Archive for the ‘Freedom’ Category
???? A group of four retired Army generals are traveling through the primary states in an effort to tell the candidates of both parties that “torturing war detainees is incompatible with a strong defense, and instead puts national security and the safety of U.S. troops at risk.” They are here in South Carolina this week as that is where the candidates are in expectation of the upcoming primary here next week. They are part of a larger group of military officials who have petitioned Congress and at least 8 candidates so far. Seven democrats and one republican have been contacted about the seriousness of this issue. “Torture doesn’t accomplish the mission that you’re torturing for,” said retired Lt. Gen. Charles P. Otstott. With 32 years in the Army, including two combat tours in Vietnam, Ostott is no novice and knows from experience that torture does not give credible results. Otstott and his colleagues, claim they have “direct experience” with the issue, said they believe the U.S. has tortured and abused prisoners since Sept. 11, but that its use has declined since the Abu Ghraib scandal.
Their focus is to get the next Commander In Chief to make sure that torture is not confused with getting and being tough on terrorists. They make the point that when a candidate pledges to do anything to track down terrorists, it can be misinterpreted as a license to abuse detainees.
In the end all torture does is get the detainee to say anything true or false to get the torture stopped. Information gained like this is seldom good and mostly gives us a black eye on the world stage.
We are supposed to be leading the world with our morals,and instead we are acting like thugs or a petty dictator like we unseated in Iraq.
I don’t know if any of you have heard of this but, in a widely watched free-speech case, a New Jersey judge has upheld a blogger’s right to criticize county officials anonymously. Judge Terence P. Flynn threw out the subponea filed by Manalapan Township seeking the name and account info of the auther of the blog daTruthSquad.blogspot.com. The contention of those officials was that the blogger is actually a former mayor/attorney being sued by the local government for malpractice. This comes less than a month after the Electronic Frontier Foundation began their legal efforts to shield the blogger, claiming that the subpoena for Google to release his identity was ‘part of an unrelated and unauthorized campaign to embarrass or otherwise outmaneuver the Defendant.’ Score one for the First Amendment. “Bloggers, as well as everyone else, have a First Amendment right to speak anonymously,” said EFF Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman. “Litigants don’t get a blank check to pry into the private lives of critics when they say things the litigants don’t like”. “Attempts to intimidate critics into silence need to be confronted whenever and wherever they occur,” said Zimmerman. “Governmental entities simply cannot be permitted to investigate critics because they dare to voice disapproval of public officials”.
This is a great decision of a Superior Court judge in New Jersey. I kind of wish it had been in front of our Supreme Court as the decision would then make it harder for anyone to attempt to out an anonymous blogger. Though this court case will be referenced by anyone else who tries such underhanded methods to silence the voice of bloggers. Not every blogger is an activist but some of us are and their rights to speak freely should never be abridged.