Nothing Says America like Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie, and Secret Prisons
Yesterday, listening to Rush Limbaugh, I heard him bragging about how the President seems to be taking his advice and trying to put so much into the news cycle that nobody will be able to keep up or pay attention to any one thing long enough to do anything about it or have it affect opinion polls.
There sure is a lot going on, and so I'm posting another post today in my effort to keep up....
Today there was a story "breaking" about our secret prisons in other countries where we can avoid the legal restraints of our own codes of justice. Because we are only concerned with the letter of the law and not the spirit of the law, and if we commit murder and torture and other heinous acts in countries who don't consider that illegal, then what the heck? No harm, no foul, right?
First of all, I don't know why this is news today. This has been reported for over a year, and of course we already knew about why we put Guantanemo in CUBA instead of putting our prisoners within our own borders where American reporters could have access to them. Why do you think Hitler put the lion's share of his concentration camps in OCCUPIED nations like Poland? "We're torturing them over there so we don't have to torture them here at home." Feel better? Getting what you're paying for? Have enough plausible deniablity to sleep at night? Just remember you didn't believe the Germans in 46 who said they had no idea what their government was doing, and the world isn't going to believe you either.
Check out the reports, from today and a year ago, and keep asking yourself two questions....
Do I really not care why these people hate America and are willing to kill themselves to stop our liberation of their country?
and
Are the actions taken by my government really reflective of my own ethical, moral, and intellectual positions?
Maybe you Republican Bushiacs think that using Soviet era gulags is recycling. Come on you depraved and bloodthirsty devils in angel's robes...tell me again how Dick Durbin went over the line comparing our soldiers and government to Nazis and the worst of Stalin's thugs.
When Durbin said the US was setting up Gulags you villified him...and now we know that, gosh, we ACUTALLY ARE USING GULAGS! Which is more outrageous? The accusation or the fact that the accusation is accurate?
I know, I know....I keep saying irony isn't dead, its just that Republicans are dead to irony....but for God's sake, for people who are claiming to be spreading the glory of a free democracy, we aren't modeling very good behavior.
And while I'm trying to keep up with events, hats off and a shout out to Harry Reid for finally growing a set and demanding the report on the allegations of misuse of intelligence in the lead up to the war.
All we want is the truth. Is that so wrong?
Further Reading
There sure is a lot going on, and so I'm posting another post today in my effort to keep up....
Today there was a story "breaking" about our secret prisons in other countries where we can avoid the legal restraints of our own codes of justice. Because we are only concerned with the letter of the law and not the spirit of the law, and if we commit murder and torture and other heinous acts in countries who don't consider that illegal, then what the heck? No harm, no foul, right?
First of all, I don't know why this is news today. This has been reported for over a year, and of course we already knew about why we put Guantanemo in CUBA instead of putting our prisoners within our own borders where American reporters could have access to them. Why do you think Hitler put the lion's share of his concentration camps in OCCUPIED nations like Poland? "We're torturing them over there so we don't have to torture them here at home." Feel better? Getting what you're paying for? Have enough plausible deniablity to sleep at night? Just remember you didn't believe the Germans in 46 who said they had no idea what their government was doing, and the world isn't going to believe you either.
Check out the reports, from today and a year ago, and keep asking yourself two questions....
Do I really not care why these people hate America and are willing to kill themselves to stop our liberation of their country?
and
Are the actions taken by my government really reflective of my own ethical, moral, and intellectual positions?
Maybe you Republican Bushiacs think that using Soviet era gulags is recycling. Come on you depraved and bloodthirsty devils in angel's robes...tell me again how Dick Durbin went over the line comparing our soldiers and government to Nazis and the worst of Stalin's thugs.
When Durbin said the US was setting up Gulags you villified him...and now we know that, gosh, we ACUTALLY ARE USING GULAGS! Which is more outrageous? The accusation or the fact that the accusation is accurate?
I know, I know....I keep saying irony isn't dead, its just that Republicans are dead to irony....but for God's sake, for people who are claiming to be spreading the glory of a free democracy, we aren't modeling very good behavior.
And while I'm trying to keep up with events, hats off and a shout out to Harry Reid for finally growing a set and demanding the report on the allegations of misuse of intelligence in the lead up to the war.
All we want is the truth. Is that so wrong?
Further Reading
- Prisoners who disappear, by Reed Brody, International Herald Tribune, OCTOBER 12, 2004
- The CIA's Disappeared, Washington Post, October 26, 2004
- After Terror, a Secret Rewriting of Military Law, By TIM GOLDEN, New York Times, October 24, 2004
- Dearth of Human Rights, Wealth of Human Tragedy by Marc Krug, Intervention Magazine, February 1, 2005
- CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons: Debate Is Growing Within Agency About Legality and Morality of Overseas System Set Up After 9/11, By Dana Priest, Washington Post Staff Writer, Wednesday, November 2, 2005
- CIA declines comment on report of secret prisons in Europe, elsewhere, Forbes,
11.02.2005 - Destroying the Constitution in Order to Save It, TPM Cafe
posted by Archie Levine at 11:07 AM
2 Comments:
I have to get on that Cafe Press idea.
Rhonda, even if the Geneva Convention didn't apply, which I think it does, then we'd still be bound by having signed the UN Convetion Against Torture in 1994.
But at the end of the day, we ought to be bound by our morality, concience, and supposedly underlying Christian ideology.
If Judge Roy More is so hell bent to get the Ten Commandments in the foyer of every court room in the country to remind us of the foundations of our law, maybe he ought to buy and ship a 16 ton version of them and send it to the foyer of the White House to remind the President of those same foundations.
(From my Congressman)
Thank you for contacting me regarding the treatment of prisoners. It is good to hear from you.
Like you, I am deeply concerned about the human rights abuses and acts of torture that continue to occur in many areas of the world. As a nation dedicated to freedom and the rights of the individual, we have a responsibility to speak out when those rights are violated, whether at home or abroad.
As you may know, Representative Edward Markey of Massachusetts introduced an amendment to H.R. 2862, the Science, State, Justice, and Commerce Appropriations bill for FY2006. This amendment would prohibit funds in the bill from being used in contravention of certain laws enacted or regulations promulgated to implement the UN Contravention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
The Science, State, Justice, and Commerce Appropriations bill for FY2006 was introduced on June 10, 2005. Representative Markey's amendment, which I voted for, passed the House by a vote of 415-8, and was included in the bill. The Science, State, Justice, and Commerce Appropriations bill passed the House on June 16, 2005 by a vote of 418-7.
Representative Markey also introduced an identical amendment to H.R. 2863, the Department of Defense Appropriations bill for FY2006. This amendment would also prohibit funds in the bill from being used in contravention of certain laws enacted or regulations promulgated to implement the UN Contravention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
The Department of Defense Appropriations bill for FY2006 was introduced on June 10, 2005. Representative Markey's amendment was agreed to by voice vote and was included in the bill. The Department of Defense Appropriations bill for FY2006 passed the House on June 20, 2005 by a vote of 398-19.
The Science, State, Justice, and Commerce Appropriations bill and the Department of Defense Appropriations bill have been referred to the Senate for futher action. Rest assured I will keep your views in mind should these bills require further consideration by the House.
I appreciate you taking the time to contact me. I feel it is important to keep an open line of communication so I can best serve the interests of the 6th District. I hope you will continue to be in touch as the 109th Congress debates issues of importance to the United States.
Again, thanks for the benefit of your comments. Please feel free to contact me whenever I may be of assistance.
Sincerely,
Bob Goodlatte
Member of Congress
PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS E-MAIL BECAUSE THIS MAILBOX IS UNATTENDED. TO CONTACT CONGRESSMAN GOODLATTE PLEASE VISIT HIS WEBSITE AT WWW.HOUSE.GOV/GOODLATTE.
Post a Comment
<< Home