As long as the victims of this lawless behavior are non-white people with muslim sounding names, pretty much nobody is going to care about this issue. The news shows a photo of al-Marri, or Padilla, and people think to themselves, "Well, he looks like a terrorist" and then go on about their daily business.

Now if one of these "suspected" terrorists just so happened to be white, and have "normal" sounding names... you know, like maybe E-R-I-C R-U-D-O-L-P-H, or T-I-M-O-T-H-Y M-c-V-E-I-G-H, for example, this would all be a completely different matter. altogether. If either of those folks had been detained without charges, boy, would there be some whining and gnashing of teeth. From folks like Limbaugh, and O'Reilly, Malkin, and Hannity, among many others we discuss here on a daily basis.

But as long as it ain't white folks being denied basic civil rights, nobody's gonna care.

"The Bush regime is "fascist" only as a means to an end."

Same as any other fascist.

"The end is total power and wealth for themselves. "

Same as any other fascist.

"They are in essence criminal sociopaths. "

Same as any other fascist.

"They would not like fascism so much if they were under its boot themselves."

Same as any other fascist.

I suscribe to the theory that "evil" is a pretty useless term. "Dangerous" is much more meaningful and useful in my mind.

the next President of the United States of America... Rudy Giuliani!"

here of course, is that Republicans will let Giuliani blithely utter drivel like this time and time again without ever questioning him or calling him out on it. But then they'll harp endlessly about how Democrats "don't have a plan," or "don't have any answers."

I realize that term is redundant, but this issue really underscores it. Their whole "I'M not the one being thrown in jail indefinately without charges, why should I worry?" stance says it all. As long as THEY arent the ones being thrown in jail without charges, there's no problem. At it's root, their whole philosophy is utterly selfish and infantile. Why anyone would want to bat in their lineup is beyond me. Throwing "someone else" in jail is fine. But just don't let them bomb "me."

No kidding... what are they so happy about?

But boy has it gotten really stuffy here in the War Room letters section today. Jeez, some of you need to get over yourselves. Heaven forbid anyone should ever have any fun at Bush or Gonzalez' expense...

needs to educate us--and apparently Tim Grieve in particular--what War Room should REALLY be about. Obviously "fun" and "humor" should never be on the menu. I used to think that we were here making fun of a proto-fascist regime, not apologizing for it. If I wanted to give Bush a shoulder to cry on, I'd be over at Little Green Footballs.

but if the thinks the war is "lost," like he said, then why did he vote in favor of the supplemental war funding bill? At least the Republican votes are consistent with their delusional outlook in Iraq, but Reid knows the score, and he caved anyway. Score one against Reid, again, this time.

can give us an example of a joke that offends no one. I have a pet chicken who gets really pissed off when people keep bringing up his lame reasons for crossing the road.

I think what they're all smiling about is the fact that this is one of those rare red-letter days at the White House where it actually looks like anyone has been doing their job. As opposed to outing covert CIA agents and obstructing justice, or throwing American citizens in jail indefinitely without charges, or taking us to war under false pretenses, or spying on American citizens without a warrant, or standing on an aircraft carrier declaring victory decades too soon, or....

Wow, that's strange. I wonder why Cheney and Bush waited till AFTER the sentencing to write the judge?

But one thing I know for sure--He will never flip or turn on this Administration. He didn't rise to the level he did in this Administration if he had ANY proclivity whatsoever towards "doing what's right" as opposed to "taking care of the boss." More than anyone else, Libby knows which side of the bread gets buttered. He'd rot in jail for the rest of his life before he'd turn on Bush/Cheney. The fact that Libby is loyal to the nth degree means that Bush may not HAVE to pardon Libby. Like others have theorized, 30 months isn't that long.

I agree with the main thrust of Glenn's argument about how it's necessary to publicly criticize out military leaders, but what really pissed me off about Reid's comments, was the fact that he didn't let his feelings regarding the military's incompetence in Iraq--especially in light of the fact that he is on record as saying that Iraq is "lost"--keep him from voting in favor of a the war supplemental funding bill WITHOUT any sort of deadlines or benchmarks, etc. He voted to give Bush another blank check, which really makes me wonder what he was thinking when he voted, and when he said what he said before and after he voted. I think the phrase "I meant it when I said it," comes to mind here.

I try to tell Republicans who enjoy Hillary bashing so much, that if they were to take a closer look, they would find that she is most likely of all of the Democratic candidates for 08 to craft policy that they would be comfortable with. If they could cast their prejudices aside, they could see this. Conason's article is a great example of why this is so. One can also look at how she has handled Iraq, both with her rhetoric, and her votes in the senate. Personally, I hope someone more progressive wins the nomination.