Chair Lynchings ala Clint Eastwood's "Obama in the Empty Chair" at RNC
Backed by the Koch brothers-funded group Americans For Prosperity in his insurgent bid to defeat longtime incumbent Democratic Representative Peter DeFazio and represent Oregon's Fourth District in Congress, Republican Art Robinson doesn't just recommend G.A. Henty's boys novels, and he goes beyond merely including them in his homeschooling curriculum - Robinson prints and sells hardcover paper editions of all the 99 novels of G.A. Henty, whose zesty, militaristic tales of plucky boyish adventure celebrate British colonialism, depict darker-skinned peoples as stupid, savage and childlike, and romanticize slavery.Quote from article by Bruce Wilson "Oregon Republican For Congress Prints Book Glorifying Slavery" by Bruce Wilson at Alternet.org, Sept. 18, 2012
"The intelligence of an average negro is about equal to that of a European child of ten years old. A few, a very few, go beyond this, but these are exceptions... They are absolutely without originality, absolutely without inventive power. Living among white men, their imitative faculties enable them to attain a considerable amount of civilization. Left alone to their own devices they retrograde into a state little above their native savagery."-- from G. A. Henty's By Sheer Pluck, a Tale of the Ashanti War, printed and sold by Robinson Books
The "empty chair" has become a symbol or icon possibly Avatar representing President Obama as borrowed from Clint Easwood's performace piece at the Republican National Convention.
Obama chair lynchings in Texas and Virginia Yes, two of them By Prachi Gupta, Salon .com, Sept. 20, 2012
Two people may have single-handedly set back civil liberties by nearly 100 years by hanging Obama effigies in their yards. The chairs, on display at two Centreville, Va., and Austin, Texas, homes, are a reference to Clint Eastwood’s chair speech, and conjure memories of mob lynchings once common in the South. Technically, it’s a free country, and it’s their right, but the symbolism behind the actions of just a few is disturbing for the rest of America.
Burnt Orange reports that when one woman complained to the Texas homeowner, he said, “I don’t really give a damn whether it disturbs you or not. You can take [your concerns] and go straight to hell and take Obama with you. I don’t give a shit. If you don’t like it, don’t come down my street.” The man has since added an American flag to the chair.
UPDATE: KEYE TV in Austin has uploaded a reluctant interview with the Texas home owner, who took down the chair and moved it because, “Does anybody else that’s got a chair sitting out receiving the same harassment that you guys are giving?”
And another case in which the Republican Party is the party of refuge for the bottom feeders including unabashed elitists and racists or whatever it takes to get the votes in this election so in this case we have a Republican running for office who is connected to the Christian extremist Reconstrucionist/Dominionist including in his home schooling curriculum and publishing and selling racist books written by 19th century British author G.A. Henty .
"Oregon Republican For Congress Prints Book Glorifying Slavery" by Bruce Wilson at Alternet.org, Sept. 18, 2012
Improbably, the smackingly racist writing of 19th Century British author George Alfred Henty -- whose boys adventure novels had kind words for slavery, described Africans as having the intelligence of ten-year old children, and featured a comedic description of a slave being tortured with red hot irons (see quotes, below) -- may become an issue this year in an Oregon congressional race.
...Backed by the Koch brothers-funded group Americans For Prosperity in his insurgent bid to defeat longtime incumbent Democratic Representative Peter DeFazio and represent Oregon's Fourth District in Congress, Republican Art Robinson doesn't just recommend G.A. Henty's boys novels, and he goes beyond merely including them in his homeschooling curriculum - Robinson prints and sells hardcover paper editions of all the 99 novels of G.A. Henty, whose zesty, militaristic tales of plucky boyish adventure celebrate British colonialism, depict darker-skinned peoples as stupid, savage and childlike, and romanticize slavery.
My new report examines Arthur B. Robinson's homeschooling curriculum, especially its considerable racist content, as well as Robinson's extensive and intimate ties to the theocratic Christian Reconstructionism movement, which helped develop the Robinson Curriculum. At the heart of the Christian Reconstructionism project is the Christian homeschooling movement.
Not surprisingly, Christian Reconstructionists typically want to abolish public education and on this count, and many others, Arthur B. Robinson's stated policy positions coincide quite neatly with those of Christian Reconstructionists as well as with the positions of a political party closely affiliated with the CR movement, the Constitution Party - which has in the past endorsed Arthur Robinson as a candidate.
for more on GOP /Mitt Romney racism and Romney's self-destruction continues see:
5 Ways ‘I Wish I Was Mexican’ Mitt Reveals Contempt for Brown and Black People Nestled amid the contempt Romney shows for everyday people of all races is a simmering resentment of people who aren't white.by Adele M. Stan at Alternet.org, Sept. 19, 2012
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Meanwhile in other news it appears that the Italian Government and courts are more sincere than President Obama in their pursuit of justice and the rule of law as they put American citizens on trial for a rendition carried out inside the Sovereign State of Italy by American personnel.
As I have said many times the problem for those outside the USA is coming to grips with the American government and the American peoples notion that american exceptionism which means the USA is not to be governed by the same laws including International Laws which other countries support and that the sovereignty of America is sacrosanct while the sovereignty of other nations including any European nation which the Americans can ignore when they believe that America's security and interests in their view deems it.
And unfortunately President Obama has made it quite evident now thart he believes in America's exceptionalism and that it is above and beyond the law of mere human courts of justice or international laws and agreements. So Obama rejects the United Nations, the International Criminal Court , the Geneva Conventions , the Nuremberg precedents and such notions as "Child Soldiers", the treatment of POWs and Enemy Combatant and the rights and protection given to innocent civilians during an armed conflict and surprisingly the USA is the only country besides Somalia to sign onto the international Rights of The Child agreement or the Rights of women etc.
So as has been suggested by many since the US invasion of Iraq that the USA has become a Rogue State and an instrument of fear and terror threatening any nation or its citizens who dare to interfer with the USA carrying out its agenda that is its Manifest Destiny its God ordained exceptionalism to spread democracy , American values such as free trade which is actually a form of Monopolistic Capitalism dominated by the USA and to therefore establish American hegemony backed by NATO and other reluctant allies over most of the world's nations .
So here we have a case of justice at work moving slowly but surely and as principled in its insistence that no individual or government or those working on its behalf are above the law.
The USA and the Obama administration will either ignore or cricize the Italian government and court for daring to put on trial American citizens who by their very nature of being Americans are morally and ethically superiour to any citizen in the old world of backward Europe. But the question is then what will the USA do will Obama assign special ops to take out the judge in question through rendition or targeted assassination of the judge and other government officials who have given aid and comfort to the court-remember this is not as odd as it appears since Obama claims as president he has the right and the obligatrion when it comes to defending US security and its interests and its values and its sovereignty against any who dare to oppose the USA in any way shape or form.
Italy Upholds Rendition Convictions For 23 Americans:Ruling is world's first judicial review of CIA practice of abducting terror suspects and transferring them to third countries By Andrea Vogt and agencies Rome, September 20, 2012 "The Guardian" via Informations clearing House
Italy's highest criminal court on Wednesday upheld the convictions of 23 Americans found guilty of kidnapping a Muslim cleric from a Milanese street and transferring him to a country where torture was permitted. The court of cassation's ruling is the final appeal in the world's first judicial review of the CIA practice of abducting terror suspects and transferring them to third countries, a practice also known as extraordinary rendition.
The 23 Americans were all convicted in absentia following a trial that lasted over three years. The verdict paves the way for the Italian government to seek redress and could put the Americans at risk of arrest if they travel to Europe.
...Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, was kidnapped while walking to noon prayers at a Milan mosque on 17 February 2003. He had been under investigation in Italy for allegedly recruiting jihadi fighters. Prosecutors claimed CIA operatives snatched him with the help of two Italian intelligence officers, drove him to Aviano Air Force base, and then flew him to a Nato base in Germany en route to Cairo, Egypt. When Nasr emerged from an Egyptian prison four years later, he claimed he had been tortured.
Among those whose conviction was upheld Wednesday was US Air Force Colonel Joseph Romano, who was in charge of Aviano AF base security. His lawyers said they intend to appeal to the EU human rights court in Strasbourg.
The court confirmed the seven-year sentences for 22 Americans (all but one of whom prosecutors identified as CIA agents, who are likely now in the US) and a 9-year sentence for former Milan station chief Robert Seldon Lady. The two Italian accomplices, former SISMI military intelligence officers Nicolo Pollari and Marco Mancini, were ordered to be retried in the Milan court of appeals. They had previously been acquitted on appeal citing a state-secrecy injunction.
The court also ordered €1m in damages to be paid to Nasr and €500,000 to his wife. The justice ministry plans to request extraditions, Ansa news agency reported
The Milan anti-terrorism magistrate who guided the prosecution, Armando Spataro, lauded the decision, telling the Associated Press it was the equivalent of finding extraordinary rendition "incompatible with democracy".
and in the Homeland that is the USA or The Fatherland the Civil Rights organization the ACLU( American Civil Liberties Union) Given Obama's belief that he and his administration like Bush and his administration are above the law he is legally able to shut down any such legal attack on the US government . As Obama claims he has the right to do as he pleases then surely he can toss out any court ruling he doesn't like by retreating to the National Security defense and executive privilige or he could argue that the ACLU by legally challenging the executive that they are in effect giving aid and comfort to America's enemies since like previous administration he has little to no respect for any such human rights groups whether it is the ACLU or Human Rights Watch, or Amnesty International, or the International Committee of the Red Cross . Obama could according to his views on the legal paramaters of the executive branch have the lawyers and the ACLU board of directors all put in indefinite detention and put anyone who supports this organization on notice that the governmentis watching them.
The ACLU is under the delusion that international laws are viewed as important to the Obama administration which in itself is laughable if it wasn't so horrifying to the hunfdreds of thousands since 9/11 murdered by the US government using its military or its proxies in various supposedly sovereign nations from Afghanistan to Iraq, Pakistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen ,Somalia and so forth.
ACLU Takes CIA to Court over "Targeted Killings" - Common Dreams staff ,Sept. 19, 2012
The American Civil Liberties Union will continue its fight with the CIA in court on Thursday, in a bid to obtain documents concerning the US "targeted killing" drone program.
The ACLU has requested documents pertaining to the drone strikes via a Freedom of Information Act request, but has thus far been rebuffed by the White House and the CIA. The ACLU argues that the program has been referenced in public by President Barack Obama, other senior administration officials, and been widely reported by international media. The CIA, however, continues to refuse to hand over crucial documents pertaining to the strikes, claiming that to do so would harm the secretive nature of an essential national security program.
“The notion that the CIA’s targeted killing program is a secret is nothing short of absurd,” said ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer. “For more than two years, senior officials have been making claims about the program both on the record and off. They’ve claimed that the program is effective, lawful and closely supervised."
"If they can make these claims," continued Jaffer, "there is no reason why they should not be required to respond to requests under the Freedom of Information Act.”
The ACLU’s original FOIA request was filed in January 2010, seeking to learn "when, where and against whom drone strikes can be authorized, and how the U.S. ensures compliance with international laws relating to extrajudicial killings." The ACLU filed a lawsuit against the CIA upon their refusal to comply, but the court ruled in favor of the CIA.
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