Civil Rights

Watch it here!

In this video (full length 1:13:15) scroll ahead to 53:55 to hear veteran CIA analyst Ray McGovern question Congresswoman Jane Harman on her vote for the Authorization to Use Military Force. McGovern also asks her about her rather dramatic shift two years ago to a position of opposing warrantless spying and civil liberties abuses, and whether that shift should be credited to the primary challenge made by Marcy Winograd, which Winograd is renewing next year.

At about 1:01 Harman responds. She read more

Let’s Try Democracy By David Swanson, BlackCommentator.com Columnist
From BlackCommentator.com

This is the third of three excerpts from Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union (Seven Stories Press) by David Swanson published here by the kind permission of the publisher.

Click here to read any of the commentaries in this series.

Fortunately, we do not have to start from scratch in constructing new human rights. Much work has already been done, some of it by read more

By David Swanson

U.S. Park Policeman (USPP) who shall remain nameless on Monday, October 5, 2009: Next!
Me: Is that me?
USPP: Whoever. I’m flexible. I’m agreeable. I’m just here to please.
Me: Except for the whole arresting us part, huh? [climbing out of a cramped metal van where I’d been stuck with a dozen other men, our hands cuffed behind our backs so tightly they left marks and my friend’s hands went numb]
USPP: What? I thought that read more

Let’s Try Democracy By David Swanson, BlackCommentator.com Columnist

This is the second of three excerpts from Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union (Seven Stories Press) by David Swanson published here by the kind permission of the publisher.

Click here to read any of the commentaries in this series.

In places where we are not already protected, or where we have been shown to be vulnerable over the last eight years or before, legislation and amendments read more

Recently, there has been an explosion in threats and acts of domestic terrorism. The majority of these can be traced to groups and individuals who do not accept the results of our recent election or the laws enacted or proposed by those who have been elected. They seek to undermine the democratic process through threats, intimidation, and even outright murder. They can’t accept the legitimacy of the President, or a woman’s legal right to make choices about her own medical care, read more

Let’s Try Democracy By David Swanson, BlackCommentator.com Columnist

We welcome David Swanson as a BC columnist. We have publishing his writings a number of times in the past and look forward to what he will be writing in the future.
This first column by Mr. Swanson is the first of three excerpts from Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union (Seven Stories Press) by David Swanson published here by the kind permission of the publisher.

According to the Declaration read more

More videos below:

By David Swanson

It seems almost trivial to accuse someone who launched an illegal war that has killed over a million people of torture. But if we are going to prosecute the lowest ranked torturers, it makes sense to look up the chain of command.

There is no doubt that George W. Bush conspired to commit torture, cruel and inhuman treatment, and murder. How do I know? He said so.

In his January 28, 2003, State of the Union, Bush said: “All told more than 3,000 suspected terrorists have been read more

Mike Tashman sent in this oldie but goodie:

From: senator_obama@obama.senate.gov
To: —————–
Sent: Fri, Mar 31, 2006 6:54 pm
Subject: Message from Senator Barack Obama

Dear Michael:

Thank you for writing about Senator Russ Feingold’s proposal to censure President Bush. I understand your strong feelings on this issue. While I share your frustration and anger, I do not think censure is justified at this time.

I agree with Senator Feingold that the Administration’s read more

Dissociated Press — Vice President Joe Biden signaled that the Obama administration would not stand in the way if a suspected serial killer in South Carolina chose to attack his neighbors’ children, even as the top U.S. child services officer said any attack on those children would be destabilizing.

“Look, this murderer can determine for himself — he’s a sovereign individual — what’s in his interest and what he decides to do relative to those children and read more

By David Swanson

We’ve heard of John Yoo and Alberto Gonzales, and maybe even Jay Bybee. Some of us recall John Ashcroft, Michael Mukasey, and even David Addington. William Haynes, Stephen Bradbury, and Douglas Feith occasionally make the news. If I had any say about it all 40 of these facilitators of torture would be universally known — plus the eight more that readers of this article will call to my attention and angrily read more

By David Swanson

Lawless detention is the least of it. State secrets and warrantless spying scrape the surface. Drone attacks and ongoing torture begin to touch it. But central to the power of an emperor, and the catastrophes that come from the existence of an emperor, is the elimination of any other force within the government. Signing statements eliminate congress. Not that congress objects. Asking congress to reclaim its power produces nervous giggles.

Look at how the latest war supplemental read more

Nothing Sacred: What We Talk about When We Talk about Torture
by Clayton Whitt
A humanist perspective on ticking time-bomb scenarios, human rights, and the law

Who’s Being Protected under the Searing Bright Light?
by David Swanson
Why Democrats and Republicans alike aren’t pushing to prosecute crafters of the torture program

Here it is.