We do not torture.
Associated Press, 4/11/08 (AM):
The officials also took care to insulate President Bush from a series of meetings where CIA interrogation methods, including waterboarding, which simulates drowning, were discussed and ultimately approved.
President Bush says he knew his top national security advisors discussed and approved specific details about how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency….
"Well, we started to connect the dots, in order to protect the American people. And, yes, I’m aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved."
Wow, remember when the bad apples were supposed to be on the bottom? I’m not a bit surprised that Dubya knew and approved of his unprincipled principals’ detailed discussions of how to "interrogate" supposed terrorist suspects, but I am surprised that he just admitted to okaying the war crimes they orchestrated. It’s like he’s finally concluded that he’s completely untouchable, that there is nothing he can say or do that will put impeachment back on Nancy Pelosi’s squeaky-clean table.
Is he right? Is there really no crime far enough beyond the pale that Bush would face legal consequences, either now or when he leaves office? He just admitted to approving torture, for fuck’s sake. If Congress does nothing more than issue toothless subpoenas and Strongly Worded Letters after this, then why should Bush even bother to stonewall investigations and FOIA requests? Why not just admit to everything, jut his chin out, and sneer, "Yeah, I did it – whatcha gonna do about it, nerds?"
Come on, Nancy: It’s time to set a place at that table.
UPDATE: CTuttle has pointed out that Conyers has "invited" some of the principals and supporting cast to testify before his House Judiciary Committee. It’s better than nothing, but it’s not nearly enough, and it will be ignored.
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Eli!
CTut!
Zedders! Conyers wants to have a little chat with the Principals… Hmmm… Think they’ll show up? ;-)
I couldn’t agree with you more, Eli.
Impeachment- now more than ever.
Well, now that Dubya has said he approved, he can invoke Executive Privilege.
Indeed, I would have said that was *why* he admitted to it, except that the US Attorney investigation has already shown us that Executive Privilege applies even when the president *wasn’t* involved. It’s faith-based legal interpretation!
Fucking intolerable. Can we put impeachment back on the table now?
He also said:
“I think it’s very important for the American people to understand who Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was. He was the person who ordered the suicide attack — I mean, the 9/11 attacks.”
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/188504.php
Gotta love that industrial grade Pixie Dust…! 8-(
Superb graphic, Eli and Comandante Agi.
Or else what?
It’ll only matter if “invite” means “subpoena” and “subpoena” means “with enforcement.”
Next set of questions “you approved”
Of Torture?
Of Abu Graid?
Of Guantanamo?
So that means you Lied about America not torturing?
So that means your White House really did stick the Abu Graid guards with the blame for stuff you told them to do?
So when will the White House Press Corp ask you any of these questions?
I can’t get rid of the image I thought of driving home from work last night. It was of the people who approved of this in the Bush administration, watching the torture videotapes. Bush is with them. Over and over, beng entertained, not caring whether information was coming from the interrogations or not, just rabidly watching…
I’ve always felt that the torture videos were destoyed partially because they also wanted to get rid of the lists of distribution of the copies.
Inherent Contempt would be very compelling if they refuse a subpoena… But, as Kurtz wrote; “Don’t Hold Your Breath!”
Complicity is an unset table, Madame Speaker.
Don’t be a war criminal too.
I know. And I hate it.
So that means your White House really did stick the Abu Graid guards with the blame for stuff you told them to do?
What a way to Support the Troops Bushie!!!
Yoo probably has copies for home entertainment.
Helen Thomas does a bang up job, but, Dana Peroxide, either ignores her or pooh-poohs her…! 8-(
Ditto for Darth!
Helen is the only reason I call them a press corp.
Yoo doesn’t strike me as a watcher. Bush and Rice do.
& W’s fingerprints, in KY, on the torture CD.
Btw, folks it’s Abu Ghraib…
Do your Constitutional duty, no matter how scared you are, Madam Speaker!!!! Put it on the table…for the people…for your grandchildren….for the world…what the he** does it take????
Impeach the torturers now!!!
Yeah, I think Yoo is merely amoral. Bush is an actual sadist.
Heh, they’re still the Press Corpse to me…! ;-)
Why would the American public care? Very few will ever serve in the military and actually worry about being captured and tortured. When you wear the US service uniform and, therefore, have a target on your back, those pesky things called the Geneva Conventions mean something. But if you only have to worry about shopping or paying your taxes to staunchly “defend” our nation as Bush suggests, it does not matter.
That image and Yoo approving of crushing childrens testicles. Did the president know of that. or ask for such approval? Are their videos of that too? Did they serve popcorn?
Arrest these cretins now!
America doesn’t torture — Bushco does. Bush has admitted it.
End it now.
Bush has just admitted that he knew and approved of torture so when do we turn him over to the Hague? I don’t trust the Supremes to handle any political court cases anymore after Bush vs Gore.
Teddy, I like the way you think.
From your keyboard to the billboard “editors’” wheatpaste parties.
Yoo joins in!
Do you really think there were copies of the tapes? Do you really think that Bush actually watched the sessions?
Don’t get me wrong, I think he’s perfectly capable of sitting down and watching them through. But copies? Then who could be sure all were destroyed?
held accountable, they must be held accountable.
ctuttle at 8
”Conyers has invited former Attorney General John Ashcroft, former CIA Director George Tenet, former Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith, Chief of Staff to the Vice President David Addington, and former Assistant Attorney General Daniel Levin to testify to his committee about those Principals meetings on torture.”
at least 3 out of 5 wrote books about all they know, why would they need to come and testify? /s
Not that we didn’t already know the bastard knew and approved. It’s just more off-pissing than ever hearing the motherfucker say as much.
As a twenty yr vet, I’m deeply disturbed by it, but, contrary to popular belief it also affects American Civilians traveling abroad too…! 8-(
“I’m George Bush, and I approved this torture.”
From Wiki:
In explaining the Unitary executive theory, Yoo made the following statements during a December 1, 2005, debate in Chicago, Illinois, with Notre Dame Law School Professor Doug Cassel:
“Cassel: If the President deems that he’s got to torture somebody, including by crushing the testicles of the person’s child, there is no law that can stop him?
Yoo: No treaty.
Cassel: Also no law by Congress. That is what you wrote in the August 2002 memo.
Yoo: I think it depends on why the President thinks he needs to do that.”
Why the President thinks he has to crush the testicles of the person’s child????!!!! There could be such a situation in the laws of our country???? Are you completely insane!!!!
Yoo approving of crushing childrens testicles.
got a link and please no picture.
But if that is true we need to get these sick details out to the public. The press is complicit in these crimes against children if they keep burying a story like that!
Sometimes I wonder if he’s just deliberately taunting and fucking with us.
It’s like we have trolls in charge of the federal government.
But, but, but Obama said PA’s working/poor are bitter….
Guess which story will get the biggest play on the Sunday morning gasbag shows?
Politics of Screed will trump Audacity of Truth
and Bush will skate again.
here’s the elephant in the room and we’ve been working on it all week because we knew what was comming, we just didn’t know it would be this soon;
there it is
they leaked the yoo memo on purpose, it’s the very reason they had yoo write the opinion in the first place, so they could leak it when they were going to be found out
they had yoo write this crap so they could say “so?”
you MUST be disbarred, there is no choice, they are already giving yoo’s “opinion” the weight of historical precedence, they weight of presidential dererance
yoo must be disbarred, there is no choice
Some tortured logic, no? 8-(
and there is Yoo’s Esquire article.
But the question is, now how can they refuse?
It’s just exactly like that. So when do the fuckers pay the piper?
man, I am just repeating what I said over at Marcy’s place but I am incensed and have no mind to think of something else to post;
somebody needs to ask pelosi just what it would take for the president to commit an impeachable offense
really, what would it take?
we have a president who has committed our armed forces to war knowing he manufactured the evidence he presented
we have a president who actually stood down and enjoyed vacation when given precise information telling us of impending doom sure to occur within months
we have a president who unilaterally redefines treaties and law entered into by this country
we have a president who commits murder among Americans and middle easterners
we have a president who diverted the assets we needed to win our battle against terrorism to go off invading a country he knew as a fact posed no threat
we have a president who does nothing when our covert assets are laid to waste by traitors
a president who writes his own laws and gives himself his own authority to break any law he chooses
so, I could go on for as many days as we have a president but the question remains for Nancy;
“just what would she think is an impeachable offense”, because there is no crime left for this man to commit
One of the problems is that this stuff tends to be meaningless and abstract unless there *are* pictures. The only time there was really any public outrage over torture was when the Abu Ghraib photos came out. And even that faded enough for Dubya to get re-elected (actual re-electedness may vary from re-electedness shown).
That will be added to the list of this country’s great shames.
Blow job?
Yup. They got Yoo to write something that would “enable” them to break the law of the land and international laws of which we were bound by treaty.
Impeach.
< insert smirk here >
Youtube audio:
John Yoo Says President Bush Can Legally Torture Children
IIRC, the originals were digital. They needn’t have been moved physically from Gitmo for exact copies to have been transmitted to the Pentagon, etc.
Yes, I believe they were probably copied, and that a copy or copies of all of them exist somewhere, if for nothing else, than as somebody’s insurance policy against retribution for his or her acts in some aspect of this known or yet unknown.
The easier it is to copy something, the higher the chances of it being copied. If it is also extremely unique or valuable….?
Where in the Constitution does it say that the President can break treaties during a time of war? Where does it say that the President can break the laws of the United States of America during a time of war? Where does it say that the President can disregard the Constituion? Where?
as I have been saying from the very start, the more exposed they are the more brazen they will become
think “lord of the rings” everyone, think about that ring
they are almighty and they posess the ring
this president has the ring, the entire administration enjoy the ring, cheney thinks he has the ring, the president thinks he has the ring, they all gather around those that they think have the ring
who here thinks they are going to give that ring to a femal or a black man?
anyone?
lord of the rings, I really didn’t appreciate it as much as I do on this day
And disbar.
Well, some of the ‘pictures’ were destroyed too…
Congress’s silence is very eloquent.
Why the President thinks he has to crush the testicles of the person’s child????!!!! There could be such a situation in the laws of our country???? Are you completely insane!!!!
Lets remember Yoo wrote the book on torture for the Bush Administration he knows the freakin intent behind this pro torture legal reasoning.
He represents the Bush policy on torture the same way General Petraeus represents Bush on the Iraq war.
Absolutely and completely insane.
Hey, LS, I saw your comment on the comments on the Cheney thread at TPM this morning and read them. Dear gawd, I hope that guy is wrong. I did not have time to read the links, did you?
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WO…..index.html
sorry eli, don’t know if this has been posted. OT/ war games, again.
=========
bush says, uptop-””Well, we started to connect the dots, in order to protect the American people. And, yes, I’m aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved.” ”
well, we started to connect the dots, that we needed to cover our asses better, to protect the american people from knowing how we are protecting them.
bush always says what he’s doing, in simpleton terms, fill in the blanks.
he’s like a little ego-driven pleaser kid, can’t keep a secret, and can’t keep from bragging.
“Al Qaeda” is a fraudulent conspiracy. The evidence is overwhelming, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan control this fake “terrorist group”, along with the Bin Laden family. Repeatedly, the alleged meeting of Atta with Iraqis has been cited time and time again. The $100,000 to Atta from ISI has been ignored.
KSM may be a hired killer, but he is playing a spy game for Pakistan.
the more copies, the greater the chance they surface — and then the prosecutions can proceed.
leastways I’m hopin’ so.
Don’t have the links, but Mary comments at Emptywheel and says that children have been tortured in front of their parents.
Exactly. He knows that Bush wants the power to do anything he wants to anyone he wants anywhere he wants, and he created a roadmap to enable that to happen. Bush has no regard for life. Yoo is complicit. An accessory to the crime against the United States. Betraying the trust of the People.
One of the laws they passed (Military Commissions Act?) gives them immunity here. So that means other countries can pick them up and send them to the International Criminal Court, as soon as they set foot in a member contry, right? But while in office they have diplomatic immunity, or something like that.
Is that why Rumsfeld decided to leave France so quickly all of a sudden when he was there recently?
All that needs to be said is Impeach… Impeach NOW! And if Nancy will not do it then she will be involved in aiding and abetting war criminals and she can and will be held accountable. If not now then in the future when the international courts start looking into these crimes!
“In a taunting manner”??? WTF, are they 12?
somebody go give that man a blow job, do it fast, there isn’t any time left
your country calls on you
I didn’t read the links….I’ve saved them…I’m familiar with a lot of what that person was talking about though. I think there is real validity to it personally.
And by the way, I’m sick unto death of that fuckwad saying that he committed war crimes and moral outrages to “protect” me. Torture and mass murder do nothing to protect me, and I wouldn’t want them even if they did. Is it too much to ask that that pathetic fucking scumbag excuse for a human being NOT be allowed to wipe his crap all over my name?
Call Gannon…quick…
Sorry.
Dam I wish I thought of that! Of course thats what we need is evidence that Bush is giving Cheney Blow Jobs. Now that will wake up the good people of this nation! /s
I’m pretty sure it would be fast…
over at wheel’s place ls notices this slip of the tongue and everyone there thinks it’s significant;
I don’t see the significance but there it is for you guys to examine
How can you type up a blog post about Bush admitting he authorized torture when OBAMA DRANK A GLASS OF ORANGE JUICE??!!
Why do you hate America?
Dude, no-one tells me these things.
I suck at breaking news.
“Crush the person’s childs testicles ” is what I heard on Eureka Springs comment @53
Yes I know small change in wording but as a Christian Nation and under our own laws we do NOT PUNISH CHILDREN FOR THE SINS OF THE FATHER.
good, that means our volunteer will not suffer long
The fish rots from the head down.
Did Yoo say he could squeeze it himself?
Because America lets motherfuckers like these go unpunished.
Yeppers…
http://presscue.com/index.php?q=node/8596
Ah, but it’s not punishment if they haven’t been convicted of anything.
That might actually be the best answer to that question I’ve ever seen…
The Orange Juice Scandal
Not a blogwhore, though it could have been.. hmm..
and Eureka Springs, nice callback!
so, somebody needs to ask pelosi;
“just what would it take for you to impeach this president”
now check this out;
if that question was asked a year ago, she would have surely said “if we found out he committed torture”
now it’s too late for that but I guarantee there is more depravity that will suit whatever she comes up with as impeachable
This is one of those little hints that maybe you’ve been going about this democracy thing all wrong.
There’s such a sense of payback to all this torture, more than “extracting” -oh so literally extracting- information.
BushCo didn’t bother paying attention to the Al Qaeda risk before September 11th, so the use of torture serves to avenge the personal humiliation.
I’ll take a bow when the bastards go to jail.
“Impeachment now more than ever.”
I’m late catching up here. But Elliott, I am so totally with you on this. Set the damn table now!!!
“He was the person who ordered the suicide attack.”
“I mean, the 9/11 attacks.”
No…..he meant “the suidide attack”. He “corrected” it to, the 9/11 attacks.
Big difference.
Press corp? Is that how you spell it? I thought it was press corpse! Silly me.
not quite
this is a wet dream of cheney, he gets off on this, you can see him smile in a sniker when he talks about “the dark side
the administration knows with no doubt there is less information not more when you use torture as your method
the only purpose of torture is to create more unrest, more insurgency, more disatisfaction with the occupying force
this is what they want, an unending war, it’s what they do
You can’t spell PELOSI without E L I .. just sayin
Little hint? How about a Rude Awakening…! I fervently hope they have some international travel planned after they leave office…! ;-)
In Terry Gilliam’s Brazil they called that job “Information Retrieval”.
Is there anyone out the from Pelosi’s district who can confront her on this? She’s not going to necessarily listen to us DFH bloggers, but she might listen to someone from her district.
It’s late in the day, but impeachment has to be put back on the table or we might just as well end this “great experiment” now and just appoint a tear up the constitution and admit to Banana Republica status now. Avoid the rush, as it were.
This is hardly “bush derangement syndrome”. He’s set it up so that any future president of any party can basically give Congress and the American people the finger at will and laugh all the way to their cushy, paid-in-full retirement.
but the 9/11 attacks were suicide attacks, i don’t see the signigicance, I see a normal slip of the tongue
Yes. I believe that the torture serves two purposes, neither of which have anything to do with keeping us safe:
1) Collective revenge against the scary horrible brown people who hate us and blew up the WTC, and
2) Lots of false confessions to fake terror plots to scare us with.
“suicide” sorry.
the silver’s polished, the linens’ pressed. I’m ready.
Well, there’s always Cindy Sheehan. (((snark)))
You can, however, spell ELI without PELOSI…and it looks like we’ll have to, because Grandma P seems to have her bony ass permanently parked in her rocker.
Yeah how does torturing Iraqis help us find Ossama bin Lauden? Although by torturing Iraqi’s I wonder just how many Iraqis joined al Quieda in Iraq after they had a family member arrested.
We now can’t release Iraqi prisoners because they would talk about all the torture we did to them which would cause their relatives to join al Quieda or any group that would give them a weapon.
Too bad Congress never asked General Petreuas if arrests and torture of a n Iraqi’s relatives was a reliable predictor of future terrorist involvement.
Not for all of the participants, it seems some of them didn’t know all that the job entailed.
I do not believe it is revenge, they knew the wtc would be blown up, they know as a fact Iraq has nothing to do with it
this is not revenge, it is depraved sadism
You took the words right outta my mouth.
###################. Can we put impeachment back on the table now?
If we can’t get Pelosi and Dem Company up off their oath over this.. can we get them to do anything but serve themselves and condone the destruction of our Republic?
damn.. I miss being able to edit on the fly. I never see errors in the preview.
Should have been:
Sorry for the bad typing.
– George W. Bush
Were Mr. Bush Prime Minister of the UK, he would have given Mr. Yoo a knighthood for those opinions. Mr. Bybee had to settle for a lifetime seat on a federal circuit court.
I guess the “Go do it!” team were so glued to their teevee sets watching “24″ that they never got around to telling Shrub that torture produces information as reliable as Curveball’s and Chalabi’s. But then when it comes to making war or managing longterm occupations, they don’t need accurate information; they make their own reality. And we know how well that works out.
he fucking admitted it?!?
if we don’t repudiate him and his torture now, i don’t know how we’ll recover.
When Helen Thomas retires
Hugh reminded me earlier that all this busywork of chasing bad guys is just to provide cover for the “president’s” war powers.
Sorry, pups. I looked at the photo of Bush’s pathetic face somewhere, accompanied by the words “and I approved,” and the adrenalin just started racing through these old, weary veins. Take a pill, take a pill. No! I find him contemptible and in contempt. I’m sure that would make him nearly frantic with worry . . .
Sadly, Jo, you did see the treatment Jackie Speier received when she had the audacity to mention it…? 8-(
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/…..q-remarks/
(((barbara)))
this deserves outrage.
But Bush is a “born again” Christian. Guess they’re into crushing childrens’ testicals? After that happens, they’re born again as something other than boys??.
Absolutely mad.
BTW, I think impeachment is off the table for some reason that the dems can’t share with us yet. All in good time. Impeachment wouldn’t begin to address the crimes that have been committed. War with Iran may be another issue. Something is up…bubbling…gotta have a dem majority and president…
You’re either with him, or you’re against him.
the only purpose of torture is to perpetuate the unrest, to insure we are not considered benevolent, to help breed insurgents
that’s the reason to torture
they want never ending confrontation, they need a boogie man
cheney has done this before, created boogie men and threats that do not exist and the only reason he did it was to make certain their would be constant confrontation
for those who don’t know the history of cheney making crap up to start war, read that link, it is frightening
I think this is absolutely correct. However, it doesn’t mean that it’s a *good* reason.
I did and I thought it was awesome. I thought it will help show the American people just how out of touch those tools are right in time for November. Keep it up, jerks.
Oh, completely Off Topic… there is a new “Leopard” update out there that has been causing problems on G4/PowerPC Macs. Be careful about taking the update. You might end up having to do an “Archive and Install”, which is a shitty way to spend a Friday evening… speaking from experience here. :(
Complicity would be my first guess.
This is true. If there were no al Qaeda, they would have to invent it.
but I don’t see the significance of the slip of the tongue that ls points out
sometimes, when I’m thinking on the upside, I say to myself the extra-special protection detail VP Cheney is to get after he leaves office is really to keep track of him so that he can be arrested, when that time finally comes.
To echo a few other commentators, if Congress fails to respond to this admission of criminal conduct by the president – he just pulled a Capone and bragged about his “work” to reporters – they just ratified it. Period.
Outlawing his behavior would seem to be the minimum they could politically get away with. That still lets the perp walk, and make $20-50 million for his books and “speeches”, but at least it draws a line in the sand that the GOP and Vichy Democrats have corrupted an entire Justice Department to keep from being drawn.
Nancy and Harry, over to you….
ITA, Earl!
the only thing we have “going” for us is the unsustainability of it all. Our poor troops.
So Conyers has “invited” the perpetrators? He’ll likely give them party hats and hand out party favors. Congress is a disgrace.
1. attack(s)
2. then no need to say, “I mean”
3. No one has ever said KSM “ordered” any attacks. They said he “masterminded” attacks.
Even W who says 9/11, 500,000 times a week in every speech he’s ever made…has never said something like that. He has never, ever referred to 9/11 in those terms…he always says “the attacks on 9/11″….he has never referred to 9/11 as “the suicide attack”…never…in 6 1/5 years….never.
I don’t think it is insignificant. But that is just me. My point being…they tortured the guy who might have had something to do with a suicide attack…or not….but they got him to confess to something else…which covers their butts and justifies their actions…in justifying torture as a means…to save us all…
Aloha, Bra! They opened up the HVNP today!
man, time flies when I am swimming at the lake, I must get some sleep tonight so I am off, though I really want to stay
should I stay or should I go?
Maybe he should tell them that there will be little Muslim kids and nutcrackers for all. That might entice them to show up.
Aloha, perris!
Effin-A. Complicity.
Think how fucked up Major League Baseball will be after they make Bush commissioner. It will be as popular as curling by the time he is through.
It’s a swim party.
Gawd..Bush as baseball commissioner and Condi as football commissioner…
Peas in a pod.
I think they might implement the Carlin Rules. The only two I remember are:
1) If the pitcher hits the batter with the pitch, the batter’s out.
2) Landmines in the outfield.
Gotta be Complicity, impeachment would bring it all out… Hence, no impeachment! Especially, since Pelosi was part of the gang of four and the gang of eight!
Me neither.
A gruesome prospect that I find more realistic than the idea that he will have to pay for his crimes, ever.
BTW, I think impeachment is off the table for some reason that the dems can’t share with us yet. All in good time. Impeachment wouldn’t begin to address the crimes that have been committed. War with Iran may be another issue. Something is up…bubbling…gotta have a dem majority and president…
My Bold
Some reasons they can’t share yet like if they wait for him to go back to Texas they can get a Guilty Death Penalty Verdict quicker and cheaper than they could if they charged him anywhere else?
And with a court appointed lawyer who sleeps through the trial justicw will be swift.
New law public officials must use public defenders if there charged with anything!
I am a lifelong, die hard baseball fan. If Bush were to be named MLB commissioner, I would never set foot in a professional park ever again.
Aloha, CT! Excellent news, and I’m sure the change in the wind is greatly appreciated in Hilo Town. I hope your other half’s knee situation has been manageable for you-all. We had our first truly summery day of the year here, it puts me quite in mind of your fair state… say maybe Honolua Bay over in that other county…
eli at 62–yep , we’re dealing with 12 year olds.
ask doc about it, but it’s that thing where we stay at a certain age of our development.
people made the mistake of seeing him as a frat party boy, when really he’s a 12 year old blowin’ up frogs cuz he’s bored and has the attention span of a knat, onto the next fun thing.
and like an ego-driven pleaser kid, he can’t keep a secret, it slips out, and he likes to brag.
people comment about not liking to listen to him, i do, it’s very interesting, he always says stuff he shouldn’t, and makes that little wheezing laugh when he does it…
Interesting, and I agree with you.
I notice he likes he kinda bobs, then stops and leans forward, pulls his ears 7 forehead back and smiles when he really wants us to eat up his BS.
The missus is alright… and clear skies in Hilo town…!
See the comments from anonymous on TPM on the Cheney thread from earlier today. (LS)
ooops, #151 needs some proofreading. oh well.
Maybe Babs and 41 tortured W in some way….at least in his mind…he seems to find it “familiar” enough to have no remorse about doing it himself.
Anybody else think Bush and Chee-knee’s last act as they slither out of Washington together arm-in-arm after President Obama’s inauguration will be to give the finger to the press corps at the bottom of the airplane ladder?
Sorta OT–Obama responds to McCain-Clinton-Media Politics of Screed [this is what gives me hope things will get better].
Now, gasbags, can we spend Sunday morning discussing Bush’s admissions of approving torture, including squeezing little boy’s testicles in front of parents? What if that little boy were your son, Luke, Russet? Think you could pull your head outa the process sideshow long enough to care enough to cover that?
Perhaps Mr. Bush will need his grade school Spanish after all. I hear that land prices in Paraguay keep going up; he should exchange his faux ranch in Crawford for a real one near Asuncion fairly soon.
Henry Rollins says he looks like a trained dog hearing a signal from offstage – right before he goes off-script and says something utterly bizarre.
I believe the example Rollins used was the phrase “interstellar entrepreneurs.”
I really don’t care anymore whose fault it is, we’re all culpable because our alleged “leadership” refuses to act. Beloved Leader wouldn’t know the truth about anything even if it came up and bit him in the ass of his well-tailored suit. Darth Dick has an absolute hard-on to make sure that the perceived sins visited on the republicans during Watergate are paid back at least 1000-fold.
I just don’t know. He lies with impunity, and we have to sit here and take it. Daily.
Remember that clip of him joking around…right before he makes the speech that changed the world as we know it…it’s on Youtube and was in Fahrenheit 9/11…
War criminal and proud of it!
I’ve been done had enough. There is NO reason why impeachment shouldn’t be back ON the table. Time to mobilize the netroots and get to pressuring. Maybe I’m wrong, but is this not the smoking gun?
All he would do is run it into the ground like everything else he’s touched for his whole life.
Bush channelling Laurence Harvey.
And Angela Lansbury makes a perfect “Bar.”
He’s delusional.
could you give a link?
I don’t know what you’re talking about
Shrub and Darth’s new logo
FWC (fuckin war criminals)
I have seen a few broad categories of theory there (some which have already been mentioned in this thread):
(1) The D’s are complicit, i.e. they secretly approved some combo of surveillance, torture, etc. against Americans
(2) The D’s are personally blackmailed, i.e. embarrassing or criminal dirt exists
(3) The D’s believe the American people are at risk, i.e. if they impeach, martial law comes down
None of them are things the Dems could talk about to the American people. And note, these 3 items are not mutually exclusive. There’s good evidence (1) and (2) have been happening to some degree or another. Item (3) is sketchier but also works from a logical POV.
I thought you went to bed! I’ll go try to find it.
All rightie then. A beautiful weekend to you and yours!
-sigh- yup.
Eli
great post. I like the “trained dog” part. I have always thought that he was listening to a voice that none of us could hear. His expression is a cross between dumb and waiting for something.
If Congress will not insist upon ending the occupations then they must conduct thorough investigations of something, anything, beyond steroids in baseball.
*and I reread that thinking it should be a bad line on Saturday Nite Live*
Maybe God is messing with him.
I tried to close my eyes and could not do it
this place is a drug
Mahalo! I think #3 will happen irregardless of the Dems impeaching, I do believe the first two are relevant!
I agree on 1 and 2 I’m not so sure about 3. I would like to see Bush up on war crimes now or after he is no longer President just so long as I see him in an orange jumper!
If there is a JUST god, he or she is going to be messing with all of us.
More addictive than heroin…! ;-)
I’m having a hard time believing in a just God.
Maybe to give the ICC the jurisdiction for war crimes trials?
/agrees
I wish, but I just don’t see it.
Good evening dear friends. History will not judge US fairly as a nation. Nor should it.
Mahalo nui loa.
The thing that worries me the most about Bush’s statement is that he shows no fear. Are these fuckers leaving after a dem is elected?
Fairly, or kindly?
Exactly.
I really don’t think they will. Give all that Unitary Executive power to Hillary? Be real!
The motherfucker is too stupid to be afraid.
Here you go…one version…watch it at the end…ergh….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s1odqQTKyU
kindly
right.
eli at 174-”Maybe God is messing with him.”
Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord, whispering in bush’s ear.
that must be why he looks like he’s gotta pee real bad sometimes.
Howdy, Tex!
Yeah, that’s it! He’s a dock dog waiting to take a flying leap after the chew toy. thank you!
Bad dog. No biscuit.
I’d really like to take that nose to the carpet really really hard.
As much as I would like to see shrub shackled, i can’t wait to see Cheney sporting some bracelets
Would also explain the “Let me finish” when no-one was trying to stop him…
If the election tabulation is thrown (again);
If there is another large attack (real or not);
If there is popular unrest;
If there is an economic crisis;
If there is a natural disaster;
…then they (or their proxies) can stay, quite legally.
howdy ct.
And Rove.
I wonder what would happen if they had to be shackled to each other…who would chew their hand off first?
Hi Betsy
How are you feeling this evening?
Yep, NPSD-51 allows it! 8-(
I think they would try to chew each other’s hands off.
wow, he like, just doesn’t give a crap, he’s having a friggin ball, it looks like he’s getting ready to have some cake, to enjoy his reward
I never saw that
That really is cruel and unusual punishment.
That’s obvious. Cheney would chew Bush’s hand off.
And…that is in the same period all this torture stuff was being formulated…
Cocky.
OK, I knew it was a meatball served up over home plate, but you and Eli nailed it!
Oh to see that. i would so pay to see that.
I wonder if one would rat the other out…or try to make a deal
was doing great for a while. FINALLY got a good long night sleep and had a good day. work, errands, cooking. but now having spine pain again.
how are you this eve?
eli at 197
ROFL!!!!!!!!!
like steve martin in oh what was the name of that movie??~~
unscrupulous scoundrels something or other.
F*ck, and that was the prelude to Shock and Awe…!
Well, the whole world is going to know what we’re made of if we let them get away with any monkey business again. The World has been, quite frankly, incredulous at our lack of any kind of meaningful response to anything, no matter how outrageous, that the Admionistration has done. Silence is complicity. It’s small wonder the entire World thinks we’re fucks.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels?
The “training” and Ruprecht scenes were hilarious.
Which is why I think the 2004 election was a big deal globally.
Glad to hear about the good night’s sleep but sad about the returning spine pain.
I’m pissed about the bush crime family, tired of feeling like the bad guys are winning and can keep flipping us off, hell I have such a list…let’s just say I’m good and pissed off tonight.
Ruprecht: “May I go to the bathroom?”
So now Bush is going to have to prove that Cheney can’t be his dad? This could get ugly (beautiful)!
Well, I’ve read the post, but reading all the comments would take me an hour or so, by which time you all will have moved on. But I just have to bring up once again, why is it not a good idea to start an impeachment hearing against the Attorney General of the United States for not living up to his oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution? He is not just derelict in his duty, but he is Obstructing Justice, which is a high crime or misdemeanor, he has shown Contempt for Congress by not enforcing their subpoenas. It would get the administration’s attention, it would probably distract them from daring Congress further with the Iran threats, it would let the Administration know that they actually mean business this time and that they’re ready to deal with the imbalance in the power structure and take Congressional power back. Besides, the entire DOJ has been politicized; I’m sure there are some in that Dept. that would love to come forward and testify even if the Prez told them not to. Mukasey is the man standing between Bush and any possible enforcement of subpoenas and impeachment of the VP or the Prez. He is abusing his power by serving as a shield and not filing a suit against all of those that discussed who and how much torture those so called high value captives (both the real ones and those imagined to be in their modern day witchhunt)in the WH. Even John Ashcroft reportedly knew that!
“Thagk you.”
My only question on impeachment is… where to start?
eli at 215–yep that’s it! from now on, i will think of ruprecht every time i see bush……yep, that’ll do until january ’09…
thanks for the new visual!
What do you see that the rest of the world is holding us responsible. I keep watching the BBC for this kind of commentary, and haven’t seen it. I think we need the help from the rest of the world. Our Congress isn’t acting…
Number 1 of Hugh’s list…? ;-)
Oh, fuck, start anywhere. It’s all evil.
Purely for argument’s sake: If you were the House Dem leadership, and you were going to impeach Dick, Mukasey, W, and Addington (probably in that order), then when exactly would be the opportune moment? I’m thinking after the conventions and before the elections. That way, criticism that Nancy just wants to be Prez would be minimized.
Yes. So I keep asking, and never get an answer. WTF is in it for Mukasey?
and one inquiry will lead to the next
Agreed. Neither my Dutch colleagues nor anybody I met in Canada a couple of weeks ago seemed to be holding me responsible. Of course, I was pretty open about my opinions on these scumfucks.
i am watching the president of the university of cincinnati on an interview show, lying her ass off as fast as she can talk……..oh my.
i sent a letter to the interviewer a few days ago, but don’t know if it made it in time.
the president lied exactly as i said she would. almost verbatim on what was in my letter. what she has done at the university to turn it into a ’little harvard’.
wow.
what an arrogant woman.
Start with “Charge ‘em, Dano!” No, really, I think they need to start with an impeachment hearing, perhaps it’s Conyers committee. During the Watergate hearings, I think they started with a Special Prosecutor and then they had hearings in the Senate as well. But didn’t Butterfield reveal the tapes to the House? We just need to look it up in Wiki, I guess. Someone needs to go down for these revelations as well as so many other things. Politicizing the entire DOJ first was a stroke of criminal genius when you think about it. Rove needs to be taken out, since he was the one pulling many of the corrupt strings. If they don’t deal with this now, you might as well kiss this Democracy goodbye.
You nailed it. Where to start??
I think that we might have something concrete here in today’s revelations, because he flat out admits it….but, these are slippery characters…they are not incompetent…they are slick…they have dotted every i and crossed most of the t’s…but somehow, I think they are so arrogant that they have left something really major with no protection….W’s admission today, actually seems to do that in some way. He admits it. He owns it.
Most likely, nothing will ever happen…and a new regime will come in and forgive them all…nothing happened…move along…or….they will attempt to throw the election and stay in power, but they will get caught and the country will rise up and do something…or…they will throw the election and stay in power and everybody will wake up…once again…and wonder what the heck happened….and, once again, do nothing. The problem I have with the third scenario, is that it is the pattern that we have seen since 2006…a lot of talk and no action….
We have to expose and fight on.
Ruprecht
My prediction is hearings and ineffectual attempts to get Bushies to testify. None of it ever goes anywhere, and all investigations are dropped once the new president is inaugurated, if not sooner.
Nice!
I’m keeping Cheney’s trained spotted hunting dog waiting for the whistle as my visual. woof.
and I’m keeping Dirty Rotten Scoundrels as my fave Steve Martin movie~
Yeah, me too. I’m hoping otherwise. Can’t hurt to hope.
Keep shining the light on them…relentlessly.
Hey, does that make Nancy Pelosi the Janet Colgate character?
What a brazen asshole.
What happened to: “we do not torture”?
Recipe for a unitary executive:
1 container sand
1 head (Nancy Pelosi’s wil do)
1 shovel
1 heaping cup of timidity.
Scoop hole in sand with shovel.
Insert head.
Cover with leftover sand.
Sprinkle generously with timidity.
Chill until progressives are furious.
I liked Little Shop of Horrors – “I am your Deeentist”
I agree, they’re not nearly as dumb as they seem. I also remember during Watergate when John Mitchell was talking to Halderman and Erlichmann, and he said that G. Gordon Liddy would come to his office with such outrageous, off-the-wall schemes, quite illegal, that he would chase him out telling him never to come back into the Attorney General’s office with such illegal schemes, asking him if he were crazy! John Ashcroft’s comments to his co-conspirators (this is a conspiracy to break the law, after all) reminded me of that!
(Found in preview cache:)
I do wonder whether Fisk or any other informed person would extend that assertion of ISI control back to 1995, when KSM’s nephew Ramzi Yousef was arrested.
Well, I tend to agree with the prediction of this outcome, but I hope a new prez will care enough about world opinion to do something to clean up. They’d have to at least close Gitmo, restore habeas corpus, etc. or…???
thanks for the image.
Other UK papers have been a lot tougher like the Times with the Sibel Edmunds stories. The Beeb does seem to be taking a soft line, which could (almost) lead one to wonder a bit about the depth of UK involvement in this rendition mess. Disclaimer: not me of course. They were really embarrassed by AirCIA surreptitiously refueling at Shannon a couple of times. News sources through out the World, even here, with folks such as the Gorilla Guides, must make one feel some liability for this.
Bwahahaha. I LOVE that one too. I came home and did an impersonation on top of a chair for my mom, which scared the cat.
elliot-i missed your comment earlier—-3 of them will show up-the ones who wrote books, they like increased book sales and like to hear themselves talk, oh, and they like being on tv.
the other 2?
at least one won’t show, addington.
What this country needs is a root canal. Yes. A nice. long. root canal. I’m sure of it.
Exactly. Ashcroft knew that whatever was being said was probably being recorded too, I would think…an interesting self-preservation statement..but I wonder “who” quoted him???? Did it really happen like that?
Hmmmm.
i think we may need an international dentist since our congress has no idea how to do root canals.
I think they will correct some things, but I do not believe any of the nominees will go after Bushco in any way. The international community will have at them though. They will….I have no illusions about that…they want them bigtime.
Owwwwwch…..
Agree with the first part, but as for the second part… how would the international community ever get at them?
the dentist song
hey suzanne!
tell me more. who is the international “they” that you refer to?
signed, the slow learner…
i swear, i am going to think of ruprecht every time i see bush ’do that thing’ he does……..
rofl
Suze! I’m clicking through right now…
I just want them stopped, out of commission, contained, never to have power again. That is all I really want.
We could start with Feith…
Further along as Phillippe Sand wrote…
I’m just hoping people keep in mind that they did not just use waterboarding three times and they did not just torture the high value terrorists. They also terrorized 19 year old innocent victims who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, like this guy, Murat Kurnaz, who was under our thumb in our prisons, Guantanimo for one, until the German Chancellor personally interceded with Bush. If we want to call ourselves civilized, we have to take this administration to task!
If they land in any country that will abide by the Hauge rules…they are toast. At least they are stuck in the US or Paraguay. That’s what I was referring to.
Julia just put a new and different late night post up for us. Thank you, Julia!
Yes, but… why would they? Dubya certainly wouldn’t – he didn’t even travel overseas when he *wasn’t* a war criminal.
Nancy “Off the table” Pelosi should take a page out of the neocon playbook. Never take the nuclear option off the table.
See what happens when you do? One final hope is that she merely head-faked in order to lull these asshats into a feeling of immortality, giving them enough rope to hang themselves. Perhaps we should gently encourage her into taking this tact.
Bush channelling Laurence Harvey.
Bush couldn’t carry any part of Raymond Shaw’s wardrobe.
I think Pelosi just isn’t bothered by the things the motherfuckers are doing. It’s her job to prove me wrong.
I just have to wonder if any of these characters have any real clue how illegal and deeply immoral their acts were? They put themselves on the same level as the terrorists, for Pete’s sake! McCain was right the first time, before he switched; it’s not about them, it’s about us. We broke the treaty that almost all civilized nations signed on to, broke our own laws, broke military laws, broke an entire foreign sovereign nation, broke our own Constitution and Bill and Rights, broke our banks and our economy…I can’t just go on ennumerating. But now, we can’t seem to get our own Representatives to make the necessary repairs. That’s when I say, WTF!
Somebody out there ought to care:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2…..litary.law
Besides, unlike George,
Now that he’s admitted to war crimes, Nancy, can we put that old impeachment platter back on the table?
that people dont know that the The United States Military Commissions Act of 2006 signed by bush gave retro-active immunity to anyone involved in any crime involving torture or violations of law.
If they begin to go down in flames it might become more like ‘Lord of the Flies’.
Alan Bullock, an influential Oxford historian after the Second World War, ran into a weather front of criticism for suggesting that the Austrian Adolf Hitler wasn’t much different than the ordinary German. Hannah Arendt coined a phrase – the “banality of evil” – nearly fifty years ago to describe the logistical architect of the Nazi murder machine, and to lament the unremarkable ways through which evil comes into the world.
We deplore the Japanese’ inability fully to address the atrocities committed by their army during its occupations of Korea and China and against US forces in the western Pacific, as exemplified in modern school books that are sometimes more romantic than historical. Just as Texas history books extol “our” manifest destiny to conquer the land from sea to shining sea, but minimize our brutal treatment of American Indians.
We face a similar challenge of recognition. The world won’t let us walk away from it:
What will we say and do about George Bush? He has thrown out three hundred fifty years of law and history. He has resurrected torture from the depths of the Inquisition and the dungeons of the Star Chamber, from the cells of the Gestapo and the Chinese secret police. And made it official US Government policy.
What will we say to our children tomorrow or a generation from now when they ask us, “What did you do in the torture wars, mommy and daddy?”
Yes. The MCA may be repealed or found unconstitutional. It won’t hinder, but will help any foreign government wanting to hold accountable those we refuse to hold accountable.
Mr. Bush’s revelations will be picked up by the ReichWing, who will echo Cheney’s preparatory response, “So?” Outrage would be helpful, investigations necessary, prosecutions healthy, Congressional condemnations and legislation outlawing his behavior productive. But with the corruption of public debate that’s gone on parallel with the corruption of the DOJ, and a passel of Vichy Democrats, who knows.
He certainly seems to be calling himself a liar unless when he was saying “we” he meant ‘himself and God’ or something else.
A-Φ!
“It’s better than nothing, but it’s not nearly enough, and it will be ignored.”
I don’t agree. I think it is worse than nothing, because when the “principals” thumb their collective noses at Conyers it will leave him and our spineless, gutless Congress looking worse than Maliki when we had to go into Basra last week and save his sorry ass from al Sadr.
The people smell blood when Bush knifes Congress. They smell weakness and fear, and Dems will suffer in November.
Madam Speaker is already a criminal in my book. I think she knew and has known from the start. That is why impeachment is off the table.
I think these two images say it all — very succinctly — in a way that mainstream America could actually grasp:
http://i169.photobucket.com/al…..1208025603
and
http://i169.photobucket.com/al…..1208025676
-
oh, and@280 — darclay
I totally agree. I despise her. And she’s my Rep. It’s one thing to lie cheat steal plunder destroy collapse-economy enrich-self order-torture — and another to have the power to hold those actions accountable, and to use the Constitutional methods provided — and to specifically “turn the other way” in very adamant ways. “their” Decider is a war criminal. “our” Decider is an enabler, and a US criminal.