LIBERTAS - In the Name of Liberty

The Supreme Court has overruled the Bush Administration!

US Constitution declaired MORE than 'just a piece of paper'.

In a surprising turn of events Habeas Corpus and the Constitution are upheld! The USA to be the example for justice in this world again. After more than SIX YEARS rotting in a cell at Guantanimo Bay Prison Camp, the 280+ men still left in limbo have been given back their right to to trial.

As many as 500 of the "worst of the worst" have previously been released back to their home countries, most have been released without ever being charged, tried, or punished (because they were innocent). Now, those who are still held, from places like Bosnia, China, and the USA, are to be charged and tried with the same human and civil rights as all U.S. Citizens.

To make this Supreme Court ruling stick will be take a courageous move by the American people, as the Bush Administration has raped the US Constitution again and again over the past seven years.

The torture survivor, John McCain, is afraid that these trials will expose the abuses of the Republican administration.

This is a historic event. The fact that after Bush's Supreme Court Appointees decent to the majority opinion the High Court still did the right thing is astounding! Now, what are they going to do next? Perhaps they will make torture illegal again?

Bob Fertik, President of Democrats.com, said:

"We've waited seven years to find one Member of Congress brave enough to stand up for our Constitution, for which generations of Americans have fought and died. We are thrilled and honored that Dennis Kucinich has chosen to be that one genuine patriot. We congratulate him on his historic leadership, and pledge to do everything in our power to persuade Congress to adopt all 35 Articles and put George W. Bush on trial before the Senate of the United States, exactly as the Founding Fathers wanted."

Take A MOMENT OF TRUTH


Fertik continued,

"Some might question why Congressman Kucinich has done this now. My question is why 434 other Congress Members have not done it before. Despite the uncountable and unspeakable crimes this administration has committed, George Bush and Dick Cheney remain in power and immune from prosecution. Congress must impeach Bush and Cheney now - before they further abuse their power by pardoning for all of their crimes."

David Swanson, creator of ImpeachCheney.org, Washington Director of Democrats.com and co-founder of the AfterDowningStreet.org coalition, said: "Congressman Kucinich is the first, but we will be pressuring 434 other Representatives to join him. We must act to prevent an attack on Iran and to reestablish the rule of law for future administrations.

"Bush has had many accomplices, first and foremost Vice President Cheney. But our Founders created a single executive precisely so that we could hold that one person accountable for the actions of the Executive Branch. It is high time we did so, and millions of Americans will be urging their representatives to support the effort being led by Congressman Kucinich.

"Bush's public comments have time and again advertised his indifference to the laws he is violating. Not only does overwhelming evidence show us that Bush knew his claims about WMDs to be false, but the president has shown us that he considers the question of truth or falsehood to be laughably irrelevant. When Diane Sawyer asked Bush during a televised interview after the war was underway why he had claimed with such certainty that there were so many weapons in Iraq, he replied: 'What's the difference? The possibility that [Saddam] could acquire weapons, if he were to acquire weapons, he would be the danger.'"

Swanson continued, "What's the difference? Hundreds of thousands of corpses and a fatal blow to the rule of law among nations. That's the difference - unless we remove impeachment from the Constitution by failing to exercise it, in which case truth will no longer matter any more than justice or peace."

Not just a euphemism anymore, the 500,000+ dead in Iraq are the foundation of the next century of terrorism. Terrorism is a TACTIC used by the powerless and disenfranchised to compete with overwhelming forces. When those with the power (and responsibility) use their forces without conscience, without compassion, and attack innocents in wars based upon lies, then the weak have no choice but to survive and seek justice by any means necessary.


America's War Against Iraqi Civilians
by Chris Hedges (Author), Laila Al-Arian (Author)


Best-selling author and Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges and journalist Laila al-Arian spent several months interviewing Iraqi war veterans to expose the patterns of the occupation and how it affects Iraqi civilians. The testimonies of these soldiers and Marines provide a disturbing window into the indiscriminate killing of unarmed and innocent Iraqis that is carried out daily by the occupation forces.

Collateral Damage is organized around key military operations on the battlefield — Convoys, Checkpoints, Detentions, Raids, Suppressive Fire, and “Hearts and Minds.” Hedges and Al-Arian uncover how the very conduct of the war and occupation have turned the American forces into agents of terror for most Iraqis. The military convoys that speed through the centers of towns, often driving on the wrong side of the street or on sidewalks, have become trains of death. Soldiers fire upon Iraqi vehicles with impunity at checkpoints; pregnant women being rushed to hospital have been killed at roadblocks when their husbands failed to slow down and children have watched in horror as their parents have been killed.

Hedges and Al-Arian show how this widespread pattern of civilian killing has fueled the insurgency in Iraq, giving rise to instability, sectarian violence, and total chaos.Best-selling author and Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges and journalist Laila al-Arian spent several months interviewing Iraqi war veterans to expose the patterns of the occupation and how it affects Iraqi civilians. The testimonies of these soldiers and Marines provide a disturbing window into the indiscriminate killing of unarmed and innocent Iraqis that is carried out daily by the occupation forces.

Collateral Damage is organized around key military operations on the battlefield — Convoys, Checkpoints, Detentions, Raids, Suppressive Fire, and “Hearts and Minds.” Hedges and Al-Arian uncover how the very conduct of the war and occupation have turned the American forces into agents of terror for most Iraqis. The military convoys that speed through the centers of towns, often driving on the wrong side of the street or on sidewalks, have become trains of death. Soldiers fire upon Iraqi vehicles with impunity at checkpoints; pregnant women being rushed to hospital have been killed at roadblocks when their husbands failed to slow down and children have watched in horror as their parents have been killed.

Hedges and Al-Arian show how this widespread pattern of civilian killing has fueled the insurgency in Iraq, giving rise to instability, sectarian violence, and total chaos.

by digby

From lambert at Correntewire, I find out that I've been self-medicating all these years:

Self-medication may be the reason the blogosphere has taken off. Scientists (and writers) have long known about the therapeutic benefits of writing about personal experiences, thoughts and feelings. But besides serving as a stress-coping mechanism, expressive writing produces many physiological benefits. Research shows that it improves memory and sleep, boosts immune cell activity and reduces viral load in AIDS patients, and even speeds healing after surgery. A study in the February issue of the Oncologist reports that cancer patients who engaged in expressive writing just before treatment felt markedly better, mentally and physically, as compared with patients who did not.

Scientists now hope to explore the neurological underpinnings at play, especially considering the explosion of blogs. According to Alice Flaherty, a neuroscientist at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital, the placebo theory of suffering is one window through which to view blogging. As social creatures, humans have a range of pain-related behaviors, such as complaining, which acts as a “placebo for getting satisfied,” Flaherty says. Blogging about stressful experiences might work similarly.

Considering the cost of prescription drugs, this is a relatively cheap way to keep healthy. (It's actually less satisfying and cathartic than throwing my Le Creuset dutch oven lids at Tim Russert's face on TV, but considerably less alarming to friends and family.)

I'm not sure whether all this kvetching actually helps the body politic, but perhaps it has the same effect.

His job was to "hoodwink and bamboozle the public", McClellan attaches words and phrases such as 'propaganda' and 'manipulate' and 'cycle of deception' to describe the public relations campaign of which he was a part. He was an apologist and stonewaller for the Bush Administration, and he knew it at the time. There is now no contrition in his voice, he is still selling a story, that is his job. This man is a traitor to his own conscience, to his country, and now to his own masters, he has no values, the irony is that now that he speaks the truth his words are worthless, the damage is done.

"To me he is one of those minor men who has become a hero because he was disturbed by what he saw and his own involvement in actions and deceptions that reduced the honor of our country. Any revelations about the abuse of power should always be welcomed. They help us know where we are and what has been done to us. For that, if no more, Scott McClellan should be saluted on both sides of the aisle." - Stanley Crouch

"The hyenas Bush still has in the media will make this all about disloyalty. They won't just try to shoot the messenger - McClellan - they will try to shoot him out of a cannon. They will make him the issue. And when they are through with him, he won't just be a disgruntled former employee, he will be some kind of threat to national security and if you believe him, the terrorists win. . . .

"McClellan is no hero here, or even close. If he believed all these things when he stepped down as Bush's press secretary, nobody was stopping him from saying something as soon as he was out on Pennsylvania Ave. He said nothing at the time. No money there.

"So he is late in the church service finding religion, late having the stomach to tell the truth about the people that he worked with, looks as if he is only doing it to sell a book.

"But take a look at the ones coming after him hardest for the story he is selling this time around. It is those for whom he sold the war, and the ones who helped him do it." -Mike Lupica

Flashback
Press blogger Jay Rosen reminds us of the key role -- stooge -- that McClellan played in the White House's attack on the press: "It denied the whole theory of the 'fourth estate,' ridiculed the idea that the press is part of the system of checks and balances, told reporters they were a special interest group rather than a conduit to the public-at-large, wiped out all remaining distinctions between propaganda and public information, and welcomed the de-legitimizing of the news media by allies in the culture war.

"'Back 'em up, starve 'em down and drive up their negatives' is the way I summarized this approach. In July 2003 Bush took it further when he installed in the White House briefing room a stooge figure, a pathetic character who had no power, no in-in-the-loop knowledge, no respect from key players in the Administration, no talent for improvised explanation under the lights, and no problem being made to look like an ass in front of the country, the cameras and the rest of the world."

David Corn blogs for CQ: "Where's the apology? . . .

"[W]hen it counted there were a few of us in the media who were indeed arguing that the Bush White House was setting new records in presidential deception--especially when it came to Iraq. McClellan, though, was part of the White House's defense team, pushing back against media coverage that questioned Bush's rationale for the war and Bush's serial abuse of facts. Apparently McClellan has seen the light. Well, where's his plea for forgiveness? If he were truly contrite about his involvement in a deceptive, propaganda-wielding administration, McClellan could demonstrate his sincerity by pledging that all profits from his belated truth-telling will go to charities supporting the families of American soldiers killed or injured in Iraq. For history's sake, it is good that McClellan is confirming what most Americans (according to polls) have long known: the Bush administration trampled the truth to win public backing for the Iraq war. But as an enabler (witting or not) of that process, McClellan owes the public more than a for-sale account. He should not profit from this book, making bucks for correcting war-supporting falsehoods that he defended. He ought to be doing penance. True heart-felt confessions come free."

I WOULD NEVER REWARD SCOTT MCCLELLAN for his treasonous actions, he should donate all the money from his speaking and book engagements to Iraqi orphans.

Announcing a new meeting for The San Diego County Community Coalition!

What: Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClelland in San Diego

When: Tuesday, June 17, 6:30 PM

Meeting fee: USD60.00 per person

Where:
Holiday Inn on the Bay
1355 N. Harbor Dr.
San Diego , CA 92101

Meeting Description: Tuesday, June 17th, 6:30 pm dinner. SCOTT McCLELLAN, presented by The City Club of San Diego.

Scott McClellan ? Former White House Press Secretary to President George W. Bush Speaking on ?What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington?s Culture of Deception.?

In the Harborside Room ? Holiday Inn on the Bay, Harbor Drive at Ash Street. City Club Members: $40, Non-Members, $60 (copies of Mr. McClellan`s book will be available)

Phone Reservations: 619-687-3580

Tuesday, June 10, 7pm

"Blackwater Mercenaries on our Border?"
Guest Speaker: Jeremy Scahill, author of the ground breaking book "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army "



Book signing with new updated edition
Jeremy Scahill is an award winning American Investigative Journalist. He is an expert on a number of global issues, including the rise of Private Military Companies. He serves as a correspondent for the U.S. radio and TV program Democracy Now!. He is a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute. Scahill and colleague Any Goodman were co-recipients of the 1998 George Polk Award for their radio documentary, "Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship".

Lecture and Book Signing: Initially released on March, 2007, a fully revised and updated paperback edition of Blackwater will be released June 1st. The new edition will feature an expose on “ Baghdad ’s Bloody Sunday,” a shooting spree carried out by Blackwater in Baghdad ’s Nisour Square on September 16, 2007 that launched the company, and questions of its lack of accountability, into mainstream discourse.

Based in the wilderness of North Carolina , Blackwater Worldwide is the fastest-growing private army on the planet, with forces capable of carrying out regime change throughout the world. Blackwater protects top US officials in Iraq and yet we know almost nothing about the firm's military operations in Iraq , Afghanistan and inside the US . Founded by the son of a wealthy conservative family known for funding far-right-wing causes—Christian mega-millionaire and ex- Navy Seal Erik Prince—the company is intimately connected to the Bush administration, and as a privatized army, accountable to no one.

Citizens in Potrero and San Diego were successful blocking Blackwater’s attempt to build a training facility in Potrero! Now Blackwater is trying to open an indoor training and shooting facility on Otay Mesa!

A training facility along the US-Mexico border, as proposed by Blackwater USA, would exacerbate the potential for increased human and civil rights violations to both migrants and members of border communities. The proposed training site is located with 500 yards of the international border, with a clear unobstructed view of the Tijuana International Airport .

Blackwater USA has been surreptitious in planning its “vocational school” in the Otay Mesa border area by not being transparent about its planned facility, by hiding behind shadow companies, and by lying about its future operational plans in San Diego County . It is precisely this sort of dealing that will pose a serious risk to the greater San Diego community, especially because the borderlands have already been militarized by government enforcement measures. There would be no way to account for potential interactions between Blackwater USA operatives and the general public.

“Mercenary groups along the US-Mexico border would seek to profit from the instability caused by current tensions in the borderlands. Instead of moving towards mutual support and collaboration between the US and Mexico in dealing with border issues, Blackwater USA would represent a regressive step that could endanger diplomatic relations, place people at risk of harm, and offer no accountability for deadly actions caused by its agents.” Pedro Rios, U.S.-Mexico Border Project, American Friends Service Committee.

COME! LISTEN!

LEARN ABOUT BLACKWATER AND CONTINUING EFFORTS TO KEEP THEM OUT OF SAN DIEGO !

Meeting Hall, First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego
4190 Front St, Hillcrest, San Diego 92103
$ 5 - $10 Donation requested / no one will be turned away
opposite UCSD Medical Center

Sponsored by The Peace Resource Center (www.prcsd.org), Peace & Democracy Action Group of the First Unitarian Universalist Church , Activist San Diego (www.ActivistSanDiego) and Citizens’ Oversight Projects (www.StopBlackwater.net)
For info: Peace & Democracy Action Group - 858-459-4650