Thursday, March 24, 2005

De-Laying Down The Law

Is it just me, or is Tom DeLay sounding a bit nutty these days?

On Terri Schiavo:

"This is exactly the kind of issue that's going on in America, that attacks against the conservative moment, against me and against many others. The point is, the other side has figured out how to win and to defeat the conservative movement, and that is to go after people personally, charge them with frivolous charges, link up with all these do-gooder organizations funded by George Soros, and then get the national media on their side. That whole syndicate that they have going on right now is for one purpose and one purpose only, and that is to destroy the conservative movement...

"You know, one way they stopped churches from getting into politics was Lyndon Johnson, who passed a law that said you couldn't get in politics or you're going to lose your tax-exempt status, because they were all opposed to him when he was running for President. That law we're trying to repeal. It's very difficult to do that, but the point is, when they can knock out a leader, then no other leader will step forward for a while, because they don't want to go through the same thing. If they go after and get a pastor, then other pastors shrink from what they should be doing. It forces Christians back into the church. That's what's going on in America. The world is too bad and I'm going to get inside this building and I'm not going to play in the world. That's not what Christ asked us to do.

"And so they understand that. It is a political maneuver, and they are going to try to destroy the conservative movement, and we have to fight back, so please, this afternoon, each and every one of you, if you know a senator, give them a call. They'll say our bill can pass in the House. Tell them, okay, your bill is fine, but the House bill is better, and I want the House bill. Particularly if you know Democrats. Don't let them get off the hook by hiding behind one House and the other is adjourned. We can do anything we need to do to pass any bill that we need to pass."

DeLay Speech

Well, at least it's good to know us liberals aren't the only ones with crazy conspiracy theories anymore.

How does reality jive with Delay's assessment?

From the AP:

More than two-thirds of people who describe themselves as evangelicals and conservatives disapprove of the intervention by Congress and President Bush in the case of the Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged woman at the center of a national debate.

A CBS News poll found that four of five people polled opposed federal intervention, with levels of disapproval among key groups supporting the GOP almost that high.

Bush's overall approval was at 43 percent, down from 49 percent last month.


Those damn liberals!

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Torture Gets Results... Wrong Ones

From the NYTimes:

U.S. law enforcement agents working at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, concluded that controversial interrogation practices used there by the Defense Department produced intelligence information that was "suspect at best," an FBI agent told a superior in a memo in May last year.

But the Justice Department, which reviewed the memo for national security secrets before releasing it to a civil liberties group in December, redacted the FBI agent's conclusion.


Those in the government who believe that torture tactics aren't so bad when used to fight the war on terror (Alberto Gonzales, Dick Cheney, others) should think about whether or not the info gleaned from torturing suspects is worth a damn.

Some of the detainees have been held for three years, without being charged with a crime. I'm all for holding terrorists... but if you can't prove they did anything, and you can't get any useful information from them after THREE YEARS, maybe it's time to let them go.

Studies indicate somebody will say almost anything after being tortured for an amount of time. After three years, the intelligence coming out of these enemy combatants' mouths must be as crazy and unreliable as Bush's plan for Social Insecurity.

And whatever intelligence that could be gained is THREE YEARS OLD.

So why are these people being held without being charged? Charge them already. Put them through a court system, if you've got any proof, any proof at all.

How can America be a beacon of freedom if we enslave people and torture them?

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