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You are here: Home / Politics / Republican Stupidity / Your Government At Work

Your Government At Work

by | 22 Comments

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Sad.

Conservatives who supported President Bush’s reelection have joined liberal groups in expressing outrage over his administration’s broad use of anti-terrorism laws to reject asylum for thousands of people seeking refuge from religious, ethnic and political persecution.

The critics say the administration’s interpretation of provisions mandating denial of asylum to individuals who give “material support” to terrorist groups is so broad that foreigners who fought alongside U.S. forces in wars such as Vietnam can be denied asylum on the grounds that they provided aid to terrorists.

[…] “It’s outrageous,” said Barrett Duke, vice president of public policy for the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. “I think it’s essentially a reaction of fear to the current terrorist danger.” The language in the laws, he added, is “a knee-jerk reaction.”

Gary L. Bauer, president of American Values, a conservative public policy group, said the anti-terrorism thrust of laws such as the USA Patriot Act and the Real ID Act is supported by most conservatives, “but the enforcement of it has lapsed into ludicrousy. The concept of material support is being distorted, and even the definition of the term ‘terrorism’ is being turned on its ear.”

Read the whole story to get a sense of the awful way that countless vulnerable individuals have been handled by our security beaurocracy. If there is any upshot, I guess that Gary Bauer now understands why some of us have always been skeptical of this government, even when they propose things which are not prima facie idiotic. It hurts that much more when the Michael Browns screw up something you like.

Naturally it gets worse. At least most refugees get a hearing; applicants from Iraq have virtually no chance because our government apparently prefers to pretend that the crisis doesn’t exist.

Reader Interactions

22Comments

  1. 1.

    Zombie Santa Claus

    The critics say the administration’s interpretation of provisions mandating denial of asylum to individuals who give “material support” to terrorist groups is so broad that foreigners who fought alongside U.S. forces in wars such as Vietnam can be denied asylum on the grounds that they provided aid to terrorists.

    This is sad on so many levels…

  2. 2.

    cleek

    ….our government apparently prefers to pretend that the crisis doesn’t exist.

    of course they do. if they did otherwise, it would be an admission that they’ve turned Iraq into a nightmare from which people by the hundreds of thousands are trying to escape.

  3. 3.

    Zifnab

    Perhaps this is the Virgil Goode stance that if we start letting Iraqis into our country we’ll be overrun with Muslim Congressmen by the turn of the decade.

  4. 4.

    Punchy

    Uh…yesterday…Port of Miami…Three Suspcicious Iraqis “Middle Eastern-looking” illegals completely legals drove a suspicious vehicle truck into the port terror-istically without some necessary paperwork and lied about how many men were in the truck even Fox admitted the whole thing was a language mix-up.

    I can guarentee you, if these 3 men were ANYTHING other than Brown-Skinned, this wouldn’t have even made page 23 of Cedar Rapids Gazette.

  5. 5.

    Jake

    Another “Stunning masterpiece” by the Bush Admin. This one is called “How to Win Hearts & Minds.”

    I note too that thanks in part to DADT we don’t have enough translators and the US is once again treating those people who serve as translators like shit. I mean, wouldn’t it be a great idea to get those folks over here where they could serve as translators for the NSA, etc? Nah, better to shit on them and walk away and then scratch their heads over that pesky translator shortage.

  6. 6.

    The Other Steve

    Who cares.

    A stopped clock is right twice a day. So two are winger groups such as that run by Gary Bauer.

    Sadly, these groups have simply changed their tune from political expediency rather than heartfelt beliefs. The winds have turned, and they’re adjusting their sails for fear of irrelevancy in the giant DC power struggle.

    There were groups bravely speaking up about this before 2004… Gary Bauer was not one of them.

  8. 8.

    TenguPhule

    our government apparently prefers to pretend that anything it can’t use to its own advantage that makes Bush look stupid, doesn’t exist.

    Fixed.

    When the tree falls in the forest, the solution is to shoot whoever heard it fall and make it disappear.

  9. 9.

    Jake

    Re: Port of Miami story

    The three are permanent U.S. residents from Iraq and Lebanon who live in Dearborn, Mich.

    Wait, isn’t Ellison from Dearborn? I betya they were trying to smuggle copies of the Koran!

  10. 10.

    neil

    Bush is concerned about his legacy and he’d much rather condemn thousands of Iraqis to death than risk one car bombing in the U.S. during his presidency.

  11. 11.

    Punchy

    Re: Port of Miami story

    From the AP

    “Due to a miscommunication between the gate security personnel and the truck driver, we believe there was a discrepancy in the number of people in the vehicle,” Goldberg said. “This, and the fact that one of the individuals did not have any form of ID, raised our level of concern.”

    The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security were called to the scene, along with federal and local law enforcers, “in an abundance of caution, racism” Goldberg said.

    Fixed for the damn truth.

  12. 12.

    Zifnab

    Bush is concerned about his legacy and he’d much rather condemn thousands of Iraqis to death than risk one car bombing in the U.S. one time admitting that he was wrong during his presidency.

    If Bush was really worried about bombings, he’d have given a smidge more attention to the memo “Bin Laden Determined To Strike America” when it hit his desk.

  13. 13.

    The Other Steve

    Wait, isn’t Ellison from Dearborn? I betya they were trying to smuggle copies of the Koran!

    Well, I think he might have been born there, but he’s from Minneapolis now.

    One of my friends was his spokesperson during the campaign anyway. Haven’t caught up with her since to see if she went to DC.

  14. 14.

    Jake

    “Due to a miscommunication between the gate security personnel and the truck driver, we believe there was a discrepancy in the number of people in the vehicle,”

    Yah, once I saw the word “miscommunication,” I knew any potential threat was limited to the threat someone would crap their pants. Well, and the threat these guys would spend time in jail…because making people suspicious makes you a suspcious type.

    And shouldn’t it be “We believed there was a discrepancy”?

  15. 15.

    Steve

    I think Ellison is from Detroit proper. Dearborn might come to your mind because it has a very large Arab Muslim community.

  16. 16.

    ThymeZone

    “I’m the commander – see, I don’t need to explain – I do not need to explain why I say things. That’s the interesting part about being president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don’t feel like I owe anybody an explanation”

    George Bush, as quoted by Bob Woodward (“Bush at War”)

    For some reason, I got a notion that this week might be a good time to take note of Bush’s remark to Woodward.

    Emphasis mine.

  17. 17.

    RSA

    Bauer:

    “but the enforcement of it has lapsed into ludicrousy. The concept of material support is being distorted, and even the definition of the term ‘terrorism’ is being turned on its ear.”

    Someone who uses the word “ludicrousy” has no business commenting on definitions of words.

  19. 19.

    lard lad

    I’m waiting for Darrell to weigh in and inform us that at least half of these Iraqi “refugees” are obviously terrorists who are determined to fight us “over here”… and after all, Bush has been trying to protect us from that all along. Then Darrell will let us know in no uncertain terms what ignorant moonbats we all are to want such subhuman scum allowed into this country.

    Oh, and then he’ll request that we stand up and scream out our foolish opinions as loudly as we are able… as he wants other Americans to know just how far out we are

  20. 20.

    Paddy O'Shea

    We shan’t be hearing from Darrell tonight. it’s Wheelchair Race Night down at his local John Birch Society lodge.

    If he wins he gets to wear the “Speedy” hat plus use the VIP parking spot for the entire month of February.

  21. 21.

    jake

    it’s Wheelchair Race Night down at his local John Birch Society lodge.

    Based on some of his posts I assume this entails shoving disabled people down steep hills.

  22. 22.

    RSA

    it’s Wheelchair Race Night down at his local John Birch Society lodge.

    Affirmative action is destroying America.

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