November 1, 2013

Let's think about this .....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Huntsman,_Sr.

Their eldest son, Jon Huntsman, Jr., was elected governor of Utah in 2004, later became ambassador to China, and was a candidate running for President in the 2012 election.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Huntsman,_Sr.

Huntsman (Sr) is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served as an Area Seventy from 1996 to 2011. He also served as a regional representative, stake president and as president of the Washington, D.C. Mission from 1980 to 1983.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints

Faithful members adhere to laws regarding sexual purity, health, fasting, and Sabbath observance, and contribute ten percent of their income to the church as a tithe.

You'd think an Area Seventy like Jon, Sr. would be in a position to know if one of their wealthiest "faithful" members, Romney, was telling his church that he made no income when the Church came looking for his 10% tithe. Now Romney did give his church lots of money. But I'm sure Romney didn't keep it too much of a secret about how it was above and beyond the call ... to secure Mormon votes and financial support.

Motive, means and opportunity for Jon, Sr? I would guess so.

April 24, 2013

"I've got a canoe in my garage", said Henneberry.

I loved that and that he got emotional about the victims.

To me, beyond the horrific loss of life and limbs, this terrorist attack really backfired in a major way.

What the world saw was:
- many Americans beyond first responders run towards the explosion to help
- marathon runners keep running to the hospital to give blood
- very brave cops face these guys outgunned at the outset in Watertown and a massive determination to bring them down and keep their people safe while the local residents fed them in the lockdown
- people who lost limbs declaring they're running in the marathon next year
- millions donating to One Fund .. and even towards replacing this guy's boat
- and this guy as another of many examples of American compassion & decency
- etc - you could create a long list beyond the above

The world saw a couple of heartless fanatics representing one extreme cause answered by an incredible culture of millions of 'strangers' rushing to pull out all the stops and care for each other.

Typical Americans have been doing this my whole life. When real trouble hits, the real character of Americans comes out and it's heart is so formidable. Once again, you should be so proud of yourselves.

All the best.

A Canadian

April 23, 2013

Muslim community tipped off RCMP about terror plot

http://www.torontosun.com/2013/04/22/muslim-community-tipped-off-rcmp-about-terror-plot

Muslims want a safe Canada, too.

That's what Muhammad Robert Heft, a Muslim community leader in Scarborough, wants his fellow Torontonians to know as the RCMP arrested a Muslim man in the GTA for allegedly plotting a rail attack that would have taken innocent lives. Not only do Muslims in the city condemn the attack, they turned over information in a bid to help foil it.

"There is going to be backlash," he said, alluding to those who will blame the Muslim community. "But I want to reiterate. Who was the one who tipped the RCMP off? It was our community."

Heft said Muslim leaders are often criticized for not speaking up or not turning over information about radicalized community members. They are cooperating, he said.

"We have to be on the front lines," he said. "To either nip it in the bud in the very beginning or co-operate with authorities so they can be brought to justice."

Heft himself runs an out-reach program for youth who are at risk of being radicalized.

"At the end of the day, it's not how you dress, it's how you think," he said. "In our community we may look a little different, but in our hearts we love Canada. It's our country. It's our tribe. We want safety for all Canadians regardless of their religion."

April 23, 2013

Of those 230 Justifiable Homicides

I wonder how many needed a big magazine or nasty assault rifle to do the deed.

I expect it would be a small fraction of that number.

April 21, 2013

"The term "alien" means a person who is not a citizen of the United States."

http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/10/A/II/47A/I/948a

http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/10/A/II/47A/I/948b

This chapter establishes procedures governing the
use of military commissions to try alien unlawful enemy combatants
engaged in hostilities against the United States for violations of
the law of war and other offenses triable by military commission.

Boston Bomb Suspect Became a U.S. Citizen on 9/11 Last Year
http://abcnews.go.com/US/boston-marathon-bombing-suspected-tsarnaev-brothers/story?id=19000426#.UXQKVaKG2So

The Boston suspect is not an alien and therefore, cannot be tried as an "unlawful enemy combatant" .

"The term 'lawful enemy combatant' means a person who is —
(A) a member of the regular forces of a State party engaged in hostilities against the United States;
(B) a member of a militia, volunteer corps, or organized resistance movement belonging to a State party engaged in such hostilities, which are under responsible command, wear a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance, carry their arms openly, and abide by the law of war; or
(C) a member of a regular armed force who professes allegiance to a government engaged in such hostilities, but not recognized by the United States."

And he isn't a "lawful enemy combatant" either based upon my reading of the law above. Therefore, the GOP is advocating something that does not seem to be allowed by the 2006 law they designed and implemented in that he cannot be tried by a military commission.

As well, on CNN yesterday, someone was discussing the comparison of successful prosecutions via military commissions like Guantanamo (only 3? convictions) vs US civilian courts (500 convictions of terrorists) and maintained that it's a landslide in favor of the US civilian courts in terms of getting a successful prosecution.

http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/2010/02/03/terrorist-prosecutions-by-the-numbers/

The recent hysteria about how we shouldn’t be giving constitutional rights to non-U.S. citizens is a red herring. (It’s also worth noting, as Glenn Greenwald explained in an excellent post on Salon on Monday, that the Constitution requires according foreigners detained in the U.S. Constitutional rights – as the Supreme Court ruled as far back as 1886 and recently reaffirmed in its decision in Boumedienne v. Bush.)
Not only does the U.S. Constitution confer those rights, but based on the experience of our own time-tested federal justice system, sound national security policy demands it.

I don't understand beyond scoring political points why this is a debate

April 19, 2013

Here Are the Republicans Who Voted ‘No’ on Hurricane Sandy Relief Funds

http://gawker.com/5973255/
From Texas:
Mike Conaway (R-TX)
Bill Flores (R-TX)
Louie Gohmert (R-TX)
Kenny Marchant (R-TX)
Randy Neugebauer (R-TX)
Mac Thornberry (R-TX)
Randy Weber (R-TX)
Roger Williams (R-TX)

Senators Cruz & Cornyn also voted against it.

April 18, 2013

Interesting story linked on the same page

Canadian politics just got turned upside down
http://brighterlife.ca/2013/03/27/canadian-politics-just-got-turned-upside-down/?wt.mc_id=en-ca:digital_adv:paid:Outbrain:BrighterLife:SEP:MONEY:Canadian-politics-just-got-turned-upside

Fundamental to our understanding of democratic politics across the developed world is that conservative parties stand for relatively low levels of government spending, while those on the left of the political spectrum are prone to higher spending. A new study, released yesterday by the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI), blows a hole through that conventional wisdom.

It's a story many of us have heard before yet another chunk of credible evidence provided to debunk GOP claims they provide "smaller government".