"For the first time, the CIA has acknowledged that extensive records exist relating to its use of enforced disappearances and secret prisons," said Curt Goering, AIUSA senior deputy executive director. "Given what we already know about documents written by Bush administration officials trying to justify torture and other human rights crimes, one does not need a fertile imagination to conclude that the real reason for refusing to disclose these documents has more to do with avoiding disclosure of criminal activity than national security."
Celebrate it. I know, I know, everyday is 420, but today it is, uh, like, really 4/20, man. And it's a full moon too. So light 'em up, listen to this tune and join me after the jump.
Embedding--great for videoclips, not so much for journalists or critical thinkers.
Unembed yourself.
Don't completely identify with the representations that you most prefer.
Keep one foot out.
One of the difficulties with this critical distancing, or ironic stance, necessary, imho, for critical thinking, is that it is in tension with the activist need to present unalloyed support for whatever candidate or cause.
Master Thomas at length said he would stand it no longer. I had lived with him nine months, during which time he had given me a number of severe whippings, all to no good purpose. He resolved to put me out, as he said, to be broken; and, for this purpose, he let me for one year to a man named Edward Covey. Mr. Covey was a poor man, a farm-renter. He rented the place upon which he lived, as also the hands with which he tilled it. Mr. Covey had acquired a very high reputation for breaking young slaves, and this reputation was of immense value to him ... Added to the natural good qualities of Mr. Covey, he was a professor of religion--a pious soul--a member and a class-leader in the Methodist church. All of this added weight to his reputation as a "nigger-breaker." I was aware of all the facts, having been made acquainted with them by a young man who had lived there. I nevertheless made the change gladly; for I was sure of getting enough to eat, which is not the smallest consideration to a hungry man.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
I'm not talking about meta as it's used around here to denote talk about dK by dK.
I'm talking about mettā--the Buhddist understanding of unconditioned loving-kindness, compassion for all sentient beings. Before you non-DFHs click the hell out of here, here's a lotus blossom, offered in the spirit of mettā. Please stay.
As progressives, Democrats, leftists of all stripes, what really brings us together more than the idea that peace, justice, and equality are the only worthy goals? We may have various conceptions of these grand words and ideas and how to achieve them, but ultimately we all believe in the possibility of a just and peaceful world.
Tonight I had the tremendous opportunity to hear Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch give a lecture on Defending Rights without Courts and Judges: War Stories from Around the World and Our Backyard. I've long admired HRW and Roth. Many of you have probably seen him speak or read him, and you know what a thoughtful, articulate, and humorous person he is, and I must say I left the lecture feeling both hopeful about the world and hopeless about our nation--how's that for a powerful evening?
I think I might've hit it. But I'm not sure whether to lie here and scream, ROPBLMAO, or jump up and feel the ground under my feet and start again.
This great, weird, silly, grand orange place has motivated my activism, educated me, strengthened and inspired me and also annoyed and frustrated me, disillusioned me, and exasperated me. The whole symphony of emotion has here been played. We argue and laugh and cry here. Whatever the case may be--I've found community here and a safe harbor in the turbulent waters of our times.
But now, I really gotta ask y'all: "We the People" -- have we been pwned? What if the noble experiment is but a laughable fantasy?
DAMASCUS, Syria, Oct. 20 — Long the only welcoming country in the region for Iraqi refugees, Syria has closed its borders to all but a small group of Iraqis and imposed new visa rules that will legally require the 1.5 million Iraqis currently in Syria to return to Iraq.
1.5 million refugees are going to have to go back. Go back to what exactly?
U.S. authorities have long tracked the IED threat, since the first World Trade Center attack in 1993 and the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. But officials worry that Iraq -- where the explosives have killed or wounded more than 21,200 Americans -- has become a laboratory for bomb design, technologies and tactics that can be spread over the Internet.
Today is Iraq War Moratorium Day. It is a day of national individualized action observed the third Friday of every month. Take the pledge.
It's hard for me to believe that it's already been four weeks since the first Iraq War Moratorium Day. The time flew by for me. And perhaps for some of you.
Unfortunately, since then, time has just came to a halt, real and metaphorical, for more victims--civilian and military--of the continued occupation of Iraq and their loved ones .
This Thursday, October 18th, Maher Arar, rendition victim and torture survivor, will testify before the House Judiciary Committee. Justice demands that Arar be heard, and these hearings are an important part of building a record.
In 2002, Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen, was detained at a U.S. airport on his way home from a family trip. He was interrogated by U.S. officials about alleged links to al-Qaeda and was repeatedly denied the right to contact his family or a lawyer. He was then sent against his will to Syria, a country renowned for torture. Mr. Arar was interrogated, tortured and held in a grave-like cell in Syria during most of his year long detention. No country, including the U.S., has ever charged him any crime.
"Gap-filler": that's how Blackwater USA founder Erik Prince characterized the function of this notorious private military organization during an interview with Wolf Blitzer on "Late Edition" this afternoon.
Prince is doing a major media blitz with upcoming appearances on tonight's "60 Minutes" and tomorrow's "Charlie Rose."
What is the purpose of this media blitz? To try and save and defend the Blackwater brand, I suppose, especially as Blackwaters's slaughter of Iraqi civilians on September 16 is being multiply investigated and the Iraqi government is insisting that Blackwater be driven from Iraq.
If BushCo thought they could just shuffle things around and have a few investigations and make some "changes" in Blackwater procedure and oversight, and get Blackwater out of the news, if they thought reports that State Dept. May Phase Out Blackwater would take care of everything, they were wrong.
The U.N. believes that human rights violations investigations are in order:
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The United Nations wants probes to determine whether private security contractors in Iraq have committed war crimes and for governments to ensure that the rule of law is applied, U.N. officials said on Thursday.
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court today refused to give a hearing to a German man who says he was wrongly abducted, imprisoned and tortured by the CIA in a case of mistaken identity.
Khaled Masri sued the CIA two years ago and sought damages for his five-month ordeal in a U.S.-run prison in Afghanistan.
What he does not say is that he and his "administration" have done everything they possibly can to get the torture out of torture and repackage it as "enhanced interrogation techniques" through both "legal" and propagandistic means.
Well, it seems, surprise, surprise, that Nancy Pelosi is willing to say that the George W. Bush's "government" does torture, well, with a little bit of hemming and hawing thrown in.
What gives? Isn't this the biggest blog in the progressive blogosphere? And yet, you would never know that it is International Bloggers Day for Burma. Where are the FP posts on Burma today?
Today, in light of the NYTimes article, we revoice our outrage about BushCo's institutionalization of torture, their disregard for human and civil rights. Let us tie this outrage to the situation in Burma. Electing Democrats is also important to advance a global view of the struggle for human rights.
Did you see all the glorious photo diaries and testimonials concerning the surge of energy we all felt when we marched on Washington on 9/15 to call for an end to the US occupation of Iraq. Did you wish you coulda been there?
Well, now's your chance. This Saturday, September 29, there will be another mass protest in Washington to call for the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
Buy bus tickets online from NY and NJ here. Sign up at Road2DC to organize carpooling and other logistics.
Master Thomas at length said he would stand it no longer. I had lived with him nine months, during which time he had given me a number of severe whippings, all to no good purpose. He resolved to put me out, as he said, to be broken; and, for this purpose, he let me for one year to a man named Edward Covey. Mr. Covey was a poor man, a farm-renter. He rented the place upon which he lived, as also the hands with which he tilled it. Mr. Covey had acquired a very high reputation for breaking young slaves, and this reputation was of immense value to him ... Added to the natural good qualities of Mr. Covey, he was a professor of religion--a pious soul--a member and a class-leader in the Methodist church. All of this added weight to his reputation as a "nigger-breaker." I was aware of all the facts, having been made acquainted with them by a young man who had lived there. I nevertheless made the change gladly; for I was sure of getting enough to eat, which is not the smallest consideration to a hungry man.
Tonight I had the tremendous opportunity to hear 
This Thursday, October 18th, 
"Gap-filler": that's how Blackwater USA founder Erik Prince characterized the function of this notorious private military organization during an interview with Wolf Blitzer on "Late Edition" this afternoon.
Did you see all the 
