Day: May 23, 2007

New Cheney Grandchild: GOP Cognitive Dissonance Runs Amok

Trish

Above, Lynne and Dick Cheney hold their sixth grandchild, Samuel David Cheney, the son of Mary Cheney and her wife, Heather Poe.

Bush press release titled, “President Calls for Constitutional Amendment Protecting Marriage,” issued Feb. 24, 2004:

After more than two centuries of American jurisprudence, and millennia of human experience, a few judges and local authorities are presuming to change the most fundamental institution of civilization. Their actions have created confusion on an issue that requires clarity.

Bush: “Ages of experience have taught that the commitment of a husband and wife to love and to serve one another promotes the welfare of children and the stability of society”

On a matter of such importance, the voice of the people must be heard. Activist courts have left the people with one recourse. If we are to prevent the meaning of marriage from being changed forever, our nation must enact a constitutional amendment to protect marriage in America.

…An amendment to the Constitution is never to be undertaken lightly. The amendment process has addressed many serious matters of national concern. And the preservation of marriage rises to this level of national importance. The union of a man and woman is the most enduring human institution, honoring — honored and encouraged in all cultures and by every religious faith. Ages of experience have taught humanity that the commitment of a husband and wife to love and to serve one another promotes the welfare of children and the stability of society.

Marriage cannot be severed from its cultural, religious and natural roots without weakening the good influence of society. Government, by recognizing and protecting marriage, serves the interests of all. Today I call upon the Congress to promptly pass, and to send to the states for ratification, an amendment to our Constitution defining and protecting marriage as a union of man and woman as husband and wife. The amendment should fully protect marriage, while leaving the state legislatures free to make their own choices in defining legal arrangements other than marriage.

Alleged Rightwing Terror Cell Uncovered in Virginia – Where Was DHS?

Jon Ponder

What homeland security: The case of Mark Uhl, the young rightwing insurrectionist caught with a bomb intended for protesters* at the funeral of rightwing political agitator Jerry Falwell, has been transferred from local jurisdictions to the U.S. Attorney’s office for prosecution.

Uhl, 19, a student at Liberty University in Virginia, the college founded by the recently deceased evangelist and professional homophobe, was arrested Monday night. Uhl told authorities the bomb was intended for protesters at Falwell’s funeral on Tuesday.

Investigators say they believe Uhl may not have acted alone — and one member of the terror cell has apparently infiltrated the U.S. military:

Three other suspects are being sought, one of whom is a soldier from Fort Benning, Ga., and another is a high school student. No information was available on the third suspect.

Agencies involved in thwarting the terror attack included the federal ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms), Virginia State Police, the FBI and the Campbell County, Va., Sheriff’s Office. Notably absent from the investigation was the U.S. Dept. Homeland Security.

DHS is AWOL in the investigations into rightwing terrorists in this country, and yet it facilitated the capture in Thailand of John Mark Karr, the mentally disturbed man who falsely claimed to have killed JonBenet Ramsey.

Similarly, late last month, we pointed out that DHS was absent from the investigation that led to the capture of a homegrown terrorist who attempted to plant a bomb at a Texas women’s health center. And yet, DHS facilitated the capture in Thailand of John Mark Karr, the mentally disturbed man who falsely claimed to have killed JonBenet Ramsey.

Overall, the federal agency tasked with protecting the homeland against terrorism has been AWOL in the pursuit of what appears to be an uptick in rightwing terrorism:

– Late in April, 150 federal, state, and local law enforcement officers carried out simultaneous raids in four Alabama counties in a sweep that yielded 130 grenades, a rocket launcher, and 2,500 rounds of ammunition.. In the town of Trussville, it took a U-haul truck to cart away all the materiel. At the Collinsville camper belonging to militia “major” Taymond Dillard, agents first had to defuse trip-wires rigged to explode hand grenades to kill intruders.

– Right-wing vigilantes arrested in a scuffle at one of the May 1 immigration marches, in Washington D.C., [were] found to have a stash of automatic weapons and explosives in his home.

Not only was the nation’s top anti-terror agency involved in the Uhl case, a search of news stories on the Internet three days after his capture found that no law enforcement spokesperson had referred to him as a “terrorist” — nor had any version of the word “terror” been used to describe the case by any mainstream — and therefore purportedly liberal — news outlet.

Conversely, the federal government has labeled animal rights activist Jonathan Paul a terrorist, and may add “terrorism enhancements” to his sentence. Paul pleaded guilty to burning down a slaughterhouse for horse in Oregon in the 1990s. He and other members of the Animal Liberation Front are facing from three to 14 years in prison.

The surge in rightwing terrorism may be a response to the country’s leftward drift away from the authoritarianism of Pres. Bush and the Republican Party. If the trend away from the GOP continues, as Digby says, terror attacks from rightwing extremists are likely to ramp up:

I predict that we are going to see a remarkable resurgence of rightwing violence if the Democrats take full control of the government. These people are always surprisingly cooperative when the government is run by Republicans and then rediscover their “anti-government” beliefs when Democrats share or dominate the government. I can’t imagine why that would be.

Oh, and here’s the kicker about Mark Uhl: Falwell gave him a scholarship to attend Liberty U.

*UPDATE: The Associated Press has updated the story. The protesters Uhl and his compatriots intended to bomb were not liberals. They were members of the bizarre Fred Phelps “God Hates Fags” cult based at the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas. The Phelps said they were protesting Falwell’s funeral because he was a friend to gays. These folks are seriously off their meds.

The Bush Presidency Is Like a Marriage Gone Bad

Jon Ponder

The first Pres. Bush was once described as “every woman’s first husband.” In a new article at Salon.com, Gary Kamiya argues that the current president’s relationship with the public has become analagous to a failed marriage:

If Congress allows Bush to leave office unimpeached, it risks rendering quaint the system of checks and balances in the Constitution.

America finds itself married to a guy who has turned out to be a complete dud. Divorce — which in our nonparliamentary system means impeachment — is the logical solution. But even though Bush cheated on us, lied, besmirched our family’s name and spent all our money, we the people, not to mention our elected representatives and the media, seem content to stick it out to the bitter end.

As any newspaper advice columnist would say, the healthy thing to do with a bad marriage is to end it. But Kamiya suggests that despite Bush’s falsified casus belli, the lackadaisical preparation and abysmal conduct of the war, his flouting of laws, incompetence and scandals, he will leave office unimpeached. The main reason for this, Kamiya says is obvious:

The Democrats think it’s bad politics. Bush is dying politically and taking the GOP down with him, and impeachment is risky. It could, so the cautious Beltway wisdom has it, provoke a backlash, especially while the war is still going on. Why should the Democrats gamble on hitting the political jackpot when they’re likely to walk away from the table big winners anyway?

This is risky. Allowing Bush to slink away without being held accountable undermines the government’s system of checks and balances between the branches, which could render the U.S. Constitution, well, quaint. If this rogue president gets away with it, what will stop the next?