"The Ladder to the Former" was the original title for Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven", wasn't it?

I better go eat that toast, cause that one was strictly from hunger.

I think that's all going to get dropped now. The much better game is going to be to tie the current shitstorm in Illinois to Obama.

~

YKW has every right to toss a UT bowl of sour cream + chives at you.

Are you wanting to be renamed Bambi, Peach Pie, Fizzy Navel? Get it?

Klytus who is unruly, may be sent to a trash heap dump. Help J. White!

You are a wet Red Terrier at funerals that howl in the rain. You de cat.

You wag a pup tale. You need to scat. Me too. You the gentle bare Lab.

A Gold Lab with paws, but who itch to join a fist fight with Donald Duck.

You make people confused and misunderstood. Get? Write poetry books.

I'm sorry I made me cry. But there's no telling what I might say when I'm suffering from an acute drug underdose. The blood level in my drug-stream becomes dangerously high, and before you can say tetrahydracannibaloidism, offenses ensue.

Who flock like flies

To manure...

This morning's New York Times contains subtle clues as to why some of the claims of centrism and left wing blogs and qualified appointments that require bending the rules on torture occur.

First and foremost is the article on the request to submit guilty pleas and confessions by 5 defendants at the military commissions at Guantanamo Bay. The Times has editorialized against these commissions and the sham justice they present, much as the two senators Glenn pointed to, Dianne Feinstein and Ron Wyden, had spoken extensively on holding all of government to the standards for interrogation in the Army Field Manual.

But then comes the day when the people who designed and masterminded (or so it is alleged) the terrorist attacks September 11th on New York City are in the docket. Suddenly, we cover the trials in their intricacy, as to whether or not a defendant in a capital trial can plead guilty. We cover the deliberations of the judge on this issue. We forget to mention how much deference to these issues is given in real American courts -- for instance, in Illinois, it is forbidden to use the subjunctive anywhere in the sentencing statement from the judge to the defendant, when handing down a death sentence. It is considered cruel to talk about what might have been.

But what matters to the Times is that the families of the September 11th victims have been allowed to attend. Spectators are not generally allowed to attend these proceedings except for observers and journalists. The spectators were "struck by the extensive rights accorded the accused men." More discussion ensues, among other things, William Glaberson discusses whether the move by the defendants will complicate Barack Obama's efforts to close Guantanamo. A victim's relative named Hamilton Peterson was offended by the defendants, possibly by the "outburst" by Ramzi bin al Shibh who praised Osama bin Laden. Mr. bin al Shibh is also someone whose lawyers believe is unfit to stand trial at all.

Anthony Romero gets quoted about the fact that the judge needs to deliberate at all on an attempt to plead guilty in a death penalty trial, it speaks volumes about the military commissions. But the final word goes to, "Alice Hoagland, the mother of Mark Bingham, who was killed on Sept. 11, said she was pleased that the military judge had not rushed to allow guilty pleas. The detainees 'do not deserve to be dealt with as martyrs,' Ms. Hoagland said. 'They do not deserve the glory of execution.'" It's okay. Suddenly the trials have some legitimacy, because of victim's rights. Victim's rights, a cause not normally championed by outlets like the New York Times gets an exception when the pain is their own. Careful criticism must take a back seat, and victims are authorities on what justice defendants should get.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/us/09gitmo.html

Later on, on the Editorial page, there are multiple definitions of the word terrorist, in discussing the Op-Ed piece by Bill Ayers. It is a "premeditated destroyer of lives and property" (property is the equal of lives), it is what is believed to have been what was planned (an attack on Fort Dix) or Communist ties.

It is a person whom there is an obligatio erga omnes to bring to justice, according to the daughters of Leon Klinghoffer, who is then wrongly cited by the paper as having been killed by the PLO.

The United Nations commissioned a study to come up with a definition of terrorist that could be used in international law. After 5 years, they came up empty handed, citing, that it really is the case as some say, that "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter."

But our news organizations, and the people who read them, universally know exactly what a terrorist is. It's a person for whom you waive the normal restraints of justice, and to whom is owed no rights, a defensible target for revenge. Never mind that this definition is sometimes the only one, without the need for an act of terror, or guilt beyond reasonable doubt. And it doesn't matter where in the political spectrum that news organization is, does it, New York Times?

An then people wonder when torture, a crime that really does imply obligatio erga omnes under international law, is so easily accepted by all but the liberal fringe. Sooner or later, as the history of the ACLU and other organizations has shown, our civil rights are protected by defending those rights for the worst criminals for the most heinous of crimes. When you fail to do that, when hatred overwhelms the desire for true justice, we are not at our best. But don't ask me, watch these guys:

http://blog.aclu.org/2008/12/08/military-lawyers-speak-guantnamo-is-a-disgrace/#comment-4683

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

Is the place to go for all things Blago related.

And the DOJ has already stated that Obama "wouldn't play ball" with Blago. It'll be hard to tar him with this brush.

From reading all about Blago at TPM, the whole problem looks pretty simple to me; Blago choose the wrong party! Most of the things he is accused of doing are very much IOKIYAR type stuff.