Author: Andrew Sullivan

Malkin Award Nominee

"Most great powers unravel from within before invading armies (or in America's case, terrorists) conquer them. A preacher might develop a good sermon on how nations fare when they mock God. No less a theological thinker than Abraham Lincoln concluded that our Civil War might have been God's judgment for America's tolerance of slavery. If that were so, why should "the Almighty," as Lincoln frequently referred to God, stay His hand in the face of our celebration of same-sex marriage?" – Cal Thomas, losing his shit, Washington Examiner.

He makes no actual argument, of course, on why civil marriage cannot be extended to gay couples.

Obama’s Use Of Tortured Evidence

Jennifer Turner at the ACLU argues that “although President Obama promised transparency and sharp limits on the use of tortured and coerced statements against the accused,” a detainee captured during the Bush years and sentenced earlier this week at Guantanamo Bay continues America’s pattern of abuse.

Khadr, then 15 years old, was taken to Bagram near death, after being shot twice in the back, blinded by shrapnel, and buried in rubble from a bomb blast. He was interrogated within hours, while sedated and handcuffed to a stretcher. He was threatened with gang rape and death if he didn’t cooperate with interrogators. He was hooded and chained with his arms suspended in a cage-like cell, and his primary interrogator was later court-martialed for detainee abuse leading to the death of a detainee. During his subsequent eight-year (so far) detention at Guantánamo, Khadr was subjected to the “frequent flyer” sleep deprivation program and he says he was used as a human mop after he was forced to urinate on himself.

In closing arguments before the judge’s ruling, Khadr’s sole defense lawyer, Lt. Col. Jon Jackson, told the judge, “Sir, be a voice today. Tell the world that we actually stand for what we say we stand for.”

Though President Obama promised that coerced evidence would not be used against detainees in the military commissions, today’s ruling suggests that as a country, we stand for abusing a 15-year-old teenager into confessing, and using those confessions against him in an illegitimate proceeding.

The danger of torture is not just the act of torture. It is the way in which the powerful can produce the confessions they want. And the necessity of proving, in this case, that imprisoning and torturing a 15 year-old was not a mistake makes the government double down even further. What happens is that physical force is introduced into the system of alleged justice. There is no justice then; just power.

Yglesias Award Nominee

"Conservatives cannot deny that our Founders intended the judiciary as an equal and independent branch of government purposed to ensure the protection of every citizen’s rights. The Supreme Court has previously ruled that the right to marry is a fundamental constitutional right.

When an unpopular minority is denied the right to marry, it is indeed the role of the courts to protect the rights of that minority, especially when a majority would deny them. This is why Judge Walker’s opinion reads, “That the majority of California voters supported Proposition 8 is irrelevant, as fundamental rights may not be submitted to [a] vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.”

Not to mention that conservatives have a flawed history with civil rights, a trend that began when Barry Goldwater opposed the Civil Rights Act as unconstitutional. While Goldwater was no racist there is clearly a conservative precedent for a breakdown at the intersection of ideology and reality," – Fox News contributor Margaret Hoover, in an open letter to "fellow conservatives."

A Question Of Integrity, Ctd

Jacob Stokes draws a correlation between Pfc. Bradley Manning's suppressed sexual identity and his decision to go to Wikileaks:

This argument is not to excuse what Pfc. Manning allegedly did, which was against the law and almost surely endangered the lives of Americans and Afghans in the field while revealing little new information about the war in Afghanistan. Nor am I saying that the DADT policy was the sole driver behind Pfc. Manning alleged decision to leak the information. It’s clear that there were a number of factors and motivations at work.

But the [NYT profile] clearly states how Pfc. Manning’s homosexuality isolated him within the force. Manning had joined the army, as the article says, “to try to give his life some direction and to help to pay for college.” He sought guidance from the military and was met with institutional discrimination. Surely the imperative to hide his homosexuality pushed Pfc. Manning further and further into isolation, and he eventually (allegedly) cracked. Pfc. Manning did what he could to gain acceptance within the community of hackers who had befriended and accepted him when the military wouldn’t—he leaked the material.

Christianism Watch

This from the group that claims allowing gay couples to marry civilly is an outrage against religious freedom:

"Permits should not be granted to build even one more mosque in the United States of America, let alone the monstrosity planned for Ground Zero. This is for one simple reason: each Islamic mosque is dedicated to the overthrow of the American government. Each one is a potential jihadist recruitment and training center, and determined to implement the 'Grand Jihad' of which Andy McCarthy has written.

"Because of this subversive ideology, Muslims cannot claim religious freedom protections under the First Amendment. They are currently using First Amendment freedoms to make plans to destroy the First Amendment altogether. There is no such thing as freedom of religion in Islam, and it is sheer and utter folly for Americans to delude themselves into thinking otherwise." – American Family Association radio host Bryan Fischer.

I think it's time to acknowledge what we are increasingly learning: the base of the GOP – aided and abetted by what's left of their elites – want a religious war abroad and at home not on Jihadism, but on Islam itself. And a vote for the GOP is a vote for this agenda. It is a vote for global warfare and domestic division.