So what are we doing now that we know the Bush administration PLANNED torture?

[Elspeth]

Hey Skinner, is there some kind of activist thing we can do here through DU?

[samspade.]

1. Here. Here!

Somebody needs to notice our leaders are war criminals.

I'd recommend this post, but the site software say I haven't posted enough.

Seems easy to remedy.

:bounce:

[lonestarnot]

14. Hey I like you already!

Welcome to DU! :toast: :bounce:

[samspade.]

21. Thanks lonestarnot.

:party: :toast: :headbang:

[RC]

2. Has anything happened yet even after all the laws they broke/ignored?

Illegal wars, torture, murders, killings, scams, thefts, election fraud... Nope? You have your answer.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. I called my congress critter

and the staffer started with the usual platitudes of why we cannot impeach

To say that my blood pressure went up is to put it mildly.

I laid into the poor staffer

Things like oh national and international law and the constitution

She is a dem

I told her that come November the two members of my household ain't voting for her.

As far as I am concerned, she can start looking for another job!

So we won in 2006... same dif insofar as this is concerned.

Oh and I will do all I can to get her unseated... and to get a real progressive in there from now on. I will work AGAINST her in every primary until she looses or retires

I am sick and tired of these enablers! I don't care how so called progressive are.. as far as I am concerned they are enabling war criminals and belong in the hague with them

[Stinky The Clown]

4. Would that there were

But since our side won't do a FUCKING thing, we may as well just not even get worked up about it.

As my avatar says ........ 'fuck it'.

[lonestarnot]

15. Make me just want to rip my face off! It's like my hair is on fire anyway so

why do I need a face! Fucking bastards anyway!

[1776Forever]

5. In this case I believe our country is so corrupt now it will be Europe that will do it for us.

European and American rights groups file torture complaint against Rumsfeld
The Associated Press
Published: October 26, 2007

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/26/europe/EU-GEN-France-Rumsfeld-Torture-Complaint.php

PARIS: American and European rights groups filed a legal complaint in France accusing former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of responsibility for torture in Iraq and at the Guantanamo Bay military prison, the groups said Friday.

The complaint was filed with the Paris prosecutor's office as Rumsfeld arrived in France for a visit, according to the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, the Berlin-based European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights and two Paris-based groups, the International Federation of Human Rights and the League of Human Rights.

[bluesmail]

6. I'm hoping the D's add this to the existing pile of crimes

and hoping they have a PLAN. They need to be oh so careful, and make whatever they end up doing IRONCLAD. No wiggle room. No plan B.

[tavalon]

10. They DO have a plan! It's called re-election for life.

Oh, wait, you mean a plan around dealing with this criminal administration? Oops. Oh, well, never mind.

[bluesmail]

12. my reply to your reply

I won't give in till I die, whether WE are triumphant or not. Each day more of us join in dissent. Edited to say Peace.

[tavalon]

23. Yeah, I'm personally bitter but too stubborn to be deterred

I'm afraid it's stubborness that will get me to the end rather than optimism.

[Lerkfish]

7. I've always known it in my heart, not that big of a stretch.

and so have the congresscritters. They just chose, and continue to choose, to do nothing.

[Ghost in the Machine]

8. We'll be outraged over it for the weekend, then on Monday, everyone is

going to just go back to work, school or whatever else they do. They can't protest, they have jobs & families to take care of. Then we have people like me and several others here... I have plenty of time to do things.. I just don't have the finances to do much of anything.

Life will roll on, much of it ignored by the masses as they have to work harder and longer to even survive. It won't faze them until the tanks are rolling through their neighborhoods.... and not one minute before then.

[lonestarnot]

16. Gasping for air!

[Elspeth]

24. God, I hope not

This needs action

[varelse]

9. Seems we've known for a while

just now, for whatever reason, they're openly confessing to it... and I think the thing to do is don't let people forget that in November. By releasing these bombs now, while the Democrats are still locked in a close and hotly contested presidential primary race, they probably hope to defuse the impact.

Don't let them get away with it.

[The Straight Story]

11. Elect dems to congress....

oh wait :)

[chimper]

13. What are the Dems doing about it now ?

What have they been doing about it for the past couple of years ?

Have they been speaking up about the ongoing torture and secret prisons scattered around the globe ?

[mmonk]

17. You can start by getting Yoo removed from the Berkeley

School of Law. Heck, if elected democrats won't defend the constitution or stop torture, you have to join organizations that will fight the good fight.

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2165/t/1027/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=24188

[Mojorabbit]

18. Thanks for the addy

I sent a note along.

[Elspeth]

20. This is a GREAT start! (Hey Skinner--how about a unified activist action about Yoo at Berkeley?)

Thanks for the link, mmonk.

[Elspeth]

22. I signed the petition and sent it to a bunch of friends

THIS is a good place to start. Maybe it should have its own thread.

[mmonk]

32. Done

[Elspeth]

34. Great. I saw and recommended your thread.

It's a great place to start.

[KharmaTrain]

19. Hammer The Corporate Media

ABC broke the story and now sits on it. This is very big and no one seems to either care or understand. This regime has admitted to being war criminals...and hopefully this is one big step closer to a Hague Tribunal where we will learn more.

Our "beloved" corporate media is too absorbed in spreading racism, sexism and ringt wing memes...and ignores what surely proves this regimes criminality and total destruction of the Constitution. Impeachment doesn't even begin to cover the crimes here...or the criminals. Only public pressure on the corporate media.

The pressure should be put on every newspaper and television news outlet to investigate this crime. Why? How bad? And the only way this happens is if we don't forget and constantly hit them over the head with it. Reverend Wright? How about Torture in the White House? Bill getting a hummer? How about the screwing of millions of lives that took place in that oval office. Gramps, the "straight shooter?" Then have him "straight talk" about if he approves of the United States condoning torture.

The right wing coward the corporate media through constant haranging and badgering...it's time equal pressure is applied on the other side to force these stenographers to get off their asses and do what they are trained to do...inform.

I still think a visit from several thousand friendly Progressives in front of CNN Center or 30 Rock or Faux Noise headquarters would wake up some people. We've come a ways in the past couple years in getting some truth out, but the corporate media still enables this regime and are complicit in its criminality. They must be told constantly that blood is on their hands...

[Echo In Light]

25. Ha...Nader has suggested mass demonstrations of major media centers

Just to see if it actually gets any coverage. In other words, if there were huge protests going on right at their place of business, would it be covered, or only marginally? - "nothing to see here, folks." Remember the huge demonstrations in NY before the republicon convention in 04..? ...scant coverage at best. I remember talking with people at the time who really had no idea that it had even happened.

[KharmaTrain]

26. And They Also Cover What They See

Yes, I remember that '04 parade...but that was just one day and, sadly, so many became frustrated with the march (DU was blazing with blame on all sorts of groups) that no follow-ups were planned. One march during Vietnam didn't get a lot of media coverage, either...but when you had several...and each getting bigger than the past...then they had to cover it.

Remember, the corporate media is lazy. CNN tends to be like a local Atlanta TV station during the day since its easier for their crews to cover that then to spend big money on journalists and real news coverage. It's easier to throw on talking heads and trivialize the political and world situation than to cover an unpopular, dirty occupation and war for profit. The corporate media still hasn't gotten the message...the right wing noise machine continues to get in their head...it's time that noise comes from the other side as well.

Thank goodness for the "Internets"...We've come a long way in the past couple years to break the corporate media filter and get a voice heard...at least to find others who also have broken through. Let the corporate media continue to ignore the Netroots at their peril.

Cheers...

[Echo In Light]

27. I suspect the lack of such coverage and dissenting voices isn't based on "laziness"

All by design. Re that one in 04 though, there were tons of 9/11 signs throughout the throngs - I'm guessing that likewise played a determining role in the lack of coverage. Establishment powers don't want the populace at large to realize that there are so many people backing a real investigation into 9/11.

[KharmaTrain]

28. It's The Cheapening...

The News Division at the networks are now subservient to the Entertainment division and the bean counters. Look at how Les Moonves decides who does their news...<insert chuckle here>...and we're just chipping at the iceburg. Media consolidation has meant "meaner and leaner" media that has meant less eyes, ears and journalists in this brave new world.

I had a cousin who worked as a field producer for ABC for nearly 30 years. In the 60's and 70's he was posted all over the world...one ABC bureau or another. All the networks competed for having the best journalists and news...a "loss leader" for the company brand. In the end, his base ended up in the U.S. and he was limited on where he could go...a lot of stories went uncovered due to belt-tightening. Younger pups were brought in...who worked cheaper...and in the end, he was pushed out and worked as an independent (for foreign companies). This wasn't political, it was pure dollars and cents. And as they say, you get what you pay for...

[Echo In Light]

29. Ironically there's a good McCain quote re the Telecommunications Act of 96'

Paraphrasing, he condemned it, stating that the American public would likely not hear a word about what it really meant. It's in that doc film on the media, Orwell Rolls In His Grave.

And of course, Chomsky's been illustrating the mainline media's propaganda model for decades now. It's not a matter of dollars and cents when, whoops, the most consistently omitted stories just happen to be the very ones that cast the favored state in an incriminating light.

[KharmaTrain]

30. Don't Give The Corporate Media Too Much Credit

From one whose worked with "media types"...Orwell and Chomsky are the last things they either read or know about. Most of their world is career, resume, ego and status. It's go-along, get-along...playing the game and knowing who to blow and when. This is where we get "conflicts" of "journalists" who will print a "source" that is pure spin but it assures them access, gets the bylines and face time and boosts their career. It's also that most of these media types have long been insulated in the beltway bubble and 25 plus years of right wing infilatration that has turned many repugnican memes into "conventional wisdom". As long as this element remains in the beltway, this standard will apply and the bubble remains intact. I'll find it interesting if the GOOP is trounced this November and Democrats gain solid control if the corporate media then turns "aggressive" again.

I don't disagree that there's a motive by the corporate media in ignoring stories and issues that embarass this regime and their enablers. We're seeing that right now with the revelations this regime openly admits it tortured. I haven't seen a story on it all weekend, but we sure hear how "elite" Barack Obama is. One issue is serious news that requires capabilities that have long been "outsourced" from our corporate media...the other plays right into the game show/reality show mentaility of today's "infotainment"

Lastly...Gramps spoke with forked tongue yet again. Yep, he "championed" against the disatrous Dereg '96, but then went off with his lobbyist sweetie on the Pax corporate jet. There's another story that fell through the cracks.

[Echo In Light]

33. This is why the propaganda model doesn't necessarily rely on "conspiracy" alone

Yet that aspect def plays a substantial role in determining the course of reporting - for instance, you'd never sell me on the notion that most beholden to mainline "news" actually believed in the parade of justifications used to propagandize the populace for invading Iraq. Much of what is omitted and/or spun is done so for more dire reasons than evasion of "embarrassment," and comes about systematically via lifelong indoctrination: if one wishes to be $uccessful, there are certain views, ideas and questions one simply does not entertain or espouse.

[KharmaTrain]

35. Many Saw Careers And Headlines

Let's look at one of our favorite stenographers, Judy Miller. Yes, she served a valuable propaganda purpose...and I agree that she knew she was being used, but one can say her real motivation was for the "glory" of getting exclusives and getting on Page One above the fold...that she would be the "great war correspondant" and sold out for the pieces of silver and access. I'm also sure the booosh regime had her number from the outset and "polished the apple" to their advantage. In the end, Miller is now paying a price...no longer the glory and unable to cash in any longer.

In many ways, the "populace" wanted the invasion...or any invasion. Our corporate media has long presented a very myopic view of the world that has fostered a lot of the ignorance this regime has spun with fear and flag waving. These people have spent a lifetime of corporate news that frames all issues in us vs. them...and an implied American cultural and military superiority that overrides any history or culture or other variables. They loved Gulf Oil War I...push-button war, neat videos and it was said and done in two months...the corporate media failed in expressing the questions of many of us at the time as they saw profits and fame in "shock & awe".

Unfortunately, I've seen too many who have put career ahead of conviction...many newspeople who (and in some cases justifiable) that they don't want to be involved in the politics or to take sides...and play the "both sides" game...even if 90% agrees with one side, the 10% side still gets "equal time" so the reporter can claim they've done a "fair and balanced" job.

I have no problems with advocate "journalism" as long as its presented as such...that the agendas of those reporting are open and clear, such as on an Op-Ed page, but not above the fold on Page One.

[Elspeth]

36. We're assuming that Judy wasn't something else entirely

...

[Echo In Light]

38. Agreed...especially on mainline media fostering deep seated jingoism/chauvinism

[sampsonblk]

31. If our candidates don't take the lead, our efforts are in vain, unfortunately

As soon as Hillary or Obama comes out and disavows our efforts, they all go to waste.

Political courage has been noticeably absent for quite a few years. And that's what's needed now.

[Elspeth]

37. We're assuming there's no politico willing to act at all

And maybe that is a reasonable assumption

[Perry Logan]

39. We begin by realizing that America is not safe until every Republican is driven out of our country.

The Republicans are not just a corrupt political party. They are a major public health hazard. I'm for herding all Republicans into Utah, where they can form their own nation of homophobes, pedophiles, and degenerates.

If we just let them govern the place the way they want, they will quickly die.