Judge Bybee: Coming to a Court Room Near You

From time to time Seattle has the dubious honor of hosting Judge Bybee, one of the infamous authors of the torture memos.

He sits on the 9th District Court, a lifetime appointment awarded to him by President Bush for providing legal cover (albeit thin) for the Bush administration's brutal interrogation practices. Since the date of these memos, more than a hundred people (that we know of) have died in US custody. Many more have been permanently injured in mind and body.

There is evidence that "enhanced interrogations" were used to provide justification for the extra legal invasion of Iraq.

Under domestic and international law, torture is always crime. There are no mitigating circumstances and no statute of limitations. Conspiring to commit torture ( Bybee's gig) bears the same punishments as torture.

To his credit, Bybee has expressed regret for having written the memos. Regret is not the same as doing time for doing the crime. It is a stain on the character of our new president (or worse) that that Bybee continues to sit in judgment instead of in a cell.

A dozen or so patriotic citizens decided to provide a welcome for Judge Bybee outside the courthouse where he was presiding. It would be a small demonstration that including pictures of Bybee's victims, a large paper mache statue of Justice, peeking through her blindfold and a motley assortment of peace and justice folks. The most aggressive thing planned was to hand out literature and postcards addressed to the Attorney General.

When the demonstrators arrived, Homeland Security was waiting. In addition to the usual courthouse security , there were SEVEN white vans each containing uniformed, armed guards ssurrounded the building. Several were parked in right in front of the demonstration. There was an assortment of plain clothes officers looking like Mormon missionaries. There were no terrorists for Homeland Security to sniff out and the most dangerous person, aside from themselves, was Bybee.

How they knew we were coming is puzzling. It was an ad hoc event put together through frantic phone calls and last minute email messages. Were they reading our email, listening in on our cell phones or is there a mole?
How would Homeland Security react if we were to stand around in front of their headquarters
with guns strapped to our hips and a cadre of men in black suits with cell phones clapped to their ears. How much did it cost tax payers to provide that much intimidation?

My apologies to good cops everywhere, but I have yet to encounter a situation where police involvment didn't mean that things were going to get a lot worse. This was no exception.

About 40 minutes into the demonstration the man in the picture took out a camera and began aggressively photographing all the demonstrator's faces, including myself. When I began photographing him, he and his ICE badge hot-footed it up the stairs. He looked haunted.

A short time later this same man had a short middle aged woman arrested. Two armed Homeland Security officers grabbed her roughly by the arms and marched her up the steps into the building. She was charge assault??? and banned from court property.

During the Bush years I had read accounts of demonstrators being harassed and spuriously arrested. Riding rough shod over citizen's constitutional rights was one of Bush's favorite pastimes. It was outrageous but not surprising.

In my wildest dreams I never imagined that this would continue under a new administration. It had all the stupid militancy of a Banana Republic, legitimizing itself by force. The message was clear: "sit down and shut up, or else". This is not the America I know and care for.

This was a journey to another country; one I wish I had not taken.

Carol DW

OBAMA THE UNREADY

Shortly before Obama redeployed US troops to Afghanistan Rep. McDermott (D-WA), just returned from the region, warned the President that increasing our military presence would be, costly, deadly and counterproductive. He likened Obama's situation to Kennedy's Bay of Pigs.

Long before either man was elected, the Pentagon had invasion plans languishing in their vaults waiting for a young, inexperienced president, eager for success and unwary of the uncertainties of war. McDermott, went on to say that Obama was an intelligent man and he hoped he would discover the folly of a militaristic policy in Afghanistan. He didn't.
Now with body counts ballooning and Obama's generals telling him that the US is losing, it's all too apparent that intelligence without wisdom or experience is a poor commodity.

In very short time Obama has shown us that he is man unready to face America's problems head on. His timidity has ensnared him in every trap that might undermine his effectiveness.

The financial bailout package pushed through congress, contrary to public opinion and against the best advice, rewarded the authors of economic destruction and punished their victims. Obama's persuasive rhetoric was the candy coating on another raid on the treasury by the ruling elite. The economy continues to trend downward, toxic assets still threaten the banks. There is no such thing as a jobless, homeless recovery.

Obama's health care package, crafted by the lobbyists he promised to shun and rife with concessions, has become a plutocrats dream; a bonanza for the corporate elite and their major shareholders. A big bill for tax payers. The fact that it will do little to raise the standard of health care, in steep decline since ascent of the corporate model or reduce costs, driven by the greed of CEOs and major shareholders, has fallen off Obama's radar.

Obama's reluctance to prosecute the war criminals and garden variety crooks that swelled the ranks of the last administration, is his most foolish decision to date. He has signaled his enemies, some of most ruthless and dangerous people on the planet, that anything goes. He has freed them from the cares of imminent prosecution and allowed them to fully focus on bringing down his administration.

Sidelining the Constitution and selectively administering the law undermines the social contract that between a government and its people. When the rich and powerful can do as they like, the society becomes fundamentally unjust. No government can maintain itself happily or long under these conditions.

A thousand years ago, a ten year old boy was thrust upon the throne of England after his brother was murdered by members of mother's household (not so very far from the current political climate). Aethelred's reign was marked by division, violence and failure. History dubbed him Aethelred the Unready. The epithet was not as much a reference to his youth, as a condemnation of the Royal Council (representing the vested interests of the day) whose advice was unfailingly bad. In the old Anglo Saxon raed means counsel. The combined form, ironically translated to "noble counsel". Aethelred, and Unraed is a play on words; noble council, no council. Aethelred may have been an intelligent boy but bad advice coupled with youth and inexperience are a recipe for disaster. Without a doubt Obama is being ill served by the cynical insiders surrounding him. But is that all?

No one forced Obama to be president. He fought for power. He didn't inherit his father's counselors, he chose his own. If they do not serve (they don't) he has the power to replace them (he's not). Obama is young but he has the responsibility to draw on the experience and wisdom of others. Obama is not a king, he is meant to preside, to execute the office the president. His refusal to act in concert with the majority opinion of Americans on every major issue is the stuff of kings. Even kings can only manage it for a limited time.

The storm clouds are gathering over the Obama presidency. His ratings are said to be in free fall. His netroots administrators are sending out frantic messages asking for new strategies, a job usually left to the Madison Avenue suits who packaged Obama as a reformer. Progressives are finding that, contrary to the latest White House meme, there is absolutely nothing "in it for them". McDermott's people say that Progressive Caucus is very unhappy with many of Obama's policies. The 91% of the victims of Wall Street Banksters sacrificed to line the pockets of the undeserving rich are unlikely to support for "four more years". Ditto for the "filibuster proof" Congress. The destructive forces that Obama has failed to contain are continuing their assault on the economy. Obama's ideological enemies (the birthers, the anti-healthcarists, wingnuts and warped descendents of merchant princes) are circling. Non-voters, motivated by the horror of the Bush administration, are unlikely to show up again.

Obama has moved from the "Audicity of Hope" to tarnished hopes in a matter of months. Even his supporters are calling his presidency a squandered opportunity. Obama has said he's willing to be a one term president. No one is working harder toward that end than he, himself.

Carol DW

Healthcare Headache

When the Democrats put Max Baucus in charge of
Senate healthcare reform it certainly wasn't to promote a broad-
ranging discussion on how to reform the nation's broken healthcare system. It was to narrow the debate to a few corporate friendly options. Baucus has taken more money from the healthcare industry than any other member of congress. Blue Cross, Blue Shield, New York Life and Schering-Plough are his top five contributors. The conservative Blue Dog Democrats get 18% of their campaign contributions from the same sector.
America's healthcare system is the most expensive of the planet and leaves nearly 1/6th of us out in the cold and many more shivering. We have the poorest health outcomes in the developed world.
The industries stuffing money in the campaign chests of Baucus and the Blue Dogs are directly responsible for all of the above.
Insurance companies and HMOs make money by cherry picking patients, charging as much as the market will bear and denying care. Big Pharma are one of the most profitable industries on the planet and after their US customers finish funding their research, they pay more for their drugs than anyone else. 25-30% of our healthcare dollars go to administrative costs levied by the insurance giants.
Baucus's refusal to even discuss a single payer option, a proven and effective solution to what ails us, is a direct result of his own gross conflict of interest. The Democrats ran as the Party of change but plainly, it's business as usual.

The most disappointing Democrat by far is our president. He knows better and still refuses to act in the best interests of the country. His response to the considerable pressure being brought to bear for single payer doesn't pass the sniff test. No nation that has adopted a single payer, inclusive public health system "started from scratch". His fondness for schmoozing with healthcare industry bigwigs has CREW (Citizens for Responsible Ethics in Washington) up in arms. They have submitted a FOIA request to see who is and isn't visiting the White House.

Obama's hour long promise to the corporate sponsored AMA was depressing. He seems to be taking his cues from the opponents of reform rather than the advocates.
By the time the convoluted and costly plan being shoved through congress plays itself out, the current administration and their supporters will have left town and we'll be stuck with the the bill.

We pay for the best healthcare system on the planet and the last time I read the Constitution, the job of the president and congress are to see that we get it.

Carol DW

Tarnished

President Obama's outrage over the North Korean's nuclear test is understandable but rife with troubling inconsistancies.
He points out that the second nuclear test of the North Korean's is a "blantant violation of international law".
Is it a violation? The North Koreans withdrew from the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in 2003 when Bush began threatening them. As a designated member of the "axis of evil" the North Koreans were quick to note Americans did not bomb or invade nations who had a nuclear arsenal.
As long the US continues to flaunt international law itself, the president stands on shrinking ground. The list of our crimes are long and varied; aggressive war, illegal occupation, torture, rendition, the use of banned weapons, failure to protect civilians, destroying civilian infrastructure, failure to provide aid and medical services to civilians, extra judicial detention, assassination by drone, stealing national resources and supporting the expansionist and genocidal agenda of other nations.
America's "soft power", the ability to influence others to operate in the common good will continue to be enfeebled as long as the policies that undermined it remain.
Obama's cries of "foul" will continue to have the ring of blatant hypocricy as long as he refuses to prosecute those Americans that did so much harm to so many.
Carol DW

President Obama

Your selection of General McChrystal, a man tainted by his past, to head the ill advised expansion of the war in Afghanistan exposes the fallacy of the position you outlined to the American people.
It seems clear that your refusal to prosecute torture is not because it's "litigating the past" but because you want torture in your tool box. Abuse continues apace at Guantanamo. Bagram, where torture began is open for business. You have all ready authorized rendition flights and now you select a man associated with brutality to run operations in Afghanistan. His soldier's may have been advised not to abuse civilians and prisoners but the CIA and mercenaries, those who have been most deeply involved in torture, are under no such constraints.
There are no fledgling democracies in the Middle East for you to protect only the degenerate remains of western meddling headed by our corporate lapdogs.
Aggressive war is a more serious war crime than even torture yet you are fully committed to a militant Afghan policy. The Taliban had nothing to do with 9-11 and no threat to the US.
Your willingness to flaunt legality and constitutional restraints is equal to that of the last president who the world is now demanding be brought to justice.
The folly of escalating military operations in Afghanistan exceeds the hubris and willful ignorance of the last administration. You have the advantage of seeing that years of unnecessary bloodshed, destruction and crippling expense in Iraq has produced nothing lasting.
There are reasons Bush and Cheney shunned Afghanistan and why you should also.
In the late 19th century a group of Afghans calling themselves The Taliban destroyed British forces and drove out the Empire. The Afghans beat the Persians, the Turks and the Russians.
The landscape is unbelievably rugged, infrastructure is non-existant and the climate much harsher. An air war will only harden innate national and cultural resistance.
You are squandering your presidency on an undertaking that is wrong in its inception, murderous in its conduct and futile in its outcome.
Carol DW

The Twilight of Reason

Obama's decision not to prosecute members of the CIA who

engaged in torture and offering them legal services at taxpayers

expense against future investigations is breathtaking in its flawed reasoning and hubris.

The speed at which he violated his oath of office has no peer. Even Bush took more time to show his true colors.

Citing the fear of low moral at the CIA if prosecutions were brought forward Obama gutpunched Justicia, knocking the scales clean out of her hands.

How many of us would think morale would improve in our workplace if those of our co-workers who had engaged in acts of torture and violent death against helpless victims were not prosecuted and incarcerated? Would you even want to use the restroom?

A spokesman said that these "practices" were no longer acceptable (were they ever?) and therefore not a problem.

Now let's translate that onto the streets of America. Murderers, rapists serial killers rejoice.

If you are no longer engaging in any of these at the present time, you will not be prosecuted. That was then, this is now.

Obama's convulted reasoning appears to be a product of turf battle over the release of memos containing graphic descriptions of torture.

It never hurts to follow the money. A mercenary firm named Triple Canopy is long time, generous supporter of Obama's political career. Firms like Titan and Blackwater have been involved in "enhanced interrogations" from their inception at Bahgram. Prosecutions could put a dent in the bottom line.

Besides, these guys have guns, the weapon of preference for assassinating American presidents.

PS It's worse than we thought. It seems our new president simply wanted to have torture in his toolbox. The fact that he is all ready using it makes prosecution a bit awkward.

Triple Canopy will be taking over some of the Blackwater contracts that have expired, and yes they are implicated in abuse as well.

No Change*

The results of the New Hampshire primary, if they

can be believed, are a blow to those hoping for a return to sanity and reason. Clinton, a consumate corporatists who hasn't seen a war or a war crime she doesn't like and shakes her fist at Iran everytime the Israeli lobby pulls her chain, is Bush in a skirt.
McCain is as mad as a hatter, just like the man whose job he wants. We may as well elect a baby as elect McCain. It would be more entertaining and a lot less dangerous.

Electing either of them to a muscular presidency, awash in power stolen from the legislature and you and I, is national suicide.
But hold on. I said IF the results can be believed. Clinton was trailing by 10 points in the polls before the primary. It is simply unheard of to overcome a handicap like that unless you are Chuck Hagel and own the machines that counted the vote. There is reason to question these returns according to Bev Harris of Black Box voting. Here's the scoop.
It has a familiar ring. The name Diebold rears its ugly head as the builder of the opitcal scanning machines used to tally the New Hampshire vote. They use same model that was hacked in a demonstration in Leon County Florida who no longer permit their use.
One man, a private contractor named John Silvestro is the chain of custody. He has access to every memory card in the state as well as the chips inside the machines. Silvestro claims the security issues that plagued Florida have been dealt with. He argues that they not as easy to hack as everyone believes. His fix is to hire not very smart programmers. I kid you not.
Blackbox purchased a Diebold scanner and took it to a repair shop. The technician found the weaknesses in the system within minutes.
For a Party that's been victimized by partisan election contractors the Democrats have been very slow to address gapinholes in the voting system.
Since being marginalized by rigged elections, the Democrats have become adept at imitating the rhetoric off the right. Are they now aping the right wing's talent for election fraud as well? Time will tell. The Democrats are no where near as good at fraud as the GOP. They always get caught.
Check back with http://blackboxvoting.org/ for the latest. http://www.bradblog.com/ also does a great job of covering election news. Don't expect the corporate media to give you the straight scoop. They profit from tainted elections and are only too happy to pimp for power. The last thing they want is anyone talking nasty about the politicians they've bought and paid for.

*Thanks to the caller on Mike Malloy's show this evening for the inspiration.

Carol DW