Voter Bias

An interesting article Kay dug up about why people vote irrationally:

http://www.salon.com/env/mind_reader/2008/09/22/voter_choice/index.html

I'm all for putting our candidates through challenges that test their thinking before we elect them.

How Ignorant Do You Have To Be?

Just how ignorant do you have to be to vote Republican this time around? After 81 long months of lockstep GOPsupport for the Bu$hite regime and it's extreme Un-American criminality, immorality, secrecy, deceit, and bloodshed not to mention incompetence and ideological myopia, people all around the world know (and the American people should) that under this brand leadership you just can't trust America anymore.

-You can't trust America on International Law
-You can't trust America on use of Military Force
-You can't trust America on Foreign Policy
-You can't trust America on Human Rights
-You can't trust America on Environmental Issues
-You can't trust America on world Leadership

And the final straw?-You can't even trust America on Financial Management

If after all this we're collectively ignorant enough to elect another member of this partynow, the rest of the world may very well shake their heads, wash their hands and turn their backs on us to suffer the consequences of our folly. And they would be more than justified in doing so.

Alas It's Constution Day

To day is the 221st anniversary of the signing of our Constitution of the United States of America. Flags, which represent the Constitution should be flying at half-mast in mourning. For eight years of treacherous rule by the GOPsters have left our founding document and our principles that it embodies in tatters. Without that document and those principles, I don't know what it is, but it sure as hell ain't America!

My Proposed New Obama Ad

*This proposed ad was written by Steve Sullivan. See note at end.*

Hello, I’m Barack Obama, and I approved this message.

Republican John McCain and his running mate are lying to you about me and my positions.

Here’s the truth:

My tax plan will mean lower taxes for every American earning less than $250,000 a year—that’s 95% of all Americans. And the cost for my plan will be covered by rolling back the tax rate for the people earning more than $2 million a year, back to the same tax rate we had under Bill Clinton. And, if you remember, people all across the US—even the very rich—did pretty well under Bill Clinton.

That simple roll-back pays for tax cuts for everyone else: working families who are struggling to make ends meet. If you’re earning less than $250,000, you’ll get a $500 rebate—$1000 if you’re married or have children. And I will completely eliminate income taxes for senior citizens earning less than $50,000.

Don’t take my word for all this, check the report by the non-partisan Tax Policy Center.

John McCain and the Republicans don’t want you to know that. He’s trying to muddy the waters, and you have to ask yourself, “Why?”

Maybe it’s because, for the past seven years, John McCain has been part of the problem, rather than part of the solution. By his own admission, he’s voted with George W. Bush over 90% of the time. That’s not change—that’s more of the same.

My name is Barack Obama, and I stand for Change You Can Believe In: lower taxes and a government that cares about working people.

Please vote for me on November 4^th.

*This proposed add was written by Steve Sullivan, based on position papers by Barack Obama. I believe all of the statements in it to be correct representations of Barack’s positions—though I cannot personally speak for the candidate.

I'm John McCain, and I approved these LIES.

Here's a short film that calls McCain out for many of his lying campaign ads.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH0xzsogzAk

Our current president lied us into the Iraq war. Do we need more liars in the White House?

I don't think so.

If you agree, and like this film, please pass it along to your friends and family.

And if anyone has a link to McCain saying -- as I and others remember -- that he wouldn't use negative ads or Swift-Boating this campaign, I'd love to add that to this post.

ADDENDUM: Okay, here's two links (Thanks, Matt!) to McCain promising not to do what he's now doing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2BA_9QJRrE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZf05ijVFtc&feature=related

And here's a juxtaposition between those promises and what he's actually done:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rUTXfuz6S0&feature=related

As I said at the top, "I'm John McCain, and I approved these lies."

GOP vs. America

Just some random links about this week's Republican National Convention -- which tend to prove that what was said at the convention bears no resemblance to what is scientifically known as "reality" or morally known as "the truth."

First up, John Stewart of the Daily Show on Palin playing the Gender Card. (Click on the link to see the video.)

As a follow-up, Steven Colbert points out that Alaska has Mt. McKinley, which is the highest point in America and the part of our country closest to outer space. Therefore (following GOP logic) Sarah Palin has outer-space policy experience.

Next, an AP analysis of the Palin Speech on Huffington Post. (Click link to read.)

A few days back, Fresh Air was talking rationally and calmly about Sarah Palin's positions on things from Abstinence Education to Global Warming, here's a link for that. Today, they did a similar analysis of John McCain. To know these people is to be able to better counter her spin.

Here's the definitive article about the candidates' plans on health care -- something we should all care about. You can read the NE Journal of Medicine assessment here, or listen to the recent talk about it on Fresh Air, but the gist is that McCain wants to tax the health benefits you get from your employer, deregulate the health care industry, give people a tax rebate (less than the cost of the coverage), have people buy their own coverage individually, and let the market take care of things.

And in case you've forgotten what kind of antidote Obama offers for all this greed, hypocrisy, bullying, and irrationality, here's a link to Obama's Acceptance Speech.

Now that the Obama office in Burlington is open, there's plenty of opportunities to help fight the good fight. See you there! (Check the top of the page for the address.)

Bush Calls Kettles Black

I know Bushieboy probably can't spell hypocrisy, let alone pronounce it. But you'd think he'd at least know what it is and have a minor sense of shame and irony for the situation he and his minder Dick have put America in. Last week before attention was diverted to the Caucasus, the Torturor-In-Chief was lecturing China on its human right record. This is a man who through his lies and criminal acts created a humanitarian crisis in Iraq where some 5 million people are refugees and tens to hundreds of thousands of Iraqis are dead and more than 30,000 Americans where mislead to there deaths and dismemberment. This is a man who has knowingly presided over the imprisonment, torture and murder of the innocent along with the guilty and consistently shredded the very bedrock of what America is, the Constitution, all in the name of an imperial presidency.

This week Bush and his neocon bretheren are waging their fingers at Russia for invading a sovereign nation and calling on the U.N. Security Council (on which Russia sits) to condemn the action because it wasn't authorized by by the Security Council. Russia is claiming that its response is humanitarian because Georgian president Saakashvili attacked his own people (he did) and that Russia is acting its own interest, pre-empting a threat to national security. Oh and by the way, there is control of natural gas and oil at stake as well.

If this doesn't all sound familiar it should. Bush did not have the U.N Security Council authorization required for all military action against another nation with the exception of when actually attacked and he used the rationale that Saddam had attacked his own people. And we're not in Dafur why? Oh right, no oil there. Bush and Cheney have also claimed and acted on the right to attack another country if there is even a perceived 1% threat that they might threaten America's security (The Bush Doctrine AKA the 1% Doctrine).

The bushites have undermined international law and America's moral standing in the world. Bush condemning the Chinese and Russians for their actions simply exposes him for the empty-headed hypocrit that he is and the world is laughing at him. Putin isn't just laughing though, he's using Bush's own actions to poke him right in the eye. And since we're so bogged down in his Iraq boondoggle there's nothing Bush can do about it because he has also undermined America's strategic position by bring America's all volunteer military to the breaking point. And Vlad, the man whose soul Bush gazed upon with approval when he looked into his eyes is calling Georgie's Georgian bluff and proving that when Bush look into his eyes he saw only exactly what his "friend" Vlad wanted him to see. Just another piece of evidence among many that Bushieboy was never really up to the task that he thought was his by right of descent. The more Bush wags his finger the more foolish he looks for paving Putin's way (and perhaps others) in justifying his actions by mirroring those of Dubya.

CIA Forged Letter Linking Saddam to Al Qaeda

Ron Suskind's new book The Way of the World, with the support of on-the-record CIA officials, states that the Whitehouse ordered the CIA to forge a letter from Iraq's head of intelligence to Saddam stating that 9/11 ring leader Mohammed Atta was trained in Iraq for the attacks.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/05/10809/

This letter published by the Sunday London Telegraph in December 2003 was designed to provide justification for the invasion that had been planned since Bush took office before 9/11.

Suskind further claims that based on a report by British Intelligence (among other sources, including inspectors on the ground) that the bushites knew that Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction and no programs to produce such weapons. They of course ignored this information because it didn't suit their goals of war on Iraq and war on reality.

This provides one more set of evidence in an ever mounting pile of evidence that George W. Bush is murderer and a traitor and should be brought to legitimate justice before the law.

Paul Ryan's Reform Misses The Mark

Paul Ryan completely missed the mark with his opinion piece about the need to reform Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in last week’s Standard Press. Although perhaps that was intentional since what really needs reform is the Republican Party. The problems faced by these two institutions are not the result of internal flaws, but rather the deeply flawed and greed motivated deregulation agenda of the GOPsters. You see in 1999 the Glass-Steagall Act was repealed under the sponsorship of none other than former Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX), millionaire and McCain’s “economic advisor” before he had to be thrown under the Straight Talk Express for among other things, calling the American People “whiners”.

Glass-Steagall was enacted after the Great Depression to prohibit banks from owning brokerage firms and vice versa, to prevent conflicts of interest between these two sectors of the financial system and it worked well for 60 years. But greed got the better of the banking industry and our representatives and upon repeal the big banks went on a feeding frenzy, buying up the brokerage firms. So when all these bad loans were made and sold as quickly as possible to the big banks to keep the fees but offload the risk, the big banks in turn used their brokerage arms to bundle these loans into securities to sell for investment. But whereas there was once an incentive for the brokerage to check the teeth of what they were buying from the banks for bundling and resale to their customers, now there is in fact a disincentive to question the value of your own assets. Bad for business don’t you know. So they passed along bad paper and Freddie and Fannie along with financial institutions and investors around the world bought it on good faith in the American financial system, faith that was unfortunately misplaced.

Of course Paul Ryan isn’t going to point out these facts. Instead he sees it as another opportunity to push the shock doctrine capitalism and privatization agenda of the far right who don’t believe that we should share in anything in this country, that nothing should be public. Paul makes the laughable argument that, if privatized, the citizenry would not be called upon to bail out these entities again in the future should the need arise. Apparently Ryan has never heard of Bear-Stearns & Co., a private “too big fail” firm bailed out by the Federal Reserve just last spring.

There is a constantly repeated theme of GOPish deregulation followed by financial meltdown and public bailout from the savings & loan crisis to WorldCom, to Enron (also the result of Sen. Gramm’s manipulations) to the current sub-prime mortgage mess. I know that it’s an article of faith in the GOP that all corporate regulation is bad, but it’s an article of blind faith that in revelation has been shown to be wrong over and over again. You’d think the American people would learn from this history. A certain amount of regulation actually makes sense for the public good and obviously in the end for the good of the overall business sector as well, except for the few greedy and corrupt individuals who manage to profit from debacles like these. Not that Mr. Ryan will ever come around to see that, but at least if you’re going propose cures you ought to treat the cause of the disease and not just address its symptoms, or we’ll be right back here again in a few years with another GOP inspired fiasco, throwing more good money after bad. That’s just plain old common sense.

Sign Of The Times

Last week I was afforded a sight that warmed the cockles of my heart (whatever they are). I was coming back down from the north woods and went past the Hummer dealership on HWY 45 in Menominee Falls. I've been driving past and cursing this this temple to glutonous excess for several years now, but this time to my delight it was being torn down. And to add a knife twist to to GM's nearsightedness, there was a Smart Car dealership going up right next to it.

I've never figured out just exaclty what deficiency the drivers of these monstrosities are trying to compensate for, but I do know this HUMMERS ARE FOR DICKHEADS!>

Supreme Hackery

It’s long past time to publicly finance Wisconsin’s Supreme Court races. Last week we saw the injustice and cost to the citizenry that results from allowing democracy subverting special interests to buy seats on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court as Annette Ziegler led the charge for her corporate sponsors at Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC). The corporatists at WMC paid millions of dollars to put the ethically bankrupt Ziegler on the bench and now she’s dutifully returned their investment to the detriment of the citizenry.

Menasha Corporation bought SAP, a several million dollar canned software package, thousands of copies of which are sold worldwide, and they had to pay sales tax on it. They then claimed it was a custom package, therefore tax exempt because they had to pay consulting fees to integrate it and learn how to use it. They then sued the state, in conjunction with WMC, who filed a friend of the court brief on behalf of Menasha.

Annette of course sided with the corporate interests rather than the citizen’s interest and ordered not only Menasha’s money to be returned, but another $300 million in similar taxes. Talk about your judicial activism!

Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson stated correctly that the citizens of Wisconsin will now have to make up for the returned money and an estimated $100 million every year from now on because of this ludicrous ruling. That’s a pretty sweet deal for the corporatists. Spend a few tens of thousands of dollars in “consulting” fees and skate on the $300,000 tax bill owed to the People of Wisconsin.

In her former position Zeigler not only didn’t recuse herself from cases that involved her husband’s business, but kept those conflicted interests secret from the parties involved. For this violation of ethics rules she got a slap on the wrist from her fellow “justices” on the bench and as a result the citizenry has been slapped in the face. And once again she failed to recuse herself, in this case involving the group who paid for her seat on the bench. But then again there really is no conflict in her interest, we know exactly where that lies.

Justice Abrahamson is up for re-election next year and you can bet that WMC and national groups interested in forcing the corporatist agenda on America will spare no expense in buying that seat as well (as they did for Gableman this year) to put the final nail in the coffin of supreme justice here in Wisconsin.

Fortunately a good corporate citizen, Epic Systems of Verona has stepped in and made the following statement; “We believe that what we tolerate is what we stand for, and as corporate citizens, we stand for the preservation of the foundation of the judicial system," "… After careful consideration, we made a decision to try to work only with vendors that do not support WMC with its current management. This was not a decision we made lightly, but believe it is the right thing to do.” BRAVO!

These ”justices” can put on robes if they want to in a vain effort to instill a sense of mystery and awe surrounding their deliberations. But there’s no mystery about what lies beneath the robes of the likes of Zeigler and Gableman, a couple of bought and paid for supreme political hacks. It’s time for the citizens resume ownership of their court and the justices that sit on it by funding the elections with public money.

Campaign Office grand Opening Celebrations!

The Grand Opening Celebration of the Racine for Obama Campaign for Change headquarters is next Wednesday July 16th – 6:00 PM at 522 6th Street in downtown Racine.

The Walworth Co. Democrats are celebrating the opening of their campaign office at 21 E Walworth St. in downtown Elkhorn tomorrow Sat. July 12th at 3:00 PM, with Congressional and State Assembly candidate speeches beginning at 4:00.

As many people of goodwill as possible are encouraged to attend both events!

Great News!

Dr. Jeffrey Thomas did not file his 1st CD nomination papers to reprise his repeated role as a non-viable democratic candidate. This makes it far more likely that we will get a real candidate running as democrat to unseat the regressive Mr. Ryan.

Empirial Over Reach

This is what the Bushite Neocons mean establishing a free and sovereign Iraq. Yeah turn Blackwater and CACI loose with immunity on the already beleaguered citizens of Iraq, that'll go well. Not to mention the launching pad for war with Iran and then Syria that this is intended to facilitate. From today's Democracy Now! http://www.democracynow.org/2008/6/13/headlines

Iraqi PM: Talks With US at "Dead End"

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is claiming talks on a long-term agreement with the US have reached what he calls "a dead end." US demands have included maintaining fifty-eight permanent military bases in Iraq, immunity for American troops and contractors, a free hand to conduct military operations without Iraqi approval, and control of Iraqi airspace. Speaking in Jordan, Maliki said, "We have reached an impasse, because when we opened these negotiations we did not realize that the US demands would so deeply affect Iraqi sovereignty, and this is something we can never accept." The Independent of London reported last week the US is leveraging tens of billions of dollars in seized Iraqi assets to push through its demands. The Bush administration has angered Iraqi officials by refusing to lift support for Iraq's UN designation as a threat to international security. The New York Times reports Iraqi officials will ask the UN Security Council today to expend its protection of Iraq against compensation claims.

Pre-Existing Political Condition (You're Denied!)

Below is a piece by Jack Lohman of www.ThrowTheRascalsOut.org from most recent edition of his bimonthly newsletter on clean elections and healthcare reform. It's an excellent snapshot of the train wreck we find ourselves in with regard to healthcare and disfunctional politics, with a republican party both in denial of the problem and ideologically unequiped to address the healthcare issue and two parties that are enmeshed in the status quo of money driven politics. The full newsletter can be viewed at www.ThrowTheRascalsOut.org/eNewsletter71.htm You can sign up for this excellent source of information by sending a blank email to jlohman@execpc.com with “Subscribe eNewsletter” in the subject line.

Three steps to Health Care Reform
By Jack E. Lohman
I’ve got it!
Step One: Refuse insurance coverage for 15% of our politicians, under-insure another 15%, and put the rest on a high-deductible health savings account.
Step Two: Ban all campaign contributions moving from the healthcare and insurance industries to the politicians.
Step Three: Actually, step three isn’t needed. Without health insurance or industry money, the politicians will fix the system virtually overnight. Even if we just eliminated the industry money, the politicians would do the right thing.
Sad, isn’t it? That the guys and gals that are paid by us actually work for them. But that’s the world we live in.
That’s the way it’s going to be until November and we throw out the old and bring in the new.
Yeah, some of the indestructible young bucks will be okay with the high deductible plans, at least until one of their kids is diagnosed with genetically contracted diabetes or something of the like. No amount of, what do they call it, personal responsibility and keeping fit, will protect them from this family tragedy.
Then they’ll want to convert to a standard policy, but it’ll be too late. It’s that “pre-existing disease” thingy we’ve been talking about.
It is what it is; live with it.
This just puzzles the hell out of me. We are all paying for everyone’s health care already. . . . in cost shifting, bankruptcy costs, and when businesses add their costs to the price of their product and we (even us old geezers) reimburse them at the cash register.
Why don’t we just pool everybody into one system and all share the costs in a forthright manner, and pay less dollars than we are paying today? And at the same time make our businesses more competitive with imports!
For the same amount of dollars we are spending on health care today, we could provide first class care to 100% of our population. We’d use the same private doctors, the same private hospitals and we’d have wait times no longer than we have today.
Under a single-payer universal healthcare system, no one would have to declare bankruptcy because of exhorbitant healthcare costs, where those costs are now borne by the rest of us.
Why are we spending more to avoid doing it the right way, than it would cost to do it right in the first place?
I know of no intelligent business leader that would design a system like today’s. But I do know of many politicians who would. What’s that tell you?

Source: http://moneyedpoliticians.wordpress.com/2008/05/19/three-steps-to-health-care-reform/

BAP at Chocolatefest

The Burlington Area Progressives had a successful run promoting progressive values at this year's chocolatefest. We would like to thank the Kenosha, Racine and Walworth Co. Democratic Parties for supporting this effort and the progressive candidates that spent some time at C-Fest and our booth including State Assembly candidates Doug Herrod (Dist. 32), Mike Orr (Dist. 66) and Larry Zamba (Dist 66), as well as Wisconsin 1st Congressional District Candidates Paulette Garin and Marge Krupp.

We also had information and literature provided for distribution by State Senator Robert Wirch (Dist. 22) and Linda Flashinski, candidate for State Assembly (Dist. 63)

Our presence was well received. We met people and handed out literature. To see the BAP literature that we posted and/or handed out please see the Chocolatefest 2008 file on our yahoo group, the link to which is under "Join the Discussion" on the left-hand side of this page. Photos of our booth will also be posted soon. We also registered 8 new voters!

The results of our presidential straw poll are as follows:

McCain 0

Clinton 8

Obama 8

Well it seems there's just no decisive result to be had in this regard (at least between the dems).

Thanks again to all who helped, stopped by or provided general encouragement. Particular thanks go out to Kay Collins-Schultz for meritorius service above and beyond the call. We couldn't have done it with out you!

BAP at C-Fest

If you're at C-Fest this weekend stop in, say hi and see our booth in cooperation with the Dems of Kenosha, Racine and Walworth Co.

Our booths looks great and it's awesome to see that finally the GOPsters don't have C-Fest to themselves anymore. In addition to Our booth, Assembly cadidates Larry Zamba and Mike Orr also have booths and other progressive candidates Marge Krupp (House) and Doug Harrod (Assembly) have alsp put in appearance with more expected. The GOP doesn't know what hit 'em!

We're registering voters , handing out literature and conducting a one dollar/vote presidential straw poll with proceeds going to BAP to defray the costs. So stike a blow (or $5) for your cadidate!

Have a great Holiday!

Bush Torturer-In-Chief

Well Bush has finally admitted that he is a war criminal. In discussing the use of torture by the U.S. government with ABC news recently http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/LawPolitics/Story?id=4635175&page=1 Bush stated "And yes, I'm aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved." He was referring to Dick Cheney, Condolezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeldt, George Tenet, John Ashcroft and Colin Powel who met and authorized specific techniques for use on suspected terrorists, including water boarding.

Water boarding AKA the drowning torture, conceived by the Spanish Inquisition is used to repeatedly induce the sensation and terror of drowning. Since the U.S. prosecuted Japanese troops after WWII for war crimes for using this technique on our troops it is clearly a war crime and a form of torture as recognized the world over.Our founders held that certain truths were self evident, that all men, not all Americans, but ALL men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights including due process and not to be subjected to cruel and inhuman punishment. George Bush has betrayed the very foundation of what America stands for in the world.

Furthermore, George Bush has asserted that as Commander-In-Chief of the armed forces during wartime he is above justice and the rule of law. This is a further betrayal of the Constitution and our founding. Do we want to confer these powers on Obama, Clinton, McCain or any other future executive? NO! If this principle is allowed to carry forward we are unlikely to ever see the end of wartime, as we will elect a series of dictators to four-year terms.

It’s time for our representative Paul Ryan and the rest of the House, to stop collaborating with the Torturer-In-Chief and clean up the moral cesspool that is the Bush Administration once and for all by bringing to bear impeachment and criminal proceedings against these perpetrators.

From Abu Grabh to Gitmo to the secret blacksites around the globe this President has betrayed American values and diminished our standing as a nation. This is self-evident, torture is evil! By any name, for any purpose, by anyone, to anyone, no ifs, ands or moral relativisms.

If the Executive can detain you secretly, indefinitely, without charge, recourse or due process, if he/she can torture you, extract testimony and use it against you in a tribunal, you are not free. You are merely at large at the executive’s discretion. The Bushites have done all of these things. It’s time to stand up for freedom and put the criminal George Bush behind bars where he belongs.

Return to Sender - Iraq Veteran Gets the Call Again

The following are snippets from a letter in the SF Chronicle Open Forum (emphasis mine)

Colby Buzzell
Thursday, May 8, 2008

"When I voluntarily enlisted in the Army, I remember asking my recruiter about the fine print on the contract about being called back up to active duty once my enlistment was completed. He assured me not to worry, that every contract said that and it would only happen if "World War III" broke out."

"On way out of my building two weeks ago, I checked my mailbox and found a letter from the Department of the Army with "Important Document" printed in all caps on the middle. I immediately felt sick, so I went back to my room, locked the door, grabbed a beer from the fridge and stared out my window for a while. People outside were all wearing sunglasses and walking about enjoying the sun. I took a picture."

"Looking back, would I have joined the military if I were doing something that I loved? Or had a job that paid $100,000 a year? Probably not. Those are the men and women I feel that we need to mail these letters to. Let's see what happens when they receive letters telling them to put on a uniform and ship out immediately to the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Read the rest of his letter and get the link to where he blogs here.

Faith groups mount campaign against torture

They're protesting Bush administration policies. But polls show Americans are split on the issue.
By Jane Lampman Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
from the May 8, 2008 edition
As Congress and the Bush administration skirmish over still-secret interrogation techniques, American faith communities are mounting a national campaign to prohibit torture and cruel and inhumane treatment of US-held detainees.
More than 175 religious organizations have joined the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT). Their aim is to build a moral consensus among Americans on the issue and to bring government policies in line with US law and international norms.
"Religions of the world do agree on basic tenets about how people should treat each other because of the dignity of the human person," says the Rev. Richard Killmer, executive director. The group involves mainline and evangelical Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, and other members.
The campaign has its work cut out for it. Polls since 2001 show great divergence and ambivalence in public attitudes toward the interrogation and treatment of alleged terrorists. And Congress so far has not convinced the administration to change course.
NRCAT worked for congressional passage of the 2008 intelligence bill, which required the Central Intelligence Agency and other agencies to conform to the Army Field Manual in their interrogations. The manual, revised in 2006 after the abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, prohibits the use of waterboarding (simulated drowning), military dogs, beatings, and electric shocks, among other techniques.
Rest of story here