Bush Legacy
How a Bill Becomes a Secret Memo -- From Fool House Rock
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Yoo, Bybee, and Disinformation
By David Swanson
Everything you're reading about torture lawyers John Yoo and Jay Bybee getting off the hook is wrong. They are not torture lawyers, they are not off the hook, there never was any hook, they may not be lawyers for long, impeachment and indictment are on the agenda, and you have a role to play.
FOIA Request Filed for OPR Report on Bush's Lawyers
An organization of attorneys, journalists, and advocates today filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act requesting the long-suppressed report from the Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) regarding the conduct of President Bush's top lawyers in the Office of Legal Counsel who authored memos purporting to authorize torture and aggressive war.
The request, reproduced below along with a transmittal letter, asks for the OPR report that has long been promised by Attorney General Eric Holder, as well as an earlier OPR report completed during the last months of the Bush administration. The request also seeks the 10 page rebuttal of the 2008 report by then- Attorney General Michael Mukasey.
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America's Drug Crisis: Brought to You by the CIA
By Dave Lindorff
Next time you see a junkie sprawled at the curb in the downtown of
your nearest city, or read about someone who died of a heroin overdose,
just imagine a big yellow sign posted next to him or her saying: “Your
Federal Tax Dollars at Work.”
Kudos to the New York Times, and to reporters Dexter Filkins, Mark Mazzetti and James Risen, for their lead article
today reporting that Ahmed Wali Karzai, brother of Afghanistan’s
stunningly corrupt President Hamid Karzai, a leading drug lord in the
world’s major opium-producing nation, has for eight years been on the
CIA payroll.
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How ACORN Took Over the IL Republican Party
By David Swanson
While 50 ACORN members were in the Illinois Republican Party headquarters, the phone rang, and an ACORN member answered it "ACORN, Can I help you?"
On the other end, they said, "What, ACORN? Wait a minute, this is the Republican Party in D.C. calling the Republican Party in Illinois."
The ACORN member said, "ACORN has taken over the Republican Party in Illinois. Can I help you?"
The response: "Oh my God."
The winter of 2003 was a cold one and my third year working as communications coordinator at ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. One afternoon in January three elderly women out of a group of 50 protesters were arrested in Illinois Republican Party headquarters in Chicago where they had settled in with blankets and declared that they were spending the night.
Why would they do such a thing? Why reform Now, and not reform When It's Convenient?
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Is Andrew Sullivan King of America?
By David Swanson
Of course, I'm going to argue no, that Andrew Sullivan is no more the king of America than is Barack Obama or George Tenet or Eric Holder or any of hundreds of other people claiming to be. But nobody other than the king or queen of the USA could overrule the Constitution and place particular people and categories of people above the law while keeping everybody else under it. Let's take a look at Sullivan's recent Atlantic article:
Americans want, and need, to move on from the debate over torture in Iraq and Afghanistan and close this tragic chapter in our nation’s history. Prosecuting those responsible could tear apart a country at war. Instead, the best way to confront the crimes of the past is for the man who authorized them to take full responsibility. An open letter to President George W. Bush.
By Andrew Sullivan
Dear President Bush,
Who Has the Power of War?
"Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union" has spent its first four days in publication ranked in the top 10 politics books on Amazon.com. You can keep it there and in the #1 spot by buying a copy for yourself, one for your congress member, two for your senators, and some for your local libraries: http://tr.im/xBt3
Two great websites plan to publish excerpts of the book. Voters for Peace will be posting an article adapted from a section of the book on the power of war. Watch for it: http://votersforpeace.us
And Alternet will have something else entirely: the power of Dick Cheney: http://www.alternet.org
In the meantime, here are two videos that are up and available for viewing right away:
David Swanson discusses the power of war and chapter 2 of "Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union" on September 3, 2009, in Charlottesville, VA.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bW0G53NiEc
David Swanson answers questions about the power of war and chapter 2 of "Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union" on September 3, 2009, in Charlottesville, Va.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SI_T3LmoCI
And here's some audio to watch for. Last night I was on Air America for a full hour with superstar radio host Nicole Sandler. She usually posts the audio on her blog:
http://radioornot.blogspot.com
Also yesterday I was on the radio with Danny Schechter and Gareth Porter discussing Afghanistan. Danny will post the audio here:
http://schechter.progressiveradionetwork.org
This morning I recorded an interview that will be played today on KPFA in Los Angeles: http://kpfa.org
And today from 1 to 2 p.m. PT I'll be on another California radio station: KZYX & Z: http://www.kzyx.org
Oh, and please buy a copy for your local radio station :-)
http://tr.im/xBt3
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Hurricane Dubya Four Years On
By David Swanson
Hurricane Katrina is not as sexy as torture, but has killed more people and ruined more lives, and -- like many non-natural disasters in recent years -- has a chief culprit who has now settled in at 10141 Daria Place, Dallas, Texas, where he clears very little brush and where -- to my knowledge -- not a single politician or journalist or author has sought his wisdom on the affairs of the past seven months. George W. Bush, who should face nonviolent protest every minute of his life while he remains at liberty, knowingly abandoned an American city and nearby towns to a predictable and predicted natural disaster four years ago this week, and for years refused to repair the damage.
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Daybreak - Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union by David Swanson. Book tour.
Wednesday, September 9th, 2009, 7:00 – 9:00 PM. Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union. David Swanson in person will be in Columbus to discuss his new book to be published soon by Seven Stories Press. David is a co-founder of AfterDowningStreet.org – see www.afterdowningstreet.org. A real champion of democracy in our times! More information on David Swanson, see www.davidswanson.org. David Swanson is also the author of the introduction to “The 35 Articles of Impe
Is America a Sick Country or What?
By Dave Lindorff
You see, here's the thing. When you hear about the sick, twisted
things that America's torturers have been doing, courtesy of President
George W. Bush and Vice President Darth Cheney, you have to remember
that the US military and the CIA were not really all that reliable when
it came to picking up the real terrorists. In fact, their batting
average was pretty lousy.
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