I'm a bit surprised it hasn't popped up elsewhere, but there is a VERY strong connection between Museveni, the leader of Uganda since 1986, and "the Family." As in, the pseudo-church and Republican frat house from which we get such wonderful characters like Jim De Mint, Mark Foley and good ol' Joe Pitts.
The Family has been eyeball deep with Museveni and they helped craft a lot of the anti-homosexual legislation in Uganda. They see it as an example for the rest of the world in dealing with gays. Ugh.
Buncha freaks, if you ask me. The Family, not the geighs.
Well yes, there's a strong Family connection. But much of the work of organizing and inspiring Ugandan legislators behind the Anti-Homosexuality Bill before Uganda's parliament was done by another US-based evangelical group tied to a global evangelical movement led by Rick Warren's doctoral thesis advisor. See: [www.talk2action.org]
"The youths in secondary schools copy everything from the Western world and America," said high school teacher David Kisambira. "A good number of students have been converted into gays. We hear there are groups of people given money by some gay organizations in developed countries to recruit youth into gay activities."
Well, duh! Their satellite provider includes the E! channel.
If you really want to be scared, and see how this Uganda thing is connected both to purpose-driven smiley proto-Hitler Rick Warren and more distantly, Sarah Palin, read this:
40% of Uganda's budget is provided by the West in the form of aid. When it was suggested that this aid could be cut or totally disappear in response to these proposed laws Ugandan lawmakers felt that this suggestion was monstrous and that this law would be an example of Democracy in Action.
@Oy Veh (Informality Reigns): In the words of Ben Franklin, Democracy is two wolves and a lamb deciding what to have for lunch. Liberty is a heavily armed lamb contesting the vote.
@Oy Veh (Informality Reigns): Oh, I see. I was agreeing with you, and implying the Ugandan posturing is learned from the politics of the west. You maybe thought I was critiquing your comment. I wasn't. No harm, no foul.
@Inescapable Picnic: I'm sorry--I thought that your Theatrical Outrage comment was directed towards me. It did somewhat get my dander up. If I was mistaken, you have my sincere apologies.
Let's see how his Faux News buddies launch a full frontal assault on anyone who dast blame their friend Mike.
It still amazes me that their answer to an election that didn't go their boss' way is to give the Repug frontrunner a weekly show to say whatever he wants in anticipation of launching his campaign. It's so plodding and obvious, there should be equal-time rules applied to their schedule.
@Lysergic Asset: Aware of that, I was saying "should be" -- just my pollyanna wishing upon a star. At some point, the facade of FNC being a "news channel" needs to be torn down, but that's tough to do by decree in this country. The more blatant their bias becomes (it's not just their evening comedy line-up, it's in the "hard news" as well), the higher their ratings seem to go, which just makes me sadder in general.
As an unabashed lefty, even I don't want the news to be skewed to make me feel better; I just want the goddam truth, and I'll decide what to think about it. The fact that Fox has been able to successfully sell themeselves as doing just that while doing just the opposite makes me wanna scream. It's hard not to want some kind of higher authority to sweep in and declare that they can't call themselves a news channel anymore in their current form, but again, that's tough to do in this country.
I can already see that people are going to use this to politically attack Huckabee but I have a real problem with that. There are so many flaws in our justice system and so many kids are never offered the chance for rehabilitation or much need second chance. Many politicians push for mandatory minimums and capital punishment to appear to be tough on crime but the results often lead to youthful offenders falling through the cracks.
I remember when Clinton flew to Arkansas in the middle of his first Presidential campaign to affirm Ricky Ray Rector's execution just to show that he wasn't some softie liberal who cared about prisoner's rights more than he did victims. I know people who are still upset with Clinton to this day over that stunt. It's nice to know that Huckabee at least understood justice system unfortunately does not work the same for everyone and he was willing to take the time to evaluate each person on a case by case basis. Nice to know he wasn't just a "lock'em up and throw away the key" guy.
@heywhat: You've gotta appreciate the devious hypocrisy of this philosophy, though: you can't kill unborn babies, but everything else is fair game once it's out of the womb: just give us our guns, our wars, our executions of innocent men.
@Lysergic Asset: I live in Texas, and worked on the capital punishment clinic when I was in law school in Austin, and this story makes.me.ill. Our capital punishment system is a joke.
Sadly, this story received very little mainstream press. I'm sure the Huckabee/Clemmons' situation will raise much more of a stink, though I think a government cover-up of the execution of an innocent man should be at least as important.
@Atilla the Bun: Firstly: I hope you live in Austin also; otherwise, my sincere condolences. If Texas secedes, Mexico might fight to take it back, and trust me, the Mexican army would be successful in that endeavor, regardless of how many guns the average Texan owns. (Se habla español?)
I read that New Yorker story when it first came out with tears streaming down my face. Not only did they execute an innocent man, they used fabricated evidence to convince his ex-wife (with whom he was on very amicable terms and who steadfastly believed in his innocence) that he murdered their two little kids and she turned against him in his darkest hour. All ten circles of Hell are not enough for the people who did that.
@Lysergic Asset: ack. that story made me ill. didn't receive enough mainstream press, and in those stories that quote perry as saying "je ne regrette rien". secede away.
@Lysergic Asset: I thought the talk about his being a secessionist was just a joke -- but then I looked at his Wikipedia page. Wow, Texas sure can pick them, can't it?
@Lysergic Asset: No, I'm in Dallas and have been since graduation from law school. There are various personal and professional exigent circumstances that have kept me here. Though Dallas county did vote majority democrat in the last election and there are some very dedicated liberals in this town.
But this story in the article you linked to is a tragedy. The circumstances of the man's conviction are bad enough, but that the governor would blatantly obstruct an investigation into it the way that he did is abhorrent. And it got very little press in Texas. Perry knows his constituency. The last thing most of them want to hear is that their ideas of cowboy justice could ever be wrong. Makes me ill that we have had this hair model as our governor for as long as we have.
@Atilla the Bun: No offense to you, Austin or Dallas County, but I think Carrie Prejean would win governorship of your state... and I'm talking contemporaneously.
The execution of innocent people is horrific, but here's the thing directly related to the topic of this post that makes the 'cowboys' difficult to reason with (aside from the fact that they are insane): there's a knee-jerk reaction that people have to the idea of a violent criminal being freed to kill (perhaps many) more people; as in "that guy could've killed me or my family." When an innocent person is sent to die, it's 'just one person.'
"With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it's still a beautiful world." - Max Ehrmann
The part I'm really stuck on is the fact that the guy was actually granted bail. He had an insanely long sentence, which I suppose I can somewhat accept was commuted because the crimes weren't violent and he was still under-18 at the time, and although I'm not particularly merciful, it's probably a good thing that some people are, but how was he granted bail after committing all new felonies including second degree rape of a child?! Who thought it was remotely acceptable for this man to be released back into society under any circumstances?
God, there is so much about the justice system I cannot begin to understand.
@DahlELama: Insanely is the operative word. If this is the man who killed these police, he has been reported to have been severely mentally ill. I read some contemporaneous reports on Huckebee's time as governor regarding this issue and there was strong oppositions in Arkansas against his actions. One prosecutor said the best way to get out of prison was to rake leaves at the Governor's mansion.
"When Clemmons received the 60-year sentence, he was already serving 48 years on five felony convictions and facing up to 95 more years on charges of robbery."
Phuck. The. What.
You know, I was prepared to be rational and consider the fact that people make decisions with the best information they have at the time (that one doesn't know everything). But, if commuting this person's sentence is the best decision one can make with the data above - phuck him. My infant son has greater reasoning skills than Hukabee in this instance.
I am no fan of Huckabee by any means, but I cannot imagine the guilt that comes alongside showing someone mercy only to see them commit such a horrifying act of violence against other people. It's rare to see someone who uses his Christian faith in a way that helps people politically (and I qualify this by acknowledging the guy is a conservative bigot), which leads me to believe that conservatives are going to be quite negative towards him for this. I suppose this is the flipside of a man like Bush whose actions showed he was quite stoic about his disbelief in clemency, someone who was a serial believer in the idea that the system can actually reform.
It's just a horrific story all around: the idea that Huckabee acknowledging the system's flaws and society's barrel-bottom effects allowed him to actually think kindly about this man's plight, only for him to be turned out on the world with a criminal vengeance. And those dead policemen and their families. The increasing commonness of unprovoked brutality makes my skin crawl.
@ampersandparade: in this particular case, the flaw in the system was in allowing him to roam free after 8 felonies and the second degree raping of a child...........after he was given a second chance (if what's reported has been accurate) I would also have to respectfully disagree with you when you refer to his "plight." Unless you were referring to the guilt Huckabee is facing, I am not sure I see the alleged shooter's life as one of plight, barring some sort of mental illness.
@Buttafooco: I was referring to the idea that system is unfair towards those of color who are under legal age, and tend to put them away for life sentences rather than attempting to reform these errant youths, which would be the purpose the American judicial system, especially in regards to minors. I suspect this is what Huckabee thought as well when he pardoned him some time ago for crimes that didn't result in anyone's injury or death, only to see this second chance lead to nothing but senseless crime and violence, ending in the startling and horrific events of today. Governor Huckabee couldn't have foreseen what happened, and I don't blame him for the man's continued freedom after committing his further crimes. This is why I was able to articulate sympathy for the plight of a man who I vehemently disagree with religiously and politically, and at the same time see how he sympathized with the plight of a young boy he believed was steamrolled by the judicial system. While I appreciate your attempt to engage, your strawman arguments make your comment largely useless to me, except in forcing me to explain my position in labored detail.
@Buttafooco: A "plight" is just a difficult or unfortunate situation. A 17 year-old sentenced to 90 years in jail for robbery is in a difficult or unfortunate situation, even if it is one of his own making, and one which Huckabee had empathy for.
@ampersandparade: as someone who studies criminal behavior and the law as part of my profession, I should have realized when you said he used his Christian faith to help people politically, it was a silly point (mine) to make. My apologies.
@Atilla the Bun: I don't disagree, and to the Governor's credit, this falls more on the parole board, than it does
him. Though I am sure he will feel some guilt, I don't necessarily blame him for this. However, the notion that somehow people repent and find Jesus and that is one criteria in justifying their release (he's actually stated that several times on his Fox show) make my willies jingle. I would just prefer they leave Jesus out of the political and judicial system. He's got enough problems to solve.
This is going to cause all kinds of cognitive dissonance among some of the wingnuts.
That said...hingsight is 20/20, but I understand why Huckabee granted this kid clemency back then. His crimes weren't violent and he was a 17 year-old weakling when he committed them, so an almost life-sentence seemed too harsh.
Methinks this doesn't bode well for the Huckster's possible 2012 run. If his Republican primary opponents can't find a way to Willie Horton this, they aren't fit to call themselves Republicans.
Nothing in the bible about dealing with a modern-day stone-cold psychopath, Mikey. Probably should have gone with any psych evals over the word of Clemmons's preachers in this instance.
Because I guarantee you if a minister or chaplain fronted for this guy, it swayed the Huckster towards clemency.
@RandomLunatic: Do you really know there was anything in his criminal history when Huckabee granted clemency that suggested that this guy was a "stone-cold psychopath" or that Huckabee ignored psych evaluations before making the decision?"
12/09/09
The Family has been eyeball deep with Museveni and they helped craft a lot of the anti-homosexual legislation in Uganda. They see it as an example for the rest of the world in dealing with gays. Ugh.
Buncha freaks, if you ask me. The Family, not the geighs.
12/09/09
Well yes, there's a strong Family connection. But much of the work of organizing and inspiring Ugandan legislators behind the Anti-Homosexuality Bill before Uganda's parliament was done by another US-based evangelical group tied to a global evangelical movement led by Rick Warren's doctoral thesis advisor. See: [www.talk2action.org]
12/09/09
Well, duh! Their satellite provider includes the E! channel.
[www.marketuganda.com]
12/09/09
[www.talk2action.org]
It is long, but it's worth the read.
12/09/09
12/09/09
12/09/09
12/09/09
12/09/09
12/09/09
12/09/09
12/09/09
12/09/09
12/09/09
12/09/09
11/30/09
It still amazes me that their answer to an election that didn't go their boss' way is to give the Repug frontrunner a weekly show to say whatever he wants in anticipation of launching his campaign. It's so plodding and obvious, there should be equal-time rules applied to their schedule.
11/30/09
This is why there aren't: [www.museum.tv]
11/30/09
As an unabashed lefty, even I don't want the news to be skewed to make me feel better; I just want the goddam truth, and I'll decide what to think about it. The fact that Fox has been able to successfully sell themeselves as doing just that while doing just the opposite makes me wanna scream. It's hard not to want some kind of higher authority to sweep in and declare that they can't call themselves a news channel anymore in their current form, but again, that's tough to do in this country.
11/30/09
It's all Florida's fault (again):
Court Ruling: Fox News Has a First Amendment Right to Lie: [www.propeller.com]
11/30/09
I remember when Clinton flew to Arkansas in the middle of his first Presidential campaign to affirm Ricky Ray Rector's execution just to show that he wasn't some softie liberal who cared about prisoner's rights more than he did victims. I know people who are still upset with Clinton to this day over that stunt. It's nice to know that Huckabee at least understood justice system unfortunately does not work the same for everyone and he was willing to take the time to evaluate each person on a case by case basis. Nice to know he wasn't just a "lock'em up and throw away the key" guy.
11/30/09
11/30/09
[www.newyorker.com]
Sadly, the criminal justice system seems to be more criminal than just.
11/30/09
Sadly, this story received very little mainstream press. I'm sure the Huckabee/Clemmons' situation will raise much more of a stink, though I think a government cover-up of the execution of an innocent man should be at least as important.
11/30/09
I read that New Yorker story when it first came out with tears streaming down my face. Not only did they execute an innocent man, they used fabricated evidence to convince his ex-wife (with whom he was on very amicable terms and who steadfastly believed in his innocence) that he murdered their two little kids and she turned against him in his darkest hour. All ten circles of Hell are not enough for the people who did that.
11/30/09
11/30/09
11/30/09
But this story in the article you linked to is a tragedy. The circumstances of the man's conviction are bad enough, but that the governor would blatantly obstruct an investigation into it the way that he did is abhorrent. And it got very little press in Texas. Perry knows his constituency. The last thing most of them want to hear is that their ideas of cowboy justice could ever be wrong. Makes me ill that we have had this hair model as our governor for as long as we have.
11/30/09
The execution of innocent people is horrific, but here's the thing directly related to the topic of this post that makes the 'cowboys' difficult to reason with (aside from the fact that they are insane): there's a knee-jerk reaction that people have to the idea of a violent criminal being freed to kill (perhaps many) more people; as in "that guy could've killed me or my family." When an innocent person is sent to die, it's 'just one person.'
"With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it's still a beautiful world." - Max Ehrmann
I've enjoyed our discourse - thanks!
11/30/09
I highly recommend this blog: [crooksandliars.com]
11/30/09
God, there is so much about the justice system I cannot begin to understand.
11/30/09
11/30/09
11/30/09
Phuck. The. What.
You know, I was prepared to be rational and consider the fact that people make decisions with the best information they have at the time (that one doesn't know everything). But, if commuting this person's sentence is the best decision one can make with the data above - phuck him. My infant son has greater reasoning skills than Hukabee in this instance.
11/29/09
Ah. Yes. [www.huffingtonpost.com]
11/29/09
It's just a horrific story all around: the idea that Huckabee acknowledging the system's flaws and society's barrel-bottom effects allowed him to actually think kindly about this man's plight, only for him to be turned out on the world with a criminal vengeance. And those dead policemen and their families. The increasing commonness of unprovoked brutality makes my skin crawl.
11/30/09
11/30/09
11/30/09
11/30/09
11/30/09
11/30/09
11/30/09
11/30/09
him. Though I am sure he will feel some guilt, I don't necessarily blame him for this. However, the notion that somehow people repent and find Jesus and that is one criteria in justifying their release (he's actually stated that several times on his Fox show) make my willies jingle. I would just prefer they leave Jesus out of the political and judicial system. He's got enough problems to solve.
11/29/09
That said...hingsight is 20/20, but I understand why Huckabee granted this kid clemency back then. His crimes weren't violent and he was a 17 year-old weakling when he committed them, so an almost life-sentence seemed too harsh.
11/29/09
11/29/09
Because I guarantee you if a minister or chaplain fronted for this guy, it swayed the Huckster towards clemency.
11/30/09
11/28/09
Ron Emanuel.