Return to Blog, Rainy Night, More Videos from the Opening

Rain in the City has mired the trains down and I'm slightly late. Sitting in the booth the perspective is yet again different from the dark cool hush of the theater and the casual pacing-around bar feeling of the lobby.

The opening of Night Three (Torture & Extraordinary Rendition) mirrors the middle of Night One, with a fast repeat of some wonderful quotes about impeachment from thinkers throughout post-Enlightenment history.

Now a reading of something about torture during the famously torture-dense Algerian War (for Independence).

Now comes Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights...

Ratner steps us through ideas behind U.S. statues banning torture, torture by other countries on our behalf (extraordinary rendition), and jailing without due process. He points out that failing to stop torture is ground for impeachment.

Three areas to look at:

- Definition of torture
- Evidence of torture within United States
- Evidence that programs of U.S. torture are authorized by B&C

First we look at such questionable techniques as the "attention grab," the "attention slap," the "belly slap," "long-time standing," the "cold [and naked in the] cell," "water boarding" (simulated drowning, instant heaves, gagging), and (we can only imagine) others.

Bruce Fein is called to the stand...

***

Please check out all the videos by Sarah and Emily Kunstler that document each night of this series; here's just a few of what you can see:

Mary Lee Kortes (3rd Song)

Andy Krikun

Lewis Lapham

Preamble

***

Also, I've been doing googling about Republican blogs and found some weird results. Scary weird. Suffice to say, I'm not convinced.