Pundit Country

“The wretches say whatever comes into their heads and whatever they think one wants to believe”

-Napoleon Bonaparte on the subject of torture.

Unfortunately Napoleon never had to deal with the neocons (who still don’t get it).

“And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning falling from the heavens.” - Luke 10:18 (KJV)

The Examiner has a story from WorldNetDaily, a paper that caters to right-wing propaganda (including the birther “movement”) concerning an individual who has uploaded a video on YouTube positing that Barack Obama is the name of the Anti-Christ that Luke 10:18 refers to. The poster, ppsimmons (a pseudonym) uses a variety of somewhat convoluted, almost DaVinci Code-esque methods to note the name the passage (by way of Greek, to English, to Hebrew) speaks of is the current President. WorldNetDaily, who met the poster, but did not disclose his identity at the poster’s requested quoted him as saying,

“I want to emphasize I’m not ashamed of what I put there,” he told WND. “I’m not proclaiming he is the antichrist, or that I’m some kind of a Hebrew expert, but the word associations are indisputable. The Hebrew word for lightning is ‘Baraq’ and the word for heights or high places is ‘Bamah.’”

The problem with this assumption is that ppsimmons is doing precisely what he (assuming it is his voice doing the narration) claims he isn’t doing; namely pushing the idea that not only is Obama not a legitimate winner of an election, he is evil incarnate. And to many who believe in apocalyptic interpretations of the Bible, evil must be fought with violence and murder. It is not entirely unlike what Radio Rwanda took part part in prior to the start of the country’s genocide, albeit in this form, it is far more subtle. The video doesn’t have to say he wants people to take matters into their own hands. It just has to point the way and hope some unsound mind connects the dots. It does not require instructions and questions about how to address evil. Many who buy into these violent interpretation of faith have already been ingrained what they are to do in order to gain entry into God’s house: to be His soldier and slaughter all who oppose him. The more this rhetorical poison is permitted to seep into the public discourse without strong condemnations from the right of the political and religious spheres, the more likely someone will be harmed physically because of it.

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• Popular YouTube Video: Obama as Antichrist (usnews.com)
• Anti-Obama ‘birther movement’ gathers steam (guardian.co.uk)
• Terry Krepel: WorldNetDaily Feeds the Extremists (huffingtonpost.com)

According to a much-debated poll conducted by Daily Kos, Research 2000 asked people whether they believe Obama was born in the United States or elsewhere. Not so surprisingly, most of those who answered that they do not believe he’s a natural born citizen are Republicans from the southern states. The breakdown is as follows:

Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 7/27-30. All adults. MoE 2% (No trend lines)

Do you believe that Barack Obama was born in the United States of America or not?

Yes   No  Not sure
Dem 93    4    3
Rep 42   28   30
Ind 83    8    9

Northeast 93    4    3
South 47   23   30
Midwest 90    6    4
West 87    7    6

Nice. It’s more than pathetic to see that after the loss of two elections, southern Republicans have been so willing top jump off the deep end with this crap. Whoever believes this nonsense is well deserving of all the ridicule that is coming their way.

Related articles

• Is the GOP Rank & File Daft? (delawarewatch.blogspot.com)
• New Poll: Less Than Half Of Republicans Believe Obama Was Born In U.S. (huffingtonpost.com)
• Stark on the Hill: What Does Dave Reichert (R-WA) Think of Birthers? (firedoglake.com)
• Birthers are mostly Republican and Southern (dailykos.com)

The Washington Independent is reporting about the case of Mohammed Jawad, a detainee the U.S. picked up in 2002 when, according to the original charges, he threw a grenade at U.S. troops. Jawad, a teenager (possible 12 years old)  at the time of his arrest, was held in Afghanistan where he was tortured, then sent to Gitmo where he was tortured some more and was threatened with the execution of his family if he did not confess.

This week, the U.S. District Court Judge adjudicating the case, Ellen Huvelle, told the prosecuting attorneys that she has seen the evidence against Jawad and found it to be unsupportive of the charges against him. The government has announced they are dropping the military case against Jawad, but will not let him go. Officially, their reasoning is that they are waiting to hear from other departments to see if they want to try him in a civil case (where the burden of proof is considerably less). However, few in the media and legal circles are finding the excuse reasonable and commenting that this system of indefinite dentention looks similiar, if not identical to the one employed by the Justice Department under the Bush administration.

I would have to agree. While there is a circuit court ruling that says that federal courts cannot compel the government to release a detainee onto U.S. soil, the best thing the government can do right now is return Jawad to Afghanistan, which is said to be interested in charging and trying him in their own courts. Unfortunately, this appears, on the face of things, to be yet another case of the Obama administration keeping the failed policies of the Bush administration alive and well, despite pleas to change it and bring it firmly back into the rule of law. The longer Holder and Obama allow it to continue, the longer it can claim justification for its existence and maintain it as precedent.

[update 7/30] directly from the Washington Independent:

Mohammed Jawad, the Afghan boy seized for allegedly throwing a grenade at U.S. troops and imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay ever since, may be on his way home to Afghanistan within three weeks.

In another tense hearing this morning at U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., Judge Ellen Huvelle granted his petition for habeas corpus and ruled that the government must notify Congress within seven days of his impending release, and prepare to send him home 15 days after that.  Under a recent Supplemental Appropriations law, Congress must be given 15 days’ notice of the release of any Guantanamo prisoners to a country other than the United States. Congress cannot stop the release, however.

Still, as I explained yesterday, the government has not relinquished its right to charge Jawad again under the federal criminal laws, and it has repeatedly suggested that it may do so.

Related articles

• Government Might Allow Trial in U.S. for Detainee (nytimes.com)
• 2nd Guantanamo detainee may face trial in U.S. (cnn.com)
• 2nd Gitmo detainee could be tried in U.S. (msnbc.msn.com)

Like I said, comic gold. I’m going to predict that may be one of the most videos shared or tweeted today.

Da Shat is da shit.