What I was "mocking" was those who will substitute their own judgment for those who have actually SEEN the evidence.
I DON'T KNOW if Al-Arian was guilty of the charges against him. I've seen or read very little of the evidence. I wouldn't presume to claim that I know more about it than those who spent weeks and weeks looking at that evidence.
And while people like Al-Arian "may be judged guilty by reasonable people of good will," that doesn't subject one to punishment by the state under our system of government unless the LEGAL standard of guilt is satisfied. You seem to wish that were different, i.e. that some folks could just say "Hmmm, it SEEMS like he's guilty, and he's said some bad things, so I think he's guilty", and that this would allow the state to impose sentence. That ain't how it works, and if that ever becomes how it works we have lost our country as surely as we would if the Black Flag of jihad were flying over it.
Now, quit making up positions to ascribe to me and try to be at least minimally honest.
blah, blah, blah, blah..... I can see why you are so widely despised around here..... you always have to throw in personal insults instead of keeping to the point in a reasoned discussion. No one cares about your feeble ravings, so get over yourself.
TAMPA - A judge sentenced former professor Sami Al-Arian on Monday to another year and a half in prison before he will be deported in his terrorism conspiracy case, calling him ''an active leader'' in a Palestinian terror group.
Al-Arian, 48, was sentenced to four years and nine months, but he will get credit for the three years and three months he already has served.
Attorney Linda Moreno asked U.S. District Judge James S. Moody Jr. to release her client now, but the judge refused and called Al-Arian ``a master manipulator.''
Al-Arian signed a plea agreement April 14 in which he admitted providing support to members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a State Department-designated terrorist group responsible for hundreds of deaths in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
The former University of South Florida computer engineering professor took the plea deal even though a jury failed to convict him on any of the 17 charges against him after a six-month trial last year. His family said he took the deal to get out of jail and end their suffering.
I like this comment from Judge Moody:
Dismissing the defense contentions that money was raised for charities, Moody said: ``Your only connection to widows and orphans was that you create them.''