by Ralph Nader
The Nader Page
May 30, 2012
The rule of law is rapidly breaking down at the top levels of our government. As officers of the court, we have sworn to “support the Constitution,” which clearly implies an affirmative commitment on our part.
with Chris Hedges
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Jan. 17, 2012
Image by Truthout.org via Flickr
democracynow on Jan 17, 2012
http://www.democracynow.org – Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges has filed suit against President Obama and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta to challenge the legality of the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes controversial provisions authorizing the military to jail anyone it considers a terrorism suspect anywhere in the world, without charge or trial. Sections of the bill are written so broadly that critics say they could encompass journalists who report on terror-related issues, such as Hedges, for supporting enemy forces. “It is clearly unconstitutional,” Hedges says of the bill.
“It is a huge and egregious assault against our democracy. It overturns over 200 years of law, which has kept the military out of domestic policing.” We speak with Hedges, now a senior fellow at the Nation Institute, and former New York Times foreign correspondent who was part of a team of reporters that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for the paper’s coverage of global terrorism. We are also joined by Hedges’ attorney Carl Mayer, who filed the litigation on his behalf in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Image by sandy_sanders via Flickr
Editorial
SocialistWorker.org
Jan. 4, 2012
Far from being the exception, the undermining of constitutional rights is standard operating procedure under capitalism, regardless of which politicians are in charge.
THE U.S. military can indefinitely detain U.S. citizens without trial–that’s the latest of our supposedly “inalienable rights” sacrificed by the Democratic former constitutional law professor who currently inhabits in the White House.
After promising during his campaign to roll back the abuses of the Bush administration, Barack Obama has spent the last three years pushing through attacks on civil liberties that Republicans could only dream about. Continue reading
with Ralph Nader
C-SPAN Video Library
Nov. 18, 2011
Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr
Panelists debated the legality of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and actions taken by the George W. Bush and Obama administrations since the start of them. Topics included the the use of waterboarding or other enhanced interrogation techniques, continued detainment of combatants without due process, and the killings of Osama bin Laden and American al-Qaeda member Anwar al-Awlaki.
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Obama Introduces Sonia Sotomayor As His Nominee For Supreme Court Continue reading
firedoglake
May 15, 2009
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Rachel Maddow: The Bush Administration I Mean Obama Administration… Continue reading
firedoglake
May 07, 2009
Rachel Maddow-Professor Jonathan Turley: Speaker Pelosi’s denials not credible
05_07_09 visit: http://firedoglake.com
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see
New Chief Prosecutor Appointed For Military Commissions At Guantánamo by Andy Worthington
Obama Returns To Bush Era On Guantánamo by Andy Worthington
Nancy Pelosi: We Were Not! I Repeat NOT EVER TOLD Waterboarding Was Used!
Countdown-Jonathan Turley – Torture: Who to prosecute… 04_21_09
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Rachel Maddow: the torture memos, part 1 Continue reading
Countdown-Special Comment-On OLC memos, Obama turns his back on the rule of law.
04_16_09 visit: http://firedoglake.com
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U.S. future depends on torture accountability
Olbermann: We cannot let mistakes of the past haunt our future
SPECIAL COMMENT
By Keith Olbermann
Anchor, ‘Countdown’
msnbc.com
Thurs., April 16, 2009
As promised, a Special Comment now on the president’s revelation of the remainder of this nightmare of Bush Administration torture memos. This President has gone where few before him, dared. The dirty laundry — illegal, un-American, self-defeating, self-destroying — is out for all to see.
Mr. Obama deserves our praise and our thanks for that. And yet he has gone but half-way. And, in this case, in far too many respects, half the distance is worse than standing still. Today, Mr. President, in acknowledging these science-fiction-like documents, you said that:
“This is a time for reflection, not retribution. I respect the strong views and emotions that these issues evoke.”
[…]
via Future of U.S. depends on torture accountability – Countdown with Keith Olbermann- msnbc.com.
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When The President Approves It… It Is Not Illegal! Continue reading
April 08, 2009 MSNBC Keith Olbermann
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Pt 2 Continue reading
Jonathan Turley discusses Obama administration prosecutions of Bush and Co. war crimes
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The Near Miss on Complete Financial Collapse
Continue reading
Keith talks to Jonathan Turley about the ACLU’s request to release the torture memos and on Eric Holder’s supposed assurances to Republican Senators.
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Countdown: Wiretapping, Torture and Rove Subpoena + Ghost Detainees (updated)
Updated: 1.27.09 added video
Keith talks to Jonathan Turley about whether there will be any convictions for illegal wiretapping and torture and whether Karl Rove will honor his subpoena to appear before Congress.
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Bush Admin Kept Almost No Records On GITMO Detainees! (Ghost Detainees)
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Updated
Countdown: Rove’s possible HJC testimony and executive privilege
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Conyers Subpoenas Karl Rove: “It’s Time to Talk”
Obama Sides With Bush in Spy Case
Updated: 1.24.09 added another story, scroll down
Updated: added executive orders; added a video of the signing
Sara A. Carter and Eli Lake
Washington Times
Thursday, January 22, 2009
President Obama on Thursday will order the closure of so-called black sites, where CIA and European security services have interrogated terrorist suspects, under executive orders dismantling much of the Bush administration’s architecture for the war on terror, according to four individuals familiar with a draft executive order.
[…]
Mr. Obama, in one of his first acts as president, on Wednesday suspended all the military commissions for 120 days. During his campaign and after his election, he promised that his administration would not practice torture. In his Inaugural address Tuesday, he said, “we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals … Those ideals still light the world and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake.”
[…]
via Washington Times – Obama to close terrorist ‘black sites’.
h/t: CLG
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Countdown: Jonathan Turley visits, discusses blown Oath, Guantanamo detainees, Department of Justice
Dandelion Salad 