The Commentariat -- Dec. 7, 2014
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Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The White House signaled Friday that it still favors going ahead next week with the release of a long-delayed Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA interrogation practices many view as torture, despite indications of a last-minute move by Secretary of State John Kerry to put off the release due to concerns about possible retaliation against American forces and hostages overseas. 'The president has been clear that he wants the executive summary of the Committee's report to be declassified as expeditiously as possible, and we welcomed the news from the Committee that they plan to do so next week,' National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said Friday afternoon in a statement to Politico. "The precise timing is up to Senator [Dianne] Feinstein and the Committee."
Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "Attorneys general in at least a dozen states are working with energy companies and other corporate interests, which in turn are providing them with record amounts of money for their political campaigns, including at least $16 million this year. They share a common philosophy about the reach of the federal government, but the companies also have billions of dollars at stake. And the collaboration is likely to grow: For the first time in modern American history, Republicans in January will control a majority -- 27 -- of attorneys general's offices." CW: Working with? "The letter to the Environmental Protection Agency from Attorney General Scott Pruitt [said] ... federal regulators were grossly overestimating the amount of air pollution caused by energy companies drilling new natural gas wells in his state.... The three-page letter was written by lawyers for Devon Energy, one of Oklahoma's biggest oil and gas companies, and was delivered to him by Devon's chief of lobbying."
Andrew Siff of NBC New York: "Staten Island's top prosecutor did not ask grand jurors to consider a reckless endangerment charge in the chokehold death of Eric Garner, a source familiar with the case told NBC 4 New York. District Attorney Daniel Donovan only asked grand jurors to consider manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges against NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo...."
Redditt Hudson, a former St. Louis Police officer, in a Washington Post op-ed: "I won't say all, but many of my peers were deeply racist.... The problem is that cops aren't held accountable for their actions, and they know it. These officers violate rights with impunity. They know there's a different criminal justice system for civilians and police. Even when officers get caught, they know they'll be investigated by their friends, and put on paid leave. My colleagues would laughingly refer to this as a free vacation. It isn't a punishment. And excessive force is almost always deemed acceptable in our courts and among our grand juries. Prosecutors are tight with law enforcement, and share the same values and ideas. We could start to change that by mandating that a special prosecutor be appointed to try excessive force cases. And we need more independent oversight, with teeth." ...
... Vivian Yee & Kirk Johnson of the New York Times: "... even as [police] departments have started adopting [body cams], questions remain about how much it can actually prevent violent encounters with citizens or clarify the boundaries of appropriate police response."
Katie Glueck of Politico: "Hillary Clinton had several opportunities to distance herself from the Obama administration during an appearance Friday before a heavily pro-Israel crowd, but she didn't take them. Instead, she defended President Barack Obama's dealings with the Jewish state at a time of tense U.S.-Israel relations, insisting the White House is committed to Israel's security and supporting America's nuclear talks with Iran."
God News
This Explains a Lot. Public Religion Research Institute: "White evangelical Protestants are much more likely to attribute the severity of recent natural disasters to the biblical 'end times' (77%) than to climate change (49%)." CW: Ergo, climate change cannot be "man-made"; it is God's work. Via Steve Benen.
Laurie Goodstein of the New York Times: "Maryland and six other states still have articles in their constitutions saying people who do not believe in God are not eligible to hold public office. Maryland's Constitution still says belief in God is a requirement even for jurors and witnesses. Now a coalition of nonbelievers says it is time to get rid of the atheist bans because they are discriminatory, offensive and unconstitutional. The bans are unenforceable dead letters, legal experts say, and state and local governments have rarely invoked them in recent years. But for some secular Americans, who are increasingly visible and organized, removing the bans is ... a test of their growing movement's political clout."
Simon Brown of Americans United schools Rick Santorum on the history of separation of church & state, which Santorum opined was a communist Soviet idea. "Roger Williams was talking about church-state separation in 1644. More than 100 years later, key founders like James Madison and Thomas Jefferson championed the idea. Madison, who is widely considered to be the 'father of the Constitution,' was a primary drafter of the First Amendment. In a document known as the 'Detached Memoranda,' Madison wrote, 'Strongly guarded ... is the separation between religion & Gov't in the Constitution of the United States....' Here's a newsflash for Santorum: Williams, Jefferson and Madison were not communists." Read the whole post. Via Benen.
Caitlin MacNeal of Think Progress: "A federal judge last week rejected a newly-elected Republican Colorado state representative's claim that the U.S. navy violated his religious freedom. Gordon Klingenschmitt, who once tried to perform an exorcism on President Obama, claimed that he was wrongfully dismissed as a Navy chaplain for attending a politicized religious event in uniform." Via Benen. ...
... Yeah But. Brian Tashman of Right Wing Watch: "Klingenschmitt, however, insisted that he was fired [from the Navy] because he used the name of Jesus in his prayers and therefore was a victim of anti-Christian persecution.... Klingenschmitt, who has built his entire career as a political activist on this claim of religious persecution, is now receiving support from the right-wing outlet WorldNetDaily, which implies today that the judge only ruled against Klingenschmitt because she is a lesbian." The headline is a laffer: "Lesbian Judge Takes on Jesus in Court."
Nick Squires of the Telegraph: Pope Francis has fired the head of the Swiss Guard. "In a dispassionate one-sentence notice, the Vatican's official newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, announced on Wednesday that Daniel Anrig will no longer serve as the commandant of the 500-year-old corps after the end of next month. No official explanation was given for the decision, but it was widely rumoured that the Argentinean Pope ... found the commander's manner overly strict and 'Teutonic'."
Congressional Elections
Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Republicans put the finishing touches on a triumphant midterm election by picking up a ninth Senate seat Saturday when Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) defeated Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) in a runoff election.... With most precincts reporting, Cassidy led Landrieu by about 14 percentage points. The Associated Press called the race for Cassidy shortly after polls closed in the evening." The Times-Picayune story, by Cole Avery, is here.
Diana Samuels of the Times-Picayune: "Republican Garret Graves is headed to Washington to represent Louisiana's 6th Congressional District. And four-time former governor and ex-convict Edwin Edwards -- a Louisiana icon, both beloved and reviled -- has lost his first, and likely last, political race at the ballot box."
Roll Call: "Republican physician Ralph Abraham defeated Monroe Mayor Jamie Mayo, a Democrat, in a runoff for Louisiana's 5th District. He will now officially succeed outgoing GOP Rep. Vance McAllister. Abraham led Mayo, 66 percent to 34 percent, with two out of 845 precincts reporting when the AP called the race."
News Ledes
AP: "Chlorine gas sickened several people and forced the evacuation of thousands of guests from a suburban Chicago hotel early Sunday, including many dressed in cartoonish animal costumes for an annual furries convention who were ushered across the street to a convention center hosting a dog show.... he source of the gas was apparently chlorine powder left in a ninth-floor stairwell at the hotel, according to the Rosemont Public Safety Department. Investigators believe the gas was created intentionally and are treating it as a criminal matter." CW: Yes, apparently there's an international convention for people who like to dress up as bunnies & foxes.
AP: "Four of the remaining nine USS Arizona survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack are vowing this year's anniversary won't be their last reunion. The men in their 90s gathered for a news conference Tuesday in a building overlooking the memorial that sits on top of the Arizona, a battleship that sank in the Dec. 7, 1941, attack. Even though it's the last official survivor gathering of the USS Arizona Reunion Association, the men said they still plan to get together, even if not in Hawaii."
New York Times: "The United States transferred six detainees from the Guantánamo Bay prison to Uruguay this weekend, the Defense Department announced early Sunday. It was the largest single group of inmates to depart the wartime prison in Cuba since 2009, and the first of the detainees to be resettled in South America. The transfer included a Syrian man who has been on a prolonged hunger strike to protest his indefinite detention without trial, and who has brought a high-profile lawsuit to challenge the military's procedures for force-feeding him. His release may moot most of that case, although a dispute over whether videotapes of the procedure must be disclosed to the public is expected to continue."
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Reader Comments (7)
Re:"Lesbian Judge Takes on Jesus in Court";...,ah,."twenty bucks on Jesus?"
Sarah Vowell's discussion of the differences between Roger Williams and the Boston power structure, especially John Cotton, is very helpful. The issue arose when Williams disputed the authority of a secular court to impose sentences for religious offenses like not agreeing with the dominant narrative. Williams was not one-dimensional, though: He believed that Calvinist "visible saints" should socialize only with other visible saints and that anyone who didn't completely break ties with the Church of England and any relatives who still might believe that particular Christian cover should be excluded from religious services.
So, Boston banished Williams, but rather return to England he escaped (with the surreptitious help of Governor John Winthrop), removed to Narragansett Bay, and formed a colony in which people could believe whatever version of the creation myth that pleased them.
On another note, it's noteworthy that nonbelievers are filing lawsuits against those states that legally bar atheists from holding public office. We may as well legislate that healthy people are not allowed to try out for in the Olympics.
"White evangelical Protestants are much more likely to attribute the severity of recent natural disasters to the biblical 'end times' (77%) than to climate change (49%)."
The perfect example of why religion is so popular. It's my god's fault. I am responsible for absolutely nothing.
"The perfect example of why religion is so popular. It's my god's fault. I am responsible for absolutely nothing."
And isn't this the very essence of belief in a Deity? "God willing"––-prayers to convince that Deity––the will of God––don't matter none what we do or don't do to the environment it's dat big guy in the sky that runs the ship. "By the grace of God, go I" piece of crap––in other words (I've ranted about this before) if my child is spared in a school shooting it was God's will but it was also His Will that dozens of others died. No choices, really, it's all determined by that guy in the sky. At least God's nemesis was brought in as light comedy when we had "The devil made me do it" riff, but haven't heard from him lately.
I used to tear my hair out from all this nonsense –-so bewildered that in this 21st century we are still grappling with all this. Nowadays I just lament the ignorance and yes, lack of responsibility and realize that in my lifetime it will always be thus.
What really struck me about the study results is that a large chunk of the Republican base must believe that climate change/the destruction of the planet is a "good thing." If you believe that god is directing climate change as part of his/her "plan," no scientific "theory" is going to make you decide you should reduce your carbon footprint. Rather, these same believers also hold to the view -- expressed in Genesis -- that man's "dominion" over the earth grants humans a theological right to do whatever they please with Earth & its all of its resource, animate & inanimate. This isn't just irresponsible; it's a jihad against the planet.
We live in a country where the now-dominant political party is beholden to this worldview. Whether or not the majority of its leaders share that view, they have financial interests that make it convenient. "I am not a scientist" is not a cop-out; it's a strategy that works.
This is a lot more frightening that Reagan's "government is the problem" meme. One can argue against that by demonstrating how government helps, or has the potential to help, everyone. But there's no argument that will convince a believer that her religious beliefs conflict with good policy. It may seem far-fetched (so much we see today seemed far-fetched even a decade ago), but I can foresee a Supreme Court ruling that "corporate persons" have a First Amendment right to rape the planet because of their religious beliefs. Irresponsibility, or "anything goes" may become the normative standard.
Marie
Gordon Klingenschmitt and his district is in Colorado Springs, includes/abuts Peterson Air Force Base. How much you want to bet that many of those supporting this authority loving POS are paid by the government? The way authoritarian christians love wrapping themselves in bullets and the flag and sucking from the well of government funding is positively gross.
Over on Driftglass there are two video clips with a Mike Royko interview taped in 1982—worth the watch. Sure miss Royko! No one comparable!
The interviewer, John Kass (more appropriately without the K on his surname) is outdone by a cool, smoking Royko. Covers a range of subjects that are relevant to things we are still screwing around with such as "it's never about race" and the brilliance of the broader, not paying attention, voting population.
http://driftglass.blogspot.com/2014/12/john-kass-professional-its-never-about.html