Tag Archives: GOP

McCain Introduces Bill To Make Obama More Powerful Than A King

Posted on by LtL

S.3081 is obscene. S.3081 is profoundly anti-law. S.3081 allows for indeterminate detention for pretty much anyone the President “considers appropriate.” S.3081 is backed by Republicans who talk a big game when it comes to freedom and liberty and the rule of law, but who, as this bill demonstrates, are really bullies and thugs who have no regard for the Constitution, the rule of law, or basic ethical principles. McCain and Lieberman (and the others who have signed onto this bill) are doing the terrorists work for them by allowing the United States to become a land ruled by fear and imperial dictate rather than a system of justice that presumes innocence until guilt is proven.

Go ahead, someone prove to me why giving the President the power to label someone a “high-value detainee” based on whatever reasons that President decides to make up and then holding that person indefinitely is a good idea for a democracy. I thought the whole fucking point of the United States was that we didn’t live in a dictatorship/monarchy.

And I hope all you fucking teabaggers and libertarians take down the GOP for their desire to concentrate even more power in the hands of the President. But somehow I don’t think you will because you were perfectly happy to give up your rights to Bush and his cronies, and you’re now too busy whining about the fact that liberals want to actually get you better health care.

CRITERIA FOR DESIGNATION OF INDIVIDUALS AS HIGH-VALUE DETAINEES- The regulations required by this subsection shall include criteria for designating an individual as a high-value detainee based on the following: (A) The potential threat the individual poses for an attack on civilians or civilian facilities within the United States or upon United States citizens or United States civilian facilities abroad at the time of capture or when coming under the custody or control of the United States. (B) The potential threat the individual poses to United States military personnel or United States military facilities at the time of capture or when coming under the custody or control of the United States. (C) The potential intelligence value of the individual. (D) Membership in al Qaeda or in a terrorist group affiliated with al Qaeda. (E) Such other matters as the President considers appropriate. Text of S.3081 as Introduced in Senate: Enemy Belligerent, Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010… OpenCongress

via Glenn Greenwald

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These People are Idiots

Posted on by LtL

FAIL:

The Tea Party’s choice in the Florida Republican primary, Marco Rubio, began his address to a crowd of conservative conventioneers by taking a shot at President Obama for reading from a teleprompter. He did it while standing in front of two easily visible teleprompters. Rubio Slams Obama’s Teleprompter While In Front Of Telemprompters At CPAC

The reality blinders on these people are astounding.

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Republicans or Political Pustules, You Decide

Posted on by LtL

What is there to say about these political pustules? They are hypocritical and don’t give a damn about the American people or about good governance or about doing what is right for the country.

For Republicans, the idea of requiring every American to have health insurance is one of the most abhorrent provisions of the Democrats’ health overhaul bills. “Congress has never crossed the line between regulating what people choose to do and ordering them to do it,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT). “The difference between regulating and requiring is liberty.” But Hatch’s opposition is ironic, or some would say, politically motivated. The last time Congress debated a health overhaul, when Bill Clinton was president, Hatch and several other senators who now oppose the so-called individual mandate actually supported a bill that would have required it. wbur.org » News » Republicans Spurn Once-Favored Health Mandate

Don’t get me wrong, the Democrats aren’t much better and have enabled this kind of obstructionist hypocrisy every step of the way. But the GOP is really quite special when it comes to being lying sacks of shit who want to ensure that 1% of Americans can continually benefit at the expense of the rest of us.

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The Real Meaning of the Republican National Convention

Posted on by LtL

Is it just me or does this sound an awful lot like a recent political spectacle:

In George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, the Two Minutes Hate . . . is a daily period in which Party members of the society of Oceania must watch a film depicting The Party’s enemies . . . and express their hatred for them and the principles of democracy.

[From Two Minutes Hate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]

Ah, the Sweet Sweet Smell of a Police State

Posted on by LtL

There has been a rash of arrests and raids in the St. Paul/Minneapolis area as the Republican National Convention gets underway. Here’s one of the higher profile arrests:

ST. PAUL, MN—Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman was unlawfully arrested in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota at approximately 5 p.m. local time. Police violently manhandled Goodman, yanking her arm, as they arrested her. Video of her arrest can be seen here:   Goodman was arrested while attempting to free two Democracy Now! producers who were being unlawfuly detained. They are Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar. Kouddous and Salazar were arrested while they carried out their journalistic duties in covering street demonstrations at the Republican National Convention. Goodman’s crime appears to have been defending her colleagues and the freedom of the press. [From Democracy Now! | Amy Goodman and Two Democracy Now! Producers Unlawfully Arrested At the RNC]

For more information and videos, check out The Uptake, which has been covering a number of illegal raids and arrests, often with video phones. The quality isn’t great on most of the videos, but you can get a sense of what is going on.

Why the gestapo tactics?1

I submit that the people running the “Grand Old Party” are a group of petty, power-hungry thugs. I am not suggesting that the majority of Republicans are petty, power-hungry thugs but that the majority of American’s who vote or support the Republican party without consideration are supporting a party that no longer exists. The Republicans who stood for national security (undermined at every turn by Bush & Co.), fiscal responsibility (also undermined by Bush & Co.), and smaller government (can you say undermined by Bush & Co. boys & girls), doesn’t exist any longer. The Republican Party had turned itself into a reactionary, fascist, racist, war-mongering party that gives not one whit for the rule of law,2 for human rights,3 or for rational governance.4

They are thugs and are behaving as such. McCain runs negative and ad hominem attacks against Obama because he has nothing to offer this country but a vision of corporate greed and the stoking of various war engines. The coordinated attacks on journalists and peace activists smacks of GOP pressure on local law enforcement in order to keep people intimidated and unable to effectively communicate just how crazed and ruthless the GOP has become.

Next time a Republican claims that he or she loves this country, instead of just accepting their rhetoric, let’s look at their actions. I guarantee that the majority of Republicans in the Federal Government will have a track record that shows that they love their own power and their own pocketbooks a whole hell of a lot more than they love the idea of democracy, the Constitution, or America.

1. The Gestapo had the authority to investigate treason, espionage and sabotage cases, and cases of criminal attacks on the Nazi Party and Germany. A law passed by the government in 1936 gave the Gestapo carte blanche to operate without judicial oversight. The Gestapo was specifically exempted from responsibility to administrative courts, where citizens normally could sue the state to conform to laws. (Wikipedia, “Gestapo”)

  1. http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/07/12/torture/

3. “. . . the interrogation methods Bush has authorized and continues to defend are flagrant violations of the Geneva Conventions and international conventions against torture and cruel and degrading treatment.” (World Socialist Website)

4. http://www.ucsusa.org/scientific_integrity/abuses_of_science/case_studies_and_evidence/abstinence-only-education.html

Justice Scalia as Mouthpiece for GOP

Posted on by LtL

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(Flying the true colors of his flag: partisanship and lies)

Important information the next time someone tries to argue against Habeas Corpus and actual Justice in relation to Guantanamo Bay:

A new report from the Seton Hall University School of Law explodes the myth that some 30 detainees released from Guantanamo Bay prison have “returned to the battlefield” against American forces.

[From Think Progress » Report: Scalia’s Claim That Released Gitmo Prisoners Have Killed Americans Is An ‘Urban Legend’ ]

In fact, despite the fact that this myth is being repeated over and over again (because that’s how the truth gets made, don’t ya know: when 2 lies love each other very much, they . . .):

According to the Department of Defense’s published and unpublished data and reports, not a single released Guantánamo detainee has ever attacked any Americans.

So Justice Scalia may want to think about presenting the facts in his next opinion instead of parroting some unsubstantiated urban legend lie that he was fed by GOP Senators in their continued (and largely unchecked) pursuit of fascist power.

(via Pandagon)