Politics Plus

This is shameful.

A Canadian man who was deported by US officials to Syria, where he was imprisoned and allegedly tortured, has appealed a court ruling preventing him from suing the US.

Maher Arar filed a lawsuit before the US supreme court on Monday, appealing a lower court ruling that rejected his case because it involved national security information.

Arar was arrested by US authorities while transiting through New York’s JFK International Airport in 2002, on his way home to Canada from a family vacation in Tunis.

He was detained on information shared by Canadian police that suggested he had ties to "terrorist" groups…

…US authorities held him in solitary confinement and interrogated him for nearly two weeks before deporting him to Syria.

He was imprisoned for a year in Damascus, the Syrian capital, during which time he says he was tortured before finally being released and returned to Canada.

A Canadian commission eventually cleared him of any connections to "terrorist" organisations [sic] and concluded that he had been tortured.

He was awarded $10.5m in compensation.

Arar’s suit before the Supreme Court questions whether "federal officials who conspired with Syrian officials to subject an individual in US custody to torture in Syria may be sued for damages".

David Cole, a lawyer for Arar, said: "The courts below ruled that federal officials cannot be sued for sending an innocent man to Syria to be tortured because the case would be too sensitive."…

Inserted from <Aljazeera>

I wish Mr. Arar every success here.  What Bush and the GOP did to this innocent man is unconscionable.  I think we can translate too sensitive in the lower court’s ruling can be translated as too damning to the Bush/GOP regime.  Sadly, given the current makeup of SCOTUS, my hopes are not high.

Where is the coverage of this story in US media?

In the Olbermann video in yesterday’s lead article, I learned that Daily Kos has commissioned a poll on Republican beliefs.  You can take it to the bank that this was the first thing I sought in this morning’s research.  Here, my friends, is the heart and soul of the GOP in all their teabagging glory:

…I found myself making certain claims about Republicans that I didn’t know if they could be backed up. So I thought, "why don’t we ask them directly?" And so, this massive poll, by non-partisan independent pollster Research 2000 of over 2,000 self-identified Republicans, was born.

The results are nothing short of startling.

It’s a long poll, so the results are summarized below the fold. For a direct link to the poll’s crosstabs, click here.

Ultimately, these results explain why it is impossible for elected Republicans to work with Democrats to improve our country. Their base are conspiracy mongers who don’t believe Obama was born in the United States, that he is the second coming of Lenin, and that he is racist against white people. They already want to impeach him despite the glaringly obvious lack of high crimes or misdemeanors. If any Republican strays and decides to do the right thing and try to work in a bipartisan fashion, they suffer primaries and attacks. Even the Maine twins have quit cooperating out of fear of their homegrown teabaggers. 

Given what their base demands, and this poll illustrates them perfectly, it’s no wonder the GOP is the party of no.

• ::

Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 1/20-31. Self-identified Republicans. MoE 2% (No trend lines)

OBAMA and AMERICA

Should Barack Obama be impeached, or not?

Yes 39

No 32

Not Sure 29

For what? Who the heck knows. Who needs high crimes or misdemeanors when…

Do you think Barack Obama is a socialist?

Yes 63

No 21

Not Sure 16

That’s the power of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, after one year of relentlessly claiming Obama is the second coming of Lenin … and Hitler!

Do you believe Barack Obama was born in the United States, or not?

Yes 42

No 36

Not Sure 22

We still have over a half of Republicans who don’t think Obama was born in the US or think it’s a matter open to debate.

Do you believe Barack Obama wants the terrorists to win?

Yes 24

No 43

Not Sure 33

Not just a quarter of Republicans believe this ludicrous premise, but another third think it’s a matter open to debate. How do you negotiate with a party whose rank and file are that divorced from reality? And speaking of divorced from reality…

Do you believe ACORN stole the 2008 election?

Yes 21

No 24

Not Sure 55

One in five Republicans think ACORN is so powerful as to magically make 10 million votes appear. Another 55 are open to the theory. In other words, just 24 percent of Republicans have an even passing relationship with reality.

Do you believe Sarah Palin is more qualified to be President than Barack Obama?

Yes 53

No 14

Not Sure 33

Sigh…

Do you believe Barack Obama is a racist who hates White people?

Yes 31

No 36

Not Sure 33

I bet more people think Obama is racist, but were too afraid to tell a live operator the truth

Do you believe your state should secede from the United States?

Yes 23

No 58

Not Sure 19

42 percent of Republicans aren’t really patriotic. They pretend to love America only when they approve of the president. These traitors don’t believe in democracy, in our nation’s founding ideals, or in our flag. To them, those colors run. They are cowards.

Note, secession sentiment is MUCH stronger in the South than elsewhere — 33 percent want out, compared to just 52 percent who want to stay. In the Northeast, "just" 10 percent want out, in the Midwest, its 18 percent, and in the West, it’s 16 percent. Can we cram them all into the Texas Panhandle, create the state of Dumbfuckistan, and build a wall around them to keep them from coming into America illegally?

ISSUES

Should Congress make it easier for workers to form and join labor unions?

Yes 7

No 68

Not Sure 25

Would you favor or oppose giving illegal immigrants now living in the United States the right to live here legally if they pay a fine and learn English?

Favor 26

Oppose 59

Not Sure 15

Do you support the death penalty?

Yes 91

No 4

Not Sure 5

GAYS

Should openly gay men and women be allowed to serve in the military?

Yes 26

No 55

Not Sure 19

Should same sex couples be allowed to marry?

Yes 7

No 77

Not Sure 16

Should gay couples receive any state or federal benefits?

Yes 11

No 68

Not Sure 21

Should openly gay men and women be allowed to teach in public schools?

Yes 8

No 73

Not Sure 19

Oof. That’s some serious neanderthal action going on. Gays can’t serve their country, teach children, get married, or even have civil unions. That’s the GOP agenda for gays, which makes the existence of the Log Cabin Republicans that much more of a mystery.

SCHOOLS

Should sex education be taught in the public schools?

Yes 42

No 51

Not Sure 7

Should public school students be taught that the book of Genesis in the Bible explains how God created the world?

Yes 77

No 15

Not Sure 8

In all of these questions, respondents from the South are slightly crazier, and those from the Northeast slightly less crazier, than the average. In these two questions, the differences are particularly exaggerated. In the South, the sex-ed question comes out 39-56, compared to 47-45 in the Northwest. For the creationism question, it’s 82-9 in the South, compared to 70-23 in the Northwest.

I must admit, however, that I expected fewer Republicans to back sex ed. Another big surprise:

WOMEN

Are marrigiages equal partnerships, or are men the leaders of their households?

Men 13

Equal 76

Not Sure 11

Should women work outside the home?

Yes 86

No 4

Not Sure 10

Phyllis Schlafly is crying. That looks a lot more enlightened than I expected, likely because the economic reality is that few people can get away with single-income homes. But whatever the reason, on this front, there’s progress. But that’s where the progress ends:

Should contraceptive use be outlawed?

Yes 31

No 56

Not Sure 13

Do you believe the birth control pill is abortion?

Yes 34

No 48

Not Sure 18

Do you consider abortion to be murder?

Yes 76

No 8

Not Sure 16

Over a third of Republicans believe the birth control pill is abortion, which explains why nearly a third of them want contraceptive use outlawed. This is so wingnutty, it’s hardly believable. But it’s true, just a bare majority oppose outlawing contraceptives.

What we didn’t ask was whether the 76 percent who consider abortion to be murder would advocate executions for women who have them. Since 91 percent of respondents support the death penalty.

One last question:

Do you believe that the only way for an individual to go to heaven is though Jesus Christ, or can one make it to heaven through another faith?

Christ 67

Other 15

Not Sure 18

Two-thirds of Republicans assume anyone that is not a Christian is going to hell. It certainly makes it easier for them to dehumanize their enemies, either real or perceived… [emphasis original]

Inserted from <Daily Kos>

The embedded commentary is that of Markos Moulitsas.  I have little to add, except to say that this verifies what I’ve been saying all along.  In the GOP, the lunatic fringe has become the base.

On the off chance that a sane Republican should happen to read this, I am not painting ALL Republicans with this brush.  But please consider the company you’re keeping.  Your party is not a sane venue anymore.

Off topic, please read the next two articles.  It’s a red letter day for GOP goose steppers to prove that they are idiots.

Yesterday it broke that the underwear bomber is cooperating with US authorities and providing valuable intelligence about AQ in Yemen that has been confirmed accurate.

The family of the failed Christmas Day bomber, Umar Farouq Abdulmuttalab, played a pivotal role in getting their son to start cooperating with federal authorities in sharing information about Al Qaeda, a senior administration official said Tuesday evening.

Abdulmuttalab has been cooperating with authorities and sharing intelligence since last Thursday, another administration official told ABC News.

The family was “instrumental in gaining Mr. Abdulmuttalab’s cooperation," said the senior administration official. The information Abdulmuttalab is sharing has been described by other officials as fresh and actionable.

“It has been very successful," the official said, "as far as gaining his cooperation that will allow us then to follow up on that information." He said the intelligence gained "has been disseminated throughout the intelligence community."…

…Abdulmuttalab was talking to FBI agents on Saturday, at the same time Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, ranking Republican on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, issued the Republican response to the president’s weekly address, decrying Abdulmuttalab’s presence in the criminal justice system.

Collins is just one of many critics questioning why Abdulmuttalab was read his Miranda rights under the criminal justice system instead of being interrogated under military rules.

“There is a reason why these things are done the way they are done and believe me it frustrated the hell out of me to listen to a lot of the comments being made that were criticizing this process," the official said. "But the premium that this White House – that this president puts on these operations – is to make sure that we do everything possible to protect the American people.”

The official said "people with no experience and apparently less knowledge about the case and the issues involved have made it a cause célèbre . As though there were some type of strange practice or action that took place here. When it’s consistent with all the practices of the previous administration.”

Those who had access to Abdulmuttalab concluded that "putting him in front of somebody with a military uniform would have made him even more opposed to any type of cooperation," the official said. "The way to get to him is to use family members who are going to be supportive of what we’re trying to do”

The FBI agents involved in making the decisions "did it exactly the way they were trained to do, the way past practice has occurred without exception," the official said. "There were a lot of politicians who were speaking out who had not one lick of counterterrorism experience who were second-guessing the professionals who have engaged in these issues, very successfully and in a very dedicated fashion over the years. And to have a how-many-mile screwdriver from here to Detroit try to micromanage the process, I find it quite frankly appalling.”

The senior administration official expressed frustration that news of Abdulmuttalab’s cooperation was revealed to the public today.

In congressional testimony, the director of National Intelligence, Admiral Dennis Blair (ret.), said of Abdulmuttalab, "we got good intelligence. We’re getting more."

FBI director Robert Mueller said as much as well… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <ABC>

The GOP torture mavens have made fools of themselves.  Their way had two basic problems.  First, torture is a violation of international treaties to which the US is a party.  That makes torture a crime under US law and a war crime under international law.  Second, torture produces flawed intelligence.

Keith Olbermann and Jonathan Alter broke this down beautifully:

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Alter’s point that the GOP’s continual lying that Obama is weak on terrorists provides incentive for terrorists to attack us is certainly valid.  Don’t they care about keeping America safe?  The most helpful event in returning the GOP to power would be a successful terrorist attack on the US on Obama’s watch.  Hmmm….

Two things remain constant in today’s GOP.  No lie is to bold for them, and they will oppose any position that Obama supports.

Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), chairman of the House Republican Conference, appeared on Fox & Friends this morning to play down Obama’s strong defense of his administration’s policies at Friday’s House GOP retreat in Baltimore. Trying to refute the claim that Republicans have become a “party of no,” Pence replied:

PENCE: Well, look, in the last year, you know, frankly Steve, there were a number of bills that we did support the administration on, most especially regarding our troops and regarding our veterans. We kept our word. We set politics aside and stood strongly with the president in his call for reinforcement and for funding.

Watch it:

 

Though Pence said that Republicans found common ground with the President on troop funding in 2009, in reality Republicans in both the House and Senate have blocked defense spending for political reasons. On Oct. 8, Pence joined House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and 129 other Republicans in the House in voting against the 2010 Department of Defense Authorization bill. Pence and Boehner opposed the bill because the measure included “hate crimes provisions designed to protect gays and lesbians.”

Republicans in the Senate followed Pence and Boehner’s obstructionist lead in December, filibustering the 2010 Department of Defense Appropriations Act as a way of delaying the Senate health care vote… [emphasis original]

Inserted from <Think Progress>

Why don’t these liars just come out and and admit that their hate for LGBT people is more important to them than providing for their troops?  Have I become a defense hawk?  Hardly!  But as much as I hate and oppose war, even I know that we must provide the very best for our troops in harm’s way.  The irony here is that the warmongers don’t see it that way.  To the GOP our troops are just cannon fodder.

Of course this is just one small example of the idiocy of the Party of No.  Both Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow had wonderful takes on this last night.

Here’s Keith:

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And here’s Rachel:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I have to admit that I was taken aback when Obama started to adopt GOP talking points.  I wondered if he was crazy!  The way he has the GOP so twisted around that their heads are now up their own arses proves that he is crazy.  Crazy like a fox!