Long-Term Plan Sought For Terror Suspects (washingtonpost.com) By Dana Priest

Administration officials are preparing long-range plans for indefinitely imprisoning suspected terrorists whom they do not want to set free or turn over to courts in the United States or other countries, according to intelligence, defense and diplomatic officials.

The Pentagon and the CIA have asked the White House to decide on a more permanent approach for potentially lifetime detentions, including for hundreds of people now in military and CIA custody whom the government does not have enough evidence to charge in courts. The outcome of the review, which also involves the State Department, would also affect those expected to be captured in the course of future counterterrorism operations. …

As part of a solution, the Defense Department, which holds 500 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, plans to ask Congress for $25 million to build a 200-bed prison to hold detainees who are unlikely to ever go through a military tribunal for lack of evidence, according to defense officials.

Lifetime imprisonment for people for whom there is insufficient evidence for a trial. A clear violation of our constitution. Everyone in the Bush Administration is guilty of violating our constitution — I recommend long-term imprisonment for them all. mjh

[Thanks, Lisa T!]

War and Peace: Campus engaged in great dichotomy – Words on war By Carolyn Gonzales

David Margolin, adjunct research assistant professor of linguistics in the College of Arts and Sciences, says that language tactics used by United States presidents during wartime have changed. “We have gone from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s ‘The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,’ to the current administration telling Americans, ‘Be afraid, be very afraid,’” Margolin said.

Groups on Right Say Christmas Is Under Attack By Dana Milbank, Washington Post

Those on the other side of these battles say the Christian groups are wildly exaggerating the threats from a phantom enemy for the purpose of mobilizing evangelicals to contribute funds (some groups are explicitly using the Christmas issue to raise money) or to become politically active. On the Christmas fight, the American Civil Liberties Union, the group most often cited as the enemy of traditionalists, says it has not filed a single case blocking Christmas displays this year and cites half a dozen instances over the past year in which it has fought on the side of more religious expression.

“This is the winter equivalent of those summer stories about shark attacks being on the increase,” says Barry Lynn, who heads the liberal group Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. The conservative groups, he said, “think they can make Christians feel like a besieged majority. It creates a Christian solidarity against all those who would oppress them: secularists in this season, gay and lesbians next month, abortion the next month.”

Whether the threat is real or a straw man, conservatives have been aggressive this season in citing the danger to Christmas. This week, Jerry Falwell, a conservative leader, told supporters that “so-called civil libertarians attempt to purge all vestiges of faith from the American public square.” Also this week, Paul M. Weyrich, another conservative leader, proclaimed that “the campaign to eliminate Christmas from our society is well underway.” Several conservative commentators have echoed the charge on television and radio and in newspapers.

Records Released in Response to Torture FOIA Request

“I am responding to your request for feedback on aggressive treatment and improper interview techniques used on detainees at GTMO. I did observe treatment that was not only aggressive, but personally very upsetting, although I can’t say that this treatment was perpetrated by Bureau employees. It seemed that these techniques were being employed by the military, government contract employees and REDACTED.”
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Notes allegation of detainee at Abu Ghraib: “They tortured me and cuffed me in an act called the scorpion, and pouring cold water on me They tortured me from morning until the morning of the next day, and when I fell down from the severe torture I fell on the barbed wires, and then they dragged me from my feet and I was wounded and, and they punched me on my stomach.”

[via The Daily Aneurysm at jabartlett.com]

Southern Manifesto 1956

We regard the decision of the Supreme Court in the school cases as a clear abuse of judicial power. It climaxes a trend in the Federal judiciary undertaking to legislate, in derogation of the authority of Congress, and to encroach upon the reserved rights of the States and the people. …

the Supreme Court of the United States, with no legal basis for such action, undertook to exercise their naked judicial power and substituted their personal political and social ideas for the established law of the land.

This unwarranted exercise of power by the Court, contrary to the Constitution, is creating chaos and confusion…. inflamed by outside meddlers….

We commend the motives of those States which have declared the intention to resist forced integration by any lawful means. . . . We pledge ourselves to use all lawful means to bring about a reversal of this decision [which brought equality to more Americans].

The Daily Howler

Anywhere except in American ‘news,’ these views would be seen for what they are — the kooky rants of screaming crackpots, the kind who need to be supervised closely by relatives and loving friends. But increasingly, screaming crackpots like Bill O’Reilly control the agenda of America’s discourse. And mainstream pundits refuse to note the absurdity of the ongoing conduct. It’s so much simpler to look away as the kooky-con clowning goes on.

O’REILLY: “Now, all of this anti-Christian stuff is absurd, and may even be a bias situation. But the real reason it’s happening has little to do with Christmas and everything to do with organized religion.

“Secular progressives realize that America as it is now will never approve of gay marriage, partial birth abortion, euthanasia, legalized drugs, income redistribution through taxation, and many other progressive visions because of religious opposition.

“But if the secularists can destroy religion in the public arena, the brave new progressive world is a possibility. That’s what happened in Canada.”
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Bill Donohue (not O’Reilly): “Who really cares what Hollywood thinks? All these hacks come out there. Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. It`s not a secret, OK? And I`m not afraid to say it. That`s why they hate this movie [Gibson’s Passion]. It`s about Jesus Christ, and it`s about truth. It`s about the messiah.

“Hollywood likes anal sex. They like to see the public square without nativity scenes. I like families. I like children. They like abortions.”

[mjh: No point in telling this idiot anal sex never leads to an abortion.]

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