Monday, June 16, 2008

right wing bootlickers

The right wing hue and cry over the Supreme Court's shocking decision that habeas corpus should apply to all human beings makes me despair. What the hell has happened to this country that we no longer believe in basic human rights for all people? Licking the boots of authority is not an American trait, it is a trait of a subjugated people. The United States was founded on dissent, and there is no more basic right of dissent than to be able to dispute one's incarceration at the hands of authority. That those who are locked up in Guantanamo have had no such right is a stain on the Constitution of this country. The Supreme Court got it right on this one; don't let anyone tell you otherwise. This decision will not endanger this nation. The grievous danger we are facing comes from those who decry this decision. John McCain is one such person.

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26 Comments:

Blogger evilganome said...

We can only hope that this is the beginning of the rule of law returning to this country.

June 16, 2008 4:48 PM  
Blogger Doralong said...

A sad and very depressing outcome.. somehow I held out hope that the principles we founded this country on would prevail.

June 16, 2008 5:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes but did you see all the comments from the article you posted slamming McCain - not even close to those few supporting him.

There are still intelligent people in America and some of them even sit on the Supreme Court!

June 16, 2008 6:29 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This was the right decision. I'm disappointed in McCain's stance on this.

June 16, 2008 8:06 PM  
Blogger Doralong said...

Meaning that even the right would see reason and the rule of law.. Thoughtus Incompletus there, sorry!

June 16, 2008 9:11 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Lynette, I was thrilled to find that you actually use capital letters in your blog! So many times on JoeMyGod, I've want to yell at your posts, "Where are the capital letters???"

Please consider using capital letters in all your writing. It's impossible to take you seriously if you don't do so.

June 16, 2008 11:02 PM  
Blogger BigAssBelle said...

It's impossible to take you seriously if you don't do so.

what a tragedy.

June 16, 2008 11:13 PM  
Blogger Joe said...

Don't you think Antonin Scalia is just a FRUITCAKE? I read an editorial that commented about how his dissent was just ridiculous: "Mark my words, this will definitely lead to Americans being killed!"

The thing that's scary is that he IS very educated and sounds so NORMAL and knowledgable on the radio. However, I swear that Scalia & Clarence Thomas (and maybe, now, Alito) are the three scariest people in positions of power in this country. They really, really scare me.

June 17, 2008 3:30 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

That's why we have checks and balances, Joe. And elections every 4 years. Yes, they are a little scary at times, and I disagree with them strongly on their dissents. But I'm still more scared of Islamic fundamentalism. There's no comparison.

June 17, 2008 8:37 PM  
Blogger BigAssBelle said...

joe, they scare me too. scalia in particular because he's been so vocal of late. i was enraged by his response to questions about the 2000 election handoff to bush. he said "get over it," it's ancient history. i haven't noticed him "getting over" roe v. wade or any of the other court decisions that seem to rally the wingers. i honestly don't give a shit who runs, who wins, who becomes president, only that s/he is Not A. Republican. that's all.

anonymous . . . really? you don't find the concept that our liberty is being curtailed by our very own government from within more frightening than islamic fundamentalism? that fucking terrifies me, and even more frightening is the way folks just suck it up and go along with it, never questioning each chunk taken away from the constitution, from the bill of rights.

allowing people incarcerated by the united states to have due process is human rights 101. and no matter what you think of muslims, neither you nor i nor any other citizen of this country actually has any idea why those people have been held in guantanamo for years. they actually don't know either, deprived as they are of the basic right to know the charges against them. in afghanistan, the US army was paying folks for "tips" on terrorists. you don't think for a few thousand $$ some afghanis turned in their irritating neighbors or the guy who's been chasing my daughter?

we have created the problem with muslims. we did it by our actions throughout the world since WWII. until we're willing to admit that we've had a hand in that, we'll never get anywhere close to addressing the problem.

June 17, 2008 9:17 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Are you not using capitals here now to spite me? I'm sorry I said anything!

I just have to scroll, scroll, scroll on by when I see that all-lowercased mass of words.

June 18, 2008 12:13 AM  
Blogger BigAssBelle said...

mike . . . to spite you? good grief. why would i want to spite you, i don't even know who you are. it actually has nothing to do with you. it has more to do with my general level of despair and hopelessness. really, it's not about you.

June 18, 2008 8:16 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes, fundamentalist muslims scare me more than Justice Scalia. He's not blowing up buildings. He's not stoning gay people to death. He's not raping women because they dishonored his family. I don't like fundamentalists of any religion, fyi. But the fundamentalist muslims are particularly frightening in the way they want to suppress human freedoms through violence. I can dislike the republicans, dislike Scalia, dislike all the crap the government does and STILL dislike fundamentalist islam even more. I hope we all can.

June 18, 2008 10:09 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Give Scalia a rock with no one looking, and I'm sure he would be throwing a fastball right down the middle. :)

June 18, 2008 12:33 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

All lowercase equals "despair" to you, L? To me it brings to mind a patina of pretension, and I really can't take seriously someone who doesn't use proper orthographic conventions. I don't see despair there, but I get that you do.

June 18, 2008 5:20 PM  
Blogger BigAssBelle said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

June 18, 2008 8:57 PM  
Blogger BigAssBelle said...

mike. some days i feel such despair and sadness over the state of this country that it seems even that extra click of making a capital is just too much. i haven't thought about it and the idea of it being pretentious or meaning something at all never occurred to me. i am just weary, so very tired, and i despair. you asked about it and i offered the fact that it seems to coincide with those days when i feel most hopeless. honestly, i don't give a shit whether or not you ~ whoever you are ~ take me seriously. whatever.

June 18, 2008 8:59 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sorry, I have to.

Mike, do you not think it odd that in a post such as this, the majority of your contribution to the discourse has centered around what you can and cannot take seriously?

If you missed the general thrust, this was about the state of our rapidly depleting core human rights and freedoms.

I would suggest that if the use of lower case galls you to this degree, "pretension" would not be a word I'd be so quick to ascribe onto others. Food for thought.

June 19, 2008 2:25 PM  
Blogger Joe said...

Anonymous, the idea of death by fire -- among about 1000 other things -- scares me more than Scalia also, but I honestly do not see what the f*ck one has to do with the other, and the same goes for Islamic fundamentalism.

Did you have a point?

June 19, 2008 6:36 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Only that if I had to choose, I'd pick Scalia over radical Islam without a second thought. Hopefully I never have to make that choice.

Regardless, this issue of the Supreme Court and Habeas for these prisoners wouldn't be an issue if we weren't so embroiled in the middle east to begin with. We need to get off foreign oil. Now. Two ways to do it quickly:

1. Invest in alternative energy
2. While we wait for alternative energy to develop, drill in our own country so that we can stop sending our money to crazy radical muslims.

June 19, 2008 11:02 PM  
Blogger BigAssBelle said...

well anonymous, you and i agree. i'm sure you mean that you'd like the oil companies to begin using those 68,000,000 acres of lands they've received from us ~ public lands ~ which contain untapped resources they've chosen not to access, yes?

i'm sure you don't agree with giving them still more fragile public lands offshore or in pristine wilderness areas, just so they can stash those under the assets columns of their balance sheets, thus enriching their stockholders and CEO. right?

June 20, 2008 6:50 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The US is sitting on oil reserves bigger than the entire middle east combined. Yes, I think it's worth drilling in some of those areas because it will benefit the American people by providing them with jobs, lower gas prices and will help end our involvement in the middle east so we can stop dealing with religious zealots who want to blow us up. Even drilling on 1% of the available land will move us in that direction, and buy us the time we need to develop alternative renewable energy.

Environmentalism is very important to me, I was a conservation peace corps volunteer, but technology has improved environmental impact tremendously, and continues to progress. In addition, John McCain has a long record of environmentalism, so I trust him to make sure it is done properly.

June 20, 2008 9:14 AM  
Blogger BigAssBelle said...

so you want them to drill on 1% of their stockpiled 68,000,000 acres.

it seems that would be sensible, to encourage them (how, exactly, do we accomplish that? they have the land now, won't drill) to make use of the lands they have before offering them anything else.

June 20, 2008 9:54 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

There are plenty of people more than willing to drill for oil if the lands are opened up. It's a profitable business, and where there is profit, there is business. I understand the environmental concerns, but I also know that people are hurting because of oil prices, and that's more important, especially if caution is taken regarding protecting environmental concerns. I also understand the concern that this is just a temporary, short term solution that won't last forever, and that's why it must be done in conjunction with development of other energy sources. But the quicker we can get off our dependence of oil from countries run by fanatics (yes, even more fanatical than our current administration!), the better off we will be.

June 20, 2008 11:14 AM  
Blogger BigAssBelle said...

There are plenty of people more than willing to drill for oil if the lands are opened up. It's a profitable business, and where there is profit, there is business.

THE LANDS ARE OPENED UP. They have 68,000,000 ~ THAT'S 68 MILLION ~ acres of leased public lands they could drill on, but they don't. They use them to pad their asset sheets and do nothing. Why should they. They don't really want more supply, they are reaping record profits. Corporations have no conscience, we hear that over and over. So we can't blame them, but we can stop them.

This is like giving dessert to kids who won't eat supper. Bullshit.

June 20, 2008 11:38 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Huh? You're not making any sense here. If they're not drilling anyway, what's wrong with opening up public land and offshore drilling? It will still be land owned by the government: they're not proposing to sell the land to the oil companies, just lease it for the purposes of drilling. If they won't drill, someone else will.

June 20, 2008 11:41 AM  

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