Tucker Carlson's Christian Values

There is obviously nothing that the neoconservative right wing will allow to go unchallenged when it comes to anything related to President Obama.

The latest faux-rage comes at the expense of the President's comments regarding Michael Vick. Comments that, by the way, were made in a private conversation to Eagles owner Jeff Lurie in a phone call to initially praise him for using alternative energy sources to power his stadium. During the call, Obama also commended the Eagles owner for giving Michael Vick a second chance.

“He said, ‘So many people who serve time never get a fair second chance.’ He said, ‘It’s never a level playing field for prisoners when they get out of jail.’ And he was happy that we did something on such a national stage that showed our faith in giving someone a second chance after such a major downfall.”

Lurie relayed the conversation to a Sports Illustrated reporter who ran with it. And here is where the hair-on-fire reaction begins. Animal activists naturally were aghast that the President would think to say such an insensitive thing as to giving a human being a second chance after serving time for his crime.  That's what the correctional institution in the US is all about right? Rehabilitation?  Fox New's Megyn Kelly compared animal cruelty to rape. Yes, rape. But self-proclaimed Christian and former bow tie addict Tucker Carlson really showed how he follows his faith by not only criticizing Obama for the private comments, but stating that Vick should have been executed for his actions.

"I'm a Christian, I've made mistakes myself, I believe fervently in second chances," Carlson said. "But Michael Vick killed dogs, and he did in a heartless and cruel way. And I think, personally, he should've been executed for that. He wasn't, but the idea that the President of the United States would be getting behind someone who murdered dogs? Kind of beyond the pale."

So, holier than thou Tucker Carlson, who admits to making mistakes and "fervently believes in second chances" is looking into his so called Christian heart not for forgiveness, but for vengeance. Must be an Old Testament type of guy. I wonder what type of vengeance should be cast uopon a person who maliciously wrote emails in someone else's name in an attempt to get that person in trouble? Isn't falsifying your identity through email a crime? Maybe that's a crime punishable by execution. Maybe Carlson should have been sentenced to hang by the bow tie until he was dead.

But I digress. The point is that this situation is exactly the way our legal and justice system is supposed to work, isn't it? You're guilty of a crime, convicted and sentenced by a jury of your peers, do the time and re-enter society a rehabilitated person. I didn't realize part of the deal after you were released was to never have the opportunity to work again.

And on a side note, now you know the reason why Carlson's shows always fail.

Let's Not Lose Our Heads

BAGHDAD, Jan. 15 — Iraq’s turbulent effort to reckon with the violence of its past took another macabre turn on Monday when the execution of Saddam Hussein's half brother ended with the hangman’s noose decapitating him after he dropped through the gallows trapdoor.

Can this possibly get any worse? I don't think you can write a script like this and have it be believable.

Saddam's Dead. Now What?

Death's Door Taunts at Saddam Probed (NY Daily News)

Saddam death 'ends dark chapter' (BBC)
Shias celebrated the pre-dawn hanging while some Sunni towns saw protests. About 70 people died in attacks in two mainly Shia areas after the execution.

Was Saddam's death dignified? (The Guardian)

After Saddam's death: Post-mortem notes (SF Gate)

Sir Menzies Campbell, the leader of the opposition Liberal Democrats, issued a statement that said: "Saddam Hussein's death does not vindicate in any way the ill-conceived and disastrous decision to invade Iraq. His execution does not make an illegal war legal, any more than it will put an end to the violence and destruction."

Saddam, We Hardly Knew Ye

BAGHDAD (AP) - Saddam Hussein struggled briefly after American military guards handed him over to Iraqi executioners. But as his final moments approached and masked executioners slipped a black cloth and noose around his neck, he grew calm.

In a final moment of defiance, he refused a hood to cover his eyes.

Saddam's Done By Saturday

From the AP:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein will be executed no later than Saturday, said an Iraqi judge authorized to attend his hanging. The former dictator's lawyers said he had been transferred from U.S. custody, but an Iraqi official said he was still in the hands of American guards.


And there you have it. Hussein will be executed. No interviews. No "tell all" book from prison. Maliki signed the death sentence, by Iraqi law. Oh, by the way, if he had refused to sign it, one of the two Iraqi vice presidents could have signed it. Oh yeah, if they also refused to sign it, Saddam would have been executed anyway. Nice law, huh?

He was officially guilty of this: An Iraqi appeals court upheld Saddam's death sentence Tuesday for the killing of 148 people who were detained after an attempt to assassinate him in the northern Iraqi city of Dujail in 1982.

1982? But that was before this:


Yes, that is Donald Rumsfeld shaking Saddam Hussein's hand in December of 1983, over a year after the crime for which he was convicted. When we have use for them, they are our allies, but when they know too much...