Under this mistletoe, an ignorant dolt -- Mary Matalin

By J. Thomas Duffy

We had hoped to get through the holidays with only the need for a little light dusting.

Much as we would at home, turning the thermostat down if we were to be away a few days, we dialed down, a crank or two, the Ignorant Dolt detector.

It was, after all, Christmas, and we would have like to think that people could hold it back, contain themselves through the holiday.

Ahh, the lessons that we learn ...

I suppose, though, that now is as good a time as any.

After all, Mary "Free Scooter Libby" Matalin long, long ago established her Ignorant Dolt credentials.

It was sheer laziness on our part for not fitting her with the Ignorant Dolt Crown and Sceptre for her bevy of outlandish displays of amazing doltness.

If we were ever to create a statue, a la The Oscar, to bestow upon our Ignorant Dolts, Matalin would, definitely, be up high on the list, top two, or three, for its likeness.



And how did Mary "The World Will Come To An End Under Democrats" Matalin put her Ignorant Dolt foot into her Ignorant Dolt mouth?

Mary Matalin claims President Bush ‘inherited’ the September 11th terror attacks

On CNN today, GOP strategist and former Dick Cheney adviser Mary Matalin argued that President Obama is speaking too much about the severe debt, deficits, and economic recession he inherited from the previous administration. Defending her former boss, Matalin charged that President Bush had in fact “inherited a recession” and the September 11th attacks from President Clinton:

MATALIN: I was there, we inherited a recession from President Clinton and we inherited the most tragic attack on our own soil in our nation’s history. And President Bush dealt with it and within a year of his presidency within a comparable time, unemployment was at 5 percent.

Oh no, you didn't really say that, did you Mary?

After all the documentation on how The Bush Grindhouse blew off the Clinton Administrations terrorism work, naturally, because they were too busy planning on how they were going to attack Iraq.

The Commander Guy's vacation, and the ignored PDB?

It may be Mary, that you are such an Ignorant Dolt, they cut you out of the loop.

Rove, or Dan Bartlett, maybe even Andy Card, didn't send you the memo?

The memo that said, since The Bush Grindhouse was out of business, since WHIG was shuttered-up, you couldn't go around making up your own facts any longer.

This is really egregious.

Even he must cringe at having to look at such an Ignorant Dolt as yourself every day ...

It wouldn't surprise me if Gollum divorces you over this.




(Cross-posted at The Garlic.)

It will never be a happy "Mission Accomplished" day

By J. Thomas Duffy

We wonder how The Commander Guy celebrated yesterday.

Did he strut around in his his new Dallas neighborhood in the flight suit? ... Stand on his back porch, reliving the moment on the deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln? ... Or, simply remain obtuse, as dense as he has ever been.

Yesterday, if you recall, was the 6th Anniversary of "Mission Accomplished".

You remember, when the invasion and occupation was all wrapped up, all that "stuff happens" happened, the cheering crowds of liberated people, fading in the deep crevices of The Bush Grindhouse, a few stray rose pedals, and flowers, drifting aimlessly..

As egregious (and, perhaps, criminal) as this was, it was more horrific, the complete submission, and full-throated cheerleading, of our dunce-capped media.

So many were so, so wrong.

Greg Mitchell has captured that, in his book, "So Wrong For So Long", and has a piece up on Huffington Post, "On 6th Anniversary of 'Mission Accomplished' -- How the Media Blew It";

Chris Matthews on MSNBC called Bush a "hero" and boomed, "He won the war. He was an effective commander. Everybody recognizes that, I believe, except a few critics." He added: "Women like a guy who's president. Check it out. The women like this war. I think we like having a hero as our president. It's simple."

PBS' Gwen Ifill said Bush was "part Tom Cruise, part Ronald Reagan." On NBC, Brian Williams gushed, "The pictures were beautiful. It was quite something to see the first-ever American president on a -- on a carrier landing."

Bob Schieffer on CBS said: "As far as I'm concerned, that was one of the great pictures of all time." His guest, Joe Klein, responded: "Well, that was probably the coolest presidential image since Bill Pullman played the jet fighter pilot in the movie Independence Day. That was the first thing that came to mind for me."

Ahh .... Dwarf, finks, phonies, and frauds, the bunch of 'em ...

Go check out, for a head-shaking chuckle, our elite media, in Mitchell's "On 6th Anniversary of 'Mission Accomplished' -- How the Media Blew It"


Bonus Links

Bush Remarks on "Mission Accomplished" Banner Embarrass White House

Top Ten Cloves: Lengths White House Staff Will Go Today To Avoid Reminding President Of "Mission Accomplished"




(Cross Posted at The Garlic)

Tough Times

By Carol Gee

Make for a rocky road -- The economic situation seems to get more scary with each passing day. More of us have less money and fewer jobs, the U.S. auto industry is still in trouble, the deficit balloons and the housing industry seems moribund. But we are in for a change; our President-elect has promised that. But he has warned that the economy will get worse before it gets better. Here is my take on why, based on the stories my regular contributors have been sending my way (see Hat Tip Key below).

Just how bad it it? AlterNet says, "This Looks Like the Start of a Second Great Depression#" (1/9/09). I am not sure I would go that far, but I am of an optimistic nature. The Raw Story reports, "US deficit to hit 1.2 trillion dollars: budget office*" (1/7/09). This bothers me a great deal, as I am a saver by nature. And TruthOut ran this story earlier: "December Job Losses at 673,000, Worse Than Thought*" (1/7/09). That's bad for my kids but not for me, as I am a retiree.

Who gets hurt by all this? BuzzFlash notes that, "Wealth of U.S. millionaires down 30 percent*" (1/6/09). Yahoo! News notes:"Mass. investor saw inside Madoff scam#" (12/19/08). We see by the Washington Post that "Thieves Stole Indentities to Tap Home Equity#" (11/27/08) -- about this Jon says, ". . . the downside of all this technology." From Dandelionsalad: "Rachel Maddow Show: Bailout for Auto Workers Forbids Strikes*;" it was published on (1/10/09). See also, The Raw Story#. Regarding reproductive rights, The Raw Story: reports that "New Bush rule could hit poor, rural women the hardest#" (12/3/08). Rich and poor, workers and homeowners, everybody's hurting.

What happens to our children? Under the Bush administration college tuition rates soared. Here is another manifestation of the same kind of irresponsible policies. AlterNet exposes, "How colleges are using a cynical ploy to appear more exclusive* (1/6/09). McClatchy gossips, Levi quits oilfield job; Palin denies she helped him get it* (1/5/09). The Boston Globe spins, "Help wanted: Wienermobile drivers - Globe-trotting#" - (12/6/08). There could be worse jobs out there, folks.

Who caused all this pain? Republicans reason and Think Progress reveals, "Limbaugh's Crazy Conspiracy Theory: Democrats Started the Economic Crisis to Help Elect Obama#" (12/22/08). Yahoo! News/AP IMPACT: "How Freddie Mac halted regulatory drive#" -- This was published on 12/7/08). And the administration turned a blind eye.

Are the fixes working? Time Magazine headlined, "Bailout Report Card: How Successful Have the Financial Relief Efforts Been? - The Bailout From A to F#" (1/5/09). This is an extremely valuable overview of how the current administration's interventions have worked to date. To summarize:

Fannie and Freddie Takeovers: Grade D. Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP): Grade C. Hope For Homeowners: Grade F. Capital Purchase Plan: Grade C. Money Market Fund Insurance: Grade A. The Fed's Actions to Ease Lending: Grade B.

What about accountability? AlterNet: "Financial Meltdown Provides Final Verdict on Reaganomics*" (1/7/09). A New York Times op-ed piece by one of my favorites, Frank Rich is a very enlightening expose of the impossibility of our situation, or is it? Headlined, "Eight Years of Madoffs#," (1/11/09), this is a very important opinion with which we should be familiar. Rich concludes,

If Bernie Madoff, at least, can still revive what remains of our deadened capacity for outrage, so can those who pulled off Washington’s Ponzi schemes. The more we learn about where all the bodies and billions were buried on our path to ruin, the easier it may be for our new president to make the case for a bold, whatever-it-takes New Deal.

You might want to save today's post as a souvenir of the Bush administration. Thank Goodness, it will soon be no more. The people, most of them, will be gone from their offices, but the downsides will linger for a long time, I am afraid.

Hat Tip Key: Regular contributors of links to leads are "betmo*" and Jon#.

(Cross-posted at South by Southwest.)

Quote of the Day

By Creature

"This is an excellent day for those who believe in presidential adherence to the rule of law [...]" -- Digby, reacting to Obama's great pick of Dawn Johnsen to head the DOJ's Office of Legal Council. It's a sad day when we cheer presidential adherence to the rule of law, but such is the state Bush & Cheney have left us in.

(Cross-posted at State of the Day.)

Plenty of time to tamper with stuff --

By Carol Gee

-- by the "party of whiners#," as Paul Krugman names the GOP. The next couple of weeks provide plenty of time for our current "Sarah Palin-like president" - #Lawrence Wilkerson's term - (OCP) to make hiring mischief#, to be inept, burnish his legacy#, and defend his record# of failures. I cannot wait to say goodbye to all that. The Republicans were defeated.

The past week has provided an opportunity for Israel to invade Gaza with impunity from OCP, a NYT analysis asserts. Despite world-wide protest, the current administration has come down almost entirely on the side of Israel. Ironically, there is every possibility that United States citizens protesting against either Israeli or Palestinian violence will have their civil liberties violated. They can easily be monitored by some arm of the government* for their potential as so-called "terrorist threats." If Maryland police could dream it up you can imagine that some other set of cowboys would try it.

While most Republicans will flee DC for the inauguration, Frank Rich's recent New York Times op-ed column, "A President Forgotten But Not Gone," reminds us painfully that OCP will still be in town until the White House changes hands. His piece is a searing indictment of OCP's failed presidency, along with a very perceptive analysis of the personality of OCP. And the Bush dynasty may not be over; Bush 41 is now touting Jeb for the top job#. "NO! NO! NO!," exclaims my regular contributor, Jon.

Put your money in gold# -- A study released last month by Celent , a Boston-based firm that provides independent information and advice to financial services companies, produced a "Fraudlent 'Credit Crisis' paves way for economic disaster#" MensNewsDaily headline that, to quote:

The analysis, Flawed Assumptions about the Credit Crisis: A Critical Examination of US Policymakers, concludes that the result of the unjustified massive federal intervention in the economy could be similar to the economic crisis in the Weimar Republic of 1922, where disastrous hyperinflation made the currency worthless and threatened the nation’s political system and stability.

. . . Paulson had claimed that, by mid-September, when he persuaded President Bush to go public with demands for Congress to approve a $700-billion bailout plan, the financial system had “seized up,” credit markets had “froze,” and interbank lending had been “substantially reduced.”

But none of this was true. “The freezing of the credit markets that Secretary Paulson cites is not visible” in the data, the Celent report shows . . .It declares, “Doubtlessly, a number of the leading financial institutions in the US are in serious trouble, as are a number of the leading industrial firms. However, credit difficulties surrounding a specific set of firms is not the same as a problem in the credit markets in the aggregate.” The study says that, “A clear and cogent analysis of the credit crisis has not been presented by policymakers, despite the fact that unprecedented levels of public funds are being deployed.” As a result, the “massive injection of funds could well exacerbate the problem rather than help.”

Fighting the Last Depression# -- "Banks have plenty of money; this is a crisis of confidence," is Time Magazine's analysis. Authors Lawrence and Ari Officer warn that the administration (s) should not fight this crisis like it is another Great Depression. AlterNet posits in similar posts# that the "credit crunch was a myth perpetuated to sell a trillion-dollar scam#." We will see how long it lasts after being exposed to the light of day.

Gates has guts -- Walter Pincus' article, "Pentagon Chief sees opportunities in Russia and the War on Terrorism," is a very welcome way for all of us to get some practice bridging out of the administration of OCP and into some sanity. We have just a couple more weeks to wait.

Hat Tip Key: Regular contributors of links to leads are "betmo*" and Jon#.

(Cross-posted at South by Southwest.)

More legacy polishing

By Creature

Today, taking center stage on the Bush Legacy tour is national security adviser Stephen Hadley and White House chief of staff Josh Bolten:

Bolten said another of his goals when he took over was to try to get the country to see the likable boss he and other aides saw in private, convinced that would boost Bush's popularity. "I failed miserably," he conceded. "Maybe in the beginning of the sixth year of a presidency, that's a quixotic task. . . . But everybody who has actual personal exposure to the president, almost everybody, appreciates what a good leader he is, how smart he is and, especially, how humane he is."

Hadley invoked Bush's 2000 campaign theme in summing up the president's personal qualities. "He has got this great compassion which was not just a slogan, 'compassionate conservative.' It is who he is. It is one of the great things he brought to this office," Hadley concluded. "This is the one thing that just drives me crazy, that somehow this is an arrogant administration, an arrogant president running an arrogant policy. This guy -- one thing he is not is arrogant.

Laughable. Isn't it? Here's the thing, after eight years the American people have gotten to know this president and we all agree he is an incompetent, intellectually incurious, arrogant, stubborn, emotionally detached, ass. Really, folks, enough with the legacy shining, you're just making yourselves look worse.

(Cross-posted at State of the Day.)

The book larnin' president

By Libby Spencer

I couldn't bring myself to read Rove's column announcing Bush is really a closet braniac because he's such a prodigious reader but I choked down Richard Cohen's column to find out what he read. Hundreds of books they claim. It's probably true. It's not like he spent a lot of time socializing.

All I can say is I don't find the mere fact that he had an ongoing contest with Karl over who could read the most books all that compelling a case for Bush's intellect. I might best sum up my reaction by saying, you can lead a man to a book, but you can't make him absorb the content, or take any lessons from it.

(Cross-posted at The Impolitic.)

White House sends out legacy talking points

By Creature

Basically since President Bush refrained from getting blown by an intern during the last eight years his presidency is deemed a success. Mission accomplished.

(Cross-posted at State of the Day.)

Is the world more or less secure today?

By Carol Gee

Is the World More or Less Secure Today? There are many kinds of security. Uppermost in may people's minds these days is financial security around the globe. And probably the best place to find out about that question is the Financial Times. A good place to start is their World headlines page. There we learn that Saturday European leaders met to discuss the financial crisis. The UK may have to cut interest rates. British banks are braced for an insurance crackdown. California may have to get an emergency loan. The U.S. has lost 159,000 jobs recently, and our Federal Reserve system may have to do something with interest rates. Following the passage of the so-called "rescue" legislation, the financial markets remain somewhat in turmoil. Stocks fell sharply again the day of the vote. Financial Times also has a good International economy page.

European Leaders Hold Emergency Finance Summit in Paris -- The website Deutsche Welle has the best story about the economic Summit in Paris. It is a must read to get the full picture of the EU dilemma. To quote:

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called an emergency finance summit in Paris Saturday. Washington has approved its historic $700-billion bailout package, but EU leaders are divided over what action to take. Disagreements, however, center around a plan, reportedly favored by France, to set up a 300 billion euro ($415 billion) fund to help troubled European financial institutions.

In particular, this has provoked tensions between France and Germany, who have diverging views of how the European Union should function. Berlin is traditionally more opposed to a centralized approach, especially in monetary affairs.

Britain, along with Germany, has been reluctant to commit taxpayers' money to a Europe-managed fund and advocates a case-by-case approach to rescuing financial institutions. . . . The British prime minister's spokesman said that while the financial crisis had a "European dimension," individual countries wanted to come up with their own solution because it is their taxpayers' money that is at risk.

The Asia Times has an Asian Economy page analogous to the others mentioned in today's post. New Zealand's market did the best this week with only a 1% drop. Japan saw declines it had not seen in almost 25 years. It was reported that Asian markets "barely blinked" at the passage of the U.S. bailout package. Gold markets in Sydney and Hong Kong have been doing a brisk business. An article, "Asia still fatally coupled," by Thomas I Palley, offers a fascinating perspective on Tom Friedman's flat world.

Another interesting perspective is the one from Russia's RIA Novosti. Their Global financial crisis page is a good place to start. There we learn that only 7% of Russians believe that the economy is healthy. And, no surprise, Putin blames the U.S. for its inadequate response to the financial crisis. Russia's Central Bank gave $50 billion (9/29/08) to bolster its financial system.

Another kind of security is national security, or being protected from terrorism. For catching up on what is going on in this world I looked to my 10/3/08 CQ Behind the Lines newsletter, by David C. Morrison. Here are a couple of paragraphs that give some hints about how much more or less secure we are this week.

About security, the answer is, we don't know yet. To quote:

Four young Muslims went on trial in Paris on Wednesday accused of operating an extremist network that planned attacks in Europe and sent volunteers to fight in Iraq, Agence France-Presse reports. The two terror suspects arrested at a German airport last Friday may be released for want of evidence against them, Cologne’s Express explains. A Thai documentary that played at this month’s Toronto Film Festival centers on a teacher who was kidnapped and beaten by a group of Muslim women in 2006, dying after eight months in a coma, Reuters’ Chawadee Nualkhair spotlights.

About security the answer is, probably more secure. To quote:

In what is likely their last public appearance before meeting an Indonesian firing squad, the three Bali bombers “acted more like pop stars than prisoners,” The Sydney Morning Herald mentions. The United States has deployed to Israel a high-powered radar for coordinated defense against Iranian missile attack, marking the first permanent American military presence on Israeli soil, Defense News notes. “The Patriot Act-protected title character in ‘Eagle Eye’ [DreamWorks] is a self-aware, anti-terrorism surveillance computer that goes rogue — deciding to assassinate the leaders of America to end the self-imposed state of terror,” The Cleveland Scene’s Jason Morgan capsule-reviews.

About security the answer is, probably less secure. To quote:

The counterterror-oriented U.S. Africa Command debuted Wednesday as well, but hostility and cynicism have forced it to shelve plans to be based on the continent, Reuters updates. “Kylie Minogue and 2,000 VIP guests could be targeted by al Qaeda at the world’s most expensive party, the Nov. 20 opening of Dubai’s Atlantis Hotel,” The Daily Star breathlessly relates.

(Cross-posted at South by Southwest.)

Why bother with a constitution?

By Carol Gee

More Power to you, Mr. President? Actually, we the American people do not think so. We believe we still have the constitution, thank you very much. According to Matt Berman, who writes "The Daily Muck" (9/15/08) at TPM Muckraker:

A new AP-National Constitution Center poll shows that a majority of Americans are opposed to giving more power to the President, even at the expense of national security or the economy. The poll shows that two-thirds of Americans are opposed to shifting the balance of government towards the executive, evidence of wide-ranging skepticism of the advances in executive power during the Bush years. The poll also found more of a split when Americans were asked if Congress should be awarded greater power in times of economic or national security hardships. (AP)

I am a Constitution Voter Campaign -- At the ACLU Blog (9/15/08), Caroline Fredrickson on Salon Radio, on the Constitution Voter Campaign talks about how useful it would be to have the presidential candidates talk about Constitutional issues.

Our current president (OCP) started ignoring the Constitution by spying on Americans without a legal warrant some time ago. A great post illustrates an example. It cleverly and succinctly summarizes the new Barton Gellman material, with the five main points of the book's revelations. It came from ACLU Blog, and was written by Amanda Simon (9/15/08): "Ashcroft Defends Constitution in Spying Clusterfrack. Happy Opposite Day!"

Our current president (OCP) had massive help from the private sector in shredding our Constitution's privacy protection -- At the website, Dandelion Salad [by Tom Burghardt of Global Research, September 11, 2008], comes the sordid story. To quote:

What do the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program and enterprising capitalist grifters have in common? Workarounds...and lots of them. The kind that aren't covered by any law.

Two highly-disturbing reports by CNET and the London Review of Books describe how government intelligence agencies and niche telecom providers have teamed-up to subvert our privacy rights-while providing security agencies with real-time cell phone tracking capabilities.

. . . And with a swarming multitude of new companies crawling out of the woodwork to "service" the "homeland security" market, why its a snap. Firms such as ThorpeGlen, VASTech, Kommlabs, and Aqsacom all sell what CNET's Chris Soghoian describes as "off-the-shelf data-mining solutions to government spies interested in analyzing mobile-phone calling records and real-time location information."

Called "passive-probing" data mining, these companies are carving-out lucrative niche markets. Only there's nothing "passive" about these intrusive operations undertaken in concert with a veritable army of state and corporate spooks.

. . . And there you have it. Niche telecom providers are the latest players in the West's burgeoning "terrorism industry," one that "keeps us safe" by destroying our privacy and our rights with hefty profits all around. Call it another seamless victory for the market's "invisible hand" that clenches as it morphs into the state's iron fist wrapped in American flags and blood-drenched corporate logos.

Congress has sometimes been complicit with OCP in the business of warrantless wiretapping, even when Democrats were in charge. To give them their due, however, they have held many hearings revealing some truth about the extent of damage to the principles of the Constitution's Bill of Rights. For example, hats off to Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) for recently holding this Judiciary subcommittee hearing: "Restoring the Rule of Law."# It was this desire to dial back the executive power overreach that was Bush's primary governing philosophy that led the senator to call together nearly a dozen experts Tuesday morning for the Judiciary subcommittee hearing. To quote:

Some Democrats -- frustrated at banging their heads against a wall much of these last eight years, as they've watched George W. Bush run roughshod over the Constitution and the rule of law -- are determined to return some semblance of order once the president leaves office next year.

The FBI became the agency charged with domestic intelligence gathering during the post-9/11 reorganization of the government's intelligence and homeland security programs. But like other organizations in the executive branch, they have become less and less interested in civil liberties over the years. The following story is an illustration of what Congress is trying to do about that. "Mueller Grilled Over Claims New FBI Powers Amounts to Racial Profiling, More Spying,"* by Robert Chlala for The Public Record on September 19, 2008. To quote:

. . . what the new framework Mueller described would actually do is allow agents to begin "assessments" and surveillance without first obtaining factual evidence. Additionally, the guidelines would permit agents to use race and ethnicity as a factor for triggering investigations.

Despite the concerns raised during the hearings and pressure from civil rights groups, Attorney General Michael Mukasey plans on signing the guidelines into law on Oct. 1.

These guidelines represent only some of a series of changes in law enforcement set in place the last year, increasing the power of federal, state and local authorities. Other new policies include the proposal to eliminate restrictions on local and state law enforcement intelligence gathering, the recruitment of over 15,000 new informants, and the creation of local-level "fusion centers" that gather and monitor masses of criminal and non-criminal information on individuals.

While the FBI guidelines have not been released to the general public, several members of Congress and key staffers from the Judiciary Committees of the House and Senate pressed and received limited access to the draft. Department of Justice briefings and a speech by Attorney General Michael Mukasey in August also shed light on the topic.

Evidently protest is not protected in the copy of the Constitution carried by OCP. The Secret Service, under the Treasury Department, is charged with the protection of the President and Vice President, as well as of the candidates currently running for those offices. They are very good at taking their marching orders from OCP, who ignores Constitutional rights under the guise of maintaining safety. This perfect example "Secret Service order police to block McCain protesters,"* was a post at The Raw Story by David Edwards and Muriel Kane on September 17. To quote:

. . . Leaders of the protest, which had been arranged and publicized by local unions and the Ohio Democratic Party, said that as many as several hundred people had been expected to attend, but police were not letting them through roadblocks surrounding the area.

ACLU Calls for Investigation into Civil Liberties Violations at RNC -- During the Republican National Convention there were mass arrests, police raids on private homes and the detention of several journalists. This comes from my ACLU newsletter, and is a reminder why I am so grateful for the ACLU's long battle to protect our rights under the Constitution. To quote:

"Attempts by law enforcement to squelch lawful political speech and stifle the press have no place in our democracy and are unacceptable," said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. "Political conventions should be a showcase for free expression, not a venue for bullying and intimidation."

The ACLU specifically called for an investigation into possible violations of the First and Fourth Amendments, including:

* The arrest of reporters trying to gather the news;
* The mass arrest of hundreds of peaceful protestors;
* The surveillance and subsequent raids on several activist groups and private homes; and
* The confiscation by law enforcement agents of constitutionally-protected private property.

The ACLU affiliate office in Minnesota has assembled legal counsel for many of the reporters and peaceful protesters arrested at the protests and has also filed a lawsuit in federal court calling for the release of boxes of literature that were confiscated during raids.

Why bother with the Constitution at all when Homeland Security, under the cover of Keeping Us Safe, can intrude into Sesame Street, of all things? I give up. "Homeland Security, Sesame Style,"* by Jeff Dufour and Patrick Gavin (9/1808), at DC Examiner, explains. To quote:

In a move that will make Bush administration detractors bring back those duct tape jokes again, the Department of Homeland Security has partnered up with the famous children's show.

"We all want our children to feel safe in this world," said Meryl Chertoff, wife of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, at a ceremony held at the John Tyler Elementary School to announce the partnership. "And who better to do that than our Sesame Street friends, Grover and Rosita!"

. . . As you can imagine, the partnership is aimed at children, and seeks to encourage family preparedness plans in the case of emergencies.

Hat Tip Key: Regular contributors of links to leads are "betmo"* and Jon#.

(Cross-posted at South by Southwest.)

U.S. Constitution Day -- Sept. 17, 2008

By Carol Gee

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish the Constitution for the United States of America@.

Senator Robert Byrd, President Pro Tem, carries a copy of the Constitution with him as he goes about. He explains:

I carry a copy of the U.S. Constitution with me wherever I go. In as much as I am a U.S. Senator, this may not seem like strange behavior. I refer to it and study its provisions every day -- but what about you? What do you know about the Constitution? How much of it do you carry around with you? Why should you want to know about your Constitution?

As we all celebrate the signing of the Constitution on this day back in 1787, I note that Senator Byrd is a Democrat. And so am I. But, as Democrats, we have a number of things in common with true conservatives, such as Bruce Fein, Bob Barr, and Richard Viguerie. At both ends of the political spectrum, we want our Constitution back, just like these Republicans reported on 9/16/08, at The Huffington Post, to be "Conservatives [who] turn on McCain." Our priceless document has been hijacked,* in effect, by the Bush Neoconservatives and their followers. Fein puts it this way:

"The most conservative principles of the Constitution have been repeatedly violated in the last several years," says Fein. "[The] Founding Fathers engrafted a system of checks and review of one branch by another -- a system of due process safeguards against injustice that is likely to occur because of prejudice and fear. And those checks and balances have eroded enormously over the last several years, particularly since 9/11."

Building on the natural and normal fears of citizens after the terrorist attacks, an entire "security" industry has emerged. What these businesses do often comes perilously close to assaulting the Constitution. For example, what do you think about this system? Two Flint-area charter schools install high-tech security that does background checks* on every visitor, according to Shannon Murphy at the The Flint Journal, 9/12/08. This predicted military-industrial complex has been relentless in its pursuit of us. This rather extensive and fiery article by Tom Burghardt is from Global Research (9/15/08).# Titled "Big Brother in the "Big Apple -- Encircling Manhattan with thousands of surveillance cameras," it is a very passionate and thorough litany of the out of bounds behavior of the Bush administration. To quote:

In other words, COINTELPRO-style infiltration and neutralization operations by federal gangsters and their paid provocateurs will now be "normalized" under new Bushist rules. However, far from being a case of improving the efficacy of "information gathering" to "detect terrorist threats" as the Post claims, new federal guidelines will create a broad legal framework for the suppression of basic constitutional and democratic rights.

Indeed, under the new rules proposed by U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, "threat assessments" based on one's race, ethnicity or religion will become standard operating procedure as FBI agents and their informants target individuals, or left-wing political groups, solely on the basis of constitutionally-protected speech or religion.

. . . By tossing Nixon-era intelligence guidelines out the window, Mukasey and his masters in the Executive branch are granting line agents, "unparalleled leeway to investigate Americans without proper suspicion, and that will inevitably result in constitutional violations," according to Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. "Our right to protest the government and its policies is not suspicious behavior; it is constitutionally protected speech."

Unfortunately, in America's post-constitutional "new normal," characterized by an unprecedented looting of social wealth by crony capitalists, bloody wars of aggression, environmental plunder and the general putrefaction of culture under the flag of a "Christian Republic," protesting the government and its policies are indeed the quintessential hallmarks of suspicious behavior!

In the meantime Wall Street and our ubiquitous banking system is looking to the government to help them survive, after years of unregulated excess and corruption. Those of us who decry the "corporatocracy" are shedding few tears for all the greedy money men and women who are now in such deep trouble, along with some of their Republican enablers. However, yesterday my newsletter, The Democratic Strategist in its piece, "Meltdowns and Morality," focused on the important thoughts of Matt Yglesias. He reminded us that the meltdown is also hurting millions of hard working Americans caught in the blaze.

And all the while, the GOP is working to keep eligible African Americans from voting in several states, according to another fine writer, Jonathan Alter at Newsweek (9/11/08). He reports on "Jim Crawford Republicans."# Despite all of this, I am comforted by the knowledge that the Constitution set up the process by which we can make major course corrections. It is called an election and we get the chance to vote no later than November 4, 2008. It might be a good idea to vote early if you are able. Things are really dicey around the old United States these days, as long as the GOP can make mischief.

References:

• @Link: your state's time for reciting this preamble today.


• Hat Tip for the links from regular contributors, *"betmo," and #Jon.


• From the ACLU, 9/12/08: Sign our "I'm a Constitution Voter" pledge and get your free "I'm a Constitution Voter" bumper sticker now.

My "creativity and dreaming" post today at Making Good Mondays is a series of quotes about the Constitution from famous leaders in history.

(Cross-posted at South by Southwest.)

Unrest in the world -- a Bush Legacy

By Carol Gee

U.S. in push for foreign arms deals: report," a story from Reuters (9/14/08), lays out a very unpleasant reality. The Bush Doctrine is at the center of a "military-industrial complex" that seems to have no boundaries. Eight years after the terrorist attacks on the United States, this administration seems to know only conflict, military arms and business as usual. Rather that focusing on peace, the budget goes largely for an interminable war. Congress and the president prop up military contractors, who often manufacture cold war systems. And diplomatic gross ineptitude results in uneasy relationships with countries all around the world. To quote:

The Bush administration is pushing through a wide range of foreign weapons deals in a bid to rearm Iraq and Afghanistan and contain North Korea and Iran, The New York Times reported.

The deals range from tanks, helicopters and fighter jets to missiles, remotely piloted aircraft and warships, the Times said in its Sunday editions. The weapons and other military equipment foreign sales have totaled more than $32 billion this year, compared with $12 billion in 2005.

While the focus has been on the Middle East, sales extend to northern Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe and Canada, the Times said.

"This is not about being gunrunners," the Times quoted Bruce Lemkin, the Air Force deputy undersecretary who has coordinated many of the largest sales, as saying. "This is about building a more secure world."

The reality is that since 9/11/01, terrorism has been on the rise. And the unfortunate myopic Middle East regional bias means neglect of other places where the U.S. might be helpful. India for example has a large problem, of which we are seemingly unaware. About all that interests the U.S. regarding India right now is a questionable nuclear deal. Another Reuters article details: "India police raid slums, relatives angry after bombs," (9/14/08). To quote: "The National Counterterrorism Centre in Washington says 3,674 people had been killed in militant attacks in India between January 2004 and March 2007, a death toll second only to that in Iraq."

Meanwhile much of the world does not have enough to eat. Global warming is on the rise, threatening farming, particularly in Africa. A recent e-mail from David Lane from One.org, reminded me that the unpleasant reality of starvation is, at times, the direct result of lack of a decent U.S. development effort, conflict and war. Again, the U.S. budget figures attest to administration priorities. To quote:

High food and fuel prices continue to have a catastrophic impact on the world's poorest people and threaten to roll back some of the great progress we've made alleviating poverty in areas including AIDS, malaria, and education.

Later this month, world leaders are going to the United Nations in NYC. They’ll be discussing the world's progress toward the Millennium Development Goals(MDGs)—critical issues like health, education and water. They must also act on the food and hunger crisis. There are 30 countries in immediate need of emergency food assistance and essential seeds and fertilizer. These countries have created specific plans to feed the hungry and prevent future crises by enabling people to provide for themselves. Meeting these emergency needs requires $1 billion in funding by the end of this year.

Here is where you can sign a petition, the letter reads: "As world leaders come together for the United Nations summit, please ask them to close the book on the hunger crisis. Please click the link to add your name to our petition asking them to do so:" Petition link The petition reads:

Please provide life-saving food and essential seeds and fertilizer to the 30 countries that need it most by filling the 2008 food and agriculture funding gap of $1 billion without delay.

Condi travels to Libya for a historic meeting, as well as several other places abroad. The definition of enemy has undergone an amazing transformation under the Bush administration. They are able to have a set of conflicting standards for who is favored or unfavored. Syria is still out of favor. The "Damascus Spring" in Syria has faded into memory, according to the Financial Times. To quote [regarding Syria]:

. . . activists point to other Middle East states such as Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, which have poor human rights records but enjoy strong ties with the west – even adding Libya to the list after Condoleezza Rice’s visit to the north African state last week – to argue that international relations are one thing, internal reform another.

"What Is Condeleeza Rice REALLY Doing Over There?" asks my regular contributor, "betmo," who sent me this link to Bluebloggin (9/7/08) Security was very high. Dick Cheney was traveling in other parts. A good deal of it has to do with AFRICACOM, the strange strategic hybrid of military melded with diplomacy. To quote:

Rice arrived in (staunch US ally) Morocco late on Saturday after visiting Algeria and Tunisia and holding a historic meeting with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in Tripoli.

Rice’s visit is her first as secretary of state to this region of increasing strategic importance in terms of oil resources, emigration and terrorism.

The Bush Doctrine had no meaning for Republican Veep candidate, Governor Sarah Palin, until it was explained to Palin incorrectly by ABC's Charles Gibson, during their interview. The doctrine of preventive war is at the center of a Bush-military-industrial complex that has no boundaries. Bush business as usual means an interminable "preventive" war in Iraq, certainly a contradiction in terms. Uneasy relationships all around the world -- what a legacy!

(Cross-posted at South by Southwest.)

Bush administration -- who gets to bend the rules?

By Carol Gee

George W. Bush has 133 more days at the White House; it is 57 days until the 2008 presidential election. This post is a reminder of the national garbage that will be left behind when he moves out. Just so you remember, because John McCain's election would retain 90% of it all over the floor (I think that is the figure used). I agree with this rather sweeping headline from Global Research (9/5/08): "The Bush Administration Is an Ongoing Criminal Conspiracy Under International Law and U.S. Domestic Law*."

The Forever War -- What rule covers that idea? From The Raw Story (8/31/08) comes the headline, "Bush quietly seeks to make war powers permanent, by declaring indefinite state of war.#" To quote:

As the nation focuses on Sen. John McCain's choice of running mate, President Bush has quietly moved to expand the reach of presidential power by ensuring that America remains in a state of permanent war.

Buried in a recent proposal by the Administration is a sentence that has received scant attention -- and was buried itself in the very newspaper that exposed it Saturday. It is an affirmation that the United States remains at war with al Qaeda, the Taliban and "associated organizations."

This Week in Scandal Watch -- Torture is just not about to leave the headlines. This is from ProPublica, 9/5/08:

#2. Detainee Treatment

The legal advisor to the Gitmo military tribunals has been barred from yet another trial for appearing to favor the prosecution. Three Gitmo detainees were released to their home countries this week as well.

A former Canadian police commissioner blamed U.S. political interference for bungling the rendition to Syria - and subsequent alleged torture - of Canadian terror suspect Maher Arar. Condoleezza Rice admitted last October that his case had not been "handled particularly well."

And finally, in response to an ACLU lawsuit, a federal judge ruled that the government must produce its memos on abusive CIA interrogation methods or explain why it cannot.

More of the leftover garbage -- No bigger rule-breaker than our current president (OCP)'s good friend Alberto Gonzales. The news comes from TPM Muckraker (9/3/08): "OIG Report May Indicate Gonzales Perjury," by Kate Klonick. But, of course the DOJ will not press charges. There's more in the full story. To quote:

We noted yesterday that the Justice Department Office of the Inspector General issued a report on the found that former Attorney Gen. Alberto Gonzales had mishandled classified documents during his time in office. . .

John McCain prefers to bend the rules just like OCP. It is no coincidence that hundreds of protesters and journalists were arrested during the Republican nominating convention. These police state tactics were documented at Survival Acres "Minneapolis arrests photographed*" (9/3/08). Also
at Survival Acres (8/22/08)was this earlier post titled, "Dead Men Walking*." It is the author's fierce response to the news about the new more permissive rules for FBI investigations, about which I have recently written. To quote:

This is one of those terrible stories with insufficient details, but enough so to make your hair stand on end. . .

Of course this is terrifying and unnecessary and nothing will or can be done about any of it. This is really no different then what is being done by cops all over the country, who using their positions of paid terrorism in service of the State, can target anybody (and do) for personal gain or vendetta.

This homeland security section concludes with this entry from CQ Behind the Lines, by David C. Morrison (9/5/08) To quote (author's links):

Feds: “An influential New Jersey Muslim leader accused by DHS of having terrorist ties but praised by others as being an important ally won his fight to gain permanent U.S. residency,” The Associated Press’ Samantha Henry reports — while another AP item has a federal judge ruling that justice must either produce memos on water boarding or explain why they should be kept secret. “DHS showed some continuity and steady progress this year, and leaders took the initiative to ensure a smooth transition to a new administration,” David Silverberg weighs in a Homeland Security Today “2008 Report Card.”

George W. Bush is a lame duck president at this point, thank goodness. The next couple of months are particularly important ones for the well-being of our nation. Unless the citizenry is vigilant, the pile of national garbage left behind will smell up the next four years: John McCain and Sarah Palin's election would retain 90% of it. You cannot get a sheet of paper between Bush and McCain on national security.

Hat tip to regular contributors for the links: "*betmo" and #Jon.

(Cross-posted at South by Southwest.)

CIVIL is as civil does

By Carol Gee

Please be civil -- Civil rights, civil liberties, civil society, civil vs. criminal, civil service, civil disobedience, all of these phrases have something to do with behaving oneself. For the past few days I have been reading a great deal of Internet material on "civil" issues, including the Hamdan trial at Guantanamo. It has been a fascinating exercise in maintaining my equilibrium despite what I have learned that is further evidence of the Bush administration's lack of ethics and frontal assault on the U.S. Constitution.

Google, move over -- In the process a happy accident happened. I discovered a very interesting new search engine named "Cuil," pronounced "cool." It returned very useful results in a brand new form. I used the search terms, "Domestic Spying," "search laptops" and got 1,538,151 results for the term "DNI Mike McConnell." One day I am sure my concentration on writing about the DNI will put me under suspicion in the NSA, but the number of "hits" make it clear that I am not the only one fascinated with the man.

In addition to Civil, "C" also stands for Contempt. This is the headline that reports an amazing administration defiance of recent court rulings about executive privilege vs. congressional oversight powers. "Defying Subpoena, DoD Orders Sexual Assault Program Chief Not To Testify Before Congress" by Andrew Tilghman - August 1, 2008 at TPM Muckraker. To quote from the post:

The Pentagon defied a Congressional subpoena yesterday by refusing to let the head of its sexual assault program testify at an oversight hearing about sexual assault in the military.

The House panel had issued a subpoena for Dr. Kaye Whitley, the director of the Defense Department's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office.

But Pentagon officials ordered her not to testify and instead sent her supervisor, Michael Dominguez, a principal deputy undersecretary for defense, in her place.

American Civil Liberties Union -- Blog of Rights. It is clear to me that the new FISA law will be challenged over and over again in court, perhaps for years. It is far too crucial to let it stand. A related headline says that the "Administration wants to block ACLU from wiretapping law litigation" by Andrew Tilghman (7/30/08) from TPM Muckraker. To quote:

The Department of Justice filed court papers yesterday seeking to block the ACLU -- and any other third party -- from submitting briefs to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the classified forums that will be primarily responsible for translating the federal law signed last month into practice.

. . . Peter Swire, a law professor at Ohio State University and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, supports the ACLU's position. He wrote a paper in 2004 calling for greater participation in the FISA court.

"The DOJ is taking an expansive view of executive power and narrow view of judicial power, Swire told TPMmuckraker in an interview today. "Under the government's view, the judges seem required to uphold an unconstitutional system because the judges are forbidden from getting briefing from anyone other than the executive branch."

While there is limited precedent for third-party involvement in the typically classified proceedings under the 1978 FISA law, the new technologies that prompted lawmakers to update the law law may also warrant new procedures, Swire said.

"The 1978 version of FISA targeted one individual at a time or sometime one terrorist organization. The new approach sweeps far more broadly and it looks more like an administrative system than a traditional judicial wiretap order."

Closed FISA Court? Ryan Singel at Wired: Threat Level, has another take on the same story. "Only government can argue in secret spy court, Feds say". To quote:

On July 10, the ACLU asked the secret court to let it participate when the Court was considering questions about the "scope, meaning and constitutionality" of this blanket surveillance program. The ACLU wanted to make the government file public versions of its legal briefs, allow the ACLU to file a brief and argue orally, and that the court issue public opinions (with classified info redacted). The ACLU made the request (.pdf) the same day it challenged the constitutionality of the newly passed FISA Amendments Act in federal district court.

The Bush Administration argues that the court's review of spying orders is far too secret to allow any outside party.

"The benefits of open proceedings are greatly outweighed by the potential harm that public access would cause to the national security and integrity of the FISC process," the brief (.pdf) argued. "Allowing third parties to use this Court as a general forum to present facial challenges to the Government's surveillance activities could cause a flood of litigation that would distract this Court from its important national security functions."

S/SW References -- Recently I have blogged about several of the most important civil liberties issues in the news. Links follow:

• "Why were they surprised?" -- Republicans walk out on DNI briefing
• "The kind of government we want" -- includes a segment on the recent Bush order for a national intelligence overhaul
• "Be careful what you ask for" -- The role of psychologists in the government's torture program
• "I pledge allegiance" -- Daniel Ellsberg interview on the Fourth Amendment
• "What about The Mikes?" -- Regarding news about DNI Mike McConnell and AG Mike Mukasey
• "FISA bill signing post mortem" -- a rant about the consequences of Congress caving in on FISA
• "Examining an obsession with civil liberties" -- mine!
  

(Cross-posted at South by Southwest.)

Why were they surprised?

By Carol Gee

Today's big Intelligence Story -- on the revision of Executive Order 1233 -- gets even bigger. It turns out that Congress got by-passed with the revisions and they were hurt and surprised. We are not a bit surprised. And the "Two Mikes," may have a bit of negotiating to do as Mike McConnell-DNI takes over a bit more power from Mike Hayden-CIA. As follow-up to an earlier post, "Bush Orders Intelligence Overhaul" (NYT -- updated the afternoon of 7/31/08). To quote:

The [House Intelligence] Committee believes it has not been consulted or informed about critical intelligence matters. These include the executive order; Israel's bombing of an alleged Syrian nuclear facility last summer; changes in U.S. intelligence on Iran; the administration's warrantless wiretapping program; and the CIA's destruction of interrogation videotapes.

''This president is making it impossible for Congress to do oversight of the intelligence community,'' the committee's top Republican, Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, told The Associated Press. ''The only effective oversight that can be done is out of the executive branch. And this is the fox guarding the chicken coop.''

. . . Even before the executive order was released Thursday, the American Civil Liberties Union condemned it.

''We have secret laws governing secret agencies that are engaging in secret spying against Americans, and they're using our own tax dollars to do it. This isn't keeping us safer it's only making all Americans suspects in the eyes of the government,'' said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU's legislative office in Washington.

. . . the latest version of Executive Order 12333 gives the national intelligence director new power to oversee those relationships, including how much information and the type of information to be shared with a foreign government; the CIA still will carry out day-to-day contacts. The intelligence director is also gaining oversight of covert operations, an area where the CIA has been the traditional authority.

Exactly how disagreements will be worked out between the two is to be determined. CIA Director Michael Hayden told agency employees in an e-mail message Thursday that CIA officers on ''the front lines'' will have ''a strong voice'' in working out the new procedures.

Here are a few more Intel Committee walk-out details from "The Crypt" at Politico.com. (7/31/08) "House Republicans walk out of meeting with DNI McConnell." To quote:

A group of House Republicans, led by Rep. Pete Hoekstra, walked out of a meeting with DNI Mike McConnell on Thursday, to protest what they see as a lack of consultation from the administration on intelligence matters.

. . . Earlier in the day, President Bush approved revisions to Executive Order 12333, the order that governs the activities of America’s intelligence agencies. Many members of Congress felt they were note properly consulted throughout the revision process.

. . . Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Silvestre Reyes agreed with Hoekstra, saying he was "deeply disappointed" that the president did not seek congressional input.

"We were only shown the document after it was complete and on its way to the President for his signature," said Reyes.

“After seven years of a go-it-alone presidency, perhaps I should expect nothing more from this White House. But this order will be binding on future administrations as well. For that reason, we must conduct effective oversight, so that we can advise the next President of whether this order should remain in effect or should be repealed.”

Mike McConnell must really be feeling his oats these days. I have a hunch that the next thrust will be to coopt their adversaries. That is my dark view of this story. I may just be looking for trouble. The headline reads, "DNI McConnell to Intelligence Analysts: Go Talk to Juan Cole." It was written by emptywheel (7/30/08) at Firedoglake. To quote:

In a post on AJ Rossmiller's Still Broken, I pointed out that bloggers probably knew more than Condi Rice leading up to the 2005 Iraqi elections because 1) we were reading Juan Cole, 2) we didn't censor out news we didn't like:

When AJ was asked how he got the 2005 election right, one of the things he pointed to, half-seriously, was the open source work of Juan Cole.

Well, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell just conceded that AJ was right for reading Juan Cole.

In conclusion, I know you all will be so excited to learn that as of June 5, 2008, DNI McConnell is willing to stay on for six months to assist with the presidential transition. Why are we not surprised? To quote from an earlier story.

CNN has learned that the Director of National Intelligence Admiral (retired) Michael McConnell is letting it be known he is willing to stay for up to six months in the next Administration to help facilitate any transition, if a new president wishes him to.

Reference: Executive Order 12333 Amended (pdf 40 pgs).

(Cross-posted at South by Southwest.)

Be careful what you ask for.

By Carol Gee



When using the internet to discover things about which you are curious, it is prudent to exercise caution. Curiosity seekers can be easily offended, appalled or disgusted by what they see. Personally, I have no "peeping Tom" tendencies, so I have a strong antipornography filter installed on my computer. That is not what this post is about. I write today about something equally shameful -- the Bush administration's practice of torture as aided and abetted by the A.P.A.

First a little background. A curiosity about the PTSD thread at FORUM: Lucidity started my thought, "Should I start another thread at the FORUM?" My idea began as I started to think about how ashamed I am as a mental health professional, of psychologists' collaboration in the U.S. government's torture program. So I did a simple little Google search on "psychologist Guantanamo torture," producing about 39,500 entries. Yikes! But I plunged into reading the citations anyway. After all, I had asked for it. I turned up a slew of stuff I would have just as soon not learned. What I discovered during this little web surfing episode has given me "the shivers." Here are a few of the most interesting nuggets I found about what others are doing to fight back against this very unfortunate turn in American policy.

• "Torture After Dark" (7/22/08) at Counter Punch by Soldz*, Olson, Reisner, Aarigo and Welch. It begins:
  
  

  Torture and the Strategic Helplessness of the American Psychological Association --
  
  Jane Mayer's new book, The Dark Side, has refocused attention on psychologists’ participation in Bush administration torture and detainee abuse. In one chapter Mayer provides previously undisclosed details about psychologists James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen’s role in the CIA's brutal, “enhanced interrogation” techniques. . .
  
  What we do now know, from a report issued by the Defense Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and from documents released during recent hearings by the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), is that [these] SERE techniques, designed to ameliorate the effects of torture, were "reverse engineered," transformed from ensuring the safety of our own soldiers, to orchestrating the abuse of detainees in Guantánamo, Afghanistan and Iraq.



• "Guantánamo: Torture victim Binyam Mohamed sues British government for evidence" (5/10/08) at American Torture (Australian website) by Andy Worthington. To quote:
  
  

  On Tuesday, Binyam Mohamed, a 29-year old British resident in Guantánamo, sued the British government for refusing to produce evidence which, his lawyers contend, would demonstrate that he was tortured for 27 months by or on behalf of US forces in Morocco and Afghanistan, that any “evidence” against him was only obtained through torture, and that the British government and intelligence services knew about his torture and provided personal information about him -- unrelated to terrorism -- that was used by the Americans’ proxy torturers in Morocco. . .
  
  A refugee from Ethiopia, who arrived in the UK in 1994 and was later granted indefinite leave to remain, Binyam Mohamed was working as a cleaner in an Islamic Centre in west London in 2001, and attempting to recover from a drug problem, when he decided to travel to Afghanistan to see what the Taliban regime was like, and, he hoped, to steer clear of drugs because of the Taliban’s reputation as fierce opponents of drug use. . .
  
  Although he later reported to his lawyer -- Clive Stafford Smith of the legal action charity Reprieve, which represents 35 prisoners in Guantánamo -- that the British checked out his story, and confirmed that he was a “nobody,” the Americans were not convinced, and decided to send him to Morocco, where he could be interrogated by professional torturers who were not bothered about international treaties preventing the use of torture, and who were equally unconcerned about whether evidence of their activities would ever surface.



• From Antifascist Calling (5/3/08): "Documents Confirm Psychologists Collaborated With "War On Terror" Torture Program. This blogger's intro reads, "Exploring the shadowlands of the corporate police state." To quote from the post:
  
  

  Newly declassified documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) from the Department of Defense (DoD) expose the role played by psychologists in the illegal interrogation of prisoners at CIA and Pentagon detention facilities in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. . .
  
  But as we now know, under the torture regime given legal sanction by the Bush administration, as ABC News reported in April, medicalized torture by military psychologists operating in U.S. dungeons was both a ubiquitous and banal aspect of the "war on terror."
  

This is not a new story. It has been around for years. The American Psychological Association members have been in turmoil about it for a long time. Many have left in disgust. But so far the association has failed on all counts to disavow its unhealthy collaboration with the U.S. military and the Bush administration. In contrast, members of other "helping professions" have actively opposed torture to the point of getting arrested. I am proud to be a social worker, though I confess that the extent of my activism consists of mere writing. Therefore I am much more proud of a retired 69 year-old social worker, Sherrill Hogen, who was among 34 activists arrested on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court. Right Web has the story (6/3/08), from which I quote the opening:

“My name is Ahmed Mohammed,” she told police after her arrest outside the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington in January. Last Thursday, in a courtroom in Washington, DC, she has—at her own insistence—been charged under that name, although her real one is Sherril Hogen.

"Torture is a product of a sick society, of leaders bloated with power and fear, and is the antithesis of human goodness, compassion and love,” Hogen told the DC Superior Court, “I don't think I have a choice about where to put my energies."

Hogen, a 69-year-old retired social worker, was arrested in front of the Supreme Court building while protesting against the indefinite detention of the alleged terror suspects at the U.S. military base in the Cuban territory of Guantanamo Bay. Like 34 other activists who took part in the protest on the doorstep of the Supreme Court building on January 11, Hogen is now facing trial on minor criminal charges ranging from "unlawful free speech" to disorderly conduct.

"We came to the Supreme Court building because it has jurisdiction over the [primary] issue about which we knew there were violations of justice," she said to the judge last Thursday. "[That is] the denial of habeas corpus to the prisoners held by the U.S. at Guantanamo."

Additional References:

1. *Another article (6/24/08) by Stephen Solz at Counter Punch: "The Torture Trainers and the American Psychological Association"


2. "Why Torture Made Me Leave the APA," by Jeffrey S. Kaye, PhD. at AlterNet (March 6, 2008)


3. Psychologists for Social Responsibility -- "Statement from the End Torture Action Committee"

(Cross-posted at South by Southwest.)