We'll never claim to be fair and
balanced, just honest and trustworthy
January 13, 2008
Asylum Street
Spankers-Magnetic Yellow Ribbon
From Robert Rouse for
Left of Centrist
It’s been a long time since I first posted
this, but I think it deserves to be seen by a lot more people.
Another day of Bush in the
middle east saying he wants Peace while he continues to instigate war
with Iran for world war causing middle east explosion From James Joiner for
An Average
American Patriot
* Now as you know, he is doing the same thing with
Iran until he finds an excuse people will fall for
or Iran will oblige him and he can get this middle
east Breakdown in full swing. He has been
instigating and using every excuse he can to get
this going with Iran. The other day it was becoming
obvious that while the IRG may have been messing
with our navy that the smoking gun of the video and
Audio may have been doctored and the Pentagon also
questioned events. The top U.S. military commander
in the Mideast said Friday that Iran runs the risk
of triggering an unintended conflict if its boats
continue to harass U.S. warships in the Persian
Gulf. Adm. William J. Fallon, chief of U.S. Central
Command, said a threatening radio call heard during
an encounter Sunday between U.S. Navy ships and
Iranian boats in the Strait of Hormuz was likely
connected to Iran's provocative actions. He said the
exact origin of the message was still unknown. "This
kind of behavior, if it happens in the future, is
the kind of event that could precipitate a mistake,"
Fallon told The Associated Press.
Iranian harassment could lead to conflict
* Bush will see to it. That one didn't work So now
Bush falls back on an excuse used in the past!
Attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq with bombs
believed linked to Iran -- known as explosively
formed penetrators (EFPs) -- have risen sharply in
January after several months of decline, according
to the top U.S. commander in Iraq. Iraqi and U.S.
officials indicated just a month ago that Iran was
using its influence to improve security in Iraq by
restraining cross-border weapons flow and militia
activity. The U.S. military had said in recent
months that the number of EFP attacks had gone down.
Gen. David Petraeus disclosed the reversal to
reporters after a meeting with President Bush who
was visiting troops in Kuwait. "In this year, EFPs
have gone up, actually, over the last 10 days by a
factor of two or three, and frankly we're trying to
determine why that might be," Petraeus said.
Petraeus did not say how many American troops have
been killed or wounded by EFPs in recent days.
What a surprise, fallback to an old excuse
Another day another excuse as Bush endeavors for war
with Iran so he can affect what he thinks will be
his and Israel's new middle east order. This is
still just developing and you have to believe those
30,000 troops no longer needed in Iraq will be
needed in Afghanistan or one of the other war fronts
getting ready to open up!
When we were at Camp Casey for Easter of 2006, we rode
in The Yellow Rose. Jim Goodnow, the Man with the Bus,
is a kind, dedicated supporter of Peace. I was sad to
hear today that his bus was totaled by fire. He happened
to be in the bus at the time of the fire, but got out
safely.
Please take the time to go to the
Yellow Rose site and hear Jim speak. There's a
podcast on the right side of the site (On the Road). Jim
demonstrates the respect and honor that would be good to
see more of in this country.
We don't have to agree in order to treat each other with
respect.
Jim
Goodnow (middle) and the rowdy women from Colorado at
Camp Casey, April of 2006
Here are excerpts from an email I received today
from Darla in OK:
The bus in this photo, was totaled by fire, around
9:30 pm, Friday night, 1/11/08.
This bus, often mired in controversy since the
IVAW "Dirty South" tour that left Philly in June,
and had Active Duty BBQ's @ Ft Meade, Ft Jackson,
Camp Lejeune, Ft Benning, and other Southern
Military Posts ( Including an IVAW benefit by Tom
Morello, of Rage Against the Machine, and
AudioSlave, in Virginia ) as well as backdrop for
many a Demonstration, and Ft Drum, NY, organizing
parties, has finally died.
Owner-Operator-Driver ( and Veteran ) Jim Goodnow
pulled into a South Jersey Truck Stop, to catch a
3 or 4 hour nap. Jim saw, in retrospect, some
suspicious activity outside the bus, and about 20
minutes later, the entire engine compartment, and
back of the bus was engulfed in flames.
Mr Goodnow speculates that the cause could have
been anything from ARSON, to ATTEMPTED MURDER. He
plans to notify the ATF Arson Squad on Saturday
morning.
Bill Perry
Delaware Valley Veterans For America
Disabled American Veteran, VVAW, VFP, VFW, VVA
Update
If anyone wants to donate
A fund has been set up and is tax deductible
Checks can be made out to:
Veterans For Peace, Chapter 106 (please spell this out)
Put in memo line: BUS FUND
Mail to:
Bernie Jezercak
1804 Tree LIne Drive
Carrollton, TX 75007
Who said television never does anything original? In 1963, ABC (which back then was always a bad third place network --- ABC would not become #1 for the first time until 1976) decided to "emulate" the competition (Twilight Zone on CBS) with The Outer Limits. I remember the show coming on ever week with the following words:
There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. For the next hour we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to the Outer Limits.
I actually thought the TV was controlled by someone else (this was pre-cable and pre-remote days). The Outer Limits actually had some great episodes and writers, including Joseph Stefano (who wrote Psycho) and Harlan Ellison. Two of the Harlan Ellison episodes (Soldier and Demon With A Glass Hand) were the inspiration for the movie The Terminator.
Enough with the TV history, back to originality
On February 17, 2009 there very well might be something wrong with your TV set. On that day 70 years of analog broadcasting ends in the US, and all television stations must switch over to digital signals. This mean many televisions (any analog sets, especially those that are more than a few years old) become great big boxes of tubes - perfect for Ted Stevens and his internet. Unless they are connected to cable, to satellite or a special converter box -- they are rendered useless. I expect to see a whole bunch of television sets sitting on the curb awaiting garbage pick-up. Or available on eBay with 99 cent opening bids.
What is Digital Television (DTV)?
DTV is simply video and audio that is delivered to a TV set using a digital signal (basically a series of 1s and 0s) rather than an analog signal (which is more like a wave). DTV will allow broadcasters to offer television with much better picture and sound quality. It will also also broadcasters to have multiple programming choices, also called multicasting and interactive capabilities. Converting to DTV also will free up parts of the analog broadcast spectrum for other services, such as public and safety services (police and fire departments, emergency rescue), and advanced wireless services.
The transition to DTV has been going on for a couple of years. Here in New York (and many other cities), the major stations are already broadcasting via their assigned digital signal, some with multi-casting. They are continuing to use the analog signal to provide programming through February 17, 2009. On that date, full-power TV stations must cease broadcasting on their current analog channels, and the spectrum returns to the US government. The FCC (which oversees broadcasting) also stated that as of March 1, 2007, all new TVs must include digital tuners.
One point of confusion --- DTV is NOTHDTV (High Definition Television). DTV is the mode of delivery. HDTV is digital signal quality. More on that below.
If your television (no matter how old) is hooked up to a cable or satellite box, your provider is responsible for making sure the signal is converted, so your TV set (even if it is analog) will be still be usable. You still may need some equipment or upgrades.
The conversion is a HUGE problem for people who view television over-the-air. Around 13% of the US population still views television via antenna or "rabbit ears". This percentage varies by city - in New York only around 5% of the population views TV via over-the-air. In Chicago it is 14%, In Dallas it is 22%. Many homes that have a cable/satellite hook-up will often have a second or third TV that still uses rooftop antennae or rabbit ears. Analog TVs will also continue to work with games, VCRs, DVDs, camcorders and similar items.
Analog TVs will need a special converter box to continue to receive over-the-air television after February 17, 2009. These boxes receive the digital signals and convert them into analog format for display on analog TVs. Analog TV sets using converters will display DTV, but not with the digital quality. The US Government, in-between spying on you and fighting immoral and illegal wars, will issue $40 coupons toward the purchase of these converters (they cost between $50-75) from Jan. 1, 2008 to March 31, 2009. You can get up to two coupons. Expect them to show up on eBay with discounts. The NTIA is administering the coupon program.
If your TV is a digital set with rabbit ears -- you do not need the converter box. You probably will not need a special antenna, but your antenna must be able to receive UHF signals -- those from channels 14-83.
Cable and Satellite TV
Cable and satellite subscribers may need some new DTV equipment to view DTV programming in digital format. Your cable provider should know what you will need and when you will need it. (if you can get a human on the phone, or one that is not in Malaysia). You may need to upgrade to digital cable.
So to make this more confusing - digital cable is NOT DTV. If you have digital cable, it does not mean your set is digital. You may need to upgrade to digital cable to get DTV. Confused? - everyone is.
DTV Quality Levels
There are many quality levels of digital television programming. The most common are:
Standard Definition TV (SDTV). SDTV is the basic level of quality display and resolution for both analog and digital. SDTV may be viewed in either the traditional (4:3) or widescreen (16:9) format aka "aspect ratio". 16:9 is what you see in movie theatres.
Enhanced Definition TV (EDTV). EDTV is a step up from SDTV. EDTV comes in widescreen (16:9) or traditional (4:3) format and provides better picture quality than SDTV, but not as high as HDTV.
High Definition TV (HDTV). HDTV provides the highest resolution and picture quality of all digital broadcast formats. Combined with digitally enhanced sound technology, HDTV sets new standards for sound and picture quality in television. HDTV is viewed in 16:9 aspect ration and is either 720p (720 lines of data) or 1080p/1080i (1080 lines). The more lines, the sharper the picture.
Digital Television Facts At A Glance
DTV offers picture and sound quality that is noticeably better that analog because digital transmissions are free of snow, ghosts, or static noises. (if there are issues with the signal, you will see what is know as pixilation -- or some small boxes on the screen). HDTV offers even more significantly improved images, comparable to what you see in a movie theater. Most (but not all) digital TVs sold in the US are HDTV compatible. While TV stations will be required to convert to digital broadcasts, they are not required to offer HDTV broadcasts. Most TV stations do deliver some HD programming and are adding much more as time goes on. Most prime programs on NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, ESPN etc. are currently broadcast in HDTV.
If your favorite show (and we ALL love American Idol) is produced in HDTV, it is not enough to just have a digital TV set to see it in HD. There are two other criteria - the broadcaster must send the show out in HD and your set must be HDTV compatible (as well as digital). If both criteria are not met, you will see the show in standard digital format (SDTV). Still confused? -- so is everyone else.
How do you determine whether your television set is DTV or digital. Many manufacturers put labels or markings on them, or statements in the never-read or already-lost pamphlets that come with them, that indicate they contain digital tuners. Some key words are “Integrated Digital Tuner” or “Digital Tuner Built-In.” “Receiver” may be substituted for “Tuner,” and “DTV,” “ATSC,” or “HDTV” (high definition television) may be substituted for “Digital.” If your television equipment contains any of these labels or markings, you should be able to view digital over-the-air programming without the converter box.
If your television set is labeled as a “Digital Monitor” or “HDTV Monitor,” or as “Digital Ready” or “HDTV Ready,” this does not mean it actually contains a digital tuner. You will likely need a separate set-top box which contains a tuner in order to view programs in digital.
Then again if you don't have a television set, NONE of this matters. But your favorite bar better get on the bandwagon.
Now I have made you experts on the digital conversion. But I think you should hurry - and do this as so soon as possible. Everyone should want to watch the departure of George W. Bush on 1/20/09 with the best picture quality available -- for in this case seeing is truly believing.
Know a blog
that deserves to be featured on the Blog World Report?
Contact
Robert.
Jed
Clampett’s got
nothing on North Carolina’s
Sheriff Ed Brown.After a month of
botched investigations,
marginalized dismissals and
outright incompetence,
Sherriff Brown and his crack
team of criminalists located
the body of
Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach.Where?In the back yard of
the man who raped and
impregnated her.How?With a
dowsing rod, of
course.
Mr. Tesander
take note. On the heels of
the body’s discovery,
Sherriff Brown had this to
say:
"It doesn't take a rocket
scientist to understand if
there's a cavity out back
and blood on the inside,
that's probably going to be
a key location for where
this crime may have taken
place," Brown said.
Uh-huh.
I think I can safely say
that the terms ‘rocket
scientist’ and ‘Sherriff
Brown’ are never likely to
have anything to do with one
another – in this lifetime
or the next.
Now – I lived in North
Carolina for a number of
years.
I’m sorry to say Sheriff
Brown’s unique methodology
isn’t, well, all that
unique.
In point of fact, I could
regale you with a host of
similar tales.Now - I’m sure local
residents find Sherriff
Brown’s 19th
century forensics ‘folksy’
and ‘down home’.I have to say I
rather doubt Lance Cpl.
Maria Lauterbach’s family
sees it in quite the same
manner, however.
My heart goes out to the
victim's family and friends.
Hillary Blames
Obama for her MLK dirty tricks
From
Christopher for
From the Left
Hillary Clinton on Saturday blamed Barack Obama’s campaign for twisting her comments about slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.Clinton was questioned by reporters about South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn’s reaction to her comments last week that seemed to suggest that President Lyndon B. Johnson should get more credit for passage of major civil rights legislation rather than King.
Clyburn, in an interview in The New York Times, had expressed disappointment in the Clinton campaign over what she had said as well as former President Clinton’s remark in New Hampshire about Obama telling a “fairy tale” in his opposition to the Iraq war.
“I regret the way that this matter has been used,” Clinton told reporters. “The comments about it are baseless and divisive. I was personally offended at the approach taken that was not only misleading but unnecessarily hurtful.”
She suggested reporters consider the sources of the criticism, much of which has come from the black community.
“I think it clearly came from Senator Obama’s campaign and I don’t think it’s the kind of debate we should be having in our campaign,” she said.
The Obama campaign did not respond immediately to a telephone message seeking comment Saturday evening.
Clyburn, one of the leading Democrats in South Carolina and a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, has said he will remain neutral in the Democratic presidential primary. South Carolina Democrats vote on Jan. 26.
But the reaction to Clinton’s remarks — and comments by surrogates for her candidacy — have riled many in the black community. On Friday, her husband, former President Clinton, called the Rev. Al Sharpton’s radio program to say his comment about Barack Obama telling a “fairy tale” about opposing the war in Iraq has been misconstrued as a criticism of the senator’s White House bid.
“There’s nothing ‘fairy tale’ about his campaign. It’s real, it’s strong, and he might win,” Clinton said in a phone interview for Sharpton’s Radio One network talk show.
Clinton said his “fairy tale” remark on the eve of the New Hampshire primary — won by his wife — was only intended to describe Obama’s claim to have exercised better judgment about the war, not as a sign of “personal disrespect.”
Unions, Mobsters,
and Government Thuggery
From
Benjamin T. Greenberg for
Hungry
Blues
I found Jerry Moncaco’s excellent Ghosts of Strikes Past: Class Struggle, Strike Breaking & Blacklisting In Hollywood interesting on a lot of levels. I had not known, for example, about Barbara Stanwyck’s right-leaning, collusion with the anti-communist witch hunters—especially intriguing to me, since my father always claimed his Trotskyite father, whom I’m named after, had an affair with Stanwyck.
But what I’m interested in right now are examples of bad social and political consequences of government maintaining vague and overbroad powers to monitor and collect data on its citizens. The blacklist and the loyalty boards, HUAC and other similar Congressional and state legislative committees all operated on the foundation of US government surveillance of its citizens.
Jerry’s important point about the blacklist is that it
was not primarily used against Communists but against union organizers and militants. Further, the blacklist was not primarily used against writers, actors, and directors, the people we usually read about, but against set-designers, carpenters, painters, lighting-designers, etc. It is convenient for us at this late date to think of Hollywood blacklisting as mainly an activity of the past, and an activity that occurred during a limited period of time during the height of the cold war. This is indeed the case when we talk about stars and other well-known creative talent. The best way to discipline “troublesome” creative talent was to accuse them of being a communist, a homosexual. or a drug addict. Essentially, this was a form of blackmail by the bosses. But carpenters … were not blackmailed in this way. If they were union militants of any type they were simply blacklisted. After the passage of the National Labor Relations Act in 1935 this kind of blacklisting of pro-union employees was illegal, but it was still maintained, and especially advocated by extreme right-wing bosses like those who ran Disney. The blacklist of Hollywood union militants began long before the well-known Hollywood anti-Communist blacklist and lasted for a long time after.
Furthermore, the US government and industrial powers actively supported corrupt, mob-infiltrated unions to undermine militant unions that pursued the legitimate interests of workers. If there are problems with corruption in organized labor, the US government has some responsibility to help fix it. A good start would be to pass new labor laws that reverse the attacks on organizing and enforcement that began long before George Bush came to power.
The historical lesson here is something that every unionist should know. In the post-war period government and management all opposed the threat of militant unions. At this time there were more militant unions than corrupt unions. One way that management opposed militant unions was by red-baiting them. In many cases the unionists who were being red-baited were not communist or even “leftists”. They were simply good union leaders. This was the case with the CSU [Conference of Studio Unions]. Another strategy that management used in opposing militant unions was to find unions that were friendly with management and to promote the interest of those unions over and above the militant unions. A related strategy, and one of the most important, was for management to call in the mobsters and the unions allied with the mobsters. In every case across the U.S. in the post-World War II years - among electrical workers opposing General Electric and Westinghouse, among dock-workers in the east, among Midwestern Teamsters - management and government promoted unions allied with mobsters in order to defeat unions that actually had the worker’s interest as part of their program. The story of Gerald Horne’s “Class Struggle in Hollywood” is the story of how this happened in Los Angeles.
At the end of Ghosts of Strikes Past, Jerry links to a blog post by a blogging acquaintance of mine, Rokhl Kafrissen, which I missed when she first published it, Mechanics of the Blacklist, Part 1. Similar to my discussion of how suspected civil rights activists were targeted for reprisals in Mississippi, Rokhl discusses how the information gathered by loyalty boards and HUAC, through FBI surveillance and unreliable informants, was then used by the American Legion and others to target suspected Communists outside the law.
In 1947, Harry Truman (facing a hostile Congress and other political factors) enacted a piece of legislation which would screen all Federal government employees for ‘loyalty’. One of the grounds for ‘disloyalty’ was membership in a subversive organization. Truman directed that the Attorney General, with the FBI, promulgate a list of subversive organizations for use by the Loyalty Review Board in their determinations. The Attorney General’s List of Subversive Organizations (AGLOSO) came to have far wider import than just its effect on Federal employees….
Once a part of the public record, the AGLOSO was seized upon by groups who believed that the government was not aggressive enough in its efforts to protect the country from the ‘Red Menace’.
There is a vast area of subversive activity still within the law about which neither the FBI nor the Justice Department can do anything. Therefor it remains the civic and patriotic responsibility of individual Americans and their organizations to perform.
(Firing Line magazine, 1949)
Firing Line was a publication of the American Legion. It’s sole purpose was to inform readers about Communism, and one aspect of that mission was publishing the names and activities of people whom they believed to be Communists. One of the sources for their information was lists like the AGLOSO. Another source was the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). In addition to the Federal HUAC, 13 state legislatures had their own HUACS. Those, too, were combed for information to be published in Firing Line….
[T]he American Legion, and the hundreds of other members of the army of anti-communist vigilantes, had no use for our Constitutional due process protections.
Democrat Dennis Kucinich, who won less than 2 percent of the vote in the New Hampshire primary, said Thursday he wants a recount to ensure that all ballots in his party's contest were counted.
The Ohio congressman cited "serious and credible reports, allegations and rumors" about the integrity of Tuesday results. See Votes
Some more statistics from the data shows that Obama in non-Diebold towns garnering 38.7% of the vote to Clinton's 36.2%. The results in Diebold towns show the exact opposite: Clinton with 40.7% of the vote and Obama with 36.2%. Not only are the positions swapped but the informal statistics have the second place candidate holding 36.2% in both cases, which could easily be a pure coincidence. What doesn't make a lot of sense to me right now and this could be a mathematical mistake on my part is where Clinton got the extra 2% of votes in Diebold towns. All the other numbers almost exact for every candidate, even Edwards who recieved 17% of the vote in Diebold towns compared to 17.6% in non-Diebold towns. That still doesn't make up for the extra 2% vote Clinton is receiving when she leads in certain towns compared to when Obama has the lead. See Obama
New Hampshire officials agreed yesterday to conduct complete hand recounts of Tuesday's Democratic and Republican presidential primaries.
It's pretty easy to see what happened in New Hampshire: We had an election in which 81% of our ballots were counted in secret by a private corporation, and this resulted in an outcome that is called into question.
That's what happened.
No recount is going to change this. What will change this is to get rid of corporate controlled secret vote counting in our elections. See New Hampshire
What this means is those states that have electronic ballots with no paper trace have no way of getting a true count of whom votes for whom and we would once again be facing what we faced during President Bush election.
Teaching of
Evolution Remains Under Attack
From
Ron Chusid for
Liberal Values
Despite the high profile victory for keeping creationism out of science classes in the Dover case, there are ongoing battles around the country to defend science. South Carolinians for Science Education reports on one victory as the State Board of Education reversed a December vote which would have led to dropping the use of a text teaching evolution. However the news isn’t as good in Florida where a former St. Petersburg City Council member and candidate for Mayor has repeated Tom DeLay’s theory linking the teaching of evolution to the Columbine shootings.
There is also controversy on a state wide level in Florida, where the word evolution is not used in science classes. One biology teacher defended the teaching of evolution explaining, “It’s very hard to teach good biological science without mentioning evolution. It’s one of the basic underpinnings of modern biological science.” He should explain this to Florida Governor Charlie Crist who, like many conservatives, confuses the scientific meaning of theory with its use in common language. Crist is quoted as saying:
I think the way it’s been handled historically in Florida is probably appropriate. It’s been introduced and discussed in terms of being a theory. I don’t know if there’s a need for a change in that. But I’ll leave the decision to the board.
I’ve frequently seen accounts of teachers having difficulty with teaching evolution regardless of the law due to pressure from religious groups. A teacher described these problems in an op-ed in FortBendNow:
I taught sixth grade in Texas for three years 2001-2004. During that time, I was absolutely warned to not begin to say the word “evolution” or we would have every preacher in the district, as well as the media, breathing down our necks, and then there would truly be no teaching or learning. Sadly, I needed the position, so I played the “hide the issue and hide the learning” game.
Every time I tell this story, usually at a dinner party, people look at me like I am reliving some ancient past. I remind them that this policy ruled only two years ago – and in their progressive community. Like many issues that are easier to disbelieve than to address, people inevitably choose disbelief.
It is more difficult for me to choose disbelief, but over time, even I can begin to question my experience. So several weeks ago, I decided to test the continued use of this policy. I interviewed with a high school in Fort Bend and asked if I could use current events in the English classroom to explore why real evolution education is often an inoculation against racism and eugenic posturing. The interviewer quickly replied, “We do not challenge the sensitive “beliefs” of our student community.”
These problems have extended beyond the public schools as last fall I reported on a community college instructor who was fired for calling the story of Adam and Eve a “fairy tale.” Even Bill Nye, the Science Guy has come under attack by the religious right for being an “evolution huckster.”
Several organizations involved in the teaching of science in the United States and Europe have issued statements favoring the teaching of evolution and not creationism in the schools. These include the Association for Science Education, the California Academy of Sciences, the UK government (whose statement explains the scientific meaning of theory), and the Council on Europe.
We also must not forget that two Republican candidates still in the race, Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul, both deny evolution. Mike Huckabee has advocated teaching intelligent design in the schools, while Ron Paul simply does not believe in public schools. A panel of scientists recently warned how we are “doomed” should Huckabee be elected.
For those interested in reading more about evolution, an updated version of Science, Education, and Creationism, a book from the National Academy of Sciences, is available for free download in pdf format here.
Global
"enthusiasm" for Bush's departure
From
TomCat for
Politics Plus
The 2008 U.S. elections are attracting an “eager” audience worldwide. This past week, for example, major British newspapers “devoted more than 87 pages to news of the U.S. primaries, including 22 front-page stories.” Much of the enthusiasm, according to the Washington Post, is for the end of the Bush presidency:
But much of the enthusiasm comes from anticipation of President Bush’s departure, according to several analysts. U.S. prestige and popularity in much of the world have sunk to historic lows since Bush took office, over such issues as the Iraq war and climate change. Many analysts said the election has created high expectations that the new president will be more in tune with the rest of the world.
“In many capitals people have been waiting for this change for some time,” said Rosa Balfour, a senior analyst at the European Policy Center, a Brussels-based research group."
Does anyone remember the I'm sorry website that went up after the 2004 election theft? There was a huge outpouring of anger at the people of the US for allowing the travesty that Bush and the GOP have made our nation. Sadly, the ignorance and apathy of our own people are largely to blame, and as a nation, we owe the world a huge apology for these years.
Torture is all in
a day's work
From
Fran for
Ramblings
A few days ago a commanding officer was exonerated of all criminal charges, and his legal record wiped clean of any wrongdoing in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse.
Truthout reports a similar ruling re Guantanamo Bay prisoner abuse & torture.
Washington - A federal appeals court Friday threw out a suit by four British Muslims who allege that they were tortured and subjected to religious abuse in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a ruling that exonerated 11 present and former senior Pentagon officials.
It appeared to be the first time that a federal appellate court has ruled on the legality of the harsh interrogation tactics that U.S. intelligence officers and military personnel have used on suspected terrorists held outside the United States since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The detainees allege that they were held in stress positions, interrogated for sessions lasting 24 hours, intimidated with dogs and isolated in darkness and that their beards were shaved.
The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the detainees captured in Afghanistan aren't recognized as "persons" under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act because they were aliens held outside the United States. The Religious Freedom Act prohibits the government from "substantially burdening a person's religion."
WHAT???!!! Not recognized as persons, because they were alien detainees?????
If that is true- George Bush is a non person alien right now- Eh?
The court rejected other claims on the grounds that then-Attorney General John Ashcroft had certified that the military officials were acting within the scope of their jobs when they authorized the tactics, and that such tactics were "foreseeable."
"It was foreseeable that conduct that would ordinarily be indisputably `seriously criminal' would be implemented by military officials responsible for detaining and interrogating suspected enemy combatants," Circuit Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson wrote in the court's main opinion.
Judge Janice Rogers Brown dissented with parts of the opinion, saying that "it leaves us with the unfortunate and quite dubious distinction of being the only court to declare those held at Guantanamo are not `person(s).'
>>well certainly the dog cage style prisoner cells, and torture tactics reflect the non-person sentiment.
'`This is a most regrettable holding in a case where plaintiffs have alleged high-level U.S. government officials treated them as less than human," Brown wrote.
>> I think it is more than "regrettable", the word "criminal" comes to mind.
After being held for more than two years, the four men were repatriated to Britain in 2004, where they were freed within 24 hours without facing criminal charges, said Washington lawyer Eric Lewis, who represented them along with the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights.
Three of the men -said they sold to U.S. troops for bounty money. The three said they were unarmed and never engaged in combat against the United States.
The fourth, Jamal al Harith, said he'd planned to attend a religious retreat in Pakistan in October 2001 but was ordered to leave the country because of animosity toward Britons. When he tried to drive a truck home via Iran and Turkey, he says, his truck was hijacked at gunpoint and he was handed over to the Taliban, who jailed him and accused him of being a spy. When the Taliban fell after the U.S.-led invasion, he was detained and transported to Guantanamo.
The detainees filed suit in October 2004 against former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, former Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, who was the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time, and nine other senior military officers. They allege that the Pentagon officials violated the Alien Tort Statute, the Geneva Conventions, the religious freedom law and the Constitution with their harsh treatment.
In upholding a lower court's rejection of all the claims but those under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the circuit court said that the interrogation tactics, which Rumsfeld first authorized in 2002, were "incidental" to the duties of those who'd been sued.
"It is an awful day for the rule of law and common decency," said Lewis, the detainees' attorney, "when a court finds that torture is all in a day's work for the secretary of defense and senior generals. . . . I think the executive is trying to create a black hole so there is no accountability for torture and religious abuse."
Lewis said his clients intended to ask the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling.
>> So to recap- Abu Ghraib, no higher level accountability, no criminal charges.
Guantanamo- not only no accountability, but detainees are not people, and torture and violation of International law- Geneva conventions are incidental.
US citizens protesting about the violations at Guantanamo could be imprisoned for up to 6 months.
This was the kind of hard driving rock and roll Lennon preferred, according to many sources.
Nowadays it would be Ms. Lizzie. No matter, she will still drive you insane.
That's what you want, isn't it?
Line Drawn in
the Sand - US
Not Welcome to
Fight al Qaeda
in Pakistan
From
Charlotte
Weybright for
Berry Street
Beacon
Pakistan’s
beleaguered
president,
Pervez
Musharraf,
has
made
it
clear
that
the
U.S.
is
not
welcome
in
the
Pakastani
tribal
regions
to
continue
the
fight
against
Al-Qaida.
Bush
had
been
considering
expanding
the
authority
of
the
CIA
and
U.S.
military
to
launch
aggressive
covert
operations
in
tribal
regions
along
the
Pakistan-Afghan
border
which
has
long
been
considered
a
hiding
place
for
Al-Qaida
leader
Osama
bin
Laden.
The
regions
are
also
home
to
Taliban
militants
planning
attacks
on
coalition
forces
in
Afghanistan.
Photo
Credit:
CNN
Musharraf
said
every
tribe
in
Pakistan’s
Federally
Administered
Tribal
Areas
(FATA)
has
its
own
armory,
and
they
don’t
like
intrusions
into
their
