Letters to the Editor
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Dénouement
One can only hope this sub vire excursion into the dark night of American history will serve as a beacon to our children like the words that adorn Dachau and Auschwitz: Nie Mals, never again.
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So when exactly
do we get to impeach the asshole?
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Scalia...
...is the asshole who should be impeached, for his utterly unamerican views on this question.
Indict Jack Bauer? Damn straight. In the real world, we'd do exactly that.
How it is that Scalia can sign on to an "ends justify the means" philosophy and still look himself in the mirror every day is a mystery to me. Take on the qualities of the demon, and you are a demon yourself, whatever "good" you were trying to do.
Scalia is a collossal asshole. Has been from the moment he took the bench. He no more belongs on that court than Wilhelm Stuckert would belong there.
He's contemptible...like so many others in his jackbooted party.
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"And yet, nothing changes."
Mr Blumenthal and countless others have been writing articles like this for years now. I can't imagine anyone who frequents this web site disagrees with any of them.
And yet, nothing changes...
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Scalia
The fact that a Supreme Court Justice is on the record endorsing illegal torture scares the hell out of me. I just hope to God that Bush doesn't get a chance to appoint any other supreme court justices before he is forced out of office.
-Jeremy
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Northern Bluto
Electing someone else in 2008? Someone who has an intellectual/moral/empathetic vision? Someone who deals in reality? Hope is something I have canned up inside me. I hope I can pop the top. How about y'all?
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This is premature
I wish I could take comfort from this piece. I wish that Mr. Blumenthal were right and that the legal edifice (to quote Sascha Baron Cohen) of Bush's "War of Terror" is crumbling. But it is too soon to say.
Al-Marri was decided by the Fourth Circuit, true. But it was decided by the two liberals on the Court, Judge Gregory (whom Clinton appointed to a recess appointment) and Diana G. Motz. Whether their ringing defense of our Constitution will stand or be overturned by the conservative members of the Court sitting en banc is not yet clear.
And the decision by military judges that the military tribunals cannot exercise jurisdiction over certain cases under the infamous Military Commissions Act is weaker than Blumenthal seems to believe (though I applaud the result). It was improper for the military court to have decided sua sponte, without briefing or argument, that it lacks jurisdiction. And substantively it is weak in its interpretation of the MCA. It is too early to say whether the decision's procedural and substantive shortcomings will cause it to be reversed.
On the other hand, the D.C. Circuit -- the Court with effective control over the vast majority of detainee cases has refused to follow the Supreme Court's rulings reaffirming that alien detainees have rights, and that our government must act in accordance with the Constitution. The recent shameful decision by the D.C. Circuit in the case of Boumediene was denied review by the Supreme Court -- which since the appointment of Roberts and Alito has, effectively, ceased to stand up for the Constitution.
Our Constitution and our country remain in grave danger from the President and his hand-picked minions. I wish Blumenthal were right, but it is too soon to say.
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If a pop-drama is providing Scalia's model
then I think the 'script's' inciting incident is also worth noting:
"Senior judges from North America and Europe were in the midst of a panel discussion about torture and terrorism law, when a Canadian judge's passing remark - "Thankfully, security agencies in all our countries do not subscribe to the mantra 'What would Jack Bauer do?' " - got the legal bulldog in Judge Scalia barking."
"'Jack Bauer saved Los Angeles. ... He saved hundreds of thousands of lives,' Judge Scalia said."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070616.BAUER16/TPStory/TPNational/Television/
To a pretty erudite and influential crowd. BTW, it's the headline story in Canada's national newspaper.
And, Mr.Blumenthal, please remind that "key framer" who's having twinges of conscience, that he owes his respect and loyalty to the Constitution, not to its current abuser, who'll be gone in 18 months.
Offer him a safe house and get him on the record. (I still have a picture of Elliot Richardson on my office wall.)
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Why Anonymous Sources?
Is Blumenthal a coward? Which is more important, refusing anonymity to a source to set the historical record straight, letting the chips fall where they may, or enabling an Administration hell bent on destroying the Constitution?
Or how about the 3500 dead American soldiers, not to mention tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of dead Iraqi civilians killed by this crew? You'd think Blumenthal would have his priorities straight and out the jerk who claims to have had a change of heart but can't bring himself to say so publicly to his Federalist Society pals. Nope, he gives the source anonymity. The war goes on. The public remains in the dark.
Thank you, Sidney, for doing your little part to keep this tragedy going full steam ahead. Mr. Bush probably has a Medal of Freedom around somewhere for you. I wish you had more character.
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Those words
by the conservative U.S. Court of Appeals are beautiful to read. Gave me a chill - the good kind - and reminded me that liberal and conservative are merely two true faces of America, while wreckless and rogue, as in this president's regime, are not.
Thank you Mr. Blumenthal, once again, for proof.
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Oh, The Irony Of It . . .
<<Why Anonymous Sources? Is Blumenthal a coward? Which is more important, refusing anonymity to a source to set the historical record straight, letting the chips fall where they may, or enabling an Administration hell bent on destroying the Constitution?>>
SNIP
<<Nope, he gives the source anonymity.>>
SNIP
<<Thank you, Sidney, for doing your little part to keep this tragedy going full steam ahead. Mr. Bush probably has a Medal of Freedom around somewhere for you. I wish you had more character.>>
Wow, a royal reaming of Mr. Blumenthal. Accusations of cowardice, lack of character, even suggestions that he may in the same league as L. Paul Bremer, Tommy Franks, and George 'Slam Dunk' Tenet. And at the bottom, the author signs him/herself, "Anonymous"
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On and on
No matter how stinging the rebukes this administration continues its unconstitutional actions unabated.
There are no consequences for the long list of actions and plots; they just move on to the next one. Who has been impeached? Gonzales continues astride the Justice department, smirking his way through endless hearings. In defiance of the law, official WH correspondance is destroyed after having been funneled through the RNC internet and the worse they face is the menace of subpoenas to which they refuse to respond. Republican congresspersons march like blindfolded infantrymen to cast their votes to uphold these criminal actionss.
These people are outlaws and there are no consequences.