The US’ New Cadre of Josef Mengeles

I’m stewing over the posts by Valtin about the use of US psychologists as agents of torture. I’m heartsick and soul sick at the evidence that Dana Priest and Amy Goldstein produced in their Washington Post Careless Detainee series about the use of nurses and physicians as agents of abuse and torture.
And just in [...]

Daily Constitutional: Spring Divertissements, Torture and Illegal Propaganda

[UPDATE] The links list about the illegal Iraq War propaganda campaign will be updated as I discover new stories and evidence. Please add your own gems in the comments, and I’ll get them inserted into the post pronto. Thanks.
I’ve neglected the Constitution, instead lured by the scents, sounds and sights of Spring [...]

“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 [...]

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 [...]

Rice Chaired Torture, but states, “Nobody Condones Torture”

Act to remove Condoleezza Rice as US Secretary of State.  She is a war criminal. She is an enemy of the United States.

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 [...]

Torture: Sensory Deprivation

I discovered this series of videos from a science blogger, and if ever you wanted to understand just how counterproductive torture is, let alone the inhumanity of it, take a look at a 48 hour partial sensory deprivation experiment, conducted with informed volunteers under humane conditions.

Jose Padilla was held in this fashion in a US [...]

A Mountain of Sheet Ice

My comment at Glenn Greenwald’s Unclaimed Territory blog in response to his post this morning:
Between reading Glenn, Scott Horton and the group at Balkinziation, I can’t help but think that the issues around FISA, torture and the corporate oligarchy/press used as organs of propaganda make up not a single slippery slope, but a massive mountain [...]

Admission of Illegality of Waterboarding


State Secrets

There is a critical op-ed  in today’s LA Times written by Ben Wizner, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union.  I’ve copied and pasted it here for my own edification and as a warning to what the US has allowed itself to become under the unchecked fascism of George W. Bush and Richard Cheney. [...]

“So torture always comes home.”

Scott Horton conducts a defining interview  with Darius Rejali about torture. What does it mean for us?  How will we live with it?  What happens to the torturers? What happens to us?  What happens to our country?
The excerpts are provided to whet your appetite and read the full interview and Dr. Rejali’s book, Torture and [...]

As Though That’s Going to Happen

Senators Dick Durbin and Sheldon Whitehouse write a letter. Want to take bets on the response it receives?

Daily Constitutional: Torture, Article Two, The Fourth Amendment & Stuff

A little daily tour to glean the who’s who and the what’s what of Constitution-themed essays, news and opinion.

Impeachment is the Remedy for Tyranny*

h/t Password Productions
The Case for Impeachment, Scott Horton, February 3, 2008; Harpers.com.
A Short History of Impeachment - Infoplease
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