majority of the House (218 votes) to impeach Bush or Cheney. Second, FOX News would attack him. These are simply not acceptable reasons to allow George Bush and Dick Cheney to commit war crimes and shred the Constitution - and we're not going to accept them. Instead, we're going to fight harder than ever for impeachment. Conyers doesn't have 218 votes today, but we can change that. Tell your Representatives to join the 14 sponsors of H.Res. 333, Articles of Impeachment for Vice President Cheney:www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/88 Also call them at 202-224-3121 and demand co-sponsorship of H.Res. 333 now.Conyers would be attacked by FOX News, but we can change that too. Let's boycott FOX News advertisers:www.democrats.com/boycott-fox-news-advertisersWe must also give Conyers a backbone transplant. Let's flood Conyers and other House Judiciary Democrats with more emails than ever:www.democrats.com/topelosiandjudiciary_____________________ Gonzo Flames OutEven as Conyers wimped out, fate smiled upon us in the smirking face of of Alberto Gonzales, who is just so bad that even Republican Senators can barely stop themselves from screaming at him. Gonzales testified again today before the Senate Judiciary Committee to explain why he lied to them in his previous appearances. So what did Gonzales do? He lied and lied some more. Everyone who cares about Justice is outraged. The Senate is finally considering perjury charges. But if the Senate filed charges, guess who'd have to prosecute? Alberto Gonzales' own utterly corrupt Justice Department! Impeachment is the only cure and it's time for Congress to exercise it. Once they do, they will discover the American people support their efforts to hold Bush & Co. accountable. And an impeachment investigation into Abu Gonzo will lead directly to Cheney and Bush. He must know about some nasty skeletons - why else are they protecting him in the face of Republican outrage? Tell your Representatives to Impeach Alberto Gonzales Now:www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/94
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michelle
Administrator
I have broken any attachments I had to the Ascended Masters and their teachings; drains your chi!
Posts: 2,100
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Post by michelle on Jul 27, 2007 17:18:32 GMT 4
Put Your Name in the Congressional Record in Support of ImpeachmentRep. Dennis Kucinich wants to put the name of everyone who supports Dick Cheney's impeachment in the Congressional Record! [see info below] The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session and is fully searchable. Every day that Congress is in session, Rep. Kucinich will submit 5 single-spaced pages of names with states, which is the daily limit under House rules. To be included, all you need to do is submit this petition.www.democrats.com/impeach-cheney-congressional-recordThis proposal came about on Thursday when representatives of Democrats.com and ImpeachforPeace.org spent the day on Capitol Hill meeting with Congress Members and their staffers. ImpeachforPeace.org has collected hand-written memorials in support of impeachment, following a precedent detailed in the Jefferson Manual. The individuals who have submitted these memorials will also have their names entered into the Congressional Record. Our lobbying efforts found Congress edging closer and closer to impeachment. Congressional offices expressed growing awareness of citizen demand for impeachment - and citizen dissatisfaction with steps short of impeachment, such as issuing more disregarded subpoenas or passing meaningless censure resolutions. Let Congress know you want nothing short of Impeachment. Be a part of history: www.democrats.com/impeach-cheney-congressional-recordCongressional Record: Main PageThe Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. GPO Access contains Congressional Record volumes from 140 (1994) to the present. At the back of each daily issue is the "Daily Digest," which summarizes the day's floor and committee activities. The current year’s Congressional Record database is usually updated daily by 11 a.m., except when a late adjournment delays production of the issue. Documents are available as ASCII text and Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files. From:www.gpoaccess.gov/crecord/index.html_______________ Friday July 27:[glow=red,2,300]Declare It Now - Wear Orange![/glow] We launched our "Orange Revolution" on Monday with the march from Arlington Cemetary to the office of Rep. John Conyers led by Cindy Sheehan. Friday July 27 is the start of "Orange Fridays" when we urge impeachment supporters to wear orange and gather in public places, including Honk to Impeach events: communitywalk.com/impeach Impeachment supporters are wearing bright orange shirts, bandanas, ribbons and buttons, wrapping trees and cars in orange tape, and holding bright orange signs. Kickoff events on July 27 are being held across the country in Washington DC, Philadelphia, New York City, Charlotte, Atlanta, Detroit, Kalamazoo, Chicago, Houston, Reno, Walla Walla, Seattle, Bakersfield, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Details here: tinyurl.com/36r7o3Speakers at Friday’s rally in New York City include Cindy Sheehan, Colonel Ann Wright, Jonathan Tasini, Victor Toro, Rev. Billy, and Elaine Brower. More Information: www.worldcantwait.net_______________ July 31: Cities for Peace DayJuly 31, 2007, is Cities for Peace Day in Washington DC. Cities for Peace is a campaign that has helped people all over the country persuade 255 city and state governments to pass resolutions calling for an end to the occupation of Iraq. Democrats.com asks you to help us speed up the end of the Iraq occupation by participating on July 31 in DC. We will march to the White House and deliver resolutions, petitions, and referenda. And we will accompany locally-elected officials to Capitol Hill where they will give testimony on the Local Costs of the Iraq War. www.citiesforpeace.orgAlso on July 31 in DC: People's peace delegation to Iran returns!One day after their return, a five-member delegation of U.S. citizens will present a report on their 12-day, 1,750-kilometer journey through the Islamic Republic of Iran. WHERE: BUSBOYS AND POETS — 2021 14th Street NW, Washington, DC, The Langston Room WHEN: 10:00 a.m., Please arrive between 9:30 & 9:50 a.m. WHO: Delegation members consist of anti-war activists, war veterans and environmentalists; they are from Richmond VA, Norfolk VA, Washington DC, and Milwaukee WI and represent various local, regional and national social justice and anti-war organizations. The trip was funded by the members of the delegation personally, the sponsoring organizations and through public fundraising events. afterdowningstreet.org/node/25138Finally on July 31 in DC: Concert for ImpeachmentThe day's events will be followed by a concert for impeachment at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. with Immortal Technique. Click to play PSA: See: www.hiphopcaucus.org _____________ August: Congress Members Come Home to Hear from YOUFrom August 4 to September 4, Congress will abandon Washington to the evil intentions of the Bush-Cheney administration and come home to hear what you think of the job it's doing. Now is the time to plan to let your Congress Member hear your opinions loud and clear. August 9, 2007, will be the anniversary of the day President Nixon resigned. We encourage you to start now planning creative actions for that day drawing the comparison between Nixon's crimes and those of the new Dick in town. Wearing Nixon masks might make a nice touch. We will soon announce a video contest with two categories: the best comparison of Nixon and Cheney, and the best documentation of an action taken on 8/9/2007. Resources to help you plan a variety of types of events are here: afterdowningstreet.org/eventresourcesHonk to ImpeachOne of the most effective actions you can take is called Honk to Impeach. It works! Rep. Robert Brady (D., Pa.) just signed onto H Res 333 (that makes 15 Congress Members in support of that bill and 17 in support of impeachment). Brady's district office is just on the other side of Philadelphia City Hall from where a group of citizen activists held a "honk to impeach" event during rush hour on Tuesday, the same day Brady signed the bill. A participant reports: "The honking never ceased - it was one steady stream of noise - the people want it! An idea for others who plan rush hour impeach 'honk fests,' I had on hand pre-printed impeach postcards for people to sign and send to their reps. Most drivers were very eager to take them." Also carry signs that read: Text IMPEACH to 30644 Pass ResolutionsThe list of cities and towns and political parties passing resolutions for impeachment continues to grow. Here's a video of Takoma Park Mayor Kathy Porter discussing her town's action on MSNBC: afterdowningstreet.org/node/25109Here's how you can make this happen where you live:afterdowningstreet.org/resolutionsProtest Bush in Kennebunkport, Maine, on August 25thPlease join INDIGO GIRLS, Melida and Carlos Arredondo, Geroge Paz Martin, war resister Augustin Aguayo, retired Colonel Ann Wright, Ashley Smith, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Eugene Puryear, Bruce Gagnon, Charlie Clements, Doug Rawlings, and others, along with Iraq Veterans at a rally and march to the Bush Family Compound: www.kportprotest.orgCarpools and accomodations: www.kportprotest.org/travel.html
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michelle
Administrator
I have broken any attachments I had to the Ascended Masters and their teachings; drains your chi!
Posts: 2,100
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Post by michelle on Jul 31, 2007 16:20:24 GMT 4
Martial Law Threat Is RealThis is about as serious as it gets. There have been many assaults on our freedom recently, but none with such totality and finality as this. We must draw the line in the sand on this issue. The American people must re-discover their indignation, get off their couches, and send a tsunami of protest to Washington. Below, an article describing how all the dominoes have been put into place, ready to fall....all they need is one disaster as a catalyst. But first, an e-mail received last week from G. EDWARD GRIFFIN and AARON RUSSO, [see bios bellow] clarifying the real danger to US citizens that Bush's EO poses. Sorry I didn't post these sooner, but life has a way of demanding your attention, now, whether the world's on fire or not! MichelleAARON RUSSO is an American entertainment businessman, film maker, Libertarian political figure, and proponent of tax and monetary reform. He is best known in political circles for his documentary movie, America; Freedom to Fascism, which is a clarion call to action against the U.S. Federal Reserve System and the Income Tax. He is a recipient of the Freedom Force Champion-of-Freedom Award. During his career in the entertainment industry, Russo was manager for Bette Midler from 1972 to 1979 and the producer of such well known films as The Rose (starring Midler), Trading Places (starring Eddie Murphy), and Wise Guys (starring Danny DeVito). He was awarded an Emmy for a Bette Midler TV special, and a gold record for producing the Soundtrack to The Rose. In 1989, he directed Rude Awakening. His films have received six Academy Award nominations, a Tony Award, and a number of Golden Globe awards.Russo became a political activist in the early 1990s when he produced and starred in a video national identity card, and government suppression of alternative (drugless) medicine. Russo ran in the Republican primary for Governor of Nevada in 1998, placing second with 26% of the vote. He can be reached at: aaronrusso@msn.com. G. EDWARD GRIFFIN is a writer, documentary film producer, and Founder of Freedom Force International. Listed in Who’s Who in America, he is well known because of his talent for researching difficult topics and presenting them in clear terms that all can understand. He has dealt with such diverse subjects as archaeology and ancient Earth history, the Federal Reserve System and international banking, terrorism, internal subversion, the history of taxation, U.S. foreign policy, the science and politics of cancer therapy, the Supreme Court, and the United Nations. His better-known works include The Creature from Jekyll Island, World without Cancer, The Discovery of Noah’s Ark, Moles in High Places, The Open Gates of Troy, No Place to Hide, The Capitalist Conspiracy, More Deadly than War, The Grand Design, The Great Prison Break, and The Fearful Master. Ed is a graduate of the University of Michigan where he majored in speech and communications. He is a recipient of the coveted Telly Award for excellence in television production, the creator of the Reality Zone Audio Archives, and is President of American Media, a publishing and video production company in Southern California. He has served on the board of directors of The National Health Federation and The International Association of Cancer Victors and Friends and is Founder and President of The Cancer Cure Foundation. He is the founder of The Coalition for Visible Ballots, a grassroots organization for the elimination of vote fraud that is made possible by electronic voting systems. Ed’s books, CDs, and DVDs are available at www.realityzone.com. He may be reached at ge.griffin@verizon.net. Subj: Second Call-To-Action from G. Edward Griffin & Aaron Russo Date: 7/27/07 1:18:22 PM Eastern Daylight Time PO Box 4228. Thousand Oaks, CA 91359 www.freedom-force.orginfo@freedomforceinternational.com A Second Call-to-ActionFrom: G. Edward Griffin and Aaron Russo Last week, we issued an e-mail alert regarding an Executive Order signed on July 17 by President Bush that authorizes him to block the personal property of anyone in the United States who opposes his Middle East foreign policy. Read the document here: www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/07/20070717-3.html. If this link does not work, here is a backup source: www.freedom-force.org/newsarchive/EO_2007-07-17.mht. The response was immediate, huge, and encouraging. However, not everyone was equally concerned, and they wrote to say that we had misunderstood the language and intent of the document. There were two primary objections. The first was that the Order was written to prevent acts of violence, not political dissent. The second was that it applies only to people and organizations whose names appear on a list attached to the Executive Order but not made public. Larry Becraft, nationally respected Constitutional attorney, said:"I have no doubt that there was a list of the names of certain people attached to that EO that was not published. Bush provided the full document with the names of "the following persons" to certain members of Congress, but that list was not published for the public, nor was that list published in the Federal Register. … The EO clearly addresses foreign funds and property brought into this country and held either by foreigners or US persons. To contend that Americans holding their own property or having others hold that property (funds, financial instruments, etc), are going to have that property seized is a contention plainly outside the clear language of the EO. To assert that those protesting the war subjects those protesters to seizures is groundless."We are not convinced by this argument. A reading of the EO, itself, points to a contrary interpretation. It may be true that there was a list attached to the EO, but that does not mean the list cannot be expanded at any time. In describing whose property may be blocked, the document says: "Any person determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense, (i) to have committed, or to pose a significant risk of committing, an act or acts of violence that have the purpose or effect of: (A) threatening the peace or stability of Iraq or the Government of Iraq; or (B) undermining efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq." The phase "any person" completely negates the concept that this applies only to a few specifically named bad guys from the Middle East who happen to be in the U.S. If you think this EO applies only to those who have committed or intend to commit acts of violence, then read the words again: It applies to any person who poses "a significant risk of committing an act of violence." Who would that be? In case you haven’t noticed, the trend of all collectivist governments over the past few decades has been to embrace the principle of pre-emptive punishment. In other words, political scientists, working closely with government-funded psychiatrists, have created the myth that it is possible to determine who will commit crimes in the future. They can do this, they say, by studying everyone’s school records, voting records, reading habits, organizations they support, and a myriad of other metrics for personal preferences and beliefs. There is no doubt that tabulations of this kind can lead to valid statistical predictions, but they can never identify who will fall within the expectations and who will not. It is an affront to common sense and a travesty of justice to punish people for crimes they did not commit but which some social scientist says they probably will. This is a special horror when the cloak of science is used, not to reduce crime, but to single out political dissidents and then define their thoughts as criminal behavior. So, who poses "a significant risk of committing acts of violence?" Whoever the President adds to the list. And so, we repeat what we said last week. This is about as serious as it gets. There have been many assaults on our freedom recently, but none with such totality and finality as this. We must draw the line in the sand on this issue. The American people must re-discover their indignation, get off their couches, and send a tsunami of protest to Washington. There is no need to explain why this is important, and there is nothing that can be said that would be more motivating than the stark possibility of a police state in which citizens loose their property if they disagree with der Fuhrer (the Leader). This is a second call to action. 1. Send your Congressman and Senators a short but explicit message to the effect that you expect them to (1) introduce or support fast-track legislation to rescind the Executive Order and (2) call for impeachment of the President NOW. Here is how to contact them: www.opensecrets.org/politicians/candlist.asp?Sort=S&Cong=110 2. Compile a list of every organization, publication, journalist, web site, talk-show host, and community leader who understands the significance of this Executive Order and send it to us at ge.griffin@verizon.net. The immediate goal is to build a communications hub for a national coalition of activists on this issue. 3. Send a copy of this message to everyone on that list and to everyone you know. Drop everything else and do this NOW. We apologize for not replying to most of you who have sent in comments and questions. It is impossible for Aaron or I to personally correspond with thousands of people, but we will try to post the most critical issues on our web sites and in future communiqués. Meanwhile, thank you for being in the Freedom Coalition. G. Edward Griffin and Aaron Russo------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Martial Law Threat Is RealBy Dave Lindorff 27 July, 2007 CommonDreams.org The looming collapse of the US military in Iraq, of which a number of generals and former generals, including former Chief of Staff Colin Powell, have warned, is happening none too soon, as it my be the best hope for preventing military rule here at home.From the looks of things, the Bush/Cheney regime has been working assiduously to pave the way for a declaration of military rule, such that at this point it really lacks only the pretext to trigger a suspension of Constitutional government. They have done this with the active support of Democrats in Congress, though most of the heavy lifting was done by the last, Republican-led Congress. The first step, or course, was the first Authorization for Use of Military Force, passed in September 2001, which the president has subsequently used to claim‹improperly, but so what? ‹that the whole world, including the US, is a battlefield in a so-called ³War² on Terror, and that he has extra-Constitutional unitary executive powers to ignore laws passed by Congress. As constitutional scholar and former Reagan-era associate deputy attorney general Bruce Fein observes, that one claim, that the US is itself a battlefield, is enough to allow this or some future president to declare martial law, ³since you can always declare martial law on a battlefield. All he¹d need would be a pretext, like another terrorist attack inside the U.S.² The 2001 AUMF was followed by the PATRIOT Act, passed in October 2001, which undermined much of the Bill of Rights. Around the same time, the president began a campaign of massive spying on Americans by the National Security Agency, conducted without any warrants or other judicial review. It was and remains a program that is clearly aimed at American dissidents and at the administration¹s political opponents, since the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court would never have raised no objections to spying on potential terrorists. (And it, and other government spying programs, have resulted in the government¹s having a list now of some 325,000 ³suspected terrorists²!) The other thing we saw early on was the establishment of an underground government-within-a-government, though the activation, following 9-11, of the so-called ³Continuity of Government² protocol, which saw heads of federal agencies moved secretly to an underground bunker where, working under the direction of Vice President Dick Cheney, the ³government² functioned out of sight of Congress and the public for critical months. It was also during the first year following 9-11 that the Bush/Cheney regime began its programs of arrest and detention without charge‹mostly of resident aliens, but also of American citizens‹and of kidnapping and torture in a chain of gulag prisons overseas and at the Navy base at Guantanamo Bay. The following year, Attorney General John Ashcroft began his program to develop a mass network of tens of millions of citizen spies‹Operation TIPS. That program, which had considerable support from key Democrats (notably Sen. Joe Lieberman), was curtailed by Congress when key conservatives got wind of the scale of the thing, but the concept survives without a name, and is reportedly being expanded today. Meanwhile, last October Bush and Cheney, with the help of a compliant Congress, put in place some key elements needed for a military putsch. There was the overturning of the venerable Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which barred the use of active duty military inside the United States for police-type functions, and the revision of the Insurrection Act, so as to empower the president to take control of National Guard units in the 50 states even over the objections of the governors of those states. Put this together with the wholly secret construction now under way–courtesy of a $385-million grant by the US Army Corps of Engineers to Halliburton subsidiary KBR Inc–of detention camps reportedly capable of confining as many as 400,000 people, and a recent report that the Pentagon has a document, dated June 1, 2007, classified Top Secret, which declares there to be a developing ³insurgency² within the U.S, and which lays out a whole martial law counterinsurgency campaign against legal dissent, and you have all the ingredients for a military takeover of the United States. As we go about our daily lives–our shopping, our escapist movie watching, and even our protesting and political organizing‹we need to be aware that there is a real risk that it could all blow up, and that we could find ourselves facing armed, uniformed troops at our doors.Bruce Fein isn¹t an alarmist. He says he doesn¹t see martial law coming tomorrow. But he is also realistic. He says, ³ This is all sitting around like a loaded gun waiting to go off. I think the risk of martial law is trivial right now, but the minute there is a terrorist attack, then it is real. And it stays with us after Bush and Cheney are gone, because terrorism stays with us forever.² (It may be significant that Hillary Clinton, the leading Democratic candidate for president, has called for the revocation of the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force against Iraq, but not of the earlier 2001 AUMF which Bush claims makes him commander in chief of a borderless, endless war on terror.) Indeed, the revised Insurrection Act (10. USC 331-335) approved by Congress and signed into law by Bush last October, specifically says that the president can federalize the National Guard to ³suppress public disorder² in the event of ³national disorder, epidemic, other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident.² That determination, the act states, is solely the president¹s to make. Congress is not involved. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has added an amendment to the upcoming Defense bill, restoring the Insurrection Act to its former version‹a move that has the endorsement of all 50 governors–but Fein argues that would not solve the problem, since Bush still claims that the U.S. is a battlefield. Besides, a Leahy aide concedes that Bush could sign the next Defense Appropriations bill and then use a signing statement to invalidate the Insurrection Act rider. Fein argues that the only real defense against the looming disaster of a martial law declaration would be for Congress to vote for a resolution determining that there is no ³War² on terror. ³But they are such cowards they will never do that,² he says. That leaves us with the military. If ordered to turn their guns and bayonets on their fellow Americans, would our ³heroes² in uniform follow their consciences, and their oaths to ³uphold and defend² the Constitution of the United States? Or would they follow the orders of their Commander in Chief? It has to be a plus that National Guard and Reserve units are on their third and sometimes fourth deployments to Iraq, and are fuming at the abuse. It has to be a plus that active duty troops are refusing to re-enlist in droves‹especially mid-level officers. If we are headed for martial law, better that it be with a broken military. Maybe if it¹s broken badly enough, the administration will be afraid to test the idea. Dave Lindorff’s most recent book is “The Case for Impeachment” (St. Martin’s Press, 2006). His work is available at www.thiscantbehappening.net.Source: www.countercurrents.org/lindorff270707.htm
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michelle
Administrator
I have broken any attachments I had to the Ascended Masters and their teachings; drains your chi!
Posts: 2,100
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Post by michelle on Aug 29, 2007 14:24:46 GMT 4
History Will Not Absolve Us Leaked Red Cross report sets up Bush team for international war-crimes trialby Nat Hentoff August 28th, 2007 6:30 PM If and when there's the equivalent of an international Nuremberg trial for the American perpetrators of crimes against humanity in Guantánamo, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the CIA's secret prisons, there will be mounds of evidence available from documented international reports by human-rights organizations, including an arm of the European parliament—as well as such deeply footnoted books as Stephen Grey's Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA Torture Program (St. Martin's Press) and Charlie Savage's just-published Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy (Little, Brown). While the Democratic Congress has yet to begin a serious investigation into what many European legislators already know about American war crimes, a particularly telling report by the International Committee of the Red Cross has been leaked that would surely figure prominently in such a potential Nuremberg trial. The Red Cross itself is bound to public silence concerning the results of its human-rights probes of prisons around the world—or else governments wouldn't let them in. But The New Yorker's Jane Mayer has sources who have seen accounts of the Red Cross interviews with inmates formerly held in CIA secret prisons. In "The Black Sites" (August 13, The New Yorker), Mayer also reveals the effect on our torturers of what they do—on the orders of the president—to "protect American values." She quotes a former CIA officer: "When you cross over that line of darkness, it's hard to come back. You lose your soul. You can do your best to justify it, but . . . you can't go back to that dark a place without it changing you." Few average Americans have been changed, however, by what the CIA does in our name. Blame that on the tight official secrecy that continues over how the CIA extracts information. On July 20, the Bush administration issued a new executive order authorizing the CIA to continue using these techniques—without disclosing anything about them. If we, the people, are ultimately condemned by a world court for our complicity and silence in these war crimes, we can always try to echo those Germans who claimed not to know what Hitler and his enforcers were doing. But in Nazi Germany, people had no way of insisting on finding out what happened to their disappeared neighbors.
We, however, have the right and the power to insist that Congress discover and reveal the details of the torture and other brutalities that the CIA has been inflicting in our name on terrorism suspects. Only one congressman, Oregon's Democratic senator Ron Wyden, has insisted on probing the legality of the CIA's techniques—so much so that Wyden has blocked the appointment of Bush's nominee, John Rizzo, from becoming the CIA's top lawyer. Rizzo, a CIA official since 2002, has said publicly that he didn't object to the Justice Department's 2002 "torture" memos, which allowed the infliction of pain unless it caused such injuries as "organ failure . . . or even death." (Any infliction of pain up to that point was deemed not un-American.) Mr. Rizzo would make a key witness in any future Nuremberg trial. As Jane Mayer told National Public Radio on August 6, what she found in the leaked Red Cross report, and through her own extensive research on our interrogators (who are cheered on by the commander in chief), is "a top-down-controlled, mechanistic, regimented program of abuse that was signed off on—at the White House, really—and then implemented at the CIA from the top levels all the way down. . . . They would put people naked for up to 40 days in cells where they were deprived of any kind of light. They would cut them off from any sense of what time it was or . . . anything that would give them a sense of where they were." She also told of the CIA interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, who was not only waterboarded (a technique in which he was made to feel that he was about to be drowned) but also "kept in . . . a small cage, about one meter [39.7 inches] by one meter, in which he couldn't stand up for a long period of time. [The CIA] called it the dog box." Whether or not there is another Nuremberg trial—and Congress continues to stay asleep—future historians of the Bush administration will surely also refer to Leave No Marks: Enhanced Interrogation Techniques and the Risk of Criminality, the July report by Human Rights First and Physicians for Social Responsibility. The report emphasizes that the president's July executive order on CIA interrogations—which, though it is classified, was widely hailed as banning "torture and cruel and inhuman treatment"—"fails explicitly to rule out the use of the 'enhanced' techniques that the CIA authorized in March, 2002, "with the president's approval (emphasis added). In 2002, then–Secretary of State Colin Powell denounced the "torture" memos and other interrogation techniques in internal reports that reached the White House. It's a pity he didn't also tell us. But Powell's objections should keep him out of the defendants' dock in any future international trial. From the Leave No Marks report, here are some of the American statutes that the CIA, the Defense Department, and the Justice Department have utterly violated: In the 1994 Torture Convention Implementation Act, we put into U.S. law what we had signed in Article 5 of the UN Convention Against Torture, which is defined as "an act 'committed by an [officially authorized] person' . . . specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering . . . upon another person within his custody or physical control." The 1997 U.S. War Crimes Act "criminalizes . . . specifically enumerated war crimes that the legislation refers to as 'grave breaches' of Common Article 3 [of the Geneva Conventions], including the war crimes of torture and 'cruel or inhuman treatment.'" The Leave No Marks report very valuably brings the Supreme Court— before Chief Justice John Roberts took over—into the war-crimes record of this administration. I strongly suggest that Human Rights First and Physicians for Social Responsibility send their report—with the following section underlined—to every current member of the Supreme Court and Congress: "The Supreme Court has long considered prisoner treatment to violate substantive due process if the treatment 'shocks the conscience,' is bound to offend even hardened sensibilities, or offends 'a principle of justice so rooted in the traditions and conscience of our people as to be ranked as fundamental.'" Among those fundamental rights cited by past Supreme Courts, the report continues, are "the rights to bodily integrity [and] the right to have [one's] basic needs met; and the right to basic human dignity" (emphasis added). If the conscience of a majority on the Roberts Court isn't shocked by what we've done to our prisoners, then it will be up to the next president and the next Congress—and, therefore, up to us—to alter, in some respects, how history will judge us. But do you see any considerable signs, among average Americans, of the conscience being shocked? How about the presidential candidates of both parties? Source: www.villagevoice.com/news/0735,hentoff,77643,6.html
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DT1
Moderator
You know, it's not like I wanted to be right about all of this...
Posts: 428
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Post by DT1 on Sept 14, 2007 2:47:44 GMT 4
(Mod's note:I hope this post finds you well and safe,dear friends.I have been very busy of late,and have not had time to post.Tonight the Deciever In Chief will adress the Nation in yet another attempt to drag out this despicable war to the end of his term so he can hand the whole mess over to the next President.Personally,I have no intention of listening,and don't give a damn what he has to say... Troop numbers do not matter-He's playing another shell-game.Absolutely disgusting. What many people don't realize is that the death-toll resulting from this immoral,illegal debacle is actually accelerating..(reprinted courtesy of atlanticfreepress.com) Bombs Away: Beefing up the air warThe Associated Press reported this week that the Air Force is building up its force-capability in Iraq. According to Charles Hanley, the Air Force "sharply stepped up bombing and laid a foundation for a sustained air campaign in support of American and Iraqi forces….Squadrons of attack planes have been added to the in-country fleet. The air reconnaissance arm has almost doubled since last year. The powerful B1-B bomber has been recalled to action over Iraq. "The night before last we had 14 strikes from B-1 bombers. Last night we had 18 strikes by B-1 bombers," Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch said approvingly of air support his 3rd Infantry Division received in a recent offensive south of Baghdad". This tells us everything we need to know about Bush's future plans for Iraq. B-1 bombers are not used for pinpoint attacks on "terrorist strongholds". That’s bullsh**. They are used for carpet-bombing and vast indiscriminate destruction which invariably causes massive civilian casualties. The statistics confirm this assertion. There’s been a fivefold increase of bombs dropped over the first half of 2006 which proves that civilian carnage has not deterred the military from trying to "pacify" the Iraqi people through vicious, unrelenting bombardment. The article continues: ""The Air Force sent a squadron of A-10 "Warthog" attack planes - a dozen or more aircraft - to be based at Al-Asad Air Base in western Iraq. At the same time it added a squadron of F-16C Fighting Falcons here at Balad." Air operations are constant with "more than 100 aircraft crisscrossing Iraqi air space at any one time." As Bush is forced to reduce troop deployments, the "air surge" will continue into the foreseeable future — poisoning the country with depleted uranium, killing and maiming tens of thousands of civilians, and further reducing Iraq’s infrastructure into rubble. The Democrats fully support this bloody "scorched earth" policy. If they did not,they would cut the funding.Now. A Word from one of the VictimsIraqi blogger and poet Layla Anwar manages to express what many of us feel about this ghastly war, but are unable to state in words. Here is a short passage from a recent piece called "Some Thoughts on Forgiveness" "What are we supposed to do with our dead ones, our injured ones, our memories, our lost hopes, our vanished dreams? What are we supposed to do with our exile, our losses, our uprootedness? Christ was crucified once. He was able to forgive. But you are crucifying us daily. So how do I forgive? God help us for what we have done to the Iraqi people.
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michelle
Administrator
I have broken any attachments I had to the Ascended Masters and their teachings; drains your chi!
Posts: 2,100
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Post by michelle on Feb 14, 2008 12:26:55 GMT 4
Conyers Considers Cheney Impeachment HearingsSorry I'm a couple of days late on posting this; my furnace broke down and I've been without heat during the coldest snap we've had all winter...I'm tap dancin' around the gas company too; my bill is scary! ANYWAY, there's still plenty of time to ACT ON THE FOLLOWING....I will; heating crisis or not...How about it, folks? Michelle PS: Conyers phone: 202-225-5126Subject: Conyers Considers Cheney Impeachment Hearings Date: 2/12/2008 3:09:57 AM Eastern Standard Time From: activist@democrats.com On Thursday, Chairman John Conyers' House Judiciary Committee held a hearing at which Attorney General Michael Mukasey said that he would not investigate torture or warrantless spying, he would not enforce contempt citations, and he would treat Justice Department opinions as providing immunity for crimes. None of this was new, but perhaps it touched something in Conyers that had not been touched before. Following the hearing, he and two staffers met for over an hour with two members of Code Pink and discussed activism and impeachment, including Congressman Robert Wexler's proposal to begin impeachment hearings on Cheney. Conyers expressed his concerns about what might happen following an impeachment, the danger of installing a Bush replacement or losing an election. But he said he's listening to several advocates for impeachment, including Liz Holtzman and David Swanson of Democrats.com. He hinted he could be swayed by a convincing argument, leaning out of his chair for dramatic effect. So let's help Chairman John Conyers decide! We know Conyers agrees with all of us on the legal grounds for impeachment because he made this case himself in his 2006 book, "The Constitution in Crisis." [ www.afterdowningstreet.org/constitutionincrisis ] Where Conyers needs persuasion is on the politics of impeachment, so we have addressed his concerns here: www.democrats.com/conyers-start-impeachment-hearingsWe'd like you to email Conyers (and other Judiciary Committee Democrats) with the link above, but please don't stop there. 1. Call his office at 202-225-5126 and say you would like him to begin Cheney impeachment hearings immediately. Tell him the hearings must be on impeachment because that's the only way to force the White House to comply with Congressional subpoenas. The phone in his office was reportedly ringing once every second, 60 times per minute, all day long on Monday. Let's ring it faster on Tuesday. 2. Print our petition www.democrats.com/node/15663/printand fax it to Conyers at 202-225-0072 with your name and address at the end. 3. Urge your Representative and Senators to sign onto Congressman Robert Wexler's letter to Conyers (which he plans to deliver on Friday) here: democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/125We know we're asking a lot, but we're not alone - our friends from Code Pink are fasting for impeachment [ www.afterdowningstreet.org/fasting ] and meeting with Conyers on Tuesday to discuss opening Cheney impeachment hearings. Want to do more? Start planning now to visit your congress member's office when they're back in their district between February 16th and 24th. Find ideas here: impeachcheney.org Join (or create) your Congressional District Impeachment Committee: democrats.com/cdic-find
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michelle
Administrator
I have broken any attachments I had to the Ascended Masters and their teachings; drains your chi!
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Post by michelle on May 29, 2008 13:55:16 GMT 4
IMPEACHMENT UPDATE / SCOTT MCCLELLAN'S REVELATIONS It's good to be able to add another post to this thread; it's been awhile. First up, a recent message from Congressman Robert Wexler, with a renewed push for impeachment in response to Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan's book.
Speaking of 'Scotty' and his revelation that Bush misled the US on Iraq, I have the following to say: Thanks so much, Scotty, for your newly found moral fiber. I'd wager that this will be very lucrative for you. I hope your book also tells us how it felt to stand in front of the American public for 3 years and lie, while you tap danced for the Bush administration, cameras rolling....MichelleSubject: IMPEACHMENT UPDATE / SCOTT MCCLELLAN'S REVELATIONS Date: 5/28/2008 4:42:03 PM Eastern Daylight Time From: contact@wexlerforcongress.com Last night, significant news broke that directly impacts our push for Impeachment Hearings and a possible Inherent Contempt charge for Bush Administration officials such as Karl Rove: Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan has revealed in his upcoming book that: • Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, and Vice President Cheney lied about their role in revealing the identity of Valerie Plame Wilson – actions easily amounting to obstruction of Justice. McClellan also admitted that: • There was a coordinated effort within the Bush Administration to use propaganda to pump up the case for the Iraq war and hide the projected costs of the war from the public. Scott McClellan must be called to testify under oath before the House Judiciary Committee to tell Congress and the American people everything he knows about this massive effort by the White House to deceive this nation into war. Last week, a subpoena was issued for Karl Rove to testify before the Judiciary Committee. It appears he will take every legal action to block this subpoena. The truth is that Congress has the right – and obligation – to hold him accountable now - not months or years from now. It is long past time to pass Inherent Contempt and bring Rove, Libby and others before Congress. We simply cannot ignore these recent developments, nor should we postpone serious inquiry until after the next election. Your commitment to accountability for the Bush/Cheney Administration, and the support of 230,000 other Americans who signed up at wexlerwantshearings.com, has inspired and motivated me in my effort to hold impeachment hearings for Vice President Dick Cheney and Inherent Contempt for Rove and others. During the past months I have been a tireless and dogged advocate of this vitally important cause. Many of you have written me, asking for an update on where we stand with regards to impeachment hearings. I know most of you believe - as I do - that impeachment hearings for Vice President Cheney – are not only justified, but that it is our constitutional obligation to look into the serious allegations of wrongdoing that have been raised. This is especially true based on the newest revelations from Scott McClellan. I believe that it is the duty of Congress to pursue impeachment whenever there's significant evidence of wrongdoing, be it by Republicans or Democrats, regardless of the timing of elections or the current political environment. Some of you have written me demanding that I deliver hearings or impeachment. As hard as I have been fighting for this cause, I cannot make impeachment happen by myself. What I can do, and what I have been doing at every turn, is trying to communicate two simple messages to my colleagues: • the serious allegations of wrongdoing and the clear-cut rationale for impeachment hearings;and • the fact that the public will support our efforts when Congress boldly acts on the side of justice and accountability. Unfortunately, to date, these arguments have not been enough to convince even a majority of the liberal and progressive Members of Congress to support impeachment hearings. In addition, the leadership of the Democratic Party in Congress genuinely feels that pursuing impeachment will jeopardize our congressional agenda and threaten gains in the November elections. Although I genuinely disagree with this view, to date I have been unable to convince them to change this policy. I understand the challenges that we are up against, and I recognize the odds that we face. Nevertheless, I remain unfazed and unyielding. This new evidence from Scott McClellan could be the tipping point – but we must move quickly. I will use the McClellan admissions to help convince my colleagues that we must hold impeachment hearings. Regardless, I will continue to fight for progressive values and our Constitution. I will do everything I can to pursue accountability for criminal actions taken by this Administration and this Vice President. I will be a furious opponent to any expansion of this misguided war, and I will fight against the use of torture by our government and to protect our civil liberties here at home. Most of all, I will continue my efforts to convince my fellow members of Congress and voters, that we should not be a party of passivity - but that we succeed when we present the public with stark choices that are based on the guarantees in our Constitution, and not on the politics of the moment. I will continue - at every pass - to call for impeachment and accountability. While I wish more of my colleagues supported our movement, we must not let our discouragement lead to apathy and distraction in this important election year when we must break free from eight long years of illegalities, corporate handouts, and a tragic and devastating war. We should not end the calls for impeachment. I will push against the crimes of the Bush Administration whenever I am provided the opportunity. I will use my role on the Judiciary Committee to take on Administration officials – like I have done with Condoleezza Rice, Attorney Generals Gonzalez and Mukasey, and FBI Director Mueller. I have not given up our fight to hold this Administration accountable and neither can you. I am grateful for your patriotism and your support. I'll continue to keep you informed and part of the conversation. Sincerely, Congressman Robert Wexler ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ex-Press Aide Writes That Bush Misled US on IraqWednesday 28 May 2008» by: Michael D. Shear, The Washington Post Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan writes in a new memoir that the Iraq war was sold to the American people with a sophisticated "political propaganda campaign" led by President Bush and aimed at "manipulating sources of public opinion" and "downplaying the major reason for going to war." McClellan includes the charges in a 341-page book, "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception," that delivers a harsh look at the White House and the man he served for close to a decade. He describes Bush as demonstrating a "lack of inquisitiveness," says the White House operated in "permanent campaign" mode, and admits to having been deceived by some in the president's inner circle about the leak of a CIA operative's name. The book, coming from a man who was a tight-lipped defender of administration aides and policy, is certain to give fuel to critics of the administration, and McClellan has harsh words for many of his past colleagues. He accuses former White House adviser Karl Rove of misleading him about his role in the CIA case. He describes Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as being deft at deflecting blame, and he calls Vice President Cheney "the magic man" who steered policy behind the scenes while leaving no fingerprints. McClellan stops short of saying that Bush purposely lied about his reasons for invading Iraq, writing that he and his subordinates were not "employing out-and-out deception" to make their case for war in 2002. But in a chapter titled "Selling the War," he alleges that the administration repeatedly shaded the truth and that Bush "managed the crisis in a way that almost guaranteed that the use of force would become the only feasible option." "Over that summer of 2002," he writes, "top Bush aides had outlined a strategy for carefully orchestrating the coming campaign to aggressively sell the war.... In the permanent campaign era, it was all about manipulating sources of public opinion to the president's advantage." McClellan, once a staunch defender of the war from the podium, comes to a stark conclusion, writing, "What I do know is that war should only be waged when necessary, and the Iraq war was not necessary." McClellan resigned from the White House on April 19, 2006, after nearly three years as Bush's press secretary. The departure was part of a shake-up engineered by new Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten that also resulted in Rove surrendering his policy-management duties. A White House spokeswoman declined to comment on the book, some contents of which were first disclosed by Politico.com. The Washington Post acquired a copy of the book yesterday, in advance of its official release Monday. Responding to a request for comment, McClellan wrote in an e-mail: "Like many Americans, I am concerned about the poisonous atmosphere in Washington. I wanted to take readers inside the White House and provide them an open and honest look at how things went off course and what can be learned from it. Hopefully in some small way it will contribute to changing Washington for the better and move us beyond the hyper-partisan environment that has permeated Washington over the past 15 years." The criticism of Bush in the book is striking, given that it comes from a man who followed him to Washington from Texas. Bush is depicted as an out-of-touch leader, operating in a political bubble, who has stubbornly refused to admit mistakes. McClellan defends the president's intellect - "Bush is plenty smart enough to be president," he writes - but casts him as unwilling or unable to be reflective about his job. "A more self-confident executive would be willing to acknowledge failure, to trust people's ability to forgive those who seek redemption for mistakes and show a readiness to change," he writes. In another section, McClellan describes Bush as able to convince himself of his own spin and relates a phone call he overheard Bush having during the 2000 campaign, in which he said he could not remember whether he had used cocaine. "I remember thinking to myself, 'How can that be?'" he writes. The former aide describes Bush as a willing participant in treating his presidency as a permanent political campaign, run in large part by his top political adviser, Rove. "The president had promised himself that he would accomplish what his father had failed to do by winning a second term in office," he writes. "And that meant operating continually in campaign mode: never explaining, never apologizing, never retreating. Unfortunately, that strategy also had less justifiable repercussions: never reflecting, never reconsidering, never compromising. Especially not where Iraq was concerned." McClellan has some kind words for Bush, calling him "a man of personal charm, wit and enormous political skill." He writes that the president "did not consciously set out to engage in these destructive practices. But like others before him, he chose to play the Washington game the way he found it, rather than changing the culture as he vowed to do at the outset of his campaign for the presidency." McClellan charges that the campaign-style focus affected Bush's entire presidency. The ill-fated Air Force One flyover of New Orleans, after Hurricane Katrina struck the city, was conceived of by Rove, who was "thinking about the political perceptions" but ended up making Bush look "out of touch," he writes. He says the White House's reaction to Katrina was more than just a public relations disaster, calling it "a failure of imagination and initiative" and the result of an administration that "let events control us." He adds: "It was a costly blunder." McClellan admits to letting himself be deceived about the unmasking of CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson, which resulted in his relentless pounding by the White House press corps over the activities of Rove and of Cheney aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby in the matter. "I could feel something fall out of me into the abyss as each reporter took a turn whacking me," he writes of the withering criticism he received as the story played out. "It was my reputation crumbling away, bit by bit." He also suggests that Rove and Libby may have worked behind closed doors to coordinate their stories about the Plame leak. Late last year, McClellan's publisher released an excerpt of the book that suggested Bush had knowledge of the leak, something that won McClellan no friends in the administration. As McClellan departed the White House, he said: "Change can be helpful, and this is a good time and good position to help bring about change. I am ready to move on." He choked up as he told Bush on the South Lawn, "I have given it my all, sir, and I have given you my all." Bush responded at the time: "He handled his assignments with class, integrity. He really represents the best of his family, our state and our country. It's going to be hard to replace Scott." -------- Staff writer Michael Abramowitz contributed to this report.Source: www.truthout.org/article/former-white-house-press-aide-bush-misled-us-iraq
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michelle
Administrator
I have broken any attachments I had to the Ascended Masters and their teachings; drains your chi!
Posts: 2,100
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Post by michelle on Jun 30, 2008 12:28:44 GMT 4
The 'W.' Stands for 'War Criminal' The House and a shot not yet heard 'round the worldby Nat Hentoff June 24th, 2008 12:00 AM In a June 6 letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey—largely ignored by a press immersed in the future of Hillary Clinton—56 Democrats in the House of Representatives asked for "an immediate investigation with the appointment of a special counsel to determine whether actions taken by the President, his Cabinet, and other Administration officials are in violation of the War Crimes Act (18 U.S.C. 2441) . . . and other U.S. and international laws." This isn't front-page news?The letter began with a brief account of the notorious facts about Abu Ghraib ("sexual exploitation and torture") and Guantánamo ("an independent investigation by the International Committee of the Red Cross documented several . . . acts of torture . . . including soaking a prisoner's head in alcohol and lighting it on fire"). Nor was "coercive interrogation" in Afghanistan omitted: "In October 2005, The New York Times reported that three detainees were killed during interrogations in Afghanistan and Iraq by CIA agents or CIA contractors." This is not a call for articles of impeachment. Bush will soon be gone, and the new president and Congress have far too much to do to get mired in that quicksand. These are grave criminal charges, and since international crimes are involved as well as the U.S. War Crimes Act and the Anti-Torture Act, other nations whose laws include "universal jurisdiction" could prosecute.But why would House Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers Jr. and Intelligence Committee members Jerrold Nadler (my congressional representative) and Jan Schakowsky—among other signers—make such dramatic and historic charges of "war crimes" now, after most congressional Democrats have not shown the same interest? House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, for example, is not on the list of signers; she and Senate Democratic majority leader Harry Reid have never, in their opposition to the administration, come anywhere near these shocking accusations. As of this writing, I've seen no alarm evident among Republicans, but if the story has legs, the response will begin with a derisive claim that this is a cheap, transparent, and bush-league trick to propel the election of Barack Obama. But in the letter, these latter-day Thomas Paines (assuming you agree with them) assert that what impelled them to act immediately was that, "within the last month, additional information has surfaced that suggests the fact that not only did top Administration officials meet in the White House and approve of the use of enhanced techniques, including waterboarding against detainees, but that President Bush was aware of and approved of the meetings taking place. . . . This information indicates that the Bush administration may have systematically implemented, from the top down, detainee interrogation policies that constitute torture or otherwise violate the law." (Emphasis added.)If Bush, Cheney, Gonzales, et al. are ever in the dock after such an investigation, I am sure that the prosecutors will show, among other thoroughly documented sources, the very specific names of the perpetrators and the dates of this series of crimes, as published in Torture Team: Rumsfeld's Memo and the Betrayal of American Values by Phillippe Sands (Palgrave MacMillan) and the irrefutable evidence found in University of Houston professor Jordan J. Paust's Beyond the Law: The Bush Administration's Unlawful Responses in the "War" on Terror (Cambridge University Press). The latter is a book I wish every voter in November will have read, along with the same publisher's 1,249-page The Torture Papers: The Road to Abu Ghraib, edited by Karen J. Greenberg and Joshua L. Dratel. Such books will help build the careers of future historians around the world.I am further encouraged because chairman John Conyers, the June 8 Washington Post reported, "is looking into the role played by administration lawyers" in all of these crimes.Conyers, calling treatment of detainees "a truly shameful episode," emphasizes that Bush's "enhanced" interrogation techniques were "used under cover of Justice Department legal opinions," and so "the need for outside counsel is obvious." And since the letter from the 56 House Democrats is going to Attorney General Michael Mukasey—who claims that he cannot prosecute any perpetrator of these alleged war crimes because, by golly, they were authorized by Justice Department legal opinions—these House patriots are saying that Mukasey must appoint a special counsel rather than handle the investigation himself.To give you a snapshot of Michael Mukasey's dedication to the rule of law and its essential requirement of fairness and impartiality in all trials, Bush's attorney general recently told an annual conference of Washington federal judges that trials of suspected terrorists by military commissions at Guantánamo will be "in the best traditions of the American legal system" (New York Sun, June 5). On June 12, the Supreme Court, declaring the commissions unconstitutional, exposed Mukasey's constitutional ignorance. The administration lawyers, whom Conyers is also going after, designed those Guantánamo military commissions after advising Bush that the prisoners were not entitled to the protections of habeas corpus and the Geneva Conventions—and didn't have to be tried in our federal courts. In Beyond the Law, Paust says of these lawyers (most of them graduates of our premier law schools): "Not since the Nazi era have so many lawyers been so clearly involved in international crimes concerning the treatment and interrogation of persons detained during war. . . . Such a direct role in a process of denial of protections under the laws of war [and our Constitution] is far more serious than the loss of honor and integrity to [presidential] power. It can form the basis for a lawyer's civil and criminal responsibility. . . ."[These were lawyers] . . . directly advising how to deny protections in the future (denials of such protections are violations of the laws of war and war crimes)." And dig this: The administration lawyers advised the president how to take "actions that allegedly would avoid the restraints of various criminal statutes and their reach to the President and others with respect to future conduct," and especially with respect to the planned "coercive" interrogation tactics authorized by George W. Bush. (Emphasis added).Some of these lawyers have gone on to prominent government positions—like Dick Cheney's chief of staff, David Addington. Next week: the legal and historic precedents for "command responsibility." Source:www.villagevoice.com/news/0826,the-w-stands-for,478462,4.html/full
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