Pardon My Politics

Are you an unintentional anti-Semite? The U.S. State Department’s “Office of Global Anti-Semitism” in its 2008 report to Congress warns not just of conscious, intentional anti-Semitism but of another lurking form of potential bigotry: unintentional anti-Semitism.

This consists of criticisms of Israel, which, though true, might be manipulated by others to Israel’s detriment. To avoid assisting Israel’s enemies, the State Department recommends that every comment about Israel (including its leaders and military) first be scrutinized for whether it could put Israel in a bad light. If so, it shouldn’t be said. Only then can we consider ourselves “free from anti-Semitism.” (more…)

In reaction to 9/11, our modern Pearl Harbor, the Federal Government has gone far beyond taking measures to prevent terrorism. They’ve taken measures to prevent the freedom of US citizens. In the hurricane of post 9/11 legislation sweeping through Congress, a suspicious little addendum to a military appropriations and tsunami relief bill (HR1268), the Real ID Act of 2005(HR418), handed to the Federal Government all control over our state-issued driver’s license. (more…)

Proving the old axiom that Congress “is the best that money can buy,” congressional Democrats are preparing to gut the Constitution by granting giant telecom companies retroactive immunity and liability protection on warrantless wiretapping by the Bush regime. (more…)

Since the recent declassification of the John Yoo torture memos, there has been a heated debate among academics and others as to whether John Woo should continue to hold his position as a tenured professor at UC Berkeley School of Law. At issue is the freedom of expression that tenure was designed to protect vs. the despicable opinions Yoo espouses. Opinions that don’t merely reflect the misguided judgment of some low-level government functionary, but opinions that were provided for the expressed intent to give legal cover to the Bush administration’s torture regime and ultimately branding both Yoo and this administration as war criminals. (more…)

In a national television interview on ABC News Friday night (April 11, 2008), President Bush directly admitted what we have suspected all along: The White House was deeply and intimately involved in decisions about the CIA’s use of torture.

For the first time, George W. Bush acknowledged that he knew his top national security advisers discussed and approved specific details of the CIA’s use of torture. “I’m aware that our national security team met on this issue and I approved,” he said. He also defended the use of waterboarding - simulated drowning where the victim feels like they are about to die. (more…)