Posted on 08/18/2006 3:39:39 AM PDT by stocksthatgoup
AN AMERICAN IN PAKISTAN: To the Guantanamo Bay inmates
Catherine Mayo
Bush has redefined justice. Justice is Guantanamo Bay. It is efficient, uncomplicated, a vast improvement over the old unwieldy system of juries, representation, appeals I apologise for what my government has done to you. I know that you are suffering the worst possible traumas that humans can endure — humiliations, tortures, interrogations, no freedom of movement, no comfort while sleeping, no hope. You have been thrown away, while still alive, by people who don’t want to think about you.
The rest of the world cares, other peoples in other nations are worried about what happens to you, but the Americans don’t care. I know this is small comfort to you, but what you are enduring now is what Americans themselves will get for justice before long. The Supreme Court is gone, the Federal Justice system is gone, all that is left is Homeland Security.
If you were to read the US Constitution now, it would read like a fairytale. None of it can be found in actual practice in the country. The only item left standing in the Bill of Rights is the right to bear arms. Americans will insist that they still have their Constitution, that no one has repealed it yet, but if we were to ask them to practice it they would say that they are too busy, they just don’t have the time today.
I wish I could tape on the outside of each of your small cells a copy of the Declaration of Independence. Every man has the inalienable right to the freedom to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. But if I did that, the guards would probably charge you with treason. On top of all the other charges against you that they haven’t decided on yet.
The US government is very methodical, it knows what it is doing. George Bush is making sure that America is never taken before an international court for crimes against humanity. He is setting a precedent with you. No one has stopped him, so now he has eliminated the word ‘justice’ from our vocabulary. Or rather, he has redefined it. Justice is Guantanamo Bay. It is efficient, uncomplicated, a vast improvement over the old unwieldy system of juries, representation, appeals.
I served as a jurist on several cases in a court in Vermont. I watched the attorneys at work, how they used the power of evidence and the power of words to present their case. I listened to the confusing array of witnesses. The person on trial was considered innocent during the trial, and was treated with respect. It was up to us, the twelve jurors, twelve ordinary people who didn’t know each other; to sit down together and talk about everything we had heard and make a unanimous decision.
Being a juror was very difficult for me, because I knew that the person on trial was innocent until we made our decision. And the decision of the jury had to be unanimous. If the defendant was charged as guilty, and went to prison, I was personally responsible.
All Americans who are registered to vote are eligible to become jurists. Most Americans have felt the weight of justice on their own shoulders. They know the importance of evidence, of sworn statements by witnesses, of the eloquence of attorneys. President Bush also knows. He is well aware of what would happen if an international court were to see the evidence of his treatment of you.
This is all so depressing. I am trying to think of something to say that will give you a cheerful moment in your day. I would like your e-mail addresses, but I know of course that is impossible. I don’t want to talk about the world, because it is only going from bad to worse. The world is still here, all the continents and oceans, and that is good news.
For those of you who have been in Pakistan, I want to let you know about the latest developments. Smoking is now prohibited in public places. By ‘public places’ they don’t mean parks or sidewalks, they just mean inside public places. So I’m really not sure what they are talking about. The police are on a new campaign to get people to drive properly. Right now they are working on getting people to stop at stoplights on the other side of the pedestrian walkways. I think the next project is to forbid U turns, but I don’t know if they will ever get to that.
The rains have started. I guess that’s about it. Oh, and the whole of Pakistan was cut off from the Internet for about 12 hours. A major investigation is underway to figure out why that happened.
Cathy Mayo is an American journalist based in Pakistan
Posted on 08/17/2006 3:31:45 PM CDT by Sub-Driver
Woman on diverted flight 'barely lucid'
By MELISSA TRUJILLO, Associated Press Writer 50 minutes ago
A woman on a trans-Atlantic flight diverted to Boston for security concerns passed several notes to crew members, urinated on the cabin floor and made comments the crew believed were references to al-Qaida and the Sept. 11 attacks, according to an affidavit filed Thursday.
Catherine C. Mayo, 59, of Braintree, Vt., appeared in federal court Thursday on a charge of interfering with a flight crew on United 923 as it flew from London to Washington, D.C., Wednesday.
She was dressed in a Rolling Stones T-shirt, black pants and socks without shoes for the hearing and was ordered held pending a detention and probable cause hearing next Thursday. ------------------------
One and the Same?
Liberalism IS a mental disorder.
Why Boston? Why can't these flights be diverted to Gitmo?
Especially if they decide to take a leak in the aisle of an airplane
She sounds just as lucid as John Kerry to me. I dont see much difference, except Theresa wont let him pee in the aisle of her private plane.
America's 5th Column... just doing their part.
She may be onto something. (or, more likely, on something.)
This woman is a pisser.
Liberalism IS a mental disorder.
Worth repeating stocksthatgoup, and thank you Michael Savage!
and has lost her grip on reality. I honestly don't think that she's seeing the world around her except through the lens of BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrom), in which everything you see is colored in some way by an irrational hatred of George Bush.
Mark
She pissed in the aisle on her say so
When out came her screw driver
It fell down beside her
"It tightens the loose ones in my credo!"
Question is....will she fool the authorities and the public like she doesn't fool us?
Leni
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