LET'S LOCK UP THE RIGHT WING

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IT'S TIME TO USE THEIR BAD LAWS AGAINST THEM

RUSH LIMBAUGH, NEWT GINGRICH, PAT ROBERTSON ALL BELONG IN GITMO

Fire Up The Patriot Acts, The RICO Act, And The New Hate Crimes Law Before More Innocent People Are Killed

It would only be justice, poetic justice, if the conservatives were hoist on their own "law & order" petard. They never imagined that laws designed to suppress legitimate dissent, circumvent Constitutional protections of the liberty and property of the accused, and make life easier for the thugs in government could ever be used against them. But they can and they should be used right now and for many years to come to bust up the right-wing redneck & corporate conspiracy to overthrow our democratic government and tear up our freedom-loving Constitution, BEFORE they manage to do that. We'll give them plenty of time to appeal, if conservative judges don't find their pleadings frivolous. But they can sit in safe, helpless silence in Guantanamo while they wait for judgment, just like some of their victims.

Here's the conversation I had recently with Chris Edelson of The Seminal.com, on the subject of "What is the best way to respond to the murder of Dr. George Tiller?"

[CHRIS EDELSON]:

' As I have written, I have been trying to figure out what the best way is to respond to the murder of Dr. George Tiller. I continue to be amazed by the rhetoric of the extreme anti-abortion side (which has managed to appear mainstream, thanks in large part to support from the Republican party). One commenter in this blog claims that Dr. Tiller’s murder was a completely justified “execution”, just punishment for the killings he supposedly committed. I think there are a number of things that are necessary–starting with some long overdue leadership from Republicans who need to stop legitimizing extremism by making clear that it is dangerous and over the line to equate abortion with murder (the Republican party platform suggests that abortion is murder). I’d also like to hear from women who have had abortions so we can get past the caricatured notion that women casually decide to terminate pregnancies. I’m curious to know what others think–please vote in the poll on the side of this page, and leave your comments here: what’s the best way to respond to this despicable act, and how do we take action to prevent more doctors and health care providers from being killed? '

I think we’ve just been way too damned tolerant of intolerance. Other countries have laws that address this sort of terrorism-enabling & inspiring. In fact, we do too: Haven’t Americans who merely send money to charities connected to political organizations in the Middle East been arrested and charged with terrorism? How are these radical anti-choice groups any different? Or the churches and political Parties that support them?

Either we have absolute freedom of speech, or we apply the legal strictures of the same laws in the same way to everyone. Anyone who commits or threatens to commit violence or aggravated harassment of women and their doctors, gays and their children, immigrants, minorities, the disabled or any other real or perceived group should be arrested, charged, tried, convicted, sentenced and imprisoned for a very long time: Life, in the worst cases. Those who support them financially or politically should be treated the same way we treat supporters of Hamas, including national religious leaders and elected officials.

The new hate crimes legislation should be used along with anti-terror laws to round up the worst elements of this “pro-life” mafia, and to put the rest of them on notice. Media outlets that disseminate their violence-inspiring filth should be fined or de-licensed. There really needs to be a very tough crackdown. Every element of our arts & media, our academic and religious organizations, our legal and political establishment, labor and business associations should be called upon to condemn the hate and the terror, and to demand swift justice in every case. It has to be established as an invariable principle: Promoting violence is against the law and will be prosecuted and punished severely in every case. No more tolerance for intolerance.

[CHRIS EDELSON]:

' Thanks for the comment–I think this is very much worth thinking about. I am a staunch free speech advocate and will defend anyone’s peaceful speech, but speech protections are mot absolute, as Justice Holmes made clear nearly a 100 years ago with his famous “you can’t shout fire in a crowded theater” example. It is not ok to use speech to incite imminent violence or unlawful action, as the Supreme Court ruled in the 1969 Brandenburg case that sets the standard. I don’t think legal action is the only way to respond though–it is still lawful for someone to say, in the abstract, that abortion is murder. So the solution here requires something beyond legal action. That’s why I think it is very important for supposedly responsible leaders to condemn this type of speech. Justice Holmes noted that the best response to free speech you disagree with is counterspeech. In this case, I think responsible Republican elected officials, if they truly are responsible people, have a duty to disclaim the incendiary rhetoric from their party platform and to make clear that it is over the line to say abortion is murder and to call doctors who perform abortions mass murderers. There is a way to change the way the abortion debate plays out, and the Republican party has a responsibility to speak out, given the fact that it has helped mainstream the radical anti-abortion movement. '

Agreed. That’s what I meant, in part, when I said that I thought all segments of society should condemn this. I do not, however, expect many Republicans/ conservatives/ fundamentalists to join in. They’re too busy using deliberately inflammatory language and outrageous actions for their own political purposes. That’s why I think the best example would be set by arresting them.

I don’t like the trend in the law toward less rights and more government power. But the RICO Act, the Patriot Acts and this new Hate Crime law could be used to bust up what is by any definition a highly organized if ostensibly diffuse conspiracy designed to generate fear and violence toward their political enemies. From George W. Bush to Eric Rudolph, from Pat Robertson to Scott Roeder, from Rush Limbaugh to Michael Griffin there are links in a chain that has purposely been created, a “movement,” they call it. The Justice Department and Homeland Security should be going after this “movement” with all the vigor and force of law they usually reserve for “leftist” conspirators.

Even if they fail to convict everyone in the chain, they could bust it up, and put the real fear of God in the irresponsible and cynical movement leaders. I’d love to see Dick Cheney or Sean Hannity sitting in the same dock that once held Abbie Hoffman or Daniel Berrigan. The government had no compunction about prosecuting and harassing a movement and a perceived leadership they happened to disagree with, if only because it was in opposition to that government. Let’s see Obama do the same to these actual murderers and their co-conspirators.

As to the civil liberties issues, they will win out in the end, as they should. But, in the meantime, every one of these reprehensible rabble-rousers could be put on notice, have their lives disrupted, and maybe spend some time in the pokey for their intentionally inspirational words and deeds. Fighting words, shouting fire in a crowded theater, obscenity, calling for violence against the government, verbal harassment and terroristic threatening are all already illegal. Let’s see some pre-emptive prosecutions of the Right, for a change, for the lesser crimes they commit every day, before more innocent people die in lawful pursuit of their own rights.
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THE ART OF TERROR

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PERFORMANCE ART, BELFAST STYLE

PROTESTANT PARAMILITARY CLAIMS ATTACK WAS AESTHETIC IN NATURE, PURELY SYMBOLIC

Defending Barrister Trades Wig & Robe For Beret & Smock, Cites Brando & Yoko

Who says terrorists don't have a sense of humor? OK, everybody says that. Still, this is funny. You know, except for the killing people part.

Here's the thing. Going by mainstream British and American media, you'd think that the erstwhile war in Northern Ireland was entirely one-sided. Just a bunch of those awful virgin-worshiping Catholics blowing up innocent Protestants over some obscure doctrinal differences. Madmen, really, religious fanatics. Oh, and Catholics. Did we mention that they were Catholics? Yup, Catholics.

This fits in neatly with the long history of anti-Catholic sentiment and policy in the UK and the US. While most people in the British Isles and North America couldn't care less about religion or politics or any admixture or conflation thereof, there has always been a certain select group who cared very much, and killed over it. In films and stories, you only ever hear about the IRA. But those in the line of fire know full well that there were as many guns if not more on the Protestant side, including the British Army, the Royal Ulster Constabulary, and all the various Loyalist irregulars in the long war over land, money and power in Northern Ireland and beyond. That's what it was about, by the way. Land, money and power. Nothing to do with theology.

See, this fellow Henry the Eighth couldn't seem to secure an heir for the English throne, back in the 1500's. He killed a couple of wives, but the new ones didn't work either. So he started his own Church in order to grant himself a divorce whenever necessary, divorce being a sin to Christians. And then he required all of his subjects to abandon their faith and adopt his, or suffer the consequences.

The consequences included the dictator Oliver Cromwell, the English Revolution and the Plantation of Ulster. The whole thing left a bad taste in the mouths of many Britons, including those who decided to chuck it all and move to the New World, at just that moment. It gave them a reason to value the separation of Church and State, and to forbid the Establishment of Religion by the State, which is what Henry VIII had inflicted upon everyone in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland that he could reach with a sword.

In America, the adherents of Henry's policies banded together to form racist, sectarian, anti-immigrant organizations like the Klu Klux Klan. In Ulster, they created the UDF. Same ideals, different targets. They were a part of the majority in both countries, and held positions of power in the government, the police and the military in the US and the UK. Most people lived in mortal terror of them. You might say that they were the very first modern terrorists. But counter-terrorists arose. Like the IRA.

For some reason, you only hear about the IRA. So, maybe it's a good thing that this ridiculous, psychotic Loyalist clown is calling so much attention to himself. Maybe Tom Clancy will write a cheesy novel about him. Harrison Ford could play him in the film. No need for an Ulster accent: That's only for the bad guys. You know, the Catholics?


AFP
"Accused claims N. Ireland parliament attack was art: reports"

' A convicted Protestant paramilitary denied Monday he tried to murder the leaders of Northern Ireland's Catholic Sinn Fein, saying his attempt to storm parliament buildings was an "artistic protest". The 53-year-old told Belfast Crown Court he had not intended to harm anyone when security guards stopped him trying to enter the British province's seat of power at Stormont in November 2006, media reports said. Stone said he was engaged in "performance protests". He was allegedly found with an imitation firearm, nails, pipe bombs, a number of knives and an axe, but said these were merely props symbolising Northern Ireland. '

BELFAST TELEGRAPH
"Stormont incident was 'performance art', UDA man Stone tells court"

' In court today, he said when he forced his way into Stormont in October 2006, it was an act of performance art and self parody to try and break the political log jam. '

THE DAILY RECORD
"Stormont attack bid was 'art', claims killer"

' In 1988, Stone was jailed for life for the murder of three people in a gun and grenade attack at Belfast's Milltown Cemetery during the funeral of three IRA members. '

BBC
"Stormont bomb was art, says Stone"

' "I'm destroying the iconography of Michael Stone, loyalist hero," he said. "It's a comic parody of my former self. I would rather be remembered as an eccentric artist that got it wrong in performance art than for my past, when I did some terrible things." '

BELFAST TELEGRAPH
"Michael Stone 'did not intend to murder anyone'"

' Stone, of no fixed address, denies attempting to murder Sinn Fein MLA's Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness as well as 12 other charges of possessing nail and pipe bombs with intent to endanger life, possessing three knives, an axe and a garotte, having an imitation firearm with intent to commit an offence. Asked what his intentions had been that day, Stone claimed his plan was to daub political graffiti on the walls of the building, to leave the nail bombs, which he called “props”, at the base of each column and to use the “flash bang” device to “clear the building”. He said he viewed the stance by the two parties as “rank hypocrisy” and wanted to “more or less put a proverbial rocket up their backsides”. '

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SUPPORT OUR TROOPS: BRING THEM ALL HOME ALIVE, NOW!