GET BUSY: Help hold the architects of torture accountable

From MoveOn.org:

President Obama released memos that describe, in horrific detail, the torture techniques authorized by the Bush administration. 

So far there HAs been no accountability for the architects of Bush's torture program. We need a full investigation and real consequences for those responsible - it's the only way to keep this from happening again.

I signed a petition urging Attorney General Holder to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the Bush-era torture program. Can you join me at the link below?

http://pol.moveon.org/torture/

ACT: Torture Memo Author Should Not Be a Federal Judge, Impeach Bybee

From: Voters for Peace <action@votersforpeace.org>

 

Voters for Peace is joining in the call for impeachment of Judge Jay Bybee of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Bybee was the primary author of legal memoranda justifying torture during the Bush administration. When he was confirmed for the federal bench this information was not known, in fact it was denied by many. But now that it is known, how can he remain a judge in the U.S. federal courts? His lifetime appointment will continue the legacy of torture under President Bush, rather than put it behind us.

Please write your representative in Congress urging his impeachment. Click here  to take action now. 

Torture violates U.S. law: Section 2340A of title 18 of the U.S. Code says this: "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."

And, torture violates international treaties to which the U.S. has agreed to follow. The Convention Against Torture requires criminal prosecution of "an act by any person which constitutes complicity or participation in torture" or in "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." And the Geneva Conventions ban "violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture," as well as "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment."

The purpose of the Bybee Memos was to provide legal cover for American torturers. To allow the "just following orders defense" and to be able to point to these absurd memos to demonstrate the orders were lawful. Everyone involved knew they were torturing, knew they were inflicting pain, knew they were violating the law. Rather than first focusing on those at the bottom of the torture totem poll, removing Bybee from the bench would be a good first step.

Click here to write your representative to urge impeachment of Judge Bybee .

As David Swanson, a Project Board Member of Voters for Peace wrote:

"Just take a look at the memos officially attributed to Bybee, and consider whether we can maintain any sort of legitimate government without impeaching him, and whether we want him overruling decent honest judges for the next 30 years. Bybee gave President Bush, upon request, "legal opinions" that a president can ignore international laws, that laws do not apply to various groups of people, that a president can kidnap, detain, and ship off to other lands human beings with no due process, and that Congress has no power to interfere with anything a president does."

How can the United States put this torture history behind us if we do not take the essential action of removing Judge Bybee from the bench? His actions constitute war crimes. Please act now and urge Congress to impeach Judge Bybee. Click here to write your representative to urge impeachment of Judge Bybee.

Sincerely,

Kevin Zeese

Executive Director

More information:

The Torture Memos, Pro Publico

New York Times Calls for Impeachment of Judge Bybee

Impeach Jay Bybee, Bruce Ackerman, Slate

Waterboarding Used 266 Times on 2 Suspects

Eric Holder v. America's legal obligations

A Dark Day for Justice, Jeremy Scahill, Rebel Reports

No charges against CIA officials for waterboarding, Devlin Barrett, Associated Press

Subscribe to Voters For Peace Perspectives by email - News and analysis, campaign stats, activist tips, quotes and facts

ACTION: Demand Accountability

From Faithful America:

The Department of Justice "torture memos" released yesterday are horrific.  They define in graphic detail how the U.S. tortured and how it was justified. They are proof the U.S. government authorized torture.

So now...what are you going to do about it?

Click here to demand accountability.

Concerned citizens, many of them people of faith, have been shocked by the brutality and twisted logic flowing through the "torture memos."  While the Obama administration did the right thing by releasing these memos, it's not enough.  We need accountability.  To get it, we need to show politicians we demand it.  Let's reach them through sources they pay attention to: the papers in their home states and districts.

Tell your local paper: endorse an investigation today.

This is a moral issue.  As the National Religious Campaign Against Torture says, "nothing less than the soul of our nation is at stake."

To make sure we never torture again, we need more than an anti-torture president.  At a minimum, we need a Commission of Inquiry to uncover ALL the facts, so we can institute the right safeguards.  The Attorney General should also appoint a special prosecutor to investigate whether criminal charges are warranted.

President Obama has not ruled out investigations and prosecutions for the Department of Justice lawyers who created this policy, and neither should we.
Tell your newspaper: people of faith demand accountability, so should you.

It's going to be a tough fight. Politicians who take a stand for justice may face accusations of partisanship and divisiveness.  But the truth is not partisan. Our political leaders will need to know they'll have backup if they join our cause for truth and accountability.  An editorial endorsing accountability from their local paper can give them the support, or the prodding, they need to do the right thing.

Build the political will for accountability: write your paper today.

Thanks for all you do,
Beth, Katie, Dan, Kristin and Jennifer
The Faithful America Team
All content © 2008 Faithful America
1101 Vermont Avenue, 9th Floor Washington, DC 20005

Ban Nuclear Weapons - Petition Your Senators

From Friends Committee for National Legislation:

Yesterday, in Prague, addressing Europe and the world, Barack Obama became the first U.S. president to declare that the U.S. will seek peace and security in "a world without nuclear weapons." The president, in his Palm Sunday speech, said that the building blocks of nuclear disarmament will include a new national security strategy free of nuclear weapons, a new agreement with Russia to cut the size of U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals, and ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

President Obama needs your support; he cannot do this alone. Please sign a petition urging your senators to speak out in favor of nuclear disarmament.

Although many prominent analysts of both major political parties have embraced Obama's call for nuclear disarmament, already some in Congress are saying that total nuclear disarmament is unrealistic. FCNL's lobbyists have learned that some senators are moving to block ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and other components of the president's nuclear disarmament goal.

TAKE ACTION: Ask your senators to speak out publicly in support of President Obama's call for a world free of nuclear weapons. Ask three friends to sign as well.

It's Time to Re-Power America!

Change is in the air.

After a long election season and months of headlines about our failing economy, I for one am ready for a big change.
from Environment Maryland:

As you know, we endorsed President-elect Barack Obama in his run for the White House because his environmental record indicated he could be the change we need to see on energy, global warming and so many other environmental issues.

In a speech to governors earlier this week, he called for more investment and support for clean energy solutions for America. He said:

"When I am President, any governor who's willing to promote clean energy will have a partner in the White House. Any company that's willing to invest in clean energy will have an ally in Washington."

Will you join with us to show President-elect Obama that we support his efforts to repower America?

http://www.environmentamerica.org/action/energy/obama-letter?id4=ES

A Plea from MN Senate Candidate & SNL Comic Al Franken

From MoveOn:

It's not enough to merely win this election. We've got to win big.

Great —- I can tell from your nodding head that you agree. Now, let's make it happen -— by helping three champs win tight, crucial races: Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Larry Kissell of North Carolina, and, ahem, Al Franken of Minnesota.

I'm not asking for $700 billion -— just $10, $25, or whatever you can spare. Donate by clicking below:


Here's why this is so important. When Republicans tried to privatize Social Security back in 2005, they ran both houses of Congress and the White House—but they lost. The same thing happened to us with health care reform in 1993.

Now, they were wrong on Social Security, and we were right on health care. But the fact is, big change -— for better or worse —- takes big majorities and big mandates.

In fact, in the last century, there have been just a couple of truly transformative elections: 1964, when a Democratic landslide paved the way for Medicare, and 1932, when a Democratic landslide opened the door for the New Deal (and enraged generations of right-wingers by creating Social Security in the first place).

That's what we need in 2008: Not just a majority, but a landslide.

But who, you may be asking, are these three specific candidates? I'll tell you, with help from my friends in the Bullet Point department:

• Jeff Merkley, running for the Senate in Oregon, led Habitat for Humanity in Oregon and then cracked down on predatory lenders, passed ethics reform, and cut taxes for working people in the State House.



• Larry Kissell, running in North Carolina's 8th district, worked in textiles for 27 years and taught high school civics. In 2006, he ran for Congress against Republican Robin Hayes, one of the oil industry's biggest cheerleaders—and lost by 329 votes. This year, the oil industry is gushing with cash for Hayes, but my money (and, I hope, your money) is on Kissell.



• Me. (Al Franken.) I'm running for Senate in my home state of Minnesota. It's not just that six years of Norm Coleman in the Senate is already six years too much. I'm running because it's time for change, and because change is going to take progressives —- like Jeff, Larry, and myself —- who are willing to stand up and fight.

We need you to vote, to knock on doors, and to make phone calls. And, right now, we need you to take out your credit card and donate some money.

This fall, the higher the stakes become, the nastier the Republicans are going to get —- so we need the resource to fight back with the truth. The election is just 37 days away.

DO SOMETHING! Donate now.


Thanks for all that you've done, and thanks for helping MoveOn rebuild the progressive movement in America over the last ten years. Thanks for your hard-earned money (did you forget to donate? No problem! Click here.)

And thanks in advance for working side by side with me, Larry, Jeff, Barack, and the new Democratic landslide to truly, day by day, take this country back.

–Al Franken

McCain and Obama Must Debate on Friday

from CREDO Action at Working Assets:

John McCain thinks we don't need a presidential debate on Friday night.

We at CREDO disagree. We need a real debate on the economy, and we need it now. The presidential candidates, as Senator Obama says, should hold their debate Friday as scheduled, and address the proposed $700 billion Wall Street bailout.

We've been hearing a lot this week about how our economy is in a crisis — maybe the worst crisis since the Great Depression. Politicians on the left and the right have made all kinds of claims about exactly how much or little we should panic and what that means for the policies we should enact.

The Bush Administration, for its part, has continued to insist that we must give the largest free lunch in history to the Wall Street tycoons who got us into this mess to begin with, We at CREDO disagreed strongly with this position, and we put forth some of our own policy recommendations in accordance with Robert Reich's suggestions.

If these issues are so serious, then that's only more reason to have a national dialogue about them, and to understand how Senator McCain and Senator Obama would handle them as president.

Americans have a monumental decision to make this November, and we need as much information as possible in order to make the best choice. We reject the notion that canceling the debate is the best way to focus on the economy. Rather, let's use the debate to spotlight the importance of economic issues.

DO SOMETHING! Encourage Senator McCain to show up for the debate on Friday as planned, and to focus on the economic issues facing our nation. As Americans caught in a pivotal moment in our nation's history, we deserve nothing less.

Global Poverty: Just ONE Question

From The ONE Campaign:

Two. Only two questions about global poverty have been asked in the history of modern presidential debates, going back to Kennedy-Nixon in 1960. That's less than one percent of all questions asked.

To change that shockingly low figure, ONE is launching a new campaign to get “Just ONE Question” about the fight against global poverty asked at the 2008 presidential debates.

The first debate at the University of Mississippi at Oxford, MS, will focus on foreign policy and is only 10 days away. Take action now by sending the message below to debate moderator Jim Lehrer. Click the link and we'll send your message to Mr. Lehrer, urging him to ask Just ONE Question on the fight against global poverty.

This first debate will happen just one day after world leaders gather at the United Nations in New York for an emergency meeting on the Millennium Development Goals – the global pledge made in 2000 to halve extreme poverty and global disease by 2015.

Meeting those goals will require unprecedented U.S. leadership during the next eight years. For at least four of those years, John McCain or Barack Obama will be our president. It's up to us to make sure that the issues being discussed at the United Nations in New York are also being raised with Senators Obama and McCain at the debate in Mississippi.

We can't afford to have another presidential debate that ignores extreme poverty and global disease. Please ask Jim Lehrer for Just ONE Question on global poverty, and we’ll deliver your message to him next week, right when he’s sitting down to decide what he'll ask the next President of the United States:

Are You SURE You're Registered to Vote????

From Barack Obama:

You'd be surprised by how many people you know who aren't registered to vote.

Registration deadlines are coming up soon, and we need every single vote we can get to win this election.

Tell your friends, family, and neighbors to check out our new one-stop voter registration website.

VoteforChange.com makes it easier than ever to register. Instead of tracking down the right forms, all you need to do is answer a few basic questions and you'll be ready to vote. You can also
confirm your existing registration, apply to vote absentee, and find your polling place.

If you don't know your own registration status or you'd like to learn more, take a minute to visit the site right now. And if you have registered, visit the site to make sure that your registration is in order. You don't want to wait until Election Day and find yourself turned away when you visit the polling place and learn that you won't be allowed to cast a ballot. Make sure everything is in order now!

This race is too close and too important to stay home on Election Day or to give unsavory forces an opportunity to steal your vote.

If you take the time to register and vote -- and make sure everyone you know is registered as well -- we'll be able to turn the tide of the past eight years.

It's people just like you who will transform this nation. Register. Make sure that your registration is solid. And VOTE!