GOP Congress is rushing legislation through with a hidden ploy to retroactively pardon Pres. Bush of war crimes!
A June ruling by the Supreme Court defied President Bush in the Hamden case, and ruled that the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay Cuba violated the Geneva Conventions, U.S. and International standards. President Bush, confident that the Republican Party would easily keep both houses of Congress after the November elections, was unconcerned about either house bringing up charges or investigating.…
Article comments
— go to most recent comments76 - Jet in Columbus
So.... it appears as if congress got away with this scott free?
77 - troll
JOM - why do you insist on misoverestroginating Jet's ideas - ? (run for it - the vicious BAP ...that's the Bare Assed Posse for those not in the know...has its eye on you)
78 - JustOneMan
"Well... it's nice to see the press finally catching up to me..."
Please lets not take credit for something that the left has been blathering about for the past several months.....you guys are all reading from the same moveon.org script....
79 - Jet in Columbus
Thanks Troll...
80 - JustOneMan
Troll...its obvious that the poster in question doesnt have any original "ideas" unless you define rewriting 3 week old stories and taking credit for it.
81 - JustOneMan
The urgency of this legislation is that there is an election next month and now the Dumboscrats on on record for their weak stand on terrorism....
82 - Snarkattack
#80 - in this postmodern world, what really is 'original'? Don't take my word for it - find Jean Baudrillard's Simulation and Simulacra.
Would you care to share the links to these supposed 3-week old stories you're claiming the author of this article has rehashed? So what if the current author writes an article with his slant? Is this not the very backbone of journalism?
Or perhaps you could spare everyone your...'feedback' and write an 'original' piece of your own? I'm sure there would be many who'd be interested in reading it.
83 - OGjimbo
I am a registered republican, and i voted for George Bush in 2000. Fortunately I am not a mindless buffoon who follows the designated opinion of his officially declared party. I am able to think on my own and come up with my own opinions.
After reading things that Justoneman has posted I believe that if Prominent republicans came out saying that eating feces everyday for breakfest is the true republican thing to do, he would be enjoying a shit sandwich by the next time the sun came up.
Bush is a terrible president. I wish more republicans would realize that instead of blindly supporting every single moronic act of arrogance that this guy makes.
84 - Jet in Columbus
Thanks Snark & thanks OGjimbo
Much appreciated
Jet
85 - Jet in Columbus
well at least we know that Bush's self-pardon covers him if we start torturing Koreans!
86 - Nancy
Personally I don't care if we torture enemy combatants, but I don't like that Bush is willing to write off or exempt himself from obeying US laws. THAT does bother me. Otherwise, I'd say torture is just a risk anyone engaging in war takes. Besides, as Clavos pointed out in another thread, our guys aren't given any rights or protections when they're captured by the enemy & never have, so why should we be the only fools holding back? I don't buy this 'we have to be superior' schtick where we're the only ones playing by the rules and having to make nice to captures.
87 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
The reason for all this is simple. Bush and his associates (or more precisely superiors) have committed war crimes and anticipate doing so in the future. While they do not necessarily expect to be brought to justice, there is always the chance that this may happen. At that point, they trot out this law and say they are absolved...
88 - Jet in Columbus
Nancy 86...I don't buy this 'we have to be superior' schtick
Neither do I, but our president seems to have a superiority complex
Jet
89 - Jet in Columbus
Ruvy will you PLEASE SHUT UP-Cheney's monitoring you and I don't want him to order Israel bombed by the U.S. as an ememy combatant now that he has the poser to say what that is!!!
90 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Don't worry, Jet. When you are done answering
idiotsour fine fellow commenters elsewhere, pick up that Bible and read Isaiah 60. That part about the riches from the west coming here - that's you guys. Guys like Cheney's buddies.91 - Jet in Columbus
Scary thought there Ruvy...Scary thought
92 - Nancy
An amusing thought: if the Dems take over, & BushCo is impeached, then he & Cheney could be tortured to obtain their confessions. I'll bet ol' Smilin' Dick would get off on that. Or maybe he only gets off on torturing others, just like he only is brave when others are doing the fighting.
93 - Jet in Columbus
Caution: threatening to torture King George III could get you in trouble with the Secret Service.
94 - Jet in Columbus
...it wouldn't outlaw such practices as simulating drowning -- known as water boarding -- sleep deprivation or putting detainees in stress positions. Senate John McCain, Republican of Arizona and a key architect of the bill, said the intent is to outlaw such practices. McCain's opposition to the president's original proposal for the tribunals forced the administration to compromise on its provisions.
Bush sought the legislation after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Congress had not authorized tribunals for bringing terrorism suspects to trial.
Tribunals will provide ``far more rights than any system in history to try suspected war criminals,'' Wisconsin Republican James Sensenbrenner said during House debate last month. ``None of the people who have been beheaded by terrorists have had any of those rights.''
For the rest of this article click anywhere in the colored section
95 - Jet in Columbus
Of course you realise that President Bush actually signed his own war crimes pardon today?
96 - Jet in Columbus
I wonder if the immunity extends to the vice president, now that he's advocating water torture?
97 - Jet in Columbus
U.S. Voters said "We made a mistake re-electing Bush in 2004" last night. Let's hope they repeal this legislation as a priority.
Jet
98 - Nancy
As of this moment, only the election results in Montana are still in doubt; it's pretty sure that recounts in VA will confirm the victory of Webb (D) over Allen (R); both Missouri & the other very close senatorial races have been taken by the Dems. If they can after all carry Montana, then it is a sure thing the inevitable next step will be investigations with TEETH into the doings of BushCo, including not just Iraq & WMDs, but Halliburton, the NSA spying, and a host of other Bush/Cheney abuses. I hope & pray that I will live to see Rove in a federal pen where he belongs, and both Bush & Cheney impeached, convicted, and dismissed in disgrace, together with those in their train who carried out their warped commands & policies.
Heh heh - already Bush is trying to make nice with Ms. Pelosi, after all these months of smears & lies about her & the Dems should anyone vote for them instead of his GOP stooges & minions. I hope she smiles nicely - then kicks him in the nuts. Hard.
99 - Jet in Columbus
Won't it be comical Nancy? Maryland is a state without a paper trail, therefore their computer can only spit out the exact numbers that it already has for a recount, and counting the provisional ballots and absentee ballots won't help fix the difference.
It came back to bite them in the ass!!!
100 - Nancy
How sweet justice can sometimes be.
101 - Jet in Columbus
The trouble is that even Bush isn't dumb enough to sign the repeal of his own custom pardon, and congress won't have a veto-proof margin of votes.
102 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Just a reminder, folks. Nobody has been sworn in yet. The house of representatives remains under Republican control until the seats turn over in 2007.
There is no reason to assume that the new congress will actually meet until it actually meets...
103 - Nancy
Why? Do you think someone is planning on bombing the place before Jan, just to keep the Dems out of power? While I wouldn't put it past some nutcases, I don't see it as likely. Besides, as I mentioned elsewhere, if Pelosi follows thru as she's making noises she will, she'll be smart enough to avoid the GOP/Hastert mistake of shutting out the opposition, and invite them in to participate fully. Most of the GOP real lowlifes are gone (with the exception of Hastert); shutting them out would be unjust, unAmerican, unfair, and unwise, besides being a waste of a lot of talent, smarts, and experience. With any luck, the Dems will behave better than the Repubs, & get everybody involved in governing. Besides, the Dems have no direction. They have ideals, but no drive or cohesion to achieve them, while the GOP has no ethical ideals, but a helluva lot of drive to achieving what they want; each side can contribute its strength to a truly superior congress, if they can & will try.
Let's hope, anyway.
104 - Jet in Columbus
Again, Ruvy, I say America has resoundly said we made a mistake reelecting George Bush. That and the "get out the far-right" vote by bringing up a bunch of gay rights legislation in key states, may have been defeats for us, but didn't have the desired effect for them either.
But there's also the delicious slow torture of Bush sitting in the oval office for a couple months worrying about what they'll do.
That and him kissing her ass and trying to suck up, hoping she'll fall for it.
105 - Jet in Columbus
Unfortunately Nancy, he's still Commander in Chief, and the Dems son't have enough of a majority to override vetos.
106 - Jet in Columbus
Their new priorities should be
Getting the budget deficit under control
Putting New Orleans back together
Betting Rumsfeld out of there, or cutting him off bugetarily.
and most important
Making Bush the lame-duck he deserves to be.
107 - Nancy
I do believe the immediate goal she's put forth once she's Speaker is substantial & substantive ethics overhaul, first & foremost. I didn't get to catch the rest of it, & haven't had time to check it out yet to see what the balance is. Personally, I do hope some sort of hard-nosed REAL investigation of BushCo (especially Cheney) policies involving WMDs, Iraq, & 9/11 - where Cheney & Bush won't be allowed to connive & coordinate their answers, NO questions will be forbidden or submitted previously, they'll BOTH be under oath (not that I think for a moment either one of them would give a rat's ass for being under oath, but it vastly improves prosecution if they lie while under oath), & bullshit evasions like the legalistic crap Gonzalez dishes out when being questioned will not be tolerated, failure to answer being rewarded by time in prison, a la the same way BushCo proposed doing to the media. Waterboarding, even. Then Cheney & Junior can determine personally if it's torture or not, hey?
108 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
You have a big "Why?" in the title of this article.
Jet, please do me a favor and read the links in my piece on the Imminence of War.
Your president has pardoned himself in advance, signed an act that allows HIS administration to define enemies without rights, virtually abolished the right of habeus corpus for you folks, and given himself the authority to declare what amounts to martial law there.
In addition, there are quite a numbert of empty prisons that were built during the administration of his father and Clinton, along with three story boxcars with hadncuffs and chains inside.
Why?
He has a dictatorship to go in the bag. All he has to do is pull up to the drive-thru window and pick it up.
I'll throw your question back at you.
Why?
109 - Jet in Columbus
Ruvy, the "Why" is a rhetorical question... but you knew that didn't you?
110 - Jet in Columbus
You realize of course if Bush is impeached and Chenney has a heart attack over it, she's president?
111 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
I didn't ask a rhtorical question. You might have to look at that article again, and check those links. You came close to the truth than you realiozed in the article. Don't let excitement over what could prove empty posturing distract you from the real dangers your republic faces...
112 - John Q. Public
Ruvy, it appears that your fears for our Republic are not as grounded in reality as you may think.
Just check the election results.
113 - Jet in Columbus
Yes Ruvy, yes, I know. We shouldn't be lulled into a mode of complacency and stop paying attention. After all the man is still commander in chief...
for now
114 - Jet in Columbus
Yes John, I agree, today is the day manly democrats and shewomen beat their chests and gloat and roar.
ROARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!
I'm still trying to pick out a sympathy card for a few people... forgive me if I seem distracted
115 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
It's now 9 November; at least it is here in Israel. It's time to stop gloating and start looking over your shoulders again. The battle is nowhere near over for you.
The point, JQP is not the choices that Americans have made, but rather the danger that a Democratic-controlled congress presents to the sitting president. Intense and embarassing investigations likely leading to impeachment.
That is why the fact that the president can declare a state of martial law with the stroke of a pen is so important. It nullifies these choices, makes them as if they were never made.
I repeat - a Bush dictatorship is in the bag. All he has to do is pull up to the drive-thru window and pick it up - just like getting a pizza or a whopper combo! At this point, it is that easy.
That is what my article is all about. In the mind of an administration operative, the decisive time is between now and Christmas - there will be an event that will prevent this threat to the administration from realizing itself.
116 - MAOZ
Ruvy, your fast-food background is showing!
BTW, OT except not really -- does anyone else find it impossible to access comments via the leaderboard etc? Or is it just me?
117 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Jet, you stuck this in the wrong article, the one about the abortion initiative in South Dakota. You must have been tired, or maybe your eye was hurting you...
Ruvy, you know I love and admire you, but here you're wrong. Based on rumblings coming from soldiers in Iraq, now that Rumsfeld is gone and they think they can speak freely, I'm convinced that Bush's martial law would never be backed by his military, nor the national guard, nor local police.
As low as his approval ratings are, he'd be thrown in jail by his own people before that happened.
Yes he's deluded himself that he has absolute power assigned by GOD, but so did Saddam, and look what happened to him.
If Bush thinks he can pull off martial law, he's delusional.
I rarely diagree with you my friend, but here I do.
Love
Jet
I'm going to ask you to think about a rather interesting occurrence last year when severe hurricanes struck Texas and Louisiana. As if out of nowhere, German soldiers popped up with loads and loads of food - so did Mexicans. I found this extremely enlightening. It gave proof to allegations that I've been reading about and hearing about that there are all sorts of foreign troops on American soil, in addition to "black helicopters," "regional police" cars and the like. All this in addition to the empty jails and three story rail transport cars with handcuffs and chains inside...
It won't be American soldiers backing a martial law declaration. They will be shipped out or disarmed. It will be foreign soldiers already in place in the States moving to prepositioned arms caches with lists of arrestees to be picked up.
118 - Jet in Columbus
Ruvy is that really you? Where is all this coming from?...
It gave proof to allegations that I've been reading about and hearing about that there are all sorts of foreign troops on American soil, in addition to "black helicopters," "regional police" cars and the like. All this in addition to the empty jails and three story rail transport cars with handcuffs and chains inside...
It won't be American soldiers backing a martial law declaration. They will be shipped out or disarmed. It will be foreign soldiers already in place in the States moving to prepositioned arms caches with lists of arrestees to be picked up.
Any german and or mexican soldiers on our soil had to come by invitation.
The rail cars are something I've never heard of.
please give me a news source I can look this stuff up at. Three story tall rail cars would be impossible to move around the country. most overpasses in rural areas barely admit the two story car transports.
Jet
119 - Jet in Columbus
70% JET NEWS UPDATE… The unintended results of allowing Bush to get away with this legislation is an example of giving him an inch and him taking a mile...
Immigrants arrested in the United States may be held indefinitely on suspicion of terrorism and may not challenge their imprisonment in civilian courts, the Bush administration said Monday, opening a new legal front in the fight over the rights of detainees.
In court documents filed with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., the Justice Department said a new anti-terrorism law being used to hold detainees in Guantanamo Bay also applies to foreigners captured and held in the United States.
Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar, was arrested in 2001 while studying in the United States. He has been labeled an "enemy combatant," a designation that, under a law signed last month, strips foreigners of the right to challenge their detention in federal courts.
For the rest of this FORBES article click anywhere in the underlined section
This buletin is brought to you by 70% Jet News, where all my articles are mostly my bullshit feable attempts to get attention... according to some.
120 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Jet,
I thought this might interest you.
"The Department of Homeland Security proposed new rules back in July that would fundamentally undermine the right of American citizens to travel abroad. Public carriers--airlines, cruise lines, even fishing boats--will be required to submit the names of all passengers to Homeland Security prior to departure and to obtain permission from Homeland Security to board those passengers. These new rules will take effect January 14, 2007".
this is the link where this was pulled from originally, I think.
121 - Jet in Columbus
Shabbat shalom and Thanks Ruvy, It looks like we're turning into a police state more and more every day. Appreciate the update my friend.
Blessings
Jet
122 - Jet in Columbus
You realize that as Bush's lies become apparent, this will protect him from being impeached or prosecuted...
123 - Jet in Columbus
You know, looking back at this article I'm still wondering why Bush needed this protection...
124 - Jet in Columbus
Newsflash: A "Mr. Hayney" of Hooterville donated 25 gen-u-ine imitation tempered steel fire axes from his local volunteer fire department toward the "brave patriotic stuggle" in Iraq.
President Bush had to be physically restrained from announcing his great pleasure in accepting the donation... especially when Mr. Hayney said there was a $1,175 shipping and handling charge for each each of them...
125 - Jet in Columbus
NewsFlash: Hooterville... Another "donation" from Mr. Hayney is also being praised for promising metal "to be shipped at a minimal cost" was donated by his local towns folk to be melted down for body armour for our "brave fighting boys" in Italy.
In a related story the Hooterville World Guardian reported several residences called into the local police department to report their garbage can lids had been stolen some time during the night...