The War For The Mind of The West.

Republican senatorial candidate Rand Paul simply said with Republicans believe – that this country should focus on promoting corporations and those corporations should have privileges but not responsibilities. The Republican policy, apparently, is “Mine Baby Mine” and “Drill Baby Drill;” taxpayers will forgive “accidental” worker deaths and pay to clean “accidental” spills.

I once heard conservative columnist David Brooks refer to a Republican Party political miscalculation as stupidity on stilts. Well, courtesy of the national media, the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has provided a few prominent people on the right with a new opportunity to once again make fools of themselves.

We must end the politics of fear and let our Constitution work without interference.

There are a lot of reasons to be frothing at the mouth angry at the criminal Bush administration. One of the biggest is the way that they not only managed to overturn a half century of certainty about what torture is and the use of it, in doing so they have also extended the immunity of those committing torture in the name of national security. The use of the State Secrets privilege to quash cases brought by torture victims was the standard operating procedure in the Bush administration.

It has sadly continued in the Obama administration. Without letting our current Executive Branch off the hook at all, it is easy to understand how that happens. How many of us have ever been willing to give up privileges we have, even if we are fairly sure it is not a good idea for anyone to have them? Since no one, not even the former V.P. Dick Cheney is the villain in the movie of their life, everyone thinks they will use these powers only for good.

This is why we need groups like the ACLU and the Center for Constitutional Rights to fight against the expansion of governmental power and accountability for any illegal acts the government might commit.

The CCR is filing for certiorari with the Supreme Court in the case of Saleh et al v. Titan et al. This case is a civil suit brought by 250 Iraqis and their widows against two U.S. contractors. The case revolves around the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in the early days of the occupation. The Iraqis are brought suit claiming that they were tortured by employees of Titan Corporation (which is now called L-3 Services, ever notice the worst offenders keep changing their names?) and a company called CACI International.

These two companies were hired by the U.S. Military to provide interpretation and interrogation services. The Iraqis claim all manner of abuse at the hands of the defendants including rape, beatings which resulted in the death of the detainees and having to watch family members suspended from a ceiling and beaten. The man who was hung from the ceiling and beaten died from this treatment.

As a citizen, I’m ultimately responsible for the conduct of my government. As we talk about health care and financial services, I think it’s particularly useful to remember the core assault on the rule of law – our inability to prosecute the crimes of the past decade.

A ruling on the Bush administration’s use of wiretapping makes apparent the need for the new state secrets law.

Nuclear Arsenal Reduction Treaty between The United States and Russia

Conspiracy Theories have become so prevalent in America. Why?

If we want accountability under the law for the conspiracy to commit torture and the commission of it, then we have to keep the pressure on the decision makers. This series is one way to do that. Please take the time to read it and send a few e-mails to our leaders letting them know it is not okay to sweep this under the rug.