Wednesday Open Thread

Filed in National by on June 16, 2010

It’s the Wednesday edition of your open thread. Today, UI is in Canada so you’ll have to play without supervision. Please follow the Golden Rule.

The U.K. released a report on the “Bloody Sunday” incident of 1972. The report was 12 years in the making, and found that the killings were unjustfied.

The British army at the time said its soldiers had been fired upon and were only defending themselves when they shot at protesters. The families of those killed have always insisted they were innocent victims.

None of the victims were armed and some were shot in the back trying to get away.

“What happened on Bloody Sunday strengthened the Provisional IRA, increased nationalist resentment and hostility towards the army and exacerbated the violent conflict of the years that followed,” the report said. “Bloody Sunday was a tragedy for the bereaved and the wounded, and a catastrophe for the people of Northern Ireland.”

Speaking in the British Parliament in London, Cameron offered an apology for the actions.

“What happened on Bloody Sunday was both unjustified and unjustifiable. It was wrong,” he said.

I’m not used to conservatives that apologize. Someday I hope that we’ll have a report on the history of this era.

America’s Craziest CongressmanTM, Iowa’s Steve King, is back with more of his wisdom. This time he’s the immigrant whisperer:

Last night, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) took to the House floor to defend Arizona’s new anti-immigration law against concerns that it will lead to racial profiling. During his speech, the Iowa congressman reiterated his belief that racial profiling is an “important component” of law enforcement, as long as it’s not used “for the reasons of discriminating against people.” Then, he told a story about how he was profiled by a taxi driver who suspected that he needed a ride, saying that Arizona officers can also target illegal immigrants using other factors — like “what kind of shoes people wear” and “a sixth sense.”

KING: Some claim that the Arizona law will bring about racial discrimination profiling. First let me say, Mr. Speaker, that profiling has always been an important component of legitimate law enforcement. If you can’t profile someone, you can’t use those common sense indicators that are before your very eyes. Now, I think it’s wrong to use racial profiling for the reasons of discriminating against people, but it’s not wrong to use race or other indicators for the sake of identifying that are violating the law. […]

It’s just a common sense thing. Law enforcement needs to use common sense indicators. Those common sense indicators are all kinds of things, from what kind of clothes people wear – my suit in my case – what kind of shoes people wear, what kind of accident [sic] they have, um, the, the type of grooming they might have, there’re, there’re all kinds of indicators there and sometimes it’s just a sixth sense and they can’t put their finger on it. But these law enforcement officers, if they were going to be discriminating against people on the sole basis of race, singling people out, that’d be going on already.

Crazy Congressman is crazy, yet somehow people still vote for him. I guess there’s something to be said for confident & crazy.

Bonus link (subscription needed): Jamie Rubin offers a defense of Obama’s foreign policy.

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Opinionated chemist, troublemaker, blogger on national and Delaware politics.

Comments (17)

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  1. anonone says:

    Anybody see the Philadelphia Daily News cover today? “OBOMBA” is the headline. A very liberal paper, by the way. People are catching on.

    http://www.philly.com/dailynews/#

    Obomba gives an Oval Office address, and nary a peep about it here. Hmmm…

  2. anonone says:

    Great link, delacrat.

  3. a.price says:

    gotta agree on that “speech” with Del and a1. It was really depressing. He seemed like he has no idea what to do… and before one more person says “well aprice, what would YOU do?”
    well, Im not the president. It frankly isnt my job to know what to do. He got his job because he told everyone he could handle anything. Strike One.

  4. Phil says:

    It also seems he is taking Rahm’s advise to, “Never let a good crisis go to waste,” by pushing for cap and tax. Maybe someone should tell him that the campaigne is over, and there are things that need to be taken care of.

  5. anonone says:

    “We care about the small people. I hear comments sometimes that large oil companies or greedy companies that don’t care, but that is not the case at BP. We care about the small people.”

    BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg

    Good to know.

  6. skippertee says:

    Funny you mention the British apology. My friend’s uncle was the first victim.Shot in the back.Her mother soaked up his blood in a hankerchief.
    My friend was born 8 1/2 months later into the “troubles”.
    She came here for college and upon graduating,spent 15 years as an officer in the Marines.
    Derek Hales’ death brought us together.We share that outrage.
    Just as I was outraged 1/30/72 when the Bogside Massacre happened.
    We are only tenuously connected through the ether.As I am to you who post on here every day.Yet,those connections mean something to me.If nothing else than letting me blow off a little steam.That is a wonderful thing to have.

  7. anonone says:

    “More Than 90 Banks Miss TARP Payments”

    There should be a “Miss TARP USA” pageant.

    http://www.cnbc.com/id/37732312

  8. Miscreant says:

    “We care about the small people. I hear comments sometimes that large oil companies or greedy companies that don’t care, but that is not the case at BP. We care about the small people.”

    BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg

    Good to know.”

    Justin Taffinder of New Orleans was not amused.

    “We’re not small people. We’re human beings. They’re no greater than us. We don’t bow down to them. We don’t pray to them,” Taffinder said.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100616/ap_on_bi_ge/us_bp_small_people_4

  9. Geezer says:

    Check out the Nikki Haley campaign sign in this photo:

    http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/gallery/2010/06/scandal-carolina-classic-moments-in-sc-politics.php?img=3

    Is that crescent moon to the left of the palmetto tree a signal that she’s A DANGEROUS ISLAMOFASCIST MUSLIM SYMPATHIZER?

  10. anon says:

    There should be a “Miss TARP USA” pageant.

    OK, I nominate Michele Rollins.

  11. a.price says:

    Well, for as crappy as that speech was… even though someone from the WH seems to have phoned MSNBC to remind them they are on O’s side…
    Gotta say i am impressed he was able to strong arm BP into 20B AND suspending dividends. That is the kind of action i was waiting to see.

  12. Miscreant says:

    “Is that crescent moon to the left of the palmetto tree a signal that she’s A DANGEROUS ISLAMOFASCIST MUSLIM SYMPATHIZER?”

    I think it’s some kind of South Carolina symbol. I was recently through there, and it was all over the place, car windows, bumper stickers, tee shirts.

  13. meatball says:

    “I think it’s some kind of South Carolina symbol. I was recently through there, and it was all over the place, car windows, bumper stickers, tee shirts.”

    Actually they are the symbols on our state flag.

  14. Miscreant says:

    “Actually they are the symbols on our state flag.”

    Thanks, Meatball. I suspected it had some significance. We have couple of guys, a ship, and a cow on ours.