The republican cult of the victim.

Previously:

Sen. David Pearce (r): fundamentally, a useful idiot (August 30, 2014)

Call yourself what you want, obscure and manipulate language, it still doesn’t change the reality of what you are….

SB 519, HB 1307, HB 1313: wait, wait, wait (January 12, 2014)

On the right to privacy:

The ACLU is our nation’s guardian of liberty, working daily in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.

These rights include:

[….]

Your right to privacy – freedom from unwarranted government intrusion into your personal and private affairs….

[emphasis added]

ROE v. WADE, 410 U.S. 113 (1973)

….This right of privacy, whether it be founded in the Fourteenth Amendment’s concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action, as we feel it is, or, as the District Court determined, in the Ninth Amendment’s reservation of rights to the people, is broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy. The detriment that the State would impose upon the pregnant woman by denying this choice altogether is apparent. Specific and direct harm medically diagnosable even in early pregnancy may be involved. Maternity, or additional offspring, may force upon the woman a distressful life and future. Psychological harm may be imminent. Mental and physical health may be taxed by child care. There is also the distress, for all concerned, associated with the unwanted child, and there is the problem of bringing a child into a family already unable, psychologically and otherwise, to care for it. In other cases, as in this one, the additional difficulties and continuing stigma of unwed motherhood may be involved. All these are factors the woman and her responsible physician necessarily will consider in consultation….

[emphasis added]

Last Thursday morning there was a meeting in Warrensburg with Senator David Pearce (r), requested by some constituents, on the subject of HB 1307 and the upcoming override vote concerning the Governor’s veto of the imposition of seventy-two hour waiting period for an abortion. An individual in attendance provided us with audio from that meeting.

Senator David Pearce (r) [file photo].

About thirty-two minutes into the meeting there was this remarkable set of statements:

Senator David Pearce (r): ….Some of you have probably seen, um, the Internet, uh, campaign against me. Uh, maybe you’ve gotten the robocalls.  And let me tell you who’s behind that. ACLU. And, uh, it’s not, there’s nothing that talks about pro life or abortion in that. It just says, uh, David Pearce should not, uh, be involved in your personal decisions. You want to talk to him? And then they, they automatically filter those phone calls to my office. Nothing [emphatic] about a seventy-two hour waiting period, nothing about babies being aborted. Nothing like that, so it’s a terribly misleading, um, uh [interrupted by a constituent question]….

Oh, the horror of having to explain yourself to constituents.

Apparently, just mentioning the ACLU is supposed to strike terror in the hearts of your constituents. Think about that for a moment – a politician in a room with a group of constituents that probably includes a significant number of ACLU members and sympathizers relates an anecdote that’s supposed to elicit, what, a negative opinion about the ACLU?

Really? As if anyone engaged in politics is required to use the language and memes of their opponents when they’re engaged in the rough and tumble struggle over issues?

The outrage could maybe be funny under other circumstances. In this case it’s just narcissism.

Uh, the ACLU is concerned about personal privacy. The issue of privacy and abortion was settled by the U.S. Supreme Court over forty years ago. Stare decisis.

Ah yes, the “Dick Cheney Doesn’t Want To Visit The Hague On A Really Extended Trip Act”:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 8, 2009

…Lieberman, Graham Pledge to Fight to Adopt Detainee Photo Amendment

WASHINGTON, DC — Senators Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) today issued the following statement on the Detainee Photographic Records Protection Act amendment to the Supplemental Appropriations bill:

“We strongly believe that the first responsibilities of government are the nation’s security and the protection of those brave Americans who go into harm’s way to defend it.

“The President has said that the release of the photos of detainees in US custody would ‘put our troops and civilians serving our nation abroad in greater danger.’ We agree with the Commander in Chief.

“We will employ all the legislative means available to us including opposing the supplemental war spending bill and attaching this amendment, which was unanimously adopted by the Senate, to every piece of legislation the Senate considers, to be sure the President has the authority he needs not to release these photos and any others that would jeopardize the safety and security of our troops.

“The release of the photos will serve as propaganda and recruiting tool for terrorists who seek to attack American citizens at home and abroad. We should strive to have as open a government as possible, but the behavior depicted in the photos has been prohibited and is being investigated. The photos do not depict anything that is not already known. Transparency, and in this case needless transparency, should not be paid for with the lives of American citizens, let alone the lives of our men and women in uniform fighting on our behalf in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

“Let it clearly be understood that without this legislation the photos in question are likely to be released. Such a release would be tantamount to a death sentence to some who are serving our nation in the most dangerous and difficult spots like Iraq and Afghanistan. It is this certain knowledge of these consequences of having the photos released that will cause us to vote against the supplemental and continue our push to turn our important amendment into law.”

-30-

[emphasis added]

Rough translation – Joe will hold his breath until he turns blue red if he doesn’t get his way. Filibuster! All in response to a court ruling:

Leading Rights Groups Call On Obama To Release Prisoner Abuse Photos (6/1/2009)

ACLU Calls On Court To Adhere To Mandate Requiring Release Of Abuse Photos

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE…

“…The disclosure of these photographs serves as a further reminder that abuse of prisoners in U.S.-administered detention centers was systemic,” said Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU National Security Project. “Some of the abuse occurred because senior civilian and military officials created a culture of impunity in which abuse was tolerated, and some of the abuse was expressly authorized. It’s imperative that senior officials who condoned or authorized abuse now be held accountable for their actions.”

Also today, the ACLU asked a federal appeals court to uphold its earlier ruling that the government must release the photos. On May 28, the government filed a motion asking the court to recall its mandate ordering their release, and today the ACLU filed its opposition to that motion.

“The public has an undeniable right to see these photos. As disturbing as they may be, it is critical that the American people know the full truth about the abuse that occurred in their name. The government’s decision to suppress the photos is fundamentally inconsistent with President Obama’s own promise of transparency and accountability,” said Amrit Singh, staff attorney with the ACLU. “The government has failed to show any good cause for the court to recall its mandate that the photos be released, and we are confident the court will uphold its original order.”

In September 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ordered the government to turn over the photos in response to an ACLU Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit. The Obama administration originally indicated that it would not appeal that decision and would release the photos, but abruptly reversed its commitment to do so shortly before the agreed-upon deadline…

The letter from the American Civil Liberties Union (and other groups) to President Obama:

June 1, 2009

President Barack Obama

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW

Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama:

We write to express our profound disappointment with your decision on May 13 to block the release of photographs depicting abuse of detainees by U.S. personnel overseas. We urge you to reconsider that misguided decision and to renew your commitment to our nation’s most fundamental principles.

On your first full day in office, you eloquently proclaimed your administration’s commitment to the principle of open government. You said: “A democracy requires accountability, and accountability requires transparency.” That is exactly right. The hallmark of an open society is that we do not conceal information that reflects poorly on us – we expose it to the light of day, so that wrongdoers can be held accountable and future abuses prevented.

These photographs will no doubt be disturbing, as they should be. And we understand your concern about reaction to them overseas. But suppressing information to prevent public anger is inconsistent with democratic principles. The Pentagon should release the photos while reaffirming to the world that the U.S. repudiates such barbaric behavior and is committed to dismantling the culture that allowed it to occur. In the end, full disclosure of the crimes committed by our government will make us all safer.

The last eight years have demonstrated all too painfully that excessive secrecy creates a fertile environment for grave abuses. Those abuses have tarnished our nation’s reputation and damaged its security. We will restore our standing as a leader on human rights not by hiding images of our failures, but by demonstrating that those failures will not go unpunished.

As you yourself have stated, “the Government should not keep information confidential merely because public officials might be embarrassed by disclosure, because errors and failures might be revealed, or because of speculative or abstract fears.” Suppressing photographs of abuse places your administration on the wrong side of the law, and the wrong side of history. We hope you will reconsider your decision.

Sincerely,

Alliance for Justice

American Civil Liberties Union

Amnesty International

Bill of Rights Defense Committee

Center for Constitutional Rights

Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, NYU School of Law

Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)

CREDO Mobile

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Feminists for Free Expression

Government Accountability Project

Human Rights Watch

International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ)

Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action (JALSA)

Leitner Center for International Law and Justice at Fordham Law School

National Security Archive

OMB Watch

OpenTheGovernment.org

PEN American Center

Physicians for Human Rights

Progressive Librarians Guild (PLG)

Reporters Without Borders

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society

Veterans for Common Sense

Veterans For Peace

cc: Gregory Craig, White House Counsel
Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense

Eric Holder, Attorney General