This whole business of "Christians" somehow being against torture does not jibe with the facts. A very great number of "Christians", and Muslims and Jews and Hindus and others-
do not really give a damn about torture. Nor do they care, except for lip service about their fellow-man as evidenced by the un-Christian amount of poverty, homelessness and general disregard for all human life pretty much everywhere on Earth.
We are not, maybe never have been "our brother's keeper" in the Biblical sense- we will take our tax cuts, SUV's, entitlements, lifestyles and bling wherever and however we can get it.
Waterboarding is so yesterday- we voted for Bush, or in Canada for his brown nosing soul mate Harper (Bush II.000I)
because only WE matter- ALL the rest do not fit into our lifestyle.
Anyone calling themselves a person with religion these days probably whore-ships money and its variants- full stop. Faith is at best a concept- again for other people- and until a hell of a lot of REAL FAITH/humanity happens- Bush and Harper et,al can claim Divine rights (but they are not Kings??), and those who vote for them can shop till they drop.

elmysterio:

Yes, of course the millions killed by American actions in the Middle-East including the hundreds of thousands of children during the bombing of Iraq during the sanction days leading up to the invasion. No, it is certainly not about the American dead alone! But if you look closely the context was about the US alone and Bush's illegal war. But if we want to talk about human atrocity by America to the global community that is another editorial and the figures are considerably greater than one million.

As to CANUCKCHUCK's two quotes:
.Don't count on the American people refusing to be shamed any more.
Having nothing better than McCain to vote for on the GOP side,is shame enough.
The Demo's choices are not too great either.

.We ARE going broke!!!Look at food and gas prices for openers.
(Under or overestimating,as the case may be)

And you can bet she read ~Paul M Smith's~ posts. I printed his longer one and am going to memorize it.

cindysheehan is a regular, and posts replys, byronw.

Is there any way for us to know that Helen Thomas has read the comments posted here?
Any way in general for this to happen most or some of the time with authors of the original news item?? Do they see the comments?
Any chance of two-way feedback?

"I count on the American people to refuse to be shamed any more."- H. Thomas

"No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people." - H. L. Mencken.

I have heard on this thread that Barack was against the war to begin with than "voted for it" this person is talking about the war funding votes, once the war is started against Baracks wishes, was he supposed to vote to NOT supply the troops already in Iraq, to leave them without food or bullets in a dangerous place, just to show his displeasure with the war?
Please be reasonable our country is in deep do-do, we need more than sound-bites to get us back together, we need to vote for the only one who had the sense and good judgement to not get us into Iraq in the first place, much as we needed the oil.

Go Helen! Glad you still have a job in the mainstream press. We might think it is obvious that Bush knew about waterboarding, but it needs to be said.

Say it again. Say it again. Louder. Louder.

What else might one expect from a supposed adult who, as a child used to amuse himself by catching frogs and then put lit firecrackers in their mouths just to watch them blow up? Can't help but wonder if he doesn't have some of his cronies filming some of those "enhanced interrogation techniques" so he can have something amusing to watch before he goes to sleep. Pleasant dreams!

"The United States is committed to the worldwide elimination of torture and we are leading this fight by example." -- George W. Bush, June 26, 2003

I've an idea: let's do something.
Let's pretend we are a law abiding people.
Let's pretend the emperor is, indeed, naked.
Let's give him clothes.
Let's pretend the fabric is the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Spirit of Democracy.
Finally, let's pretend that we actually care about this country; people who care do not let their country wallow in filth.
We do care, don't we?

Helen, I'm glad you are such a high profile person or the Bush mob would have 'disappeared' you long ago. Anthrax letters, plane crashes, or even ice bullets that leave no trace for the heart attack they cause, are not beyond their criminal intent & execution. Lack of conscience, arrogance, excessive greed, a propensity toward sadism, and a lust to dominate the entire world, are not an anomoly in the current Bush, but an almost genetic trait in the Bush criminal, anti-social, psychopathic, family.

For the un-informed it is important to know the roots of this family that led up to someone like George W. Bush, who believes himself above all people & laws. I didn't write this, but this comment by another CD poster is worth a re-post:

"To fully understand the Bush family financial interests in war profiteering it is necessary to understand their history.

Great-grandfather Samuel Prescott Bush was president of Buckeye Steel Castings. He manufactured railroad couplings for railroads owned by the Morgans, Rockefellers and Harrimans. During World War I he was on the War Industries Board and chaired the section on forgings, guns, small arms and ammunition, and he got to work with people from Dupont, Remington, Winchester and Colt. Sam Bush founded and became the first president of the National Association of Manufacturers, an organization whose principal cause was defending industrial capitalism from the threat of unions. He became an indispensable part of the military-industrial complex, and he sent his son Prescott off to Yale where he could associate with the sons of his friends in the Skull and Bones fraternity.

Along with many of his college chums, Prescott joined Brown Brothers Harriman after college and started making serious money. The biggest buck to be made in the 1920's was in re-arming Germany. Harriman & Co. set up Union Banking Corp with Prescott as Manager to trade with Nazi financier Fritz Thyssen. They bought a steamship line to ship Remington arms to Germany through a dummy corporation in Holland. Harriman & Co. bought Dresser Industries (manufacturers of oil pipeline equipment) in 1929 and Prescott became a Director, and he continued to run Dresser from the Board for the rest of his life. They, along with John Foster Dulles and others, bankrolled Hitler as a shrewd business strategy. Prescott became Managing Director of Union Bank in 1934 at the height of trade with Germany. In 1939 he took direct management of some of the slave labor camps in Poland to aid Nazi armament, according to Dutch intelligence sources.

In October of 1942, the U. S. government seized the assets of Union Bank and three other of Prescott's industries: the steamship line, the Seamless Steel Equipment Corporation (suppliers of steel, wire and explosives to the Nazis) and the Silesian-American Company (the coal mining company he managed along with John Foster Dulles on behalf of the Nazi Economic Minister). This didn't really close them down. Once the war started they simply changed sides and started supplying war material to the Allies.
During the War Bonesmen were active in forming the OSS and its later incarnation, the CIA. Prescott's relationship with Dulles would become very useful during the Eisenhower years, with John Foster as Secretary of State and his brother Allen Dulles as Director of the CIA. Prescott and Dresser Industries were kept well inside the loop. Hans Gisevius, the German intelligence agent who acted as the go-between with Allen Dulles in Switzerland and Admiral Canaris in the German High Command after the war, acted as go-between with Dulles, Dresser Industries and Prescott Bush.
George Herbert Walker Bush, Prescott's son, improved on the CIA connection to the point of becoming its Director in 1976.

After graduating from Yale, George H. W. Bush went to work at his father's firm, Dresser Industries. Eventually, with money from Brown Brothers and Harriman (his dad's parent company) he set up his own company, Zapata. It was really a CIA front. The Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961 was probably George's operation as much as it was Allen Dulles's. The CIA code name for it was Zapata. The boats left for the Bay of Pigs from an island that was leased to George H. W. Bush, and the boats were named Houston and Barbara.

He ran for Congress in Houston in 1964 by campaigning against the Civil Rights Act. He didn't get elected that year, but he did get elected the next time he tried. When he was Chair of the Republican Party in 1972 he set up ethnic heritage groups within the Party. These groups were havens for ex-Nazis.

While Vice President under Reagan, Bush was Chair of the Special Situations Group responsible for defeating the Sandanistas in Nicaragua. He and Ollie North set up, financed and armed the Contras through an elaborate and highly secretive scheme that saw private planes flying cash to Iran, buying Soviet-made guns, flying guns to the Contras at a private CIA airstrip in Costa Rica, trading guns for marijuana and cocaine, then flying the drugs to a private U. S. airbase in Homestead, Florida, where the drugs were traded for cash.

George Bush was Vice President under Reagan from 1980 to 1988. He was elected President in 1988 and served one term until 1992. Dick Cheney was his Secretary of Defense. When Bush lost, Cheney went from being Secretary of Defense to being CEO of Halliburton, probably the largest supplier of goods and services to the Defense Department. The revolving door connecting the military to the industrial complex seemed to be well greased. A few years later Cheney came back through the door to be Vice President for George Bush the younger.

Why did George W pick Cheney. Well, actually, Cheney picked himself. Bush asked him to make a list of candidates for Vice President. Cheney did, then he sold W on the idea that he was the best man for the job.

What makes Cheney so special, so indispensable?
While Cheney was CEO of Halliburton he built up the company by buying other companies. One of the companies he bought was Dresser Industries. Halliburton spent $8 billion buying Dresser. When they bought it, Halliburton's stock dropped by a third. Wall Street thought it was a bum deal. Why did Cheney pay so much? Was it a sweetheart deal because the owners of Dresser were his former and future bosses?

The popular image of Cheney is that he's the brains behind Bush, that Bush is some kind of simpleton and Cheney is an evil genius. The Dresser deal looks like Cheney is still the loyal employee. He's both the bag man and fall guy for the Bushs. He delivers the cash, and, when the Bushs get in trouble, he's willing to stand up and take the hit for it.

During the 2000 presidential election Cheney admitted Halliburton did business with Libya and Iran, but he denied they had done business with Iraq, "I had a firm policy that we wouldn't do anything in Iraq, even arrangements that were supposedly legal. We've not done any business in Iraq since U. N. sanctions were imposed on Iraq in 1990, and I had a standing policy that I wouldn't do that," he said on ABC-TV's This Week on July 30, 2000. But Dresser was selling equipment through French subsidiaries to Iraq from early in 1997 through 2000. Halliburton didn't buy Dresser until 1998, so, it was the Bush family's company that was trading with the enemy and Cheney just continued the practice. Purchasing the company also covered up the trail.

George W. Bush, in the best traditions of his family, waged war against the people of Iraq so that Halliburton could assign oil leases and control the oil and so that Halliburton would get multi-billion dollar no-bid contracts to supply the military. More than 4000 Americans have lost their lives in Iraq. Of that number 60, as of March 29, 2008, are from Minnesota, which is the justification of this appeal to County Attorney Mike Freeman to arrest George W. Bush.

Because he has committed troops of the Minnesota National Guard to tragic danger and fatalities in Iraq for the sole purpose of enriching his family's business, Halliburton, and, thereby, causing the death of Minnesota citizens, he is guilty of committing murder in the third degree: Section 609.195: MURDER IN THE THIRD DEGREE: whoever, without intent to effect the death of any person, causes the death of another by perpetrating an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, without regard for human life, is guilty of murder in the third degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 25 years on each count.

Through the sale of oil drilling equipment Dresser Company and the Bush family have had long time relationships with the Saudi royal family. The bin Laden family have been the principal contracting firm for the Saudi royal family, so it was natural for Osama bin Laden's family to give George W. Bush $50,000 to get started in the oil exploration business in Texas. Bush returned the favor by grounding all aircraft after 9/11 except the plane that evacuated those members of the bin Laden family staying in the U. S. There was a touching video of Crown Prince Faisal visiting George W. Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. They were holding hands as they walked, evidence of a stronger relationship than the one Bush had with Tony Blair or Berlusconi.

As head of the Bush family, George W. Bush directs their investment in Halliburton. Halliburton directs the movement of oil out of Iraq, 25% of the world's supply. The Saudi family directs the movement of oil out of Saudi Arabia, 40% of the world's supply. It is reasonable to assume that when George W. Bush and Prince Faisal get together they talk about the supply and price of oil. After their last meeting in Saudi Arabia, supplies dropped and the price of oil rose dramatically."

That last paragraph is especially important at the moment when the Saudis have cut production by 85,000 barrels per day, while GW Bush adamantly refuses to stop adding almost 70,000 barrels a day to the 97% filled Strategic Petroleum Reserve. True, this doesn't add up to that much, but with refineries only working at 85% dealing with the issues behind the 3 numbers above would help curtail the runaway speculation which has raised the actual value (stated by oil execs in congressional hearings within the past couple weeks) from $55 per barrel to the current almost $120.

Suffering of the populace has resulted, but what does he (or his family) care as long as it is all those 'other' people? Did the 'other' Nazis (Bush family, friends, & close associates) care who suffered? No, nor will those in the Bush cadre care about the current 'other' (AKA "We The People").

angel,
thanks for clearing that up.

So many here think they "know" that Obama will change nothing, but they never quote him in context and make out right lies about him. The only ones who will do nothing good is themselves who will help McSame.

They think voting for some folks who won't even be on the ballot at this late stage will matter when their vote wont even get counted.... this is really the tragedy of our country today... so many cynics who think all Americans are ignorant and they who want us to help McSame are the "intelligent chosen few"... talk about elite, man.. they are just jealous that someone who inspires can actually have a real chance to win.

But I hope they vote for whoever they want anyway,

I will try to not tell folks who to vote for, while I will defend my choice from lies.

Americans as a whole will never voluntarily refuse to be shamed as long as they can gain anything militarily. They thrive on shamefulness. It is their caffeine.

Barack Obama does not approve of torture, this quote from his website......."And he will not be able to say that I wavered on something as fundamental as whether or not it is ok for America to torture; because it is never ok; I will end the war in Iraq; I will close Guantanamo. I will restore habeas corpus."
www.barackobama.com This quote is in the Forign Policy section of his website.

I don't think that sociopath is the proper term to use here. I had a friend who voted for Nixon precisely because he believed Nixon to be a sociopath, and would therefore end up doing the right (correct, not ideological) thing (sometimes) in order to be viewed positively by the nation and history; even though it ran counter to views, beliefs actions that he had formally taken (i.e. going to China). Needless to say, some of us were exasperated by said friend's voting for Nixon (and I still wouldn't vote for him, unless it was a choice between Richard M. Nixon and George W. Bush). However, as it turned out, there was some validity to my friends observations re. Nixon being a sociopath.

With this administration, I believe that pathological (lack of conscience) is a more appropriate diagnosis.

The highest official of the land publicly admits to ordering torture and his political peers do nothing. By doing nothing, these elected officials will be held in equal low esteem. In time, as we the voters continue to elect representatives that do nothing, we too will bear the stain.

For you and I, the only way to come out of this intact is to go forth and choose a leader who will allow the system to seek redress through the courts, convict and punish the law breakers as appropriate. Without this cleansing ritual, a nation of laws cannot go forward from this point, to pursue happiness, to create beauty, to prosper and to love.

Therefore, the decision we will shortly make concerns our very souls: Of the three who would be our next president, who might allow the law to prevail, and who might stand in its way?

Helen Thomas--one of the last remnants of a former democracy that was truly the envy of the world.

A couple of links for Zounds, Siouxrose, and whomever else:

http://www.psychohistory.com/htm/06_politic.html
http://www.spinninglobe.net/againstschool.htm

.
Arrest George W. Bush and Richard Cheney, and cart them off for trail at the International War Crimes Court.

Give them a little "waterboarding" to get their confessions.
That's "ok" we do it all the time, with dangerous terrorists.

.

The U.S. under the fascist regime of BushCo opted out of the World Court for a reason. They had this all planned out.

"The message to the world is clear: as the world's pre-eminent power, the U.S. will do what it wants, where it wants and with whom it wants, regardless of global consequences."

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Rogue_State_US/US_OptsOut_AI.html

And now with the recreate68.org website, fronted by Rush Limbaugh and his Operation Chaos crowd, we will have Republican and Administration-caused riots in Denver which will spread, another false flag operation, martial law will be declared, and the elections will be suspended. And we will have done nothing to prevent it. Top brass is saying we will be particularly vulnerable during an Administration change, which is another move to pave the way for suspending any changes in the Administration, or maybe a handoff to McCain who has fallen into line. I don't think there will be any Democrat allowed into the White House any time soon. They have several fronts to work with, cause riots in Denver, thus turning away millions of voters who become disgusted with the Democratic party falling into chaos fomented by outside forces, voter suppression and fixing, war with Iran and then we are too "vulnerable" to change Administrations right then, so suspension of the elections. They have done too much work to let it get swept away in a regime change. And Congress sitting on its hands while Bush is proving himself a war criminal is the key piece that will allow this to happen.

Gyro, somehow cheney would try to stop the million-car protest from ever making it to DC. But it is a good idea and should at least be tried. He can't put a million-plus people in Gitmo, can he?

The arrogance of this administration could be eliminated - in the spirit of their Arab bed-buddies, and Robespierre - with the erection of a guillotine at the base of the Washington Monument.

JEFFREY COURION & ERBALIST: Good posts.

ZOUNDS: You bring up an excellent question. I don't think, however, that the channels you indicate are available to remedy the situation... we know our press has acted as cheerleader to war, and knowing accomplice to crimes of dis-information peddling. Our three branches of government have unified behind an obscene individual, better suited as CEO of a corrupt corporation, a unitary executive. "Patriot Act" protocols target "unruly" citizens as potential threats.

As to why the public has "allowed" these events, do not underestimate the power of media in shaping a HERO culture around the "strong, firm" man. Do not under-estimate this nation's enthral to guns and weaponry as Hollywood uses one or the other in just about EVERY film. Neither under-estimate the seductive trance that large scale sports events cast. MILLIONS of people, mostly men, project the greater portion of their emotions into these sporting arenas and identify PASSIONATELY with a team.

Weapons, teams, and the new religious rhetoric that's PRO-war (all in 'god's' name of course) added to the numbing diet of sugars and chemical agents, the commutes to meaningless jobs, the rising costs everywhere... and since Reagan's reign, the rise of "self interest" as a national commodity breaking down community standards and eroding what little empathy once existed in the national psyche.

We make a mistake to look for a singular cause, but when we examine the culture and what it mostly promotes, we see all the subtle programming tools that make for a trained populace, about as politically astute as jumping seals. A lot of this has been orchestrated by elites who having noted what went wrong in OTHER fascist societies, deployed far more benign means to the same ends.

Thank you Helen Thomas. The overwhelming majority of colleague do not deserve the professional designation of a journalist.

But why stop there? How about our "opposition" party? In spite of tons of evidence impeachment is supposedly "off the table".

Now I ask my supposedly democratic and progressive countrymen (and CD readers), how does your support for Hillary and Obama, who represent the same party that has taken any accountability off the table make sense?

And why stop at these supposedly democratic and progressive citizens, how about rest of the Americans - citizens and politicians? You all are complicit.

The reason we do not hear the other Presidential candidates speaking out about the power grab from our current pResident is because, contrary to Arthur Scheslinger's theory that power is like a pendulum - swinging between the Congress and the Executive depending upon relative peace or war - power is the steel to the Executive's magnet. Once the power is drawn tight to the Executive, no one will be willing to cede that power, including any the RepubliCrats running for the office of the Presidency. Case in point: There has been no candidate for President that has said they will act immediately upon entering the White House to remove the executive orders and other signing statements issued by this pResident. None. Not one.
So, anyone who thinks there will be "Change," should be re-thinking that notion. Myself, I'm waiting for the implosion that occurs post-critical mass. I'm waiting - no, I'm longing - for the revolution.

Divide and conquer - that aint a new stategy (demz/repz - who cares!?)

For me, the gnawing question isn't why sociopaths like Bush and his minions do the monstrous things they do. It's: Why do so-called normal people, especially in a democracy (even a quasi democracy, like ours), tolerate sociopaths who gain power/act-out moral maddness/bring ruin upon the many?

Confine the question to just the USA for the moment. You can rightly say the USA is an institutionally conflicted society. But are most of its people deep, active, frothing sociopaths, like those in the Bush inner circle? Seemingly not, since our society couldn't function on a minimal day-to-day basis if that were so.

So (for sake of argument): If most of us are not sociopaths, and if we have intact legal machinery to remove leaders who prove to be sociopathic by dint of our common sense, why don't we calmly act to protect ourselves by simply, dutifully removing the sociopaths from office by the lawful means provided?

Why are we USA'ers so politically passive? Why, even when, beyond our rushed lives/media-hypnotizing stupor/toxic food/and superficial selfishness, our deeper self-interest and gut instincts overridingly scream out to us that we are being lied to and misgoverned to the point of gross injury?

I often suspect that the answer for our country, anyway, has to do with how we USA'ers are generally taught, at an early/brain circuit-forming age, to accept and adapt to physically un-natural, dehumanizing forms of Authority -- at home (or as the case often now is, in industrial-like infant day-care centers), first of all. And that these primal, childrearing distortions then tend to reproduce similar distoritions in adult psyches which, in turn shape and perpetuate those initial distortions into ever more de-humanizing social, economic, political, and religious institutions and 'norms.'

Most Post WWII western European societies are notably healthier mentally, physcially, politically, even religiously, in such indicies, than USA'ers.

And average people in them, despite the challenges of potentially dehumanizing technologies - which threaten all industiral nations - do not share the deep gnawing psychological presentiment of most USA'ers, namely that their country is always '...moving in the wrong direction.'

This may be because most of them had to re-build not just their physical, but also their perceptual/normative, world from a series of historically home-ruinous wars of a kind that USA'ers have thus far directly escaped. No matter that 'lite' neo-fascists arise here and there in W. Europe, and no matter their other quite real problems, with ill-advised influxes of culturally-incompatible cheap labor immigrants: the average W. European culture is, for the average indigenous person, far more humane and stable than the USA's. And their child rearing insights, most importantly, are also generally far more enlightened than ours.

What bedevils and threatens the USA, including its mass political passivity and reprojected psychic Shadow into foreign policy, is I think far deeper a problem than our politics can address let alone fix. Our politics are only a symptom of an illness about human-to-human Authority that we blindly hold, but fear to seeingly be-hold .

We masque our illnes and our fear of of this illness with hypnotic imagery and ceremonial calptrap about 'individual freedom' and 'Christian Values' percisely in order to NOT FEEL how far removed we are from a workable embodiment of either. And if we remain unable to honestly see and consciously change ourselves at this deeper level, in our private psychic lives, we will collectively self-destruct like every other society that has tried to live a human lie.

Democrats are complicit. Pelosi, Reid and the rest of the scum known as Democratic Party have been aiding and abetting Bush from day one. Just build a wall around congress and call it a prison.

Helen Thomas is, of course, correct about Bush and torture, and the cowed Congress. Why she was fooled about Powell, I don't know. I read his autobio years ago, and he made it clear how strong his loyalty was to Bush 41, because B41 was good to him. It really doesn't take much to buy the loyalty of a general. If Helen did not know that Powell was CJCS when a "policy" was instituted that killed 1/2 million babies and young children in Iraq in a misguided attempt to get the locals to overthrow Hussein, she was asleep on the job. If she knew and is surprised by his character later, she is naive.

If "Dugout Doug" MacArthur is spinning in his grave about Powell, Petraues, et al, I haven't the slightest idea why. After all, he got his 5 stars, these others are stuck with only 4. MacArthur was the epitome of the "me first" officer, a so-so war fighter whose failures were worse than his successes great, the most insubordinate SOB who ever served at high rank in the US military, and most likely a traitor who helped FDR thwart democracy in the US and get it into WW2.

Ms. Thomas -- you are wonderful and I support you in so many ways. But I fear you speak in yearing terms of an America that is gone. It's a new, social landscape -- a world now more reflective of the New World Order and a Brave New World -- a humanity numbed by commercialism in which just about everything is for sale, padded in obese proportion by luxury resulting in disconnected indifference. Humanism and human service is a quaint notion all to provide temporal relief and triage only to send good people back into the endless wars pursuing profit.
In speaking of George Bush you say "What is startling is that he feels no remorse..." Remorse? Remorse is a character quality that many of us never thought he could would ever feel. No, he is of the dissociative order where civil means are but obstructions to craved results. Remorse requires empathy. If empathy were a value of this grand, bloated system we have built -- we would have destroyed it long ago.

Our making a living is so rooted in the perversion of our system that to stop the perversion means that all too many of us would cease to make livings. Remorse comes from people who will take such risk. Mr. Bush is a safe player who comes from the silver, spoon fed culture that has always called the shots and declared the wars for others to fight. He and his class rule from well guarded mansions and gated communities which explains why he knows nothing --and other than serving his class -- is useless -- is ignorant -- is dangerous.

Americans have proven, again, that we don't care what is done in our name. This story made a single news cycle and then vanished. Jeremiah Wright, on the other hand, has achieved immortality -- in the news cycle sense. Just shows the level of intelligence we either have or that the network news credits its viewers with, that we can grasp "god damn america" as sensational, but can't grasp that torture that is discussed, planned, and executed from the White House is scandalous, immoral, and illegal.

As usual, Bush either grossly misunderstands the facts, or lies. A legal opinion is just that: an opinion. And in cases where they are authored by such simpering sycophants and shoddy scholars as John Yoo and David Addington, they have no credibility amongst reasonable people. Legal opinions are not laws, nor court decisions. These acts contravened US and international law, as well as the Constitution itself, and violations committed whilst relying on them should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

"Well, the administration is not connecting the dots.' You might remember those — that period." "

Actually, there are no dots to connect. Just one big DOT, the Department Of Terror in the District of Catastrophe (DC), hiding among a forest of dots given to us by MSM to throw us off the track.

Thank you, Helen Thomas. What is the House and the Senate going to do about it? What, exactly, is the problem with proceeding with the impeachment process? We, the American people, would like our elected representatives to get off their collective tail and ACT. For once.

Helen, you know cartoonists. Here's a freebe:
Scene: cold block room w/single light bulb. CIA interrogation room. An Arab being waterboarded. First agent pouring the water says, "OK, Abdul, I'm gonna ask you one more time—Who set up 9/11?". Abdul: "blubDickblubblub blubCheneyblubblub". Second agent with a clip board, to a third agent with the video camera: "Eh, that's what they all say the first few times…".
The little mouse in the corner says, "Must be a conspiracy"….
There is a very dark and sad, but plausible case to be made that the secrecy and torturing is not to make the war less dangerous or shorter for our troops or safeguard national security, but to cover up, ferret out and neutralize evidence or anyone who has first hand knowledge of who the perps are and how the whole thing unfolded. It may also be plausible that OBL is still free because he has arranged one of those "if anything happens to me" letters as in spy v. spy movies. Can anyone come up with a way to connect the dots that is less painful to patriotic sensibilities? I hope so, because thoughts of such deep treachery and treason are hard to bear.
Basic question: What would various perps do if they had the means and motive after pulling off 9/11? There are plenty of detectives, criminologists and psychologists out there who could speak to this conjecture. Let's hear from some.
Check out patriotsquestion911.org.
...peace...

I thought you'd like to check out the political allegory of mine that I just found a literary agent for. It's a story set in the context of a teacher discussing with his class all of the evidence that the Bush administration is as corrupt as it is incompetent….and how to rectify the Constitutional crisis we face. It's couched in a discussion about the urgent need to stop abusing Mother Nature. I wrote in 3 dozen celebrities to play the students, so it's very funny despite how infuriating it is. You can read it at www.stoplittering.com/theswitch.htm and, yes, StopLittering.com is my site.

That would be better for whom, WORDS ARE IMPORTANT?

Be better if this thread was not necessary and torture was never used. What in hell happened to McCain, does he want the presidency that bad, that he now won't speak out firmly against it. ?

meetmrcallaghan May 2nd, 2008 6:40 pm .......

http://www.wcltam.com/news/special/articledetail.cfm?articleid=23261

Better our government torture them over there then the government torture us over here.

Ms. Thomas: SURELY you, of all people, have been around Washington long enough to recognize that this is the final part of "THE DANCE", and the
American people are just now being confronted with the truth . . . . but
the GREAT AMERICAN PEOPLE are so stupid that they can't / won't voice any
discontent, AND IF THEY DID, "HOW"?????? The PRESS IS NOW COMPLETELY IN THE HANDS OF THE POLITICIANS.

An elderly Gentleman friend of mine died recently (he was 99 YO), and the highly respected in-house ATTORNEY for a very large American Corporation for some years.
His finaly commentary on the American Political Scene was that the only thing that could save this country now was a MILITARY COUP. Poor old devil
went to his grave with those thoughts, thankfully before he saw the sad
state of the military higher grade General Officers.. . . . . all ass-kissers. Doug McArthur must be whirling in his grave.

How convenient. If lawyers advise you to break this long-standing law, you are exempt from legal responsibility. So are the lawyers responsible? Innocent people suffered horribly and a few even died. Crimes against humanity are enforcible. In 1996, the Republican-led Congress passed and President Clinton signed a law that set out to name the punishments for these specific crimes against humanity up to and including execution. I believe there is no time limitation on being brought to justice, harkening to the many years it took to catch up with some of the Nazis. It is also true that each signator nation to the Geneva Conventions has the right and the responsibility to try those having committed war crimes such as the invasion of a sovereign nation without the approval of the UN Security Council as well as the crimes against humanity as they continue to do to this day. Failure to enforce standing and just laws makes the US an outlaw nation.

Sorry to keep going on, but this discussion is a bit frustrating. I was a Vietnam war protester too and all I can say is, those protests had thousands and thousands of people participating on a regular basis. I've been out on the streets in my town, Toronto, and, though the crowd was large a few days after the war began, it quickly dribbled out and then was silent, but for once a year, when much smaller numbers of people participate despite all the horrors that have come to light since then. When the war began, my son camped out at City Hall for 37 days and nights, during atrocious weather - one night we had freezing rain and I had to go use an ice pick to get him off the ground in the morning. He was joined by maybe a half dozen others. There was no leadership. The Vietnam protests were highly organized and there was some structure at the grassroots level to keep things going. It was basically young people who did that. And perhaps we were in revolt against more than the war and maybe self-interest was part of what kept us going, but we also wanted to change the things we didn't like about the world. We seem to have created a culture in which young people no longer pay attention to these things. Also, don't kid yourselves, the protests was only ONE reason why the Vietnam War ended - and it certainly wasn't because Nixon didn't like protesters. But please, let's not wait as long as we waited for that war to end.

And ... I'm sure you know that the trial this former military judge was giving testimony in was that of Omar Khadr, a Canadian man who is accused of throwing a grenade and killing a US soldier. Only trouble is, Khadr was a 15-year-old boy at the time. He's been in prison for six years. This is not how the international community believes that child soldiers should be treated and is an outrage. My country has been suitably docile and cooperative in keeping Khadr imprisoned and subject to the highly questionable "justice" he will receive at Guantanamo Bay. And this treatment of a child soldier in the US, who has accepted and embraced Ishmael Beah, a child soldier who addmittedly killed more people than he can remember and wrote a book about it. Beah himself doesn't understand this differential treatment, except that he didn't kill any Americans. Apparently, an American life is worth thousands of other lives. Maybe more if you compare the number killed in NY on 9/11 to the numbers killed in "response". We are living through a hideous time and our voices are still not loud enough.

Protests by enough people used to work. LBJ was a mean bastard, but he couldn't take so many standing against him during the Vietnam War. He decided not to run for a second term. Nixon had a heart of dry ice, but he absolutely hated the protesters and protests, and it made him crazy enough to enable the Watergate thing. Then it was just a matter of time. But this administration -- they don't see us, they don't hear us, we aren't the least bit important to them. We're common Americans, not rich Somebodies of anywhere. We don't exist. They fix elections, they rewrite the Constitution, and that's that.

So now what? Perhaps every one of you who signed an oath to uphold the Constitution, including teachers, should actively find a way to fulfill that obligation. Do it now, before they steal our souls along with the silver.

I'm glad to see that there are many Americans as outraged as I am that the US government has, thus far, been able to get away with these crimes. It's quite possible that my country (Canada) isn't doing much better, since it has been alleged that Canadian troops have handed Afgani prisoners over to Afganis, who have then tortured them. In the world that I thought I was living in, a Western democracy, I didn't think that this could happen without people going absolutely nuts. I know there are a lot of us who feel this way but, apparently, not enough of us do, else why are we still talking about this years after we became aware that it was happening? I don't understand. at. all.

Of all the comments that I have read above, I cannot say that there is one that I honestly diagree with.

I do, recognize the fact however that no one is going to do anything but bitch and gripe about it.

And despite "polls" that should a continuing and even growing disapproval of our continuance in Iraq, much less the inevitable attack on Iran, odds are that John McCain will be elected so he can continue the Bush policy.

I certainly sympathize with Senator McCain for what he had to go through during the time he was imprisioned and tortured while in Vietnam.

While we'll naver really know if he had any knowledge of anything that was worth their torturing him for, it was his duty not to divulge anything. I therefore applaud him for doing his duty, but NOTHING more.

He constantly "wraps himself in the American flag", always reminding us of his military duty, which we are grateful for just as we are of countless others who served in Vietnam, and Korea & WW II before them.

But face it, people; JOHN MCCAIN AIN'T NO AUDIE MURPHY!

If "issuing a legal opinion" is all it takes to change law... what do we have congress for? Why not just hire a couple of lawyers to give us opinions?

Hey, great idea. I'm gonna hire me a tax attorney to issue an opinion that I don't have to pay taxes anymore.

Next, I'm gonna hire a lawyer that opines that I can arrest George Bush once he is out of office and ship him off to the Hague.

Here's a troubling thought:

Just Between Us
By Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball
Newsweek
Wednesday 30 April 2008
Excerpt:

"But while complying with the judge's order to confirm the existence of some documents, administration officials have told the judge they cannot actually disclose the documents themselves, in part because to do so would undermine national security. Even to confirm the identity of any of the carriers with whom administration officials have discussed the surveillance issue would implicitly identify the carriers that participated in the program and therefore "would provide our adversaries with a road map" that would help them thwart surveillance against them, according to a court declaration filed by Lt. Gen. Ronald L. Burgess, director of the ODNI's intelligence staff.
Spokesmen for the Justice Department and ODNI today declined comment to NEWSWEEK on the grounds that neither agency will talk about pending litigation.
The revelation of the existence of the documents comes at a time when Congress is bracing for what is expected to be a grueling summer-long debate over the surveillance measure. Administration officials say that unless Congress acts by this summer, existing court orders permitting surveillance of suspected overseas terrorists will expire, threatening the U.S. government's ability to keep track of potential plots against the homeland. If new legislation is not enacted before the current stop-gap law expires, Republicans may try to use this as an election issue against Democrats."

Well here we go; the writing is on the wall. First it takes a FOIA request for documents, then a judge's order to enforce it, then they admit there are documents, but no one can see them because of the too often used ruse of 'national security'. Then no one will speak to the press because of another excuse/ruse 'pending litigation', so it becomes a non-story covered by the media except to claim those opposed to illegal surveillance will be responsible for any future attack if they don't let the administration continue illegally spying on them.

What a shameful sham. Expect an interesting 'October Surprise', and I don't think it will be very pretty, most likely deadly for someone, perhaps/certainly equal to, or greater than 911. Just watch, or better yet raise hell BEFORE these crooks can once more flim-flam the public. Nancy Pelosi, you are asleep at the wheel, or an accomplice...take your pick what you want YOUR legacy to be.

My proudest moments as an American involved protesting the Viet Nam War. I was surrounded by tens of thousands of my fellow Americans united in a common cause, the ending of a war that should never have been fought. Today the cause is much more dire, in fact our government is not only engaged in another illegal and immoral war in Iraq but is screwing badly the war in Afghanistan , an invsion that could be justified.

In addition we have seen the steady erosion of much that made this nation special. Yet we see noone in the streets when we should ALL be there! Democracy is a participatory process and, by failing to participate, we are destroying something that many thousands fought and died to preserve.

What on earth is wrong with us?

Impeachment, indictment or inprisonment are all too light of a sentance for "W". I think he should have to serve the remainder of his reserve time (the Texas AirGuard tour he walked away from) in Iraq and then be stop-lossed when his rotation date comes up.

We've known all of this for some time, and we can expect no actions from Congress in response to these gross Consitutional abuses and violations of international laws.

I don't think the U.S. people writing to Congress has been effective. Certainly, protests have been ignored - especially by our traditional watchguard, the so-called "free press."

Helen Thomas' appeals to the American people are just that - appeals. It's not just that people are tuned out. It makes no difference if they are even engaged on these issues! Get mad, but then ask who really cares in Washington D.C.

The American people are left with the prospect of having to take up arms against their government. All other avenues of redress to defend the Constitution from domestic enemies (Bush admin, Congress and Supreme Court) have been blocked because the laws are ignored, nullified or rewritten ex post facto. So far, U.S. violence has mostly been projected outward. However, the economic screws are being applied here at home to keep the people quiet.

I think there will be a breaking point. A Democratic Presidential victory clearly won't change things. The pot is on the boil, but when it will blow is anyone's guess.

By the way, Colin Powell has always covered up for the crimes of his superiors - that's what he did in Vietnam, if you read Robert Parry's fine exposes of Powell. So, no surprise there. Powell's protege, Col. Wilkerson, is on the circuit tour trying to rewrite history on Powell's complicity in war crimes.

The only problem I have with Helen's piece is her apparent surprise that Powell was one of those on the Principal's Committee who condoned torture. How anyone was cowed by Powell, ever, is as bewildering as why anyone but the stupidest ever voted for Bush. Powell embodies hypocrisy and always has. He's a perfect example of everything that's wrong with this asinine country: posing as some mountain of integrity, he's a hollow man of the worst sort, a climber always eager to please his superiors no matter how venal and corrupt. And they get no more venal and corrupt than Bush/Cheney.

If Powell ever had a "halo" it was put there by a fawning media who've been in the habit of mistaking gangsters and thugs for heroic saints for about 30 years now. It's amazing someone as perceptive as Helen Thomas ever fell for Powell's con game.

"And where are the voices of the other presidential candidates who will inherit the Bush legacy of torture?"

Right here, baby!!!

Ron Paul:

"Legal issues aside, the American people and government should never abide the use of torture by our military or intelligence agencies. A decent society never accepts or justifies torture."

Ralph Nader:

"Bush has concentrated so much arbitrary power in his Presidency that he can be described in the vernacular as the torturer-in-chief, the jailer-in-chief and the arrestor-in-chief."

Plenty more where that came from, Helen. The Corporate Candidates ain't the only ones running. Try to keep that in mind, will ya? Jeeze...

Helen Thomas, one of a diminishing handful of fearless, true journalists still remaining in the MSM, knows the answer to her own question.

Once referred to by Ann Coulter as "that old Arab," she knows full well that the very reason Congress and the media are not standing up to Bush on the torture issue is that those being tortured are Arabs and Muslims.

Anyone think for one second that if these prisoners were Jews this would continue, or be defended by the media or the Congress? Think Jonathan Pollard (who Israel and their agents here are still tirelessly trying to get released) was waterboarded?

This, if nothing else, should reveal to Americans the power of the Israeli lobby in this country. If you can't see that that, please remove your head from your ass before you suffocate.

"I count on the American people to refuse to be shamed any more."

Don't hold your breadth. Americans are upset because we are loosing the war. There are many people like Bush in this country who enjoy torture, capitol punishment and war. Sociopaths. We are a sick nation. Our history shows this. In Indiana not to long ago there were 2200 chapters of the Women's auxilary of the KKK. The Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. You don't see this on the news.

There are plenty of photos of Nazi war crimes - so why not US war crimes? What's the difference? Americans don't want to be equated with Hitler's Nazis? Well, then don't act like them - it's as simple as that.

Show the photos - all of them - on prime time TV for everyone to see - especially the children, so they will know what their country and their parents are defending. It's the way I was raised - and I can tell the difference between reality and propaganda. That's what we need now - reality, not just more lies and propaganda.

Waterboarding Cheney for the truth may seem like a good idea. Try to realize that if you were torturing him all you would get from it (torturing Cheney) is a lot of self satisfaction.

Cross posted but applicable to the situation. No offense to Helen Thomas in leaving her out of the following comment:

There are no statesmen to stand up and rectify the situation as regard to torture and many other problems facing our country. There is no one to voice the concerns of the many; not in the media and not in the political realm. There are no Walter Cronkite's; there are no FDR's. There is no voice of sanity being heard in this sad state of affairs known as the United States of America. Instead we have the virulent Right and shallow figures such as Pelosi and Reid coupled with a half assed John Wayne as fearless leader. A cowboy type leader who is nothing more than a recovering alcoholic that went AWOL when it was his time to step up. America's frigging doomed without some adult leadership soon and all of the blood we've ever shed will have been for naught.

"Enhanced interrogation." Sounds kinda civilized, doesn't it.

I don't know why Colin Powell was ever revered and looked up to since he helped cover up the My Lai massacre of village peasants in Vietnam. It's a crazy world.

Is anyone still in any doubt about the true motives underlying the US refusal to accept the International Court of Justice ("World Court") as the judicial body of last resort for dealing with crimes against peace and humanity -- and its instistence on bilateral agreements that, in effect, place US actions TOTALLY beyond the reach of ALL laws and customs of civilized behavior.

The US president (a.k.a. CEO of USA Incorporated) claims for himself and, in fact, does actually exercise unilateral powers, both domestically and globally, that far outreach the wildest ambitions of any king or emperor in recent history. If his assumption of arbitrary life and death decision making over everyone on earth is not the very definition of tyranny, the word has lost all meaning.

His authorization of the torture of helpless individuals, horrendous as that undoubtedly is, can only be considered as mere prelude to his tyrannical condemnation of entire peoples with unilateral "secret findings" and covert actions. Six weeks ago, President Bush signed a secret finding authorizing a covert offensive against Iran that is, according to those familiar with its contents, "unprecedented in its scope." More here.

What if everybody took a few days off and DROVE to D.C.

Screw the protests where the little people are corralled and gassed and beaten. Imagine what would happen with a million-car protest? Choking smoke, complete shutdown of transportation (except rails)...eh? No gas for hundreds of miles. Cops confused and unable to act.

Think of it, you drive until you get stuck. Open the cooler and the van door, pull out the BBQ and sit with your new road neighbors until Congress is forced to actually do something.

C'mon! Car protest!

resistor: You, my friend, are unfortunately completely 100% correct... The vast majority of people don't want to hear the truth... and if they do hear it, they refuse to accept it because that would mean going against their entire socialization. Even on progressive sites, you'll get jumped all over if you dare raise the idea of the US soldiers murdering in the name of empire...

JCrumb:
W watches a lot of TV. But methinks that his favorite show was 24, or maybe some John Wayne war movie.

Duh! All decisions come from the top. Nothing new to report here.

Here's what's really amazing: "...earlier this month when Bush acknowledged in an interview with ABC-TV..."

ABC actually broadcast some real news. I'll bet heads are rolling over that one.

Bush admitted torture was acceptable behaviour, when he stuffed firecrackers up frog's butts and blew them up.

Of course he could probably explain he was only demonstrating what a terrorist suicide bomber can do. He's a very sick and dangerous man and so is Cheney.

"We The People" are actually to blame. We have allowed our countty to evolve to it's current status, by not being infomred citizens, by not voting more than 45% and by allowing fascism to be our current form of government.

Our press shares a major portion of the blame, except our press and the media drones who read the news to us is not free anymore, it's owned by the same small band of people who own everything else of importnce. We don't have enough decent and honest people like Keith Olberman and Helen Thomas in the "free" press.

"Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils." the New Hamphsire State flag.

"give me liberty or give me death." Patrick Henry

"My only regret is that I have only one life to give to my country." Nathan Hale

etc.

remember your heritage, citizens.

Thanks for your usual candor and courage. In addition to the "waterboarding" and other forms of torture inflicted on Khalid Shiek Mohammed with the blessing of our President, I assume that President Bush was also informed of and approved the CIA's kidnapping and detention at an undisclosed location within the US of Mr. Mohammed's two little sons (under the age of 10) for the purpose of extracting information which the CIA had not been able to extract by other means. (Please GOOGLE "CIA holds two Pakistani boys" for instant access to the 2003 London Telegraph story including quotes of unidentified CIA officials providing details of this incident which has yet to be reported by US media.) I wonder how the President would defend this "harsh interrogation method" (which, if it occurred as reported by the London Telegraph, is a capital crime under our federal Lindberg Kidnapping Act for which federal officials are not immune from criminal prosecution)? Might Helen or some other White House reporter pose this question at the next Presidential news conference?

Helen Thomas, where are your colleagues? Where are the intrepid reporters whose allegiance is to unbiased information, the life blood pumping the veins of democracy?

Bravo to you.

Shame, shame, shame on the punditocracy. Maybe that's the wrong word, pundit. It's Sanskrit for a very learned man, an expert or authority. Our recent experience, particularly when talking about the white house press corps, has made this ancient word mean scalawag, a person hired by authorities to remain in awe of authorities, an expert in nothing other than cozy relationships with the powerful, whose reporting, for the most part, fails the American people.

Has anyone here seen the HBO SERIES "JOHN ADAMS"?
I ask this because..I bet Der Junior has seen it..he watches allot of tv..so do I..so what..my point is this..
Do you think that when Bush watches a show..a series rather, like JOHN ADAMS..do you think he sits there and ..basks in his own image of himself? This ocurred to me last night as I watched the series..(I DVR em all before watching em...can't wait..) so..it struck me..that WHOMEVER IN GOVERNMENT THAT WATCHES A SERIES LIKE "JOHN ADAMS" WHAT DO THEY THINK WHEN THEY COMPARE THE ..DESPERATE URGE TO TRUE FREEDOM THAT THOSE MEN HAD..WELL..THE "HERO" ANYWAY..AND OTHERS..GEORGE WASHINGTON..ET AL..AND THE OBVIOUS SIMILARITIES BETWEEN "KING GEORGE" AND WELL.."KING GEORGE CIRCA 2008"?
Do you think they say to themsleves..'ahh I am SO MUCH LIKE THAT! I am in government, and I stand for those same freedoms! I feel great about myself knowing that I am carrying on the greatest excercise in Human Freedom the world has ever seen.."
Because if they DO..then of course theya re..PSYCHOTIC!
This is kind of a stupid point...I admit..but I can't help wondering, with shows and books about these men and the..TRULY devoted idea of "FREEDOM" and that certain "TRUTHS" were "SELF EVIDENT"...do you think that the current REGIME..still believes in..THE SAME SELF EVIDENT TRUTHS? DO YOU THINK THEY..OUR "REPRESENTATIVES" CAN ADMIT THAT IF JOHN ADAMS, THOMAS JEFFERSON, GEORGE WASHINGTON (A COP KILLER BY THE WAY..) CAME BACK TODAY AND SAW WHAT WAS BEING DONE TO THE DOCUMENTS THEY SHED THEIR BLOOD FOR...THAT THEY WOULD NEVER...STOP THROWING UP? DO YOU THINK ORIN HATCH CAN ADMIT THAT? DO YOU THINK FUCKING LIEBERMAN CAN ADMIT THAT?...NO! I SAY THESE MEN AND DER JUNIOR, CHENEY, AND ON AND ON AND ON..HAVE QUITE OBVIOUSLY, QUITE LITERALLY, AND ...PLAINLY...VIOLATED THEIR SACRED....SACRED...OATH'S TO PROTECT AND DEFEND THOSE "TRUTHS" THAT ARE IN FACT...SELF EVIDENT..TO THIS DAY..FOR THEY ARE..BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS...THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL, THAT LIFE LIBERTY AND THE PERSUIT OF....AHH FORGET IT..YOU DON'T CARE...NO ONE REALLY DOES..FUCK IT..SEE YOU IN THE TRENCHES AFTER THE NEW CIVIL WAR STARTS...
WILL YOU BE ON THE SIDE OF THE LOYALIST GOVERNMENT FORCES? OR WILL YOU "JOIN OR DIE"
LOT'S O LUCK

I hate to break this to everyone, but the majority of Americans - and we are not in the majority, my friends - have neither the inclination or means to learn the truth of what has really happened in this country. If one discovers the truth, one is forced to make a decision on how to respond to it. It is far easier and more convenient to remain ignorant - that way, when everything falls to pieces, they can say, like the good German, " I didn't know that all of this was happening, it was not my fault".

Remember the term "Ignorance of the law is no excuse"? They don't teach even basic law in school anymore. It's easier for so-called leaders to break the law if the citizenry doesn't have a basic grasp of what is legal and illegal.

We are finished as a country, and we are taking the entire planet with us, just because a few evil, malignant individuals were smart enough to set this in motion, and the majority were too dumb and lazy to wake up and stop them.

From the article: including "waterboarding" or simulated drowning.

There's nothing simulated about waterboarding... dumping water into someone's lungs is ACTUAL drowning. The only thing is that it's 'stopped' before the person dies...

ike kay said: The cost of maintaining that position has been great in terms of human life the latest figure (four thousand plus for an illegal war)

Notice how Ike only counts the American dead... under the title of 'human life'... what about the million+ Iraqi dead? Are they not human? Do they not count?

Ms. Helen Thomas, I thank you from the bottom of my bleedling liberal heart.

Dear Helen Thomas,

I know that you are concerned about the place America has as viewed by the world community. The United States, a country I once believed had a moral place in the affairs of humanity no longer occupies that place.

The policies that have killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people, women, children and the elderly and helpless, never mind those who have become genuine terrorists, does not occupy a place of humanity, dignity or truth.

All branches of government in the majority of cases have supported the endless wars based solely upon American ascendancy and paranoia, what is termed the "national interest" but what is the national interest?

The question can be answered quickly and clearly. It is to have the United States be the richest most powerful nation in the world. It has remained so since the end of World War ll and maintained this position with the blood of its youth. The cost of maintaining that position has been great in terms of human life the latest figure (four thousand plus for an illegal war) and the cost of quality of life for the population generally, and health care and education even for its children particularly.

The top two percent of the country owns the majority of its wealth. The United States has continued its economic direction causing 70 percent of the world's toxicity with 6 percent of the world population. The incidence of cancer has doubled in the USA as a result of this and other policies in the last ten years.

In the face of human extinction as a result of global warming and climate change it has refused to join the world Kyoto accords to reduce emissions and the threat to human existence.

With this as the fundamental philosophy of the American people in place, a people who voted for George W. Bush and his vice president twice, it is not difficult to see why the congress, this group of Americans charged with leading America, cares little about torture or international criticism, accept for a few.

Every water source in the USA is polluted. In some municipalities in the United States a toxic environment threatens the complete population of municipalities. America displays a lack of concern for its own citizens, never mind those designated as the so called "enemy" and so while your concern is well placed for how America deals with its prisoners it is not hard to see why this is the mentality of its government. You ask:

"Is there no lawmaker who is appalled about the tarnishing of our image in world opinion? And where are the voices of the other presidential candidates who will inherit the Bush legacy of torture? Why the silence?

I count on the American people to refuse to be shamed any more."

You should not be shocked with the lack of caring or action by the elected leaders or the people of the USA about the use of torture. The government to maintain fear inculcated the above belief system and paranoia. It made certain, and still does, that Americans believe there is a terrorist under every bed, or have you forgotten the terrorist color chart of Homeland Buffoonery" who systematically subjected the American people to the politics of fear for political reasons and complete brainwashing supported by the media, particularly fox news?

Do you not understand that all candidates must maintain this position because Americans are afraid and require a daddy or mommy to protect them from fear? Anyone who is not their daddy or mommy will not get their vote in this forthcoming election. Witness the ad run recently by the Clinton campaign to underscore the above.

Yes the American people want to hold on to their toys at any price and if people are labeled terrorist, regardless of whether it is true, they will be subjected to whatever is deemed necessary by the secret police to extract
whatever information necessary from its prisoners, the world be damned and what it thinks of American actions, including preemptive military strikes, voted by congress.

Do you remember the freedoms that were stripped from the law, called Habeas Corpus? Do you still wonder why?

one, two, ... one-two-three ...

Impeach the Bastards,
Put 'Em Both on Trial,
Let's Tell the U.S. Congress
to Play Grownup for a While . . .

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/32849

So Bush has gotten away with murder and the nation continues to snore on..

In my dreams, I see a crowd of at least a million surging towards the White House with the intent to do a serious citizens arrest... and then I wake up.

I am tempted to suspend my convictions that torture should never be used to publically waterboard Dick Cheney to confess who the unthinkable ultra high sources are that he takes his orders from. I do NOT think it all starts with Cheney and the Neocons.

Many people truly believe that cheney knew more about the 9-11 attacks than he's said, or possibly even had a hand in it. Therefore, is it okay if bush waterboards him?

I am convinced right now that George Bush can do ANYTHING and get by with it. Look at what's happened so far. And no, the so-called "Christians" aren't going to demand any action against him either. The "religious right" have been backing him all the way. I don't understand it, and it's frustrating and depressing.

And wait til the government does whatever they plan on doing to get the big one started with Iran. It's gonna happen, and soon, and we all know it. And it will be made to look like it is all Iran's fault. You can be sure there will be another event like 9/11 to get the public all enraged about it and willing to even have a draft. The "religious right" will be right up there standing behind Bush all patriotic and ready and willing to support a war on the "infidels" and "terrorists". And, just maybe, there won't even be an election this year.

Guess I better go and get my prescription of Anti-depressants filled while I still have insurance.

I wouldnt count on the American people, Ms. Thomas. They're like people everywhere: arrogant, stupid, and apathetic. Perhaps more so given that their nation is the world's No. 1 bully.

litt_wmn@yahoo.com

Will everyone please stop acting outraged that Christians are doing nothing.

Deficits of heroism, decency, and accountability scream out! Apart from that, the very fact that the vast majority of persons "on board" for cruel and unusual punishment of SUSPECTED "terrorists" speaks volumes in terms of it's assault on TRUE Christian values. Those who claim to be good Christians readily deploy methods of depravity? As if their "savior" would endorse such procedures?

To those of us (a growing community given the evident legacy of this disgusting cabal of amoral players) who believe 911 was an inside job... the projection of guilt onto the unfortunate innocents imprisoned for a charade approaches absolute ground zero: spiritually speaking.

Their karma will catch up with them, if U.S justice and/or the World Court cannot.

Impeach, indict, imprison.

As a public servant (for a city planning department) I had to take an oath to "defend" the U.S. and California constitutions "against all enemies, foreign and domestic."

Now I have a dilemma; I truely believe that the current occupant of the White House has and is destroying the U.S. Constitution (intentionally; whether for security, oil or whatever) and therefore he - and several members of his group who have condoned torture, etc - are "domestic…enemies."

So, how do I "defend" the U.S. Constitution?

Furthermore, as a decendent of one of the first signers of the Declaration of Independence, and the son of a man who was hit with a hand-granade on Iwo Jima in WWII - I feel very strongly about this oath!

This may sound silly, but I would like to state here and now for the record - that I hereby place George W. Bush, and all members of the so-called "principals group" who condoned torture under "citizen's arrest."

Any law enforcement officials and/or lawyers who would like to assist in the arrest and prosecution of these "domestic...enemies" (and thereby live up to their oath)please report for duty below.

Why no impeachment proceedings? Why are all these lies and abuses against the founding principals of our country just be tolerated? Does it really come down to the leadership of the Democracts in Congress? If it's Pelosi and Reed saying business as usual I think we should begin calling faxing and letting them know what we demand.