You guys piss and moan about having a majority at one time or another—the fact of the matter is this—when any ONE Senator can put a BLIND hold PERMANENTLY on ANY legislation, vote totals—majorities simple or sixty—JUST DON’T MATTER. When the will of the people can be thwarted by ONE person SECRETLY, none of the rest of it matters. And being "Commander-in-Chief has nothing to do with THAT.
When Lindsey Graham cowered and said we didn’t want such AWFUL people in our country, uniformly the people in the towns that support our Federal pens said “STFU—of COURSE we do.”But Graham and his ilk were too cowardly (or too politically motivated) to ever allow it to happen.
That whole “ticking time bomb, Jack Bauer” scenario is just so much bullshit—it’s a smokescreen dragged out and coupled with the emotional blackmail of “what if it was your family at risk?”The EXPERTS, the people who’ve done it, for our government and others, say it doesn’t work—sure, you break the suspect, but you get wildly unreliable information—they are at the point where they will tell you ANYTHING, guessing at what you want them to say, just to get it to stop.Seriously, you’ve got to stop watching re-runs of “24.”
Jesus, Tigger; what world do you live in that the only two possibilities are taking away his (and, by precedent, everyone’s) right to a fair trial and a slap on the wrist!! How about letting this legal system run its course, try and convict him (probably) in a court of law. represented by a lawyer, and letting the court sentence him. He can do life, or face the death penalty—I’m good with any of it AFTER a legal trial with his rights intact. Because if they can “suspend” his rights (he’s an American citizen) they can suspend any of ours. What I was pointing out is that in your rush to take away his rights because YOU are sure of his guilt you weaken our system of justice, and erode rights for all of us.
It slays me that some of my Repub friends are all for denying justice to this guy. These are the same people who want to keep their guns because they can’t trust the government. Well, OK in this case, it SEEMS (but isn’t certain) that it’s pretty open and shut. But how about the next guy the Feds go after, or the tenth, or the thousandth—do they really think NO mistakes will be made, that none of the thousand were spirited away because they were a problem for the government? What it if the Feds showed up on their doorsteps to arrest their kid in a mailbox bombing—would they say to themselves, “Well, my kid must be guilty, cuz they’re never wrong” or would they demand a pretty high standard of justice for their own? It always amazes me how quickly they are ready to lower the standards that make this country what it is, just for perceived safety or convenience.
Let’s face it—filibuster reform is what will save us. How do we get filibuster reform passed in both Houses when the money interests like it the way it is—that a SINGLE legislator can place a SECRET hold on ANY legislation?Whelp—we’re screwed.
Tigger—the haircut is to insure a portion of THEIR OWN BAILOUT; the rest of the money comes from Germany and the EU. But the same thing happened in Greece.—look; they created their own problems with profligate spending and the national past time of tax avoidance, but when somebody you’ve asked to bail you out attaches strings, THEN you go into outrage mode?
You guys piss and moan about having a majority at one time or another—the fact of the matter is this—when any ONE Senator can put a BLIND hold PERMANENTLY on ANY legislation, vote totals—majorities simple or sixty—JUST DON’T MATTER. When the will of the people can be thwarted by ONE person SECRETLY, none of the rest of it matters. And being "Commander-in-Chief has nothing to do with THAT.