1. Home
  2. News & Issues
  3. US Liberal Politics
Deborah White

Deborah's US Liberal Politics Blog

By Deborah White, About.com Guide to US Liberal Politics

Barack Obama on US Torture Bill: "This Betrayal of American Values Is Unnecessary."

Thursday October 5, 2006
"This is NOT how a serious Administration would approach the problem of terrorism," thundered Senator Barack Obama last week on the floor of the US Senate, after it passed Bush Administration-supported S. 3930, Military Commissions Act of 2006, which approved US torture of detainees and stripped Constitutional rights away from detainees.

"And the sad part about all of this is that this betrayal of American values is unnecessary," Senator Obama continued.

"We could've drafted a bipartisan, well-structured bill that provided adequate due process through the military courts, had an effective review process that would've prevented frivolous lawsuits being filed and kept lawyers from clogging our courts, but upheld the basic ideals that have made this country great."

I'm so impressed the senator's succinct yet powerful remarks, that I've uploaded them here for your inspired reading: Sen Barack Obama Reacts to S.3930, Which Approved US Torture, Detainment Policies.

Related Reading
US Religious Leaders Condemn Torture by Bush Administration: "Torture Is a Moral Issue"
Barack Obama: Unleashed & Unplugged
Is Obama Getting Serious About '08?, Newsweek, October 4, 2006

Comments

October 5, 2006 at 11:53 pm
(1) GEORGE VREELAND HILL says:

George W. Bush and the Republican way of cover-ups, lies, and more!
Bush will get what he wants no matter what.
Bully.
Break the law.
Lie.
Then come up with reasons why he is right.
Well guess what?
Bush is wrong!
You do not spy on Americans without legal permission.
That is KGB like.
The courts are starting to agree.
You do not go to war with another country without proof of the need for war.
Iraq was no threat to the United States.
Yes, Saddam Hussein was evil and had a lot of people killed, but how many Iraqi citizens have been killed since this war started?
How many of our brave service men and women have been killed in Iraq?
How many more will die?
Iraq right now, is in the worst mess it has ever been in.
This was not the case before Bush started this war.
Hey Bush: This war is against terrorists, not with countries.
WMD? Not there!
Did you know that George W. Bush once made fun of the issue of Weapons of Mass Destruction?
He did, and in front of some shocked people during a black-tie event in 2004.
He said…. (While looking under a piece of furniture) “Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be here somewhere.”
Then, while pretending to look out of a window, Bush laughed as he said….. “Nope, no weapons over there.”
While he was laughing, there were men and women fighting and dying in Iraq because of WMD.
George W. Bush should be removed from office because of that alone.
Face it, Bill Clinton lied about having sex, and was impeached because of it.
George W. Bush however, did far worse, as he laughed at the very people who are fighting for the United States of America!
Bush laughs at a lot of things.
While we were under attack, he just sat there.
He has no clue about how to run things.
Speaking of running, that is what many Republicans are doing right now.
Running from their own corruption.
How many are in trouble now?
From Nixon/Agnew to Scooter and Cheney, all we get from Republicans are cover-ups, lies, and more.
Even President Reagan’s defense secretary, Caspar W. Weinberger, who recently passed away, was so bad, that George H. W. Bush had to bail him out with a pardon to help save the Republican name.
Face it…. the Republican Party is a disgrace.
Time for a change.
It is also time for us to take back our country from the Republican mess that YOU are paying for.

I am,
GEORGE VREELAND HILL

* Here are some tidbits of note:

Mark Foley, a Republican member (now ex-member) of Congress, has sent many e-mails with perverted sexual content to a sixteen year old boy.
This is the same man who while in Congress, backed a bill that was meant to protect children from child predators.
Foley himself, is a man who preyed on a child with lust.
What is also incomprehensible, is the fact that many Republicans knew of Foley’s behavior, and yet, did not take a hard stand against this until it became public news.
If I had a teenage son and/or daughter, I would not want them to go near any Republican leader for fear of either or both becoming a victim of a sick Republican pervert.

Our Republican leaders have failed to catch bin Laden, even though Bush said that his capture was a top priority.
When it became evident that bin Laden was not going to be caught any time soon, Bush then said that it did not matter if we capture him.
Say what?
The fact is that Bush changed his mind to save face.

We have left our borders open to let millions of rapists, thieves, loafers, and killers enter our country.
These numbers are since 9/11.
Much of California’s bad economy was blamed on Gray Davis, but the fact is, that illegals broke California.
Why was that not stopped?

In New Hampshire, during the 2002 election for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Robert C. Smith, the New Hampshire GOP hired GOP Marketplace of Virginia, to jam another phone bank being used by the state Democratic Party in an effort to turn out voters on behalf of then-governor Jeanne Shaheen on Election Day.
John E. Sununu, the Republican candidate, won a narrow victory.
Wikipedia, a free on-line encyclopedia, states that three men have been convicted of, or pled guilty to, federal crimes and sentenced to prison for their involvement as of 2006. A fourth is under indictment.
However, investigators and those who have followed the scandal closely believe that there were more people involved at the national level.
It has been suggested that some high-ranking Republican Senate leaders were aware, and more recently records showing phone calls from the political operative convicted of engineering the scheme have raised questions as to whether officials in the Bush Administration were involved as well.
According to The Raw Story, the fourth man indicted in this phone-jamming scheme, will argue at trial that the Bush Administration and the national Republican Party gave their approval to the plan, so says a motion filed by his attorney.

CIA leaks.

Bush giving the finger to people.
Would FDR have done that?

Republicans can’t stand the truth.
When a topic comes up that exposes them, these cowards will discredit the reporter or change the subject in order to made themselves look good.
Their tactics no longer work.
The people are on to these Republican cowards who can’t fess up.

My thoughts on Iran:
Iran may be a threat in the future, but it is not a threat now.
We have time to think about what to do with Iran.
We need to start thinking about the best ways to solve problems in the Middle East, and not create new ones.
Because Bush and the Republican Party have no clue how to fix the mess we are in with Iraq, it is best that he and they do nothing with Iran.
Wait until the voters pick better leaders, and believe me, that will not be a hard thing to do.
George Vreeland Hill

Leave a Comment

Line and paragraph breaks are automatic. Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title="">, <b>, <i>, <strike>

Explore US Liberal Politics

About.com Special Features

Holiday Central

What to eat, where to go, fun things to do and how to save money on the perfect gifts. More >

Weird Breaking News

A daily look at some of the oddest (and dumbest) crimes around. More >

  1. Home
  2. News & Issues
  3. US Liberal Politics

©2009 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company.

All rights reserved.