McCain in 2006:

Two years ago, just after Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary elections, I [James P. Rubin, of the Washington Post] interviewed McCain for the British network Sky News’s “World News Tonight” program. Here is the crucial part of our exchange:

[James P. Rubin] asked: “Do you think that American diplomats should be operating the way they have in the past, working with the Palestinian government if Hamas is now in charge?”

McCain answered: “They’re the government; sooner or later we are going to have to deal with them, one way or another, and I understand why this administration and previous administrations had such antipathy towards Hamas because of their dedication to violence and the things that they not only espouse but practice, so . . . but it’s a new reality in the Middle East. I think the lesson is people want security and a decent life and decent future, that they want democracy. Fatah was not giving them that.”

McCain in 2008:

US Republican presidential candidate John McCain said over the weekend that he would be Hamas’s worst nightmare, while Democratic rival Barack Obama was clearly Hamas’s choice for US president.

“I think it’s very clear who Hamas wants to be the next president of the United States,” McCain, the putative Republican presidential nominee, said in a conference call on Friday with conservative bloggers.

“I think that the people should understand that I will be Hamas’s worst nightmare,” he said in response to a question from Jennifer Rubin of Commentary magazine.

Campaign spokesman Brian Rogers said Hamas support “is a legitimate issue for the American people to think about.”

“The reason for Hamas’s praise of Senator Obama’s foreign policy is his commitment to meet unconditionally with Iran… It is not only responsible to raise these critical issues in this election, but it would be the height of irresponsibility not to have this discussion with the American people,” Rogers said.

Obama’s foreign policy represented a “radical departure” from current standards of dealing with “rogue regimes,” he said.

McCain suggested that the support stemmed from Obama’s willingness to have diplomatic talks with nations like Iran.

“I never expect for the leader of Hamas… to say that he wants me as president of the United States,” McCain said. “I think it is very clear… why they would not want me to be president of the United States, so if Sen. Obama is favored by Hamas, I think people can make judgments accordingly.”

(More below the fold…)

Via Elaine, I discovered that today is Bloggers Unite: Human Rights day…and a bit belatedly, at that. Since it’s almost midnight, and I need to get to bed like 30 minutes ago, I thought I might post three very specific actions you can take on behalf of human rights causes. (For more resources, check out my Get Active! page. Keep scrolling for the human rights resources…they’re there, I swear.)

1. Write Yahoo! to protest their aiding and abetting in human rights violations.

Via Amnesty International: “Shi Tao, a Chinese journalist, is serving a ten-year prison sentence for sending an email to the U.S. Yahoo! helped put him there. They provided information to the Chinese Government, which led to his unjust imprisonment. Yahoo! needs to hear from people like you and me in droves. Corporations like Yahoo! are very sensitive to public outcry. We must tell Yahoo! that we won’t stand for violating privacy and ask them to use their influence to secure Shi Tao’s release.”

2. Save Darfur

Visit www.savedarfur.org to learn more about the conflict in Darfur and take action. Two good places to start: the current initiatives (Urge China to help end genocide; Secure helicopters for the Darfur peacekeepers; and Get peacekeepers get on the ground) and activist resources pages.

3. Infiltrate a vegan potluck.

Waste the FBI’s anti-terra funding on TVP chili and chocolate-on-chocolate vegan cupcakes (they’re taking over the world, dontchaknow?), have a terra-ific veg*n time and report back nothing. It’s a win-win, my ski-masked friends.

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Tagged: human rights civil liberties bloggers unite save darfur yahoo green is the new red green scare genocide

This is the state of women’s rights in Iraq. You know, that previously uncivilized country that we so generously spread freedom to?

For Abdel-Qader Ali there is only one regret: that he did not kill his daughter at birth. ‘If I had realised then what she would become, I would have killed her the instant her mother delivered her,’ he said with no trace of remorse.

Two weeks after The Observer revealed the shocking story of Rand Abdel-Qader, 17, murdered because of her infatuation with a British soldier in Basra, southern Iraq, her father is defiant. Sitting in the front garden of his well-kept home in the city’s Al-Fursi district, he remains a free man, despite having stamped on, suffocated and then stabbed his student daughter to death. [...]

It was her first youthful infatuation and it would be her last. She died on 16 March after her father discovered she had been seen in public talking to Paul, considered to be the enemy, the invader and a Christian. Though her horrified mother, Leila Hussein, called Rand’s two brothers, Hassan, 23, and Haydar, 21, to restrain Abdel-Qader as he choked her with his foot on her throat, they joined in. Her shrouded corpse was then tossed into a makeshift grave without ceremony as her uncles spat on it in disgust.

‘Death was the least she deserved,’ said Abdel-Qader. ‘I don’t regret it. I had the support of all my friends who are fathers, like me, and know what she did was unacceptable to any Muslim that honours his religion,’ he said.

Granted, Abdel-Qader Ali may very well have killed his daughter just as viciously before the American invasion of Iraq; maybe he was an evil, monstrous godbag before we bombed his country to shit. Or perhaps the US occupation, in all the resentment it’s fostered, played a part in Rand’s death. Abdel-Qader could have just been looking for a scapegoat, a whipping girl, to take his frustrations out on. Or not. But that’s neither here nor there; Abdel-Qader Ali’s crime is not my main focus when I say that “this the state of women’s rights in Iraq.”

Abdel-Qader Ali – and his sons, Hassan and Haydar, let’s not forget that Rand had three killers – may have murdered their daughter and sister whether we’d gone a-warmongering in Iraq or not. But now that the great civilizing Western forces are there, spreading freedom and democracy and shit, you’d think these monsters would at least pay for their crimes. You’d be wrong:

(More below the fold…)

Wear a mask in public, go to jail. The fashion police have spoken:

On Saturday, April 12, an FBI agent arrested an animal rights activist at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. The activist was charged with wearing a mask in public—a Class 6 felony in Virginia.

On April 5, the arrested activist attended a protest at GMU and wore a mask. After the GMU Police Department identified the activist, a warrant was issued for his arrest. When he appeared at a protest one week later, he was identified and subsequently tackled and arrested. The arrested activist was protesting Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus for their history of animal abuse.

The FBI agent who arrested the activist is part of the Joint Terrorism Task Force and is based in Prince William, VA. His name is Vincent Antignano and his badge number is #1035. He was stalking the arrested activist after he protested on numerous occasions against a private company, Huntingdon Life Sciences, which conducts medical tests on animals.

The activist was arrested for violating Virginia’s law on face masks, which states “it shall be unlawful for any person over sixteen years of age while wearing any mask, hood, or other device whereby a substantial portion of the face is hidden or covered (§18.2-422 )”

Via Will Potter, who adds:

I spoke with the activist arrested, and I think it’s critical to note that neither he, nor the other protestors, were charged with anything like property destruction. He simply wore a mask at a lawful protest.

No doubt Special Agent Vincent Antignano with the Joint Terrorism Task Force of the F! B! I! received a shiny gold star from his corporate overlords at Acme Animal Abuse ™, subsidiaries of which include HLS, Ringling Brothers and Bulladelah Douchebags, Inc….but I wonder what became of the activist in the pink fro wig? If donning freakay funkay headgear isn’t already criminal, I’m sure the great state of Virginny will soon come up with a nice slice of retroactive legislation to outlaw such atrocities. Watch out, my fuzzy pink sister – teh manz should be coming for you any day now.

(Crossposted to.)

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare activism civil liberties protest first amendment police harassment terrorism war on terra war on terror

Via Human Rights First — and the many members who responded to their call for Lettermen-style top ten submissions. Video here.

Top Ten Signs We Finally Have an Anti-Torture President

10. The President goes waterskiing instead of waterboarding.

—Jill – Redding, Connecticut

9. Grand opening of the “Sandals Guantanamo Bay Beach Resort”.

—James – South Orange, New Jersey

8. “Stress Positions” are only for Corporate CEOs, and the phrase “torture memo” refers only to long, painfully boring email sent by superiors.

—Janis – Sunland, California and Megan – Rohnert Park, California

7. “Enhanced interrogation techniques” now defined as ordinary techniques filmed in HD.

—Megan – Rohnert Park, California

6. The phrase “Extraordinary Rendition” now used to describe American Idol performances.

—Joseph – San Diego, California

5. Jack Bauer starts acting more like his brother, Eddie.

—Travis and Benjamin – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

4. “Secret detention” means not telling your parents you had detention.

—James – South Orange, New Jersey

3. Calling Geneva Conventions “quaint” now seen as quaint.

—Megan – Rohnert Park, California

2. “I can finally stop wearing my ‘Who Would Jesus Torture?’ bracelet.”

—Sarah – New York, New York

1. Superman no longer having to fight for truth, justice and the Canadian way.

—Edward – Los Angeles, California

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Tagged: human rights first torture war on terra george. w. bush 2008 elections top ten

“We’re either going to lose this thing or win this thing within the next several months.” – John McCain, November 12, 2006

Via MoveOn.org:

No matter what happens in Iraq, the Bush administration and John McCain always have an answer: 6 more months.

When the “surge” began a year ago, they told America things would get better by September. In September, they said we’d know more by spring. And this week, General Petraeus is on Capitol Hill asking for—you guessed it—6 more months. Senator McCain and President Bush couldn’t agree more.

They don’t have a plan for getting us out of Iraq. So they’re trying to sell endless war on an installment plan.

Six more months won’t change anything—except the body count and the price tag. It’s critical that the news media and voters know that the Bush-McCain strategy in Iraq is to keep us there indefinitely—6 months at a time. So we’ve put together a video exposing their “6 month” gambit. Please check it out and pass it on.

What exactly are they saying?

Yesterday John McCain said the same thing he’s been saying for the last 5 years: We have to stay in Iraq, but “success is in reach.”

And General Petraeus told the Senate that it would be fall before he could say whether, or when, to draw down troops below the “pre-surge” levels. (Specifically, he recommended a 45-day period for “evaluation” starting in the summer, followed by an open-ended “assessment” process to decide what to do next).

It all boils down to this: Demand more time and promise that victory is just over the horizon. Unfortunately, according to experts from the Iraq Study Group, the “surge” has gotten us “no closer to being able to leave Iraq than [we were] a year ago.”

More than 4,000 Americans are dead.* We’ve spent almost $500 billion on this war. A year after the “surge” began, Americans are no safer, and there is no end in sight.

With the Bush-McCain wait-and-see strategy, we can expect to hear “6 more months” for years and years to come.

* Don’t forget the Iraqi casualties, Move On. Tsk, tsk.

[Previous stops on the Straight Talk Express: one.]

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Tagged: john mccain war war on terra 2008 elections straight talk express video youtube move on moveon.org lol lolz

Because he likes them uneducated and complacent? Hey, just my guess.

Watch the video, sign the petition, and spread the word.

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Tagged: john mccain war war on terra gi bill education 2008 elections straight talk express

Given that McCain will be the (shell of a) man to beat in ’08 – and given the gratuitous teabagging the msm is treating him to – methinks it’s time for some McCain bashing. So, a new series: Hitching a ride on the Straight Talk Express. John McCain, in his own words (and some lolz, of course). The whole point is to show misguided independents that McCain is not, in point of fact, some kind of maverick. Unless “maverick” is now slang for “panderer”.

I caught a bit of the Senate Armed Services Iraq hearings on CNN this morning. McCain’s “grilling” of Petraeus damn near had me gagging on my raspberry toast. Seriously, McCain was two reacharounds away from asking the man if he could plz plz plz taste his sweet salty balls? Even Shane of “o manz r they gonna politicize this”* fame did a double take. ‘Twas that shameless.

Yeah, like that.

Anyway, here’s the gist of it (transcript via):

MCCAIN: There are numerous threats to security in Iraq and the future of Iraq. Do you still view Al Qaeda in Iraq as a major threat?

PETRAEUS: It is still a major threat, though it is certainly not as major a threat as it was, say, 15 months ago.

MCCAIN: Certainly not an obscure sect of the Shiites overall…

PETRAEUS: No.

MCCAIN: … or Sunnis or anybody else.

Al Qaeda continues to try to assert themselves in Mosul, is that correct?

PETRAEUS: It is, Senator. As you saw on the chart, the area of operation of Al Qaeda has been greatly reduced in terms of controlling areas that it controlled as little as a year and half ago.

But, clearly, Mosul and Nineveh province are areas that Al Qaeda is very much trying to hold onto. All roads lead through the traditional capital of the north.

MCCAIN: They continue to be a significant threat?

PETRAEUS: They do. Yes, sir.

The Raw Story notes:

Last month, the Arizona senator got a whisper in his ear from Sen. Joe Lieberman, after he said that Iran was providing aid to Al Qaeda in Iraq, a Sunni group. Iran, however, is actually a Shiite nation. On Fox News Sunday, McCain also got wrong the details of an Iraqi ceasefire.

“His friend, Joe Lieberman, who was also on the trip, had to famously whisper in his ear to correct him,” the LA Times writes today. “This allowed McCain’s two Democratic rivals for the presidency, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to criticize McCain for his mistake, which came in the area that’s supposed to be in his wheelhouse: national security and foreign policy.”

At today’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, McCain seems to have gotten it wrong again, when interviewing Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus.

At least Lieberman’s still a contender for the veep seat.

* Said I: “It’s a Fucking! War! How is that not political?”

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Tagged: john mccain straight talk express 2008 elections politics lol lolz General Petraeus Iraq war war on terra

Stephen Colbert is about to edumakate y’all.

Bonus GW douchebaggery after the jump:

(More below the fold…)

Here’s a roundup of all the “Happy Anniversary, Asshole” emails I received today. Take action as needed, and give if you can.

Via Democrats.com:

Iraq Fax-in: Let’s Show Congress How We Feel

March 19 marks the 5th Anniversary of Bush’s disastrous invasion and occupation of Iraq – yet there is no end in sight.

The costs so far are staggering: 4,000 young Americans killed, tens of thousands maimed… 1 million Iraqis killed, millions maimed… $562 billion in tax dollars stolen from our children… $3 trillion cost to our economy through veterans care, weapons replacement, higher oil prices, and the collapsing dollar. All that in just 5 years!

We elected a Democratic Congress in 2006 to bring our troops home, but they keep giving Bush blank checks. Incredibly, Congress will soon vote on another $102 billion blank check.

On this 5th Anniversary, it is time for everyone who hates this occupation to do something about it. And we’re making it as simple and effective as we can.

We’re calling it the Iraq Fax-In. It’s like a sit-in, only you can do it from home: iraqfaxin.com

1. Fax an image to Congress that visually expresses how you feel about the invasion and occupation of Iraq. We’ve posted a few ideas, but we welcome all of yours! – iraqfaxin.com

2. Email your Representatives by signing our “Out of Iraq” petition on the right side here: iraqfaxin.com

(More below the fold…)