Some good news for everyone this morning: the economy is once again back on track. Things were tough there for a while – so tough that rich people stopped buying shit. But take a deep breath and relax, America, ‘cuz times are good for rich people once again. Oh, things still suck for the rest of us, of course. Unemployment is almost as high as it was under St. Reagan, and those of us who still have work are faced with higher insurance premiums, and are left to scurry around trying to collect the crumbs that fall from the rich folks’ throbbing jowls, but, hey, guess what? The more the rich folks eat, the more crumbs there are for the little people. And that, my friends, is the how capitalism and the free market work.
As for health insurance, it turns out that the “historic reform” being contelmplted by the Senate is filled with loopholes for insurance companies (gee, who could’ve seen that coming). Basically, we’d all spend a lot of time and taxpayer dollars to wind up with basically the same system we have now (and that’s how the government works).
I guess everyone’s heard that AG Eric Holder is planning on bringing five Gitmo detainees to New York to stand trial for their (alleged) crimes. Amazingly (to me, if not to Wolf Blitzer), trying criminals for the crimes they’ve committed has somehow become “controversial.” Guidi Ruliani, for instance, has a great deal of contempt for our criminal justice system. That’s why he put a criminal in charge of the NYPD, I guess. Jim Webb thinks it’s a bad idea, too. And Bush AG Frank Murkasey went so far as to predict death and destruction for New Yorkers if criminals are put on trial there. Even the “9/11 Families” are “split” over the decision.
“I’m very, very disappointed in the government,” said Anne Ielpi, whose son, Jonathan Ielpi, was a firefighter who was killed in the south tower.
“It’s like throwing it in our face again,” she said, speaking by phone Friday. “We can’t get away from 9/11, we can’t.”
Well, with all due respect to Mrs. Ielpi and other family members who may be upset (and no respect whatsoever for the likes of Ruliani of Mukasey), sorry, but it aint up to you. I’m sure if one of my family members was killed in a robbery or something, I’d just as soon have his murderer packed off to some Kafkaesque prison cell somewhere, never to be seen again (personally, I’d prefer having him rot in a hole somewhere for 20 or 30 years to a quick execution). But that’s not how it works here. Victims and their families don’t get to decide who gets a fair and open trial, and who doesn’t.
If we can’t even agree on that, then we’re really screwed.
In the meantime, I think I’ll move to Portland (Oregon, that is).
It IS shocking that we would actually try the Gitmo guys. And, even more shocking, that we would try them in the same area in which the crime was committed. I guess I haven’t been noticing, but most criminal in NYC must be shipped to California for trial. Otherwise it would be tooooo scary.
Of course we may have a bit of difficulty making a case against some of them because they were tortured…well not really tortured, just treated harshly. That’s what Dick says, so it must be true. And, besides, that
tortureharshness elicited so much useful information like ummm ???? But it did help old Dicky get excited. So it must have been worth it.Here in NYC we’re all scared, scared, scared ’cause we’ve never had scary criminals in out midst before.
pj, once again you somehow ripped my thoughts right outta my head and expressed them brilliantly. I had been working on a rant since yesterday morning but you nailed it.
The contemptuous attytood that too many of these ghouls have for our Constitution and our American justice system and the founding principles I think verges on treason. I wish they made the schools teach civics again so a few more people might understand what it all means but I guess it has been the intent to undermine all of that since too many of the wrong people started staking their rightful claims back in the 60s.
Area Man Passionate Defender Of What He Imagines Constitution To Be
The marijuana cafe in Portland sells food? One would HOPE!
:bong:
I don’t usually waste time watching Fucked News, but last night I flipped over to see what Billo had to say about the terrorist trials being held in NYC. Smoke was practically coming out of his ears. What’s wrong, big guy? You don’t believe in the Constitution? Or maybe just selected bits and pieces of it.
For all I don’t like about the way Obama and crew conduct some of their business, they completely nailed this. Let’s wipe the Bush/Cheney skidmarks off the document and show the world we actually mean what is written there.
And if Billo is scared, there are some nice secure lodgings in Gitmo that should be vacant soon. Maybe he can do his show from there, the same way Rush hides out in his Palm Beach compound.
:rofl2:
And for a while Friday night, I actually thought the Zips might pull it off against Temple, who this year appear to be the class of the MAC (which I realize is a relative term). Sadly for Akron, football games have two halves. At least the new stadium looks nice.
President Clinton had the trials against the WTC 2003 bombing attackers in NY, did he not? And he pretty much captured, tried and convicted those directly responsible within a year or so.
NOW, OVER 8 FREAKING years after 9/11 the tea-bagging crowd is complaining about where the Obama administration tries the guys WHO BUSH NEVER TRIED (other than a few peripheral actors). These people complaining are idiots.
And by the way, S Palin, is doing a book signing in my neck of the woods. The article said she tries to just go to small towns, and I’d add, in red states. Five chapter book – I quit this job, then I quit that job, then I quit that other job, then I screwed up the presidential election – but really it wasn’t my fault – and the final chapter, I quit that job.
We don’t need due process any more if we know for sure.
Palin Calls Decision To Try 9/11 Defendants In Federal Court ‘Atrocious,’ Wants To ‘Hang ‘Em High’
Food in the MaryJane cafe in Portland? Gypsy? Calling Gypsy!