McCain // Current

Republican Advisor Having Trouble Finding Health Insurance

With his COBRA Insurance running out, former McCain Advisor, Doug, Holtz-Eakin is... more

LowShred
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5 days ago
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9 comments

McCain in Immigration Jam with Party

"in the middle of another controversy with Sheriff 'immensely popular' with the right."

ryan8566
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17 days ago
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0 comments

Ron Paul - We’ve Been Neoconned!

http://www.peacefreedomprosperity.com/?p=2715 Amazing speech of Ron Paul calling... more

shanklinmike
added this
22 days ago
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18 comments

McCain warns against 'historic' error in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. John McCain said any added military deployment in Afghanistan... more

tcmfan08
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28 days ago
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0 comments

McCain: Obama-Pharma Deal ‘UNSAVORY’

U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on Wednesday called a deal between President Barack... more

mjsmith11
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1 month ago
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3 comments

John McCain's mission: A GOP makeover

Fresh from a humbling loss in last year’s presidential election, Sen. John McCain is... more

WakeUpPeople
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1 month ago
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3 comments

McCain Goes Ballistic

As the news broke that President Barack Obama was scrapping President George W. Bush's... more

sk8bs55
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1 month ago
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0 comments

Is The Gang of 14, going caucus to ram health care bill down American’s throats?

Inside sources are saying that the “Gang of 14” might be resurrected to push this... more

williamlanders
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1 month ago
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0 comments

Senators McCain, McConnell Too Cowardly for REAL Town Halls

Senators John McCain & Mitch McConnell held a town hall of sorts at Palmetto General... more

barkway
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2 months ago
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McCain Whacks Cheney: Torture Violated Law And Helped The Terrorists (VIDEO)

In a strong pushback against claims made by former Vice President Dick Cheney, Sen.... more

WakeUpPeople
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2 months ago
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25 comments

McCain Denies Giving OK to a CIA Torture Tactic

U.S. Senator John McCain, a torture survivor from his days as a captive during the Vietnam War, says his private comments about harsh interrogation methods were misrepresented by the Bush Administration in a recently released legal document intended to justify a six-day-long course of sleep deprivation for one CIA detainee in November of 2007.

The newly declassified memo by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel mentions a secret briefing McCain and other members of Congress received sometime before October 17, 2006. The memo says the lawmakers were told about six CIA interrogation techniques, including prolonged sleep deprivation.

The memo recounts McCain's reaction this way. "[S]everal Members of Congress, including the full memberships of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees and Senator McCain, were briefed by General Michael Hayden, Director of the CIA, on the six techniques that we discuss herein," writes Steven G. Bradbury, a deputy assistant attorney general in the July 20, 2007, memo, which cites a CIA summary of the discussions. "In those classified and private conversations, none of the Members expressed the view that the CIA detention and interrogation program should be stopped, or that the techniques at issue were inappropriate."

A spokeswoman for McCain said that contrary to those claims, the Arizona Republican repeatedly raised objections in private meetings, including one with Hayden, about the use of sleep deprivation as an interrogation technique. "Senator McCain clearly made the case that he was opposed to unduly coercive techniques, especially when used in combination or taken too far — including sleep deprivation," says Brooke Buchanan, a spokeswoman for McCain.

An aide to McCain said that in meetings with Hayden and others, McCain raised the story of Orson Swindle, a friend of McCain's who suffered forced sleep deprivation through stress positions as a captive of the North Vietnamese. During the his last presidential campaign, McCain repeatedly spoke publicly of prolonged sleep deprivation as a form of torture.

A former senior intelligence official familiar with Hayden's discussions with Congress also told TIME that Bradbury's characterization of the discussions was incomplete — but in a different way. "Hayden didn't go to the committees seeking approval for the techniques: he was simply seeking guidance," says the official. "There was no singular view from the committees: there were people who wanted us out of the counter-terrorism business, and there were people who said, 'Why aren't we still doing waterboarding?'"

The official says Hayden had one short meeting with McCain, in the Senate cloakroom, but doesn't recall the details of that discussion. But, the official adds: "Hayden has never claimed that the committees told him, "You're good to go, no problem." A CIA spokesperson declined to comment on the dispute.

According to a declassified narrative released by the Senate Intelligence Committee, the CIA briefed committee members about its interrogation program on September 6, 2006. In the weeks that followed, according to a person familiar with matter, California Democrat Diane Feinstein, a member of the committee, raised concerns with the CIA about use of enhanced interrogation techniques. Several other members of the committee spoke publicly about their concerns over the techniques in the months that preceded Bradbury's 2007 memo.

The contention by McCain and others that private discussions were misrepresented are important because they call into question the legal conclusions that allowed harsh interrogation in late 2007. The CIA account of the congressional briefing was used by Bradbury to argue that prolonged sleep deprivation did not "shock the conscience," a legal standard based on the Constitution's Fifth Amendment right to due process.

Click link for more...U.S. Senator John McCain, a torture survivor from his days as a captive during the... more

xiola
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2 months ago
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0 comments

McCain Booed For Saying Obama Respects The Constitution

Senator John McCain, (R-Ariz.) found himself drowned out by boos and hisses on Tuesday... more

Future_America
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2 months ago
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1 comment

McCain plans to vote NO on Sotomayor

U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) today made the following statement on the floor of the U.S. Senate:

“Mr. President, it is with great respect for Judge Sotomayor’s qualifications that I come to the floor today to discuss her nomination to the Supreme Court.

“There is no doubt that Judge Sotomayor has the professional background and qualifications that one hopes for in a Supreme Court nominee. She is a former prosecutor, served as an attorney in private practice and spent twelve years as an appellate court judge. She is an immensely qualified candidate.

“And obviously, Judge Sotomayor’s life story is inspiring and compelling. As the child of Puerto Rican parents who did not speak English upon their arrival to New York, Judge Sotomayor took it upon herself to learn English and become an outstanding student. She graduated cum laude from Princeton University and later from Yale Law School. Judge Sotomayor herself stated that she is ‘an ordinary person who has been blessed with extraordinary opportunities and experiences.’

“However, an excellent resume and an inspiring life story are not enough to qualify one for a lifetime of service on the Supreme Court. Those who suggest otherwise need to be reminded of Miguel Estrada. Mr. Estrada also was a supremely qualified candidate. And he too has an incredible life story. Miguel Estrada actually immigrated to the United States from Honduras as a teenager, understanding very little English. Yet, he managed to graduate from Columbia University and Harvard Law School magna cum laude before serving his country as a prosecutor and a lawyer at the Department of Justice. Later, he found success as a lawyer in private practice. However, Miguel Estrada, in spite of his qualifications and remarkable background – in spite of the fact that millions of Latinos would have taken great pride in his confirmation – was filibustered by the Democrats seven times, most recently in 2003 because many Democrats disagreed with Mr. Estrada’s judicial philosophy. This was the first filibuster ever to be successfully used against a court of appeals nominee.

“I supported Mr. Estrada’s nomination to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, not because of his inspiring life story or impeccable qualifications, but because his judicial philosophy was one of restraint. He was explicit in his writings and responses to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he would not seek to legislate from the bench.

“In 1987, I had my first opportunity to provide ‘advice and consent’ on a Supreme Court nominee. At that time, I stated that the qualifications I believed were essential for evaluating a nominee for the bench included ‘integrity, character, legal competence and ability, experience, and philosophy and judicial temperament.’

“When I spoke of ‘philosophy and judicial temperament’ is it specifically how one seeks to interpret the law while serving on the bench. I believe that a judge should seek to uphold all acts of Congress and state legislatures unless they clearly violate a specific section of the Constitution and refrain from interpreting the law in a manner that creates law. While I believe Judge Sotomayor has many of these qualifications I outlined in 1987, I do not believe that she shares my belief in judicial restraint.

MORE @ LinkU.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) today made the following statement on the floor of the... more

Apocalipstick
added this
3 months ago
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42 comments

VIDEO: Israeli Zionist terrorists Massacre Palestinians at Deir Yassin-254 slaughtered

Eye witness accounts in this video of the massacre of hundreds of innocent Palestinians-including women and children.
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Early in the morning of Friday, April 9, 1948, commandos of the Irgun, headed by Menachem Begin, and the Stern Gang attacked Deir Yassin, a village with about 750 Palestinian residents. It was several weeks before the end of the British Mandate. The village lay outside of the area that the United Nations recommended be included in a future Jewish State. Deir Yassin had a peaceful reputation and was even said by a Jewish newspaper to have driven out some Arab militants. But it was located on high ground in the corridor between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and one plan, kept secret until years afterwards, called for it to be destroyed and the residents evacuated to make way for a small airfield that would supply the beleaguered Jewish residents of Jerusalem.

By noon over 100 people, half of them women and children, had been systematically murdered. Four commandos died at the hands of resisting Palestinians using old Mausers and muskets. Twenty-five male villagers were loaded into trucks, paraded through the Zakhron Yosef quarter in Jerusalem, and then taken to a stone quarry along the road between Givat Shaul and Deir Yassin and shot to death. The remaining residents were driven to Arab East Jerusalem.

That evening the Irgunists and the Sternists escorted a party of foreign correspondents to a house at Givat Shaul, a nearby Jewish settlement founded in 1906. Over tea and cookies they amplified the details of the operation and justified it, saying Deir Yassin had become a concentration point for Arabs, including Syrians and Iraqis, planning to attack the western suburbs of Jerusalem. They said that 25 members of the Haganah militia had reinforced the attack and claimed that an Arabic-speaking Jew had warned the villagers over a loudspeaker from an armored car. This was duly reported in The New York Times on April 10.

A final body count of 254 was reported by The New York Times on April 13, a day after they were finally buried. By then the leaders of the Haganah had distanced themselves from having participated in the attack and issued a statement denouncing the dissidents of Irgun and the Stern Gang, just as they had after the attack on the King David Hotel in July 1946. A 1987 study undertaken by Birzeit University's Center for Research and Documentation of Palestinian Society found "the numbers of those killed does not exceed 120".

The Haganah leaders admitted that the massacre "disgraced the cause of Jewish fighters and dishonored Jewish arms and the Jewish flag." They played down the fact that their militia had reinforced the terrorists' attack, even though they did not participate in the barbarism and looting during the subsequent "mopping up" operations.

They also played down the fact that, in Begin's words, "Deir Yassin was captured with the knowledge of the Haganah and with the approval of its commander" as a part of its "plan for establishing an airfield."
--------------------------------more of piece of history at the linkEye witness accounts in this video of the massacre of hundreds of innocent... more