This story from the New York Times, Lured Into a Trap, Then Tortured for Being Gay, is so appalling it turns your stomach. The only good thing in it is that these sadistic criminals have been arrested; one really must commend the police here for aggressively pursuing this case. Two more thugs are apparently still on the loose, but they'll surely be brought in quickly, as soon as these sorry asses talk.
But it also brings up a question that I'd like to ask the lawyers who read this blog to answer. If you practice criminal law, when a piece of scum like this walks into your office, how do you defend him? Why would you take on his case? (Okay, please don't offer something glib like, "everyone has the right to a defense." I know that, I get it. I'm asking a more philosophical question.) I've always admired public defenders in general and think that they're some of society's unsung heroes, and a lot of if not all of these guys are probably going to have to rely on them; but even so, whether you were a public defender or a paid lawyer, how could you stand to look at one of them, much less defend him?
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Ohio teabagger candidate likes to dress up like a Nazi
The Atlantic's Josh Green reports that millionaire businessman Rich Iott, the Republican nominee challenging Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D) in Ohio's Ninth District, has an unusual hobby: He likes to pretend he's a Nazi.
Iott, a tea party-backed candidate, spent time fighting another battle before he hit the campaign trail against Kaptur as a member of the 5th SS Wiking Panzer Division, a group of Ohio World War II reenactors.
According to their website, the Wikings strive to "salute" the "idealists" from occupied northern Europe who saw the Third Reich as "the protector of personal freedom and their very way of life" and signed up to fight for the Wermacht and "gave their lives for their loved ones and a basic desire to be free."
You might be wondering why a politician would do something as objectively bad optics-wise as dress up like one of America's mortal enemies and shoot guns at stuff. Iott claims he became a pretend Nazi for the normal reasons.
He told Green it was "a father-son bonding thing."
Oy. Go read.
Make what you will of these poll numbers.
Just 4% of Republican voters support building the Ground Zero mosque. But 21% say they would support a Ground Zero strip club!
On the Democratic side, 49% would support the mosque and 33% would support a strip club. Independents clocked in at 34% (mosque) and 28% (strip club).
Those opposing the construction of the Islamic community center will claim that the comparison between mosque and strip club is bogus. They'll argue that strippers have no intent on blowing up buildings or killing innocent Americans but Islamic jihadists do. They'll also claim that their opposition goes beyond questions of morality. It has to do with allowing Muslims to set up a "victory mosque" on hallowed ground.
Clearly, these people are either bigots, idiots or badly misinformed. In many instances, I'd guess all three.
What they fail to understand (acknowledge would be a better choice of words) is that the enemy in the war on terror is not Islam. It is al Qaeda. And the people behind the Park51 project are not terrorists. They are Muslims with a desire to build a cultural center which would help serve the needs of New York's 600,000 strong Islamic population. Those are the undeniable facts no matter how much the right-wing noise machine views anti-Muslim sentiment as an ally in the coming midterm elections.
Xenophobia and bigotry are inherently irrational but stoking the flames of both for political gain is just plain wrong…and dangerous.
No, they aren't. In fact, Americans are no longer capable of arriving at opinions through actual thought:
Glenn Beck claims to have been diagnosed with macular dystrophy and says that it may have been caused by toxins he was exposed from reading Walter Lippman. It seems pretty likely to me that he's pulling a Bob Roberts: pretending to be going blind for a while, or better yet pretending to have gone blind and then getting healed by a faith healer, would be good for ratings. But who knows?
Anyway, there's a pattern here: the line between conservativsim and medical quack scams is pretty thin.
This sums it up pretty well:
I'll take "Things pitched to suckers" for $1000, Alex.
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Someone isn't "beeing" honest about where funding for a study on bee deaths came from.
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Mario gets political hate mail
While sifting through my Hatemail folder I came across the following lovely email sent to me by a fan. The gentleman was even kind of enough to have included 'hatemail' as his letter's Subject heading. Nice move in that it makes it so much easier to sort my mail. Here is his letter.
"First I would like to say i have sat and read articles and blogs for the past hour and this is probably the biggest bunch of lies i have ever come across. You consistantly talk about the hate and racism in the republican party, but most of your articles and blogs are full of hate. Thats what you extreme leftwing nutbags dont get get. As someone who doesnt vote based on party affiliations (because thats really American) your leftwing extremist is garbage. I feel sorry for your kids because you are no different from a KKK member. To eliminate hate in All of America outlets like this should be held accountable for the hate that they post. You sir should take a long look in the mirror, maybe then you would realize you are the problem."
Hmmm. Ok. First of all, let me thank you for actually spending a full hour of your time on my site reading my various posts. I don't believe I have ever spent even half that much time on any one website at any one time…including my own. Your caring and devotion touches me.
As for the content of your email…
1. What you call 'hate', I call mocking disgust for the political right. When a Sarah Palin talks of 'death panels' in the health care plan or a Michele Bachmann speaks of Obama 'internment camps' or a Glenn Beck finds a Marxist bogeyman behind every word of progressives or teabagging fools protest against having their taxes raised when in fact their taxes have been cut over the last 18 months or Republicans under the 'leadership' of Boehner and McConnell have vowed to stop the wheels of government while they kowtow to special interest groups or when the Supreme Court decides to destroy the safeguards concerning campaign financing or tea party clowns like Angel, Paul and Miller talk of privatizing Social Security and dismantling the Affordable Care Act and…I could go on for pages here. I haven't even touched on birthers, homophobes and Islamophobes, but you get the point. These people are public figures and deserve to be mocked for taking up the positions they do.
2. While you state that you don't vote based on party affiliation, I'd wager $27.82 (that's the amount in my pockets at the moment) that you have voted for the Republican candidate 95.6% of the time. I've heard that phony line too many times to be fooled by it. Stating that you're an independent is your attempt at creating the impression that you're above petty partisanship and that your words should carry more weight. Please. If you want respect, then have the honesty to admit who and what you believe in.
3. Don't feel sorry for my kids. They're happy, well-adjusted and they love their dad. I know because after their nightly beating, I force them to chant "I love you, dad" until they lose their voices and fall asleep.
4. I could never be a KKK member. I suffer from claustrophobia so spending anything longer than one second behind that hooded pointy hat is just not possible. And besides, are KKKers and other extreme bigots not more likely to be on the conservative side of the ledger? I think so.
5. For someone who wants to wipe out hate, your little rant is dripping with venom. But I might be wrong. Maybe you're just mocking me, right?
And finally, I ask you this: if your are the good American you wish to give the impression you are, then why are you not in a rage over the antics of Republicans and conservatives over the last decade? Iraq, increasing debt, Bush, Cheney, torture, obstruction, divisiveness, homophobia, erosion of the middle class and a ton load more of crap which has been heaped upon you by the right-wing. Your country and politics are being dominated by a cast of lying, self-serving scumbags and your concern is a liberal blogger?
Please. You're not in a rage over any of the above-mentioned issues because I suspect you see no problem with any of them. And that, sir, makes you part of everything which is wrong with your great country. Really.
Thanks for writing and do drop by again.
