Live Webcast Today 1300-1700 Eastern: Restoring America After Bush

JALSA conference: Restoring America After Bush (Webcast)
The conference will be held in the Ames Courtroom in Austin Hall on the Harvard Law School campus from 1:00 to 5:00 PM, US East Coast time, on Friday, May 16, 2008. A live webcast in Real Player format will be available here.
You need RealOne Player, or another player [...]

“We Don’t Torture”

Brian Tamanaha on the always illuminating Balkinization blog explains more succinctly than anywhere else on the web how BushCo has justified its, “We don’t torture,” mantra in spite of clear and convincing (and deadly) evidence to the contrary.  Use this to explain to the Bush dead-enders:
“We do not torture,” declared President Bush in 2005.
A [...]

Welcome to the Coven, Laura Berg

The New York Times included the following editorial about Laura Berg, RN who practices as a psychiatric nurse in the Veterans Administration system. For speaking truth to power, she was almost charged with sedition, and the full court witch hunt press of the Bush Administration was on her. Nurses are far to easily [...]

Torture: They Report It Because The US Media Is Pimping For The White House

The UK-based Guardian, has presented a several part primer on understanding the breadth, depth and scope of US torture.  Yes, make sure you pay attention to the referencing that it is US policy affirming and using torture.  What George and Dick do, they do in all our names.  Until we remove them from office, repudiate [...]

Daily Constitutional: Torture and Torturous

Military.com reports about the Pentagon’s detailed evidence of abuse of Afghan prisoners.
The LA Times addresses the horrendous state of prison health care.  And yet, no mention is made of the widespread criminalization of people with mental illness.  over 50% of all inpatient psychiatric care is delivered in prisons.  The answer isn’t in adding to the prison [...]

Bush and The Principles of Torture: “This is your baby. Go do it.”

Bush has been telling us we torture and that he directed it for years; we just didn’t equate “enhanced interrogation techniques” with torture.  That enemy he refers to is us - we, the people. Bush is America’s number one enemy domestic:

Dan Eggen of the Washington Post wrote:
People attending the meetings and their job titles at [...]

Daily Constitutional: The Torture, The Monarchy, and The Republic, For Which It Stands

I can’t bring myself to blog in depth about the Yoo torture memos yet, so instead, I’ll bring you some essential links from people whose work I respect, and who bring thoughtful, logical and critical thinking to the table:

Bush and Cheney’s Weapons of Mass Delusions

Dan Froomkin published yet another column chronicling eidence that Bush and Cheney are delusional and are acting on their fixed, false beliefs.
My comment is long enough to be a post, so here it is:
Today’s column title, “Bush’s Simplistic Vision,” is actually a listing of evidence of a serious and persistent delusion - a fixed false belief. [...]

Daily Constitutional: US Political Prisoner Freed, Press Intimidation, While Iraq Implodes, US Wars With Iran Via Bankers

Congress remains stubbornly resistant to impeaching Bush and Cheney. Meanwhile, the accounts of their evil-doing go on unabated.  Here is just some of the latest:
In Slate, Eric Lichtblau lifts the edge of a veil on how Bush and Cheney intimidated the NYTimes and threatened the press to keep its unlawful warrantless domestic spying under wraps.

Stirrings of Populism?

The traditional media has steadfastly refused to cover domestic surveillance and the stripping of the Fourth Amendment until just recently, when a little ray of light escaped from that black hole.  What happened?
The equivalent of a roller shade suddenly losing its spring and popping up unexpectedly in the form of the House Democrats unexpectedly refusing [...]

“trying to put the crazies back in the box”

Asia Times’ Gareth Porter writes about Fallon’s “resignation” and the implications. The Bush/Cheney pattern of ousting/forcing constructive discharges of competent professionals who express disagreement with Bush loyalism remains unbroken.  Retired General John Abizaid, Admiral Fallon’s predecessor, had also obliquely referenced his commitment to obstructing Bush/Cheney’s mad dash to Iranian attack.
Fallon’s greatest concern appears to have been [...]

Mozart’s Ode to Bush and Congress

H/T Futility Closet
“In 1991 Harvard’s music library discovered a lost canon of Mozart, the composer who Leonard Bernstein said offers “the spirit of compassion, of universal love, even of suffering — a spirit that knows no age, that belongs to all ages.”
It’s called “Lick Me in the Ass.”

…Traitorous, Treasonous, Dictator, Thief

Gypsy, Gypsy please tell me
What my fortune’s going to be
Rich-man, Poor-man, Beggar-man, Thief
Doc-tor, Law-yer, In-di-an Chief
Tink-er, Tail-or
Cow-boy, Sail-or
Traitor, Treasonous, Dictator, Thief

What They Were Saying: George R , The Royal Proclamation Regarding Securing His Loving Subjects

The 18th Century documents collection at the Avalon project includes this royal proclamation by George R.  It’s notable because it uses precisely the same language as George W about securing the safety of the people and the country in a paternalistic, just trust us, royal we rule in lieu of government.  (emphasis added.)

The Royal Proclamation - [...]

Turn Out the Lights When You Close The Door

Democracy is dead in the US.  Scott Horton describes  it elegantly (emphasis added). 
This weekend, the darkness continues to descend in Washington, the powers of the state continue to grow and the mechanisms of accountability rot away unused.Americans are focused on the selection of a new president. Many of them share the naïve assumption that on [...]