Mel Sembler: Lieberman fundraiser, child torturer

[femmedem]

Lieberman's Fundraiser ran the Abu Ghraib of Rehab

<snip>

Mel Sembler is a former RNC finance chairman and the chair Scooter Libby’s legal defense fund. The Florida real estate tycoon calls Dick Cheney a close friend. No doubt the bond between Sembler and the VP is strengthened by an optimism about the potential for torture to solve problems. If anything Sembler is even more optimistic than Cheney–he believes that torture can cure diseases like addiction.

Any principled Democrat would recoil from Sembler, but it gets worse. Sembler is also a self-styled drug treatment entrepreneur who founded Straight, Incorporated, a residential drug treatment program for teenagers.

Between 1976 and 1993, thousands of youth were routinely subjected to physical, emotional, and sexual abuse as part of Straight’s "confrontational" approach to treatment. Some inmates were held for years against their will. The program has been sued dozens of times for brutalizing inmates and some staff members faced criminal charges for their role in the abuse.

<snip>

Straight also put kids on peanut-butter-only diets for weeks, kept them awake with no sleep whatsoever for days, forced them to spank each other and made them maintain various stress positions or exercise to the point of exhaustion. It constantly humiliated participants, famously gagging some with Kotex, calling girls “sluts” and boys “fags” and making those who had been sexually abused take responsibility for their “part” in seducing the pedophiles who had molested them.

<snip>


http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/09/22/liebermans-fundraiser-ran-the-abu-ghraib-of-rehab

[MadMaddie]

1. Lieberman has shown his true colors he will attempt to win

at all costs...even making deals with the Devil!

[HooptieWagon]

2. My brother went to Straight

the original one in St Petersburg, and I have heard from him many of the allegations cited in the OP. Plus, I might add that Straight had no MDs or Psychologists on the staff, so there was no oversight by a medical authority on the "treatment" administered. However, it is my understanding that it was Sembler's wife who was behind the formation and operation of Straight, Inc. Correct me if I'm wrong on that point.

Another note regarding Sembler - He was appointed Ambassador to Italy by * after *'s selection. He possibly could be involved to some extent in the counterfeit Nigerian yellowcake document that Wilson was sent to investigate. His name sure does keep popping up in that story...

[femmedem]

3. I hope your brother is okay now.

I can only imagine what he went through.

And although I knew Sembler was Ambassador to Italy, I hadn't considered the possibility of a Nigerian yellowcake document connection. That is very interesting.

I'll do a little digging to see if it was Sembler's wife, not Mel himself, who was more involved with Straight. I'm sure you know more about this than I do. However, Mel boasted about the work he and his wife have done through Straight, and attributed his ambassadorship to this.

I keep thinking about the 12,000 kids who graduated from Straight, and relating them to the 14,000 disappeared detainees.

[HooptieWagon]

12. Yes, brother is doing well now

Thank you. His Straight experience was over 20 years ago, and he's largely put it behind him. He more or less considers their tactics as abuse, rather than torture - but he did tell about being forced into stress positions, humiliation, food withheld, and psychological abuse - so perhaps torture might not be an inaccurate description. He figured out pretty quick to go along and he'd get out sooner. Lends credence to critics of *'s torture policies that torture doesn't generate accurate intel. My brother agreed to anything that Straight wanted him to, true or not. He got out in about 6 months. Inmates who denied false charges could be held as long as a couple of years, and suffered greater abuse.

[femmedem]

6. Mel was chairman of the board of Straight for 17 years. n/t

[HooptieWagon]

13. Thanks for correction. n/t

[peanutbrittle]

4. Sembler is the lowest form of life on this planet

this is OUTFREAKINGRAGEOUS

If Lieberman is accepting his money, this needs to be spread far and wide

[femmedem]

5. More than accepting his money.

Sembler threw a big fundraiser for him this week.

Yes, it should be spread far and wide. I hope this thread doesn't die. Thank you for kicking.

edit to add link to article about the fundraiser, in which Sembler refers to Lieberman as a man of principle. Ha!

http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=75d328de-a4ed-48cf-bd63-ad2c55bc0128

[femmedem]

7. Shamelessly kicking my own thread for the morning crowd.

The AP article on Sembler about Wednesday's fundraiser for Lieberman didn't begin to cover who he is.

[NewJeffCT]

8. As I said in the other thread

Please write up a Letter to the Editor on this. The Manchester Journal-Inquirer has been fairly progressive from what I have seen in recent months.

(I would write up my own LTTE, but had one published a week ago in that newspaper)

their email is [e-mail]

They prefer their letters to be between 350-500 words, so it is pretty lengthy.

[femmedem]

9. I'll pm you when I get something written up.

I also just forwarded this to the best LTTE writer I know. He gets his in the NYT and Harper's pretty regularly.

If you want to brainstorm some talking points, that would be helpful. I've got to get off the computer for a few hours now.

Any chance you could R this info? (I really am shameless, but I don't understand why this isn't garnering more attention.)

[NewJeffCT]

11. Recommended

and kicked again

[HooptieWagon]

14. Sure, i'll reccomend

This is a worthy topic to get out.

[femmedem]

15. Thanks, Hooptie.

And I'm very glad to hear your brother is okay. It sounds like he knew how to handle himself in a terrible situation. I'm glad, too, that you're not offended by my use of the word torture. I wondered if I was going over the top.

[NewJeffCT]

10. What is it with these recycled disgraced Republicans?

Mel Sembler

G Gordon Liddy

Ollie North

John Negroponte

Eliot Abrams

[HooptieWagon]

16. *, Sembler, etc

I hope the word gets out to Conn. voters that these aren't moderate Republicans that are backing Lieberman - this is the far right wing of the party that's supporting him. Voting for Lieberman is voting to "stay the course" of a facist agenda, not a vote for moderation.

[Zhade]

17. K/R

NT!

[girl gone mad]

18. I had a friend who went through this program...

She and her parents successfully sued. Some of the things she told me about were girls and boys being sexually abused by counselors, not being allowed to move around freely (she had to wear jeans and a counselor or patient with more seniority would pull her around by the belt loops), being forced to sit in a chair and not sleep for 48 hours or more at a time. I don't remember everything she said, but the stories she told gave me nightmares. She came out much worse off than when she went in.

[femmedem]

19. Perhaps 50,000 teens suffered what your friend suffered at Straight.

It is terrible. People like your friend who sued are heroes. I hope that she has since found peace and healing.

[HooptieWagon]

21. Yes, being held constantly by the belt loops is true

Also, patients (inmates) in the first few steps of the program were accompanied constantly (and held by belt loops), even to the bathroom, supposedly for their "safety", but also to humiliate them and "break" them. My brother hasn't mentioned sexual abuse or assaults, but I have heard those allegations from other sources.

[girl gone mad]

25. I remember asking her...

why she hadn't just run away, since she spent a lot of time in a person's home, not just in a locked institution.

Now that I've read more about Straight, I think I understand.

[NewJeffCT]

20. kicked for the Sunday crowd

Hopefully, we can get some LTTEs on this subject.

[femmedem]

22. Here's mine:

I was horrified to read that Senator Lieberman is accepting substantial financial support from Mel Sembler.

Mr. Sembler, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee finance committee and current chair of Scooter Libby’s legal defense fund, co-founded Straight, Inc., a “tough love” drug rehabilitation program for teens.

Straight, Inc. subjected tens of thousands of teens, some as young as twelve years old, to conditions which would not be permitted under the Geneva conventions. These children were routinely starved, kicked, sexually humiliated and kept awake for days at a time. They were denied bathroom privileges, and after they’d soiled themselves, forced to wear their “humble pants” for weeks. Unable to contact their families, some children remained trapped in Straight for years.

The physical, emotional and sexual abuse which Straight, Inc. inflicted was so bad that one ACLU official referred to it as ” very close to really performing psychic murder” and “a concentration camp for throwaway kids.”

What does it say about Senator Lieberman that he welcomes the support of such a man?

[leesa]

23. Sembler was US Ambassador to Italy when the Niger forged documents

deal went through. He was also there when the Sgrena execution took place. Wonder what Joe knows about this? How involved was Joe in this scam to start the war he so dearly loves?

http://www.rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fs%2Fap%2F20060922%2Fap_on_el_se%2Fconnecticut_senate

[Zhade]

24. OH NO YOU DON'T!

This is NOT falling into the memory hole if I have anything to say about it!

To the top!

[Divine Discontent]

26. K&R AGAIN n/t

[Cameron27]

27. Horrible

:kick:

[IChing]

28. Clinton, I remind you campaigned for Lieberman.

I shall not forget that either and neither should anyone.