60 Minutes: Torture enemy detainees (Bush Administration) or kill them with Predator Drones (Obama Administration)?

Public domain: Abu Ghraib.

I came close to physical illness Sunday evening from watching Lesley Stahl’s interview of former CIA spy Jose Rodriguez on 60 Minutes. Rodriguez strenuously attempted to justify torture of enemy detainees. The details of the techniques practiced during the Bush Administration to extract information from suspected terrorists were the stuff of the worst nightmares. But as Kevin Gosztola points out in his post at FireDogLake, the interview reminded viewers that instead of capturing and torturing the suspects, the Obama Administration, simply kills them (along with any unfortunate innocents who get in the way) with Predator Drone attacks.

Gosztola writes:

Former head of the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) Counterterrorism Center and its former Deputy Director of Operations Jose Rodriguez appeared on CBS’ “60 Minutes” to flaunt his new book Hard Measures, which details how he came to be in charge of CIA torture against terror suspects at “black site” prisons, why he believes torture was effective and why it should not be vilified.

The segment with Lesley Stahl has the same title as Rodriguez’s book. The title sounds like the name of a film starring an action movie star like Chuck Norris or Steven Seagal, which makes it appropriate because each answer from Rodriguez is dripping with bravado. From Rodriguez’s first answer to the last, one cannot help but realize he believes it is somehow unmanly to be concerned that torture of terror suspects violates the rule of law. He appears in his sleek white Camaro rolling down the highway to the CIA. And he says at one point, “We needed to get everyone in government to put their big boy pants on and give us the authorities we needed.”

Of course, like most establishment media interviews, the torture is not called torture. It is called “harsh techniques.” Or the official term Cheney coined for it—“enhanced interrogation techniques.”

*Here are both parts of the interview: Part 1 / Part 2

 

The first words in the segment are, “After the attacks of 9/11…” That phrase is all one needs to hear to know that this is going to be a tireless exercise in explaining away acts that historically have been considered war crimes when carried out.

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Hot-shot geeks at Google learn mindfulness meditation – no kidding!

As a practitioner of mindfulness meditation for the past several years, I continue to encounter skeptics who refer scornfully to contemplative types as “narcissistic navel gazers.” I heard that phrase just this week. Never mind that Vietnamese Buddhist Thich Nhat Hanh, now a spiritual leader for millions, was exiled from his war-torn homeland for his peace-making efforts.

So it was with great interest that I came across an article today at mindful.org that describes how Google is integrating mindfulness in the workplace:

Hot-shot geeks at the world’s leading information company are taking a ground-breaking course called Search inside Yourself. As Barry Boyce reports, it’s a new model for teaching mindfulness and emotional intelligence, and its creator {Chade-Meng Tan} is thinking big.

And for all you folks who dismiss mindfulness practitioners as narcissistic navel gazers, take a look at this:

World peace—expressed with no irony—is the recurring theme for Meng, and his contemplations have led him to the firm conviction that meditation is the path to world peace, since all prior efforts, he says, have failed by “imposing social or political structures on people. They tried to create world peace from the outside in. My idea is to do the reverse, to create world peace from the inside out.” In Meng’s view, meditation is the methodology for creating peace from the inside out.

Read the entire article at mindful.org – it’s well worth it.

Elizabeth Warren thanks her supporters (video)

Senate passes expanded version of the Violence Against Women Act

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Democrat, Minn.) championed VAWA.

Democrats and Republicans continue their struggle to win the women’s vote. On the surface at least, this is a good thing. It suggests awareness at long last by our two major political parties that women represent 51 percent of the body politic.

And it is unquestionably good news that the senate just passed an expanded version of the Violence Against Women Act, so movingly supported by Wisc. Rep. Gwen Moore a few weeks ago on the House floor (watch the video).

David Grant at the Christian Science Monitor reports:

A new version of the Violence Against Women Act, the legislation that Democratsused as a backdrop to accuse Republicans of waging a "war on women," passed the Senate Thursday afternoon 68 to 31.

Fifteen Republicans joined every Democrat in voting for the measure. The passage reauthorizes a wide variety of services for abused women and men for five years.

"This violence must end," said Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) of Minnesota, one of the bill's main champions, on the Senate floor Thursday. "And so we all know that we can no longer stand and say it is someone else's problem. We can't let our own differences, minor that they may be on various provisions, get in the way."

Grant’s report continues:

Senate Democrats added provisions to VAWA that would help gays and lesbians receive domestic-abuse protections, make more temporary visas available for battered women in the United States illegally, and offer native American women more protection.

"A victim is a victim is a victim," thundered Sen. Patrick Leahy (D) of Vermont, one of the bill's lead sponsors, on the Senate floor Thursday. "You don't say we can help you if you fit in this category, but sorry battered woman, you're on your own, because you're in the wrong category. That's not America."

A Republican majority in the House, however, threatens final passage of the Senate’s version of the bill:

In the lower chamber, Republicans led by Reps. Sandy Adams of Florida and Kristi Noem of South Dakota offered the outline of their VAWA bill Wednesday. While still being drafted, the bill will all but certainly not contain the Senate's trio of controversial provisions.

Romney wins all five of Tuesday's primaries

Republicans regrouped behind Mitt Romney in Tuesday's primaries:

Mitt Romney laid claim to the fiercely contested Republican presidential nomination Tuesday night with a fistful of primary triumphs, then urged all who struggle in a shaky U.S. economy to "hold on a little longer, a better America begins tonight."

Eager to turn the political page to the general election, Romney accused President Barack Obama of "false promises and weak leadership." He declared, "Everywhere I go, Americans are tired of being tired, and many of those who are fortunate enough to have a job are working harder for less."

The former Massachusetts governor spoke as he swept primaries in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New York, the first since Rick Santorum conceded the nomination.

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Mitt Romney Wins Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware Primaries

And so it begins, this Tuesday, April 24, 2012:

WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney has won the Republican presidential primaries in Connecticut and Rhode Island. (Romney also won Delaware, according to the AP.)

They are the first in a string of five state primaries being held Tuesday. The others are in New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware.

The five primaries are the first since Rick Santorum suspended his presidential campaign two weeks ago – essentially conceding the GOP nomination to Romney.

Romney is still more than 400 GOP national convention delegates shy of the nominating majority he needs.

There are 209 delegates at stake in Tuesday's primaries. 

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Elizabeth Warren needs our help!

Elizabeth Warren is struggling to hold her own against Scott Brown in the race for the late Ted Kennedy’s seat in the Massachusetts Senate. Check out Elizabeth’s latest TV ad below and then donate a few bucks to her campaign. She needs our help.