farglebargle
Posts: 10715
Joined: 6/15/2005 From: Albany, NY Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: FirmhandKY Don't know what you are saying FB, because your last three posts all still show "Awaiting Approval", Yeah, It's rough. Deal with it. quote:
but I found some pretty good quotes about about the "Congressional Inquiry": I found a good quote, too. quote:
UNITED STATES CODE - TITLE 18 Section 2340. Definitions As used in this chapter - (1) ''torture'' means an act committed by a person acting under the color of law specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions) upon another person within his custody or physical control; Let's see. If Yoo and Addington wrote a memo, saying that the acts committed were lawful, when in fact they are not, that would be an element of not the act of torture itself, but an act to further a CONSPIRACY to commit torture, in violation of US Law, wouldn't it? I think Yoo and Addington have a lot more to be worried about than Contempt of Congress. There's real legal liability here folks, of course, given that they're Loyal Bushies, they probably have a "Get out of Jail Free" card, like Scooter already in their safes. Actually, that was the *real* purpose of playing the "Could the president order someone buried alive?" question. There's *no way* it was ever going to be answered, but it's evasion shows the awareness of the liability itself. But I digress. quote:
(2) ''severe mental pain or suffering'' means the prolonged mental harm caused by or resulting from - (A) the intentional infliction or threatened infliction of severe physical pain or suffering; (B) the administration or application, or threatened administration or application, of mind-altering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or the personality; (C) the threat of imminent death; or (D) the threat that another person will imminently be subjected to death, severe physical pain or suffering, or the administration or application of mind-altering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or personality; and (3) ''United States'' includes all areas under the jurisdiction of the United States including any of the places described in sections 5 and 7 of this title and section 46501(2) of title 49. Section 2340A. Torture (a) Offense. - Whoever outside the United States commits or attempts to commit torture shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both, and if death results to any person from conduct prohibited by this subsection, shall be punished by death or imprisoned for any term of years or for life. (b) Jurisdiction. - There is jurisdiction over the activity prohibited in subsection (a) if - (1) the alleged offender is a national of the United States; or (2) the alleged offender is present in the United States, irrespective of the nationality of the victim or alleged offender. Now, here's the money shot all over Addington's face. quote:
(c) Conspiracy. - A person who conspires to commit an offense under this section shall be subject to the same penalties (other than the penalty of death) as the penalties prescribed for the offense, the commission of which was the object of the conspiracy. Bam. Providing a fake legal foundation to facilitate the crime of torture is just as bad as bashing someone's nuts with a hammer. I would say it's MUCH WORSE. Wanna know why? Because the Nazis had *exactly* the same supposedly-legal-foundation for their atrocities. It's the same thing that "Judgement at Nuremberg" summarizes in Ernst's soliloqy towards the end of the 2nd act. quote:
He has suggested that we sterilized men for the welfare of the country. He has suggested that perhaps the old Jew did sleep with the sixteen year old girl, after all. Once more it is being done for love of country. It is not easy to tell the truth; but if there is to be any salvation for Germany, we who know our guilt must admit it... whatever the pain and humiliation. and Heywood... quote:
If he and the other defendants were all depraved perverts - if the leaders of the Third Reich were sadistic monsters and maniacs - these events would have no more moral significance than an earthquake or other natural catastrophes. But this trial has shown that under the stress of a national crisis, men - even able and extraordinary men - can delude themselves into the commission of crimes and atrocities so vast and heinous as to stagger the imagination. No one who has sat through this trial can ever forget. The sterilization of men because of their political beliefs... The murder of children... How *easily* that can happen! There are those in our country today, too, who speak of the "protection" of the country. Of "survival". The answer to that is: *survival as what*? A country isn't a rock. And it isn't an extension of one's self. *It's what it stands for, when standing for something is the most difficult!* Before the people of the world - let it now be noted in our decision here that this is what *we* stand for: *justice, truth... and the value of a single human being!* It wasn't the troops shoving the Jews into the trains heading east ONLY who were responsible, but the lawyers and judges who made-it-all-ok with documentation JUST LIKE Addintion's and Yoos. At least, well, I guess, Yoo and Addington sold out their careers... It's OVER. No one but another Loyal Bushie would ever hire them for anything AND even then, it's an 'Atta-boy-Gig' in consideration of past service. Their reputations are trashed. Just NEEDING TO USE the Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card is evidence enough of their incompetence. Of course, you and I, we don't get Get-Out-of-Jail-Free cards, do we? And of course, what other atrocities are being contemplated under-color-of-law, given that the Loyal Bushies have gotten away completely with their acts, when to them a single human being has no value?
< Message edited by farglebargle -- 6/28/2008 7:09:50 AM >
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It's not every generation that gets to watch a civilization fall. Looks like we're in for a hell of a show. ברוך אתה, אדוני אלוקינו, ריבון העולמים, מי יוצר צמחים ריחניים
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