Tag Archives: hypocrisy

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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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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Palin the Red

Posted on by LtL

Ha ha!

For her part, Sarah Palin, who has lately taken to calling Obama “Barack the Wealth Spreader,” seems to be something of a suspect character herself. She is, at the very least, a fellow-traveller of what might be called socialism with an Alaskan face. The state that she governs has no income or sales tax. Instead, it imposes huge levies on the oil companies that lease its oil fields. The proceeds finance the government’s activities and enable it to issue a four-figure annual check to every man, woman, and child in the state. One of the reasons Palin has been a popular governor is that she added an extra twelve hundred dollars to this year’s check, bringing the per-person total to $3,269. A few weeks before she was nominated for Vice-President, she told a visiting journalist—Philip Gourevitch, of this magazine—that “we’re set up, unlike other states in the union, where it’s collectively Alaskans own the resources. So we share in the wealth when the development of these resources occurs.” Perhaps there is some meaningful distinction between spreading the wealth and sharing it (“collectively,” no less), but finding it would require the analytic skills of Karl the Marxist. ?

[From Like, Socialism: Comment: The New Yorker]

You Are Not To Be Like The Hypocrites

Posted on by LtL

[Cross-posted on Daily Kos]

I was sitting in a Baptist church in Maryland when I saw a spider on the pew in front of me. I was maybe 10, maybe 11 at the time and I remember thinking to myself, “if this was a poisonous spider and it bit me right now and I died, I’d go to hell because I haven’t been baptized.” Within the week, I had approached my parents, with all the gravitas of a child making a monumental decision, and told them that I wanted to be baptized. And so, sometime during the following months, I was stripped to my skivvies, dressed up in a white robe, taken out to a fount, dunked under the water and “saved.” Honestly though, I don’t remember any of the baptism, I remember the spider and the fear of hell and the thought that I would be tortured forever and ever.

By the time I was 13 or 14, however, my perspective of the world had shifted quite considerably. Nobody has a more finely honed sense of injustice than a sensitive child who is moving into adolescence. Not only do such people feel the injustices of the world, but, as they edge into their teens, they begin to burn with the self-righteousness that is inherent to all teenagers. By my early teen years, my sense of right and wrong was shocked and outraged at the notion that a being powerful enough to create a universe could be so petty as to condemn a soul to eternal damnation for simply not believing in him/it. I felt that this was a fundamentally insane proposition. If my own ethics balked at the proposition of punishment without end, how could something capable of creating a universe have less compassion than a teenage boy? The cognitive dissonance that I felt trying to accommodate what seems like emotions of jealousy, cruelty, and revenge to a supposedly “loving God” created an emotional impasse. I could either claim to be a Christian and yet not accept certain parts of the Bible (and, in fact, actively despising a god that ordered the slaughter of innocent children), or I could walk away from the whole thing.

I walked away.

Nothing in my experiences and life since has convinced me that I made the wrong choice, because, ultimately, I do not believe in the world view that is espoused by Christianity and other religions. I do not believe that there is a God.

Yet, I have a strong sense of ethics and believe myself to be a moral person. Not perfect, not angelic, but I am not a sociopath. Heck, I’m not even very mean to people I don’t like. I have survived my atheism with a strong desire for social justice, fairness, compassion, equality for all people, and peace. So I am deeply troubled that the religious leaders of this country seem so content to allow politicians to abuse the name of their God in the pursuit of material and personal success, that there isn’t a stronger backlash by religious communities against the Republican tactics of stirring up hatred and fear among their base in order to score dubious political points. I am deeply troubled that good Christians in this country stay silent while people at a Palin rally urge violence upon Obama, that they stay silent when Republicans put out patently racist material in their quest for power, or when our leaders lie, time and time again, to the American people (remember that bit in the 10 Commandments about not bearing false witness? Yes, I’m talking to you Senator McCain). I am deeply troubled when my own relatives smile away or laugh off or simply ignore the virulently anti-Christian behavior of Republicans and yet attempt to preach to me about “being saved.”

Actually, you know what? I’m more than deeply troubled. I am angry. I am angry at the hypocrisy that lies at the heart of the Republican Party in general and the McCain/Palin campaign in specific; angry at all those people who claim to follow Christ’s teachings but who pick and choose the parts of the Bible that they want to support; and I am angry at those followers of Christ who have the audacity to claim some kind of moral high ground over non-believers when they refuse to stand up or speak out against the lies and corruption and injustices that have become part and parcel of our political and government systems. While they may not always say it aloud, many religious people believe that they are better than non-believers or those from other religions. So when they act vicious and when they allow violence and corruption to grow in the name of their God, I see their failures as deeply hypocritical. Christianity (and other religions, I just happen to be most familiar with this one), is supposed to be based on a person’s actions and not just what they say. Just because someone says they believe in God, or that they are Christian, or even that they are a moral and ethical person, does not make it so. Actions, as the saying goes, speak louder than words. As your own God says:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’ (http://biblebrowser.com/matthew/7-16.htm)

Claiming that you believe in a religion does not ensure that you actually follow the teachings of that religion, nor does it ensure that you are anywhere close to being a moral or ethical person. Talking religion or morals or ethics means nothing if you do not act appropriately.

Look, I’m not saying that every Republican in the country is a hypocrite. Far from it. I am not a fan of the Democratic party as a whole. If you look at the actions of both Republican and Democratic parties, you will find many of our so-called “leaders,” are saying one thing and doing another. However, at this point in time, the Republican Party is urging violence, is engaged in flat-out lying about their opponents, is attempting to rig elections, and is repeatedly engaging in actions that are not only un-Christian, but that are deeply unethical. I keep hearing lots of blather about God and Country, but I challenge anyone to show me evidence that the GOP is paying the slightest attention to the teachings of Christ or what is best for America. Certainly, they are invoking God and Country as ways to prophesize, to “cast out demons,” and to pretend that they will “perform many miracles,” but in instance after instance, their actions are lawless, hypocritical, and un-democratic.

If a godless heathen can attempt to live a moral life, I would expect all you good Christians to start acting like you have bothered to read your religious texts and are at least attempting to live up to your Messiah’s words such as:

“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. (Link)

“Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.” (Link)

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.” (Link)

“When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” (Link)

“You cannot serve God and wealth.” (Link)

Every single one of us can be a better person. Every single one of us makes mistakes, treats others poorly from time to time, hurts people, and takes the easy way out. Each of us has been selfish, hypocritical, and cruel. Our moral standing in the world comes from how we take those moments of failure and turn them into lessons for ourselves and then how we act on those lessons in our daily lives.

Calling for Obama’s “death” is neither moral nor Christian. Calling Obama a baby-killer is neither moral nor Christian. Hating people who happen to vote differently than you is neither moral nor Christian.

You think of yourself as a moral person? You call yourself a Christian?

Start acting like one.

McCain Watch: Is A Holy War So Wrong?

Posted on by LtL

Can someone explain to me why Obama gets dragged over coals because of his association with Reverend Wright and McCain proclaims this jackass a “moral compass” and the mainstream press just skip merrily on past the hypocrisy of someone like McCain pandering to a dangerous, religious ideologue who probably has more in common with Osama bin Laden than with Christ:

Of course if you want to see America become embroiled in a holy war against all of Islam, then by all means, vote McCain. Just don’t be surprised when the economy tanks, all of our constitutional rights are flushed down the toilet, and our use of violence breeds millions of enemies who see the US as a bully and a rogue nation.

Land of the Free, Home of the Brave . . . NOT!

Posted on by LtL

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This seems more like land of the oppressive and home of the craven:

Al-Ghizzawi, now 45, is a Libyan-born man who had been living quietly in Afghanistan with his Afghan wife. They had a small shop selling honey and spices that they later expanded to a bakery. They have a young daughter, now 6 years old, whom Al-Ghizzawi last saw when she was just a few months old. When the American bombs started to fall in late 2001 on Jalalabad, the city where Al-Ghizzawi lived with his family, he did what most people would do: He fled. He took his wife and infant daughter to his wife’s parents’ home away from the city. Unfortunately, Al-Ghizzawi was not well known in his in-laws’ village. Bounty hunters turned Al-Ghizzawi over to the Northern Alliance in December 2001, who then handed him over to the United States. (Our government offered millions of dollars for captured “murderers and terrorists,” and few questions were asked when Arab men were turned over for those bounties.) By March 2002, Al-Ghizzawi was sent to Guantánamo, where he was never charged with a crime or given the opportunity to prove his innocence.

The military eventually used so-called Combatant Status Review Tribunals to justify holding prisoners at Guantánamo without the due process on which our legal system is based. But in Al-Ghizzawi’s status review in November 2004, the tribunal unanimously found him not to be an “enemy combatant” (as was determined to be the case with some 35 other prisoners). The U.S. government proceeded to convene a second tribunal using exactly the same “evidence” against Al-Ghizzawi found to be worthless the first time around. One of the officers who sat on the first tribunal, Lt. Col. Stephen Abraham of the Army Reserve, testified to Congress in July 2007 that the evidence against Al-Ghizzawi was “garbage.” In the meantime, Al-Ghizzawi has not been allowed to see or talk to his wife and young daughter for more than six years.

The duration and isolation of his indefinite confinement are appalling enough, but now Al-Ghizzawi appears to be dying of liver disease. Eighteen months ago, in August 2006, I filed an emergency motion with the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., to try to get copies of Al-Ghizzawi’s medical records, which the government refused to turn over. Bush administration lawyers submitted an affidavit in response from the then medical director at Guantánamo, Dr. Ronald Sollock, who acknowledged that Al-Ghizzawi had a “history of hepatitis B,” and stated that the military had run “routine” tests on Al-Ghizzawi. The results, he said, came back “normal.” Sollock also noted in his affidavit that Al-Ghizzawi became infected with tuberculosis while at Guantánamo. This was the first that Al-Ghizzawi had learned of his having a “history of hepatitis B” and of being infected with tuberculosis. But U.S. District Judge Bates denied my motion to gain access to the medical records.

[From Medical treatment at Guantánamo | Salon ]

How anyone who calls themselves a Christian can support Guantánamo, or support the architects of this obscene gulag is beyond me. There ought to be outrage on the part of churches across the country. Perhaps there is, but if there is, such outrage is being lost in a storm of religious intolerance, bigotry, hypocrisy, and cynicism that make up the most vocal and apparent religious voices in this country.

And you know what, the Democratic Party is a craven, base, and cowardly party for not standing up and fighting hard for what is right and moral. There should be no Guantánamo Bay and yet our politicians and leaders continue to allow this abomination to exist.

Shame on us, the American People for allowing this travesty of justice, morality and ethics to exist within the bosom of our nation. Shame on us for not speaking out everyday about the evil that we have allowed to fester in our name. Shame on us for closing our eyes and our ears and our mouths.

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out–
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out–
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out–
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out–
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me–
and there was no one left to speak out for me. (Martin Niemoeller)