Was Obama supposed to be present at the trial? Or was he supposed to be present at some other event? I think something was skipped in the middle of the last snippet.

Posted at April 15, 2008 11:16 AM in response to The Daily Muck

A reminder -

I keep hearing people, both in government and out, throwing numbers around about the amount of money we are spending each month in Iraq.

$3 billion, $6 billion, $9 billion, $12 billion. But no one seems to be aware of the TRUE COST (financial only, at this point), -
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/12/27/stevens-15-billion/

In a little-noticed Senate floor speech on December 18, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), the ranking Republican on the Appropriations defense subcommittee, revealed that the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan “IS APPROACHING $15 BILLION A MONTH!!!!!!!!” Stevens made his comment while arguing for adding $70 billion. (Emphasis added)

This is a number that should be shouted from the rooftops, every chance that a TRUE patriot gets near a microphone.

$15 BILLION!
$15 BILLION!
$15 BILLION!
$15 BILLION!
$15 BILLION!

As people start letting it sink in that Shrub is cutting things like RIF (Reading is Fundamental) which distributes 16 million books a year to needy and deserving children for a whopping $25 million, ANNUALLY! That he wants to deny healthcare to American children for less than 2 MONTHS of what it costs to stay in Iraq, and he whines about "entitlements" breaking the government, while spending an outrageous $1 TRILLION dollars in warmongering this year ALONE.

$15 BILLION!
$15 BILLION!
$15 BILLION!

What about John McCain and his 100 years in Iraq that he thinks we won't mind? Does he REALLY anticipate spending such a major chunk of our hard-earned taxpayer dollars (Thanks again Shrub - for reminding us on FOX Sunday that the rich don't pay their taxes - they just hire accountants and stick you with the bill. (Has he lost what's left of his ever-lovin' mind?!?))

$15 BILLION!
$15 BILLION!
$15 BILLION!

It should be the mantra of the progressives in this country as well as a rallying cry for the Democratic (not DEMOCRAT!) party.

$15 BILLION!
$15 BILLION!
$15 BILLION!

If "tax and spend" worked for Reagan, $15 BILLION! should seal the deal for 2008.

Oh - and don't forget to run his "rich don't pay taxes" clip over and over and over and over and....

Posted at February 15, 2008 11:53 PM in response to The Calculus of Torture

As for the 3 CIA torture cases - if there were only 3, then why the need for this -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/11/AR2008021100572.html?sub=AR

FBI and military interrogators who began work with the suspects in late 2006 called themselves the "Clean Team" and set as their goal the collection of virtually the same information the CIA had obtained from five of the six through duress at secret prisons.

Whoops!

That means a MINIMUM of 5 detainees who were tortured BY THE CIA!!

A list should be compiled of all of the different "admissions" and "revelations" by the torturers, as well as reports by third parties detailing the different persons that are KNOWN to have suffered at their hands.

Much like the aftermath of WWII, there will come a day when the world will ask, "Where were all of the GOOD Americans?"

I hope that when that time comes, that the question will be irrelevant, as it will be known that Americans finally did the right thing and held a domestic version of the Nuremberg trials, a modern version of the Truman Comittee, and a handful of RICO charges for good measure.

The Bush Administration is nothing more than a criminal enterprise being run out of the White House.

It is time for all good Americans to DEMAND an end to the blight that is rotting our country from the inside, out.

Posted at February 15, 2008 11:22 PM in response to The Calculus of Torture

As for the 3 CIA torture cases - if there were only 3, then why the need for this -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/11/AR2008021100572.html?sub=AR

FBI and military interrogators who began work with the suspects in late 2006 called themselves the "Clean Team" and set as their goal the collection of virtually the same information the CIA had obtained from five of the six through duress at secret prisons.

Whoops!

That means a MINIMUM of 5 detainees who were tortured BY THE CIA!!

A list should be compiled of all of the different "admissions" and "revelations" by the torturers, as well as reports by third parties detailing the different persons that are KNOWN to have suffered at their hands.

Much like the aftermath of WWII, there will come a day when the world will ask, "Where were all of the GOOD Americans?"

I hope that when that time comes, that the question will be irrelevant, as it will be known that Americans finally did the right thing and held a domestic version of the Nuremberg trials, a modern version of the Truman Comittee, and a handful of RICO charges for good measure.

The Bush Administration is nothing more than a criminal enterprise being run out of the White House.

It is time for all good Americans to DEMAND an end to the blight that is rotting our country from the inside, out.

Posted at February 15, 2008 11:20 PM in response to The Calculus of Torture

My daughter was recently charged with assault after throwing a COLD cup of coffee (and they stated COLD in the report!) at her "boyfriend" after he jumped out of her car, on the freeway, with her laptop, cellphone, etc, and started running in circles around her car.

He suffered NO damage, emotional or physical (besides what he obviously came in with).

There have been people, in this country, who have been found guilty of assault for purely VERBAL altercations.

If Bradbury and his cronies don't want to call it torture, well then fine. Let's start with charging them all with assault, inflicting emotional distress, and all of the other crimes that clearly being broken during their "enhanced" interrogations. Then we can let a jury decide how much time they should do for their crimes.

One thing is certain - a CRIME is being committed. Let's hear them try to argue that waterboarding, etc. does not rise to at least the level of assault.

P.S. - The whole "CIA only tortured 3 people" line is a red herring. We contracted torture out to CACI in Iraq, the reprehensible regimes that formed the true "coalition of the willing", and more than 100 detainees at GITMO are supposed to have been "enhanced" by someone, we just don't know which private company we contracted it out to. YET.

And then there's these sorts of stories, dribbling in from around the country - http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/03/nyregion/03detain.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

In November 2004, federal officials who oversee the detention of immigrants facing deportation said they would no longer send detainees to jails that used dogs to patrol inside. That decision by the Department of Homeland Security came a day after National Public Radio broadcast an investigative report saying that the dogs had been used over a three-year period to intimidate, attack and, in at least two cases, bite immigrant detainees in the Passaic County Jail.

NICE! (I don't know about you, but I think it would cause ME to have lasting psychological damage!)

The Reich Wing should not be allowed to so narrowly "define" the torture debate in this way. They are trying to shove an elephant through a needle on this one, and the only way they'll be successful is if the Dems decide to slap on a ton of lube to ease its passage.

Posted at February 15, 2008 10:35 PM in response to The Calculus of Torture