cleaning out tabs: courts, marriage, and torture

[solarbird]

Pathetic lulz: anti-gay Family Research Council okay with gay Supreme Court justice as long as they hate themselves. And that's not even The Onion! Meanwhile, Mr. Obama's about to expel yet another gay Arabic linguist. Also, marriage opponents in Maine have filed their anti-marriage referendum. They'll need 55,000 signatures by mid-September to get onto the ballot. Locally, the fundamentalist right is working on a similar anti-civil-unions referendum to overturn equal-in-theory civil union law here.

In the US, the more religious you are, the more likely you are to support the use of torture, with weekly church attendees supporting torture by a clear majority. The non-religious are the least likely, by far, to support the use of torture. Meanwhile, you have Condi Rice defending the use of torture as "legal" and "right."

And an already-well-known story - to anyone paying attention - that now-Speaker of the House Pelosi (D-CA) and Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WVA) both were briefed in 2002 and 2003 on the use of torture. I've talked about this before, but somehow it magically became news last week. Meanwhile, the GOP is issuing threats that any investigation into the Bush administration's torture programme will be directed against Democrats as much as they're capable of managing. My response to that would be Good. More on Democratic Party complicity here.

The Salt Lake Tribute wants Judge Jay S. Bybee impeached for his authorship of CYA memos designed to provide false legal cover for torture, noting correctly that:

In its damning totality, the memorandum is an indictment of Bybee himself, evidence that he is morally, ethically and legally unfit to serve on the federal bench. His continued presence there is an affront to the integrity of the judiciary, to a nation founded on laws and ideals protecting human dignity, and to all Americans who once believed their government would never indulge in the same human rights violations we have long condemned in other countries.

This is particularly interesting since Mr. Bybee is a Brigham Young University graduate.

Comments

[redbeardsghost.livejournal.com]

I'm going to skip responding to most of this, simply to help me keep my temper under control at the stupidity of the world. A couple of them I just have to respond to, though. WTF on the equating the more religious you are with the more you go to church? There is a tangential relationship there, but not a causal in either direction, as I have met very religious people who don't attend any church, ever, as a matter of principle, and conversely, as a churchgoer, I must aver that most regular churchgoers are such because it is a comfortable habit and a social place where they have friends first, and a religious institution second. It pains me very much to be able to say so about my church especially, but I have the most intimate knowledge there, and from discussing church with those from other religions, it seems to be fairly universal. The reason churchgoers support torture in larger percentage, IMHO, than those who don't, is that in America it takes less effort to go to church than to not, and those who support torture mostly do it because not questioning your government is what lazy people do. And as to the last point, having the Salt Lake Tribune point out that a man they were criticizing was a BYU grad is equivalent to the Lexington Herald-Leader pointing out that the Big Bad Man graduated from the University of Louisville. I suspect that line had more to do with gaining the sympathy of local readership than anything else. That being said, it is worth noting that the Trib, which is owned by the LDS church, pointed out in an editorial (usually these must please the owners or you get fired), pointed out that the judge graduated from BYU's law school, which should make it clear that they don't want anyone to think that they condone the excusing of torture. This, with their recent regional drive to defeat a state proposition, makes it look like they are going to, shall we say, shift away from their long policy of generally ignoring politics? Under their last president, they began a shift from persecution complex to mainstream religion. I wonder if this is a continuation of that?