Civil Rights

By David Swanson

(Remarks at Torture Accountability Action Day rally in Washington, D.C., June 25, 2009 — video of this and other speeches at AfterDowningStreet.org)

Have you ever held a little baby in your arms? Raise your hand if you have. A toddler is as delicate and precious as a baby, but able to move around and get hurt. Bigger kids can move faster and farther. Our instincts should be to protect them.

I was reading yesterday about a boy who was probably 12 years old when our nation read more

Thursday, June 25, 2009, has been designated Torture Accountability Action Day by a large coalition of human rights groups planning rallies and marches in major U.S. cities, including a rally in Washington, D.C.’s John Marshall Park at 11 a.m. followed by a noon march to the Justice Department where some participants will risk arrest in nonviolent protest if a special prosecutor for torture is not appointed.

http://accountability4torture.com

Events are planned in Washington, D.C.; San Francisco, read more

By David Swanson

Two statements, 144 years apart:

“The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and free laborer.”
Major General Gordon Granger, June 19, 1865.

“Finally, there remains the question of detainees read more

By David Swanson

At his confirmation hearing, now CIA director Leon Panetta made clear that he believed a president can order torture, and said that he would not hesitate to ask President Obama to use torture “if we had the ticking bomb situation and I felt that whatever we were using wasn’t sufficient.” Panetta is, according to Michael Waldman, “one of the most honorable, decent, and principled people in government.”

Jane Mayer’s new profile of Panetta in read more

By David Swanson

Greg Sargent is right to criticize Cheney and to ask him to go away, but then Sargent says this:

“[Cheney’s] media tour isn’t even about helping the current GOP. It’s narrowly focused on salvaging his own reputation by defending policies he championed that aren’t even operative or relevant anymore.”

Huh?

Republicans are upset about this, according to Sargent, but listen to this Republican from a hearing hidden away in the U.S. Senate a full 2 days ago:

read more

By David Swanson

Someone recently asked if I could please explain to him why anybody would oppose torture. After all, we defend killing in wars, so why not defend torture? And wouldn’t I torture to save my kidnapped child?

Here are my top 10 reasons for opposing torture:

1. It’s illegal. If you want to legalize it, legalize it, but don’t discard the whole idea of following laws.

2. When the United States tortures, it loses the ability to tell any other nation not to torture, including read more

By David Swanson

A healthy rivalry between the branches of government is the soul of our republic, so when the Senate’s proposed ban on releasing photos and videos of torture fell short of completely covering things up, the White House proposed allowing prisoners to plead guilty to capital crimes and be executed without actual trials that might reveal evidence. Preemption being the technique of the hour, I’m going to preemptively fill you in on the next move from Capitol Hill. You read more

I’m blogging Day 2 of the America’s Future Now conference here.

By David Swanson

The United States has had 44 presidents and nobody knows who the 45th will be. For the sake of argument let’s imagine for a minute something that is a very definite possibility. Let’s imagine that the 45th president will belong to a political party you detest, will espouse the opposite position from yours on matters dear to your heart, and will strike you as completely unlikeable, untrustworthy, irresponsible, and dangerous. Let’s imagine that #45 will want to read more

By David Swanson

Dick Cheney could make anyone look decent, honorable, and law-abiding by comparison. But is the existence of someone worse, no matter how many hours our media monopoly gives him, enough to make Obama’s decisions acceptable? Let’s look at their pair of speeches given on Thursday in Washington, D.C., and depicted as a debate by the media.

President Obama began speaking at 10:28 a.m., 18 minutes late, and spoke until 35 minutes after Cheney’s scheduled start, but read more

By David Swanson

If I could feel more shame over my country’s torture it would be over my university’s support for torture. The University of Virginia, which has long paid its employees poverty wages while increasingly becoming a major partner of the U.S. military and its “intelligence” operations, nonetheless still holds for me an image of individual honor and principle. I still imagine that UVA students and professors, staff and alumni, can be expected not to stoop to read more

Tonight’s Urban Journal airs coast to coast at 8pm est on XM Ch 169, but it is available right now at http://www.theurbanjournal.org

Segments 1 and 2 David Swanson, Co-founder After Downing Street

Segment 3 Ruy Texeiria, Center For American Progress

Segment 4 Pastor Susan Smith, author Crazy Faith

Host Keith Murphy

Jesselyn Radack and I are liveblogging in her post on Dailykos.

Not so long ago, I blogged about similarities and differences in struggles for rights for atheists and gays. Little did I know how misguided this whole notion was, and that we would need Newt Gingrich to rise from the dead and save us from gay secular fascism.

By David Swanson

If you live in the United States, you are almost certainly friends with at least one atheist, agnostic, nonbeliever, skeptic, or unaffiliated humanist, whether you know it or not. And your friend almost certainly endures prejudice and unequal treatment, whether you know it or not. And your friend is roughly as decent, good, loyal, honest, courageous, and generous as your other friends, and you know it.

The March 2009 American Religious Identification Survey from Trinity College read more

No More Health Insurance Companies Ever Again.
Single-Payer Healthcare Instead.
Come Find Out How We Can Make It Happen…

Healthcare in Crisis: A Public Forum on Monday, February 23rd

PERRIELLO: Congressman Tom Perriello told us on Tuesday that he was undecided about supporting single-payer healthcare. So we asked what we could do to persuade him, and he replied: “Keep doing what you’re doing, pressuring me, phone calls and Emails.” He also agreed to send a staff person read more

An open public forum in Charlottesville, Va., on Monday, February 23rd at 6:30 p.m. in the Lane Auditorium of the Albemarle County Office Building, 401 McIntire Rd.

How can we guarantee healthcare for all?
What can you do to help?

Admission: free
Parking: free
Healthcare in case of injury: you’re on your own, for now

SPEAKERS:
Donna Smith, California Nurses Association, seen in Michael Moore’s “Sicko”
Steve Cobble, Progressive Democrats of America
Dr. read more

By David Swanson

Here’s a columnist in Media General newspapers named Scott Hollifield ridiculing Raed Jarrar’s settlement that gave him $240,000 as compensation for having been thrown off an airplane for looking middle-eastern and wearing a t-shirt with Arabic words on it. This is an on-going problem. A whole family was thrown off an airplane at National Airport in Washington, read more