Saturday, January 19, 2008
'Canada removes U.S., Israel from torture watchlist'
Story here.
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's foreign ministry, responding to pressure from close allies, said on Saturday it would remove the United States and Israel from a watch list of countries where prisoners risk being tortured.
Both nations expressed unhappiness after it emerged they had been listed in a document that formed part of a training course manual on torture awareness given to Canadian diplomats.
Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier said he regretted the embarrassment caused by the public disclosure of the manual, which also classified some U.S. interrogation techniques as torture. . . .
'"Preacher" Huckabee says Confederate flag opponents can shove flag pole up their ass'
This is a good one. See here. (Good for John!) Read the whole thing.
Does Huckabee pray to Jesus with that mouth? So much for our Christ-invoking preacher. Now he's suggesting that civil rights advocates shove flag poles up their ass. Not a very nice, or mature, thing for any adult candidate to be saying, let alone the guy who says that God wants him to be president and that he's going to amend the Constitution to bring it in line with the Bible. I don't think the Bible says anything about shoving flag poles up your ass. . . .
John Aravosis on Hillary on domestic partner benefits on Tyra Banks
"Hillary: Gay partners should get health benefits, Social Security, other fed benefits"
Good for her. Reader Lyn tipped me off to Hillary's appearance today on the Tyra Banks show [sometimes I think he's got his head in the sand]:
BANKS: (Reading a question ) "I am a lesbian and my partner of 20 years is sick. She can't afford her medical expenses and because we are not legally married, my policy won't cover her. How can you help us?"
HRC: I believe that if you are in a committed relationship, you ought to be able to have your benefits go to that person, or to anyone else. Suppose you are living with your brother and you want him to have your benefits. He wants you to have your benefits. Suppose you are taking care of and living with your mother. If you are in a committed relationship, no matter what that relationship is.
BANKS: Woman, woman, man, man, it doesn't matter.
HRC: That's right. I believe the benefits are yours and you ought to be able to give them and pass them on to whomever you choose. Also, as we begin to see different states making these decisions, civil unions, domestic partners and, marriage, the federal government ought to make all of the benefits through Social Security and other programs available to any legally recognized relationship and I intend to do that.
'Canada Adds U.S. to List Of Nations That Torture'
Found this on AmericaBlog. Thank you, George Bush.
In Canada, the United States has joined a notorious group of countries -- Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Afghanistan and China, among others -- as a place where foreigners risk torture and abuse, according to a training manual for Canadian diplomats that was accidentally given this week to Amnesty International lawyers.
The manual is intended to create "greater awareness among consular officials to the possibility of Canadians detained abroad being tortured." Part of the workshop is devoted to teaching diplomats how to identify people who have been tortured. It features a section on "U.S. interrogation techniques," including forced nudity, hooding and isolation. . . .
TGIF (ramblings on Huckabee, evolution and my truck)
TG also I have a 3-day weekend. Plan on taking the truck to the shop on Monday. (I called yesterday and it will be open.) Meanwhile I took the truck out tonight and bought a load of groceries (it started here and at the store, too, so I didn't have to call a cab to get home, as I did last time). Am making a brisket (on sale) in the crockpot for tomorrow's lunch, which will include wild rice and spinach. (Meat is getting awfully expensive.)
Regarding Huckabee and all that. I was the best biology student in my high school (Coral Gables); I got the the highest score on the Advance Placement biology exam, when I was a sophomore. (I was in a program called "Motivation in Depth for Gifted High School Science Students.") (I went on to get a degree in literature.) What good biology student doesn't accept evolution? At the time, however, I was readily able to reconcile my acceptance of evolution (it's not a "belief") with my own Methodist upbringing. I just thought that God was the prime mover in evolution. How simple is that? I don't see why "good" Christians can't accept evolution.
This refusal to accept evolution is a fairly recent development, however, as the fundamentalist sects--in their failure of imagination--have more and more come to demand a strictly literal interpretation of the Bible. I find this sad. The Bible is a great work of poetry as much as anything, and should be read and appreciated as such. It should not be reduced to some kind of practical manual for living. (I don't think God would approve!)
According to what I've read, this push to make the Bible into a lowly, uninspired user's guide has led to a de-emphasis on science education in the United States. That's a shame. If our children don't receive a good education in hard science, as a nation we won't be able to compete in the world and will surely suffer for it.
More on the writers' strike, in video
(It gets good.) (I used to want to be a writer in Hollywood. I still think maybe I should have been one, but now I can't afford to be unemployed and go without health insurance.)
Artist uses (lots of) nudes
Friday, January 18, 2008
Huckabee has ties to radical Christian "dominionists"
Forget the Constitution. These people believe that the United States (and every other country in the world) should be put under Biblical law. (Sounds just like the "Islamofascists," right?)
See Joe Conason's article here.
This is from Tristero at Hullabaloo:
Just as I suspected, Michael Huckabee has close ties to Christian Reconstruction, the far right theocrats whose ideas I blogged about during last year's Blog Against Theocracy:
Back in 1998, when he was still serving as governor, he helped write "Kids Who Kill," a short book purporting to analyze the outbreak of school shootings by teenagers. His coauthor was George Grant, a well-known militant Christian reconstructionist author, activist and educator. That same year, the libertarian Reason magazine published an exposé of reconstructionism titled "Invitation to a Stoning," which identified Grant and quoted him on the movement's ambition for "world conquest." Scorning the moderation of other conservative Christians, Grant explained, "It is dominion we are after. Not just a voice ... not just influence ... not just equal time. It is dominion we are after."
Of course, Huckabee must have had no illusions about Grant's baroque worldview, since it is clearly reflected in their book. The school shootings were mere symptoms of American civilization in decline, they thundered, with communities "fragmented and polarized" by "abortion, environmentalism, AIDS, pornography, drug abuse, and homosexual activism." (Unlike his coauthor, Huckabee was too nice to call for the execution of gays. He merely wanted to place them in detention if they tested HIV-positive.) [Emphasis added by Anon.]
And this is for starters. Salon also published today a round up of Huckabee's connections to far right christianists. It's a sobering list.
I'll say it again: Huckabee is not a joke and he has no business being one of the frontrunners of a major political party. That he has come this far is extremely ominous. If he were to get the nomination, it would be a terrible catastrophe even if he were to lose, as he almost surely would, the presidential race. Why? Because Christian Reconstruction will take one more giant step towards the mainstream. . . .
Don't kid yourself. Huckabee and his ilk play for keeps. It may take another 40 years, but as long as normals continue to underestimate and dismiss christianism with a superior snicker instead of fighting back as hard as possible, the most repulsive notions of the religious right will further dominate our discourse. This is a war; christianists are acting like it is. And the rest of us are laughing ourselves silly at the very idea that such ignorant phonies and weirdos could be that dangerous.
Don't kid yourself. They're no longer considered even half as ignorant, phony, or weird by the American mainstream as they were even 15 years ago. They have come a long way while we have just smirked. . . .
