VIDEO: Ann Coulter prepares human-rights complaint

By GottaLaff

Yesterday I posted about Ann Coulter's speech being canceled out of concerns for public safety (hers or theirs?). The Madam's Apple would have none of that.

It might have been more interesting had the University of Ottawa just let her shoot her mouth off and then had her arrested, but now we have a new wrinkle:

Right-wing firebrand Ann Coulter, who cancelled her speech to the University of Ottawa Tuesday night over fears for her safety, says she’s the victim of a hate crime under Canadian laws.

She said she’s hired Canadian conservative activist Ezra Levant to prepare a human-rights complaint that will test how equitably these hate-crime laws are applied.

Although one does have to qualify as human first, one would think. And when it comes to hate, well, I suppose we have to admit, she is an expert.

In an interview with The Globe, Ms. Coulter suggested the University of Ottawa’s provost, Francois Houle, is partly responsible for the angry crowds that opposed her speaking Tuesday night. He is the official who warned her in advance to watch what she said lest she incur criminal charges for hate speech.

The Madam had a few choice comments to make, as she's wont to do:

“I would like to know if any Muslim has been treated this badly, at least since the Reformation, because I am drawing a blank” [...]

“You guys used to be so cool. You were smokers. You had epic hockey fights. We had half our comedians from Canada. Now you’re all a bunch of girls named Francois.”

That ought to win over a few Canadian and Muslim hearts and minds.

Gosh, Ann, you're right as usual. Muslims have been treated like kings and queens. They have been put on pedestals and revered. They are never, ever treated "this badly".

By the way, the feminine, aka "girl" version is Francoise.

Via a comment from one of our Canadian readers:

Here in Canada, we do not justify hate speech in the name of freedom. When we pay thousands of tuition to our public institution, we expect them to uphold the law of the country and foster an environment that does not encourage empty headed bigots like Coulter, albeit an entertaining one. This is the same woman who stated on national tv Jews need to be perfected by accepting Christ into their life. Talk about fascistic believe in the name of religion.

Now, when America can send us a conservative with a political and intellectual discourse beyond the dark ages of Christian v. Muslim enemy dogma, we might let one speak in our universities.

Inciting hate and encouraging disenfranchising is her specialty. However, it's also worth noting that she has faded into the background some since Sarah Palin and the Tea Tantrumers started monopolizing the airwaves.

Extremism and vitriol have been amplified of late. That kind of freedom of speech is stirring up debate, which is the silver lining. It sure beats sweeping it under the carpet.

H/t: Ursula (who lives in Canada)

Shallow Thoughts: Health Care is a Right edition

By GottaLaff

Today's Shallow Thought:

Is health care a right or a privilege? Here's how I see it:

Staying alive is a right, right? If someone kills you, they get in all kinds of trouble. It's illegal to murder another human being. Conversely, it's laudable to save one.

When there is a medical emergency, everyone does whatever it takes to keep the patient alive. If they're negligent, they're sued.

Health care keeps you alive. Health care is mandatory. Without it, we die.

Health care is a right.

That was today's Shallow Thought. Thank you for wading in.

Video- Mexico City Lawmakers Approve Gay Marriage Bill

Video- President Obama Presents Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award

Headline of the Day

Rhode Island Governor Vetoes Same-Sex Funeral Rights
No dignity, ever, for you!

Video- Ben & Jerrys celebrate Vermont's same sex marriage law

HA! /chris matthews laugh

Video- India Decriminalizes Homosexuality

Video via CSpan Junkie.

Rumsfeld to 'face difficulties' over Gitmo: UN expert

By GottaLaff

How'd I miss this one?

Former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld could soon be in trouble for the role he played in human rights abuses committed in the Guantanamo prison, a United Nations expert said Wednesday.

"In a year or two, his responsibilities will be established. Wherever he goes, he will face difficulties," Leandro Despouy, who is Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, told journalists in Geneva.

Nothing earth-shattering here, but always makes for enjoyable reading.

H/t: BuzzFlash

Hundreds 'tortured' in Iraqi prisons

By GottaLaff

What? They're not calling it "enhanced interrogation techniques"?

Iraq's Ministry of Human Rights has declared in a report that hundreds of people were tortured in Iraqi prisons last year.

According to the report published in Baghdad's al-Sabbah newspaper Sunday, of the 306 cases of torture and abuse in Iraqi prisons, 107 took place in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch has also declared that the torture or abuse of Iraqi prisoners is "routine and commonplace."

The group said that detainees were suspended for long periods of time with their hands tied behind their back, routinely beaten with cables and metal rods and had shocks administered to their earlobes and genitals by security officers, DPA reported.

But that's not torture. The Nation of Dick said so. Besides, "some say" (I just wanted to say "some say") only waterboarding is torture... but that's not torture either, "some say".

The word torture is undoubtedly reminder of the photos of the Abu Ghraib prison which provoked shock across the world, especially in the Muslim countries.

The word torture is undoubtedly a reminder that America, um, tortured under BushCo. The word torture is undoubtedly a reminder that prosecutions are in order.

New feature- Fact Check Weekly

I keep on wanting to do this, but forget, so today I'll really do it. I get an email from Fact Check every week with questions that have been posed to them for debunking or correcting. I find them reflective of the stupid crap that floats around the intertubes.

Q: Would the "hate crimes" bill make it a crime to denounce homosexuality from the pulpit and give legal protection to pedophiles?
A: No on both counts. The First Amendment is still operative, and pedophiles would get no breaks under this bill.

Q: Did Obama accuse veterans of "selfishness" and whining? Would he have forced them to "pay for their war injuries"?
A: This chain e-mail contains fabricated quotes and misrepresents a budget idea that the White House scrapped.

Q: Did gun control in Australia lead to more murders there last year?
A: This 'Gun History Lesson' is recycled bunk from a decade ago. Murders in Australia actually are down to record lows.

Funny thing is that you can hear all of this repeated as truth on Fox News any day of the week.

U.S. to join UN Human Rights Council

By GottaLaff

Oh that whacky, nutty, zany ObamAdministration. Those crazy Anti-Bushies are... are... well... the Anti-Bushiest:

The Obama administration has decided to join the United Nations Human Rights Council, reversing the Bush administration’s decision to shun the body because of its refusal to criticize flagrant abuses of human rights.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice announced the decision Tuesday in a statement that said the U.S. goal was to make the council more effective.

“Human rights are an essential part of American foreign policy,” said Clinton, who was criticized for playing down human rights concerns with China during her first trip abroad after taking office.

What? Human rights are a good thing? Who knew?

“The U.S. is seeking election to the Council because we believe that working from within, we can make the council a more effective forum to promote and protect human rights. We hope to work in partnership with many countries to achieve a more effective Council,” said Rice. [...]

The move, which has long been sought by human rights groups, is part of the new administration’s policy of seeking engagement abroad, he said. The U.S. is expected to win a seat.

Now really. What kind of insensitive, self-destructive, power-hungry, unAmerican, odious nutcase wouldn't care about stuff like that?

Lawyer seeks to prosecute Bush for torture, bar him from Canada

By GottaLaff

Yeah, I know, it's not going to happen. But please, can't someone, somewhere say this is a real possibility, just once?

Even out of power and away from the White House, former President George W. Bush seemingly cannot get away from calls for his prosecution.

The latest outcry comes from a Canadian attorney with Lawyers Against the War, who said she will file a suit against Bush and bar his entry to Canada over alleged war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Former President Bush plans a visit to Canada on March 17 for a speaking engagement at Calgary, on invite from the city's chamber of commerce. [...]

The letter (PDF link) asks the mounted police to "begin an investigation of George W. Bush for aiding, abetting and counseling torture between November 13, 2001 and November 2008 at Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, Bagram prison in Afghanistan and other places."

"The letter also alleges that Bush has engaged in 'systematic or gross human rights violations, or a war crime or a crime against humanity' under subsections 6(3) to 6(5) of the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act," reported Straight.com.

Lawyers Against the War has been pursuing similar tactics for years. The group's Web site, which appears to have not been updated in the last five years, carries prior letters the organization has posted to Canadian officials. [...]

"The federal government is keeping silent on the upcoming visit," reported Canadian magazine See. "'We have no comments to offer on the visit of Mr. George W. Bush to Calgary,' said Foreign Affairs spokesperson Alain Cacchione in an e-mail. When told about Davidson's letter, a spokesperson with the Canadian Border Services Agency said 'we wouldn't comment on something like that.'"

"[Lawyers Against the War's Gayle] Davidson noted that the B.C. Court of Appeal has ruled that a private prosecution of this nature cannot proceed to a first hearing without the consent of the federal attorney general, who is Robert Nicholson," reported Straight.com.

"We can assume that he won't," she told the Web site. "So the next step would be to take an application to the Federal Court of Canada seeking an order of mandamus compelling the attorney general to give his consent."

Why must these efforts always go nowhere, especially when the outcries come from the good guys who have truth on their side? That was rhetorical.

Former Homeland Security SecretaryTom Ridge: We were wrong to torture

By GottaLaff

Was Tom Ridge for torture and illegal detention before he was against it?

America's first homeland security secretary has accepted some criticisms of the US "war on terror" made in a recent report by legal experts.

Tom Ridge told the BBC that the report's attacks on extended detention and torture were justified. [...]

The report the International Commission of Jurists said anti-terror measures worldwide had seriously undermined international human rights law.

After a three-year global study, the ICJ said many states had used the public's fear of terrorism to introduce measures including detention without trial, illegal disappearance and torture.

It said the framework of international law that existed before the 9/11 attacks was robust and effective, but had been actively undermined by the US and the UK.

Mr Ridge, who was appointed to the new post of homeland security secretary after the 11 September, 2001 attacks on the US, said the ICJ was on "solid ground" in its commentary "with regard to torture and sustained detention without due process".

In an interview with the BBC's World Today programme he said that regardless of what terrorism suspects had done, the US still needed "to afford them some sense of due process."

"It has taken a while for us to get to that point but we are certainly there now," he said.

He added that there was now a consensus in the US and beyond that water-boarding - a harsh interrogation technique that simulates drowning - was torture, saying there had been no allegations of its use since 2003.

Oh goody. He says we only waterboarded people until 2003. That's a relief. I bet he can't wait for those who were brutally tortured to get wind of this... the ones that survived.

And how nice that he finally feels free to openly acknowledge these horrendous, illegal abuses... in 2009.

Oh, did I forget to mention this?

However, Mr Ridge also defended US policy, saying counter-terrorism work was now about detaining people before they were able to commit terrorist acts. [...]

Many suspects had "embraced an ideology, a belief system, that said it's perfectly all right in order to advance a cause to kill innocents along the way", he said.

"They had no loyalty to a country so they're not the traditional prisoner of war, they don't wear the uniform of a country so we can't treat them as we have done in previous wars."

Mr Ridge added: "How we dealt with them in terms of returning them to their potential country of origin was a difficult issue that not only the United States but other countries have had to deal with.

"So, we're in the process of dealing with it."

But are we in the due process of dealing with it?

Sidebar: I wonder if Mr. Ridge is currently employed. If so, he may be one of the lucky 25%.

"The United States is now back on the side of the enlightened on this issue of basic human rights.”

By GottaLaff

There is nothing more essential to co-existence than basic human rights. How nice that we now have an administration that agrees with that statement:

U.S. allies and human rights groups criticized the Bush administration’s position as it stood “in contradiction with America’s long tradition as a defender of human rights”:

– [France’s human rights minister Rama] Yade and the Dutch foreign minister, Maxime Verhagen, said at a news conference that they were “disappointed” that the United States failed to support the declaration.

– “The Bush administration is trying to come up with Christmas presents for the religious right so it will be remembered,” said Scott Long, a director at Human Rights Watch.

But as with a number of other important issues, the new Obama administration has come with a change in attitude and a new position. At preparations for the U.N.’s so-called “Durban Review Conference” on racism and xenophonia in Geneva, the U.S. offered support for a proposal to condemn “all forms of discrimination and all other human rights violations based on sexual orientation”:

The Czech Republic on behalf of the E.U., with the support of New Zealand, the United States, Colombia, Chili on behalf of the South American states, the Netherlands, Argentina and a few others, took the floor in support.

While the measure faced resistance and eventually failed, U.N. Dispatch’s Mark Leon Goldberg notes, “Still, it’s relieving to see that the United States is now back on the side of the enlightened on this issue of basic human rights.”

How pathetic and embarrassing that Bush put us on the other side for way too long.

Deep Thought

Rev Rick isn't making this thing any easier.

Asked To Name Highest Moment In Office, Cheney Comes Up With '9/11'

Of course it was Darth, since it slid ya'll right into your power taking, civil liberty neutering niche.

World Nuts Daily Poll On Warren Invocation

Hysterical. Major kudos to Pam for putting on the waders and finding this.

Portugal offers asylum to Gitmo detainees

Saw this earlier and lost it. It could be a really good start to getting rid of Gitmo forever and an important offer of goodwill for President Obama.

Portugal has offered to grant asylum to Guantánamo prisoners in a move that could help the incoming Obama administration accelerate closure of the controversial detention camp.

Luis Amado, the Portuguese foreign minister, on Thursday said Portugal stood ready to take some of the Guantánamo detainees, and urged other members of the European Union to follow suit.

”The time has come for the European Union to step forward,” Mr Amado wrote to his European counterparts in a letter to coincide with the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

”We should send a clear signal of our willingness to help the US government… through the resettlement of detainees. As far as the Portuguese government is concerned, we will be available to participate.”

VIDEO- Nationwide Gay Rights Rallies Spurred by Prop 8 Marriage Ban

Some vid to go with what Gotta wrote up here. It's a sloooow news day.

War crimes

By GottaLaff

If impeachment is "off the table" here in the U.S., then maybe another, wiser country that understands that there should be real consequences to criminal actions could pick up where this report leaves off:

According to a new Human Rights Center/Center for Constitutional Rights report, former prisoners held at Guantánamo Bay and released without charge went home with “psychological and emotional problems” and found themselves “stigmatized and shunned” and viewed either as terrorists or U.S. spies. In a forward to the report, former DC appeals court judge Patricia Wald compared the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody to the treatment Bosnian Muslims received at the hands of their Serbian captors:

The officials and guards in charge of those prison camps and the civilian leaders who sanctioned their establishment were prosecuted — often by former U.S. government and military lawyers serving with the tribunal — for war crimes, crimes against humanity and, in extreme cases, genocide.

It's not like we don't have enough evidence.