Author: Trish

What Would Jesus Do at Gitmo?

Trish

An American prisoner claims to recognize the behavior at Abu Ghraib and other detention facilities. It’s just like home, he said in a column published in the Northeast Florida independent, Folio Weekly. (Articles from Folio are not available online.)

Louis Templeman, who occupies Bunk E2207-L at Baker Correctional Institution in Sanderson, Florida said while it hasn’t been that bad for him, it isn’t that good either.

I have not personally seen the same level of abuse as depicted in recent news from Iraq because I have kept out of trouble. Never “gone to jail” or “to the box,” which speaks of internal punishment for prisoners who are caught breaking the rules. I have never been in a “close management” camp… 8-foot-by-12-foot cells to which prisoners are restricted for all but one hour a week…

I have, however, seen and endured what amounts to psychological torment. While being processed into the prison system at one of the four reception centers, a short, mean-faced female officer…approached me.

“Inmate,…get your hands out of your pockets. You wanna play with your pathetic, tiny dick? Go find yourself a boy to do it with. Do you hear me?”

…This aggressive speech became part of the aural wallpaper that surrounded me.”

It’s not just mean guards that are the problem, Templeman said, but the whole screwed-up system.

I have sympathy for the men and women who will be blamed and punished for the abuse of the Iraqi prisoners. America is incensed and outraged by the unseemly images that tell the world America is not really one of the good guys. Somehow, we all know that our true moral value is revealed by the way we treat our prisoners.

When Jesus said, “I was in prison and you visited me,” he made clear his wish for humane treatment of prisoners. Perhaps we, as a nation, should hear him say, “I was in Abu Ghraib, and you abused and sexually humiliated me.”

We need to remember that unless they’re on death row, prisoners get out someday. They rejoin us in our communities, or in the case of Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, their own homelands. If someone had entered these places without grudges, it doesn’t seem likely they’d leave that way.

Katherine Harris vs. The Bushes

Trish


When feminist leaders are discussed, it’s not likely the name Katherine Harris crops up. But Harris wants to be a role model for women in her upcoming campaign. And I have to admit I’ve wondered if the Bushes would treat a man who laid facedown in the mud for them to walk over the way they treat Harris.

St. Petersburg Times political columnist Adam Smith says the Bush machine is moving as fast as it can in any direction but Harris’.

Will Katherine Harris blink?

That’s what a lot of prominent Florida Republicans are asking as they see an extraordinary political drama emerging: the Bush family political machine trying to derail the U.S. Senate campaign of the Republican superstar who helped put George W. Bush in the White House.

“I can’t recall a time when the party felt so strongly that a particular candidate was going to create problems up and down the ballot,” state Senate President Tom Lee said of Harris’ campaign for U.S. Senate.

Lee, who went from virtual obscurity to successful statewide Republican leadership last Florida legislative session, himself decided not to run against U.S. Senator Bill Nelson in 2006. When it became clear that he did not have the support of Jeb or W., he opted to go for the post of state Chief Financial Officer.

His forthright style is one reason Lee, despite his GOP-ness, and Jeb didn’t exactly stroll the halls of the capitol arm in arm this past session. Jeb’s initiatives were underwhelmingly endorsed by the legislature and vice-versa. In fact, the governor is now earning the nickname, “Veto Corleone,” as he systematically decimates the House and Senate’s work.

“Without the backing of the White House, of the governor and the Bush machine, you’re dreaming in Technicolor to think you can take on someone like Katherine Harris,” said Lee. “I’m a businessman, not a suicide bomber.”

W. also refuses to sit next to Harris on the bus, citing cooties as well as B.O. Bush/Rove support is vital, since Florida saw in 2004 what White House backing can do for a candidate with no character, personality, or brains.

The White House last year made clear its preference for Mel Martinez over former U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum in the Republican U.S. Senate primary, in subtle and unsubtle ways…Ultimately Martinez won handily after a contentious primary against McCollum.

“But Bill McCollum was no Katherine Harris,” said Pinellas Republican state committee member Paul Bedinghaus. “She’s really an icon.”

We all agree Harris is a symbol, but not of what. Her supporters say she is a strong woman of principle.

“She serves as a role model for all the women who have been told they can’t do something,” [Harris supporter Adam] Goodman said of the Sarasota Republican. “She believes there should be no glass ceiling.”

And no glass walls, either. Read on to see how Harris accepted money from MZM Inc., a defense contractor under investigation for payola to a California state representative.

Katherine Harris Also on the MZM Payroll

Trish

Katherine Harris, who claims a nationwide fundraising base after her starring role in the 2000 general election, might be right. The defense contractor that’s being investigated for disguising – through a home sale – a $700,000 illegal campaign contribution to a Republican California legislator wrote big checks to Harris too.

St. Petersburg Times:

A defense contractor under federal investigation gave Rep. Katherine Harris, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, about $42,000 during the 2003-04 election cycle.

MZM Inc., a Washington company that does millions of dollars of work for the federal government, has been in the news for its role in a deal with Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, R-Calif. Cunningham sold a house to MZM founder Mitchell Wade, who lost money on it after putting it back on the market almost immediately.

Harris, R-Sarasota, got $10,000 from the MZM political action committee, and another $32,000 from MZM employees, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign money.

The $32,000 came in 16 checks for $2,000 each – 14 of them written on one day, March 23, 2004.

Jacksonville Finally Justifies Its Existence

Trish

Did the Super Bowl being held in Jacksonville, my home base, make me proud? In a word, no.

Did Lynard Skynard or Limp Bizkit make me pround? Nah.

Do I drink Maxwell House? Not unless it’s on sale.

But I’m busting out about Jacksonville now, in light of the recent announcement by the newly formed Christian Alliance for Progress. The group speaks for the rest of us, the Christians who have been shouted out since being double-Bushed in Florida, the ones who understand the important thing about Jesus was love, and refuse to be lumped in with those red-faced people who use Jesus as a club on those they judge morally inferior.

The group introduced itself at a press conference yesterday.

WJXT-TV 4:

“This organization has been formed to mobilize and give voice to Christians who have been alienated by the extreme political agenda of certain elements of the religious right,” [Group Founder Patrick] Mrotek said. “The mission of the Christian Alliance for Progress is to reclaim Christianity and transform American politics through action based on our values.”

…”We’re here because we can no longer stand by and watch people speak hatred, division, war and greed in the name of our faith,” Mrotek said. “We’re here because Christianity is being used by radical leaders of the religious right as they seek to marginalize gay and lesbian people; to criminalize desperate, pregnant women; to suppress scientific information and honest information about human reproduction and replace them with ignorance.”

The site is packed with great stuff, including a declaration you can sign. Check it out.

Goodbye, PBS & NPR

Trish

Unfrickin’ believable.

They did it.

MSNBC:

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, already embroiled in controversy over allegations of a liberal-leaning bias in PBS programming, chose a former Republican Party co-chairman Thursday as its president and chief executive.

Patricia S. Harrison, the assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs, was selected following three days of closed-door meetings by the corporation’s board of directors.

…In a letter to Tomlinson, Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and others expressed dismay at the expected appointment of Harrison.

“We find it astonishing that Ms. Harrison, given her former prominence as a partisan political figure, would even be considered as a candidate for a job that demands that the occupant be non-political,” the senators said in their letter.

Disney: “You Were Still Boycotting Us?”

Trish

If holding your breath until you’re red in the face and stamping your foot real hard doesn’t work – and you’re a Baptist – just pretend it did and find something else to be pissed off about.

Orlando Sentinel:

The Southern Baptist Convention voted to end its eight-year boycott of the Walt Disney Co. on Wednesday, an implicit acknowledgment that its “family values” campaign failed to bring the entertainment giant to its knees.

Officials of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, completing its two-day annual gathering in Nashville, Tenn., put the best face they could on the vote.

…The convention, meeting in Dallas in 1997, voted to boycott all parts of the Disney empire, from theme parks to movies, television shows and networks, books and retail items. The resolution cited a departure from the company’s “family values” tradition, in particular, its support of gay days at Disney theme parks and its offer of health benefits to same-sex partners of employees.

However, throughout the boycott, no national financial analyst was able to say the effort had any impact on the company, and analysts were indifferent to Wednesday’s news. Some were unaware the boycott was still in effect.

The company didn’t even know the boycott was still on until the holy announced it was over. How embarrassing.

But not to be discouraged by the fizzled attack on Disney, the righteous quickly regrouped and decided to go after our beleaguered public schools. After all, there are just not enough people trying to stick their noses there.

Delegates also approved a compromise resolution dealing with homosexuality in public schools. Anti-gay resolutions are a staple of Southern Baptist Conventions, and one had been put forward before this year’s gathering calling on Baptists to withdraw their children from public schools.

Instead, the measure that passed Wednesday encourages parents to investigate their children’s public schools to determine whether they are too accepting of homosexuality.

“Homosexual activists and their allies are devoting substantial resources and using political power to promote the acceptance among schoolchildren of homosexuality as a morally legitimate lifestyle,” the resolution says.

Too bad that one about just removing Baptist children from public schools failed. If these folks want their children taught Baptist dogma, they should send them to Baptist schools, rather than try to make public schools conform to their various viewpoints. It seems like life would be more pleasant for everyone.

Baptists Likely to End Boycott as Bush Compares Himself to George Washington

Trish

Baptists are declaring victory and voting to end their boycott of all things Disney today, despite their demand to abolish “gay days” being ignored.

Houston Chronicle:

The Rev. Wiley S. Drake of Buena Park, Calif., who initiated the boycott at the 1997 annual meeting, said he would support ending it.

“The boycott was very, very successful,” Drake said. Drake’s First Southern Baptist Church is close to Disneyland in Anaheim. Drake said the recent resignation of Michael Eisner as president of Disney convinced him to support the lifting of the boycott. Drake blamed Eisner for problems at Disney.

The 1997 annual meeting approved the boycott to protest what they perceived as Disney’s anti-Christian policies, including production of adult movies through its Miramax Productions and gay days at its theme parks, Drake said. Disney no longer owns Miramax, although it still holds gays days.

The oddest thing about the meeting will no doubt be Bush’s video comparison of himself to George Washington. (BTW, “messenger” is apparently Baptist-speak for “meeting participants.”)

In other action, messengers received a video appearance by President Bush with a cheering standing ovation. “In 1789, President George Washington called America’s Baptist the ‘firm friends’ of liberty,” Bush said. “Today another George W. thanks you — because more than two centuries later, you remain firm in your dedication to God and country.”

Bush outlined several of his conservative political stances, including his support of a constitutional amendment to protect the traditional definition of marriage as between a man and woman.

“Because marriage is a sacred institution and the foundation of society, it should not be redefined by local officials and activist judges,” Bush told cheering messengers.

Randall Terry Finally Admits He Knew He Was Running All Along

Trish

Anti-abortion terrorist Randall Terry declared he will in fact run for Florida Senate. This makes the third time Terry has drummed up press by agonizing over his “decision” but it’s finally official.

He will be running against the valiant Jim King, who stood up to the wingers of his party and tried to do the right thing for Terri Schiavo this time, despite being up for re-election in 2006.

Florida Times Union:

King helped lead a group of nine Republican senators who blocked a bill aimed at saving Schiavo, sealing the brain-damaged woman’s fate. She died March 31, and autopsy results released last week showed she indeed had severe and irreversible brain damage.

He is the only one of the nine up for re-election next year.

Terry is anything but homegrown, and chose to blight Northeast Florida with his recent residency for reasons unknown, except to live in a rich, powerful, white neighborhood.

The contest is already centering itself as a core fight over Republicanism. King is a social moderate and fiscal conservative who has sometimes clashed with the right-wing elements of the party. Terry says the district has no room for moderation and that he can better represent Republican principles.

“I want a smaller government, lower taxes and more respect of life and marriage,” he said Tuesday.

Terry has been a Jacksonville resident for two years and is making his second political campaign after a failed 1998 U.S. House bid in New York.

Terry, who says he wants more respect for marriage, is on his second, this time to the much younger bride you would expect a chauvinist middle-aged man to have. And that smaller government is evidently a real impediment when it tries to stay out of people’s death beds.