The Velvet Revolution US and Accountability For Torture

[omega minimo]

Velvet Revolution US
http://velvetrevolution.us/
http://www.VelvetRevolution.us/Content/misc/About.php

VelvetRevolution.us ("VR") is a network of more than 120 progressive organizations reaching millions of people demanding progressive change through our VR Media, Electoral Reform, Conflict Resolution and Youth Revolution Campaigns. Indeed, Americans everywhere are excited about our many recent successes including helping to bring Election Reform issues and the Downing Street Memos to the attention of the American public.


Our Board is diverse, experienced and strong. Although the VR name and concept are relatively new, the people and organizations behind it are not. VR is not a new startup but rather a continuum and the next logical step for those involved -- a marriage in which strengths are magnified by the common goals of the partners. Indeed, it is experience, ideas and vision that provide the promise of success for VR.

VR's issues are not a matter of Right and Left. They are a matter of Right and Wrong! The tactics and the power of the Democrats and progressives in this country have not been sufficient to check the actions of a corrupt Republican agenda. The left has not been able to develop the necessary tactics to win this battle for the heart of America, despite the fact that there are many fine progressive organizations with many members.



VR Launches New Campaign To Disbar The Torture Lawyers
http://www.VelvetRevolution.us/#051809

Disbar Torture Lawyers Press Conference - Natl Press Club DC - June 29, 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSnp7r4P4Co&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Frawstory%2Ecom%2Fblog%2F2009%2F06%2Ffein%2Dobama%2Dshuts%2Dhis%2Deyes%2Dconfessions%2Dtorture%2F&feature=player_embedded

Fein: Obama 'shuts his eyes' to 'open confessions' of Bush-era war crimes
http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/06/fein-obama-shuts-his-eyes-confessions-torture/

"It's at the highest levels that the rule of law finds its greatest majesty," he told reporters. "That's why the United States was so idolized after Nixon left. We said that the most powerful man in the world is subject to the law. He cannot defy it."

Fein was making the historical argument with respect to the Obama administration's continued refusal to investigate the Bush administration's torture program, which was designed and specifically authorized by high-level officials.

"Today we have an instance where the President of the United States -- Harvard Law Review, a Constitutional Law professor who knows what the law is -- shuts his eyes to open confessions," he said. "We authorized torture, for which there is no exception."

Fein was speaking on behalf of Velvet Revolution, a coalition of over 150 peace and religious groups, that is leading the charge to get attorneys involved in the Bush administration's torture program thrown out of office and the legal profession.

[pleah]

1. K&R

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2. Is 2 a coalition?

:spray: :toast:

[pleah]

3. Looks like it.

:toast: :hi:

[omega minimo]

6. That's a start. Here's a list of their affiliates

http://velvetrevolution.us/affiliates.php

[pleah]

8. Thanks.

I get emails from a few of those already.

[pipi_k]

4. OMG I thought this said "Velveeta revolution"...

how scary it was for a few seconds thinking my favorite cheese was involved in some controversy...

:scared:

[omega minimo]

7. Yes, it's a canned controversy

;)

[arcadian]

5. Finally a revolution I can really get behind.

:D

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9. Kick for John Fuck Yoo

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10. Switched at birth

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5956910&mesg_id=5956910

[waldenaut]

11. VR Panelist Gave Props to Grassroots Actions Last Week (w/PICS)

Shahid Buttar, Executive Director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee (BORDC), affirms in (Part 4 of) yesterday's conference the need for grassroots efforts like the Torture Accountability Action Day held in cities across America last week.

“…a range of other actions – grassroots actions in ten different cities last Thursday and Friday all aim to basically take the issue into the court of public opinion – to say, ‘We the People are trying to circumvent the abdication of our governmental representatives of their responsibility to investigate and prosecute these abuses.’”

Here are some pics from the event at the Pasadena, CA, 9th Circuit Courthouse:













http://tortureaccountability.webs.com/eventsacrossus.htm

[warren pease]

12. Serious? Serious as a myocardial infarction dipped in molasses in January ...

... nice phrase, eh?

And I'm on MCM's mailing list so I get a lot of information on Velvet Revolution's activities. They're exactly the kind of org. I'd invest in, but I doubt they have much "mainstream" appeal, at least sufficient to supplant the old standards like The Sierra Club.

But yeah, if the zillions of dollars progressives now send each year to NGOs active in a specific favorite cause -- from the ACLU to the WWF to Greenpeace to the Southern Poverty Law Center to any and all of rest of those great orgs -- simply pooled their money and put it into a single org called, say, www.demolish_the_bribocracy.org...

That's a hell of a lot of money and, I suspect, more than enough to buy a couple of fairly powerful senators and maybe a half-dozen members of the House as well.

It's hard to imagine the number of violent confrontations -- from cat fights to mass murder -- that arriving at a national consensus would entail. But what the hell; it's not as though progressives are getting much done these days anyway. And between Pelosi, Hoyer, Emmanuel, Reid and accursed republican party, we're not likely to any time soon.

And of course it's corrupt as can be. So what? The only things worse are the institutions themselves, and the androids who pretend to act in our interests while traveling in corporate jets and dining on the $57 filet mignon -- ala carte, mind you.

There's plenty of time to worry about ideological purity once these vermin are doing federal time as some minimum security country club in Florida or coastal California.


sf

[warren pease]

13. Please disregard the message above...

... That must have been a response to a post on another thread. I have no idea what it's doing here.


sf