The rat trap is set.
Posted on 09/28/2006 8:54:10 AM PDT by MNJohnnie
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1709588/posts?page=1
House passes detainee bill
Republicans pushed a bill supported by President George W. Bush to set rules for interrogating and trying terrorism suspects through the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday and Senate Republicans were expected to follow within a day.
The House passed the bill 253-168 largely along party lines, dismissing warnings from Democrats that courts would strike down the plan for failing to meet judicial standards.
Republicans who control both chambers want to send the bill to Bush by the weekend, when lawmakers head out to campaign for November elections that will determine control of Congress.
The bill sets up procedures to try foreign terrorism suspects at the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Supreme Court struck down Bush's original plan, saying it violated U.S. and international standards.
As Senate debate on the bill got under way, Republicans defeated an attempt to pass an alternative that Democrats said would meet Supreme Court standards and help restore America's image, damaged by harsh treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay and abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
The Senate was expected to pass the bill on Thursday, after considering several other amendments.
Republicans, seeking to polish their terrorism-fighting credentials in the final days of their campaigns, depicted the new rules as tough but fair.
"By formally establishing terrorist tribunals, the bill provides a critical tool in fighting the war on terror and it provides a measure of justice to the victims of 9/11," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, a California Republican, said the bill provides "basic fairness in our prosecutions but we also preserve the ability of our war fighters to operate effectively on the battlefield."
But Human rights groups and many Democrats said the deal gave Bush too much latitude to allow harsh interrogations and to deprive detainees of legal rights.
Rep. Ellen Tauscher, a California Democrat, said agreeing to "such an ambiguous compromise would allow the president to define torture when and how he sees fit."
Rep. Louise Slaughter, a New York Democrat, said the bill sends a signal that "America's leaders are willing to abandon our values ... in favor of thuggish tactics they hope might make them safer for a little while."
Democrats also predicted the courts would find the bill unconstitutional because it deprived detainees held without charges of the right to file legal challenges to their imprisonment.
Under a compromise worked out last week, the CIA will be able to continue aggressive interrogations, but supporters of the bill said agency interrogators would comply with the Geneva Conventions' requirement for humane treatment.
The bill also expands the definition of "enemy combatants," who can be held indefinitely without charges, to include those who knowingly support terrorist groups with arms, money and other activities.
Backers of the bill said that provision would choke off supplies to terrorist groups, but critics said it was too broad and could subject many more people to indefinite detention.
Welcome
Here's hoping he never says a word about the incident.
Thanks for the ping...here late but here.
Keith Gooberman called Chris Wallace a monkey
Rope a dope...
The Independent (London); September 5, 2002, Thursday; NEW YORK STUNNED AS CUOMO DROPS OUT OF RACE
THE RACE for the governorship of New York has taken an unexpected turn after Andrew Cuomo, until only recently the favourite to challenge the popular Republican incumbent, George Pataki, stepped forward and announced he was waving the white flag.
The decision by Mr Cuomo, a longtime prodigy of Bill Clinton and a former member of his cabinet, was a stunning development in a race which culminates in November and is already one of the most important in this election season. Analysts said it was unprecedented in the history of gubernatorial contests.
But the Clinton connection, in the end, helped to thwart him. As the race heated up, neither the former President nor Hillary Clinton, now a New York senator, came forward to campaign with him.
Instead, it became clear Mrs Clinton was behind Mr McCall. But Mr Cuomo, whose wife comes from the Kennedy clan and suffers from an uppity, almost young-buck image, made mistakes of his own.
Most damaging was a remark he made in April that during the days after the 11 September attacks, Mr Pataki "held the leader's coat", a reference to then Mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani. The jab at Mr Pataki was considered tasteless in view of the national feeling of tragedy, and Mr Cuomo further hurt his prospects by deciding this summer to forego an appearance at his party's state convention. Thus, he alienated himself from the grassroots.
The sad part is that some freepers are bailing out on Allen...
I agree, such a non-story.
I was following the school shooting thread yesterday and the were complaining of no coverage because of the T.O. crap.
I stumbled onto the show late but the acting is excellent
I can't watch the local news anymore. Too much Obama fawning.
Great info in the opening post. :)
So Senator Allen was accused of saying the "n" word 17 years ago by a guy who now admits it's hearsay that he heard some other unnamed source say he used it, which has been contradictd by over a dozen other people who knew Allen those years who say they never heard him say it, and it gets nationwide front page service. And now Webb, Democrat, opponant to Allen in Virginia, is admitted to have driven in cars with friends pointing fake guns at black people, calling them the "n" word, 20 years ago, did that BY HIS OWN ADMISSION, but that story gets a basic pass from the national media. Nope. No media bias there. What a further crock of media crap.
since you understood what's your point?
He's a real POS. His father knew that he couldn't be POTUS, but he wanted to play "King Maker" and see his son in that office. They're a real pair those two!
Her husband made headlines for other things too. She's put up with a lot from him.
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