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Patrick Leahy

Live Blogging the Torture and Accountablity Panel Update Final Update by: Something The Dog Said Sat Aug 15, 2009 at 10:32:45 PDT ( - promoted by buhdydharma ) This is the panel the Dog has been waiting for! Torture and accountability. On the panel we have Vince Warren,. Rep. Jerry Nadler, Marcy Wheeler and Melisa Goodman. The Dog is going to try to live blog this for those playing our home game.   There's More... :: (12 Comments, 2251 words in story)

Weekly Torture Action Letter 20 - Leave Lady Justice Her Blindfold! by: Something The Dog Said Mon Aug 03, 2009 at 12:27:42 PDT ( - promoted by buhdydharma ) Happy Monday and welcome to the Dog's ongoing letter writing campaign for accountability for the Bush Era State Sponsored Torture program. The premise of this campaign is to write decision makers every Monday urging them to do the right thing in terms of our international treaty obligations and our Federal statutes. This means to investigate the enormous amount of prima facie evidence and where warranted by the evidence, to prosecute. The Dog writes a letter every week, which you, the activist, can either cut and paste or use as the jumping off point for your own letter. "Originally posted at Squarestate.net" There's More... :: (25 Comments, 583 words in story)

Weekly Torture Action Letter 19 - Investigate For The Sake Of Our Troops by: Something The Dog Said Mon Jul 27, 2009 at 12:53:16 PDT (10 am. - promoted by ek hornbeck) Happy Monday and welcome to the Dog's on going letter writing campaign for accountability and the rule of law for the apparent Bush Era torture programs. The premise of this campaign is the Dog will write a letter to one of the key decision makers (with carbon copies to others) and provide the links to reach these worthies. Your job, gentle reader, is to either use the letter as a jumping off point for your own letter, or just cut and paste the letter and send it off under your own signature. "Originally posted at Squarestate.net" There's More... :: (4 Comments, 760 words in story)

Weekly Torture Action Letter 13 - Judge Sotomayor And The Judiciary Committee by: Something The Dog Said Mon Jun 15, 2009 at 08:58:56 PDT ( - promoted by buhdydharma ) Happy Monday and welcome the Dog's ongoing letter writing campaign. For those of you joining for the first time the idea is every Monday the Dog writes a to decision makers about accountability for the Bush Administration State Sponsored Torture program. This letter can be cut and by any reader or used as the jumping off point for your own letter. The point is to keep the pressure up on the decision makers to make those who apparently committed one of the worst possible crimes accountable for their actions. Today's letter is to Sen. Patrick Leahy and the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee. "Originally posted at Squarestate.net" There's More... :: (7 Comments, 561 words in story)

Uniting American Families Act update by: Casual Wednesday Wed Jun 03, 2009 at 23:09:35 PDT (11 am. - promoted by ek hornbeck) On Monday afternoon, I posted a diary discussing the Uniting American Families Act. It also got Front Paged here (thanks, benign overlord administrators) I also received an excellent e-mail about the issue. I titled the diary "The gay rights bill you don't know about." I should have checked some tags first. Heh. At any rate, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a very informative hearing on the bill Wednesday morning. To recap, UAFA does one simple thing. It would allow American citizens to sponsor same sex partners for immigration just like married couples. The Senate bill is sponsored by Patrick Leahy of Vermont while the House version is sponsored by Jerrold Nadler of New York. Follow me below for a recap of the hearing. There's More... :: (1 Comments, 1631 words in story)

The gay rights law you don't know about by: Casual Wednesday Sun May 31, 2009 at 20:01:24 PDT (11 am. - promoted by ek hornbeck) On Wednesday morning, June 3, at 10 a.m. the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA). (If you are in town, the hearing is in Room 226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.) C-Span does not have Wednesday's television schedule up yet, but the Committee website offers a webcast of the hearing. UAFA would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to allow a citizen to sponsor a same sex partner for citizenship. This might be one of those bills that ultimately goes nowhere or it may fundamentally change the course of both the gay marriage and immigration debates. Follow me below the fold for more on this bill. There's More... :: (11 Comments, 723 words in story)

Considered Forthwith: Senate Judiciary Committee by: Casual Wednesday Sat May 30, 2009 at 23:57:22 PDT (9 am. - promoted by ek hornbeck) Note: this turns Orange and will appear at Congress Matters Sunday at 8 p.m. Welcome to the tenth installment of "Considered Forthwith." This weekly series looks at the various committees in the House and the Senate. Committees are the workshops of our democracy. This is where bills are considered, revised, and occasionally advance for consideration by the House and Senate. Most committees also have the authority to exercise oversight of related executive branch agencies. If you want to read previous dairies in the series, search using the "forthwith" tag or use the link on my blogroll. I welcome criticisms and corrections in the comments. This week I will look at the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. The committee's jurisdiction is very similar to the House Judiciary Committee (the Forthwith diary is posted here). There is one big difference, though. The Senate committee gets to hold hearings on judicial confirmations, so this seems timely. Additionally, the committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on an important gay rights/immigration bill (see Uniting American Families Act below). There's More... :: (3 Comments, 2864 words in story)

Birth of a Whitewash: Who Testified at Leahy Torture Commission Hearings? by: Valtin Wed Mar 04, 2009 at 21:27:21 PST (noon. - promoted by ek hornbeck) There has been plenty of controversy on the issue of conducting a Congressional or independent investigation into the interrogations policy and torture activities of the Bush administration over the last seven or eight years. One of the primary worries by those who oppose a "truth and reconciliation"-style investigation is that it would preempt possible prosecutions, or at worst, be a cover-up of some of the worst crimes involved. Those who favor such an investigation believe that is only with a broad investigation will all the information really be unearthed. The hearing today by the Senate Judiciary Committee -- "Getting to the Truth Through a Nonpartisan Commission of Inquiry" -- chaired by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), was called to explore options for investigating past torture and counter-terrorism policy.  The committee called six witnesses, some for, some against such an investigation. But a close look at the backgrounds and affiliations of even most of the pro-investigation witnesses should give us deep pause, and ask what kind of commission are we being set up for? There's More... :: (8 Comments, 2375 words in story)

Live Blog: Senate Hearing re Torture Commission by: On The Bus Wed Mar 04, 2009 at 06:45:00 PST Senate Judiciary Committee: Getting to the Truth Through a Nonpartisan Commission of Inquiry Starting at 10 AM Eastern/ 7 AM Pacific Watch it here: Webcast on Committee Page C-SPAN 3 Witness List: Thomas Pickering Vice Chairman Hills & Company, International Consultants Washington, D.C. Retired Vice Admiral Lee Gunn President The American Security Project Washington, D.C. John Farmer Partner Arsenault, Whipple, Farmer, Fasset and Azzarello, L.L.P. Chatham, NJ Frederick A. O. Schwarz, Jr. Senior Counsel Brennan Center for Justice New York University School of Law New York, NY David B. Rivkin, Jr. Baker & Hostetler, L.L.P. Washington, D.C. Jeremy Rabkin Professor of Law George Mason University School of Law Arlington, VA There is no longer any doubt as to whether the Bush administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account. ~Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba Discuss :: (83 Comments)

Burris: IOKIYAR! by: Temmoku Fri Feb 20, 2009 at 06:20:36 PST Also posted at Kos Roland Burris spoke to Rod Blagojevich! Name a Politician in Illinois who hasn't? We all knew he was lying...but in the matter of lies...this was a tiny one. Heck Bill Clinton lied too and he got Impeached! George Bush lied....so what. The difference was, "under oath"! Bush testified, but not under oath, with no transcripts and with Cheney to help him out. Burris got videotaped. Maybe he needs to change parties. There's More... :: (4 Comments, 805 words in story)

Leahy At ProgressiveBlue: Stop By And Tell Him What You Think by: grannyhelen Fri Feb 13, 2009 at 17:26:32 PST (9:00PM EST - promoted by Nightprowlkitty) I normally wouldn't post a diary on something so short, but I think this would be of interest to the Docudharma community. Senator Patrick Leahy has posted his proposal of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission at Progressive Blue: http://www.progressiveblue.com... As this is a boutique blog in the style of Docudharma, I think there's a fair chance that the senator or his staff will read all of the comments in the thread. With that in mind, feel free to stop on by and voice your praises or concerns with his idea. Many thanks ;-) Discuss :: (2 Comments)

Respectfully, Senator Leahy, Pursue Justice by: FishOutofWater Thu Feb 12, 2009 at 19:45:25 PST A truth and reconciliation commission for seeking answers so that we can develop a shared understanding of the failures of the recent past. will not achieve your objective to make sure they never happen again unless the Department of Justice is allowed to pursue justice aggressively. Since J. Edgar Hoover began illegal FBI surveillance of American citizens in the 1950's we have had repeated violations of basic Constitutional rights by the government followed by investigations by commissions. However, because no one in the government suffered any consequences for their actions the violations not only continued, they have grown worse. Justice must be pursued and laws protecting citizens' Constitutional rights must be enforced to stop the violations. J Edgar Hoover and Joseph McCarthy abused the power of the FBI to keep files on congress and private citizens using the ruse of the red scare. McCarthy was censured and driven from the Senate but only the victims of his abuse suffered real punishment. J. Edgar Hoover continued his abuses of power, keeping files on Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders. There's More... :: (1 Comments, 1452 words in story)