Category: Hypocrisy

The Worst Person in Brooklyn

No Comments

Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, who has threatened to close churches in the districts of state legislature if they vote to extend the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse:

Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio threatened state lawmakers by vowing to close churches in their districts — and blame them for the closures — if they dared support a bill making it easier for people who were sexually assaulted as kids to sue, legislators told The Post.

I guess it’s because that, you know, it might be expensive for the church.

Here’s an idea, how about Not Letting Your Priests Rape Children!

That would save even more money.

One note is that it appears that the good Bishop’s attempts at blackmail backfired, and a number of legislators are seriously looking at supporting the bill now.

Minnesota Gov Pawelenty Not to Run for 3rd Term

No Comments

What’s going on here is that this will be a bad cycle for incumbent governors, with tough budget choices to make, and so he gives that a miss by doing this, and can focus on a run for President.

Additionally, it minimizes the political damage of his refusal to certify Al Franken’s election as Senator, which he will do in order to shore up his support with the base.

He has made a statement, but note the weasel here, “If the court directs me to sign that certificate, I will.”

The translation here is that if the court does not explicitly order him, he won’t sign until Coleman goes all the way up the chain to the Supreme Court, but if it does, he has no choice.

A Distinction Without a Difference

No Comments

It appears that Anthony Taguba is now denying that he has any knowledge as to whether or not the photos suppressed by Barack Obama are rape photos.

He’s not denying that he saw photos of rape of women and boys, along with photos rape by instrumentality, he’s just denying any specific knowledge as to whether or not these specific photos are the same.

So there are rape photos, but the 44 photos that the ACLU has filed a freedom of information act about might not be them.

Let There Be No Kings

No Comments

So, one of the proposals in Barack Obama’s speech is a proposal for permanent preventive detention on the say so of the President:

“But even when this process is complete, there may be a number of people who cannot be prosecuted for past crimes, in some cases because evidence may be tainted, but who nonetheless pose a threat to the security of the United States. Examples of that threat include people who’ve received extensive explosives training at al Qaeda training camps, or commanded Taliban troops in battle, or expressed their allegiance to Osama bin Laden, or otherwise made it clear that they want to kill Americans. These are people who, in effect, remain at war with the United States.

Let me repeat: I am not going to release individuals who endanger the American people. Al Qaeda terrorists and their affiliates are at war with the United States, and those that we capture — like other prisoners of war — must be prevented from attacking us again. Having said that, we must recognize that these detention policies cannot be unbounded. They can’t be based simply on what I or the executive branch decide alone. That’s why my administration has begun to reshape the standards that apply to ensure that they are in line with the rule of law. We must have clear, defensible, and lawful standards for those who fall into this category. We must have fair procedures so that we don’t make mistakes. We must have a thorough process of periodic review, so that any prolonged detention is carefully evaluated and justified.

I know that creating such a system poses unique challenges. And other countries have grappled with this question; now, so must we. But I want to be very clear that our goal is to construct a legitimate legal framework for the remaining Guantanamo detainees that cannot be transferred. Our goal is not to avoid a legitimate legal framework. In our constitutional system, prolonged detention should not be the decision of any one man. If and when we determine that the United States must hold individuals to keep them from carrying out an act of war, we will do so within a system that involves judicial and congressional oversight. And so, going forward, my administration will work with Congress to develop an appropriate legal regime so that our efforts are consistent with our values and our Constitution.”

This is contemptible.

If they are prisoners of war, then treat them as such, and grant them the rights therein, including the Geneva conventions, which among other things, prevent their transfer to 3rd countries (Bagram and the CIA gulags).

If they are not, then try them by jury.

This was also the reaction of civil libertarians who had an off the record meeting with him at the White House.

I’m sure that Barack Obama has read the Declaration of Independence, and amongst the grievances given by the founding fathers were, “depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury,” and “transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences,” which sound a lot like what he wants to do.

His argument is that unlike Bush, he can be trusted.

This is a lie. Any agency of government who wishes the grant or extraordinary power on this basis is inherently untrustworthy, and the same goes double for his successor.

Sorry, but, “Because I’m so awesome,” is not a reason.

His speech frightened me more than Dick Cheney’s, because Dick Cheney no longer has the power to do what he wants.

Banking Industry Threatens Obama Administration

No Comments

That’s the subtext of this Wall Street Journal article on how Obama is dealing with the financial industry.

The bankers are saying, “If we don’t get our bonuses, we will destroy our companies and the economy.”

As Ezra Klein notes, patriotism is a joke for the super-rich bankers who run Wall Street:

But whenever it comes up in conversation, I’m shocked at the depth of my own fury. And here’s why: Not to sound naive about this, but the absence of patriotism that galls. The lack of responsibility is sickening. These bankers delivered an almost mortal wound to the American economy. Their actions threw millions out of work and wrecked the retirement savings of tens of millions more. It is no exaggeration to say that they will cost us more than 9/11.

And you cannot negotiate with terrorists.

Geithner Fesses Up

No Comments

Well, I suppose that it’s an improvement that we now have people in cabinet positions who, when caught in a bald faced lie, will, when absolutely forced to, tell the truth.

Compared to Dick Cheney, or Alberto Gonzalez, the fact that Timothy Geithner is now admitting that it was the Treasury that demanded the bonus loophole is a step forward.

Of course, this followed 24 hours of “pin the bonus on Chris Dodd,” and only when people went back to contemporaneous news reports, and his fellow senators pushed back against the smear, did they change their tune, but considering the fact that Ari Fleischer accused Saddam Hussein of planning 911 just 6 days ago, this is a step forward, but still, Geithner needs to realize that he works for Barack Obama, who works for us, and not the banks.

Update on the Santelli Story

No Comments

So, Playboy pulled the posts, but it remains up at the Exiled, and Mssrs. Ames and Levine confirm pretty much every aspect of the story, though, to be fair, Rick Santelli has disavowed any involvement with any of the AstroTurf sites.

That being said, Santelli also canceled tomorrows appearance on The Daily Show, and is declining interviews, which is a polite way of saying, “That’s a fair cop, officer.”

I recommend that you read the whole article, if just for the delightful evisceration Megan McArdle’s attempted to refute a Freedomworks connection, despite the fact that she, you know, shares bodily fluids a man who was only recently running AstroTurf campaigns for Freedomworks, but finally even she is forced to admit that Freedomworks is hip deep in this:

Meanwhile, I’ve spoken with Brendan Steinhauser, the chap at FreedomWorks who has helped organize the tea parties. FreedomWorks has been, as far as I can tell, completely open about their interest in furthering the tea parties, which is not surprising because they’ve been completely open about opposing bailouts since before Obama took office. As Brendan describes it, he and FreedomWorks were calling for demonstrations against the stimulus even before it passed, but he got the teaparty idea from Michelle Malkin’s blog. FreedomWorks emailed its members and set up a website to encourage people to join in. This seems like pretty standard political organization tactics.

Ms. McArdle must thank her lucky stars every day for Amity Shlaes, because it’s only in comparison to Mrs. Lipsky that she does not come across as a complete tool.

Yeah, the VWRC is Back, Only It Ain’t So Vast

No Comments

I’ve been vaguely aware of CNBC D-Lister Rick Santelli, who let loose a torrent of abuse at people at risk of losing their homes, The government is promoting bad behavior! Do we really want to subsidize the losers’ mortgages?! This is America! We’re thinking of having a Chicago tea party in July, all you capitalists who want to come down to Lake Michigan, I’m gonna start organizing.”

That day, a website went live Chicagoteaparty dot com (top pic), which is awfully fast, only the first domain was actually registered in August of last year, and had lain dormant, but suddenly sprung to life, calling for protest with Santelli’s rant on the front.

We also had another domain, created and going live that day, Officialchicagoteaparty dot com (middle pic), which was owned by one Eric Odom, a long time ‘Phant political operative, who created astroturf groups to support offshore drilling, which would directly benefit the business interests of the Koch families.

So, what’s going on?

Well according Playboy* (and mirrored at the Exiled for those of you who have to deal with content filters), the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy (VWRC) is at it again, only it seems to be perhaps a few dozen people:

What we discovered is that Santelli’s “rant” was not at all spontaneous as his alleged fans claim, but rather it was a carefully-planned trigger for the anti-Obama campaign. In PR terms, his February 19th call for a “Chicago Tea Party” was the launch event of a carefully organized and sophisticated PR campaign, one in which Santelli served as a frontman, using the CNBC airwaves for publicity, for the some of the craziest and sleaziest rightwing oligarch clans this country has ever produced. Namely, the Koch family, the multibilllionaire owners of the largest private corporation in America, and funders of scores of rightwing thinktanks and advocacy groups, from the Cato Institute and Reason Magazine to FreedomWorks. The scion of the Koch family, Fred Koch, was a co-founder of the notorious extremist-rightwing John Birch Society.”

Added to this was the owner of Chicagoteaparty dot com is one Zack Christenson, who is a producer for a rightwing radio jock Milt Rosenberg, the man who came up with the bogus Barack Obama-Bill Ayers link.

It’s all a part of the “Sam Adams Alliance,” which has funding from the Koch family, though you have to go to cached copies connecting this to FreedomWorks, run by Republican House Majority leader Dick Armey and paid for by the Koch’s.

Note Santelli front and center on the FreedomWorks home page too.

Mr. Santelli’s contract with CNBC is up in a year, and getting a Youtube hit, even if it is AstroTurf, is likely to improve both his chances of renewal, and his chances for a big contract.

Not also that this has been going on for some time, as it’s also tied into angryrenter dot com, which has been registered for a year.

Seriously though, when you look at all these, there is a guy, his money, and perhaps a dozen other people, who were locked and loaded before the rant ever happened, and when the “grass roots” protests happened, they were lame and fake.

It’s kind of a metaphor for the Republican party as a whole.

H/T The Big Picture.

*Proving that Playboy, at least can do real reporting and cover real stories, in addition to being what the Brits call a “grumble mag”.

What Gail Collins Says

No Comments

Seriously:

Louisiana has gotten $130 billion in post-Katrina aid. How is it that the stars of the Republican austerity movement come from the states that suck up the most federal money? Taxpayers in New York send way more to Washington than they get back so more can go to places like Alaska and Louisiana. Which is fine, as long as we don’t have to hear their governors bragging about how the folks who elected them want to keep their tax money to themselves. Of course they do! That’s because they’re living off ours.

You go, girl.

Governor Andrew Cuomo

No Comments

Because we just had New York Governor David Paterson confirm that he let his people loose to smear Carolyn Kennedy, to the New York Times, no less:

For the first time, Gov. David A. Paterson acknowledged Friday that he personally ordered his staff to contest Caroline Kennedy’s version of events in the hours after she withdrew from consideration to be United States senator.

However, Mr. Paterson said that he was bewildered when his staffers subsequently unleashed harsh personal attacks against Ms. Kennedy, saying he merely wanted them to challenge the assertion from Ms. Kennedy’s camp that she had been his first choice to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Let me be the first to say to you that you are lying through your teeth.

You could have picked up the phone, and talked to any paper on the record, and it would have ended this, but you leaked it via your staff, and considering what your staff said, through staffers who were clearly given marching orders to slime her.

Not choosing Caroline Kennedy as Senator was the right course of action.

She is intensely private, generally uninvolved in politics, and shows all indications of being worse on the campaign trail than her cousin, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.

That being said, you did not have the guts to say that to her face, or to tell the people of New York the truth, which is pathetic.

Hopefully Jail, Absent That, Disbarment

No Comments

Newsweek has gotten reports that the report from the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) of the Department of Justice on the legal opinions of Jay Bybee, John Yoo, and Steven Bradbury is a strong condemnation of their legal reasoning.

Among other things, it looks like, “the report could be forwarded to state bar associations for possible disciplinary action.”

They pursued criminal charges against lawyers and judges in the Nuremberg trials, and they should do so here.

Classier Than George W. Bush

No Comments

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who after having a shoe thrown at him by Martin Jahnke, has, “requested British authorities dismiss charges against Jahnke and pardon him for his act of protest.”

Yes, the Chinese have the moral high ground over George W. Bush, who appears to think that the arrest, continued detention, torture, and threat of a long prison sentence against his shoe thrower, Muntazer al-Zaidi does not merit comment.

What Big Media Matt Says

No Comments

On Iraq:

The harsh reality is that this was not a noble undertaking done for good reasons. It was a criminal enterprise launched by madmen cheered on by a chorus of fools and cowards. And it’s seen as such by virtually everyone all around the world — including but by no means limited to the Arab world. But it’s impolitic to point this out in the United States, and it’s clear that even a president-elect who had the wisdom not to be suckered in by the War Fever of 2002 has no intention of really acting to marginalize the bad actors. Which, I think, makes sense for his political objectives. But if Americans want to play a constructive role in world affairs, it’s vitally important for us to get in touch with the reality of what the past eight years of US foreign policy have been and how they’re seen and understood by people who aren’t stirred by the shibboleths of American patriotism.

(emphasis mine)

I don’t want them marginalized. I want them imprisoned.

I Wish Your Intelligence Had Been Adequate

No Comments

Bush was interviewed by Charlie Gibson:

BUSH: I don’t know — the biggest regret of all the presidency has to have been the intelligence failure in Iraq. A lot of people put their reputations on the line and said the weapons of mass destruction is a reason to remove Saddam Hussein. It wasn’t just people in my administration; a lot of members in Congress, prior to my arrival in Washington D.C., during the debate on Iraq, a lot of leaders of nations around the world were all looking at the same intelligence. And, you know, that’s not a do-over, but I wish the intelligence had been different, I guess.

Let’s see, we have documents from the British saying that your intel was complete ballocks, the French thought that it was complete ballocks, the Germans thought that it was complete ballocks, the Israelis thought that it was complete ballocks.

You systematically excluded anything that did not support your wish to invade Iraq, and you, and the rest of your Evil Minions&trade should all be on your way to the Hague.

Lies Republicans Tell

No Comments

In the (I can’t believe that I’m quoting them) New Republic, they have a very good analysis of the labor costs of the Big 3 (Big 2½), and it confirms what I have been saying, that $70/hour cost of a UAW employee is a lie, and attempts to equate the cost retirees with the current labor costs in order to attack unions.

It turns out that, after the latest round for cuts, the hourly rate and benefits for current workers are probably a bit less than the transplants.

The Big 3’s (Big 2½) labor problem is not the cost of its workforce, it’s the fact that it has been contracting its labor force for 4 decades, and management has systematically underfunded pensions, and now they find themselves in a vice.