. . . is being decided right now," he tells me. "And people are oblivious."
"What's the issue?" I ask.
"The limits of Executive Power. The relationship between Congress and the President. I care about that much more than I care about abortion."
This clarified things for me enormously, because I had thought the big issues of the day were things like:
1) whether/how Israel will survive;
2) whether parts of Asia or the Middle East were going to be annihilated in a nuclear war;
3) whether terrorists would succeed in taking out both the White House and the Capitol building at the same time, thereby effectively decapitating the government of the United States as the 9/11 terrorists attempted to do;
4) whether Europe would remain Western and liberal in its outlook, or whether it would instead be overtaken by the unenlightened segment of it growing Muslim populations, and
5) just how much bloodshed there would be in the growing conflict between Islamism and Western-style liberalism.
But, no. Apparently the issue is that Bush is packing the Supreme Court with justices who will give him a little bit of latitude in fighting this war, though he hasn't approached the liberties FDR took with the system—much less those Abraham Lincoln felt forced to take in keeping the Union together.
1
Yep. That's my No. 1 concern. Well, that and all those prostitutes and drug dealers threatened with Gitmo via the Patriot Act. No wait. That's network television fiction--Law and Order and it's spinoffs, the Practice and every other left-wing drama. Al Gore can have everyone who faced the Patriot Act up on stage with him when he delivers that Police State speech next week. I mean real folks, not the TV actors. But he might have to get the TV actors if he wants anyone to join him up there. It would make for better TV, if they were in costume.
Terrorism? It's all a myth...Yep. Bush's Imperialism is the real problem. Remember where you heard it.
Posted by: Darrell at January 14, 2006 09:08 PM (W9PvN)
2
That naughty, naughty, power-hungry cokehead.
Posted by: Attila Girl at January 15, 2006 11:17 AM (/y+/O)
3
What a shock! The conservative President putting conservative (we hope) Justices on the Supreme Court..
To the victor, goes the spoils.
Posted by: Marvin at January 16, 2006 02:03 PM (LKYQX)
4
Yeah, where the hell does that Smirkychimp W. McHitlerburton get off, acting like his party won the 2004 election, or like they control the House and Senate?
Oooh, it makes me so angry that I think I'll go put another smarmy bumper sticker on my car - or maybe key the one next door with the W sticker.
Posted by: Steve Skubinna at January 18, 2006 12:21 AM (j4Cpd)
5
[...] he hasn't approached the liberties FDR took with the system—much less those Abraham Lincoln felt forced to take in keeping the Union together.
Interesting that you should bring this up. Do you think that the Japanese-American internment camps (in FDR's case) and the suspension of
habeas corpus (in Lincoln's case) were reasonable, necessary responses to the exegencies of the day?
Posted by: Christophe at January 18, 2006 10:13 PM (td8Qe)
6
"No," and "probably not."
Posted by: Attila Girl at January 18, 2006 11:33 PM (/y+/O)
7
"No," and "probably not."
I'm with you there, but claiming that Gitmo isn't as bad as Manzanar doesn't mean Gitmo's fine.
I'm surprised that the right is giving Bush a pass on Gitmo and the related extra-judicial apparatus. This seems directly contradictory to the underlying philosophy of, "The government cannot be trusted to maintain liberty on its own," which is precisely what is being asked of us at Gitmo. If, post-Oklahoma City, the Clinton administration had been hauling armed members of right-wing groups into prisons without clear charges, no judicial review, and no real timetable for what is going to happen to them, I would think that the right would have, uh, sent a crisp letter or something about it.
Sure, I don't fancy nuclear war or any of those bad things, but really, I don't think my choice is quite as stark as: Accept everything the administration wants, or the bad stuff in #1-5 will happen as night follows day.
Posted by: Christophe at January 19, 2006 03:22 AM (td8Qe)
8
Are you blurring the line between American citizens and non-American citizens accidentally, or on purpose?
I'm also trying to think of another country whose prisoners of war actualy
gain weight during their captivity. I'm not coming up with anything off the top of my head, though.
Posted by: Attila Girl at January 19, 2006 01:01 PM (/y+/O)
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