I know I should only be writing (or writing about) the book, but this makes me so sick I have to post it: The Military Commissions Act in action. Do you still have those rosy feelings about the MCA, howard treesong? Is it time to dispense with the entire system of criminal justice and just skip straight to the guilty verdict and detention? This guy was in the US legally and was snatched out of his home, taken away from his family, and has been held incommunicado for years.
I can't take the shame anymore! Stop it, stop it, you weak, WEAK motherfuckers. The Bush administration is "strong" in the same way the most vile bully is strong, in the same way a mob enforcer is strong, in the same way the alpha monkey is strong. The strength that matters, the strength that means something - that being strength of character - does not exist in our leaders. It only took 3000 dead people for them to throw their hands up and surrender everything they've been elected to defend.
In every speech the president reminds us that his chief duty is to protect the American people. Wrong, fuckhead! Did you not listen to your own oath of office? Because I did.
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
See that? It's not to preserve, protect, and defend people in tall buildings. Your job is to protect the CONSTITUTION.
I can't wrap my head around the fact that Clinton was impeached while Bush almost certainly won't be (if only because he's too close to the end of his term.) If you guys want a good belly laugh, look around for quotes from prominent Republicans about why it was so all-fired important to impeach Clinton. For instance, consummate Republican Tom DeLay:
I believe that this nation sits at a crossroads. One direction points to the higher road of the rule of law. Sometimes hard, sometimes unpleasant, this path relies on truth, justice and the rigorous application of the principle that no man is above the law.
Now, the other road is the path of least resistance. This is where we start making exceptions to our laws based on poll numbers and spin control. This is when we pitch the law completely overboard when the mood fits us, when we ignore the facts in order to cover up the truth.
Shall we follow the rule of law and do our constitutional duty no matter unpleasant, or shall we follow the path of least resistance, close our eyes to the potential lawbreaking, forgive and forget, move on and tear an unfixable hole in our legal system? No man is above the law, and no man is below the law. That's the principle that we all hold very dear in this country.
Kinsley has an okay article that makes one point that I think needs extensive belaboring:
The biggest flaw in our democracy is, as I say, the enormous tolerance for intellectual dishonesty. Politicians are held to account for outright lies, but there seems to be no sanction against saying things you obviously don’t believe.
Increasingly they're not even held to account for the outright lies, but yeah, this is a big fucking problem. Hypocrisy ought to be the universal sin - the thing that everyone can agree is wrong, no matter how much their other beliefs clash. Instead, not only is it widely tolerated in politicians, it's taken as a given. I don't think we can operate any more backwardly than that.
The comments are worth reading too.
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