Good Monday morning, everyone! The hysteria continues to mount over at Free Republic.
Most of the moderates have been shouted down or booted off, and they’re boiling the reduction down to a simmering sauce of hysteria, recrimination, and self-loathing.
In short – business as usual, except that instead of looking for interesting threads, I can just pretty much throw a dart and hit teh crazy.
First up –“this sends a message”.
Stars & Stripes ^
| 17 Apr 09
| Seth Robson
Posted onFriday, April 17, 2009 9:41:22 AM byxzins
VILSECK, Germany — “I ain’t no angel,” admitted a 172nd Infantry
Brigade noncommissioned officer shortly before a military jury
sentenced him Thursday to life in prison with the possibility of parole
for the execution-style murders of four Iraqi detainees in 2007.
Master
Sgt. John Hatley, 40, also was reduced to the rank of private and
dishonorably discharged less than six months short of 20 years of
service.
In an unsworn statement, Hatley told the court that he
was “… just an ordinary NCO who was afforded the opportunity to be in
the company of heroes, to defend our great country and to defend the
innocent people in a place where we stood between those who would harm
us and those we were ordered to protect from genocide.”
At the
time when the detainees were killed, Hatley’s unit, Company A, 1st
Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, was dealing with 50 killings of
Iraqis by other Iraqis each month, he said.
“Within four months of being there we reduced attacks on coalition forces and civilians by 40 percent,” he said.
On
Wednesday, the jury convicted Hatley of premeditated murder and
conspiracy to commit premeditated murder. Hatley was acquitted of an
obstruction of justice charge and an unrelated premeditated murder
charge. Hatley pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him.
The
jury recommended that the court-martial’s convening authority, Joint
Multinational Training Command chief Brig. Gen. David R. Hogg, exercise
clemency and allow Hatley’s wages to continue to be paid to his family
for six months.
Capt. John Riesenberg, assistant government
trial counsel, told the jury that their sentence should be aimed at
stopping other first sergeants and soldiers from doing what the Company
A soldiers did.
“Send a message to the world that this is an
army that recognizes that it is different, that American soldiers just
don’t do this. They don’t execute detainees in the middle of the night
by shooting them in the back of the head when they are bound and
blindfolded and dump their bodies in a canal,” he said.
The killings occurred in March or April of 2007.
It was Hatley’s idea to kill the detainees, Riesenberg said.
“A
first sergeant in the U.S. Army came up with the idea to commit a
brutal execution-style murder of detainees and he did it with his own
men. He failed them, the Army, the Iraqi people and the American war
effort,” Riesenberg said.
Hatley had a duty to treat detainees
humanely in a country where he was supposed to be helping establish the
rule of law, he said.
Message received by Freepers?
and thank goodness for that.
posted onFriday, April 17, 2009 9:58:07 AM
byVaquero
(“an armed society is a polite society” Robert A. Heinlein)
“Thank goodness” for executing unarmed prisoners?
Interesting concept of “goodness”.
I suppose that “righteousness” would consist of having sex with the corpses.
Well, in any case, the Freeperati are obviously concerned about the situation and intend to investigate the root cause immediately:
Must have been one of those communists in “A” Company, but we know how to fix that:
Agreed, xzins andthere should have been no prosecution because the story should have never gotten out.
posted onFriday, April 17, 2009 11:00:00 AM
byjazusamo
(But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
And Sgt. Hatley?
You may think you’re no angel, but maybe you could pass for one in New Jersey.
Whups. The air scrubbers bogged down a bit from that blast of putrid Freeperosity, but Buggy got ’em going again. Let’s jump and see what other offal offerings we have in store…
Next up –McCain says “ix-nay on the eligion-ray”
FOX ^
Posted onFriday, April 17, 2009 3:01:30 PM bySub-Driver
McCain Strategist Warns GOP Risks Becoming ‘Religious Party’ Steve
Schmidt urges Republicans to begin voicing more support for civil
unions and gay rights.
FOXNews.com
Friday, April 17, 2009
John
McCain’s top adviser from the presidential campaign urged fellow
Republicans on Friday to warm up to gay rights and warned that the GOP
risks becoming the “religious party” with its opposition to same-sex
marriage.
Steve Schmidt, in his first political appearance
since the election, spoke at the Washington, D.C., convention for the
Log Cabin Republicans — a grassroots group for gay and lesbian
Republicans.
He urged Republicans, in the near-term, to endorse
civil unions and stop using the Bible as rationale for gay-marriage
opposition.
“If you put public policy issues to a religious
test, you risk becoming a religious party,” he said. “And in a free
country a political party cannot be viable in the long-term if it is
seen as a sectarian party.”
Nigel Tufnel opines: “Well, what’s wrong with being a sexy party?”
posted onFriday, April 17, 2009 3:03:20 PM
byraybbr
(It’s going to get a lot worse now that the anchor babies are voting!)
Yeah, McCain! Because the Dems are already acting that way and winning elections by doing it…hey – waitaminnit.
posted onFriday, April 17, 2009 3:03:42 PM
byorg.whodat
(Auto unions bad: Machinists union good=Hypocrisy)
…says the guy whose ticket lost in the last two elections…LOL
objected to being identified with religious values. In fact, they would
have feared being seen as too tolerant of immoral behavior. But that’s
“Progress” for you.
posted onFriday, April 17, 2009 3:06:12 PM
byandy58-in-nh
(You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.)
And 300 years ago, you would have been burned at the stake for flying through the air in a big metal bird, but that’s “Progress” for you.
Of course, there’s always gotta be a killjoy…
Of course, the Freepers react to this sage advice in their own special way:
Let all homo’s go to the Democrat Party.
posted onFriday, April 17, 2009 3:10:22 PM
bystockpirate
(We stand as conservatives at the Hot Gates like the 300, what will history say of us?)
Yeah right, let’s just throw out everything that made this Country what it is.
…like killing “homo’s”
is a well known tactic for the commies to change the meaning of words
to get their way
(coughfreedomfriescoughsurgecoughsocialistcoughenhancedinterrogationcough)
specifically the Constitution, specifically the meaning of the wordregulated as in the 2nd Amendment
…because without the right to bear arms, how could we shoot the “Homo’s”?
posted onFriday, April 17, 2009 3:14:08 PM
byLas Vegas Ron
(I’d rather the world hate us then laugh at us)
Would anybody here like to break the bad news to Las Vegas Ron?
presidential campaign urged fellow Republicans on Friday to warm up to
gay rights and warned that the GOP risks becoming the “religious party”
with its opposition to same-sex marriage. I guess this could explain the mishandling of Sarah Palin huh?
GOP risks becoming the “religious party”
Christian of(sic) Islam, you pick.
posted onFriday, April 17, 2009 3:15:54 PM
byitsahoot
(Each generation takes to excess, what the previous generation accepted in moderation.)
Let’s see…and who is it exactly who says I have to pick?
You? Or theother Taliban?
posted onFriday, April 17, 2009 3:17:40 PM
byEl Cid
(Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house…)
Tommy 5:02(AM) :For what shall it profit a Party, if they shall test for religious purity, and lose their own elections?
And while we’re purging the heretics:
One word reply to Whitman’s plea to drop “traditional marriage” plank
cnsnews.com ^
| April 20, 2009
| Josiah Ryan
Posted onMonday, April 20, 2009 7:21:53 AM bykellynla
The government should have no say about marriage, and the plank in
the Republican Party platform that calls for preserving marriage
between a man and a woman should be scrapped, former New Jersey Gov.
Christine Todd Whitman (R) told CNSNews.com.
Furthermore, the
U.S. military should not differentiate between homosexuals and
heterosexuals, said Whitman. The former governor spoke Friday at the
Log Cabin Republicans’ (LCR) 2009 convention and symposium in
Washington, D.C.
The Log Cabin Republicans are a group that
seeks to promote homosexual and lesbian concerns within the GOP. In her
speech, Whitman spoke about how inclusion can help the GOP become
stronger, and she called on the Republican Party to veer in a moderate
direction.
“Well, I am somebody who believes in the separation
of church and state and that the government, frankly, ought to be out
of the business of marriage entirely,” Whitman told CNSNews.com after
her speech.
“It ought to be everybody – heterosexual,
homosexual. When you go down and register to get married, that’s when
the legal transfer of everything occurs and that’s a legal recognition
of a relationship – and if you want to get married in a church, a
temple, whatever, and you find one, great!” she said.
“Civil
marriage, everybody,” said Whitman. “I am not against marriage for gay
couples. I just think it would make the issue easier if it was civil
marriage for everybody. And I am not against – I mean, it’s [same-sex
marriage] not going to threaten my marriage. I mean my 35th anniversary
is on Monday. It’s not going to threaten my marriage to have a gay
couple married.”
Whitman said that the entire issue of same-sex
marriage ought to be removed from the Republican Party platform.
Today’s “Obsession” is brought to you by the word:
posted onMonday, April 20, 2009 7:23:01 AM
byGlenn
(Free Venezuela!)
posted onMonday, April 20, 2009 7:23:56 AM
byrightwingextremist1776
Or perhaps even a “tranny bitch”! The mind gobbles…
posted onMonday, April 20, 2009 7:43:42 AM
byTravis McGee
(“Foreign Enemies And Traitors” will be ready the first week of May.)
Works for me, chum – works for me.
Lastly, for all the politically incorrect who we’re planning on rounding up and herding into re-education camps, I present:
Chill out? CHILL OUT? DON’T @$#%ING TELL ME TO CHILL OUT!!!
Pajamas Media ^
| April 21
| Ryan Mauro
Posted onTuesday, April 21, 2009 2:24:45 PM byAJKauf
After eight years of the paranoid opposition biting at the heels of
President Bush, rejoicing at any possibility of evildoing in an attempt
to vindicate their bitterness, it is now President Obama’s turn to feel
the hyper-partisan heat. Michael Savage and the Thomas More Law Center
are suing Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano after her
department issued a memo warning of “right-wing extremists.” Parroting
the claims of those who say the use of the term “radical Muslims” is
bigoted, will lead to civil rights infringements, and is part of a
political-religious crusade, we now hear that the term “right-wing
extremists” is part of a political offensive aimed at destroying free
speech.
The Drudge siren blared when the Washington Times
report was published and within hours there was a mad dash by TV and
radio hosts, blogs, and commentators to use the report to take aim at
the Obama administration. They sunk their teeth into the portion of the
memo warning that right-wing extremists could be motivated by issues
like illegal immigration, gun control, abortion, or loss of U.S.
sovereignty; they claimed that the Obama administration was viewing
conservatives as dangerous radicals. Their quick and efficient drawing
of arms, though, did not follow a quick and efficient reading past the
first page of the three-page article…
Cranial eruptions in five…four…three…two…one…
I’ll see your “Texas Cajun” and raise you a “New Mexico Squarehead”.
posted onTuesday, April 21, 2009 2:42:31 PM
byGator113
(I’m a PROUD RIGHT WING EXTREMIST… Obama has failed, IMPEACH Obama NOW…)
posted onTuesday, April 21, 2009 2:43:36 PM
byConstitution Day
posted onTuesday, April 21, 2009 2:47:27 PM
byMount Athos
(A Giant luxury mega-mansion for Gore, a Government Green EcoShack made of poo for you)
Ooh – ooh – I can answer that one:
“Without”.
posted onTuesday, April 21, 2009 2:52:45 PM
bydalereed
Hell no … I won’t go so far as to say lock and load, butd*mnit, they are pushing for a civil war.
posted onTuesday, April 21, 2009 3:02:01 PM
byCenturion2000
(We either Free America ourselves, or it is midnight for humanity for a thousand years.)
…which you would lose.
Badly.
In the meantime, just keep doing your lemming imitation.
That’s all for this time, gentle readers – smoke ’em if you got em, because watching these guys unravel is almost as good as sex.
This is but another reason, not religious, to deny homosexual marriage. There is no such meaning of the word.
Which word? Reason? Deny? To?
.
So McCain has gone from cause celeb Republican prez nominee to Democrat already? Have they gotten tired of the feeding frenzy on Bush?
How do you stand it Tommy?
it’s fun when they got to laugh at our fuming about georgee.
Ever since seeing “Dogma” I have planned that if I ever have a pair of Basset Hounds, I would seriously consider naming them “Bartleby” & “Loki”! 🙂
Elspeth
“So McCain has gone from cause celeb Republican prez nominee to Democrat already?”
Hell, they’re even turning on The Savior Formerly Known as Sarahcuda at this point.
Like I’ve often said – the GOP will soon be down to two people – and one of them will knife the other one over the length of his crewcut.
And 300 years ago, you would have been burned at the stake for flying through the air in a big metal bird, but that’s “Progress” for you.
LOL.
A.
“Like I’ve often said – the GOP will soon be down to two people – and one of them will knife the other one over the length of his crewcut.”
Wow, that’s FreeRepublic in one sentence right there.
It’s great fun watching that contemptible place burn. Rimjob’s wheelchair must have flamethrowers.