Indonesian Parliament Unanimously Passes Texas GOP Platform

Ted Cruz must be so jealous:

Indonesia’s Parliament unanimously voted on Tuesday to ban sex outside of marriage and insulting the president and state institutions.

Once in force, the bans will affect foreign visitors as well as citizens. They’re part of an overhaul of the country’s criminal code that has been in the works for years. The new code also expands an existing blasphemy law and keeps a five-year prison term for deviations from the central tenets of Indonesia’s six recognized religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism. The code still needs approval from the president, and the government says it will not be fully implemented for several years.

The amended code says sex outside marriage is punishable by a year in jail and cohabitation by six months, but adultery charges must be based on police reports lodged by a spouse, parents or children.

Citizens could also face a 10-year prison term for associating with organizations that follow Marxist-Leninist ideology and a four-year sentence for spreading communism.

Making it illegal to be Communist and Jewish? The Fifth Circuit might have to reconsider its stances on citing foreign law!

Does that Star-Spangled Banner Yet Wave

Checking in on Sheriff Joe:

A diet of bread and water is the punishment for dozens of Arizona inmates who allegedly defaced American flags placed in their jail cells.

[...]

"These inmates have destroyed the American flag that was placed in their cells," Arpaio said. "Tearing them, writing on them, stepping on them, throwing them in the toilet, trash or wherever they feel. It's a disgrace ... this is government property that they are destroying, and we will take action against those who act this way."

The flags are part of a push for patriotism in county jail cells that includes listening to the "Star-Spangled Banner" every morning and "God Bless America" every night over the intercom system.

Piping in patriotic songs and hanging flags in a notoriously abusive prison and then punishing the inmates with bread and water when they don't show adequate appreciation. It'd be difficult to make-up a better Orwellian America mash-up.

A Boy After My Own Heart

Very early in this blog's history, I revealed that I stopped saying the Pledge of Allegiance in high school, due to my discomfort with the "under God" clause. As a religious person, I found the Pledge demeaning of my faith -- implying that in order to be religious I needed government sponsored training wheels. Plus, being a religious minority, I was acutely aware of how non- or polytheists could feel excluded by hinging loyalty to America on belief in God. I felt it was wrong, and so I refused to participate.

Today, in Arkansas, a ten-year old boy, Will Phillips, is making the news for also not saying the pledge. His reasons are slightly different from mine -- the "liberty and justice for all" part doesn't cohere with continued state-sponsored discrimination of gays and lesbians -- but needless to say, I find it heartwarming. Phillips is apparently very civic-minded for his age -- he, like me, wants to be able to pledge allegiance to America that really does provide liberty and justice for all, and won't settle for the substitution of "some".

Of course, in taking this stand the young man, who is straight but identifies as an ally, is taking the usual barrage of homophobic taunts from classmates and others (along with, it must be said, at least some support from his friends). But so far he is staying strong, and he is being supported by messages of support from around the country (of which I am glad to contribute). In the meantime, he has a good idea of what he is standing for by sitting out:

At the end of our interview, I ask young Will a question that might be a civics test nightmare for your average 10-year-old. Will's answer, though, is good enough — simple enough, true enough — to give me a little rush of goose pimples. What does being an American mean?

“Freedom of speech,” Will says, without even stopping to think. “The freedom to disagree. That's what I think pretty much being an American represents.”

Somewhere, Thomas Jefferson smiles.

And here in Chicago, I do too.

And...We're Back To Normal

Fresh off of Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) calling Barack Obama "uppity", we get Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) questioning Obama's love of country:

Regardless of what polls show, Inhofe said, voters will have to ask themselves a question once they get behind the curtain in the voting booth on Election Day.

"Do you really want to have a guy as commander in chief of this country when you can question whether or not he really loves his country?" he asked.

"That's the big question."

Later, Inhofe "clarified":

After he was asked for an explanation on why voters should question Obama's love for his country, Inhofe issued a written statement on Friday to clarify his earlier comments.

"Let me be clear,'' he said.

"I am not questioning Sen. Obama's patriotism, but you have to question why at times he seems so obviously opposed to public displays of patriotism and national pride, like wearing an American flag lapel pin."

Ah. Well then.

Via Hilzoy.

Country First?

That's the slogan McCain's got front and center on the lectern he's speaking in front of. After Barack Obama specifically blasted McCain's attack on his patriotism, this is an interesting double down. There is no doubt now that McCain is deliberately trying to play the patriotism card against Obama -- a low blow, and one that I think will end up backfiring against him.

Happy 5th!

I tried to write a post wishing everyone a happy 4th of July, but blogger was uncooperative. So happy 5th of July instead!

CNN has a a round-up of what various citizens define "patriotism" as, but for my money they could have just bought the rights to Eugene Robinson's column (H/T: PG). It's beautiful.

Love It or Love It

Conservative style patriotism, as put by Jonah Goldberg: it's a failure of patriotism if you didn't show respect to the American South in the 1920s. As Jonathan Chait remarks, if there was any time and place in America that deserved nothing but condecension and scorn, it was the quasi-oligarchical racist fiefdom that was the Jim Crow south.

It's true, as Matt Yglesias points out, that much Northern scorn towards the South at this time was not matched by a similar commitment to combat epidemic racism in their own communities. But that objectively just serves to further undermine the notion that this is a failure of patriotism: if all of America was at fault, then all of America needed to have its ass kicked into gear.

Be Bold

Keeping on the theme of faux boldness, I give you (via The FRC) Councilwoman Jacquie Sullivan of Bakersfield, California, who just voted to install displays including "In God We Trust," as well as historic documents like the Declaration of Independence and Constitution across the school district.

It's not political, it's not religious. It's patriotism. We are a faith-based people for the most part," she said. "Sometimes you have to go with the majority."

You tell 'em!

I'm reminded, as I so often am, of Futurama -- specifically, this passage from Earth President McNeil:

Ladies and gentlemen, our course is clear. The time has come to knuckle under. To get down on all fours and really lick boot. Give our alien masters whatever they want!

Nothing like speaking truth to power.

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