Subject: Torture

• A Bad Day for Bush, and maybe waterboarding

  The Supreme Court today ruled the Bush administration must do one of those things it is always extremely reluctant to do: obey the law. By a vote of 5-3, the Supremes said the administration can't proceed with its plans to try prisoners at Guantanamo Bay before military tribunals. Writing for the majority, John Paul Stevens (appointed by President Ford) declared the planned tribunals were illegal under both US law and the Geneva Conventions. Over at SCOTUSblog (SCOTUS may sould like a skin dise

  June 29, 2006

• The Tortuous Path

  George Bush has fundamentally reshaped the "conventional wisdom" of American political life in a way that most presidents can only dream of. Ronald Reagan elicited only agreement, at least rhetorically, that "the era of big government is over." George Bush has elicited agreement that "those claiming to have been tortured by the United States have no rights that the United States is bound to respect" in any ordinary legal sense, as by having to show up in court. America will be paying for that re

  September 22, 2006

• Torture Memo Author Finds Friends and Foes at Chapman U

  Perhaps some of you have a conservative uncle who says stupid things. You know, like the U.S. is not in debt to China, or that Barack Obama is a socialist or that George W. Bush won his presidential elections. Mine recently repeated the Bill O'Reilly/Rush Limbaugh/Attila the Hun yarn about all the students and professors at UC Berkeley being flaming liberals. I tried to politely bring up the stuntmeisters known as the Berkeley College Republicans, who in 2003 famously held an Affirmative Action

  February 16, 2009

• Bumshell!

  Congressman Rohrabacher shuts door on Oklahoma City bombingand the mysterious death of a former OC resident

  January 25, 2007

• Thats Noose to Him

  September 1, 2005

• XXX Files

  May 13, 2004

• Yoo in Clear or Not So Fast?

  World events are moving so fast and furious, one wonders how participants in the Saturday and Tuesday Chapman University School of Law debates featuring visiting professor and Bush White House torture enabler John Yoo at the center of each are keeping up with their talking points.CBSNews.com Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen: What a remarkably good day it has been for Alberto Gonzales, John Yoo, and Jay Bybee (who is now, inexplicably, a federal judge). In the span of just a few hours, those ignominiou

  April 17, 2009

• What the Hell Happened to the Anti-War Movement?

  Photo by Christopher VictorioA small piece of the Orange County peace movement at Palm and Glassell.It was unusually warm around 11 a.m. today in Orange and the spectacle was unusually jarring at Palm and Glassell: a dozen or fewer anti-war protesters, ranging from college age to their grandparents, wearing orange "No torture" buttons and politely hoisting signs like the one that read, "Thank Yoo for Torture!"That's jarring because of the body count: a dozen or fewer anti-war protester

  April 21, 2009

• John Yoo Stars in a Most Civilized Debate on Torture

  Photo by Christopher VictorioAs John Yoo makes his case, John C. Eastman is hard at think.Two days after Barack Obama's chief of staff said the administration was not inclined to back prosecutions against Bush lawyers who signed off on torture, the president backed off that statement today, saying he would leave that up to his attorney general. If this reversal bunched John Yoo's BVDs, he sure wasn't showing it inside Chapman University's Memorial Hall, where the controversial UC Berkeley law pr

  April 21, 2009

• To Do Tonight - 4/21

  Chapman Dialogue Debate with John Yoo, 11 a.m.Okay, so this isn't technically going on tonight. It's actually going on right now. But if you're not too busy this morning, we suggest heading over to give this debate a listen. Yoo is currently a visiting professor at Chapman Law, and during his time working with the Bush administration as legal council he authored the infamous "Torture Memos" defending water-boarding and other "enhanced interrogation techinques." This one could get heated, folks!

  April 21, 2009

• Awesome Criminal of the Week, Pt. Douche

  Yoo, Douche.This tale of crime and no punishment has gone back and forth so many times that it's tempting to ignore this latest development, but John Yoo, Orange County's favorite torture enabler, may be back in deep doo-doo over his role in providing the legal justification for the Bush administration's practice of torturing terrorist suspects. Ever since President Obama stated that no government official was "above the law," speculation has abounded that Yoo, a Berkeley law professor who fled

  June 17, 2009

• Padilla vs. Yoo: First of Many Such Cases to Come?

  Nick Schou blogged last week about a San Francisco federal judge having ruled that John Yoo, the UC Berkeley law professor who just finished a stint as a visiting professor at Chapman Law School, can "be held personally responsible for the indefinite military detention and alleged torture of an American citizen who was suspected of involvement with Al Qaeda." The U.S. citizen in question, Jose Padilla, is the alleged "Dirty Bomber" who was arrested in Chicago on May 8, 2002 and charged with plot

  June 22, 2009

• Wax On, Wax Off: Jesse Ventura on Boards and Water

  Agent Opie/Cory BarnesIn case anyone hasn't heard, former pro wrestler, navy SEAL and Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura has fallen in love with surfing. He answered Larry King's kooky questions on the issue in May, explaining that surfing, for him, goes way beyond just a new hobby. For Mr. Ventura, It's a passion, "a dedication," as he told King. Is it just me, or has this guy mastered the art of making sudden, drastic transitions? SEAL--wrestler--governor--surfer. The long-haired, deep-tanned

  July 22, 2009