First Amendment Guarantees Right to be Stupid

Stupidity is a guaranteed American right in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. You are simply allowed to be stupid here. We see this every day, of course. We see it especially in the media coverage of Mr. Handlebar Mustache himself, of Koran-burning fame, as described in Jason Linkin's commentary in the Huffington Post.

When we talk about protecting the few people from the tyranny of the majority by protecting their right to speech and religion, we are talking about protecting the essence of living in a democracy. And that means fools will abound. And they will do stupid things, because let's face it, sometimes the majority is acting out of common sense. The reason we don't burn Korans on every street corner is it doesn't do anything, puts U.S. troops in danger and is reminiscent of Hitler and the Nazis. And anyone can tell you that burning a book doesn't stop an idea.

Essentially, that puts burning the Koran on the same level as streaking through Mecca. You can do it, but why? Because you are stupid. And in the United States, you have that right. After all, we elected George W. Bush president, didn't we?

Waterboarding is Torture, and Torture is Wrong - ACCOUNTABILITY !!

Peggy Noonan should have her ass kicked. She is an advocate for "just passing by" the horrors of the Bush Administration torture policies. I wonder which of her friends would be indicted?

Accountability is critical to never having the United States of America EVER involved in a torture program again. And I don't mean the lowest level person you can find. I mean the people who issued the orders and justified them legally when concerns were raised about possible prison time.

The SERE program put our troops through simulated harsh interrogation techniques. Then those techniques were employed by our own government as tactics in our own interrogations of terror suspects. It's like someone saw the abusive tactics being used to harden our own troops against interrogation tactics, and thought "Wow! What a great idea! We should do something like that."

President Obama is flailing around trying to prevent a full scale investigation into the torture program of the Bush Administration, sending the likes of Rahm Emanuel and other emissaries to the media trying to get everybody to get over the torture program that didn't work.

Bad news, President Obama. We're not going to allow you to pull a Clinton on us and sell out your support base for the sake of unity. We won't stop screaming until everybody knows you turned your back on the worst human rights violation for decades by the United States.

Let the party begin.
























CIA Torture, Daily Show, Daily Show Torture, Jon Stewart, Jon Stewart Torture, Peggy Noonan Torture, Stewart Torture, Torture, Video, Abu Ghraib, Afghanistan, Bush Administration, Department Of Defense, Guantanamo, Iraq, Senate Armed Services Committee, Senate Armed Services Committee Report, Sere, Torture, Waterboarding, Bush Administration Torture, CIA Torture, Cia Waterboarding, Obama Torture, Obama Torture Memo, Torture, Waterboarding, Bush Torture Memos, CIA Torture, Gen. Michael Hayden, General Michael Hayden, Hayden Op-Ed, Michael Hayden, Michael Mukasey, Mukasey Hayden Op-Ed, Obama Torture, Obama Torture Memos, Torture, Torture Memos, Caribbean, Cia, Cuba, Cuba Embargo, Cuba Travel Ban, Drug Interdiction, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Imf, Latin America, Market Fundamentalism, Military Intervention, Multi-Lateralism, Neoconservatives, Obama Foreign Policy, Torture, Trade, Washington Consensus, Bush Administration, Cia, CIA Torture, Obama Torture Memos, Torture, Torture Memos, Politics News

Impeach Judge Jay Bybee

The man who orchestrated the legal protection for the torturers of the Bush Administration should not be a Federal judge.

Jay Bybee wrote memos, or oversaw their writing, that drew a line as to what conduct was legal in interrogating terror suspects, and what conduct was not. That line is essential and needs to be drawn. The problem is where Jay Bybee put the line. His work allowed interrogations that went as far a "organ failure" without it being considered torture.

How can someone like that be a lifetime Federal judge? His morals are lacking, his judgement is in absentia and his legal reasoning is suspect.

Impeach Federal Judge Jay Bybee!

Cowards and Fools - Lawyers on DOJ Torture Memos

Cowardly lawyers across America are outraged at the Department of Justice memos authorizing torture and the suspension of civil rights by the Bush Administration. And they wait until Bush is out of office to say it as loud as possible.

The contents of memos written by John Yoo have been in the public domain for years. Only now are members of our esteemed legal community are getting up in arms. Where were they when it was a real risk to speak out?

Let me tell you something. When I was fired from the CIA as a contractor for using my classified blog to denounce the practice of torture and waterboarding in particular, I was told that everything I had ever read and everything I had ever written would be examined for criminal activity and forwarded for possible criminal prosecution. And that's what I've had hanging over my head for two years. The only reason I was in that precarious position is that I crossed the Bush Administration who openly threatened me with a political prosecution.

And I would do it all again. Waterboarding is torture, and torture is wrong. Not to mention stupid, shortsighted and ineffective.

So you will forgive my disdain for the lawyers who find their consciences late in the game.

You can read references to the Torture Memos in previous blog posts of mine back in 2006. You will see that the legal reasoning was available for outrage even then.

http://econo-girl.blogspot.com/2006/09/torture-memos.html

http://econo-girl.blogspot.com/2006/09/torture-memos_15.html

torture, waterboarding, torture, waterboarding, torture memo, john yoo, berkely law school, war crimes, Bush, Bush Administration, DOJ, DOJ torture memo