Is this the future of the gop?

[solarbird]

Is this the future of the GOP? Defending and supporting torture, fighting to keep open the international disgrace known as Gitmo, writing "conscience" clauses into regulations that let people remove birth control devices from women without their consent and refuse to put them back, crazy stupidity like this freakbot not-actually-president theory, and hating on queers? Because that's what the party seems to be deciding to agree on. Are you guys really going to need a McGovern experience to smarten up?

Oh, by the way, Mr. Bush's NSA appears to have been spying on damn near everyone, like anyone with a brain connected to reality could've told you they'd do when told to go spy on everyone.

Here, have a big, nasty dose of political media fail. elfs describes in detail how the inauguration-cost lie came to be. They continue to lie about the fact that strong majorities of Americans oppose torture in any situation, want Gitmo closed, oppose pardons for administration officials involved in any such crimes, and - by smaller numbers - even want active investigations into these crimes. Callous disregard for truth continues, at every level, as the political media works tirelessly to present the case that all of the Bush administration's power grabs - torture, extrajudicial "justice" systems, internment, extraordinary rendition, and so on - must be preserved while pretending to condemn them, and condemning as leftist anyone who thinks the press should report when government officials lie to their face.

Fortunately, so far, Mr. Obama has surprised me by ignoring most of this and issuing a series of important executive orders. It is still my position and will continue to be my position that the crimes of the previous administration - and just as importantly, many members of Congress, including the Democratic leadership - be investigated and charges brought at all levels as appropriate. I mean, in many cases, it should be quite simple; we have confessions of... no, that's the wrong word. We have boasts of clearly and blatantly illegal torture. The GOP ran on it, and apparently plans to continue running on it, and we know that various Democratic leaders in Congress were complicit. Despite all this, Mr. Obama has so far not been inclined to take action. I hope this will change.

Also, pleasantly, the stupidly unconstitutional Child Online Protection Act is dead. It's a late-1990s relic I fought at the time and which was never really enforced thanks to immediate legal action against it, but it's still good to see it gone.

Oh, this isn't political, but I want to toss is out there as a PSA: there was a huge credit card data breach several days ago. Be careful checking your credit card statements.

And if anybody wondered, have the latest political spectrum quiz going around. The average test-taker is more left and less libertarian than I am. Go fig.

My Political Views
I am a centrist social libertarian
Right: 0.4, Libertarian: 6.86

Political Spectrum Quiz


My Foreign Policy Views
Score: -5.77

Political Spectrum Quiz


My Culture War Stance
Score: -7.14

Political Spectrum Quiz

Comments

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

The great fun will be when reporters start getting into the files denied to them for the last 8 years and start proving in the News all the illegal and grey area crap the Bushies have been doing.
Boy will the Right be screaming about the "Liberal Press Conspiracy" then.
Not to mention all the Whistleblowers that are already Singing to anyone and everyone who will listen.
And it does sound like the New Attorney General has every intention of going after anyone who has broken the law, in spite of the attempt by the Republican Senators to tie his hands before he even gets into office.
The next 6 months are going to be interesting. Hold onto your hats!

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

The question is, will they know what to do with them, and will they be *allowed* by their corporate overlords to do the right thing?

I *suspect* what might happen is that the smaller, more principled outlets will start digging... and when the fertilizer starts hitting the fan on the internets, the "mainstream media" will rapidly become even more irrelevant than it already is. Now, what will rise to replace them, I don't think even the gods know.

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

That 2008breach.com website has to be the least helpful PR-based move I've ever seen.

You'd think they'd at least put a "check to see if your card's last four digits were in the breached list" applet up.

[firni.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's pretty useless.

credit-card railerie

[maellenkleth]

CBC Radio mentioning this story yesterday morning on their business news.

Checking latest statements:

Yup, H.'s travelling credit-card was hijacked; the ARL business credit-card was hijacked, but mine (aha! for being Woman Of Mystery) is still pristine.

All three cards now ordered for reissue as a prophylactic move. No arguments provided by Nameless Issuing Bank, also (happily) all fees were waived.

In all three cases, unbooked charges for $9.93 US.

Asking round the family now to see whether $9.93 is the magic number.

Re: credit-card railerie

[solarbird]

What's the $9.93 magic number, then?

[(Anonymous)]

Ascribed to "Coreva Services", of whom we have never heard. I diarise all credit-card use in the filofax (which, fortunately, was not stolen). Noteworthy that the bank who issued the cards DID NOT give us any attitude when the charges were disputed.

[llachglin.livejournal.com]

It seems clear that Obama would like to avoid torture prosecutions. But I think the fact that crimes were clearly committed is going to make it hard for him to hold to that position. AG-designate Holder has stated outright that waterboarding is torture, acknowledging the vast body of legal and historical precedent. Having done that, it will be hard for Holder to avoid prosecuting the actual crimes that were committed. Even if he tried, there are other legal means outside of the direct control of the Justice Department, such as the possibility of civil liability, or prosecutions in international courts or in the courts of other countries.

The only way the Obama administration can stop this is through novel legal theories that somehow make an exception, or through an actual pardon of those responsible. And while I can see them allowing these crimes to pass by failing to act, I don't believe they will actively cover them up. We'll see, though.

[hawkdancer.livejournal.com]

WTF??? That IUD thing really disturbs me.

An old buddy of mine had a doctor tell her she was a whore for wanting one when she wasn't married. Seriously, what the hell, guys?

[mojave-wolf.livejournal.com]

I have to admit, I've been pleasantly surprised by Obama this week. Granted, it's very early, and what I last saw of his economic plan (before this week; I've been busy since the weekend, err, last weekend)actually struck me as less good than I had been hoping from him there, and there's a hell of a lot left to be done which I still worry about whether he will even try to move in the right direction on, and none of this excuses the campaign, makes some of the cabinet appointees less troubling, and the fervor of a huge % of his followers still deeply, deeply troubles me, and a lot--nay, nearly all!--of the good stuff has been a no-brainer from my point of view, but for the first few days, what can I say? He's thus far showing signs of being a much better president than I thought he would be.

Hey, if I'm gonna knock the guy when he deserves it, I'll give him credit when he deserves it to.

bah, forgot this

[mojave-wolf.livejournal.com]

The spying stuff doesn't surprise at all; I can't quite figure out who didn't think the Bush administration was doing this . . .