Posts tagged “Dick Cheney”

Obama administration re-invokes “State Secrets” privilege

Nov 4

Posted by Patrick T. Lafferty in our police state | No Comments

Full Document: Electronic Frontier Foundation (PDF)

From page 23 of the EFF opposition brief in re Shubert, filed with the Hon. Vaughn R. Walker in the Northern District of California on July 20, 2007
(emphasis added by Glenn Greenwald; click to enlarge)

When the Obama administration announced they were going to limit the use of the State Secrets privilege six weeks ago, I simply did not believe it (see reasons 1, 2). Then, the news broke last Friday in a White House “trash dump“, a maneuver used to hide important stories amid numerous bits of procedural dross, that

the Obama administration has, yet again, asserted the broadest and most radical version of the “state secrets” privilege — which previously caused so much controversy and turmoil among loyal Democrats (when used by Bush/Cheney) — to attempt to block courts from ruling on the legality of the government’s domestic surveillance activities.Glenn Greenwald

Rather than hem and haw again about how this is the fall of the Republic, which this very well could be, I will simply ask that you please take the time to go read Glenn Greenwald’s excellent piece on this matter of great consequence. It is as well-linked and well-written as anything I could have hoped for. Plus, he is an actual constitutional lawyer, instead of an armchair litigator like me. Go! Read it right now! Then come back here to discuss, tweet it, facebook it and tell all your friends this is happening.

Tags: Barack Obama, Barrack Obama, bush administration, Bush Administration sociopathic, Bush crimes, Bush rule of law, bush war criminal, cheney war criminal, CIA, CIA torture, CIA war criminals, condoleeza rice, Dick Cheney, enhanced interrogation techniques, glenn greenwald, in re Shubert, interrogation techniques, is waterboarding torture, obama = bush, Obama Administration, obama supports war criminals, overly-aggressive executive, Presidential Lawbreaking, prosecute US war criminals, rice, rice war criminal, simulated drowning, state secrets privlege, torture, torture is wrong, u.s. torture, Vaughn Walker, waterboarding, waterboarding is torture

The biggest story you’ve never heard

Sep 24

Posted by Patrick T. Lafferty in seek the truth | 7 Comments

First, a brief introduction:

Sibel Edmonds has a story to tell. She went to work as a Turkish and Farsi translator for the FBI five days after 9/11. Part of her job was to translate and transcribe recordings of conversations between suspected Turkish intelligence agents and their American contacts. She was fired from the FBI in April 2002 after she raised concerns that one of the translators in her section was a member of a Turkish organization that was under investigation for bribing senior government officials and members of Congress, drug trafficking, illegal weapons sales, money laundering, and nuclear proliferation. She appealed her termination, but was more alarmed that no effort was being made to address the corruption that she had been monitoring.Sibel Edmonds and Philip Giraldi
The American Conservative

[Edit: ~~6:34~~10:21 PM CDT] Sibel posted her response to Rep. Jan Schakowsky’s attack on her character. Pretty good, in my opinion. I’ve integrated some of Sibel’s links into this post and details to the names on the list of members of Congress.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Nicole Sandler Show - Brad Friedman talks about Sibel Edmonds - 09-22-09 (37:36)

Sibel (pronounced suh-bell) took her case all the way to the United States Supreme Court, who refused to hear the case. At each turn, she and her ACLU attorneys were barred from the courtroom while Justice Department officials discussed the matter with the judge(s) and decided her fate thanks to the “State Secrets Privilege“, a draconian executive order that is the extra-judicial legal equivalent of “no, because I said so.”

Sibel Edmonds primer
1) Read this
2) Listen to Brad Friedman (above)
3) Read this
4) Read these 1, 2, 3
5) Read this
6) Read this
7) Watch “Kill the Messenger” – The Sibel Edmonds documentary (below)

There was almost no mainstream media coverage in the United States (one 60 Minutes segment and a Vanity Fair article) and that was the way it was for Sibel Edmonds…until August 8, 2009. Finally, after years of having her right to free speech surreptitiously squashed, the Obama administration opted not to invoke the state secrets privilege and she was allowed to speak under oath in a deposition in Ohio (entire deposition video after jump).

Sibel has been trying to tell her story to the authorities and the media since 2001 and now that the gag has come off, she is telling it from the mountain top. Who can blame her? The American Conservative (Pat Buchanan’s magazine) ran an interview that she did with former CIA operative Philip Giraldi on their cover on Tuesday. Sibel finally named names.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 60 Minutes, AIPAC, American Turkish Council, Azerbaijan, biggest story we never heard about in america, Bob Livingston, Brent Scowcroft, Chechnya, CIA, Dan Burton, Dennis Hastert, Dick Cheney, Douglas Feith, FBI, George W. Bush, Henry Kissinger, Iraq, Iraq war, ISI, James Baker, James Baker III, Jan Schakowsky, Jean Schmidt, John Ashcroft, Kurdistan, Kyrgyzstan, Marc Grossman, Mossad, Neoconservatives, New York Times, Pakistan, Paul Wolfowitz, Pentagon, Philip Giraldi, Rand, Rep. Dennis Hastert, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Richard Perle, Roy Blunt, Saudi Arabia, Sibel Edmonds, State Department, state secrets privilege, Stephen Solarz, Susurluk, The American Conservative, Times of London, Tom Lantos, Turkestan, Turkey, Vanity Fair

Quotable: George W. Bush

Aug 10

Posted by Patrick T. Lafferty in quotable | 1 Comment

Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East…. The biblical prophecies are being fulfilled…. This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people’s enemies before a New Age begins.George W. Bush
Christian Crusader; Ex-President

This quote comes from a 2003 phone conversation between Bush and former French President Jacques Chirac. Bush called to get Chirac’s support for the invasion of Iraq. Chirac declined and immediately sought the advice of a scholar to help understand the meaning of the insane reference.

Honestly, as more information emerges from the darkness of the Bush-Cheney years, I am amazed that the world was not re-terraformed at the hands of those zealots. This man had control of a nuclear arsenal tens of thousands of times stronger than that unleashed on Hiroshima 64 years ago. If there is a god, it surely saved us from the likes of George W. Bush.

Via Jon Taplin’s blog
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Allez Savoire!, Allez Savoire! N ° 3 9, bush administration, Bush Administration sociopathic, Bush Chirac, Bush Chirac conversation, Bush Chirac Gog Magog, Bush crimes, Bush Gog Magog, Bush rule of law, bush war criminal, cheney war criminal, christian crusader, christianity, CIA, CIA torture, CIA war criminals, condoleeza rice, Dick Cheney, does god exist, enhanced interrogation techniques, George Bush and the Code of Ezekiel, George W. Bush and the Code of Ezekiel, George W. Bush et le Code Ezéchiel, gog, if there is a god, interrogation techniques, is there a god, is waterboarding torture, Jacques Chirac, magog, obama = bush, obama supports war criminals, prosecute US war criminals, quotable bush, quotable george w. bush, rice, rice war criminal, secular humanism, simulated drowning, torture, torture is wrong, u.s. torture, waterboarding, waterboarding is torture

Cheney admits there is no evidence tying Iraq to 9/11

Jun 3

Posted by Patrick T. Lafferty in seek the truth | 1 Comment

Video: Fox News

In an interview with Greta Van Susteren, Dick Cheney admitted there was never any evidence that Iraq was involved in the attacks on September 11, 2001.

“On the question of whether or not Iraq was involved in 9-11, there was never any evidence to prove that…”

You read that headline correctly. Dick Cheney actually admitted Monday (on Fox News) that the United States never had any evidence of Iraqi involvement in the 9/11 attacks. Back in 2003, it was a far different story seeping from the lips of Dick Cheney. He didn’t actually come out and say Saddaam pulled the trigger, but he certainly left that impression in the capable hands of the mainstream media for their saber-rattling pleasure. It looked something like this on September 16, 2003, even in the dubious Boston Globe:

But Cheney left that possibility wide open in a nationally televised interview two days ago, claiming that the administration is learning “more and more” about connections between Al Qaeda and Iraq before the Sept. 11 attacks. The statement surprised some analysts and officials who have reviewed intelligence reports from Iraq.Anne E. Kornblut and Bryan Bender
Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent

As Raw Story puts it, this comes just a bit late for the 4,308 U.S. military personnel killed in Iraq. That says nothing of the 100,000-ish Iraqi civilians that have died as a result of our unnecessary invasion. I guess we just add this to the ever-expanding Bush/Cheney dossier at The Hague.

Tags: bush administration, Bush Administration sociopathic, Bush crimes, Bush rule of law, bush war criminal, cheney admits, cheney war criminal, CIA, CIA torture, CIA war criminals, condoleeza rice, Dick Cheney, enhanced interrogation techniques, Fox News, Greta Van Susteren, interrogation techniques, is waterboarding torture, no iraqi involvement, no iraqi involvement in 9/11, obama = bush, obama supports war criminals, prosecute US war criminals, rice, rice war criminal, simulated drowning, torture, torture is wrong, u.s. torture, waterboarding, waterboarding is torture

Cheney and Rice OK’d waterboarding as early as 2002

Apr 23

Posted by Patrick T. Lafferty in civics 101 | No Comments

“[Waterboarding] consists of immobilizing the victim on his or her back with the head inclined downwards, and then pouring water over the face and into the breathing passages. By forced suffocation and inhalation of water, the subject experiences drowning and is caused to believe they are about to die.”

Today, a Senate report states that former VP Dick Cheney and former National Security Advisor and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice both explicitly authorized the torture of prisoners.

Just so we are all on the same page here, there is no question about it, waterboarding is torture and the United States made it official policy to waterboard people. Ergo, it was the offiical policy of the United States to practice systemic torture. Waterboarding “consists of immobilizing the victim on his or her back with the head inclined downwards, and then pouring water over the face and into the breathing passages. By forced suffocation and inhalation of water, the subject experiences drowning and is caused to believe they are about to die.”

Yup, that’s torture. Just like porn, you know it when you see it.

This torture method dates back to the Spanish Inquisition and isn’t a subject up for debate. And yet, we debate. Why, you might ask? That answer could fill a doctoral dissertation, but the abriged answer involves sadistic fucks like Dick Cheney and the 24 hour news cycle.

So, it is resolved that waterboarding is torture. Now that we have that firmly established, what are we going to do with government officials that ordered illegal torture like Cheney and Rice? How about the citizens of the United States that actually tortured people?

Huzzah! That is a subject that can be debated. Thankfully, we have a tried and true method for such debates so we don’t have to debate how we are going to debate. Whew! That’s a relief. What is this method, you ask? We call it…trial by jury. There is no need for Congressional hearings or special commissions. These accused criminals should be processed through the Federal legal system.

Yes, our “justice” system is a charade of the highest order. But if we do not prosecute anyone and everyone who ordered or facilitated torture, regardless of intent or outcome, we are no better than the kangaroo courts of Pakistan that everyone seems so fond of deriding these days. Unlike Pakistan, the United States is supposed to have justice for all, not a separate standard for the ruling elite.

No matter what comes from torturing an individual, be it good information or sadistic pleasure, the torture still occurred and the perpetrator of that torture needs to stand trial. It really is that simple.

Tags: bush administration, Bush Administration sociopathic, Bush crimes, Bush rule of law, bush war criminal, cheney war criminal, CIA, CIA torture, CIA war criminals, condoleeza rice, Dick Cheney, enhanced interrogation techniques, interrogation techniques, is waterboarding torture, obama = bush, obama supports war criminals, prosecute US war criminals, rice, rice war criminal, simulated drowning, torture, torture is wrong, u.s. torture, waterboarding, waterboarding is torture

Cheney, Gonzalez indicted for “organized criminal activity”

Nov 19

Posted by Patrick T. Lafferty in contemplations | 2 Comments

Vice President Dick Cheney and former attorney General Alberto Gonzales were indicted on Tuesday by a grand jury in South Texas. The indictment cited “organized criminal activity” surrounding alleged abuse of inmates in private prisons and a “money trail” of Cheney’s ownership in prison-related enterprises. Cheney has an ownership stake in the Vanguard Group, which owns an interest in private prisons in south Texas. The indictment states that Cheney is “profiteering from depriving human beings of their liberty,” according to Reuters.

For his part, Gonzales allegedly chose to “stop the investigations as to the wrong doings” into assaults in county prisons.

I hope this is the first of many indictments for the crimes committed by the Bush administration over the last eight years. We lost our respect for the rule of law at the hands of Bill Clinton. We lost the reigns outright under Bush and Cheney. If Obama doesn’t make an example of Bush, Cheney and their cohorts, there is very little hope that the notion of justice will ever reign again over our amber waves of grain. Unfortunately, I think Obama and his team just aren’t going to be the new sheriff we need. It seems the best we can hope for is that they stay out of the way of justice.

Tags: Alberto Gonzalez, Barrack Obama, Bush administration indicted, Bush administratoin indictments, Bush criminal, Bush rule of law, Cheney criminal, Cheney indicted, Cheney profits depriving liberty, Clinton damage to rule of law, Clinton rule of law, Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, George Walker Bush, Gonzales criminal, Gonzalez indicted, Joe Biden, President Bush, rule of law, the agitator, Vanguard Group, Vice President Cheney, Willacy County, Willacy County Grand Jury

Sarah Palin unfamiliar with U.S. Constitution

Oct 21

Posted by Patrick T. Lafferty in civics 101 | 4 Comments

Sarah Palin thinks the VP runs the U.S. Senate.

Many out there are making a big deal about the fact that Palin has been “applying” for the VP job for six weeks and still doesn’t know what that job entails. While that is a valid point, the critique of Palin doesn’t go deep enough. Every citizen should know what the vice president does, let alone the governor of the largest state in the union. That is not an unreasonable expectation. I’m not asking for every one of us to be a policy wonk or to even have a firm grasp on how a bill becomes a law. My expectations of our educational system have been so diminished that I will settle for a basic understanding of the separation of powers.

Then again, Palin only seems to have become conscious of the world outside the pageant circuit (and even worse, the TV anchor circuit) during the Bush administration. She has only known a bigger world under the vader-esque power of Dick Cheney. I certainly don’t want any Vice President to have the power Cheney and his black heart (no, really) have exerted, let alone the insane expansion of power that Palin’s idiocy would suggest. This begs the question: with a role model like Cheney, can we really blame her? Let me stop you right there…yes, we can.

I just can’t picture Palin in the cloak room saying to Patrick Leahy, “fuck yourself!” In fact, the image that comes to mind when you think about Sarah Palin in the Senate is not her palling around with that bunch of corporate shills making policy. Instead, it is a bunch of patriarchs patting her on the forehead and suggesting that she get back to playing her flute and counting her oil dollars. You betcha!

I find her candidacy offensive. She is disturbingly uneducated and culturally illiterate. I think the biggest problem (and least reported issue) with Colin Powell’s endorsement of Obama is his throw-away comment that implicitly gives a modicum of credence to Palin’s selection, saying, “She’s a very distinguished woman, and she’s to be admired.”

No, she is not. Her candidacy is indefensible.

Election to public office does not distinguish you. Her behavior in our modern bloodsport, in every political Coliseum across the country, is not admirable. She is an abomination.

I cannot imagine how anyone could vote for McCain knowing that she is a heartbeat away from ruling the “free” world. If you intend to do just that, please explain it to me in the comments section. I really and truly would like to understand your rational for such behavior.

After the jump, a video that Palin absolutely needs to watch and we all could use as a civics refresher course. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Barrack Obama, Cheney's black heart, Cheney's Law, common sense, Congress, Dick Cheney, failure to vett, Frontline, Frontline Cheney, Frontline Cheney's Law, I'm just a bill, Joe Biden, John McCain, mainstream media, palin american constitution, palin becomes Cheney, palin Cheney, palin constitution, Palin doesn't know what VP does, Palin expands VP power, Palin ignorance, Palin ignorant, Palin ignorant on VP job, palin still doesn't know what vp does, palin thinks she is Cheney, palin u.s. constitution, palin vp confusion, PBS, register to vote, Sarah Palin, Schoolhouse Rocks!, Schoolhouse Rocks! I'm just a bill, Vice President, Vice President of the United States, vote independent, vote third party, VP candidate, WGBH

About

I am an Assistant Professor of Interactive Media at Johnson County Community College and an independent multimedia communications consultant. Politically, I defy labels. Philosophically, I believe that Ella Wheeler Wilcox was correct when she said, "To sin by silence, when they should protest, makes cowards of men."

Mantra #1

We owe no allegiance to any government. They owe abject allegiance to us.

Mantra #2

Corporations are not human. Non-humans have no inalienable rights.

Mantra #3

Single-payer or bust!

Mantra #4

It is impossible to awaken someone who is pretending to sleep.

We must not buy federally-mandated insurance! No single-payer, no sale! No public option, no sale!

Any law that requires an individual to pay money to a private corporation or face criminal penalty is a bad law and must be struck down. I could write pages and pages about the healthcare issues with this bill...

Question Copyright

That’s right, kiddies, copying is not theft! Time to forget the propaganda that you are fed every time you pop a dvd into the player. Oh, it is still a crime thanks to our draconian Digital Millennium Copyright Act, but it is not theft, so don’t feel like you are stealing, because you aren’t. Case in point: Nina Paley....

The biggest story you've never heard

"Sibel Edmonds has a story to tell...It is about massive and systematic corruption of our elected officials and senior bureaucrats with the active connivance of the media. Worse, the corruption was carried out by agents of several foreign governments and involved nuclear secrets stolen from American defense laboratories and military bases that were, in some cases, sold to the highest bidder..."

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