Progressive Democrats Sonoma County

On Friday, November 27, 2009, Disbar Torture Lawyers, www.disbartorturelawyers.com a group of NGOs representing over a million members, filed complaints with the Washington D.C. Board of Professional Responsibility requesting disbarment of Bush Administration attorneys John Yoo, Michael Haynes, and Alberto Gonzales. The detailed complaints and supporting documents set forth the illegal and unethical conduct of the attorneys with regard to the issue of torture against detainees held by the United States. All of the legal advice and written opinions of the three attorneys have been rejected and rescinded by the Department of Justice.

November 22, 2009, Bay Area, CA

• 10-11 a.m. protest at John Yoo’s (Torture Professor) house, 1241 Grizzly Peak Blvd., Berkeley, CA

Followed by events on David Swanson’s book tour: “Daybreak, Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union”

From “The World Can’t Wait” ....

• Morning (8:30 AM) – Support the Fire John Yoo 4
Rally and pack the courtroom — first court appearance for the 4 arrested for protest as John Yoo came to class on his first day back at Boalt. Demand all charges be dropped! Wiley Manuel Courthouse, 661 Washington St., Oakland, Dept. 107 at 8:30 (arrive early, security lines can take 30 min.)

• 12 Noon – Information in Action at UC Berkeley: FIRE, DISBAR, AND PROSECUTE JOHN YOO!
Stand up and speak out against torture, as jumpsuited “detainees” appear at Sproul Plaza, sparking conversation and debate at this campus crossroads. Speakers, displays, rally.

• Evening (5:00 PM)- Fernando Botero In Conversation: The Abu Ghraib Series
A major exhibit of world-renowned artist Botero ‘s series of 56 paintings (inspired in 2004 by Seymour Hersh’s exposure of the U.S. torture program at that hellhole) opens at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way, on Sept. 23. Botero speaks at the Museum Theater at 6:00 PM. For information on how to get two (2) tickets, go here — AND join World Can’t Wait and the anti-torture community at the Museum at 5:00 PM to welcome the artist and this timely exhibition.

On August 17th, Donna Norton, Susan Baritell, and Terra Freedman joined demonstrators at Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley School of Law, calling for legal accountability for John Yoo. Donna and 3 others were arrested (basically for chanting loudly!).

While temporarily acting as Legal Counsel for the Justice Dept, John Yoo authored documents providing “legal” authorization and cover for the Bush-Cheney administration’s wire-taping and torture programs. It’s one thing to promote a President-Is-King (Unitary Executive) theory in the classroom and in articles, but quite another to use your position in the Justice Dept to make your personal ideology the law of the land.

Congress, the Justice Department, and the University have failed to investigate both the ethical and criminal violations of Yoo’s actions.

Monday, August 17
1:30 PM – 4:30 PM

University of California Law School (Boalt Hall), College and Bancroft, Berkeley. 1:30 Press conference followed by protest in front of the Law School.

“Torture professor” John Yoo resumes teaching at UC Berkeley Law School on Monday, August 17 after spending last year at Chapman College in Southern California. While on leave from UC in 2001 Yoo worked for the DOJ and wrote legal memos advising Cheney and Bush that torture, warrantless wiretapping and suspension of posse commitatus– use of the military on American Soil and a violation of the Constitution– were legal. Yoo was wrong; those crimes are never legal.