Quote of the Day

"The court has not reached this conclusion lightly. It is acutely aware of the perilous nature of the world in which we live. But the Constitution is the rock upon which our nation rests. We must follow it not when it is convenient, but when fear and danger beckon in a different direction." - U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan

The judge was ruling on blocking evidence to be presented during the trial of an accused terrorist, when said evidence was obtained via "harsh CIA interrogations overseas", otherwise known as "torture".

It still seems strange to me that some people (a lot of people) think that the application of the United States Constitution is dependent on circumstances.

Some of the loons who consider themselves "experts" on the Constitution would disagree with the judge. That is why they are loons.

For what it's worth.. President Lincoln was absolutely violating the Constitution when he suspended habeas corpus during the civil war. It's not up to the President to decide that they can just ignore it. It's yet another reason why Obama is an awful President.

....

It's pretty amazing to me that Americans are shocked that muslims want to attack America when what we do, as policy, is simply kill hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.. and torture prisoners.

I guess it's a testament to the power of America, when our nation can do this shit.. and the citizens don't really give a fuck, and other nations don't dare say shit about it. I suppose they surmise that they could suddenly be a target of American wrath and we'll bomb the shit out of them as well.

I am an American, and I am disgusted by the behavior of our so-called "leaders", and the apathy of most American citizens. Once in a while a judge puts principle before fear. That's a good thing.

/update

As Greenwald points out, the government bringing a "terrorist" to a civilian court is just for "show trial", akin to what we see in other banana republics. If the "terrorist" is acquitted, the Obama DOJ insists they can just take the prisoner back to Gitmo and lock them up until the "war" is over.. and since the "war" will never be over.. that's a really really long time. The only point to the "trial" is getting the conviction in order to pretend that they are adhering to the rule of law. They are not.

Seems to me that most Americans should be horrified that the President of the United States is escalating bullshit wars.. continually violating the core civil rights of American citizens and others. I guess if the issue wasn't 10% unemployment, more people might give a shit that our country is being run like Central American dictatorship.

What a joke our government has become.

/update 2

The way a lot of Americans think;

Of course liberals feel the war on terror is a criminal justice matter rather then a WAR. Just execute the motherfucker, no trial needed.

So here's why Liberals think that adhering to the rule of law is vital, even given that a very bad terrorist may be acquitted.

I'd like to think if I got scooped up in some drag netting of criminals, I'd have the opportunity to demonstrate my innocence in court, as well as force the accusers to prove me guilty. I think this would reduce the chance that I would be executed for a crime I did not commit.

Right wingers, being sociopaths, cannot project the case of an accused terrorist onto themselves. They merely see it's somebody else that is accused, so then it's okay just to summarily execute them.

I would imagine if said Loon travelled to another nation and was accused of a crime, at the moment the gun is put to his head, he might reconsider his point of view. Doubtful though. Most Loons never think that the unfortunate events, whatever they are, could ever happen to them.. so it's always okay to inflict the circumstance on someone else.

It's kind of like how I would find it amusing for a Loon to go bankrupt because health care expenses. They opposed the "socialised health insurance" after all.. so fuck them. Summary executions? Same deal. You can't save somebody from their own stupid.