Being the Change I Wish to See

Liz Cheney is at it again. Her new web ad about the Obama justice department and attorneys who have represented or advocated for Guantanamo detainees questions their values and loyalty to the U.S. Are they really al-Qaeda sympathizers? No, they are not. They are just doing their jobs.

Ms. Cheney is playing the “guilt-by-association” card. There is a really big problem once you go down that path, extremely twisted logic. The following clip from The Rachel Maddow Show demonstrates taking guilt-by-association to its full conclusion (7 min.). The question is where do you stop? How far down the rabbit hole do you go?

Queue the scary music:

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Be afraid!!! Are you scared?

Using Liz Cheney’s logic, aren’t all defense attorneys criminals if they defend guilty people in court? No. Our Constitution guarantees presumption of innocence until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and the accused are entitled to a vigorous defense. What about the attorney who defended Timothy McVeigh? Is he a terrorist sympathizer, too? No.

Defending the guilty is an integral part of our justice system. It’s the American way. It’s one of our founding principals. We can’t abandon those principals because we are dealing with foreign detainees whose arrests were botched. Botched arrests happen regularly, not quite like these, but they are not new. We have the processes to deal with it.

Let’s allow the DOJ to go forward and prosecute the detainees against whom we have reasonable evidence. We know our court system is far more effective than military tribunals. Here’s the score: Federal court system: 300 convictions of terrorist suspects since 2001; military tribunal system: 2 convictions.

Even Republicans and Conservatives are saying Cheney’s ad goes too far. It steps way over the line of reason when Bill O’Reilly of Fox News won’t even agree with her. The following clip from Countdown explores the legal and moral outrage over this web ad (7 min.):

I have to hope Liz Cheney keeps up her conspiracy witch hunts in public for as long as she wants. When it makes Conservatives back away from her, it’s possible for the moderates to move left just a bit and get back to the middle where moderates like to be.

When fear-mongers start to sound like loons to those who are already ideologically extreme, they are finally being seen in the correct light.

Do you buy Liz Cheney and Keep America Safe’s bullpucky on this? If not, what other fear-mongering crap do you now question about what they have said?

If it’s a Cheney talking, I must admit I won’t believe a word of it because whatever “it” is that any of them are saying comes out of irrational fear of another terrorist attack on the U.S. Future terrorist attacks are possible, but so was nuclear war during the entire cold war. You can’t live your life in constant fear of what might happen. If we cower in fear, the terrorists win.

I wonder if the Cheney home is equipped with a fully stocked bomb shelter and survival gear…

BTW, Rachel posted bail with Kent Jones in the amount of slices of pizza, and borrowed the handcuffs from Jimmy Fallon. She was back on her show the next night.

Technorati Tags: al-Qaeda, Countdown, David Corn, Guantanamo Bay prison, guilt by association, Lawrence O'Donnell, Liz Cheney, MSNBC, Obama Administration, Rachel Maddow, The Rachel Maddow Show, U.S. department of justice

written by Sherri Joubert \\ tags: al-Qaeda, Countdown, David Corn, Guantanamo Bay prison, guilt by association, Lawrence O'Donnell, Liz Cheney, MSNBC, Obama Administration, Rachel Maddow, The Rachel Maddow Show, U.S. department of justice

This article is part 15 in a multi-part series about the Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill of 2009, better known as the Ugandan kill-the-gays bill. The Rachel Maddow Show named this series Uganda Be Kidding Me, and they won a GLAAD award this year for it. The first 14 articles can be accessed at the following links:

• Part 1: Born in the USA
• Part 2: Horrific Details
• Part 3: American Silence is Deafening
• Part 4: HIV-AIDS Statistics in Uganda
• Part 5: State Dept Must Make US Policy Clear
• Part 6: Richard Cohen and debunking gay cure
• Part 7: Evangelicals were for it before they were against it
• Part 8: Rick Warren forced to oppose Ugandan bill
• Part 9: Condemn the bill to Uganda’s President
• Part 10: The Family finally condemns bill
• Part 11: Not to become law
• Part 12: Family leader Bob Hunter interview
• Part 13: Now it’s the imprison-the-gays-for-life bill
• Part 14: Obama Speaks of Ugandan bill at U.S. Family National Prayer Breakfast

Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi released the following: Press Release from Church of Uganda on Feb. 11, 2010

The following is commentary about the evil and godlessness of being gay in Uganda during the 2009 Christmas Mass. What an unchristian way to celebrate the birth of Christ…

The Anglican Church of Uganda is weighing in on that nation’s proposal to punish — including by execution — gay people. The Most Reverend Henry Luke Orombi, the Ugandan archbishop, issued a press release this week asking Ugandan lawmakers to tweak the bill to “protect the vulnerabilities of the boy child,” provide for proportionality in sentencing,” and ensure that “sexual orientation is excluded as a protected human right.” [Emphasis mine].

The Anglican Church of Uganda refers to gayness as “homosexual disorientation.” Archbishop Orombi writes that he wants the state to “prohibit and penalize homosexual behavior and related practices in Uganda as they constitute a threat to the traditional family.” As Box Turtle Bulletin notes, Orombi leaves unclear whether the Anglican Church of Uganda supports capital punishment for gay people.

American Episcopalians who oppose gay rights have broken away to form the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). Their closest ties are now to the Church of Nigeria and the Church of Uganda. Archbishop Orombi has traveled to the U.S. and preached to their members. (Full disclosure: [Laura Conaway is] an American Episcopalian and in a same-sex marriage.) Box Turtle Bulletin (BTB) writes:

I doubt that these American churches endorse the abolition of the freedom of speech in America and I suspect that if cornered many would refuse to publicly endorse re-criminalization of homosexuality. Yet, to date, neither the ACNA nor a single member church has spoken against the efforts of the Church of Uganda. None has expressed even the slightest discomfort about being publicly aligned with those who endorse human rights abuses.

It disgusts me that Americans who joined the ACNA seem to have no problem with excluding homosexuality as a protected human right. Gays and lesbians are human beings and deserve to be protected from persecution just like any other minority group. Supporting denial of human rights to gays and lesbians around the world is plain wrong no matter what the argument might be.

Being gay is a human variation, just like preferring vegetables to meat. It is not and should not be a crime anywhere, but it is still a crime in many places in the world.

Archbishop Orombi’s rhetoric may still be inflaming his congregation and keeping anti-gay sentiments socially alive, but fortunately, governments tend to make decisions, legislation and treaties that benefit their countries as a whole.

Uganda can’t afford to be without the aid of the U.S. and Europe. It is doubtful that no matter how much some Ugandan clergy dislike gays (as many American clergy dislike gays), they don’t have the leverage to successfully push such horrific and unconscionable legislation through Parliament and get President Museveni to sign it.

Quotes from: MaddowBlog.msnbc.com posted by Laura Conaway on Feb. 11, 2010.

Technorati Tags: American Episcopalian Church, Anglican Church of North America, Anglican Church of Uganda, Archbishop Orombi, Human Rights, kill-the-gays bill, Uganda

written by Sherri Joubert \\ tags: American Episcopalian Church, Anglican Church of North America, Anglican Church of Uganda, Archbishop Orombi, Human Rights, kill-the-gays bill, Uganda