Uncivil rights

Christendom is safe. The right reverend Terry Jones has decided that he will not be burning Islam's sacred book because of a quid pro quo deal he has worked out with Barack Obama, The Illuminati, Lloyd Blankfein and the Trilateral Commission to move the planned mosque from its intended location in New York. Expect hell to be paid if we welch on the deal with the fifty member strong Gainesville congregation.

Jim is back from his trip and  a bit on my ass about my apparent lack of fairness and balance of late in regards to conservatives in this country. And there I thought I was dancing such a fine line...


SO HERE GOES, DEMOCRATS, IT IS YOUR TURN FOR THE LASH. Imagine this, a near fictional story, you are walking down the street and a black sedan with tinted windows lurches suddenly to a stop in front of you. Two men in black grab you and throw you in the trunk, while a third man suddenly appears and jabs a syringe filled with an unknown substance in your ass. You wake up in a CIA prison that doesn't officially exist in a cold and damp eastern european country where you are kept shackled in a cold room with the New Kids on the Block blaring 24/7.

One day without a word, they bundle your ass up in a Boeing subsidiary cargo plane and you are transferred to Morocco where you are tortured day and night. Electric shocks are attached to your genitals. They cut your penis open and pour acid in the wound. A CIA man who shall only go by the name of Mike places an electric drill at your temple and you get to hear the recorded screams of women and children that you are told are your own family. After they are done with you, you get shipped off to Guantanamo for five or six more years of hard time and then you are suddenly released. Charges have never been brought against you. You still don't know what you have allegedly done.

You would like to hire an attorney but it is against the law to even tell an attorney what has taken place. He can not interview witnesses either. All of the tapes of your inquisition have been conveniently destroyed. You decide to sue the United States government. And the Obama Administration says that you have no right to go to trial because it would interfere with national security. The split 9th Circuit agrees and you are sent home, shit out of luck. The presiding judge feels real bad, even suggests that the government pay all of your legal bills.

What the hell happened to our constitution anyway? To accountability? To the presumption of innocence? Do we suspend our civil rights when things get tricky? Does the government have carte blanche to do whatever it wants, under the cover of black ops and national security? If you have a foreign name in this country, can we presume you guilty without benefit of a trial?

The Obama Justice Department spokesman welcomed the appeals court action dismissing the mens' suit.

"The Attorney General adopted a new policy last year to ensure the state secrets privilege is only used in cases where it is essential to protect national security, and we are pleased that the court recognized that the policy was used appropriately in this case," said Matthew Miller, director of public affairs. So now we can officially torture people and they have no redress, no right to a trial, no right to confront witnesses. Sounds like not a lot has changed. All that talk about torture was just talk.

Read about the actual case here.


***

Bravo for U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips for declaring the military gay ban unconstitutional. The suit was brought by the Log Cabin Republicans on behalf of the approximately 13,500 gay people that have been dismissed by the military since 1994 on account of their sexual orientation.

According to the associated press, six military officers who were discharged under the policy testified during the trial. A decorated Air Force officer testified that he was let go after his peers snooped through his personal e-mail in Iraq.


U.S. Department of Justice attorney Paul G. Freeborne argued that the policy debate is political and the issue should be decided by Congress rather than in court. A conservative congress that is assured of maintaining the status quo.

Once again the Obama Administration sells out a loyal constituency and ends up on the wrong side of a decision.

It's a twisted thing © 2010 Robert Sommers