Month: February 2010

Andrew Exum goes there.

Among the more disgusting revelations of the mindset behind the torture program of the last administration was John Yoo's defense of crushing the testicles of a child if it could lead to his terrorist father's confession to some piece of intelligence. Threats against family members – a mainstay of totalitarian regimes – were imported into the US system by the war criminals of the last administration. Now check out how an American interrogation actually works:

Mr. Abdulmutallab, 23, began speaking to F.B.I. agents last week in Detroit and has not stopped, two government officials said. The officials declined to disclose what information was obtained from him, but said it was aiding in the investigation of the attempted terrorist attack.

“With the family, the F.B.I. approached the suspect,” the senior administration official said, speaking to reporters at the White House on the condition of anonymity because of the pending legal case. “He has been cooperating for days.”

The idea that there is a conflict between Western values and effective war-making and intelligence-gathering is a lie fostered by the panicked, frightened thugs who took over this country for seven years.

Did she really just call for Rahm Emanuel to be fired because he allegedly used the term "fucking retarded" to refer to fellow Democrats in a private meeting? Last summer? Did she really?

I don't like the term myself. I think it is offensive. I think Rahm Emanuel is offensive. But at least he's real.  And he has now apologized. And at least he used the term metaphorically.

Palin, in contrast, called her own campaign prop "her retarded baby" in private, according to an eye-witness account from the father of her own grandson who lived in her house for months and knew her intimately. "I was just in shock the first time I heard it," Levi Johnston told CBS. Unlike Sarah Palin, Johnston has not been caught in multiple indisputable lies. I believe him over her. In fact, in any factual dispute, I believe anyone over her.

While I'm at it, does anyone actually believe that Palin's name for the child of miraculous provenance was found by her deep knowledge of ancient Norse as she claims in her magical-realism novel, "Going Rogue"? I mean, seriously. She knows about as much ancient Norse as she does English grammar. It's as credible as the idea that she gave a speech while having contractions, several hours after going into labor, as she claims in her novel. It's as credible as her amazing journey in labor with a special needs child on a plane where the flight attendants, according to the Anchorage Daily News, did not even notice she was pregnant. It's as credible as any number of indisputable self-serving, unbalanced lies that she has told in the public record for years.

The medical term for Down Syndrome is Trisomy-21 or Trisomy-g. It is often shortened in medical slang to Tri-g.

Is it not perfectly possible that the very name given to this poor child, being reared by Bristol, is another form of mockery of his condition, along with the "retarded baby" tag? And does the way in which this poor child was hauled around the country on a book tour, being dragged out in front of flash photographs in the middle of the night, barely clothed, suggest someone who actually cares for children with special needs, or rather sees them as a way to keep the spotlight on her?

C'mon, Levi. Write that book. Expose this fraud.

In my view, every single Republican who appears on cable or radio and who complains about the debt and rules out any tax hikes should be directly and specifically asked every single time what they propose to cut. Specifically. Every single time. Equally, every single Democrat who says they want to tackle the debt needs to be asked every single time which taxes they propose raising. Specifically. Every single time. If the journalist looks like an asshole, get over it. It is our job to look like assholes. We are professional assholes. We get paid to be rude. In order to expose the truth. One reason this country is in a fiscal crisis is that journalists are not doing their job.

They chase ratings and politician “gets” more than they chase the truth. Why did it take the president to expose the Republicans’ appalling fiscal record and lack of seriousness on spending rather than the press? Why are these politicians allowed to go on the air without being pressed relentlessly for their actual proposals.

And by relentlessly, I mean – if they fail to answer, or offer vague generalizations, ask again. And again. And again. And again. On air. Refuse to move on. Put them on the spot. Both parties. Every time.

Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council was on Hardball last night:

Matthews:   Do you think we should outlaw gay behavior? Sprigg:  Well, I think certainly it’s defensible – Matthews:  I’m just asking you:  Should we outlaw gay behavior?

Sprigg:  I think that the Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas which overturned, uh, the sodomy laws in this country was wrongly decided.  I think there would be a place for criminal sanctions against homosexual behavior.

Matthews:  So we should outlaw gay behavior. Sprigg:  Uh, yes!  [laughs]

Rob Tisinai reacts:

You know, it’s the laughter that gets me…No matter what we do, no matter what we offer, it won’t be enough for these folk.  If we agree to everything-but-the-word, they’ll go to work on the “everything.”    They’ll chisel away at civil unions and domestic partnerships until they strip us of even the right to claim the dead body of your partner from the morgue.  They’ll keep chiseling  — chiseling until we’re in prison.  And I’ll tell you this:  I’m not going to prison just because Peter Sprigg and the Family Research Council freak out at the thought of me grabbing Will’s ass and planting him one on the lips while we’re making ourselves dinner.

Professor Bainbridge teases.

This would be odd if it weren’t Sarah Palin. From USAToday:

I will not benefit financially from speaking at this event. My only goal is to support the grassroots activists who are fighting for responsible, limited government — and our Constitution. In that spirit, any compensation for my appearance will go right back to the cause.

Here’s what Politico reported last month:

Palin’s aides and conference organizers won’t comment on financial arrangements, but documents obtained by POLITICO reveal the going rate for the former Alaska governor: $100,000 a speech, with a discount to $75,000 for West Coast appearances. Palin has reportedly waived the fee for some charitable events, but what’s billed as a meeting of the grass-roots conservative movement is not among those.

So they’ll pay her and she’ll then immediately give it back to them? Why not simply waive the fee? Or is the “cause” some other group?  Will someone in the press actually, you know, demand an answer to this latest weirdness? Or is she due for another Oprah love-fest instead?

Colin Powell has now come forward to reverse his previous position on Don't Ask Don't Tell:

“In the almost 17 years since the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ legislation was passed, attitudes and circumstances have changed,” General Powell said in a statement issued by his office. He added: “I fully support the new approach presented to the Senate Armed Services Committee this week by Secretary of Defense Gates and Admiral Mullen.”

This is another huge step to end this cruel and self-defeating anachronism.

A small correction to this post. Reagan was not governor when he took a stand against banning openly gay teachers from public high schools in California – a position now held by 73 percent of self-identified Republicans in a recent Research 2000 poll. He was a former governor, preparing to run for president for a third time. How many Republican candidates today, preparing to run for president, would take a stand defending the dignity of homosexual teachers?

Just look at the pathetic creature that is John McCain: a profile in cowardice and cynicism.

A reader writes:

The irony in a hack like Bill Kristol spewing such unfounded idiocy about gays in the military is that his views are so eerily parallel to the very nations and societies he is so hell-belt on going to war against. The contrast between our nation and other countries that don't allow gays to serve in the military is so stark: Cuba, China, Egypt, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Venezuela, the United States. It's like a basic "which one of these is not like the other" exercise from Sesame Street. Kristol's zeal in committing America to fighting these societies – in large part due to their hateful and disturbing treatment of minorities and "the other" – apparently does not extend to those cultures treatment of homosexuals. It's so inconsistent and phony, it makes me ill.

You mentioned Israel. Can Kristol make the argument that the Israeli army is somehow burdened by gay Israelis tearing shit up all over the Middle East?

You discuss Kristol as a Christianist here. But I think what's clearer is not that he harbors any actual sincere views – what is revealed is what a partisan hack he is, so beholden to the party line. There are "Christianists" in Israel – ultra-Orthodox Jews, who have no love for the gay community. But from what I know, the religious community in Israel has not made much of a stink about gay service in the Israeli army because they take their national security seriously. Whatever the religious right might think about gays parading through Jerusalem, they don't extend their religious objection to the shit that really matters – Israeli security. They know that when it comes down to defusing a bomb on a bus, or taking out some Hamas maniac sniper-style, a soldier's sexual preference is just irrelevant.

Kristol knows the same is true of our men and women in Baghdad and Kabul, but he doesn't actually care about national security, what's fair and just, what makes the most sense – just what promotes the Fox News Nation. Shameful.