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Published Letters: 235
Editor's Choice: 18
I've seen the ads for this so-called movie; even without seeing it, I endorse this review. The movie looks canned, stupid and asinine-and those are the kindest words I can say about it.
That the ABBA music is in it makes it even worse. I can't imagine what they must have paid the ABBA songwriters, Benny and Bjorn, but it must have been enough for them to stop wincing every time they hear the songs mangled beyond belief.
I've heard that the stage musical is better. I can only hope so, because it has people who can sing in it. Pierce Brosnan singing? Meryl Streep dances and sings? There is a plot to it?
What a pathetic waste of money and energy. I'll keep listening to the original music and ignore what some producers think is entertainment.
They should have prevented this shit from happening in the first place, in order to save time now.
But they didn't, and now they have to cover their asses.
I'm cynical enough to state that not only has this stuff gone on, it will continue forever, because the bar has been lowered enough for anything to happen.
Reform isn't one of those things, and an investigation will lead absolutely nowhere, after years of legal wrangling, court orders, and committees.
Besides, there's the one option Bush will have-the power of the pardon. I can safely say that he will undoubtedly give everyone in his administration, past and present, blanket pardons for crimes they may or may not have committed, and then seal all papers dealing with said crimes in his private library.
We'll never know where all the bodies and the secrets are in our lifetimes.
The "laws" that Hamdan were tried under are supposedly "military justice", and that he is an illegal combatant.
Unfortunately, until Bush decided to create these laws, they didn't exist.
I think Hamdan was captured and taken by "rendition" and then we decided to try him on anything we saw fit.
The kangaroos are very upset that their name has been besmirched by the goings-on in Cuba. I've heard they want to sue Bush for this, and they're willing to give him a fair trial.
He might even get better justice than he gave Hamdan. Remember, this is the first of many trials, and the same verdict will be repeated for every single one of them.
Guaranteed.
There might even be someone guilty of a real crime somewhere.
But we'll really never know. The court is closed to all civilians except those very few "approved" reporters.
Both of them.
Of course he was humble and apologetic. He's been in custody how long? How many days does he have to spend wondering what he did wrong?
I'm surprised he didn't completely break down before the trial-he's just glad he's still alive, perhaps.
He probably thought he would get the death sentence as has been rumored for others of more important status.
In a word, yes. From what I heard on the Newshour, the jury asked one question of the judge-if his time already spent in prison would be counted as part of any sentence.
The answer was yes, and so they came back with 66 months, of which he has spent 61 in prison so far.
In short, he will be free in about 5 more months. If he chooses to appeal, (which he really shouldn't, because that would only confuse the issue) he could wait it out-but appeals take a long time to go through the process-so he would be better off just doing the 5 months and then getting out.
I was a bit confused myself about the sentence, thinking it was on top of what he's already done-which would be a true travesty of whatever system of justice rules that court.
So the jury did a better job than we all suspected they would.
Now I'm impressed with them.
9/11 is the only reason we're doing this.
It's all about the victims of that day, not the victims in our gulag. They don't matter. The dead people do.
Too bad we can't get the real criminal-Bush has already written him off as a 'no can do" thing.
Meanwhile, the misbegotten war in Iraq goes on, and on-costing even more lives and money.
We're never going to stop paying for that damned day, one way or another-in money, reputation, civil liberties, justice, morals, ethics, common sense or human decency.
I'll bet that the prison will stay open way past the next president, and the one after that. The trials will dwindle to nothing, and nobody will care after about a decade. Every prisoner in there will die of old age.
We've sacrificed an awful lot in this "war on terror"; mostly our common humanity and ideals.
We've lost.
The LW is a selfish and immature jerk who wants to have the world stop at his doorstoop and bow to his incredible talents; pay him top wages and let him set his own time schedule.
Hey, guess what? The biggest names in business, such as Bill Gates (before he retired), the Yahoo guys, etc, all go to work on time-but their own time.
They've earned that privilege. They built their companies, and they created the jobs that you and many others want to have. They expect and receive the same kind of respect that you think you deserve with no talent and little experience.
Until you grow up and get a little smarter about jobs, time and getting to work within a reasonable hour, you're going to be a temp worker forever. Nobody likes the attitude of "oh, you mean I have to come in on time? Oh, I can't! It would ruin my morning!"
I don't buy your story about a sleep disorder. Too convenient. Many people go to work with sleep disorders, and while they're tired, they do make it in on time and do their jobs.