Commenter in "New Yorker" seeks info on tortured, murdered uncle/detainee's body

By GottaLaff

The Salt Pit

Jane Mayer has a piece out in the New Yorker that is a must-read. It concerns the death of a detainee, and includes a revelation about the unintended identification of the detention C.I.A. officer who was allegedly responsible:

In an apparent oversight, however, the identity of the manager of the Salt Pit at the time of Rahman’s death appeared recently in a public document. The officer, who continues to work for the C.I.A., is mentioned by name in a footnote in the October, 2009, legal response to allegations of unprofessional conduct filed by lawyers for Jay Bybee, the former head of the Office of Legal Counsel. The Bybee document was released last February by the Justice Department. Apparently unnoticed at the time, it revealed both the surname of the Salt Pit manager and the identity of the victim, Rahman.

[UPDATE, April 1, 6:40 P.M.: In an interesting disappearing act, unspecified government officials have now mysteriously redacted the name of the C.I.A. officer in charge of the Salt Pit from the public record described above. The document is easily accessible on the House Judiciary Committee’s Web site (pdf). But where footnote No. 28 previously identified the surname of the Salt Pit manager, as of April 1st, the name has been blacked out. The victim’s name, however, is still visible. It was evidently too late to keep that out of the public eye after the A.P. story.]

The story is horrendous, the deeds unspeakable. But something on that page caught my eye in Comments:

can you please tell us about the death body of rehman from where we can get it i am his nephew

Posted 3/31/2010, 11:32:10pm by sulimankhail

Think about that for a moment.

A news story about the death of a detainee at a black site causes a person who identifies himself as family, as the nephew of the victim, to try to locate the body after eight years... in a comment under the post.

He is asking for help in getting the body of a family member back. In Comments.

Assuming "sulimankhail" is who he says he is, what does this tell you? How does it make you feel that torture and murder has been done in our name... and now a prisoner's relative has to leave a comment under a story in the New Yorker in order to find the remains of his uncle?

I'm ashamed, and I am sickened.

A related story drives the point home:

Michael Sulick, head of the CIA’s National Clandestine Service, told a student audience last week that the spy agency has seen no fall-off in intelligence since waterboarding was banned by the Obama administration.

Be proud, BushCo.

****

All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes one specific to only Fayiz al-Kandari's story here. Here are audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

Lt. Col. Barry Wingard is a military attorney who represents Fayiz Al-Kandari in the Military Commission process and in no way represents the opinions of his home state. When not on active duty, Colonel Wingard is a public defender in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

More of Fayiz's story here, at Answers.com.

Commenter called DeFazio; Aide: "Mr. DeFazio has not drawn a position"

By GottaLaff

Thank you Commenter Diane, for this update:

I just called Rep. DeFazio's office in Washington DC and contacted an aide. He said that the recent press is inaccurate and that Mr. DeFazio has not drawn a position. This is because he is still reading the bill — so much for the Republicans' talking point! — and will not decide which way he's going to vote until he has.

That's the definitive word as of 1:37 PM Friday, Pacific Daylight Time.

My original post, via ClusterFox unfortunately, who said he switched to "no", is here.

UPDATE from my pal Della Lee, via Comments:

I also called DeFazio's DC office. I'm from his district: Springfield OR 97477. I got the same message, including "Don't believe every news report you hear." Still undecided. I urged foot in the door, amend later, Yes on HCR now!

Thank you! We have the best readers in the world.

"Where were the Republicans...?" A Reader's Rant

By GottaLaff

Commenter Walt has graciously allowed me to share a comment he left under this post.

I wanted to put it up because he has made these points before under a number of different posts, but finally expressed them all in one Big Special Comment.

Anyone with this much feeling who consistently represents so many other TPC readers finally deserves to be heard right out loud.

Walt said...

The problem I have with these repubs that come in here spouting off about what is wrong with our government and they know how to fix it is, where were they during the Bush years?

How come it took the election of a Democratic president to unleash their anger? I mean what do you call Cheney's secret meetings with the fossil fuel companies early on before 9/11 and the wars they started?

Where were they when Bush was giving tax cuts to the rich without ever paying for the wars?

Where were the Repubs when the Republicans in power were turning our tax pay into an ATM machine for big corporations and private contractors?

Where were the Repubs when Bush was getting warned about an attack by terrorists and wouldn't even see his terrorist czar? 9/11 happened on his watch. Where was the anger then?

Where were the Repubs while the Bush administration was compiling the greatest debt this country has ever seen? They were listening to FAUX Noise playing the fear card daily or they were listening to Limbaugh, or Hannity, or Savage, or Levin, etc. demonize the liberals.

And now they want to say they are the independents and the wise ones when all I see is a bunch of marionettes still being controlled by their puppet masters who will lead them down the wrong road, yet again.

Yeah, our government is a mess and the Democrats are part of the blame.

But one year in power and they are to blame for this mess? That is hypocrisy on the highest level.

Government is not the problem. It is the money controlling the government that is the problem. And the ruling the other day by the Republican appointed Supreme Court Justices will only allow big corporate (including foreign) and the big Banks to control our government even more.

As Benito Mussolini, the fascist dictator said, “Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power”

So anytime you Repubs come in here trying to defend yourself you won't get any respect here until you atone for your sins. Only then can we come together and fight the real enemy.

And there you have it, all in one passionate, power-packed package.

Thank you, Walt.

LAFFY NOTE: Any time you want to have your opinions heard, please consider sending me a video for BLUNT. It's easy, and your voice does count.

"I've seen this horrible stuff on TV but never thought I'd be 'attacked' by these sickos"

By GottaLaff

One of our regular readers shared this chilling experience with us in Comments:

Today, Friday 01/08/10 at about 4:00PM Pacific, I took a package to be dropped off at my local Harbor City, CA 90710 post office...only to see 2 males, one white, one black, with a table (set up on the sidewalk directly in front of the walk out the front doors of the PO) covered in the Obama as hitler posters.

I *tried* to walk, head down up a different side walk, only to be yelled at by the white male.

It went down hill from there...he kept spewing facist Obama stuff...Obama is hitler...we're all going to forced prison labor camps...

...I basically just kept saying that they were sick...ignorant of WWII history and the crimes against humanity committed...etc.

The guy finally just turned his back to me...only to turn and yell FACIST at me as I was getting in my car.

Needless to say...I've been shaken since. I've seen this horrible stuff on TV but never thought that I would be "attacked" by any of these sickos.

I'm scared for our country.

And then he added:

I'm tell'n ya...my stomach was rolling, my hands were shaking and I think I was scared.

...if drinking and driving was legal, I would have pulled into Rite Aid and bought beer!

Some of you may remember when Mr. Laffy had a similar encounter.

Gee, somehow I doubt that this kind of sick behavior will win followers or change minds. What are they hoping to accomplish? And why did they yell at our Commenter? I'm guessing he wasn't wearing an Obama tee shirt, nor did he make the first move. They were the aggressors.

Publicly bullying a fellow citizen is a cowardly act that should be prohibited by law. How do these people live with themselves?

TPC Commenter: "Being Canadians, we have the RIGHT to universal health care"

By GottaLaff

I hope it's okay with the Commenter who posted this that I am putting it out front, but it was something I thought was well worth sharing with everyone. The post was in response to Keith Olbermann's hourlong Special Comment:

I was impressed with Keith's commentary. It put a lot of things about the American garbage system into perspective.

Being Canadians, we have the RIGHT to universal health care. Despite the chorus of lies rampant in the United States, we know that we have a superior health care system, in large part because it is universal, to what the vast majority of people have in the United States.

I have the same health care as the Premier of my province and as my Member of Parliament. The number of Americans who have the same health care as the Governor of their state and their Senators, I suspect, would be quite small. This defines the Canadian health care system and we have more rights and freedoms than Americans have.

We also have more disposable income after taxes (including health care- 82%) than Americans have as disposable income after taxes+ health insurance+copays (81.8%)

My mother had bypass surgery at age 72 within 3 days, yet many Americans lie about long waiting lists for such things. It would have been sooner than 2 1/2 days had it not been the opinion of the cardiologist that they should take the time to stabilize her further, since in her initial condition, she probably would have died on the operating table. My mother survived for a further ten years one month and one week after the bypass, before her heart finally failed at age 82 in 1997.

I've had four surgeries myself, in 4 days, 6 days for serious (not urgent) ones and 10 days and 16 days for two that were not serious. This is how things REALLY happen in the Canadian health care system.

Canada does NOT have "socialized medicine", except in the MISUSE of the term by most Americans. Canada has a "social insurance" system for health care.

Before 1962, there was no social insurance for medical needs in Canada. My father took sick with a rare and serious blood disease at age 40 in 1958. By the time he died, at age 41 in 1959 (when I was 7 years old), he had accumulated $6000 in medical bills. While it sounds to us today that $6000 in medical bills could be handled in short order, what it really meant is that my mother, as a teacher, in 1959 had an annual income of $3800 a year and had these $6000 in medical bills.

The Canadian system since 1962 has completely removed the worry of health care debt.

Imagine that: Worry-free health care. Now imagine this: The Rushpublics and Blue Dogs see that as a threat. .sdrawkcaB

Dear Joe "You lie!" Wilson: A letter from an 80-year-old mom

By GottaLaff

A loyal TPC reader, one whom I correspond with from time to time, sent me an e-mail containing a copy of a letter she wrote to Joe the Mouther. She has graciously given me permission to post it. UPDATE: She didn't write the letter, just sent it along for me to share.

It is, in a word, superb:

September 10, 2009

Joe Wilson, Member
United States Congress
212 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D. C 20515-4002

Mr. Wilson:

I am an 80 year old mother and my older child is 51 years old; but, if ever I were to hear him call anyone a liar or rudely and obstreperously tell someone they were telling a lie, I would slap his face. My two children, 41 and 51 respectively, are very well reared as was I. I can remember as a little innocent child calling someone a liar. I only did it one time because the lecture in the form of a lesson in proper decorum sank in, and to this day, I have never called anyone a liar. My mother considered this the ultimate in rudeness and disrespect, not only for the person I called a liar, but for me, myself.

Having learned that lesson at such an early age, it made me cringe when you, at age 62, and a former military man, yelled to the President of the United States of America, “You lie.” As a military man, you know the chain of command; and, you were addressing the Commander in Chief of the Un ited States of America. Of course, President Obama who is a very refined gentleman did not respond and he kept right on target delivering the most brilliant speech I have ever heard. I can say this with a degree of authority because I have been witness to every presidency since Herbert Hoover. Never in the hallowed halls of Congress have I witnessed such coarse, gross, despicable behavior.

I don’t know if your mother is alive or not, but if she is, I’m certain that she hung her head in shame knowing that all over the world you have disgraced her, yourself, your wife, your four sons, your office, your constituency and your country. Children of good breeding, who are properly reared carry the teachings of their parents throughout their lives. At 80 everything I do is tested against, “what would my mother think of that?” I would never defame her precious memory by demonstrating lack of self control and a knowledge of the social graces that separate women from ladies and men from gentlemen.

My mother was a proper Southern genteel lady who commanded respect because of the way she carried herself. I would think that your being from the South, you would have gotten some of that good ole Southern hospitality and gentility that seems to be characteristic of in telligent people of the South.

I do so hope you will listen to the foreign media as I did late last night. You are an international disgrace because from Ireland to China and England, your crudity was the main topic of conversation.

I note that you have a law degree. I wonder how proud your alma mater, University of South Carolina Law School , was of you tonight as you showed to the world that education without character is vacuous and meaningless. There is a popular expression of people with degrees who lack common sense, they are referred to as “educated fools.”

If you were playing to the media and to the camera for attention, you succeeded because your worldwide legacy will be that you were the ill-suited and ill-placed person who demeaned himself in the halls of Congress for the first time in U S history.

Written with embarrassment for my country,

[No Drama Zone]

Thank you so, so much, No Drama Zone. That was positively cathartic, and very apt. You're a good mom.

Would you like to respond to this, er, ignorant TPC commenter?

By GottaLaff

From this "Obama had a heckler" thread, we have a real winner:

why doesn't obama go to a rally that isn't dominated by blacks and poor people, instead he should go to a rally for everyday americans who actually pay their taxes, which support the blacks and poor people

I guess he/she missed this cartoon or him/herself.... not that he/she would understand it, appreciate it, or even know how to read it (well, maybe the pictures... maybe).

Exposing a lie

By GottaLaff

UPDATE: I may have mistaken "@GottaLaff" to mean that he thought I tweeted the comments in question. He may have meant they were TO me, not BY me. My mistake, if that's so.

In that case, I retract any statements that applied to what I thought were made-up quotes by me. I can't vouch for the validity of my friends' supposed comments. They can speak for themselves.

But here's the real point, made by an astute Tweeter just now:

not made up. but is still stupid. TCOT [wingnuts] threaten us all the time, nothing new. NOT the same at threatening Prez

This was left in Comments on the "Obama threat on Twitter?" post. It is nothing but lies, left by some deranged little sicko who apparently would love a career as a fiction writer. I'm posting it here to expose their mental illness and allow any of those mentioned to respond.

Anyone who would like to see what my fellow Tweeple and I actually do write can go to my Twitter stream here. I did respond in Comments, should you care to read.

The comments below are tweets from this blogger "gottalaff's" friend "Eileen Left" on Twitter.

@kfrendling TOO LATE! You & your ignorant moronic lying jackass right wing fringe have incited far too much hate. You disgust me!!!

@kfrendling You should try reading the House Bill. Stop watching Bigot Beck and Rush Limpballs! They fill your empty heads w/corporate lies!

@GottaLaff Your article has made me soo f'ing mad, I'm going after these bastards with a vengeance,not enough valium in the world to calm me

@GottaLaff I'm F'ing PISSED!Seriously, Bigot Beck, Limpballs and their pawns, sheep, or slugs should all....too angry to say..

@schwanderer that just PISSES me off...Wilson is going down!!! There is NO WAY he can be allowed to serve in the House after all this

(This one is from Eileenlefts friend Webwiseass speaking about rpubs)

@EileenLeft I thought the inbreeding would take care of that ;-)

@webwiseass yeah, no kidding...can we do something about them ever being allowed to raise children (sarcasm)

@SupermanHotMale hehehe...nah, but the fact that they breed is a problem, lol

# @satriani415 Are You Kidding??? Seriously, hats off to you!! I would go balistic, they are pissing me off past the point of sanity10:52 AM Sep 12th from web in reply to satriani415

# @hannityhater no, I can't, I only made it 4 seconds and wanted to drop a real bomb on them!

@liberalchik ya know, any logical person could be pushed past the breaking point if these morons keep it up

@hannityhater I know what I 'want' to drop on them!! But I'm a better person...damn it

@liberalchik yeah...I have terrible thoughts, but the difference between us and them is we have morals--------------

(Anon.-This is precious. What exactly is the definition of morals?)

@FreeRepublik I'd 'love' to pass them all some 'kool-aid' with something in it to give them brain cells

@watergatesummer yeah, I had that thought too, 'dude, you're gonna get yours,...and no one will ever know....' (snicker) I'll help!!

Ok, that's enough for me. I could copy and paste forever as her page is packed with hate mongering and this is just off of ONE of gottalaff's friends pages on Twitter. Gottalaff does converse with this woman. Who makes you more nervous now regarding violent intent? kfrendling or gottalaff's left wing extremist friend, EileenLeft?

The left is now attacking kfrendling with a vengeance to the point of being threatening and entirely disgusting. You people really have to start thinking before you speak. After what I've read tonight coming from the Left I am totally ashamed that I am woven from the same fabric-human.

It would be laughable if it weren't so offensive and sick.

Colorado Tea Party Organizer Issues Racist Threats to Fellow Blogger

By GottaLaff

Smile for the camera, you filthy piece of scum.

Oliver Willis and I are Twitter pals. Oliver Willis is also a fellow blogger. I can't even imagine how he must be feeling right now.

Additionally, when something so despicable and appalling hits this close to home, it makes the irrational hatred out there feel even scarier, more real, and more threatening than usual. It shouldn't make a difference, but somehow it does:

Shaun Conley Of Conley Plumbing In Johnstown Colorado decided to leave a racist, threatening message on my blog. Here is the message plumber Shaun Conley Of Conley Plumbing In Johnstown Colorado left:

The socialists will pull the first trigger. We rightwing extremists will pull the last.

Signed,
Bitter Clinger.

PS: Massa Obama must be proud to know that the slaves on his government plantation are so devoted. ding-ding-ding. Uh oh! Massa O is calling! You’d better step-n-fetchit, bootlick.

Please go read the rest of the post, including the information Oliver provides.

I'm just sick over this.

UPDATE- I got my answer. Here's how Oliver is feeling:

Commenter responds to Joe Lieberman's Run-On Gitmo Detainee E-mail

By GottaLaff

Before you read this post, please go back to this one, the impossible-to-read e-mail from Joe Lieberman that called for this response from Commenter Chris... who kindly allowed me to post her e-mail response:

It's actually not as bad here as when I opened the email to one solid block of text. I tried to reply to it, but, naturally, the email got bounced back to me.

If I may?

Dear Senator Lieberman and staff,

In reply to your email to me:

1st - The letter you sent me is vitrually unreadable. See below! The lack of attention to detail by your staff is stunning.

2nd - the "at least 74 have already returned to fight with the extremists" is absolutely UNTRUE and you know it - or at least you should know it.

3rd - The "The detainees held in Guantanamo are enemy combatants who were caught in the war on terrorism and have demonstrated a callous willingness to exploit international law, our laws, and basic standards of human decency to advance their cause" is UNTRUE. Many of the detainees were turned in to US forces for the rewards offered. 27 out of 32 who have faced military justices have been ordered released or had charges dropped against them due to lack of evidence, hearsay evidence or use of torture to obtain self-incriminating evidence. Shame on you, a former Attorney General, for continuing the deception of the detainees. I urge you to look at the case of Fayid al Kandari, a Kuwaiti national, being held at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and try to find one shred of evidence that he is among "the worst of the worst".
Moreover, military commissions are extraconstitutional and distinctly unamerican.

4th, and lastly - Your first priority is misplaced. It should not be to protect Americans. Your DUTY, that which you swore an oath to do, sir, is to protect the US Constitution. That duty is something in which you have failed.

Sincerely,

Chris, Concerned taxpayer, Patriotic American, Your constituent and employer

Commenter: "The act of homosexuality is unnatural"

By GottaLaff

From my post Liveblog: Obama speaks at LGBT Pride event at White House... I ran across this comment that just came in.

Please feel free to enlighten this Commenter (who unsurprisingly called him/herself "Anonymous"), since they made the request:

GottaLaff, please, by all means enlighten us on the "fact" that we all need to accept? I know plenty of Gays and some are very pleasant and others are mean spirited and militant about their cause. What does that prove? Nothing. Here's a fact for you. The act of homosexuality is unnatural, science proves that. Here's another one for you, less than 2% of the population is gay, however gays account for 1/3 of all child molestation cases. Please refute my views with fact and not the normal gay rhetoric. Thanks.

How very disheartening that there are people like this who are not only uneducated on the subject, and misguided, but don't source any of their own "facts", yet demand that I refute them with real ones.

I'd be happy to do the research and provide links, and will at some point, but I am otherwise occupied at the moment. Care to assist me until my load lightens a little? When there's a cry for help, as there is here, I like to do what I can to accomodate.

Commenter: "Tiller was a baby killer who got what he deserved."

By GottaLaff

Earlier, I posted one of My Tweet Spots. Allow me to bump it up as re-post, because it is sadly very appropriate here:


Now read this despicable, sicko comment from an earlier post, by Norris Hall: (emphasis mine)

Tiller was a baby killer who got what he deserved.
Baby killers must be put out of action
You can't just wait years for the law to change.
The fact that the Clinic where Tiller practice is going to be closed forever accomplished, with one bullet, what years of protests have been unable to achieve.
Tillers death should be a warning to all abortionists that they await the same fate if they do not stop their barbaric practices.
Who would hesitate to put a bullet in Hitler's head or Osama Bin Ladins? Who would hesitate kill someone who was threatening the lives of their children?
When you have the chance to put a killer out of his misery and no one else will do it, is it not your moral obligation to do the job.

Tiller is gone and his clinic is closed. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!

It's very odd how so many deranged types and trolls comment days after we post something, but so be it. I'd go on, but I have to leave for work, so...

Care to respond to Norris?

Pepto time: Fox News Asks Commenters To Write ‘Funny Questions’ They'd Ask Obama

By GottaLaff

Isn't Faux Noise impish? Just look how those little Pixies of Political Fun got all creative and outreachy to their fair and balanced readers:

“What funny BlackBerry messages would YOU would send to the president and how he might reply?”

• “Are you white or black?”
• “IS IT TURE THAT YOU AND HAGATHA HAVE TO COME IN THE BACK DOOR OF THE WHITEHOUSE?”
• “Do you think you would have made it into Harvard if you were white?”
• “Just a small reminder BO says:
  June 4, 2009 at 11:14 am
  YOU’RE H A L F – W H I T E!!!!!!!

  HA HA HA HA HA
  not until his failures sink in. then he’ll be known as the cracka who screwed up.”

• “i would ask why they made such a big deal about what dog hes getting when hes already got one bi.tch. (miche.lle) in the whitehouse.”
• “Pack yo bags B. hussein, you be movin’ to Liberia”
• “your a failure, resign now you idiot”
• “YOU HAVEEEEEE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME?!!!! “OBAMA’S FOR REAL”? YEA, FOR REAL AFRICAN. NOT AMERICAN SO INELIGIBLE TO POTUS. YOUR VIDEO SAYS IT ALL!”
• “when you are trown out of the white house dont dont forget to clean up the jerry curl off the oval office”
• “we dont need to impeach your azzz you are not legitament potus”
• “Barak the Majic N E G R O lived in Islam”

There now. Wasn't that some good, wholesome, frolicsome, all-American, patriotic fun? Oops. Nearly forgot this one:

I would ask the president why he was teh SOCIALIST!!1 Then he wud respond “I WILL NEVeR SHOW U MY BIRTH CERTIFICATE Bcuz I AM A MUSLIN ANTI-CHRIST!!1″

Next, here an example of bothered to answer the second half of the question:

Me: Mr. President, why do I have to show my birth certificate to get an enhanced license to cross the border, but you don’t need to submit one to be President?

B.O.: Uhh…let me find my uh…teleprompter. Okay, here it is. Because I’m uhh…trying to hide something, and uhh…you’re not.

Me: Are your “uh’s” already in your teleprompter script?

B.O.: Uh, yes.

Me: How much of our taxes is your teleprompter scriptwriter getting?

B.O.: None…(please insert your own ‘uh’s’ from here on in) it will be the taxes of your kids and grandkids paying him.

Me: Why are you so friendly with people in the Middle East that would love to kill us?

B.O.: I have so much in common with them with my religious background and all, and when I ruin America, or let them destroy it, I can always return to my place of birth in Kenya.

Me: Thanks for your time and unexpected truthfulness.

And there you have it. Are you feeling the love?

H/t: Cody Kessler

Commenter: " I do not feel sorry for a family who loved a murderer"

By GottaLaff

From one of our Commenters, a self-proclaimed "Christian".

Obama said, "However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence." --If Obama only cared that much about the countless babies who died at the hands of that abortionist

A family member said, "Today we mourn the loss of our husband, father and grandfather. Today's event is an unspeakable tragedy for all of us and for George's friends and patients. This is particularly heart wrenching because George was shot down in his house of worship, a place of peace." Wow, how about the wombs that all of those babies were in? The womb is supposed to be a safe place of peace for a baby. But that monster would intrude and kill each one of them, with no remorse.

And I do not feel sorry for a family who loved a murderer. And I sure do NOT feel sorry for a church that had no problem allowing a murderer to attend.

Debra J.M. Smith
of
www.InformingChristians.com

Your turn.

Political Carnival EXCLUSIVE: First-hand knowledge of Cheney's assassination ring's existence

By GottaLaff

One of our Commenters, who must remain anonymous, has generously shared what little information he is able to with me about Dick Cheney's horrific "executive assassination ring", originally reported by Seymour Hersh. Anonymous and I have e-mailed back and forth for a few months now, and he was going to allow me to use some of his Iraq experiences for a series of posts.

However, things have changed for reasons that are explained below. This is all Anonymous is now allowed to reveal:

I can confirm for each of you that the assassination ring does exist. I spoke with one member of the Delta Forces on a regular basis. I can not repeat anything that I was told, but I can tell you that even the so-called terrorist knew exactly where they were housed on our base at an undisclosed location in Iraq. Laffy, i'm sure you know who I am. I can not repeat anymore than what I have typed from fear of reprisal. Which is also the reason why I never came back to you on what happened to my wife and me while being in Iraq last year.

[W]e have people out there that can and will hunt me down. [...] But those guys would have to come by our tent to pick up all their cargo that would be airlifted from random parts of the world. I can tell you that I know for a fact that it truly does go on. But I swore that I'd never repeat anything that was ever told, or pictures that I saw with my own eyes. Pictures that those guys could be severely punished for showing anyone out of their official channels.

Yes, I realize this is coming from an anonymous source, although I do know his name and have for some time, and have seen photos (from his time in Iraq and other venues) of him and his wife and even his friends. I also understand that he is not saying any of this under oath, but neither was Sy Hersh... yet. It is all hearsay for the time being.

I posted this to buttress Hersh's words. And I wanted to buttress Hersh's words to emphasize the following:

Dick Cheney and George Bush must be prosecuted. There must be a thorough investigation, and they must be prosecuted. How many more posts about these criminals will I have to write before this will happen? What does it take?

President Obama, I'm a fan, but I strongly disagree with your belief that "we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards". That is a very bad precedent when it comes to dealing with very bad people doing very, very bad things. Please, for the sake of your country, reconsider.

Let's hope that Attorney General Holder has other ideas.

YouTube Commenter: "No one I know has been laid off"

By GottaLaff

I just had to share this with you. I posted the Henrietta Hughes video on YouTube . Here is a sample of what's going on in Comments there. I'd love to hear your reaction.

HammockTimeNow
We don't owe her jacks***...She alone is responsible for herself! Her son is 40 yrs old....why isn't he working? Why isn't she working? My "ancestors" were NOT here even 100 years ago. BTW-you don't know where her "ancestors" came from anyway! Stop the nonsense already

GottaLaff

He was laid off, like most of the workers in this country.

HammockTimeNow

Sorry, but there are over 300million people in this country. Counting adults, MOST workers are NOT laid off. No one I know has been laid off

First I responded that Hammock's personal experiences are irrelevant. I don't know anyone who's been murdered, but that doesn't mean homicides are less prevalent than has been reported.

Next, I explained that I didn't mean "most workers" literally, and that maybe the commenter hadn't noticed the country's unprecedented unemployment numbers. He/she claims they're not unprecedented. I then cited 3 sources/quotes that said otherwise.

Who are these people?

Anonymous Commenter: ABC producer flat out said "'we needed to bring Obama's approval ratings down.'"

By GottaLaff

Paddy linked you to a post over at Open Left. I'd like to follow up by making a couple of remarks by an anonymous commenter very public. Take them for what they're worth, since they're from an anonymous source, but IMHO, they are worth a lot:

I just got laid off from ABC after five years. The stories I can tell you. The stories. [...]

I just got laid off at ABC and my best friend works at CNBC.

They don't want Democrats on air. We've been only booking Republicans because "everybody already knows where the Democrats stand"

After all, what are the Democrats going to do? complain? It's the liberal media, right?

I was in a meeting last week where our producer flat out said we needed to "bring Obama's approval ratings down"

Everyone who got laid off this week was an Obama supporter.

Surprised?

Not in the least. Time to put the word out about this kind of bias. This post is a start.

Kentucky grand jury won't charge two who hung Obama effigy

By GottaLaff

An effigy for an effigy:

A Kentucky grand jury refused Tuesday to indict two men who hung an effigy of Barack Obama from a tree last fall on the University of Kentucky campus, their lawyer said.

The grand jury dismissed charges of second-degree burglary, theft by unlawful taking and disorderly conduct against Hunter Bush, 21, and Joe Fischer, 22, a UK senior, lawyer Fred Peters said Tuesday. [...]

UK police said the two men told them the act was in response to news reports that an effigy of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin had been hung in California.

The couple who hung the eBay-worthy Palin effigy were not indicted either, which didn't sit well at all with one commenter over at the L.A. Times blog back in October 2008 :

This is a hate crime.
It's artsy-fartsy.
Even though Palin isn't BLACK- it portrays violence.
If this was an effigy of OBAMA- their house would have been burned down already.

Just a preview of the "justice" that will be to come- economic or otherwise that will be- if Obama is elected.

God save us.

McCain-Palin 2008

Call me crazy, but I'm guessing that this distraught commenter wouldn't be too broken up over the news of the two UK guys getting a pass.