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POPSProtesting Clippers could face Prison or Fines. Well it's too late for me I reckon, so I might as well just keep on keepin' on peacefully protesting. Now more than ever, it seems so necessary. This is another "I dare you" clip. Are they trying to scare, intimidate or threaten people to the point, that they just don't dare comment or clip or pop or blog or speak out anymore? Should I just cave in and "turn myself in" quarterly and bow down to oppression? I think not. I will not be silenced. If I ever stop clipping about all this, you'll know why. See ya in Guantanamo! - The White House's own recently de-classified strategy for "winning the war on terror" targets Internet conspiracy theories as a recruiting ground for terrorists and threatens to "diminish" their influence. - Chertoff pledged to dispatch Homeland Security agents to local police departments in order to aid in the apprehension of domestic terrorists who use the Internet as a political tool.
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POPSPolitican Cartoons "The United States, some years back, found its new bogeyman "Islam" to replace its former imaginary enemy "Communism." And now the European press appears to have finally (?) found a replacement for the Jewish people that they used to malign and attack. Anti-Islam/Muslimism appears to now have officially replaced anti-Jewish sentiments in Europe. The roots of these attacks are the same: an inability to acknowledge and respect a diversity of people that might result in a Europe that is non-White and/or non-Christian. The anti-Muslim/Islam cartoons of today are little different than the anti-Jewish cartoons that were published by the Nazis during WW II."
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POPS'Torturer's Dicks got Hard with New Ideas'. She didn't have a Dick!
On December 2, Detainee 063 was in an isolated, plywood interrogation booth at Camp X-Ray. He was bolted to the floor and secured to a chair, his hands and legs cuffed. He had been held in isolation since August 8, nearly four months earlier. He was dehydrated and in need of regular hook-ups to an intravenous drip. His feet were swollen. He was urinating on himself. The pattern was always the same: 20-hour interrogation sessions, followed by four hours of sleep. Sleep deprivation appears as a central theme, along with stress positions and constant humiliation, including sexual humiliation. These techniques were supplemented by the use of water, regular bouts of dehydration, the use of IV tubes, loud noise, nudity, female contact, pin-ups. An interrogator even tied a leash to him, led him around the room and forced him to perform a series of dog tricks. He was forced to wear a woman's bra and a thong was placed on his head. Author Philippe Sands is a UK Queen's Council
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POPSA Tragic Legacy And the president who vowed to lead the war for freedom and democracy has made torture, rendition, abductions, lawless detentions of even our own citizens, secret "black site" prisons, Abu Ghraib dog leashes, and orange Guantánamo jumpsuits the strange, new symbols of America around the world. New essay by Glenn Greenwald on the future legacy of America's reaction to 9/11.
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POPSWhen Human Rights Extend to Nonhumans The 300 apes in Spanish zoos would not be freed, but better conditions would be mandated. Meanwhile, even in democracies, the law accords diminished rights to many humans: children, prisoners, the insane, the senile. Teenagers may not vote, philosophers who slip into dementia may be lashed to their beds, courts can order surgery or force-feeding. Spain’s Catholic bishops attacked the vote as undermining a divine will that placed humans above animals. One said such thinking led to abortion, euthanasia and ethnic cleansing.
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POPSAm I a terrorist now?!? Be careful what you read online?!? Damn, I protest this! Sheesh, according to the Patriot Act § 802 and the definitions of domestic terrorism, legitimate protest could be prosecuted as terrorism! I kid you not! Hey, maybe this very clip could put me i Guantanamo! Folks, you'd better not pop this clip or they'll probably accuse you of giving me "material support" and end up in the cage next to mine! Oops, too late, if you've already read this far... Sheesh! Where will it end?!? Oh, well...orange suits me :o( (please send care packages)
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POPSSubcontracting Torture to the Terrorists You know, something occurs to me when looking at these three lovely destinations: it really does look like we are hiring the terrorists to interrogate potential terrorists. This is like Milo Minderbinder bombing his own base for the Germans!
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POPSAmerican Election: An Illusion of Democracy A natural resources monopoly system was, thus, created in the US, and many parts of the world, based solely on capital gain and profit rather than the well being of human life. This power elite has gained total control over the American government and its departments, and dictates its laws and its foreign policies. In such a game the peoples’ choices are easily misled. The worst form of slavery is the one where slaves believe they are free. After the elections, there's still going to be massive problems to deal with. The "War on Terror", the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Guantanamo, surveillance, torture, climate change, Palestine etc. Who ever wins, don't forget both candidates are slaves to the system. It's really only the people, who in the end, can change things. Demand change, no matter who ends up in that big ol' White House. Don't forget.
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POPSIt's WORSE Than Guantanamo And Abu Ghraib The clip does not do the article justice. It was impossible to relay the horrors in such a short space. This is a two page article, that everyone with an iota of humanity left in them MUST read. The U.S Administration and the U.S Military are engaged in widespread, worldwide, systematic torture, abuse, imprisonment and murder!. This is the new USA and what is stands for. I am so sickened, disgusted, angry and I can't even begin to express the outrage I feel. It's sick!! Are you proud of yourself Mr Bush? How do you friggin' sleep at night?!? Geeez... Bush and his fellow partners in crime, have to be removed from power and if there's an ounce of decency left in the citizens of the USA, these people must be stopped and held accountable for all the atrocities and crimes against humanity they have and continue to commit! :mad:
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POPSWaterboarding Demo in Congress !? To Prove not Torture!? "In the war crimes tribunals that followed Japan's defeat in World War II, the issue of waterboarding was sometimes raised. In 1947, the U.S. charged a Japanese officer, Yukio Asano, with war crimes for waterboarding a U.S. civilian. Asano was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. "'All of these trials elicited compelling descriptions of water torture from its victims, and resulted in severe punishment for its perpetrators,' writes Evan Wallach in the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law." Begs the question. How could he be charged in WW2 with the WAR CRIME of waterboarding? The recipient was a civilian seemed to be the point? Well so are the detainees in Guantanamo Bay. If there were POWs then it would NOT be a WAR CRIME but as Bush says they are not POWs then it is a WAR CRIME.
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POPSHolloween in Dublin. Today... Gays, drink, money, Amnesty. NO religion!
When I saw this photo in the Irish Times of the fun in Temple Bar, Dublin, it was the first time that I knew of the event. Temple Bar was the oldest part of Dublin and has been completely restored. Yet an old fella like me would have stood out with all the young people who flock there. I'm reminded of great Irish traditions that went to America and are now returned, repackaged and better and in some cases even better than left your shores. We've commented here on ChipMarks about Halloween and pumpkins. Well the biggest of all is St.Patrick's Day. That now is celebrated throughout the world, Russia, China, you name it. I'm not sure but I think you invented it. A decade or so ago it was a pitiful affair. Now it would rival any similar event in the World and now not just in Dublin. Spilling out from this are numerous other events throughout the year. That photo gives you an idea of the standard. At times you would think you were in South America. I'm guessing but I think quite a few
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POPSExtracted line by line from Hell by pro bono Attorneys
"Osama Abu Kabir is a Jordanian water truck driver who worked for the municipality of Greater Amman. After joining an Islamic missionary organization called Jama'at al-Tablighi, he traveled to Afghanistan, where he was detained by anti-Taliban forces and handed over to the US military. One of the justifications offered for his continued detention is that he was captured wearing a Casio digital watch, a brand supposedly favored by members of Al Qaeda because some models may be used as bomb detonators. Kabir remains at Guantánamo. IS IT TRUE? Is it true that the grass grows up again after the rain? Is it true that the flowers will rise up in the spring? Is it true that birds will migrate home again? Is it true that the salmon swim back up their stream? It is true. This is true. These are all miracles. But is it true that one day we'll leave Guantánamo Bay? Is it true that one day we'll go back to our homes? I sail in my dreams, I am dreaming of homes. To be with my children
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POPSHomeland Security confiscates Songwriter Hard Drive Take a guess at the nature of the songs. From the article: "And though Walla's laughing when he mentions Guantánamo, he's not joking when he adds that his record — which he's calling Field Manual — is "very political," packed with songs about issues both foreign ("The Score" tackles the war in Iraq) and domestic ("Everyone Needs a Home" deals with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina; "Sing Again" is about so-called "morning after" pills and whether they're a form of contraception or abortion). Easy listening, this is not."
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POPSChess Got More Info Than Torture - Steak Dinners Helped Several of the veterans, all men in their 80s and 90s, denounced the controversial techniques. And when the time came for them to accept honors from the Army's Freedom Team Salute, one veteran refused, citing his opposition to the war in Iraq and procedures that have been used at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. "I feel like the military is using us to say, 'We did spooky stuff then, so it's okay to do it now,' " said Arno Mayer, 81, a professor of European history at Princeton University.
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POPS"The world’s greatest war criminal" addressed the UN, again
"'No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,' a principle that the Bush White House has explicitly repudiated, both by renouncing the Geneva Conventions and subjecting those detained in the US “war on terror” to waterboarding, beatings, sensory deprivation, sexual humiliation and other forms of torture and degrading treatment. "The declaration affirms that “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile,” practices that the Bush administration has carried out with impunity, through the holding of detainees without charges, not only at the infamous detention facilities in Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib, but also at secret CIA prisons around the world. It has introduced “extraordinary rendition” into the lexicon of foreign policy, a discreet term for kidnapping people, drugging them and then sending them in hoods and chains to other countries so that they can be tortured."
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POPSWP: Abu Ghraib Tactics Were First Used at Guantanamo
Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, who commanded the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and later helped set up U.S. operations at Abu Ghraib, was accused of failing to properly supervise Qahtani's interrogation plan and was recommended for reprimand by investigators. Miller would have been the highest-ranking officer to face discipline for detainee abuses so far, but Gen. Bantz Craddock, head of the U.S. Southern Command, declined to follow the recommendation. Within weeks of his departure from Abu Ghraib, military working dogs were being used in interrogations, and naked detainees were humiliated and abused by military police soldiers working the night shift. Some of the Abu Ghraib soldiers have said they were following the directionsof military intelligence officials to soften up detainees for interrogation, in part by depriving them of sleep. The photos that caused alarm around the world included some showing the MPs sexually humiliating the detainees
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POPSSmoke & Mirrors. American Justice (oxymoron?) "In the case of al-Qahtani, Time magazine published the secret log of his 49 days of 20-hour-per-day interrogation. The log described how the prisoner was forcibly administered intravenous fluids and drugs and forcibly given enemas, in order to keep his body functioning well enough for the interrogations to go on. The log, titled Secret Orcon Interrogation Log Detainee 063 (pdf), offered a daily, detailed view of the interrogation techniques used to get confessions from him from November 2002 to January 2003. These included: • Restraint on a swivel chair for long periods; • Deprivation of sleep for long periods; • Loud music and white noise played to prevent him from sleeping; • Various humiliations, such as training him to act as a dog and wrapping him in an Israeli flag; • Lowering the temperature in the room, then throwing water into his face; • Forcing him to pray to Osama bin Laden. ...Guardian
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POPSFirst They Came for the Lawyers The words of Martin Niemoller are the exact reason, why I clip stuff like this and I can hear that little quote too in the back of my mind that goes: "Evil thrives, when good men do nothing" Gitmo, CIA secret prisons, FEMA detention camps, extraordinary rendition, the MCA and cases like José Padila's just have to be challenged by everyone, all the time. They just have to...
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POPSMoral Depravity in the Highest Places
After 7 1/2 years of George W. Bush, much of the media and political establishment — which have never shown much interest in holding Bush to account — now appear anxious to simply move on. They seem determined to leave unexamined the full cruelty and mendacity of the Bush administration, with its unlawful wars and blatant violations of the Geneva Conventions. Moving on is a great idea - once there’s been some accountability, with a full public recognition of wrongdoing, and a commitment to bring about change. Otherwise, nothing will have been learned. The comments of Yoo, who authored top-level internal memos justifying torture and virtually unlimited presidential power, suggest a moral depravity in very high places. That depravity led to the horrific abuses at Abu Ghraib and at other U.S. prisons in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and “black sites” around the world. The dean of the Massachusetts School of Law, Lawrence Velvel, argues that Bush and top administration offi
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POPSJuan Cole: MANY TORTURED DETAINEES INNOCENT! Why habeas corpus is Morality 101: "prisoners were routinely abused even after it became clear that they had no intelligence value" We have no right to imprison and torture innocent people. Apparently, some previously innocent prisoners were so radicalized by US torture that they took up arms after being released.
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POPSSHAME. Greater LOVE hath no Man than ...
"Because the court will not allow the truth of torture to be a part of our trial, we plead no contest. We are uninterested in a court hearing limited to who was walking where and how many steps it was to the gate. History will judge whether silencing the facts of torture is just or not. Far too many people have died because of our national silence about torture. Far too many of our young people in the military have been permanently damaged after following orders to torture and violate the human rights of other humans. We will keep trying to stop the teaching and practice of torture whether we are sent to jail or out. We have done our part. Now it is up to every woman and man of conscience to do their part to stop the injustice of torture." "Following their arrest in Nov 2006, the men were charged with one federal count of trespass, and later with Arizona state count of "Failure to Comply with Police Officer". Their sentence is 3 months in prison for the federal conviction, plus 2 fo
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POPSOur Gulag: The Secret State of Torture "Journalist: Excuse me. It seems that out of an excess of caution, my colleagues keep asking you indirect questions. It would be better to call a spade a spade, so let's talk about torture. The General: The word torture isn't used in our orders. We use "interrogation" as the only valid police method. We could talk for hours to no avail because that is not the problem. The problem is this. The FLN wants to throw us out of Algeria, and we want to stay. Even with slight shades of opinion, you all agree that we must stay. We're here for that reason alone. We are neither madmen nor sadists. We are soldiers. Our duty is to win. Therefore to be precise, it is my turn to ask a question. Should France stay in Algeria? If your answer is still yes, then you must accept all the consequences."