My Letter to Senator Lieberman

Dear Senator Lieberman,

How could you? How could you vote in favor of S3930? No matter how it is spun, this bill will legitimize torture, deny habeas corpus, and allow the criminal behavior of the Executive branch to go unpunished.

S3930 is not ethical, not moral, and completely un-American.

While it's clear that the Bush Administration concocted S3930 - and insisted on its swift passage - so that it could be a political ping-pong ball up until November 7th. This explains the behavior of six of the eleven Democrats who voted for S3930 (and the two Republicans who voted against it); you are running for re-election on security platforms. And I've heard people explain that the law is so flawed that it may not survive a court challenge. Which means to any intelligent observer that this bill is intended for rhetoric alone.

Which begs the question: how dare politicians make a game out of my civil rights?

Yesterday was a shameful day for the United States. Despite your vote for the Specter Amendment, I consider your eventual vote for S3930 as a disgrace. Our feckless President and his dangerous advisors have used the tragedy of 9/11 to drive our country further into paranoid brutality. Why are you Democrats in Congress helping them?

I should emphasize that I have long been a supporter of you and other moderate Democrats. Al Gore was my Senator when I lived in Tennessee and I was a paid and proud member of the DLC (until my job required me to sever ties to overt political groups). My personal politics places me squarely in your 'base.' And yet, I find this law disgraceful. The entire conduct of the Bush Administration vis-à-vis 'homeland security' and 'the war on terror' has been disgraceful.

You have the reputation of being a man of conscience. You stood up and reproved President Clinton - a man I admire - for his acts of adultery and perjury. He was wrong, you were right. Yet, as bad as adultery is, torture is worse! Perjury is a crime against justice, but suspending habeas corpus is worse!

I am disappointed in your behavior as my representative.

Sincerely,
[The Styx]

Bush Placed by God?

A letter I sent to Sullivan

This is regarding [your blog post about] the religious right and George W. Bush. [*link dead]

I am an orthodox Jew and I have heard some in the right-wing Jewish community say similar things to the quote you had from CNN:

"There are some people, and I'm one of them, that believe George Bush was placed where he is by the Lord. "

Whenever I hear someone say something like that I invariably reply, as an amateur theologian, "yes, Bush was placed as president by the Lord... but as a punishment."

The scary thing is that I don't know anymore if I am joking.

All the best for a good, new year

When I was a rabbi in NYC I heard this a lot after 9/11 - that it was better to have Bush in office than Gore because Bush is an uncomplicated thinker and a man of action. I argued that he was an idiot and it's never good to have idiots in charge, even if - by pure chance - they do something you agree with. I also said, and I have witnesses, that since he was immoral, it was dangerous to support thugs because of the inevitable backlash.

I also pushed back against the idea that Gore-Lieberman wouldn't have done the right thing after 9/11. Does anyone believe that anymore?

Backpost put up 2009-12-08.

The Pope and the Muslims

This article from the Zenit News Agency proves my point on why Ratzenberg was elected: Papal Address at University of Regensburg, "Three Stages in the Program of De-Hellenization." That is, that his record is as a right-wing strict Catholic who will strengthen the core of the religion in Europe - and then the rest of the world - against the encroachment from both secularism and of Islam. He's a fighter, and his expected short term (he's pretty old) will be one of religious conflict.

Pic of Pope Ratzi from here. Backpost finished 2009-12-07.

Belfry WebComics Index

Some dude(s) put together a list of (what appears to be) all the comics found on the internet. WOW: The Belfry WebComics Index

Backpost finished 4/12/08, 12:02 AM. Just the link: