alive.A group of
international human rights organizations and experts filed a brief today before
the Spanish Supreme Court, arguing that the continued failure of U.S.
authorities to investigate or prosecute torture binds the Spanish judicial
system to resume its inquiry into these practices...
"Do the
Others have parents? Do they have grandparents? Do the Others have siblings,
who now watch the clear blue skies in terror every day, the way New Yorkers did
for a few months after 9/11? Do the Others have spouses who miss them? Do the
Others have children who wonder why the Others haven't come home from work yet?
Do the Others have circles of friends who talk about the hole that is left in
their daily lives, who talk about corny old jokes the Others used to tell, or
stories about when one of the Others tripped on a rock or fell in a creek, or
offer prayers for the souls of the Others every day?
It Is Long Past Time We Met the Victims of the Lethal Presidency of
Barack Obama
"How can justice be
demanded in other nations when the Obama administration, which was supposed to
usher in an era of change and hope, has essentially refused to prosecute the
officials in the Bush dictatorship who are responsible for these crimes? --
Higher education in America: Dream or nightmare?
September 21, Herbst Theatre
in San Francisco
World Can't Wait activists protested the illegal and immoral drone strikes being perpetrated in our name, delivering a message that kill lists and more unjust war are not the kind of change we believe in.
Conspicuously absent in the 2012 Democratic Party Platform is any direct reference to Obama's assassination program, which constitutional law attorney Glenn Greenwald believes is "literally the most radical power that a government and president can seize." Obama wants 4 more years to "finish what I started." It is imperative that people of conscience take a serious look at the toll the President's actions have taken on the people of the World.
In a statement, the ACLU
noted that the list did not include Adnan Latif, who died in his cell earlier this month.
Italy's highest criminal court on Wednesday upheld the convictions of 23 Americans in the abduction of an Egyptian terror suspect from a Milan street as part of the CIA's extraordinary rendition program, paving the way to possible extradition requests by Italian authorities... continue reading
"Torture is never acceptable. The presidential campaign is dominating the headlines, but Americans should know that the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is finishing a three-year investigation into past interrogation practices by the CIA, including its use of torture -- Rev. Kent Siladi
World Can't Wait activists returned to Boalt Hall Wednesday to deliver a message to students:"We have to
acknowledge and grapple with the fact that, in the post-9/11 era, we took a
wrong turn in this path," said Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU's National
Security Project, which monitors the country's security practices. "We turned
to policies of torture and now targeted killing, of Guantanamo and military
commissions, of warrantless government spying and religious and racial
profiling."
c/o Raw Story: Major questions remain over the fate of Bagram prison's more than 3,000 inmates, including around 50 foreigners not covered by the agreement, and hundreds more arrested since the transfer deal was signed on March 9.
What would a sovereign Afghanistan look like?
Murder - no, it's not OK when the President approves it. The U.S. is not
exempt from the most basic laws governing the protection of human rights. A
crime is a crime, no matter who does it.
There is a heart worm of dark evil hollowing out the core of this nation. Think of this, the supposedly Democratic president of this nation has made the country safe for torturers. Torture, folks!
"we sincerely
believe that torture is somehow different. Accountability for torture is not
just one among many important issues. Rather, it goes to the core of who we are
as a nation. If we allow our government to torture in our names, all bets are
off. Aggressive, illegal wars; a political system that can be bought; consumers
and workers with no protections; a health care/education/economic system that
favors the rich. We can't consistently fight those injustices while acquiescing
to torture with impunity...
An open letter to Senator Klobuchar on 10th anniversary of torture memos
Photo: Noah Berger/Associated Press
Scott Horton finds a 'silver lining' to closure of CIA torture investigation:
"The Durham investigation appears to have been prolonged for at least eighteen months beyond its actual conclusion in order to provide a pretext to block related foreign criminal investigations. There is now no reason why those proceedings should not go forward. Indeed, a decision by the Holder Justice Department to establish a principle of impunity means, under established international-law concepts, that other prosecutors and courts are now free to proceed."
And you can forget about a return of habeas corpus; the 2012 platform retains indefinite detention policy, omits a 2008 pledge to revisit the Patriot Act or limitations on executive power, and avoids specific mention of drone strikes.
US Presidents can kidnap citizens of their own or any nation on earth from anyplace on the planet for torture, indefinite imprisonment without trial or murder them and neighboring family and bystanders at will. To be perfectly fair, there are distinctions between Republicans and Democrats here that don't amount to differences. Republicans Cheney and Bush got their lawyers to say these things were OK and did them. Democrat Obama got Congress to enact "laws" giving these acts a veneer of fake legality, something a Republican probably could not have done. (#8 on the list)
Closer Than You Think: Top 15
Things Romney and Obama Agree On
