Personal Torture Laws: Your Tax Dollars at Work
By David Swanson
On August 1, 2002, then-Assistant Attorney General of the United States Jay Bybee sent an 18-page official memorandum from the Office of Legal Counsel to the Acting General Counsel of the CIA John Rizzo. Such memos are treated as laws within our government, not opinions, not theories, not briefings, but laws. They are secret laws, but in many cases there’s not much risk of us ordinary schmucks who don’t know the laws violating them, at least not without also violating
Personal Torture Laws: Your Tax Dollars at Work Read More »
Obama Protecting Bush from Spain?
The official story is that Spain has decided not to prosecute Bush’s torture lawyers. Yet the known facts suggest something else entirely.
1-We know that the prosecutor who initiated this effort wants to prosecute Bush. He wrote about it months ago. We know that he and his colleagues see targeting the lawyers first as a step in Bush’s direction and more likely to move forward than a case that starts at the top.
2-We know from Scott Horton’s reporting that Spain and the Obama
Obama Protecting Bush from Spain? Read More »
Who Cuts Deficits Again?
UPDATE: Someone pointed out to me that the cartoon does not necessarily show deficits going down, so this is a better first paragraph than the original below:
You ran a cartoon on Tax Day April 15th depicting former president Ronald Reagan reducing spending by reducing taxes and President Obama increasing taxes by increasing spending. The latter might prove true, but is a prediction, and thus far Obama has proposed lowering taxes for 95 percent of us. The former is simply not true. Reagan cut
Who Cuts Deficits Again? Read More »
Obama's Press Secretary Explains Rights, Laws, and Lack Thereof
By David Swanson
If you missed Tuesday’s press conference at the White House, press secretary Robert Gibbs got himself into some trouble, and it all started with those two little syllables:
“Helen.”
Upon which Helen Thomas one again abandoned propriety and asked an actual question:
“Why is the President blocking habeas corpus from prisoners at Bagram? I thought he taught constitutional law. And these prisoners have been there –“
Here’s where Gibbs stepped in
Obama's Press Secretary Explains Rights, Laws, and Lack Thereof Read More »
UVA Students Show What's Wrong With Campaign Financing
This is a great video on the problem, but skimps on the solution, just mentioning public financing at the end. Public financing without free media is only half the solution, and such a clean money system must be made mandatory. A plan to do it can be found in my forthcoming book.
UVA Students Show What's Wrong With Campaign Financing Read More »
Bag the Teabagging
By David Swanson
The Charlottesville Daily Progress’, my local newspaper, like yours, has a resident rightwinger. In this case: Bryan McKenzie (imagine if they had a leftist too, the additional readers they could pick up!). McKenzie, like the guy at your paper, is taking his marching orders from Fox News and promoting a teabagging tax day tea party on April 15th. (In this case: at the Charlottesville Pavilion from 3 to 6 p.m. Wednesday.)
Sadly, those involved in these events across the nation
Bag the Teabagging Read More »
Virginia Gubernatorial Primary: Money vs. People
A candidate drowning in out-of-state funding, or a candidate people around the state know and like: Tough choice?
Virginia Gubernatorial Primary: Money vs. People Read More »
Perfect Politicians: Grading Congress on a Curve
By David Swanson
Raise your hand if you recall the 110th Congress (2007 – 2008) as having spent two years funding a war in Iraq that it had been elected to end, increasing the military’s bloated budget, and adamantly refusing to hold war criminals accountable? If your hand is not raised, please go and read the past two year’s worth of postings at http://afterdowningstreet.org If your hand IS raised,
Perfect Politicians: Grading Congress on a Curve Read More »