this has got to be one of the hugest injustices of all time infinity. it was bad enough, the treatment jose padilla suffered FOR YEARS as an AMERICAN CITIZEN (?!) at the hands of american forces. he wasn't allowed to see a lawyer for the first two years of his incarceration. (?!) alternet reports that his cell
"measured nine feet by seven feet. The windows were covered over… He had no pillow. No sheet. No clock. No calendar. No radio. No television. No telephone calls. No visitors.
According to his attorneys, Padilla was routinely tortured in ways designed to cause pain, anguish, depression and ultimately the loss of will to live.
His lawyers have claimed that Padilla was forced to take LSD and PCP to act as a sort of truth serum during his interrogations.
Up until last year the Bush administration maintained it had the legal right to hold Padilla without charge forever. But when faced with a Supreme Court challenge, President Bush transferred Padilla out of military custody to face criminal conspiracy charges."
jose padilla was convicted on a pile of circumstantial evidence - not for what he was originally arrested for, of course. (?!) he was taken into custody back in 2002, after allegedly being tied to a dirty bomb plot that was to be carried out on u.s. soil. he instead was convicted of other various "plots" abroad. and that he'd "filled out a form to join al-quida." if you want to be a terrorist, you must first fill out the application. (?!)
why am i not buying any of this?
he was also somehow deemed competent to stand trial. (?!) yesterday, democracy now!interviewed the forensic psychiatristthat spoke with padilla for 22 hours. she said that the brain damage she observed was a result of his treatment while in the brig fro those years. she also observed stockholm syndrome, of course - and extreme anxiety.
in light of padilla's case, i find it extremely disturbing that in this day and age, an american citizen can be snatched off the streets and legally tortured indefinitely - by the military. the definition of terrorist is so broad now that anyone dissenting could be labeled so, and has been by the power structure over the past 6 years. "you are either with us or against us."
something to think about. padilla had no recourse. once you are deemed an enemy combatant terrorist, no laws apply - basic rights as a citizen of the u.s. cease to exist. this is not my country. this is not democracy. this is sick and wrong. his attorney calls the ruling a tragedy... i don't have a word for what this all is/means. but it goes above and beyond tragedy.
A new report about terrorism issued by U.S. intelligence agencies brought the sobering news that, while groups like al-Qaida may be somewhat constrained in terms of their ability to attack American targets at home, the threat they pose will continue to besignificant in coming years.
THANK YOU GEORGE W. BUSH!!! way to go! YOU have successfully created a significant threat to ALL americans with your neo-conservative harebrained ideals and wars! bet the numbers of al-qaida supporters have gone through the roof since bombing afghanistan and iraq, don' t you? i heard you say the other day that you were worried that leaving iraq would allow al-qaida to sink their teeth in there... but isn't that what you really hoped for all along? an uprising and desperate people left in the wake of chaos and destruction? you are a traitor and a liar. and you have made us all less safe. clearly, your plans have failed if terrorism is more of a threat today, no?
you can't win a war against ideology. ever. there is nothing to be "won." "we" couldn't begin to "win" what you have created in a 1000 years. admitting you have a problem is half of the battle.
and fromalternet: our mighty and esteemed representatives at their very finest.
GO KIT BOND! iran, iraq, whatever....
Notes From The Senate All-Nighter By Bob Geiger Posted on July 18, 2007, Printed on July 18, 2007 http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/geiger/57188/
Here's some miscellaneous notes as I watch Senate Republicans try to say something other than the rubber-stamp talk they've been spitting out for years -- along with a count of how many times they use the same old cynical phrases.
Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX)
Desperate Buzzphrase Count: # "Cut and run" 6
Kit Bond (R-MO)
Freudian slip in describing the alleged dangers of a troop withdrawal: "If we were to leave Iran without finishing the job…" said Bond.
Yikes.
Desperate Buzzphrase Count:
* "Retreat and defeat" 3 * "Cut and run" 2 * "Run and leave" (See "Cut and run") * "Embarrass the president" 1
Jim DeMint (R-SC)
DeMint referred to Democrats as the "minority party" until Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) jumped in to correct him.
"Our enemies are watching us and using our debate on the war in Iraq to strengthen themselves," said Bunning, who obviously took too many line drives to the head during his pro baseball career.
Yeah, because our enemies wouldn't get great joy out of seeing the fear they inspire turning American government into a dictatorship, right?
Desperate Buzzphrase Count:
* "MoveOn.org" 2 * "Cut and Run" 2 * "Follow us home" 1
******
8:34 PM: Reid calls for vote on sending the Sergeant at Arms after Republicans who didn't respond to quorum call. Result: 44-47; Not agreed to, but enough Senators returned to form a quorum.
9:05 PM: Count of Republican objections to proceeding to a vote on Levin-Reed amendment:
* 3:16 PM Senator Lott objects to changing course in Iraq * 4:02 PM Senator Lott objects to changing course in Iraq * 6:25 PM Senator Hutchison objects to changing course in Iraq * 6:31 PM Senator Bond objects to changing course in Iraq * 7:35 PM Senator Warner objects to changing direction in Iraq
Pure truth from Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to the other side of the aisle: "You'll be joining with us later, if you don't join with us today."
You are beyond wise. You are so smart, you're almost prophetic.
Your inner voice always speaks the truth, and you take the time to listen to it.
You are good at seeing who people are... including the darkness of others.
As a result, you tend to have a rather dark - yet realistic - outlook on life.
A: Carbon dioxide and other air pollution that is collecting in the atmosphere like a thickening blanket, trapping the sun's heat and causing the planet to warm up. Coal-burning power plants are the largest U.S. source of carbon dioxide pollution -- they produce 2.5 billion tons every year. Automobiles, the second largest source, create nearly 1.5 billion tons of CO2 annually.
Q: Is the earth really getting hotter?
A: Yes. Although local temperatures fluctuate naturally, over the past 50 years the average global temperature has increased at the fastest rate in recorded history. And experts think the trend is accelerating: the 10 hottest years on record have all occurred since 1990. Scientists say that unless we curb global warming emissions, average U.S. temperatures could be 3 to 9 degrees higher by the end of the century.
Q: Are warmer temperatures causing bad things to happen?
A: Global warming is already causing damage in many parts of the United States. In 2002, Colorado, Arizona and Oregon endured their worst wildfire seasons ever. The same year, drought created severe dust storms in Montana, Colorado and Kansas, and floods caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage in Texas, Montana and North Dakota. Since the early 1950s, snow accumulation has declined 60 percent and winter seasons have shortened in some areas of the Cascade Range in Oregon and Washington. Of course, the impacts of global warming are not limited to the United States. In 2003, extreme heat waves caused more than 20,000 deaths in Europe and more than 1,500 deaths in India. And in what scientists regard as an alarming sign of events to come, the area of the Arctic's perennial polar ice cap is declining at the rate of 9 percent per decade.
Q: Is global warming making hurricanes worse?
A: Global warming doesn't create hurricanes, but it does make them stronger and more dangerous. Because the ocean is getting warmer, tropical storms can pick up more energy and become more powerful. So global warming could turn, say, a category 3 storm into a much more dangerous category 4 storm. In fact, scientists have found that the destructive potential of hurricanes has greatly increased along with ocean temperature over the past 35 years.
Q: Is there really cause for serious concern?
A: Yes. Global warming is a complex phenomenon, and its full-scale impacts are hard to predict far in advance. But each year scientists learn more about how global warming is affecting the planet, and many agree that certain consequences are likely to occur if current trends continue. Among these:
1. Melting glaciers, early snowmelt and severe droughts will cause more dramatic water shortages in the American West.
2. Rising sea levels will lead to coastal flooding on the Eastern seaboard, in Florida, and in other areas, such as the Gulf of Mexico.
3. Warmer sea surface temperatures will fuel more intense hurricanes in the southeastern Atlantic and Gulf coasts.
4. Forests, farms and cities will face troublesome new pests and more mosquito-borne diseases.
5. Disruption of habitats such as coral reefs and alpine meadows could drive many plant and animal species to extinction.
Q: Could global warming trigger a sudden catastrophe?
A: Recently, researchers -- and even the U.S. Defense Department -- have investigated the possibility of abrupt climate change, in which gradual global warming triggers a sudden shift in the earth's climate, causing parts of the world to dramatically heat up or cool down in the span of a few years.
Q: What country is the largest source of global warming pollution?
A: The United States. Though Americans make up just 4 percent of the world's population, we produce 25 percent of the carbon dioxide pollution from fossil-fuel burning -- by far the largest share of any country. In fact, the United States emits more carbon dioxide than China, India and Japan, combined. Clearly America ought to take a leadership role in solving the problem. And as the world's top developer of new technologies, we are well positioned to do so -- we already have the know-how.
Q: How can we cut global warming pollution?
A: It's simple: By reducing pollution from vehicles and power plants. Right away, we should put existing technologies for building cleaner cars and more modern electricity generators into widespread use. We can increase our reliance on renewable energy sources such as wind, sun and geothermal. And we can manufacture more efficient appliances and conserve energy.
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