Extraordinary Rendition
The “liberal” Ninth Circuit Court found 6-5 that victims of extraordinary rendition cannot sue the government because national security concerns trump the rights of the tortured men. I don’t have time to go into this and reading the link will not give you nearly enough information. The take-home message is clear: this is about not embarrassing the government, not about protecting our security. This reminds me of the Doonesbury comic where someone is visiting Asia and says, “This is the site of the secret Cambodian bombing!” Then a local man says, “It wasn’t secret to us; I said to my wife, ‘Look at those bombs exploding!'”
Moderate Republicans
Meghan McCain was on the Rachel Maddow Show last night and it really bugged me. She’s a nice young woman and all, but she talked about remaining a Republican and fighting for moderation in the party. What was she talking about? The Democratic Party is the pragmatic party—they’re the ones who do things that work. The Republican Party is the idealistic party—they’re the ones who are supposed to do things because they are right. Setting aside the fact that the Republicans have an incoherent ideology (personal freedom for corporations, personal slavery for people), how do they moderate their platform. Is it: instead of Park51 being ten blocks from Ground Zero, it can be eight blocks? Is it: instead of the top income tax rate being 35.0% it will be 35.2%? I simply do not see how any reasonable person can be a Republican at this time. In 1970? Okay. In 1980? Okay. Even in 1990? Okay. But not now. And not for the last ten years—at least.
Richard Nixon would be a moderate Democrat today. Ronald Reagan would be a liberal Republican—maybe even a conservative Democrat. Glenn Beck would call Barry Goldwater a fucking socialist!
Ladies and Gentlemen: Your NEW Republican Party!
Trust me, you gotta watch this. Minerva, Ohio councilman Phil Davison gave an impassioned speech last night at the Stark County Republican Party’s executive committee meeting to be their nominee for county treasurer. Sadly, he will not be their nominee. See if you can tell why: