Posted on 12/07/2001 6:22:31 AM PST by Jean S
* Yesterday was yet another day of disappointment for many in the national press corps.
* The press had worked itself into one of those frenzies it so enjoys over the spectacle of Attorney General John Ashcroft appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the issues of detaining suspected terrorists and the conduct of military tribunals.
* For days members of the media had been denying themselves sleep, wearing itchy clothing, and wearing shoes a size too tight so they could match the anger, the fury, the rage, the ire of Democrats on the committee like its chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont).
* This was going to be tough. This was going to be the highlight of the fall season. This was going to be the hearing the Democrats wanted to conduct when Ashcroft was up for confirmation last January - except the Republicans controlled the Senate that day.
* The Democrats were going to make those shows about lions chasing wildebeests on the Discovery Channel look like Mike and Carol Brady arguing with Alice on Nick at Night.
* Guess what? The Democrats must have had a briefing before the hearing which reminded them that something on the order of 7 out of 10 Americans think the Administration is doing exactly the right thing.
* And this is why 70 percent of Americans disagree with the Democrats: "One option is to call Sept. 11 a fluke and to live in a dream world that requires us to do nothing different," Ashcroft said. "The other option is to fight back."
* The best Leahy could do was to whine to reporters during a recess. According to a Washington Post website piece by Dan Eggen, Leahy "complained that the administration has given conflicting signals about how the military tribunals would be run."
* The AP's Karen Gullo wrote, "Several other Democrats took pains to voice support even while asking tough questions, and there were few harsh exchanges."
* The Democrats acted like, uh, kittens.
* Back on the disappointment front, the stories about the Taliban caving in on - Ok, bad choice of words - preparing to surrender - Kandahar kept moving across the wires all day.
* It was only a few weeks ago, remember, that we were being told that:
- Nothing much would happen in AhfGAHNeestahn until the spring;
- It would take an infusion of perhaps tens of thousands of ground troops to push the Taliban across the inhospitable terrain;
- Even after Kabul fell, the Taliban would re-form their lines in their "spiritual center" of Kandahar and it would take months, years, decades, to pry them out of there;
- The chances of getting an agreement on an interim government for AhfGAHNeestahn were nearly zero. (That was about 18 hours before just such an agreement was reached.)
* Here was the lead on the CNN website last night: "The Taliban's supreme leader will surrender the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar on Friday."
* Yesterday, according to an Associated Press report by Robert Burns, was the 61st day of the campaign.
* Drat.
* Meanwhile on the other side of the Capitol, yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee was tackling the BIG issue of whether Major League Baseball should be permitted to drop two teams next season.
* Commissioner Bud Selig explained how baseball had lost about a half billion dollars last year and 25 of 30 teams were involved in those losses.
* A visit to the Louvre complete with pictures on the Secret Decoder Ring today!
* I don't know why these guys don't check with me. The first mistake baseball made was calling this process "Contraction." Could they have found anything more negative? Was "Collapse" not strong enough? Was "Disintegration" considered and somehow found wanting?
* They should have called it - and, indeed should immediately BEGIN calling it - "Enhancement." Major League Baseball is attempting to "Enhance" the baseball experience for the entire nation. In this time of strife who doesn't want better baseball?
* Patrick Leahy, maybe, but no one else.
Copyright 2001, Richard A. Galen
We are a rule of law, not mobs. A republic protects the rights of the minority from the mob. Not surprised that DemocRATS act this way.
I am a little surprised that conservatives are pushing for mob rule out of an emotional response-- fear.
Best comment of the day came from Mitch McConnell....he was one of the last to speak and he said to Ashcroft...it's a sure sign you've won the debate when the other sides shifts from questions about military tribunals, into questions about gun control.
Yeah, they sure don't make quagmires like they used to.
IMHO, a republic also does everything it can to protect its citizens from foreign nationals so evil that they use 2-year-old children on airplanes as weapons to hurl into skyscrapers full of people whose only "crime" was showing up for work.
I want my government more concerned about my safety and well-being than the rights of foreign terrorists who have attacked my country. In so doing, they protect my rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
How Democrats can turn these minimal defensive actions into the return of Nazi Germany amazes me. Particularly since their hero, good old fuzzy loveable Billy Bob Clinton, used his executive orders to revoke the rights of every citizen of this country while they applauded.
1) Wiretaps without warrants
2) Detention without charges
3) - The beginning of the end of attorney client privilege
4) - Federalized airport security
The terrorists have attacked us, but it's evident that the greatest threat to our freedom and prosperity may come from within. Rights not protected for all are not protected for anyone. None of these changes has made one bit of difference to the war effort or our safety. It has only given W more power. To cite Ape Lincum, Get-Us-In-the-War-Wilson, and Socialism- Now-Roosevelt is hardly a plus. Also, the Supreme court has hardly been a supporting body of individual freedom but has made a shift to group rights a long time ago
As Ben Franklin noted Those who would surrender freedom fopr security deserve both. It is all the same as gun control arguments only now the emotional liberals in the Republican party are supporting it because it is pubbies in charge. Go figure
replace with "Deserve neither. "
During WWII, all mail, telegrams, and phone calls were subject to monitoring and censorship at any time without a warrant. Held to be Constitutional when FDR did it.
Attorney client privilege does not apply if it results in criminal activity. Monitoring the conversation of convicted felons when it is suspected that criminal activity is occuring has been upheld by the Supreme Court and has been used during both Democratic and Republican administrations.
The only people I've heard about being detained are illegal aliens. Even though they, by definition, are committing a crime, they are provided attorneys, and are not kept incommunicado as FDR did with the Japanese. So what these actions so abhorent this time? Could it be that its a Republican President?
Our leaders are merely refusing to live in denial...and the Dems are playing games--until and unless they think it's going to make them look bad.
That doesn't mean people in support of the measures (and the Administration itself) are ignoring the danger of the steps being taken, but it means that they are unwilling to risk the lives of their fellow citizens during a very dangerous time.
-penny
And if polls are any indication, most Americans are ready and willing to make those sacrifices...
-penny
I believe MLB is a monopoly sanctioned by Congress. Unlike football, basketball, and other professional sports, a competitive baseball league is prohibited. I have no clue as to what Constitutional authority was used to justify the monopoly legislation.
Give the government power and it never returns it. You are buying a bill of goods if you believe that crap about Roosevelt and Wilson. Besides when did they become the paragons of Freeedom? Hell, we don't even have a declared war like they legally had!
I won't stand by while a mob destroys Freedom for an illusion of safety.
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