American Justice Is Alive and Well

Glenn Greenwald takes exception to the administration’s “tiered” justice system for detainees (as do I).

If you're taking the position that military commissions and even indefinite detention are perfectly legitimate tools to imprison people -- as Holder has done -- then what is the answer to the Right's objections that Mohammed himself belongs in a military commission? If the administration believes Omar Khadr belongs in a military commission, and if they believe others can be held indefinitely without any charges, why isn't that true of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed? By denying jury trials to a large number of detainees, Obama officials have completely gutted their own case for why they did the right thing in giving Mohammed a trial in New York.

Even worse, Holder was reduced to admitting -- even boasting -- that this concocted multi-tiered justice system (trials for some, commissions for others, indefinite detention for the rest) enables the Government to pick and choose what level of due process someone gets based on the Government's assessment as to where and how they're most likely to get a conviction:

Courts and commissions are both essential tools in our fight against terrorism . . . On the same day I sent these five defendants to federal court, I referred five others to be tried in military commissions. I am a prosecutor, and as a prosecutor, my top priority was simply to select the venue where the government will have the greatest opportunity to present the strongest case with the best law. . . . At the end of the day, it was clear to me that the venue in which we are most likely to obtain justice for the American people is a federal court.

Does that remotely sound like a "justice system"?

Not to me.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Good Lord

Fox News just apologized for showing the wrong book cover during a segment about Sarah Palin's new memoir, Going Rogue.

Instead, they twice showed the cover of Going Rouge, a collection of essays mocking the former governor that came out the same day as Palin's memoir.

  TPM

So maybe those were production errors before.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

"Production Error"

For the second time in just over a week, Fox News is coming under fire for misusing old news footage. The latest flap is leading some people to charge that the cable news network is intentionally misleading its audience, while Fox claims a "production error."

Wednesday's incident occurred when Fox News host Gregg Jarrett mentioned that a Sarah Palin appearance and book signing in Grand Rapids, Michigan had a massive turnout. As footage rolled of a smiling and waving Palin amidst a throng of fans, Jarrett noted that the former Republican vice-presidential candidate is "continuing to draw huge crowds [...]

However, the video used in the segment was from a 2008 McCain/Palin campaign rally.

[...]

The current mishap comes on the heels of a controversy sparked last week when footage from a conservative rally held over the summer was played on "Hannity" during a segment on a more recent rally. During the clip, host Sean Hannity marveled over the large turnout for a Washington, DC protest. The Daily Show later pointed out that there seemed to be some inconsistencies with the video shown on Hannity's show, namely that the atmospheric conditions seemed to vary from shot to shot. Hannity later apologized on the air for what he called "an inadvertent mistake."  Yahoo

Because, as any attorney knows, you can’t take the image out of heads once you’ve put it there.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Tell 'em to Stuff Stupak

A new study by the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services adds some expert imprimatur to what many progressives have been saying all along: The Stupak amendment to the House health care bill--which will prevent millions of women from buying health insurance policies that cover abortion--is likely to have consequences that reach far beyond its supposedly intended scope.

The report concludes that "the treatment exclusions required under the Stupak/Pitts Amendment will have an industry-wide effect, eliminating coverage of medically indicated abortions over time for all women, not only those whose coverage is derived through a health insurance exchange."

In other words, though the immediate impact of the Stupak amendment will be limited to the millions of women initially insured through a new insurance exchange, over time, as the exchanges grow, the insurance industry will scale down their abortion coverage options until they offer none at all.

  TPM

Doesn’t mean you can’t have one. Just means you’ll have to come up with some big bucks to get it.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

So Which Is It?

Be afraid of them or don't be afraid of them?

Attorney General Eric Holder is defending his decision to put the professed Sept. 11 mastermind on trial in New York — and urging critics of the plan not to cower in the face of terrorists.

[...]

President Barack Obama, meanwhile, said Wednesday that those offended by the legal privileges being given to Mohammed by trying him in a civilian court ultimately won't find it "offensive at all when he's convicted and when the death penalty is applied to him."

Obama added that he did not mean to suggest he was prejudging the outcome of Mohammed's trial. "I'm not going to be in that courtroom," he said. "That's the job of the prosecutors, the judge and the jury." He made the comment in one of a series of TV interviews during his trip to Asia.

  Yahoo

It looks to me like prejudging is precisely what he did.

The man is certainly eloquent, and infinitely better spoken and more intelligent than the Boy King he replaced, but sometimes when he isn’t delivering prepared remarks, he speaks without thinking about what he’s saying.

And sometimes, perhaps too often, he doesn’t bother to be consistent.

Another, larger group of detainees is expected to be released to other countries. Some, the president has said, are too dangerous to be released and cannot be put on trial, and those detainees will continue to be imprisoned.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Explain This CNN Screen Capture

Stephen Webster asks.

I Would Not Be a Bit Surprised

The Pakistani arm of the Taliban has denied responsibility for a recent series of terrorist attacks in Pakistan, instead pointing the finger at Xe Services, the security contractor formerly known as Blackwater, as well as the country's own security services.

"The Tehreek-e-Taliban are not responsible for the bombings, but Blackwater and Pakistan's spy agency are behind them," said Pakistani Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq, according to a translation from Al-Jazeera English.

''The dirty Pakistani intelligence agencies, for the sake of creating mistrust and hatred among people against the Taliban, are carrying out blasts at places like the Islamic university, Islamabad, and the Khyber bazaar, Peshawar,'' the Associated Press quoted Tariq as saying.

  Raw Story

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Support Our Troops

Suicides in the US Army are headed to a new record this year .

  Raw Story

At Least They've Noticed

Mounting evidence that independent voters have soured on the Democrats is prompting a debate among party officials about what rhetorical and substantive changes are needed to halt the damage.

  Politico

If you’re considering rhetorical changes, you’ve already lost the cause.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

I Only Have One Thing to Say About the NY Terror Trials

Watch:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Law & Order: KSM
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Mass Pwning

This would be hysterically funny if it weren’t scary.

A crowd of some 40 people showed up to the steps of the Minnesota State Capitol on Saturday to protest proposed reform of US immigration law.

[...]

One of those protesters, going by the alias "Robert Erickson," got a speaking spot at the rally and

[...]

got the crowd to support more than just the deportation of all illegal immigrants -- he got them cheering for the eviction of all European-descended immigrants to America who "stole this land through genocide and ethnic cleansing."

[...]

-- in other words, that contingent of white Americans who these days see themselves as "real" Americans

  Raw Story

Freakin’ idiots.

That guy better watch his back when they finally figure out what happened.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Even in Texas

Even in Texas they are having their doubts. The state that executes more people than any other by far – it will account for half the prisoners sent to the death chamber in the US this year – is seeing its once rock-solid faith in capital punishment shaken by overturned convictions, judicial scandals and growing evidence that at least one innocent man has been executed.

[...]

A former governor, Mark White – previously a strong supporter of the death penalty – has joined those calling for a reconsideration of capital punishment because of the risk of executing an innocent person.

[...]

The number of death sentences passed by juries in Texas has fallen sharply in recent years, reflecting a retreat from capital punishment in many parts of America after DNA evidence led to the release of scores of condemned prisoners.

  UK Guardian

Or the absence of George Bush from the governor’s mansion.

That one innocent man? Collateral damage in the war on crime, people.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.