From Marjorie Cohn, writing in Truthout: Reading the 499-page torture report just released by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence was a disgusting experience. Even after many years of writing books and articles about the Bush torture policy, I was unprepared for the atrocious pattern of crimes our government committed against other human beings in our name. One of the most hideous techniques the CIA plied on detainees was called "rectal rehydration" or "rectal feeding" without medical necessity - a sanitized description of rape by a foreign object. A concoction of pureed "hummus, pasta with sauce, nuts and raisins" was forced into the rectum of one detainee. Another was subjected to "rectal rehydration" to establish the interrogator's "total control over the detainee." This constitutes illegal, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and a humiliating outrage upon personal dignity. Several detainees were waterboarded, a technique whereby water is poured into the nose and mouth to cause the victim to think he's drowning. One detainee in CIA custody was tortured on the waterboard 183 times; another was waterboarded 83 times. Waterboarding has long been considered torture, which is a war crime. Indeed, the United States hung Japanese military leaders for the war crime of torture after World War II. Other "enhanced interrogation techniques" (EIT) included being slammed into walls, hung from the ceiling, kept in total darkness, deprived of sleep - sometimes with forced standing - for up to seven and one-half days, forced to stand on broken limbs for hours on end, threatened with mock execution, confined in a coffin-like box for 11 days, bathed in ice water, dressed in diapers. One detainee "literally looked like a dog that had been kenneled." The executive summary of the torture report was made public, but the 6,700-page report remains classified. The summary depicts the CIA at best, as keystone cops, at worst, as pathological, lying, sadistic war criminals. The CIA lied repeatedly about the effectiveness of the torture and cruel treatment. Interrogations of detainees were much more brutal than the CIA represented to government officials and the American public. Bush's CIA directors George Tenet, Porter Goss and Michael Hayden should be charged with crimes, along with their minions who carried out the torture. In light of the gruesome revelations in the torture report, it is high time President Barack Obama fulfilled his constitutional duty to enforce the law. The US Constitution states the president "shall take care that the laws are faithfully executed." Yet Obama refuses to sanction prosecutions of those responsible for the torture. When the United States ratified the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the Geneva Conventions, we promised to prosecute or extradite those who commit or are complicit in the commission of torture. The report documents torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, all of which violate US and international law. The War Crimes Act punishes torture as a war crime. The Torture Statute (Statute) provides that whoever "outside the United States" commits or attempts to commit torture shall be imprisoned for not more than 20 years "and if death results to any person from conduct prohibited by this subsection, shall be punished by death or imprisoned for any term of years or for life." The statute defines torture as an "act intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering upon another person within his custody or physical control." When the United States ratified the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the Geneva Conventions, we promised to prosecute or extradite those who commit or are complicit in the commission of torture. A ratified treaty is part of US law under the Constitution's Supremacy Clause. Yet the Obama administration persists in its refusal to bring the culprits to justice.

TO STOP ANY ILLEGAL SACRED LAND GRAB FOR ANY PURPOSE OF THE NATIVE AMERICANS TO PROTECT OUR CULTURES OF WAY OF LIFE ,,HONOR THE TREATIES

The Detroit Active and Retired Employees Association (www.GOFUNDME.COM/PENSIONDEFENSEFUND) implores the U.S. Justice Dept, as soon as possible, to halt any and all pending alterations to retirement plans and to halt further transfers of wealth from the City of Detroit until an Open Civil Investigation has been conducted. Our civil liberties were violated by the State because the Michigan Constitution is contractually obligated to protect pensions. We request an independent, neutral voice of authority to sustain civil liberties versus restraining domination, and to ensure that the actions of the bankruptcy were legal, boundaries were not overstepped, and that rules and laws were followed to the spirit and the letter and not by whimsical interpretations. PLEASE GET INVOLVED, LEAVE YOUR INFORMATION AT - [email protected]

Our standing as a nation of laws depends on our willingness to hold ourselves accountable. If we ignore this report, we have lost all integrity as a country.

We live next door to this charming 150-year-old church in southwestern France and don't wish to see it lost forever as a piece of French "patrimoine"--the cultural and spiritual heritage of the south Tarn. Deconsecrated now, it could serve as a salle des expositions--exhibition space--or meeting hall. The Town Hall government is currently intending to see it off for transformation into a private home.

The current DNR Wolf Advisory Committee is comprised almost solely of groups that are anti wolf and as such cannot be called upon to recommend policy that will keep a sustainable wolf population in this state.

The disastrous Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court has allowed virtually unlimited spending on election campaigns by corporate special interests and the rich. Result: UNLIMITED CORRUPTION! Congress has failed to pass an amendment to address this urgent problem. If we don't act now and get more states to call for a U. S. Article V convention to bypass Congress and propose amendments to the US Constitution, for direct ratification vote by the states, including an amendment to overturn Citizens United, the damage to our democracy, economy, environment and our lives will get far worse. An Article V convention of states' delegates is the remedy the founders put into our Constitution for exactly this kind of situation.

It's about me getting banned. I lost everything, all the money wasted, my friends, everything. I really need to get unbanned..

I know that until we pass those two Amendments anything else that we do is really inconsequential and unworkable. We cannot pass laws limiting money and corporate power in the face of this Judicially Activist Supreme Court without this.

Glencore Xstrata locked out 450 employees at Gregory, Texas in October 2014 when the workers refused to accept cuts to retirement and health benefits and overtime pay. Glencore Xstrata should end the lock-out and return to the negotiating table with the United Steel Workers local 235-A.

The Barmitzvah that I attended moved me to think we all could use such a ceremony, shaping our self image as adults. I feel there is nothing similar and that we could benefit by writing the text, asking ourselves at the same time just what it is to grow up, and what we should be asking of our children. Turning it into a tradition wouldn't be so hard. And what a good reason to party!

To the East Hampton Town board members: East Hampton Airport was traditionally intended to serve local pilot-owned and operated aircraft for personal recreation and transportation. Yet, aircraft noise due to unintended and non-traditional users of East Hampton Airport -- commercially operated helicopters, jets, and seaplanes -- has grown to become an intolerable burden on the peaceful enjoyment of our homes and gardens, both near to and distant from the airport, upon our beaches, waterways, and preserved open space, and upon wildlife habitat throughout the East End. This occurred over time, without local design or consent, due to Federal Aviation Administration control over the airport. Attempts to protect homes by directing traffic over preserved open space and wildlife habitat are both unacceptable and a demonstrated failure. Now that FAA control has lapsed, it is imperative that the East Hampton Town Board immediately return East Hampton Airport to its traditional and intended use, reclaiming our precious peace and quiet, by imposing a curfew and excluding helicopters and other aircraft types noisier than the pilot-owned and operated aircraft for which the airport was designed and intended.