Sharpton: At Least The Diamond Merchants Believe In God

Self-appointed monitor of alleged hate speech in media, Al Sharpton comes out in support of the Diamond Merchants, I guess. At least as compared to those Godless Mormons.

“As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyway, so don’t worry, that’s a temporary situation.”

Don't wait for the mainstream media to make a fuss, Don Imus wasn't available for comment at post time.

Comments

[Zifnab]

"It seems that Europe leads Americans in this way of thinking," Romney told the crowd of more than 5,000. "In France, for instance, I'm told that marriage is now frequently contracted in seven-year terms where either party may move on when their term is up. How shallow and how different from the Europe of the past."
~Mitt Romney

Yes, damn that Al Sharpton and his retarded talking points. I don't think I'll be voting for him for President any time soon.

[Fred Beloit]

Zif, I am missing the point you are making, if there is one. Could you rephrase?

[Zifnab]

Uh... politicians say jackass stupid things all the time. Get the fuck used to it. At least Al Sharpton isn't a serious contender for President. And while I'm sure its very unPC to insult Mormons for some reason, its open season on the French for making retarded claims like the one above.

In short: Republicans do it to. QED.

[Dan Riehl]

Z there's no need to just throw in vulgarity in a discussion. Lighten up.

[Kelvin]

Poor flip-flop Mitt. Let us pray that his holy underwear will protect him from the evil libruls.

[Phoenix]

Holy..... clowns to the right, clowns to the left. I refuse to play this idiot game of pretending talking about religion is a bad thing. It's not off limits. Romney has some nerve making fun of any kind of marriage given the Mormon history and its current states of polygamy. What a crock. Sharpton making a horrifically bigoted remark about religion? Sharpton making *any* bigoted remark? He's the poster pig of bigotry. Jackasses both.

I have to find the debate between Sharpton and Hitchens. I bet Hitchens took him to the cleaners.

[TomB]

"Uh... politicians say jackass stupid things all the time."

"Stupid" and outright bigoted are two different things.

"At least Al Sharpton isn't a serious contender for President."

And Imus was?

Sharpton led the charge to remove Imus because of a "stupid" thing he said, and, as we all know, radio hosts "say jackass stupid things all the time". Well, we now see the hypocrisy of the media reveal itself.

[Zifnab]

'"Stupid" and outright bigoted are two different things.'

Fortunately both Sharpton and Romney managed successfully to lean bigoted over stupid.

"And Imus was?"

Then go get Sharpton kicked off his radio show. I'm sure his twelve devoted listeners will be absolutely crushed. However, I'll note that Sharpton went after a political figurehead, making vague insinuations for his socially questionable religion. Imus verbally ripped on a girl's basketball team, calling them funny looking prostitutes, for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

If Sharpton had riped on the Utah Jazz and called them a pack of wife-swapping rapists, you might have a bit firmer ground to stand on.

[Fred Beloit]

Why Zif, you seem a Bit cranky today. Get up on the wrong side of the prayer mat? Or are you upset because the comrades got caught before they could shoot up Ft. Dix?

[Zifnab]

Fred, now that they have been caught, should we gather our evidence, try them, convict them, and throw them in jail for a few decades or do you think we should pull a David Hicks and toss'm in Gitmo for a few years then slap a gag order on them and cut'm loose?

[TomB]

"or do you think we should pull a David Hicks and toss'm in Gitmo for a few years then slap a gag order on them and cut'm loose?"

Because we ALL know Hicks was just a innocent, lost soul caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Pathetic.

[Fred Beloit]

The illegal immigrants among them are prisoners of war without uniforms, ergo, not protected under the GC. For them I vote for Gitmo. A light water boarding to find out what they know will do them little harm and may lead us to other like-mindeds. For the US citizens among them, I'm afraid the current laws will force a dream-team type of trial. We need to change our laws. We really need a special "hate crimes" law to go after cults that want to attack our military and civilians for religio/political reasons of hate. What's your opinion, I wonder.

[Fred Beloit]

Oh, Zif, and after water boarding, the illegals get a military tribunal.

[nowinger]

Either Hicks was 'the worst of the worse' or he wasn't. Either he was a serious and dangerous terrorist or he was a mixed up kid who got a nine month sentence and a gag order preventing him from talking about his treatment.

One has to wonder why, if no one at Gitmo is tortured or abused, would there be a need to impose a gag order on a prisoner to prevent him from talking about his treatment.

[Fred Beloit]

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ Zif must be doing research. Nothing wrong with that, unless he uses bogus resources.

[Fred Beloit]

Nowinger, they are tortured and abused at Gitmo. They have to eat a Muslim-approved diet, say prayers five times a day facing Mecca with the help of arrows WE have provided for them, and read Korans that WE provide for them so they can continue in whatever beliefs they had before they were sent there.

[Fred Beloit]

No bacon, no pork chops, no roast pork, no BBQ ribs...torture indeed.

[nowinger]

Waterboarding.
Beating.
Sexual humiliation.
Forced nakeness.
Stress positions for several hours.
Sensory deprivation.
Exposure to extrems of cold and heat.
Force feeding.

What the fuck do you call that?

None of that would be allowed in an Ameircan jail and you can bet your ass if any of those interrogation 'techniques' were used on our own soldiers it would be called disgusting, degrading, abuse and torture.

I know, you call okay, because you believe the military is incapable of making mistakes, despite significant evidence to the contrary, and thus, that everyone at Gitmo IS a terrorist and a dangerous one at that, you deny even the possibility that an innocent peson could have been sent there.

[bloodrage bob]

naaaah, all that stuff is ok, noyyyinger, because it's being done to *islamic* *arabs*.

you know, the same clowns plotting to try & kill sodjers at ft. dix. the ones who send children to blow themselves up. the ones who use women & kids as cover to fire behind. the ones committing the ongoing - and accelerating - genocide in darfur. the ones who just recently stoned the 14-year-old girl to death for having a crush on the wrong guy. THOSE guys.

death to islam! islam delenda est! etc etc.

(steps back, and waits for noyyy's hysterical overreaction.)

[nowinger]

All I know if we've released about 400 detainees from Guantanamo Bay. I'm curious why wingers think we released this many 'terrorists' or why so many of the 'terrorists' weren't charged with any crimes either by our military or their home countries. Were these men guilty or innocent? If they were guilty, why release them, when they have no legal standing and we could have held them forever? If they were innocent, doesn't that mean that innocent people who weren't plotting to kill soldiers, stoning little girls, hiding behind civlians or any other terrorist activities were wrongly imprisoned for many years and most likely subject to what a reasonable lay person would consider abuse and torture?

[Hard Right]

"Waterboarding.
Beating.
Sexual humiliation.
Forced nakeness.
Stress positions for several hours.
Sensory deprivation.
Exposure to extrems of cold and heat.
Force feeding."

Waterboarding-NOT Torture and done to Spec Forces soldiers as part of their resisting interrogation training.
Beating-Unproven accusation as far as Gitmo
Sexual Humiliation-Again unproven claim at Gitmo
Forced Nakedness- When in isolation so they don't hang/strangle themselves. BTW dumbass, it IS done to American citzens in prison.
Stress Positions- NOT Torture
Sensory Depravation-NOT Torture
Temperature Extremes- Not Torture
Force Feeding-When on hunger strike that threatens their health/life.

"None of that would be allowed in an Ameircan jail..."
Ummm retard, they aren't American citzens. HUGE difference.

"...if any of those interrogation 'techniques' were used on our own soldiers it would be called disgusting, degrading, abuse and torture."

1) We are the good guys and do not deserve any of the above.

2) The terrorists are not covered by the Geneva Convention

3) You haven't a f**king clue what torture is.
Ask a Vietnam vet that was a POW about torture, you moron. And don't throw McCain around, because other vets that were in his position sure as hell don't agree with him and his bills.

[Fred Beloit]

Well, for one thing, some of those "released" were released to jails in their home countries. Force feeding happens when someone on a hunger strike is in danger of beginning to starve to death. (Are you opposed to this Nowinger?) "Beating"? No beating authorized, nowinger. A Marine caught beating a prisoner would be disciplined, unless he were defending himself. "Sexual Humiliation and Forced Nakedness"? nowinger, Army soldiers are now in prison because of this. Don't you see that by throwing in the kitchen sink with these charges you loose credibility, if you had any left. Amnerican prisons sometimes use forced nakedness to search prisoners. Really, it is no use discussing these issues with you; you deliberately and continuously misrepresent reality to make points.

[Hard Right]

No Brain, we don't seem to be too intersted in the small fish. So we released some who were guilty of fighting. So what? They judged them not to be a threat after their stay. Were some innocent? In all likelyhood yes. Shit happens. But you claim that by releasing some 400 it's proof of a coverup of some sort is ridiculous.

Not all were picked up for fighting. It doesn't make them innocent of helping terrorists/the Taliban or make them any less worthy of a stay at Gitmo.
What you also ignore is the cost of keeping that many people captured, the manpower needed to watch them, and a place to keep them. You see, they screen them repeatedly before releasing them. If they are deemed not to be a threat any longer, they get to go. It's also interesting that it's not unusual for the home countries not to allow them back. That's all part of the evil American plot too. Isn't it No-Brain?

[Hard Right]

Good post Fred. No Brain provided us with a glimpse into the leftist "mind" (I use that term loosely in their case). Despite nothing more than the accusations of the inmates No-Brain deems the claims 100% true about Gitmo. Why? Because it fits in with her view that America is the bad guy/bully/imperialist thug/etc., etc.

[Dan Riehl]

"Waterboarding.
Beating.
Sexual humiliation.
Forced nakeness.
Stress positions for several hours.
Sensory deprivation.
Exposure to extrems of cold and heat.
Force feeding.

What the fuck do you call that?"

Hot and sweaty SM porn, if you're referring to some of the millions of websites out there.

[nowinger]

The terrorists are not covered by the Geneva Convention

Um, yeah they are, they just aren't given POW rights, but under the Geneva Convention ALL detainees, no matter what you call them, terrorists, combatants, enemy combatants or aliens must be treated humanely and cannot be abused.

You guys are so funny. You must believe the Chinese government when they say they don't torture, too. ALL of those Chinese dissidents who say they were tortured and all of those mysterous deaths, propaganda and coincidences. Why, the Chinese say they don't torture, so that's that. Obviously then, all the mysterious deaths that occured in Iraq and Afganistan are just that, mysterious deaths. Everyone that says they were abused is a liar. All the human rights groups that have documented abuse are liars/wrong/traitors/terrorists.

My opinion is the only reason we released anyone is because the Supreme Court said the detainees had to have some level of due process. If Bush had won, they wouldn't have released anyone and would NEVER have admitted that anyone at Gitmo didn't belong there, wasn't a terrorist, and was wrongly detained. They are releasing these guys now because it looks like some kind of show trial is inevitable, especially with Bush leaving the WH, so, they are releasing those prisoners whose trials would make the U.S. a laughingstock.

[charles]

too.stupid.for.words.

you have proven multiple times today that you haven't a clue

[bloodrage bob]

interesting that a liberal such as yourself would dare to mention "china", noyyyinger. i thought that was a *forbidden* topic, since the chinese ARE the world champs of torture. true, they mostly do it to their own pwople, but still. hmmm.....am i aware of ANY liberal-sponsored condemnation of chinese torture/imprisonment practices? nope.

have liberals EVER publicly condemned the savage barbaric chinese mass murders of the "great leap forward", and the "cultural revolution", in which 50 MILLION!!!! innocents were butchered on the altar of mao's ego?

nope. and, you, noyyyinger, certainly didn't mention it either. how odd.

instead, you chose to attack american practices resulting in: terrorist assholes getting scared; terrorist assholes getting embarrassed at wearing a dog collar; etc etc; and an enormous death toll OF.....precisely zero.

what's that word we use to describe liberals? "pavlovian"?

[nowinger]

Again, you presuppose that everyone who has been detained IS a terrorist, which is flatly contradicted by the known facts.

My recollection is that China tops most of the human rights group watch lists and lists of countries that torture and abuse their own people, the same groups you hate and despise for criticizing Gitmo and the Bush doctrine on torture-that-isn't-torture.

[Zifnab]

It's not torture when a Republican does it. I think they refer to it as "aggressive patriotism".

[Hard Right]

Hey no-Brain, we aren't China who has a history of torture, murder, and using political prisoners to harvest organs-while they are still using them.
I have seen what you call facts on those held at Gitmo and as usual they are anything but.

Having read the GC, it doesn't cover terrorists. Interpreting it otherwise is deliberate dishonesty.

No-Brain, all you have done is shown how mentally ill and unstable you are. I'm not kidding. You really need to seek professional help.

[Hard Right]

Zif, you're late for praying to Allah.

[Zifnab]

So, no liberal here has had the balls to answer my question. Should we give these guys the standard trial by jury every American and even most foreigners are entitled to, or should we throw them in Gitmo for a few years and release them when we get slapped with civil rights violations?

Real justice or Bush justice? Which do you guys prefer?

[Crust]

Over at the Corner of all places, readers have Sharpton's back:

Today Is the Day When Al Sharpton Gathers Friends on the Evangelical Right? [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

Probably not too many or for too long, but I'm getting many e-mails like this one:

The Mormons do not believe in the same God that Judeo-Christians do. Their god is one of MANY gods. Our God is the ONE true God. Our God is above , beyond, greater, etc. then all else – but Mormons strive to become “as god” and become their own god along side him (fully equal) – just in a different neighborhood. Therefore, we can rightfully say that they do not believe in God. They don’t know Him or who He is. They don’t worship Him or acknowledge His sovereignty.

It is a peculiar day when I am forced to agree with Sharpton. Why don’t you get just a little curious and do some responsible study of the Mormon religion. Maybe you are afraid.

Link:
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZWQ4MTkyMzE0ZTg3NjI0Y2RkNTM4ZDU1NGNiNWZlY2Y=

[nowinger]

FACT: 400 Gitmo detainees have been released with no charges filed against them by the US military.

FACT: Many Gitmo detainees were released with no conditions and no charges brought in their home country.

FACT: Many Gitmo detainees who were released and charged in their home country had those charges dropped.

FACT: Some Gitmo detainees have proven they are not terrorists and were wrongly detained.

----------------------------------------------------------

Clearly, in the winger world of logic all these facts 'prove' that everyone at Gitmo is a dangerous terrorist and that no one at Gitmo is innocent or wrongly detaineed.

The Gitmo detainees should have been tried under the Uniform Code of Military Justice rules with possibly some slight modifcations due to legimitate national security concerns. This kangaroo court, preventing them from seeing their own lawyers or evidence against them is worthy of a third world banana republic or Stalin's Russia, not the alleged beacon of democracy and human rights.

[seekeronos]

Mormonism is a thinly veiled form of Luciferianism (essentially, embracing Lucifer's/Satan's lie that we can become as "gods").

The god they follow is the same as the hermaphrodite Baphometic god of occult Freemasonry, the GOATU or "Grand Architect of the Universe", who is an image of Satan himself.

[seekeronos]

And before I allowed myself to get distracted by the Mormon jibes...

...what we are doing to the Gitmo troops is NOTHING compared to what some folks have done to their detainees.

For example, Japan in WW2 (not a Geneva Convention signatory)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_war_crimes

When we start setting up comfort women hotels in Iraq and start having beheading contests of captured insurgents, THEN I will say that we are committing war crimes against the Iraqis or other Muslims.

[charles]

in all the discussions of a politician being a mormon why is the first Mormon to serve as Senate Majority Leader completely ignored?

[nowinger]

I am with Petreus on this one, we are better than the enemy and need to act like it.

I was happy to see his comments being very disappointed with the recent poll of American soldiers where 40% supported torture and I think 38% thought it was okay to abuse innocent civilians and a large number said they wouldn't report any abuse of innocent civilians they witnessed, 10% said they had abused innocent civilians. Nice.

[micah]

When will people stop paying attention to what Sharpton thinks/says? Who even cares? Sharpton's hypocrisy has impeded his credibility to the point that no one should even pay attention to him anymore!

[Crust]

seekeronos writes:

"...what we are doing to the Gitmo troops is NOTHING compared to what some folks have done to their detainees.

For example, Japan in WW2..."

Fair enough. But I would have hoped that in America we would hold ourselves to a higher standard than that. Like we did e.g. in WW2 when we were fighting against said Japanese (not to mention the Nazis).

[Crust]

Nowinger, I think you meant: "I am with Petreus on this one, we are better than the enemy and [don't] need to act like it." I agree.

[charles]

"But I would have hoped that in America we would hold ourselves to a higher standard than that"

but we do, oh yes we do, every single day, the fact that some people can't recognize this shows some pretty deep character defects

[bloodrage bob]

AMEN to what charles just said. also, the idiots not recognizing american exceptionalism AND moral superiority (THAT oughta start some pavlovian liberal howls) are not ONLY full of character defects, they're gutless wonders too afraid to ever have challenged the anti-american dogma they lapped up back in school.

[Crust]

Charles, in case you are somehow confused, I agree that we still hold ourselves to a much higher standard that the WWII Japanese (or the Nazis or al Qaeda today). My point is that saying we are better than them falls rather short of the standard I would hope and expect of America. Do you disagree?

[charles]

no crust, i'm not confused, your comments are somewhat cryptic

if you are saying we are only slightly better than wwII japan or the nazis or al qaeda

and it's a low bar that's been set and not hard to rise above

then, yes i vehemently disagree

[bloodrage bob]

interesting take on our conduct vis-a-vis nazis & japs in ww2. one MAJOR difference: our conduct then was against clearly marked, easily identifiable, *uniformed* enemy *soldiers*.

as i understand it, when we came across *NON-UNIFORMED* enemy combatants, they were summarily executed. armed enemy combatants attempting to blend in with civilian non-combatants were seen as scum, worthy of no mercy or consideration, and deservedly so.

worked fine then. howzabout we start doing it now? see what kind of results we get? i bet it'd prove *exactly* as wonderfully effective as it did back in the day.

[Dan Riehl]

"do some responsible study of the Mormon religion. Maybe you are afraid"

Or maybe I get that part of the Constitution which makes all that irellevant? If a person displays, imo, good morals, judgment and so forth, it isn't my business what religious doctrine he may or may not follow. I'd vote for a US politically conservative Muslim before I would a liberal Christian - so what exactly is your point?

[Hard Right]

FACT: 400 Gitmo detainees have been released with no charges filed against them by the US military.

I explained that to you dumbass.

FACT: Many Gitmo detainees were released with no conditions and no charges brought in their home country.

I explained why that was so moron.

FACT: Many Gitmo detainees who were released and charged in their home country had those charges dropped.

So what?

FACT: Some Gitmo detainees have proven they are not terrorists and were wrongly detained.

It happens, unfortunately.

You claimed we were systematically torturing inmates at Gitmo. It's been proven REPEATEDLY that is blatantly false and made up by the detainees. What you posted above doesn't prove ANYTHING.

And Ziftard, they aren't American citizens and do not deserve our rights. They will get their trial. You don't like it how they will be tried? Too damned bad. It doesn't make it any less legitimate.

[Hard Right]

BTW, unless the candidate is a radical religious...anything I don't care what their religion is.