Sarah Palin on Terrorists: "Hang 'em High!"

Image from source, Think Progress

There is a very strange cowardliness coming from the right wing. Oh, sure, they talk a good game. George W. Bush was reknowned for his bravado, swagger and "shoot first, ask questions later" approach. But what's all this about right-wingers being so afraid of bringing terrorists to American soil? Sure, dumping them off in Central Park or at the local Dairy Twist would be a spectacularly bad idea. But nobody is talking about that. They're talking about putting them into supermax high security prisons. And trying them for crimes. There has never been an escape from a supermax prison, so what is with all the fear mongering? You'd think these prisoners were supervillains out of Action Comics or something.

This seems to me to be yet another case of exaggeration by the GOP to instill fear into the hearts of their knee-jerk base. It also gives them a chance to propose their alternative of torture, abuse and frontier justice. It really is bizarre. I even heard a few right-wing pundits (whiny Mark Levin among them) opine that these people can't be tried in a court of law because they were never Mirandized, possibly tortured, held without council for years, etc. Crikey! Where was all this concern when the Bush Administration was a-doin' all that crap?

Sarah Palin, in her never-ending quest to remain in the public eye (and to help sell copies of her sure-to-be unspectacular book, Goin' all Mavericky) has spoken from her throne atop Mount Facebook to let us know where she weighs in on the issue. Also.

[Excerpt]

Palin Calls Decision To Try 9/11 Defendants In Federal Court ‘Atrocious,’ Wants To ‘Hang ‘Em High’

. . .But the U.S. justice system apparently isn’t good enough for former Alaska governor Sarah Palin (who believes that the White House has a “Department of Law“). Last night she went on Facebook and posted a message calling the Obama administration’s decision “atrocious”. . .

Read more at: Think Progress

Gen. David Petraeus on Gitmo and Torture

Image from MoveOn.org

The image in this post is from a long ago faux outrage-inducing MoveOn.org ad that Republicans ranted about for a couple of news cycles. They were aghast, appalled, disgusted that the liberal group--and by extension all liberals--would say such a thing about a great American hero.

But now that Gen. David Petraeus is on record basically echoing President Obama's sentiments on torture and Guantanamo Bay, I predict that those same people are going to begin using "Betray Us" to describe him, whattaya bet?

[Excerpt]

Petraeus Criticizes Gitmo And Torture: ‘I Don’t Think We Should Be Afraid To Live Our Values’

Last week, Gen. David Petraeus told Radio Free Europe that he supports President Obama’s decision to close the Guantanamo Bay prison and that he opposes the use of so-called “enhance interrogation techniques.” “I have long been on record as having testified and also in helping write doctrine for interrogation techniques that are completely in line with the Geneva Convention,” Petraeus said. . .

Read more at: Think Progress

Gen. David Petraeus Agrees Guantanamo Should Be Closed

Photo from source, Think Progress

I wonder what right-wingers will have to say about one of their heroes aligning with President Obama?

[Excerpt]

Petraeus agrees with Obama: It’s time to close Guantanamo and end torture.

In an interview this past weekend with Radio Free Europe, Gen. David Petraeus said that he supports President Obama’s decision to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and opposes the use of enhanced interrogation techniques. . .

Read more at: Think Progress

Olbermann's WTF? Moment: John Ensign and Gitmo Health Care

Having just trashed Sen. John Hairdo Ensign (R-NV) in a previous post, I could not resist letting Keith Olbermann keep slugging away at him. For years, as a resident of Nevada, Ensign seemed like the invisible Senator, only appearing around election time. But lately, he's been popping up all over the place, usually saying something supremely stupid. He's still at it. This time, he says that prisoners in Guantanamo Bay get better health care than the average American. D'oh!

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Another GOP Scary Movie!

Ham-fisted, obvious, absolutely lacking in any subtlety whatsoever. The message: "Be afraid! Be very afraid (vote Republican!)." Oh, and "cliches are good." By the way, isn't "Fortuna, Imperatrix Mundi (O Fortuna)" played out as scary music by now?

Rolling Stone Article Lands Man in Gitmo

Image from source, Raw Story

Remember back in the bad-old-days during the Bush Administration, when liberals like me worried that Bush's powers had grown too strong? That he was superseding the Constitution, and could pick up anybody--you, me, anybody--for any reason he saw fit, and ship them off to Guantanamo Bay?

Right-wingers said we were tinfoil hat wearing moonbats. We all had "Bush Derangement Syndrome." Curiously, these self-same people now have Obama Derangement Syndrome, and after only three weeks! But guess what, everybody? We were right. Well, we're left, but we were correct.

This guy's big crime was apparently reading a Rolling Stone article whilst being other than Caucasian. And he's still in Gitmo.

[Excerpt]

CIA made Rolling Stone satire into dirty bomb plot: report

A British citizen held at Guantanamo Bay who the Pentagon accused of plotting to build a dirty bomb had actually been reading a satirical article re-posted from Rolling Stone, according to a British newspaper report. . .

Read more at: Raw Story

Obama bin Laden's Driver Guilty...of Being OBL's Driver

Well, stop the presses. This is the first guy tried from Guantanamo Bay, and he's guilty of driving? As Rachel Maddow said earlier today, "he's guilty of not quitting his job." Oy.

Rachel Maddow on Countdown: Bushed!

Yeah, I can't ween myself of the Rachel Maddow posts. Oh well. She stepped into Countdown with Keith Olbermann mid-show tonight, and in the Bushed! segment, she really knocked it out of the park.

News of the Weird: Gitmo Lawyer Drops His Pants

Photo (with edit) from source, Wall Street Journal

What's with the sudden spate of men getting naked in public? And a lawyer defending Guantanamo Bay detainees. . .at a press conference? It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world!

[Excerpt]

Covington Partner Demonstrates Treatment of Detainees

. . .It was in the name of this zealous advocacy that Remes (Columbia, Harvard Law) removed his pants at a news conference on Monday. This morning, we caught up with Remes, who had just landed at JFK after a 14-hour flight from Dubai. . .

Read more (with actual photo) at: Wall Street Journal

What Supreme Court Gitmo Decision Means to the Right

I've been wanting to write a rant about the Supreme Court's recent decision on Guantanamo Bay detainees, but didn't feel that I have the historical and political knowledge to do the subject justice. Most of what I wanted to say, was in regard to the right-wing reaction to the decision (even by dissenting Justices). It's been heralded as the worst decision in history, and Antonin Scalia actually said it would lead to US deaths. But I just couldn't find the vocabulary to express what I felt.

Then I found this post at The Rude Pundit. I've featured posts by Rude on occasion in the past. And I feel I must continue to warn the gentle readers out there that Rude is rude. But he's good. I've censored the excerpt just in case you're one of those gentle ones. . .

[Excerpt]

Gitmo Decision Reaction on the Right: Have You Guys Read the Constitution?

So the Rude Pundit just wants to get this straight: if you think yesterday's Supreme Court decision was a pile of s***, then you believe that the United States has the right to hold foreign nationals without allowing them to challenge their imprisonment in fair, open courts. You believe that a special court with special rules of evidence and special procedures is the only means through which a presidentially-designated "alien enemy combatant" held at a United States-run facility can even say, "Umm, do you have any proof I'm anything more than a f****n' goat herder who was wandering in the right field at the wrong time?" You believe that the Constitution and the Geneva Conventions (except in the narrowest possible interpretation) do not apply to prisoners held at Gitmo. And you're absolutely hysterical, bats*** insane over the idea that a human being held without ever being told why might get to ask. . .

Read more at: The Rude Pundit

Supreme Court Upholds Habeas Corpus for Detainees

Image from source, Salon

I still don't understand how George W. Bush, his administration and 25% (give or take) of the American people continue to believe that the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay have no rights. Many of them have been there for six years, and all of the above maintain that they don't need to be told why they're being held, have no access to counsel, no recourse whatsoever.

Conservatives will allege that they're terrorists, and don't deserve any of those things. Believers in human rights would say that they're suspected terrorists, and are innocent until proven guilty. And therein lies the rub. There is scant evidence on many of these people, so actual court trials would be difficult to prove. The Supreme Court decided today that is not the primary issue; habeas corpus is the issue. Good for them.

[Excerpt]

Supreme Court to Bush: You're not above the law

June 13, 2008 For the third time in four summers, the U.S. Supreme Court has slammed the Bush administration's detention policies at Guantánamo Bay -- locking up terrorist suspects indefinitely and beyond the law. And this time, some real progress might even come out of it. In a 5-4 decision drafted by Justice Anthony Kennedy, the court ruled in Boumediene v. Bush that Guantánamo detainees have a constitutional right to habeas corpus -- that is, to challenge the legal basis for their detention in a federal court. . .

Read more at: Salon

We the People might be growing our nutsack back?

Photo source unknown
Well, the beach resort/social club we know as Guantanamo Bay just will not go away. The administration's desperate attempts at interfering with the legal procedures at Gitmo have finally irritated the presiding judge enough that he has asked the Pentagon brass to get the f*ck outta da room! Stop meddling with the process... in other words.
For those that haven't been paying attention... the administration & the Pentagon have been trying to proceed with 'cookie cutter' prosecution cases against the suspected terrorists/insurgents/Iraqis/Arabs/Muslims/journalists/aid workers that are on trial for crimes we know not what. (Some trials last up to 20 minutes before someone is sentenced!!! Whew! please add in sarcastic tone here.) It appears to me they are trying to get through their prisoners before time is up & Gitmo gets closed. Think of it as last minute 'Hail Mary' by George Bush. It also eliminates a lot of baggage... making the Hail Mary a little easier to throw.

From CNN - The ruling called allegations that Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann, the legal adviser to the Office of Military Commissions, exerted improper influence on the case of Salim Ahmed Hamdan "troubling" and ordered Hartmann to stay out of the prisoner's prosecution.

Me thinks the proverbial ball of yarn, this administration has wound, is slowly starting to unravel... a tiny bit here & a tiny bit there... but an intriguing possibility nonetheless. I can't wait to see if our testes drop.

Cheney Aide Must Testify About Torture

Photo from source, Raw Story

I'm not gonna get too excited about this one. Sure, any thorn stuck into the sides of the Bush Administration is welcome. Even better if they're actually sweating it. But I've been let down too many times. Better to just take satisfaction in their annoyance, and be pleasantly surprised if they actually get held accountable for something.

Oh, who am I kidding. . .go get 'em!

[Excerpt]

House committee votes to compel Cheney's chief of staff to testify about torture

By a voice vote, the House Judiciary Committee voted Tuesday morning to compel Vice President Cheney's chief of staff David Addington to testify about his role in approving harsh interrogation tactics at the US Guantanamo Bay prison. . .

Read more at: Raw Story

Harold & Kumar's Kal Penn Talks with Keith Olbermann

You'd think a guy who has seen Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle a dozen times would have by now seen the sequel, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. I really need to get out more. Meanwhile, Kal Penn sat down for an interview on Countdown with Keith Olbermann tonight, which makes me want to see it more! Check it out.

American Torture Policy: How Did We Get Here?

Image from source, Vanity Fair

Right in the top five of most heinous things the Bush Administration has done to this country, is to give us a reputation as a country that tortures people. Somehow, they got the Republican base--and by extension an apathetic middle-American public--to go along with it.

I fear that we'll never no all of the details of what the Bush Administration has done to injure the way our nation operates and is perceived. But fortunately, there are some investigative reporters out there. Unfortunately, they all seem to write niche books, or work for niche magazines. Vanity Fair, at least, is fairly mainstream. Maybe there's hope yet.

[Excerpt]

The Green Light

As the first anniversary of 9/11 approached, and a prized Guantánamo detainee wouldn’t talk, the Bush administration’s highest-ranking lawyers argued for extreme interrogation techniques, circumventing international law, the Geneva Conventions, and the army’s own Field Manual. The attorneys would even fly to Guantánamo to ratchet up the pressure—then blame abuses on the military. Philippe Sands follows the torture trail, and holds out the possibility of war crimes charges. . .

Read it (it'll freak you out a little) at: Vanity Fair

Movies I Can't Wait to See: Harold & Kumar 2

I confess. I love stupid movies. No, scratch that, I love smart stupid movies. Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle is one of my favorite comedies. I own the DVD, and yet if I happen by an airing on Comedy Central or HBO, I invariably watch it through to the end.

Part of it is a long-time love of White Castle hamburgers, most likely. Also, the stars, John Cho and Kal Penn have great chemistry, and co-star Neil Patrick Harris is hysterically funny. They came together for a slapstick pothead movie that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Now they've made a sequel, Harold & Kumar: Escape from Guantanamo Bay. If they keep the humor level as high (pun intended) as the first film, and maybe throw in a little Bush bashing (how could they not given the title), I'll be happy. It will also be interesting how they deal with openly gay Neil Patrick Harris--who played a version of himself in the first film, as a heterosexual horn-dog.

WARNING: These clips are R-Rated. So put on your headphones and shield your monitor.



And now, from the original:



EDITOR'S NOTE: As is always the case with YouTube videos, these may disappear without notice. Let me know if they're gone by clicking the email link at the upper left. Thanks!

Guantanamo Bay Detainees Finally Charged

Photo from source, Guardian

For the entirety of the "War on Terror" we've held detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba with no charges. Civil libertarians have been complaining for years that these people deserved due process. The Bush Administration (and their supporters) have maintained that these prisoners of war were terrorists, and so the rules were different. Of course with no charges, no due process, there was no proof that all of the detainees even were terrorisrs to begin with.

Now, all these years later, six of the detainees are finally being charged. You have to wonder what the delay was, and why they're being charged now. And what may have been lost by waiting for years to even get the process started. And, of course, we will not get to see everything (or much of anything) that goes on.

[Excerpt]

US charges Guantánamo detainees with 9/11 murders

The US today charged six Guantánamo Bay detainees with murder and war crimes in connection with the September 11 attacks and said it would seek the death penalty if they were convicted.

The men are set to be the first detainees brought before a military tribunal in Guantánamo Bay over the attacks on New York and Washington in 2001. . .

Read more at: Guardian

Guantanamo Advisor Won't Call Waterboarding "Torture"

Photo from AndyWorthington.co.uk

We all know that waterboarding is torture, don't we? It was considered so in World War II, so why not now? The easy answer is, if we declare it to be torture, the Bush Administration is ipso facto guilty of war crimes. So they can't say it. In my opinion, those who deny that waterboarding is torture should be forced to endure it. That's putting your money where your mouth is.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Though the man in this article is named "Thomas Hartmann," he's a completely different guy from Air America Radio host Thom Hartmann. Just thought I'd clear that up!

[Excerpt]

Guantanamo Legal Adviser Refuses To Say Iranians Waterboarding Americans Would Be Torture

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on “The Legal Rights of Guantanamo Detainees” this morning, Brigadier General Thomas W. Hartmann, the legal adviser at Guantanamo Bay, repeatedly refused to call the hypothetical waterboarding of an American pilot by the Iranian military torture. “I’m not equipped to answer that question,” said Hartmann. . .

Read more (with video) at: Think Progress

Guantánamo Bay Manual Leaked

Image from source, Wired

We haven't heard a lot about Gitmo lately, have we? This troublesome black eye to United States human rights credibility has a tendency to pop up now and then, and this one's a doozy. We may not ever find out the true scope of this administrations many evil deeds, but it's heartening that sometimes these things leak out.

[Excerpt]

Sensitive Guantánamo Bay Manual Leaked Through Wiki Site

. . ."What strikes me is the level of detail for handling all kind of situations, from admission to barbers and burials," says Jamil Dakwar, advocacy director of the ACLU's Human Rights program. Dakwar was in Guantánamo last week for a military-commission hearing. [snip]

The manual shows how the military coded each prisoner according to the level of access the Red Cross would have. The four levels are:
• No Access
• Visual Access -- ICRC can only look at a prisoner's physical condition.
• Restricted Access -- ICRC representatives can only ask short questions about the prisoner's health.
• Unrestricted Access

The No Access level troubles Dakwar. . .

Read the rest at: Wired

Random Thoughts. . .

Just some scattered thoughts tonight. But lots of links for you to click.

First up, Darth Cheney seems to be finally getting some scrutiny in the press. In addition to trying to eliminate the government agency that was supposed to oversee him, he seems to think the Vice Presidency is not part of the Executive Branch. Apparently, Bush is a Unitary Executive!

The Bush Administration may be making moves to close Guantanamo Bay, but may be delaying a decision after the news was leaked. Boo-hoo.

Senator Trent Lott caused an exciting "Republicans Eating Their Own" kerfuffle when he came down on talk radio. The big guns like Rush are speaking out, and the far-right crowd is jumping to the talkers' defense. Fun!

All this "talk radio" stuff is prompting a closer examination by progressives too. Think Progress has this great story, REPORT: The Right Wing Domination Of Talk Radio And How To End It. And since this issue always raises all sorts of speculation about the resurrection of The Fairness Doctrine, this great story debunking the myths: The ‘Fairness Doctrine’ Myth.

And finally, a very interesting story about the biological underpinnings of sexuality, The Science of Gaydar. It's lighthearted, but quite comprehensive and scientific. Enjoy!