Dear all,
Sometimes we wonder if what we do is helping. Is dressing up and street theater going to make a difference? Are we wasting our time in thinking we can change things?
I'm here to say that EVERYTHING we do is helping. I've been standing in orange jumpsuit and hood/chains for a Guantanamo detainee named Adel Hamad, #940, for some time now. After 5 years in GITMO he still had never been charged, never been tried and was going blind from looking thru chain link fence for so long.
He was released from GITMO last Thursday. He is home with his family.

CodePINK Protest Torture at the White House on International Human Rights Day.

bonus video below the fold, Col. Ann Wright interview...

Keith Olbermann gets it. With a not insignificant dose of irony he narrates the protesters being led off the stage at Alberto Gonzales' speech at UF. First, civil liberties were led off the stage w/o noticeable reaction from Gonzo. Second, Habeas Corpus was dragged away to the same lack of effect...

As far as I'm concerned those arrested weren't committing any crime. As citizens we have the obligation under international law to resist the criminal actions of our government. Especially torture-mongers the likes of Alberto Gonzales... The real crime is the University of Florida payin' war criminal Gonzales $40,000 for showing up to be abused!
Protesters arrested at Gonzales speech
By DEVIN CULCLASURE, Alligator Writer
In his first appearance at a university since resigning in August, former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was met at UF on Monday with a mixture of cheers, boos and scattered interruptions by protesters, two of whom were arrested.

Gonzales, who resigned from his position after a controversial tenure, spoke to more than 800 people at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.

During his prepared speech, Gonzales largely avoided discussing the controversies he faced in office, including his dismissal of nine U.S. attorneys.

Instead, he focused on encouraging students to consider a career in public service while describing his own experiences in that field.

About 15 minutes into his speech, two UF students, Richard Gutierrez and Kevin Hachey, climbed onto the stage wearing orange jumpsuits and black hoods on their heads...

Hecklers dog Gonzales By JACK STRIPLING Nov 20, 2007
Hounded by hecklers and protesters, former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales defended an admittedly imperfect record before a raucous University of Florida audience Monday night.

Gonzales devoted much of his speech to encouraging students to enter public service, despite the criticism that public officials like himself endure.

The fervency of that criticism was readily apparent as several protesters stood with their backs turned toward Gonzales throughout his speech, frequently interrupted him with calls of “liar” and “treason” and, in some cases, stormed the stage...

Dennis Kucinich at the SOA

Cynthia McKinney at SOA Watch Event 2007

http://www.soaw.org/index.php

November Vigil: 16-18,2007
Take a Stand for Human Rights!

On the weekend of November 16-18, thousands will gather at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia for the Vigil and the Nonviolent Direct Action to Close the School of the Americas and to end the racist system of violence and domination that the SOA represents. Take a Stand for Justice!

After a close vote in the house of representatives on an amendment that would have cut funding for the SOA/WHINSEC, a series of very successful delegations to Latin America, and the Bolivian and Costa Rican governments’ announcements that they would cease all training at the school; this years vigil is shaping up to be one of the most exciting in recent years!

Come celebrate with us and join torture survivors, students, social movement leaders, religious workers, peacemakers, the Indigo girls, Congressman Jim McGovern, presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, the 1000 Grandmothers, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Carrie Newcomer, Students for a Democratic Society, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Veterans for Peace, Aimee Allison, Josefina Lazo from El Salvador, Jim Schmitz of AFSCME, Miguel Ángel Vásquez de la Rosa from Oaxaca and thousands more in denouncing SOA/WHINSEC-sponsored violence in Latin America and demand a radical change in U.S. foreign policy!

Senate confirms Mukasey as attorney general
Bush nominee wins backing for post despite waterboarding flap
updated 12:56 a.m. ET, Fri., Nov. 9, 2007
WASHINGTON - The Senate confirmed retired judge Michael Mukasey as attorney general Thursday night to replace Alberto Gonzales, who was forced from office in a scandal over his handling of the Justice Department.

Mukasey was confirmed as the nation’s 81st attorney general after a sharp debate over his refusal to say whether the waterboarding interrogation technique is torture.

President Bush thanked the Senate, even though the margin had been whittled down from nearly unanimous by a sharp debate over Mukasey’s refusal to say whether the waterboarding interrogation technique is torture.....

Roll Call Vote...

I guess this means no water-boarding simulations in front of Bill Nelson's offices!

Mukasey Must Denounce Torture, Publicly and On the Record
Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance Mukasey’s nomination without getting real answers on the issue of torture and the broader issue of executive authority. In doing so, they missed a real opportunity to make progress on ending torture and reining in a president that believes he is above the law. Now, every senator has a responsibility to act.

Take Action: Tell Your senators Mukasey must commit to enforcing torture and spying laws.

Full Senate Should Seek What the Judiciary Committee Failed To Obtain (11/6/2007)

Senate Should Not Move Forward with an Attorney General Nominee Who Refuses to Classify Waterboarding as Torture

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: media@dcaclu.org

WASHINGTON-- – As the Senate Judiciary Committee voted today to approve the nomination of Judge Michael Mukasey for attorney general, the American Civil Liberties Union now calls upon the full Senate to obtain what the committee could not – an admission from the nominee that waterboarding and other extreme interrogation tactics are torture. During the confirmation hearings and in his responses to further questions, Judge Mukasey carefully avoided stating whether waterboarding is torture when authorized by the federal government, as well as refusing to say that it is also illegal for foreign countries to waterboard, beat and shock American citizens...

Focus on Nelson postcards

Save and Print!

Please DISTRIBUTE WIDELY to all Florida residents! It's imperative that we let Senator Nelson know right now that we want this war stopped!

Front

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Senator Bill Nelson Votes for Torture by Cenk Uygur Posted June 1, 2007
Bill Nelson sold us out. So much for the Democratic majority. It doesn't mean much when you have "conservative" Democrats who are consistently willing to make deals with the Bush administration to allow them to continue their hideous practices.

The Democrats are in the majority in the Senate Intelligence Committee and all they needed was all of their party members on the committee to vote the right way to end torture by the US government. But Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) wouldn't have it. He likes torture too much. I'm sorry, let me use the Orwellian language they use - he found value in the enhanced interrogation techniques used against detainees in the war on terror...

The Courage to Stand Up Against War Crimes BY Scott Horton
PUBLISHED May 18, 2007
Lieutenant Commander Matthew Diaz has been acquitted on accusations of trying to “aid the enemy” but convicted on counts of passing classified information, reports the Associated Press. He thus emerges as the latest in a long line of military martyrs–including James Yee and Ian Fishback–who have suffered persecution for their opposition to the use of torture and other criminal practices in Guantanamo and other detention facilities. His conviction comes on the same day on which the House of Representatives, in the face of a veto threat from President Bush, voted to close the Guantánamo detention facilities. The Dallas Morning News publishes an account of the Diaz court-martial today, with a brief interview with Commander Diaz. He describes his frustration with official policies of lawlessness and dishonor that led him to take a decisive act of protest: ...

If you wanna try and keep score, Slate has an excellent expose' on the various Bushnik and RepubliCon scandals. An amusing interactive flash presentation and much more thorough text version laying out quite a few (if not most) of the myriad scandals dragging down the CrippledChimp and the moribund GOPers...

Bushies Behaving Badly - A guide to GOP scandals By Holly Allen, Christopher Beam, and Torie Bosch Friday, May 11, 2007
Paul Wolfowitz in the World Bank With Nepotism
The World Bank president and "Iraq war architect" allegedly helped his girlfriend get a generous salary package and promotion when she transferred to the State Department. Wolfowitz said an ethics panel approved the deal, but the panel denies it. An investigative committee found that the deal was a conflict of interest. (He apparently helped her career in the past, too.) Wolfowitz critics also allege that he used his position at the bank to promote a conservative agenda on family planning and global warming...