February 13, 2008
Some Valentine
While all the progressives here at Dakota are eagerly following the democratic primaries, excited about good people at last boarding the Titanic that is our nation, our world, there are those of us who are extremely pessimistic about the state of things. The Senate caved to telecom immunity yesterday, thus eliminating your right to privacy forever. and shutting down any further investigations into the criminal activities of the Bush administration.. Hillary unconscionably didn't vote. Other equally crappy plans are afoot, like executing terrorists imprisoned at Guantanamo who have not been tried and whose confessions have been encouraged by torture.. Dan Froomkin's column is chock full of sickening stuff. Here he is on the death penalty for prisoners at Gitmo:
The White House made it clear that it wanted a 9/11 trial before the end of President Bush's term. But Carol Rosenberg and Nancy A. Youssef write for McClatchy Newspapers: "Knowledgeable legal experts, however, said it's unlikely that they can be tried speedily, meaning the cases probably won't be heard before the Bush administration leaves office next January."And yet, that actually may be part of the plan, writes Will Bunch in his Philadelphia Daily News blog: "[I]t is unlikely, with appeals and the like, that any conviction and death penalty could be carried out as quickly as January. That lays the problem on the lap of the next president -- regardless of whether it's McCain, Clinton or Obama -- who would have to either affirm the military tribunals, or else declare on the first day of their presidency that one of their first officials acts will be to overturn a death sentence for a 9/11 mastermind.
"That's a classic Rovian political trap if I ever saw one. And it's more proof that undoing the nightmare eight years of Bush and Cheney is going to be a lot more work than simply placing a right hand on the Bible."
This Valentine's Day our heart is breaking for this country.
Photo note: Two dimensional rose with shadow --the flower is painted on a window in front of venetian blinds
Posted by Dakota at February 13, 2008 07:03 AM