Extraordinary Rendition 5/6

Song of the day: Firework - Katy Perry

9:41 - Last night i watched the movie Rendition, the movie enhanced my knowledge on the subject in a few ways.

1. They showed some of the torture techniques used such as water boarding, electric shock, dark spaces etc.

2. They showed exactly the command of how someone is picked up.

3. One of the characters said, "This is my first torture." the senator responded, "The United State does not torture." This shows how wrong the act truly is.

10:09 - I just made my flyer to get people to come see what the US government does.

10:21 - I just found an article on the first time CIA agents were found guilty of Extra Ordinary Rendition

Theres the bell, bye.

Extraordinary Rendition 5/4

Song of the Day: Born This Way - Lady Gaga

I JUST LOOOOOVE LADY GAGA!! lolz

Today is movie day...i basically just watched stuff. I started with the Frontline video on the subject and then im re-watching the documentary "Toruturing Democracy"

Sooo im gonna do that now, baii!!

Issues Project - 5/3

Song of the Day: Party in the USA - Miley Cyrus

HAPPY TEACHER APPRECIATION DAY MR. KRAMER!!! WE APPRECIATE YOU.

If you want to learn more about Mr. Kramer and his fabulous work...well your pretty much sh*t out of luck. But he does do some great stuff.

11:42 - hay guys lol ;) im bak

11:43 - To continue my post from yesterday the anaylists first began to talk about the "ticking time bomb theory" this theory is that there is a bomb somewhere, ticking to go off, and the detainee has information of where the bomb is being located that will save the lives of millions of people. I'll put the question really big for emphasis (lol)

IS TORTURE HERE JUSTIFIED??!?

11:52 - So i decided to watch the video on Frontline about Extraordinary Rendition, if you want to watch it too, here you go!!!!!! lol

12:02 - So the video didn't work (lolz) and i decided to find more research. I just found a spead sheet, which you can see here. This is a list of known Renditions. One guy jumps out at me, named Rifa'i Ahmad Taha. Taha was detained on his way to Iran from Sudan (where Luol Deng is from, lol) In a military tribunal, which he was not even allowed to attend, he was sentecned to death. Is that legal? Isn't one of the laws you have the right to face your accusers?

12:15 - Okay this document probably has good information in it but its like 3000000 pages...no wonder the people in government fight so much, they have NO lives!! Look at this.

12:23 - This document is really long and i am going to spend some time to end the class and begin tomorrow reading it. Here is a link if you are interested.

TTFN homies. lol

Issues: Final Project Research 5/2

Song of the Day: New Radicals - You Get What You Give

9:54 - OH EM GEE!! I just found the only source i need. Frontline did an episode on Extraordinary Rendition. When i visited their website i found link upon link about every aspect of Extraordinary Rendition. If your curious to which link i am reffering to, here it is.

10:14 - First article is called "Is Torture Ever Justified?" This is a roundtable discussion between these people:
Juliette Kayyem is a lecturer at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and is a co-author, along with Philip Heymann, of the report that came out of the Harvard joint project.

Oren Gross is a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School and is an expert on the Middle East and the Arab-Israeli conflict. In his writings, Gross advocates a ban on torture, but he would allow the forgiveness after the fact of public officials who used torture in emergency situations. Some call his proposal "OAF," or "outlaw-and-forgive."

Sanford Levinson is a professor at the University of Texas at Austin and is the editor of the 2004 book, Torture: A Collection.

Tom Parker is a fellow at Brown University and was an adviser for the Harvard project. For six years in the 1990s, he was a counter-terrorist investigator in Great Britain. He contributed an appendix to the Harvard report on Britain's experience confronting terrorism in Northern Ireland.

David Rivkin is a lawyer in Washington D.C., and has served in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations. He writes frequently on law, defense and foreign policy.

Michael Traynor is a San Francisco lawyer who served on the advisory board of the Harvard project. He wrote a letter of dissent to the project's authors disagreeing with their recommendations on coercive interrogations.

The big theory discussed is the so-called "Ticking Time-Bomb Theory"

UH OH, BELL RANG GEE TWO GEE!!

Issues Final Project

Song of the Day: Till the World Ends - Brittany Spears

12:39 What to chose, what to chose. There are so many issues i could chose. Let's be honest, the world is a messed up place. What about Stem Cells? That seems to be an issue. Lets google it.

12:41
"This primer on stem cells is intended for anyone who wishes to learn more about the biological properties of stem cells, the important questions about stem cells that are the focus of scientific research, and the potential use of stem cells in research and in treating disease. The primer includes information about stem cells derived from embryonic and non-embryonic tissues. Much of the information included here is about stem cells derived from human tissues, but some studies of animal-derived stem cells are also described."

Okay, nevermind, this stuff makes absoltuely no sense.


12:45 I think i have found my topic, what about Extraordinary Rendition? No one really knows about the issue and there is probably a lot of information avalible. I'll have to check this out.

1:00 Did some research, this is definately my topic. I even found a book for one cent on Amazon (plus shipping obvs, lol) It's called Ghost Plane. I am super phyched to read it but i'm going to be nervous that CIA guys are going to come get me in my room, lol :)

1:06 uh oh! Bells gonna ring, until next time, friends!!!

Mock Trial Recap

After the first trial, David Jones v United States i thought the outcome was right. I did not think that this case was in fact a rape. What really pushed me over was the fact that the girl did not immediatly go to police. Her reason was she did not know if she was raped and had no one to turn to. if the issue was that she was scared i do not belive her because the accused was her ex boyfriend who has zero histroy of violence. Had David Jones had a histroy of violence i could see how her life may be in danger in her mind. In todays age, i think the meaning of the word "no" has changed. People today seem more sarcastic and i think she must have showed with actions that she did not want to go any further.

I was happy with the outcome of the second trial. As the defense attorney i was happy with the verdict, obviously, but i was really not sure about the trial as a whole. While Kevin Murphy did say some questionable things, i think that Elyse Roberts handled herself very poorly. The other side mostly tried to get at the emotions of the jurors, but i was grateful for going last because i knew with the last word i could convince the jury to vote in my favor.

I do not think rape is an issue at Deerfield High School. In fact, i don't think i've ever heard of anything closely related to that. I think the second trial's issue of sexual harassment is way more common. Sexual harassment happens all day every day in high school. I would think its more of teenagers being teenagers more than a real problem though. I've never seen a person actually distraught by comments someone made, for if they did i'd step in.

State of the Union Speech

Recently President Barak Obama gave his annual state of the union speech to congress. The first thing i noticed in the speech was that the seating of congress was much different than before. Before this speech, the sides of congress were split by party. In my opinion the state of the union speech was one of the most childish things because of the congress. The side that did not have the majority only clapped for things they agreed with, but this year was different.

Here are some of the main points Obama spoke about.

FREEZING DOMESTIC SPENDING

- Obama said that by freezing annual domestic spending for the next five years the country would be able to reduce the deficit by $400 billion over the next decade. He also mentioned that the freeze will bring cuts to like community action programs and military spending. The freeze would cut about 12% of the deficit, which is projected to be something like 6.2 trillion dollars...but at least there is a start somewhere.

MILLIONARES

- Obama asked millionares to give up their tax break for the good of the country. To be honest i am not sure they should have gotton a tax break in the first place.

INVEST

- I think that Obama really pushed investing. Such as in innovative things like enviormental, education, and infrastructure. In order to help businesses Obama asked congress to lower corporate tax rates for the first time in 25 years...which is awesome.

Obama also made a bunch of pledges such as:

- Provide 80 percent of Americans with high-speed rail access in 25 years.
- Have 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015.
- Have 80 percent of the country's electricity come from clean-energy sources by 2035.
- New investment in biomedical research, information technology and clean-energy technology.
- A continuation of the $4.35 billion Race to the Top incentive program offering competitive federal grants to local school systems.
- "Redouble" efforts to repair America's aging roads and bridges.
- Make a $10,000 tuition tax credit permanent.

Whats Going On in The World (When this blog assignment was assigned)

The big issue in the world right now is the protests in Egypt. In case you live in a box and have no idea what that means, let me help you out. Hosni Mubarak became the Egyptian leader when the former leader was assasanated. He has held power since that day, thirty years ago. During that time, he has acted as more of a dictator than a leader and the Egyptian people are mad. Mubarak was grooming his son, Gamal, to be the next leader but the people of Egypt wanted to vote on the next leader. Through twitter and facebook the people organized non-violent protests of Mubarak. With pressure from foreign leaders, Mubarak stepped down. Before he stepped down, the US had to walk a fine line between siding with the protestors and Mubarak. The protestors wanted a free nation, which the US embodies in democracy. The problem is that Mubarak has been good to the US government on our war on terror.

When it was happenning i thought the best thing for the US to do was to pressure Mubarak to step down, because although there is a fear of the unknown, showing the world that we will help all those people who seek democracy obtain it is more important. Once this happens there is and will be a ripple effect throughout the Middle East that will empower the individual like never before.

Race Test and Articles

After taking the race test, the results stated that i have a slight racial bias towards african american people than europian american people. I am not too sure what exactly to convlude from the test. When i read the article "No, I don't play for the 49ers." I saw the exact light that some racism comes from. A black man was washing his nice SUV at a carwash when someone politelty asks, "Do you play for the 49ers?" The man did not get offended but he in fact does not play for the 49ers. This is a bias we have in America. That man, while a nice guy, did not stop to think that maybe this man got a college degree and has a sucsessful career rather than playing sports.

One man had a good point, he said that no one is just blatantly racist, but he is just not viewed as equal. I think that is the big problem in our country, not many are blatant racists like people once were, but most white people still find themselves considering black people as "below them." The best example is sports and movies. All of these things describe entertainment, like the person is there to entertain you. Thus making the mental justification that they are below you and are only here to serve your interests.

American Conspiracies: What did I Learn?

After reading Jesse Ventura's book American Conspiracies I am truly sickened by the actions of our government. While i do understand that i am supposed to take the words in this book "with a grain of salt" the facts are astounding.

The topic that was the most believable to me was 9/11, all these people and facts that contradict what we all heard ten years ago. It is sad that all those people had to die just so the government had more power.

Lets pretend for a minute that all of these conspiracies were all in fact true. That means, in our history, a group of people killed Abraham Lincoln in the name of the south, big business tried to ruin one of arguably the greatest presidents in our history, the government killed JFK, Malcom X was assassinated by our government in fear that he and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr would team up, the government assassinated Robert Kennedy, Ronald Reagan stole the election from Jimmy Carter with an illegal arms deal, the government has been a key player in drug trafficking, George Bush rigged the elections, and the Patriot Act and others were put in place to ruin democracy. Imagine what a world we would live in if that were true.

American Conspiracies: The First Stolen Election

The Incident: On the same day that Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as president, January 20, 1981, Iran released the American hostages it had been holding in our embassy there for 444 days.

The Official Word: The timing was coincidental.

Ventura's Take: Reagan's people had cut a deal with Iran to keep the hostages beyond the presidential election, to ensure that President Carter's negotiation with Iran failed and that he lost to Reagan.

My Take: An hour after Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as president, the Iranian government released all but one of the fifty-two hostages they'd been holding for 444 days. Everyone was happy! The first think i thought of was, wow 444 days is kind of an even number, but that turned out to be me just being paranoid. Ventura says, "What is the Reagan-Bush team cut a secret deal with Iran to hold the hostages past the November elections to make sure Carter had not been reelected to a second term. Would you call that treason?" Again i am shocked by the greediness of people. A group of people want power so badly that they will let people be held hostage in order to sway public opinion?

The secret deal was between George Bush Sr. and Iran's new leader, Cyrus Hashemi. Among massive arms deals, Hashemi received a 3 million dollar check from a Houston based lawyer who was associated to Bush. Bush was to be in Paris for a meeting. The secret service as well as the media say that it never happened. Although there is a 21 hour period missing from the itinerary. CIA contact agent Tichard Brenneke testified under oath that he had heed Bush in Paris that weekend.

What does this mean? To me, this shows how power hungry some people can be. To use 52 peoples lives to win a presidential election is cruel and unusual.

American Conspiracies: What Really Happened on September 11th, 2001

The Incident: On September, 2001, four airplanes were hijacked on American soil and crashed into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania.

The Official Word: The 19 hijackers were all fanastic Muslim terrorists linked to al_Qaeda and its ringleader, Osama bin Laden.

Ventura's Take: Our government engaged in a massive cover-up of what really happened, including its own ties to the hijackers. UNanswered questions remain about how the towers were brought down, and whether a plane really struck the Pentagon. The Bush Administration either knew about the plan and allowed it to proceed, or they had a hand in it themselves.

My Take: I recall being in 3rd or 4th grade when it happened. We were told we could not go outside for recess that day. I was so mad because we always played tackle football when the supervisors weren't looking and it was my turn to be captain. After the school day ended, i remember being very happy because hebrew school was canceled (oh how i dreaded hebrew school.) Looking back i kind of wish i was old enough to comprehend what was happening. I sat in the basement, playing a video game on one TV, while watching the planes hit the second tower over, and over, and over, thinking it was kind of cool.

This is what John Farmer, a Senior Council for the 9/11 Commission who drafted the original report, has to say in a new book: "At some level of the government, at some point in time...there was an agreement not tell the truth about what happened." This is the guy who drafted the first "official" report of what happened!!! If he says it is false then what other evidence do you need?! I do think that people knew of the attack and either let it go or had the attack carried out themselves. My only proof, other than Mr. Farmer, is all of the things passed by the government right after the attack. As Mrs. Kaplan used to say, "Take away my freedom to keep me safe." The scariest piece of evidence was that of Barry Jennings, the city's emergency coordinator. He was at the scene before and after the building collapsed. He went on record and said, "I know what i heard. I heard explosions." The plural part of that sentence makes me scared to go to sleep tonight. I think that 9/11 was truly an act by the government, but i really do not want to keep thinking about it.

American Conspiracies: The Kennedy Assassination

The Incident: The assassination of President JOhn F. Kennedy, riding in his limosine in Dallas, on November 22, 1963.

The Official Word: Lee Harvey Oswals, an ex-Mrine and Communist sympathizer, shot the president twice from behind, firing a ridle from the sixth-floor window of the Texas School Book Depository. He was captured later that day in a theater, and killed two days later by Jack Rudy.

Ventura's Take: THe cover-up of what really happened to JFK starts with the Warren Commission's "lone assassin" conclusion, and continues to this day with the help of the big media. A second gunman assassinated the president from the grassy knoll, while OSwald was set up as the fall guy. The perpetrators behind Oswald are tied into the CIA, the Pentagon, and the Mob, along with the right-wing extremists who tried to make it look like Cuba was behind it. Oswald himself was part of an intelligence operation that involved a look-alike "double."

My Take: This was by far the most shocking section of the book for me. The facts are all there. Could it be possible that the government was repsonsible for the murder of a president? "There are two official government reports on the assassination of PResident Kennedy, and they directly contradict each other." After reading this i thought, "Okay, maybe there is a sentence that could be precieved as a contradiction, but he was dead on. (No pun intended, lol) The first report is the Warren Commission Report, which concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald, a MArine-turned-Communist took out JFK on his own, using a rifle. He is said to have taken three shots, landing on two of them; The three shots lasted 6.3 seconds. The second report came out fifteen years later by the HOuse Select Committee on Assassinations (pretty ridiculous committee if you ask me.) This report concluded that JFK was "probably" killed by a conpiracy. It is amazing to me how this report could just slip through the cracks of the national media. Ventura then shows us the physical evidece supporting the conspiracy. He began with a "magic bullet" that moved all around and caused seperate wounds in President Kennedy. According to the book, the bullet appered on a stretcher at Dallas' Parkland HOspital, bloodstain free. According to Dr. Cyril Wecht, former President of the American Academy or Forensic Scientists, when eliminating the "magic bullet" the idea that Oswald killed JFK is thrown out the window.

The next piece of evidence was the witness', i mean there had to be some of them right? According to the book there were eighteen witness', most of them doctors. All of them described a bullet wound that blew away where the back of JFK's head should have been. Shouldn't there be photos of this wound? No. Dr. James Humes, the navy physician who led the autopsy at Bethesda Naval Hospital, admitted later that he burned both his autopsy notes as well as the first draft of his report. Also it was noted that the president's brain disappeared as well.

How does all of this happen? A large group of powerful people with a common goal carrying out a carefully thought-out plan.

American Conspiracies: The Big-Money Plot to Overthrow FDR

The Incident: A coup attempt by some of the titans of Wall Street, to overthrow Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1934 and put a military man in charge of the country.

The Official Word: The plotters were foiled when the man they selected, Major General Smedley Butler, blew the whistle to Congress.

Ventura's Take: This was an attempt to turn America into a fascist country run by corporate powers, but it's been ignored in most official histories of the Great Depression.

My Take: Some of the things you can learn about our history from reading books and watching movies like National Treasure are baffling. Before reading this i had zero knowledge about this ever occurring. Yet i do feel that this should be more known about. Thinking about from a big business standpoint, the New Deal was a stab in the wallet from the federal government. Aside from these Gordon Gecko-like people, most of the US population was very very poor. FDR's new deal was written to aid the masses, rather than the few. The plan seemed full proof, but the plotters did not think that their man, Smedley Butler, would have a change of heart. Butler gave a speech to Legion veterans and explained the process. Butler privately speculated that there was an unsuccessful assassination attempt on FDR a few weeks before his inauguration. Butler believed that it was orchestrated by a man of big business. Whats shocking to me is how these people could try to murder the man who essentially brought the US back from being on the brink of chaos. Major Smedley Butler should be regarded as an American hero.

American Conspiracies: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

The Incident: The assassination of President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, in Washington, on April 14, 1865.

The Official Word: The president was shot in the back of the head at point-blank range, by a prominent actor named John Wilkes Booth, who escaped on horseback and was later killed by a soldier while hiding in a barn. Eight coconspirators were also caught and found guilty by a military court.

Ventuara's take: The plot is likely to have gone well beyond those who were rounded up, but except for Booth we don't hear much about any others in our history books. Besides leaders of the Confederacy, the conspiracy to kill Lincoln probably included people within his own cabinet.

My Take: When i went on my 8th grade trip to Washington DC, we stopped at Ford's Theatre (or what they told me was Ford's Theatre) they showed us the special box that president Lincoln sat in and was killed in. I recall the place being very small and thinking, "How could someone sneak around here?" I guess this theory makes sense. There seems to be a lot of proof in Ventuara's statements. Such as one Colonel Dahlgren, who was killed on a raid while trying to free some Union prisoners. The paper said that, once the Union made it into the Confederate capital, RIchmond, "it must be destroyed and Jeff Davis and cabinet killed." This was eye opening to me because often in our history books it was written as if it was a "gentleman's war." This seems preposterous to me. How could a group fight a war and not be willing to do anything that will give them an advantage, especially something as critical as the Civil War.

Another point raised was on the physical murder of John Wilkes Booth. We are told to believe that Booth was in a barn that was lit on fire. Ventura found out that what is rumored to have happen is Booth and a coconspirator, David Herold, fled to a barn that was lit on fire by Seregant Boston Corbett. Herold fled the barn and was tied to tree while Booth refused to leave the barn. That is when Corbett went in and shot Booth in the throat. The weird part is that one of the Union soldiers who was on the farm that night said that the body that was buried was in fact not John Wilkes Booth.