Watch "Torturing Democracy" online - it's your civic duty as an American

Please take the time to watch this movie, free online. Every American should, because we're all responsible.

Torturing Democracy

No political party would dare make torture a cornerstone of its rejuvenation if people really understood what it is. And lest we forget, we're not just talking about waterboarding, itself a trivializing euphemism for drowning.

If we want to know what torture is, and what it does to human beings, we have to look at it squarely, without flinching. That's just what a powerful and important film, seen by far too few Americans, does. "Torturing Democracy" was written and produced by one of America's outstanding documentary reporters, Sherry Jones...

"Torturing Democracy" begins at 9/11 and recounts how the Bush White House and the Pentagon decided to make coercive detention and abusive interrogation the official US policy in the war on terror. In sometimes graphic detail, the documentary describes the experiences of several men who were held in custody, including Shafiq Rasul, Moazzam Begg and Bisher al-Rawi, all of whom eventually were released. Charges never were filed against them and no reason was ever given for their years in custody.

The documentary traces how tactics meant to train American troops to survive enemy interrogations - the famous SERE program ("Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape") - became the basis for many of the methods employed by the CIA and by interrogators at Guantanamo and in Iraq, including waterboarding (which inflicts on its victims the terror of imminent death), sleep and sensory deprivation, shackling, caging, painful stress positions and sexual humiliation.

"We have re-created our enemy's methodologies in Guantanamo," Malcolm Nance, former head of the Navy's SERE training program, says in "Torturing Democracy." He adds, "It will hurt us for decades to come. Decades. Our people will all be subjected to these tactics, because we have authorized them for the world now. How it got to Guantanamo is a crime and somebody needs to figure out who did it, how they did it, who authorized them to do it ... Because our servicemen will suffer for years."

-- Bill Moyers

"Little Big Man" Dennis Kucinich submits impeachment resolution

My favorite Democrat these days, the "Little Big Man" Dennis Kucinich, submitted a resolution today to impeach the man who put the "vice" back in "Vice President," Dick "Shoot-em-up" Cheney. Dennis gave Democrats a chance to finally grow a pair, but of course, they shirked their duty and responsibility to the country once again.

According to an article in the New York Times, "House Democrats on Tuesday narrowly managed to avert a bruising debate on a proposal to impeach Dick Cheney after Republicans, in a surprise maneuver, voted in favor of taking up the measure. Republicans, changing course midway through a vote, tried to force Democrats into a debate on the resolution sponsored by longshot presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich."

The spineless Democrats' plan was to vote to table the measure, effectively putting it in limbo, while avoiding having to actually debate the issue. They figured Republicans would go along, because, of course, they want to avoid the issue also. But Republicans are quite aware that Dems are minus that important bodily structure (the spine), and so, in a surprise move that was sure to embarrass the Dems, they voted to kill the resolution (to table the measure), which would have forced the chamber to debate it, and vote up-or-down on impeachment.

Instead of welcoming this opportunity to call the administration on their lies and force some kind of accountability, the Dems shriveled like roadkill on a desert highway.

''We're going to help them out, to explain themselves,'' said Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas. ''We're going to give them their day in court.'' At least, that was the GOP's public explanation. The real reason, I'm quite sure, was, as I said, to embarrass the cajone-less Dems. They knew what the Dems would do, and they were right – the asses (well, their mascot is the donkey, is it not?) offered a motion to "refer the proposal to the House Judiciary Committee for further study," effectively preventing a debate on the House floor. That motion passed by a largely party-line vote of 218-194.

And so, once again, instead of standing up for the Constitution, instead of using the power of impeachment as the founders intended, instead of helping to restore the rule of law to the office of the presidency, the lackluster Democrats backed down like a bunch of cowards. Here was their chance – handed to them on a silver platter by the Republicans, no less – to stick it to this lawless administration once and for all, to stick it to the party that had misused impeachment just a few years ago.

The Dems seem to think they shouldn't rock the boat, that they are somehow guaranteed the presidency next election, if they just cruise along without being too controversial. But they need to think again. Popular opinion of this Congress is extremely low for a reason. The Dems were given a majority by the electorate to do one thing – to stop the war. Not only have they not delivered on that crucial responsibility, they have been missing in action on any number of important fronts – including the vote this week to send Michael B. Mukasey's nomination for Attorney General to the full Senate, where it will now likely be rubber-stamped. They voted to approve a man who refuses to call waterboarding what it is, torture.

So what is it exactly, that the Democrats are doing? Playing it safe, that's what. Just when we need strong, bold leadership on so many important issues, and just when they have the opportunity to show the nation that they are the ones to lead us into a new era of fiscal, military, environmental and judicial responsibility, they play it safe.

Shame on you asses!