US POLITICS: AMERICANS, PLEASE WELCOME YOUR NEW PRESIDENT... SCOTT BROWN!

Hijacked how – by GOP SWAT teams who looked like Alan Rickman?

There is an argument out there that individual terrorists without connection to Al Qaeda should be tried in civilian courts but people like KSM should be tried as enemy combattants. I have never understood, apart from Bush and Cheney freaking out over 9/11 and Republican national security credibility loss, why anybody would want to further legitimize sociopathic nut jobs, especially in the eyes of their potential sympathizers is entirely beyond me. As to the threat that they might be acquitted and walk free, it's frankly ludicrous. First off, they would only be acquitted if the government had made some monumentally boneheaded mistakes (which is why true patriots, fearful of government overstep, support and defend the proper functioning of our courts) and seondly, even if freed, they could be very easily tailed, very easily extradited and would represent a huge target for vigilantes.

First off, they would only be acquitted if the government had made some monumentally boneheaded mistakes

uh, the obvious mistake here is that there's evidence extracted via torture, which would get their cases thrown out of civilian courts.

and secondly, even if freed, they could be very easily tailed, very easily extradited and would represent a huge target for vigilantes.

this is demonstrably untrue, and there are already examples of Gitmo detainees who have been released, disappeared, and then re-appeared participating in terrorist activity (thinking primarily of those Yemeni guys the gov't lost track of recently)

you free some of these guys, there going to go right back to where its hardest to locate/keep track of them - places like Afghanistan/Pakistan, Yemen, Sudan, etc.

there = they're

it basically comes down to whether the letter/inherent rule of law is more important than public safety/American lives. By my count pretty much everyone on these threads holds the former position (myself included) - but that is not the case with the majority of Americans.

The alternative is to release these prisoners in Liz Cheney's house.

I fully endorse that tbh

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6975971.ece

They could be tailed even if they weren't previously. Our discomfiture here is depressing proof that the terrorists are winning - they made us change our system, move our goalposts, and the GOP is more interested in protecting itself and scoring political points than correcting what has been disastrous for the long-term strategy of combatting terrorists; being almost as craven and ignoble as they are. That fact that we have defiled our legal traditions is proof of the shallowness of our better convictions and proof, too, of the effectiveness of their terrorism.

Yemen is a disaster in the making, on many fronts.

The alternative is to release these prisoners in Liz Cheney's house.

Or take them on a valedictory hunting trip with Dick.

it basically comes down to whether the letter/inherent rule of law is more important than public safety/American lives.

The People Should Fight For Their Law As For A Wall.

Heraclitus.

what percentage of congressional members do yall think are actually scared that a KSM nyc trial would lead to some sort of terrorist attack/leaked classified info/traumatized new yorkers? (as opposed to just jumping on a political bandwagon). these people are the utter & absolute worst human beings.

and yes i mean new yorkers

bloombergs main complaint--cant speak for weiner or whoever else--was that it would cost the city a lot of money

i mean i believe in principles over money but damn the subway is barely running right now anyway

That fact that we have defiled our legal traditions is proof of the shallowness of our better convictions and proof, too, of the effectiveness of their terrorism.

OTMFM

that it would cost the city a lot of money

more money than buying his job

$200 million/yr for a multi-year trial was the figure I saw iirc

Let's keep in mind that KSM cooperated with his interrogaters at the behest of his family and if we want any credible carrot options with future terrorists we have to be seen as having done this guy justice.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has broken his own spending record from four years ago, dropping $85.2 million on his campaign for a third term with 11 days to go until Election Day.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/24/mayor-bloomberg-breaks-ca_n_332789.html

so yr saying we should just have the mayor pay for everything? sounds good to me

Bloomberg should pay to send the terror suspects to Liz Cheney's.

http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2010/03/05/the-military-pushback-on-military-commissions-ksm/

:) :/

it's not like the right will care, they very selectively give a shit about what the military thinks.

They very selectively give a shit about what anyone thinks...

Bloomberg should open up some factories or something with all this money that he's throwing at his re-election. Seems like a terrible waste. /naive

keep it real GOP!

“I know he is,” a socialist, Broun said. “You look at his own writings. He said when he was in college he leaned to Marxist tendencies and is linked to Marxist professors. He joined Marxists clubs. And look at who he’s put in his administration, they’re devout socialists.”

i used to err on the side of assuming that political types were saying these kinds of ridiculous things because they figured it was ok to say anything to fire up the base. but nowadays i err on the side of assuming they believe them and are just that misinformed and/or stupid.

And look at who he’s put in his administration, they’re devout socialists.
http://i49.tinypic.com/bhsg2.jpg
And look at who he’s put in his administration, they’re devout socialists.
http://i47.tinypic.com/1zfpmba.jpg
And look at who he’s put in his administration, they’re devout socialists.
http://i49.tinypic.com/5clwlg.jpg
And look at who he’s put in his administration, they’re devout socialists.

http://karllenin.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/thesecondcongress.jpg

tripod = SOCIALISTS iirc

The psychology of the Tea Party: http://www.psychologytoday.com/node/39146

Cokie Roberts on NPR is so annoying. Broad brush criticisms of DEMS for ethics violations and over-reaching agenda this morning, but no mention of the word filibuster or of Republican ethics violations

Not that Rangel's behavior should be excused but she never mentioned anyone by name.

Holy shit I was just about to post the same thing. She basically used Rangels issues to compare the current Dems to Republicans in 2006 and Dems in 1994.

this eric massa story is amazing & hilarious! what is going on?

hey sailor

sup mr que

it got josh marshall to link to the "why do all these homosexuals keep sucking my cock" bit, really haven't wanted to look any closer tbh

onion it, i shd say

dammit, onion BIT christ

seriously it is an amazing story, first he had cancer, then the navy thing, then all this stuff he said on the radio?
this is great

love the stories about rahm, sounds like something out of in the loop

"Let me tell you a story about Rahm Emanuel," Massa started. "I was a congressman in my first eight weeks, and I was in the congressional gym, and I went down and I worked out and I went into the showers...I'm sitting there showering, naked as a jaybird and here comes Rahm Emanuel not even with a towel wrapped around his tush, poking his finger in my chest, yelling at me because I wasn't going to vote for the president's budget. Do you know how awkward it is to have a political argument with a naked man?

it's like traficant, but instead of crazy hair, it's all about shlong hanging out

the whole story could have been pretty easily an episode of ITL, incl. the sex harassment stuff

Massa also got into all sorts of other things, and we’re not sure we’ve ever heard a congressman talk this much about naked men — especially one who’s quitting under cloud of allegations about sexual harassment.

But Massa spent an awful lot of time recalling circumstances in his life with unclothed men, including the angry Rahm encounter, sailors sliding naked down chutes, and catching his shipmate in a rather private act and slapping him on the leg.

wha-?

tbqh when i first saw these headlines i thought it was another reid/rush style racey-race language flap, but the sentences didn't really work that way

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/03/massa-to-sit-down-with-glenn-beck-tomorrow-evening.php

daria i think the universe is conspiring to give you a gift here

yeah that should be a treat! steny hoyer is on the ratigan show an hour earlier to say things about the eric massa situation.

(also ratigan thinks the tea party should prob do something about their nazis and racists. hah, tell them what you really think, now.)