YOU CAN'T SAY THAT ON TV

Marcy Wheeler appeared on MSNBC Monday to argue for an investigation of secret CIA operations under President Bush. Instead of concentrating on the content, the anchors focused on--and even apologized for--Wheeler's use of the word "blow job."

Have we all gone crazy? Obscenity may reside in the eye of the beholder, but as far as I'm concerned CIA torture and violence against unarmed prisoners ranks higher on the obscenity scale than a common term describing oral sex. Get real, America. Grow up!

According to ABC News, the CIA sources described a list of six "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" that were practiced on prisoners. Bear in mind, this is what they will admit to, so actual practices are most likely far worse:

1. The Attention Grab: The interrogator forcefully grabs the shirt front of the prisoner and shakes him.

2. Attention Slap: An open-handed slap aimed at causing pain and triggering fear.

3. The Belly Slap: A hard open-handed slap to the stomach. The aim is to cause pain, but not internal injury. Doctors consulted advised against using a punch, which could cause lasting internal damage.

4. Long Time Standing: This technique is described as among the most effective. Prisoners are forced to stand, handcuffed and with their feet shackled to an eye bolt in the floor for more than 40 hours. Exhaustion and sleep deprivation are effective in yielding confessions.

5. The Cold Cell: The prisoner is left to stand naked in a cell kept near 50 degrees. Throughout the time in the cell the prisoner is doused with cold water.

6. Water Boarding: The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner's face and water is poured over him. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt.

This is obscene.

LADIES & GENTLEMEN, THE PRESIDENT

Barack Obama slams Dick Cheney on Sunday's 60 Minutes. Recently, Cheney said we are less safe without torture. In the clip, Obama remains the perfect gentlemen and makes his point without resorting to violence. Still, I'd love to see him punch Cheney in the nose. Cheney's face is just so punchable.

A singularly punchable face

In related news:
Newsweek (March 21, 09) reports that more "torture memos" from the Bush Administration are soon to be released. "Over objections from the U.S. intelligence community, the White House is moving to declassify—and publicly release—three internal memos that will lay out, for the first time, details of the "enhanced" interrogation techniques..."

locked in coffin-size boxes; swung by towels around their necks into plywood walls; and forced to stand naked for days

Newsweek continues: "The debate about torture ramped up again last week with an account in the New York Review of Books about a secret International Red Cross report that was delivered to the CIA in February 2007. The report, according to journalist Mark Danner, quotes detainees describing, often in gruesome detail, how they were locked in coffin-size boxes; swung by towels around their necks into plywood walls; and forced to stand naked for days while their arms were shackled above their heads."

Cheney would have loved these guys: Nazis practicing "enhanced" techniques for a "safer" Germany

SCREW YOUR RIGHTS!

With all due respect, do you remember these bums?

Previously secret memos written by the Bush administration outlined their reasons for why the military had the right to warrantless wiretaps and warrantless search and seizures of people in the U.S. they deemed to be terrorist suspects. The Obama administration released the memos. More secret memos are on their way. Don't be alarmed, but we might have been a doll's hair away from a police state.

Now that most right-minded people have wised up to George W. Bush (with the possible exception of Rush Limbaugh and my cousin Angie who blames liberals for everything including the high cost of cigarettes) it's time for an independent commission to investigate and make public what the Bush administration did in "the global campaign against terrorism." Things like tossing out habeas corpus, burning the Bill of Rights, giving the Geneva Convention the bum's rush, wiretapping citizens without a warrant, and basically setting up the possibility of martial law. Not to mention gutting the economy for personal gain and the enrichment of the already rich.

These bums had no shame!

Republicans, are you embarrassed yet for supporting these fools? You think Bobby Jindal can save you now? Admit you were wrong, and for a limited time only there will be a general amnesty for idiots.



"The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Representative John Conyers Jr., Democrat of Michigan, said the revelations, together with the release of new information about the CIA’s destruction of 92 interrogation videotapes, had underscored the need for a commission that would have the power to subpoena documents and testimony." -Huffington Post

Read the secret documents here.

CHE, THE MOVIE

Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh will release a four hour epic about the life of Ernesto "Che" Guevara. The 257-minute biopic will be released in two parts in January. In a stroke of inspired casting, Benicio del Toro plays the Argentine revolutionary, for which he won top honors at Cannes. This preview trailer is for a special screening later this month in New York and LA.

The real Che

Ernesto "Che" Guevara was a hero to some, a villain to others, and just a T-shirt design to many Americans. Che was a doctor, an asthmatic, a fervent bike rider, and a revolutionary who fought in Cuba, Africa, and finally South America, where he was killed by Bolivian Rangers under the direction of the CIA. This isn't lefty propaganda--nobody denies it; in fact, those involved took special pride in hunting down the rebel. They took turns posing around his corpse. I'm sure their intention was to demystify Che as a mere mortal, but the pictures provided a haunting pietà to the fallen guerrilla fighter.

After his capture and execution. Bolivia, 1967.

A declassified CIA document, an "Intelligence Information Cable" dated Oct. 9, 1967, is the first intelligence report on Che's capture. The cable states that the Bolivian army is dispatching an interrogator to confirm Che’s identity. The CIA also dispatched its own operative, Félix Rodríguez, who interrogated Guevara, gathered intelligence on his operation, and took photos of his documents and supervised his execution. To read the declassified document, click HERE for the pdf file.

The young Ernesto took a year off medical school and traveled the backroads of South America on a 1939 Norton 500 cc motorcycle

Che's dramatic life has inspired several films, ranging from the good to the terrible. One of the best is "The Motorcycle Diaries" (2004) based on Che's journals. The film (and his journal) reveals a thoughtful young man gradually radicalized by the people he meets and the poverty he encounters traveling throughout South America.


A scene from "The Motorcycle Diaries" (2004) in which Che (played by Gael Garcia Bernal) and his best friend Alberto (Rodrigo De la Cerna) meet Peruvian peasants struggling to survive.

The worst film has to be "Che!" (1969) starring--believe it or not--Omar Sharif. Jack Palance plays Fidel Castro, I swear. Skip that one.

Read A. O. Scott's review of Soderbergh's "Che" in The New York Times HERE. For more on the life of Che, click HERE. Or HERE. Or HERE.


The rebel at rest: a candid shot after the revolution

"The laws of capitalism, blind and invisible to the majority, act upon the individual without his thinking about it. He sees only the vastness of a seemingly infinite horizon before him. That is how it is painted by capitalist propagandists, who purport to draw a lesson from the example of Rockefeller — whether or not it is true — about the possibilities of success. The amount of poverty and suffering required for the emergence of a Rockefeller, and the amount of depravity that the accumulation of a fortune of such magnitude entails, are left out of the picture, and it is not always possible to make the people in general see this."

--Ernesto "Che" Guevara (1928-1967)

HOW WE GOT INTO THIS MESS IN IRAQ

This is an excerpt from "Bush's War," an excellent documentary that aired earlier this year on Frontline. This segment concerns itself with the pretext to war, and how it was pitched to the American public. This should be required viewing for all voters--especially the undecided.

As we watch the Republicans rewrite history in their pro-McCain convention speeches, and give their candidate credit for supporting Bush's war from the start, and continuously, it's good to remind ourselves what really happened back then.

The rest of the documentary is available here.

SMIRKING BUSH STAYS MUM FOR CHRISTMAS

Wouldn't it be nice to have a democracy for Christmas? My disappointment and anger with the Bush administration could be focused on one moment in this news clip from Reuters: when Bush smirks as he says "It's pretty clear." It's pretty clear he's lying, but he's lying the way a spoiled rich kid who's never been held accountable for anything in his life might lie. "What of it?" he could be saying. "So what?"

C.I.A. DESTROYS TORTURE TAPES

The C.I.A. destroyed hundreds of hours of videotapes documenting interrogations of suspected Al Qaeda members. In fact, a secret branch of the C.I.A. gave advance approval for the destruction, according to the New York Times. With so many government officials condoning "harsh interrogation techniques," to use their euphemism, might we conclude that these tapes contained evidence of torture?

Then again, maybe the C.I.A. is innocent. Let's not presume a crime has been committed, even if circumstantial evidence seems to suggest this might be the case. The presumption of innocence is a cornerstone of our legal system, and even C.I.A. operatives are innocent until proven guilty -- even if they don't seem to recognize that right for others. A long drawn-out legal investigation may be difficult (after all, the evidence may have been deliberately destroyed), but proceeding with caution is worth the trouble because it protects us all. We might be willing to surrender the rights of others, but would we want to lose our own right to a fair trial? Probably not. Those so eager to employ gestapo tactics should remember this, especially when hiring thugs with thumbscrews to do their dirty work.