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.

GET YOUR WAR ON!

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

We've always been big fans of David Rees and Get Your War On. Political cartoons have a long and glorious tradition dating back to Thomas Nast, to Daumier, to Goya, hell, probably to cave paintings, and Rees takes his place with the masters lampooning his age and its politics.

In the Rees strip, office workers chat on the phone or kill time around the water cooler, but don't expect Dilbert. Rees has an ear for dialog, and the language is natural and harsh as he directs his poison pen at hypocrites, war profiteers, and neo-cons, especially Bush and Company, McCain and Palin, and other cheerleaders for the "war on terror."

Compared to Nast and the masters, the strip is crude--the artwork is basically repetitive clip-art--but for capturing the political timbre of these soul-killing Bush years nobody comes close to Rees. He's lassoed the zeitgeist.

The office chatter is pitch perfect--picture Dilbert crossed with, um, Elmore Leonard. Anyway, after years of enjoying the strip, now we have an animated version. Not for everyone, I'll admit, bit I'm delighted to see the clip-art move. The strips are also available in book form, and the royalties of the first book are donated to landmine clearing efforts.

In 2007, his work was included with Jenny Holzer and Goya in the DISSENT! exhibition of protest art at Harvard University's Fogg Art Museum.

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

Check out the Rees website for more strips here. Buy the new Rees collection here.

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.

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.