Our Morning Roundup: “Do as Christ Would Do–Waterboard the Sumbitch”
Good morning, City Desk readers, and welcome to another spring-time installment of Freedom Friday. United States Supreme Court Justice David Souter is set to retire and word has it that President Barack Obama may choose a woman as his replacement. The AP has a rundown of potential lady judges; oddly, the list is all pedigree and no track record. Based off my gut (it's OK to make decisions that way, right?), I'd pick Georgia Supreme Court Justice Leah Ward Sears. She and Clarence Thomas could battle over who was more "down-home Georgia."
Christians who support torture, actors who support torture, and a few thoughts on All Hands on Deck after the jump.
- A Pew Center survey found that 62% of "white evangelical protestants" support torture. David Sessions at Patrol magazine has some thoughts on this: "Christianity has just as much emphasis–if not more–on justice as mercy, and its personal commands to be mercifiul do not necessarily apply to states and governments. Thus, churchgoers tend to have more binary understandings of good and evil, and are less squeamish about what they perceive to be justice." I'm withholding judgment until Pew can come up with a decent sample size. In this case, they polled only 174 "white evangelical protestants."
- Speaking of torture: Idiot child Bradley Whitford (the villain from Happy Gilmore Billy Madison!) advocates for the waterboading of Dick Cheney in a (satirical?) HuffPo piece. There's no shortage of evil things one could say about Hollywood activists: They can't seem to shut the fuck up once they realize they're allowed to vote, they shamelessly "testify" in front of Congress and cite made-for-tv movies as experience, and they preach about the environment while simultaneously lear-jetting back and forth between the lavish wasteful parties they both throw and attend. That said, it's kind of refreshing to see Whitford undermine his own fierce objections to torture by calling for it to be done to someone he doesn't like.
- On Wednesday Jason Cherkis posted the results of last weekend's All Hands on Deck initiative: 377 arrests. As you go about your day–saying hi to your friends at your stable, well-paying office job, collecting your paycheck, thinking about how far you've come since graduating from college–just remember that every one of those 377 arrests that was related to drugs equals one more person who will never be able to borrow a Stafford loan, one more person who will find it very difficult to land even the most menial of jobs, one more person for whom crime will make more sense that trying to succeed in the way that many of you succeed. If those thoughts tug at your conscience even a little bit, then do something.
Have a good weekend.
9:39 am
If those thoughts tug at your conscience even a little bit, then do something.
BUT WHAT SHOULD I DO?????????
10:20 am
The idiotic American "Christian" Taliban members forget that Jesus was tortured by the Romans & then executed, even though innocent of the charges.
10:42 am
Regarding the Whitford piece, if you think he was actually calling for the waterboarding of Dick Cheney, irony has truly died.
10:49 am
Today is Law Day. Observe it by enforcing these statutes:
United States Code, Title 18, 2441: War Crimes
United States Code, Title 18, 2340A: Torture
See:
http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/05/01/may-1-2009-law-day/
11:41 am
Come on, Riggs. Whitford was the villain in Billy Madison--not Happy Gilmore. (That role belonged to the wonderful Christopher McDonald, as Shooter McGavin.) Just because the two movies come as a double DVD package doesn't mean you can conflate them!
12:43 pm
Jesus, Jamieson! You're totally right. I have mud on my face. Whitford wants the hotel chain in Billy Madison!
6:45 pm
"just remember that every one of those 377 arrests that was related to drugs equals one more person who will never be able to borrow a Stafford loan, one more person who will find it very difficult to land even the most menial of jobs, one more person for whom crime will make more sense that trying to succeed in the way that many of you succeed."
First- not every drug-related arrest was brought about by drugs alone. Many of the drug siezures were probably incidental to the crime (i.e. drugs found during a domestic violence arrest, drugs found during assaults, drugs found during traffic stops). For those busted with drugs: Shit happens. Stop committing crime and you won't get nailed with a narcotics charge.
Second- The likelihood of most of the people locked up for drugs like crack, heroin and PCP going on to college is slim to say the least. Moreover, the odds that the same group of people would have advanced beyond menial jobs is about the same as Cherkis writing a half-decent article i.e. rare but it does happen on occasion.
Third- A possession charge in DC is laughable. No more than 90 days. Hell, you could have up to a half pound of weed and be charged simple possession. Hard drugs are treated equally with softer ones. The average hood on the corner won't even get a distribution charge unless they're carrying upwards of 15 doses. If nobody hired DC residents with a misdemeanor record, there'd be few people left to hire.