General Interest > Tacitus' Realm

Use of torture - a mindset of governmental officials

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MedicalWhistleblower:
The acceptance of torture as a means to an end is also a mindset held by the former Bush administration.  Please be aware of the excellent work being done by Attorney Kevin Zeese in this area. http://velvetrevolution.us/torture_lawyers/index.php

Several lawyers on his list of "Torture Lawyers" have connections to the research that I do about residential treatment abuse.   Most notably: Alberto Gonzales, Michael Chertoff and John Ashcroft.

Alberto Gonzales-Texas Bar http://velvetrevolution.us/torture_lawy ... t_1_VR.pdf

John Ashcroft-District of Columbia  http://velvetrevolution.us/torture_lawy ... pdfAcrobat (.pdf)

Michael Chertoff-District of Columbia Microsoft http://velvetrevolution.us/torture_lawy ... plaint.pdf

Torture is illegal under both United States and international law. The Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment, and it states that treaties signed by the U.S. are the “supreme Law of the Land” under Article Six. The Geneva Convention and The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment both prohibit torture and have been signed by the United States. These laws provide no exception for torture under any circumstances. Moreover, the United States Criminal Code prohibits both torture and war crimes, the latter which includes torture. The Army Field Manual prohibits the use of degrading treatment of detainees.

Despite this well-established law, under the Bush administration, torture was authorized by George Bush and kept secret using classified designations. The White House requested legal memoranda to support its use of torture and it received those authored by a host of attorneys, including John Yoo, Jay Bybee, and Stephen Bradbury. Attorneys who advised, counseled, consulted and supported those memoranda included Alberto Gonzales, John Ashcroft, Michael Chertoff, Alice Fisher, William Haynes II, Douglas Feith, Michael Mukasey, Timothy Flanigan, and David Addington.

Several of these memoranda have recently been released, and clearly demonstrate that these attorneys conspired to violate laws against torture and that their actions resulted in torture and death. Accordingly, these attorneys must be held accountable. We have asked the respective state bars to revoke the licenses of the foregoing attorneys for moral turpitude. They failed to show “respect for and obedience to the law, and respect for the rights of others,” and intentionally or recklessly failed to act competently, all in violation of legal Rules of Professional Conduct. Several attorneys failed to adequately supervise the work of subordinate attorneys and forwarded shoddy legal memoranda regarding the definition of torture to the White House and Department of Defense. These lawyers further acted incompetently by advising superiors to approve interrogation techniques that were in violation of U.S. and international law. They failed to support or uphold the U.S. Constitution, and the laws of the United States, and to maintain the respect due to the courts of justice and judicial officers, all in violation state bar rules.

Ursus:

--- Quote from: "MedicalWhistleblower" ---The Geneva Convention and The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment both prohibit torture and have been signed by the United States.
--- End quote ---
That signature was contingent on these standards being applied only to other countries.


::evil::
[ tongue-in-chEEK! warning!! ]

MedicalWhistleblower:
I spoke with Frank La Rue of the UN office on Human Rights Defenders regarding the lack of action on the 2003 UN complaint brought by ISAC under article 22 - or CAT - Convention Against Torture.   The reason for the lack of enforcement of CAT by the UN on US soil was because the US asserted that the US Constitution and laws provide greater protection to the US people than would United Nations enforcement of the Declaration of Human Rights or UN enforcement of the treaties that the US has signed and ratified.  But I believe in my latest report just this past month to the UN, I provided sufficient evidence that the US does not protect constitutional protections for civil rights or human rights for children trapped in these residential treatment centers.  Thus I hope to bring to the attention of the UN and US authorities that we no longer as a nation can claim that we have greater protections guaranteed under the US Constitution and laws - especially as they are now applied.  We do not guarantee human rights protections when governmental contractors are employed or when governmental functions - such as the delivery of TANF food to the needy occurs under governmental grants through subcontractors.   These residential treatment centers have used TANF funds to keep their operations financially solvent while at the same time asserting religious exemption from governmental supervision and oversight.  TANF is currently funded through federal taxes and distributed through Title I (section 104) Charitable Choice provisions in the welfare act.  The Welfare Act of 1996 - Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act was signed into law (PL 104-193) and contained these Charitable Choice provisions.

Thus I believe that the systematic abuse of persons in private NGO run residential treatment centers points clearly to the lack of human rights protections offered by the US Constitution and US law.  The US Supreme Court has refused to enforce human rights protections for persons in these facilities instead relying on religious exemption.  Thus the US Supreme Court has not fully abided by the terms of the CAT treaty to protect the human rights of persons in US jurisdiction.  I believe that this will allow us to assert Article 22 for our survivors/victims.

Ursus:

--- Quote from: "MedicalWhistleblower" ---...the US asserted that the US Constitution and laws provide greater protection to the US people than would United Nations enforcement of the Declaration of Human Rights or UN enforcement of the treaties that the US has signed and ratified.
--- End quote ---
Guess not, huh?


--- Quote from: "MedicalWhistleblower" ---TANF is currently funded through federal taxes and distributed through Title I (section 104) Charitable Choice provisions in the welfare act. The Welfare Act of 1996 - Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act was signed into law (PL 104-193) and contained these Charitable Choice provisions.
--- End quote ---
See also, for discussion of some real-life ramifications of that Act:


* Evolution Or Extinction: A Strategy for Nonprofits in the Marketplace
viewtopic.php?f=51&t=32016
It was due to this Act, in part or in whole, that Abraxas - a juvenile rehab using therapeutic community modalities - was folded into the larger world of privatized corrections systems. The methods used at Abraxas were/are based in large part on the founder's experience in Gateway, one of the original addiction treatment rehab TCs, and which was, itself, based on Synanon.

MedicalWhistleblower:
Establishment of alternative accreditation to evade inspections

In Florida and Texas, Teen Challenge centers were accredited by the Texas Association of Christian Child Care Agencies (TACCCA)   and the Florida Association of Christian Child Care Agencies (FACCCA).     In Florida, the heads of the Department of Children and Families and Department of Human Services were both former Straight, Inc. leaders.

West Florida Teen Challenge Boys’ Ranch in Bonifay, FL is a rigid program. The contract parents must sign states that the FACCCA intends to "insure the physical and spiritual health, safety, and wellbeing" of children and that the boys’ ranch must meet FACCCA’s "minimum standards." In the contract parents must agree to hold the ranch and its employees harmless from "any and all liability" for injury to the child, “even injury resulting in death.”  Parents must agree “that God desires that they resolve their dispute with one another within the church and that they be reconciled in their relationships in accordance with the principles stated in I Corinthians 6:1-8, Matthew 5:23-24, and Matthew 18:15-20.”  If they cannot resolve their disagreement privately within the church, parents must accept resolution through “biblically-based mediation” by rules of the Association of Christian Conciliation Services.   There is no refund of tuition or deposits if the boy leaves the ranch before 15 months, even if the ranch has expelled him. Many residential treatment centers were run with no insurance liability policies and these legal waivers were used to prevent liability lawsuits. Parents were told that, because they signed the waiver, they had no legal rights even if their child was injured.

Further protections through official State Liaison positions

To further insulate Teen Challenge from government regulation and oversight, Governor George W. Bush’s advisory board made recommendations that legislated creation of official state liaison positions in several key government entities. Texas was also the first state to create a formal Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives (OFBCI).  These acts were part of larger cultural and structural shifts that redefined the boundaries between church and state in Texas.  An adviser was appointed by Governor Bush to change key agencies to alter their regulatory procedures and protocols to make them more receptive to Faith-based programs.  Appointees chosen were receptive to the new policies and assumed positions of power and authority on state governing boards.

In Texas, Governor Bush was closely allied with leaders of the evangelical community, such as Joe Loconte, Marvin Olasky, Stanley Carlson-Thies, and Carl Esbeck.  The Bush administration created far-reaching changes in state government policy. The state-level implementation of “Charitable Choice” did not create new funding for Faith-based organizations, but consisted of a symbolic alteration in the relationship between church and state that was manifest in laws, policies and procedural practices.

Bush’s policy team in Texas worked with Carlson-Thies and Esbeck, the chief architects of Charitable Choice as it passed through the U.S.A. Congress.  Both men went to Texas to help state agency heads understand the new law and to garner support for it there.  These changes in policy were then presented to the executive directors of the state agencies (TWC-Texas Workforce Commission, DHHS-Department of Health and Human Services, TEA—the Texas Education Agency) and to certain key board members of those agencies.  These pushed principles that Congress enacted in August 1996 as part of federal welfare reform. Texas added a “nondiscrimination” section in 1997 but did not label it as a Charitable Choice provision.  The early political goal was to change the government culture from within, but without use of confrontation of state legislators to embrace legislative changes.  Only ten states enacted 41 laws between 1996 and 2000 related to Faith-based initiatives.  Since then, there has been an increased legislation specifically focused on the initiatives.

In July, 1999, presidential-candidate Bush delivered his first major policy address in Indianapolis. There he unveiled his new pro-faith agenda and painted himself as a “new kind of Republican” politically and fiscally conservative, but supportive of Faith-based nonprofit organizations to deliver help to those in need.

After the 2000 election of President Bush, 230 additional laws on Faith-based initiatives were enacted, and now 31 states have enacted some legislation. Several states of note are New Jersey, Oklahoma and Florida.  In each of these states, G.W. Bush had close ties.  NJ Governor Christie Todd-Whitman was a close friend, as was OK Governor Francis Anthony "Frank" Keating.  Bush’s brother, Jeb Bush, was FL governor.  Jeb Bush sought increased legislation including Faith-based prison wings supported by a new government office. An OFBCI was established in Florida in 2004.

Establishment of funding to Faith-based programs

In January, 2001, President Bush created the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives by Executive Order. Later Executive Orders created centers for the Office within the Departments of Justice, Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), Housing and Urban Development, Education, and Agriculture, as well as at the Agency for International Development. Shortly thereafter, the Compassion Capital Fund (CCF) was established in 2001 through HHS and distributed almost $200 million dollars to various faith- and community-based organizations. Through a series of executive orders and the creation of separate Faith-based centers in 11 agencies and departments within the federal government, President Bush expanded Faith-based initiatives significantly from a political standpoint.  Some executive orders permitted religious organizations to discriminate in their hiring practices by making it possible for them to hire only those who share specific religious beliefs, despite the receipt of federal money.

President Bush actually promised $8 billion, during the campaign trail, but the Compassion Capital Fund fell dramatically short of that goal, leaving many that supported the Charitable Choice with added social responsibilities and no federal funding stream to cover expectations.  These Faith-based initiatives first obtained their support mainly from the evangelical churches, but later support came from various black churches and the Catholic Church.

Many in religious circles saw “Charitable Choice” as a means to allow the churches greater religious freedom while performing social services. Critics maintain that vast funding amounts were funneled to political allies and Christian organizations that had supported candidate Bush, such as Operation Blessing, a charity run by television evangelist Pat Robertson.  Political bias in the granting of federal funds appeared in the support given the InnerChange prison program. Governor G.W. Bush supported Chuck Colson’s prison ministry, which became a contract service provider to the Texas prison system.  Colson had years before been sent to prison for his involvement in the Watergate scandal.    Colson was also believed to be a member of the “Family” (also known as the Fellowship) and was a signer of the Manhattan Declaration.  

For many who politically supported the Faith-based initiatives these were just empty promises which did not increase funding for beleaguered and legitimate Faith-based social service programs. This was especially true for the smaller religious organizations, as they were still in competition with the larger, established, church-based providers, as well as community-based NGOs.  There was a smaller pot of federal funds actually available due to welfare budget cuts. Charitable Choice federal funding did not fix problems of poverty.  Instead, it seemed to benefit the chosen “politically correct” few. The shift of money in Faith-based programs moved from government-run welfare programs for the poor, serving minority, immigrant, migrant or disabled persons, to focus on upper- middle-class Christians with substance-abuse problems in unregulated private treatment centers.

The White House OFBCI sent letters to all state governors in 2002, 2004, and 2006, encouraging them to create their own OFBCIs.  There were no guidelines on how to establish the offices, or how to fund them, such that an unorganized program implementation resulted.   There are three primary means by which states have implemented the Faith-based initiatives:

1) Creation of liaison positions and/or offices,
2) Passage of legislation and administrative policies
3) Sponsorship of conferences

Three states have added Charitable Choice provisions to legislation. These are: Arizona (1999), California (1999), and Mississippi (2004). Since 1996, legislative appropriations processes in 16 states have offered some type of funding to Faith-based organizations (FBOs) or OFBCIs, leading to 42 separate appropriation bills which have allocated approximately $70 million. In 2007, a total of 10 appropriation laws were passed in 10 states, increasing overall funding for the initiatives. Florida passed appropriations bills directed to Faith-based and community groups for teenage pregnancy prevention programs, granting them $1,500,000 of non-recurring maternal block-grant trust funds.  New Jersey has allocated approximately $3 million a year since 1998.  Public money has been allocated to Faith-based groups, but the lack of standardized oversight once the funds are distributed is a concern, as is whether or not there is political bias in selection of recipients.

The vast majority of OFBCIs and related positions have been created administratively, and some states have given these positions greater permanence by enacting them with legislation. Kentucky (2005), Iowa (2004), Missouri (2007), Virginia (2002), Louisiana (2004), North Dakota (2005), Ohio (2005), Alaska (2007), and Maryland (2008) have created Faith-based legislative positions or OFBCIs by statute.

References and citations:?

  Texas Association of Christian Child Care Agencies Inc is located at 2000 16th St Garland, TX.
  Florida Association of Christian Child Care Agencies Inc is located at Lake City, FL.  http://www.faccca.com/Information.htm.

  Escobedo, Duwayne, “Secrets in the Schoolhouse,” InWeekly.Net.  It took 12 years for Rebecca Ramirez, 28 years old waves a sign that claims Michael Palmer, the founder of the all-girls boarding school, Victory Christian Academy, raped her when she was a 16-year-old student in 1992. The Victory Christian for $1,200 a month, offered parents a "faith-based" program that promises to help their rebellious and troubled daughters. Girls attending the school are sent by their parents for everything ranging from behavioral problems, drug abuse and depression. The courts in California shut him down when he refused to be licensed by the state. California authorities investigated a variety of complaints, including allegations of abuse. State authorities looked into the 1988 death of a 15-year-old girl, while she helped build a new part of the school. Her death was ruled an accident.   And in September, Mexican authorities closed Genesis-by-the-Sea, a similar school Palmer owns near Rosarito Beach, Mexico, after immigration and child abuse complaints. Some former students and parents say neglect and abuse happen, not only at Palmer's Victory Christian Academy, but other schools in Santa Rosa County and across the state that all belong to the same organization—Florida Association of Christian Child Caring Agencies.  FACCCA is a volunteer, non-profit group established by Florida law in 1984 that allows the private, faith-based schools to operate with little state oversight. Instead, they're monitored by FACCCA. FACCCA oversees about 31 schools, including New Beginnings, Rebekah Academy in Pace, run by Pastor Wiley Cameron and his wife, Faye. For years, the Camerons ran the Roloff Group homes in Corpus Christi, Texas. The homes provided strict, Bible-based education and training for troubled girls and boys, as well as some adults. http://www.inweekly.net/article.asp?artID=713.

   Association of Christian Conciliation Services.  P.O. Box 81130, Billings, Montana 59108, http://www.peacemaker.net/site/.
The Christian Concilliation Handbook on  alternative ADR
ccr4peace.org/CCRHandbookBound.doc

   Johnson, Byron R. and Larson, David B., “The InnerChange Freedom Initiative A Preliminary Evaluation of a Faith-Based Prison Program” Center for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society, CRRUCS 2003 report. Publication year: 2003 | Cataloged on: Oct. 31, 2006. http://nicic.gov/Library/019041   The InnerChange Freedom Initiative (IFI), as it would later be named, was officially launched under the recommendation of then-governor George W. Bush. This was a public-private partnership between Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) and Prison Fellowship (PF). It was referred to as the “Prison Fellowship’s ‘InnerChange’: Faith-Based Pre-Release Program.” Several months after the official start-up of the InnerChange Pre-Release Program, Prison Fellowship officially changed the name to the InnerChange Freedom Initiative (IFI).  The IFI program is different than other prison ministries in that it represents the first full-scale attempt to offer religious programs in a prison environment virtually “around-the-clock.” Prison Fellowship identifies itself as a not-for-profit, volunteer-reliant ministry whose mission is to “exhort, equip, and assist the Church in its ministry to prisoners, ex-prisoners, victims, and their families, and to promote biblical standards of justice in the criminal justice system.” Technically, IFI was launched at the Jester II Unit, which was renamed the Carol Vance Unit in 1999. Prison Fellowship’s costs to operate IFI in fiscal year 2000-2001 alone were $1.45 million. All inmates in the TDCJ system are transported to Huntsville and go through this prison when officially released on parole.  http://www.manhattan-institute.org/pdf/ ... change.pdf.

  Dickinson, William B.; Mercer Cross, Barry Polsky (1973). Watergate: chronology of a crisis. 1. Washington D. C.: Congressional Quarterly Inc.. pp. 8 133 140 180 188. ISBN 0871870592. OCLC 20974031. This book is volume 1 of a two volume set. Both volumes share the same ISBN and Library of Congress call number, E859 .C62 1973.

  “Watergate Key Players,” Washington Post,  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/on ... ayers.html

   “Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience,” Drafted on October 20, 2009, Released on November 20, 2009 http://demossnews.com/manhattandeclarat ... on_signers.

   “TIME: 25 Most Influential Evangelicals Photo Essay: Charles Colson,” Time Magazine, February 7, 2005, http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101050 ... say/5.html

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