BP - I Have a Politician in My Vagina!

BP - Is Congress Guilty of Torture?

DN - Report: Military Doctors Designed, Enabled U.S. Torture of Prisoners at Guantanamo, Secret Prisons

Choosing the Wrong Side

Trey Smith

For you sports fans out there -- some of you non-sports fans even may know of this story -- there has been a tremendous amount of news coverage about the player on the Miami Dolphins professional football team who was allegedly being bullied by one or more teammates. The main protagonist is said to be Richie Incognito and, to the surprise of many, his teammates side with him far more than the alleged victim.

While a lot of people find this lack of empathy amazing, I would say it is par for the course. If the allegations of bullying are true and none of the players on the Dolphins tried to intercede on behalf of the victim, this would represent a moral failure on THEIR part. Since they certainly don't want to be viewed as moral failures, it stands to reason that they will say that no bullying occurred.

We see this same type of dynamic in many cases of incest. The mother will side with the male perpetrator (father, step-father, boyfriend, etc.) to deny the existence of sexual abuse because, if the mother were to acknowledge that the abuse did occur and she did nothing to try to stop it, society will view her as poorly as the monster who actually committed the crime! So, from both a legal and social perspective, it is in her best interests -- not the child's -- to say that nothing untoward was going on.

That's what I see happening with the members of the Miami Dolphins. They don't want to be blamed for looking the other way.

Still Ashamed

Scott Bradley

I wrote a post some time ago in which I said I was ashamed to be an American; I still am.

Yesterday (11/8) I heard (and thankfully did not see) a video (released by "Rolling Stone") on Democracy Now! in which a detainee in Afghanistan was being tortured while American soldiers — trainers — looked on. His cries were horrific. (I admit to having an incredible dread of torture.)

This was done in my name. This is now, even as I write, being done in my name. My country is an evil empire, and its citizens by virtue of their complacency are responsible. Got stuff? What else matters?

But this was an aberration we will be told, the work of a few bad apples. No it is not. This is America at work around the world — sending out its mercenaries to bring death and terror to keep the world safe for the multinational corporations and the ruling elite.

But why should I be ashamed? I denounce this evil; I write this post. Yet still I profit (at least for the moment) from this despicable system. And I know of no way to change it.

But mostly I am ashamed because I am not myself sufficiently transformed as to be able to transform others. My engagement would just be more of the same.

I once was a Christian, and as a Christian went to protest at a Christian sponsored "God Bless America" rally and held up a sign saying, "America's God is the Devil". I say it again now: America's God is the Devil.

Where are the prophets? Where are the religious, Jewish, Christian and Muslim, who stand up in sackcloth and ashes and scream the idolatry of nationalism, "exceptionalism", empire, and divine mandate? Let me, at least, say together with Rev. Wright, Obama's (our beloved Judas who sold us out for a few pieces of silver) abandoned preacher, "God damn America!"

You can check out Scott's other miscellaneous writings here.

DN - U.S. Eases Rules on Exporting Military Technology to Secure Role as World's Leading Arms Dealer

Torture Or Not?

Trey Smith

When most people began to learn of the torturous conditions involved in the kidnapping of three Cleveland women at the hands of Ariel Castro, the natural reaction was to recoil in horror. Not only did Castro sexually assault each of the women repeatedly for years, but he also beat them, denied them access to sunlight, starved them, and made their lives a living hell for as long as a decade. What Castro did was monstrous and inhumane by a factor of one million. Most people would have no qualms whatsoever in seeing Castro receive the death penalty (though he received life in imprisonment plus 1,000 years).

Writing in The Guardian, acclaimed crime novelist John Grisham wrote about other incidents involving torture. In these cases, the people imprisoned were subject to "sleep deprivation, sensory deprivation, temperature extremes, prolonged isolation, lack of access to sunlight, almost no recreation and limited medical care." In addition, the captives were beaten regularly and some were even waterboarded.

What I find disturbing about the different imprisonments is that Castro is viewed as a monster, while those who dispense the torture that Grisham describes are not so reviled. In fact, in the US, the captors that Grisham writes about are saluted and venerated. Why? Because they are soldiers carrying out the orders of their political leaders: George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

Torture -- regardless of by whom or why it is carried out -- is abhorrent. It shouldn't really matter if it is undertaken by some individuals for deviant kicks or others for geopolitical purposes. In a civilized society -- one that upholds the rule of law -- there is no place for torture. Anyone who carries it out should be rightly reviled.

Few of us will ever understand the depths of depravity that led Castro to commit his horrid acts, but what of the soldiers who carry out torture "under orders"? How can they look themselves in the mirror? And why is it that, while we condemn Castro, we do not condemn them -- and the ones who give the orders -- as well?

BP - Americans: Open Your Eyes to the Violence You Have Created

TYT - Mos Def Force-Fed Gitmo Detainee Style

To watch the full video Anna and Cenk reference, go here.

It Is Not Just Us Yanks

Trey Smith

As I remarked a week or so ago, one of the dangers of writing ahead is that circumstances can change in the blink of an eye.  This is particularly true when it comes to evolving issues in the news.  While I think my point in the post below was right on target on Friday when I wrote it, new information has come to light that underscores the point in a more dramatic manner.  I will share these later developments in a my early afternoon post tomorrow morning.

~

One thing that I think has been lost on the mainstream media as it roils over the revelations of domestic spying by the US government is that this is NOT solely an area of concern simply for Americans. As The Guardian and Washington Post reported in their exposes about the PRISM program, the US government has gained access to the "back door" of many of the world's key internet-based corporations. It is not just Americans who utilize Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Yahoo. This previously clandestine invasion of privacy impacts users all across the globe.

Since a good number of the servers for these companies are housed in the US, it really is immaterial where a user hails from. If you call Australia, England, France, Kenya or Japan home, chances are that your private information is being slurped up too. Even if some servers are located in your home country, don't you think your national spy agency isn't working hand-in-hand with the NSA?

America's ever expanding police state is collecting data on almost everyone that uses a cell phone or the internet. In order to try to thwart the few, all of us are now being treated as potential suspects. While citizens in some nations do not have an expectation of privacy, the same cannot be said for those of us who live in one of the western democracies. And yet, all of us now find ourselves in much the same boat.

While I sincerely hope that my fellow Americans are finally waking up to this new Orwellian reality, I hope the same outrage is welling up in the world over. There is now a distinct tie that binds the unwashed masses of this planet together -- We are all victims of the same monster.

Choosing Death Over Life

Trey Smith

More than 100 of the 166 detainees at Guantanamo are starving themselves to death. Twenty-three of them are being force-fed. “They strap you to a chair, tie up your wrists, your legs, your forehead and tightly around the waist,” Fayiz Al-Kandari told his lawyer, Lt. Col. Barry Wingard. Al-Kandari, a Kuwaiti held at Guantanamo for 11 years, has never been charged with a crime.

“The tube makes his eyes water excessively and blood begins to trickle from the nose. Once the tube passes his throat the gag reflex kicks in. Warm liquid is poured into the body for 45 minutes to two hours. He feels like his body is going to convulse and often vomits,” Wingard added.

The United Nations Human Rights Council concluded that force-feeding amounts to torture. The American Medical Association says that force-feeding violates medical ethics. “Every competent patient has the right to refuse medical intervention, including life-sustaining interventions,” AMA President Jeremy Lazarus wrote to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. Yet President Barack Obama continues the tortuous Bush policy of force-feeding hunger strikers.
~ from Gitmo: Where Death is Preferable to Life by Marjorie Cohn ~

By and large, most people have a revulsion to the act of suicide. In most circles, it is considered a form of mental illness and in some places it is illegal. When most of us think about this act in general terms, it is a relatively quick act. An individual puts a gun in their mouth, hangs themselves or takes a lethal dose of pills that renders the soon-to-be-dead person unconscious in short order.

Many people view suicide as an impulsive act. A person makes this decision when they aren't thinking clearly. Because of its often quick nature, they don't have the requisite time to change their mind and, even if they do, it is often too late.

So, it can be difficult to wrap our heads around people who decide that death is preferable to life and then commence to end their lives in a slow and drawn out manner. Because it usually takes weeks to die from starvation, this is not an impulse decision -- it is conscious and thought out. What do we make of these sorts of situations?

What it points to is that life has become unbearable. Something or someone has robbed these individuals of the ability to live a life of dignity. It points to a situation of abject disrespect, intolerance, and unmitigated despair. When all hope is lost, the will to live typically goes with it.

That is precisely what has happened to the majority of prisoners housed at Gitmo. Though the majority have been cleared for release, they continue to languish in this American gulag. Though never charged with a crime, the hope of seeing family and friends again has been all but extinguished. The one person with the power to release them -- President Barack Obama -- steadfastly refuses to exercise this power. And the American people -- who get all worked up day-in and day-out on less than life-and-death issues -- yawn.

Who can blame these poor souls for trying to put an end to their personal hells? Who cannot blame America for playing the role of the devil?

Afternoon Matinee: Cambodia - The Betrayal 5/5

Afternoon Matinee: Cambodia - The Betrayal 4/5

Afternoon Matinee: Cambodia - The Betrayal 3/5

Afternoon Matinee: Cambodia - The Betrayal 2/5

Afternoon Matinee: Cambodia - The Betrayal 1/5

Afternoon Matinee: The Secret Country -The First Australians 4/4

Afternoon Matinee: The Secret Country -The First Australians 3/4

Afternoon Matinee: The Secret Country -The First Australians 2/4

Afternoon Matinee: The Secret Country -The First Australians 1/4