Civil Liberties
mikethemadbiologist | December 20, 2006You might have heard about the U.S. contractor who volunteered to be an FBI informant. For his service, he received 90+ days of Gitmoization. As hideous as that is, there are some other disturbing points in the NY Times story.
First, was he imprisoned because he had hard evidence about this:
Mr. Vance went to Iraq in 2004, first to work for a Washington-based company. He later joined a small Baghdad-based security company where, he said, "things started looking weird to me." He said that the company, which was protecting American reconstruction organizations, had hired guards from a…
mikethemadbiologist | December 12, 2006
Congressman Walter Jones, at a press conference calling for displays of nativity scenes on public property (because that is the most important issue facing the Republic):
There is no future for America unless the Judeo-Christian foundation of America is protected.
Nativity scenes aren't exactly, well, Judeo. I should know: I'm a Judeoist.
mikethemadbiologist | December 3, 2006While my theological beliefs (which have very little to do with my religious observance) tend towards that 'ol time agnostic monism, Nicholas Kristof, in one of the daffiest columns he's ever written, has decided that the Christopath Right "has largely retreated from the culture wars." Therefore, any resumption of said wars must be squarely laid at the feet of "the Atheist Left."
No, Special K, the Right didn't "retreat", they were driven off the battlefield. There is a huge difference.
Kristof's column is nothing more than Compulsive Centrist Disorder rearing its head in the culture wars…
mikethemadbiologist | December 3, 2006
Glenn Greenwald, in an excellent post about privacy in the computer database era, relates the following chillling story about the public release of his personal information (italics mine):
I had an ultimately inconsequential but nonetheless quite illustrative personal experience with this several months ago. Back in July, when right-wing blogs were obsessed with investigating my personal life, including where I spend my time, this comment was left at Wizbang, in response to a July 21 post by Wizbang's Kevin Aylward:
Kevin,
Glenn Greenwald departed the United States on June 22, 2006 and hasn'…
mikethemadbiologist | December 1, 2006At various political blogs around the internets, there has been some discussion of revisiting the Equal Rights Amendment. I really don't think that's in the cards, but, in a very good post, Amanda discusses, among other things, one of Aspazia's students who opposes the ERA because it would mandate unisex toilets, thereby endangering the survival of his fraternity (I'm not joking). The canard of mandated unisex toilets canard was raised the last time the ERA was proposed in 1982 before these students were born. Who taught them this rubbish?
Amanda proposes that the politics of toilets will…
mikethemadbiologist | November 30, 2006A while ago, I posted about the Missouri legislative committee that claimed that abortion had led to a shortage of workers which then resulted in illegal immigration. Really. I can't make this garbage up. Now, Nehomee over at Shakespeare's Sister has observed the same thing in Georgia:
Rep. Franklin manages to muddy the fundamentalist waters even further by revealing his true intentions in Section 1, a(15): "The practice of abortion has caused the citizens of this state an inestimable amount economically, including, but not limited to, the costs and tax burden of having to care for…
mikethemadbiologist | November 29, 2006The other title of this post could have been "The War on Christmas and the Politics of Failed Withdrawl." Regardless, Tuesday, the Catholic League launched the first salvo in its ongoing War Against the Jews On Christmas with a large ad on the op-ed page of the NY Times. Here's what the Catholic League had to say:
(larger version here)
I think the charge of "cultural facists" is more than a little overblown. I live in Boston, a bastion of liberalism, not to mention the dreaded 'Homofascist Hordes', and nobody is ripping down the Christmas lights on Newbury Street or Comm Ave. The Boston…
mikethemadbiologist | November 28, 2006Thank you, Dennis Prager for your anti-Muslim bigotry: at least we know where the modern conservatives really stand. Despite Article IV of the U.S. Constitution which states that "no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States", Prager has his knickers in a twist over Muslim Congressman Keith Ellison's intention to use a copy of the Koran instead of a Christian Bible while being sworn into office. Prager spews:
Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the first Muslim elected to the United States Congress, has announced that he will not…
mikethemadbiologist | November 28, 2006There are now indications that more Russian exile critics of Putin who live in the UK might have been poisoned with polonium-210. Doesn't that mean that the West's ability to stop state-sponsored terrorism even with all of the 'necessary' encroachments on our civil liberties is utterly non-existent? Just asking.
mikethemadbiologist | November 21, 2006Some brilliant Republican solons from the great state of Missouri have released an official state report that argues that abortion has led to illegal immigration. The 'argument?'
Abortion has eliminated U.S. workers, leading to a need for illegal immigrants.
Clearly, these brilliant minds have never heard of the meat-packing industry. The meat-packing industry used to be unionized, and, consequently, virtually all of its workers were either legal residents or citizens. Then the unions were busted, resulting in crappy pay and dangerous conditions, and many people--rightfully so--did not…
mikethemadbiologist | November 20, 2006Well, things are looking up anyway. By way of Matt Stoller comes this letter from SEIU president Andy Stein:
More than 5,300 Houston janitors have reached a solid tentative agreement with their employers that will put workers and their families on the road to a better future and pave the way for workers throughout the country to unite to improve their lives. Details of the agreement are forthcoming, however the janitors' contract will lift workers and their families out of deep poverty and ensure access to quality, affordable health care.
The agreement was reached following an intense four-…
mikethemadbiologist | November 18, 2006Maybe they won't beat us in prison if they think we're white, not Latino
I was going to update this post about the Houston police who used horses to break up a peaceful union demonstration. But the way the police treated the union members once in custody is so awful, it deserves its own post. According to Texas organizer, Anna Denise Solis (italics mine):
We sat down in the intersection and the horses came immediately. It was really violent. They arrested us, and when we got to jail, we were pretty beat up. Not all of us got the medical attention we needed. The worst was a protester named…
mikethemadbiologist | November 18, 2006
(from here)Because if janitors get healthcare, then the terrorists win
Last night, Houston police used horses to break up a peaceful demonstration by unionized janitors, who on average, make $5.35/hr and have no health care. You know, if the Houston police were civilized they would have tasered them. One janitor described the scene thusly:
The horses came all of a sudden. They started jumping on top of people. I heard the women screaming. A horse stomped on top of me. I fell to the ground and hurt my arm. The horses just kept coming at us. I was terrified. I never thought the police would…
revere | November 16, 2006Why do all Bush Administration policies have Orwellian titles like the polluter written Clear Skies Act? Or this one: The AIDS Leadership Act. Of course it doesn't say what direction it is leading AIDS policies. You decide. If you are a non-profit and want government funding for anything, you have to pledge to oppose commercial sex work. Abridgement of your rights of free speech? At least two Federal Courts have said so, but the Bushies are appealing the decisions.
Commercial sex workers (aka prostitutes, a rather imprecise term, as Congress and the Bush Administration are full of prostitutes…
mikethemadbiologist | November 6, 2006Our Benevolent Seed Overlords ask: What's the most important local political race to you this year (as a citizen, as a scientist)? For me, it's the Massachusetts gubernatorial race.
Deval Patrick is poised to become the first African-American governor ever. Also, since Massachusetts has a Democratic legislature, there's the potential of doing some very progressive, far-reaching things. Unlike in the Romney administration, where the primary purpose was to pave the way for Romney's presidential campaign.
A close second isn't a race, but a ballot initiative. In South Dakota, voters will…
mikethemadbiologist | October 27, 2006Michael Schiavo reports on a truly weird campaign event held by gay hating family values protecting Republican congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave. She was so terrified of Schiavo, the husband of Terry Schiavo, that she tried to have him arrested. And that's not the weird part.
mikethemadbiologist | October 18, 2006Did you ever think in 1999 that Congress would pass a bill, and that a President would sign a bill that eliminates habeas corpus at the whim of the president? I sure as hell didn't. This is why the utter warping of our political system by the mindless Christopath Uruk-hai, the anti-gay bigots, and the blastula liberationists is so devastating: because it allows other forms of extremism such as the Federalist Society and those who believe in the 'unitary executive' to flourish unchecked.
From Keith Olbermann:
OLBERMANN: Does this mean that under this law, ultimately the only thing keeping…
mikethemadbiologist | October 17, 2006While there's been a lot of discussion about David Kuo's book Tempting Faith, the wee lil' Mad Biologist seems to be the only one who has viewed the intentional rejection of proposals from non-Christian religious organizations as religious discrimination ('no Jews need apply'). This discrimination is why funding faith-based organizations based on their religiosity and not on what they would to do advance the interest of the Republic is so odious.
At a personal level, it represents the failure of individual conservatives: certain people thought it was appropriate to discriminate against…
mikethemadbiologist | October 14, 2006Apparently, I'm not the only one who sees South Dakota's ban on virtually all abortions as an assault on the First Amendment. By way of feministing comes this flier that Native American women are circulating:
Now if only Democrats weren't so afraid to talk like this.
mikethemadbiologist | October 12, 2006Yesterday, the Department of Justice approved a merger between AT&T and BellSouth without any conditions, a consent decree, or judicial review. AT&T would control half the land lines and the U.S., and it's no secret that AT&T wants to crush net neutrality. And in a rare display of bipartisanship, Democrats and Republicans have opposed and criticized the DOJ's ruling. Contact your congresscritters, and tell them that this merger sucks.