When did habeas corpus become an American right? These are concepts that date back hundreds of years and are considered the backbone of western law. The right to face your accuser. The right to see and challenge the evidence against you. Do we actually consider these "American" rights, or are they basic human rights?

Hundreds of people have been detained at Gitmo. What's never mentioned is that after months and years of detainment, the vast majority have been released without charge. Many former detainees were picked up on the flimsiest of evidence, and many were accused by people receiving bounty payments from the US. Many, if not most, were innocent men.

Two tiers of justice, one for us, one for them, means that we have no true justice. If America is to be the moral leader in this world, it must live up to its high standards and exemplify true justice and principle even if a price is exacted down the road. Otherwise, how do we differ from thug regimes?

Posted at June 22, 2008 8:06 AM in response to "I Want My Lawyer" -Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

Wisconsin has a real dichotomy in its two senators. One, Herb Kohl, achieved his senatorship the old fashioned way: he bought it. He's the megarich founder of Kohl's department stores and the owner of the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team. Kohl doesn't even show up in the newspapers here, he is so low key and under the radar. My sense is that he enjoys being a member of an exclusive club, the US Senate. All the rest of the Senate duties is just busy work.

Feingold came out of nowhere to win election. He traveled the state extensively, using a series of clever TV ads to introduce himself. His net worth is not much more than us average Workin' Joes.

I've had the opportunity to attend two of Feingold's county meetings. (He holds a open forum in every Wisconsin county each year.) He's well spoken, polite, humorous. He certainly is not afraid to take a stand. His actions, such has his lone vote against the "Patriot" Act make him appear to be some wild dissenter, but if you actually listen to his reasoning, he's very grounded and commonsensical.

I'd like to see Feingold replace Reid as Majority Leader. Feingold has worked cross-aisle and he's got much more spine than the milquetoast Reid. The VP slot would be good if Feingold had any prez ambitions in 2016. I'll tell you one thing: Feingold would be a great president.

Posted at June 22, 2008 7:46 AM in response to Death by a Thousand Cuts - My Feingold Endorsement

I always try to work in a little nudity and sex...

Posted at June 19, 2008 9:42 PM in response to Tips For Getting your Blog "Recommended!"

Face it, Obama's damned if he does, damned if he doesn't. He's faced more trivial nonsense, much of it directly posed to him by MSM clowns, than all other candidates combined. I refer to the flag pin brouhaha and the terrorist fist jab, among others. Obama's staff can seat these women with head scarves where the cameras can pick them up, and then the Obama staff can spend two weeks battling viral emails about Obama's bad Muslim self and misrepresentations by Fox News. While the decision to move the two women may have been a bad one, it's understandable how Obama's staffers may have been concerned with the "firestorm" that would have occurred had the women been in camera view.

Posted at June 19, 2008 9:39 PM in response to Obama afraid of being seen with Black leaders, Muslims and religious leaders

Fred Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute came up with the surge idea. Originally, he tossed out numbers like 80,000 additional soldiers, but revamped his numbers down to 20,000, likely discovering that 80,000 wasn't possible. Bush and McCain trumpet this as some sort of brilliant strategy, yet they fired the generals in the early war stages that gave realistic assessments of the number of troops required. Bush now is in kill-the-clock mode, making no effort to resolve this mess, leaving it to the next president.

Posted at June 19, 2008 9:27 PM in response to FOR OBAMA AND McCAIN : RETHINKING U.S. IRAQI OCCUPATION.

P.S. I think I may also provide a tiny stimulus, a micro tremor, with a meager yet heartfelt donation to Obama's campaign. May I suggest you give thought to that as well?

Posted at June 14, 2008 11:02 PM in response to Thanks to the Chinese and to your grandchildren

Obama cannot simply stand by and let McCain speak, waiting for the voters to realize McCain is an empty uniform. Too many pundits, many on "leftish" media, repeatedly state that McCain has the edge on national security without taking the time to analyze McCain's rather thin resume. He finished in the 1 percentile in his Naval Academy class. And while I wouldn't wish his imprisonment on anyone, friend or foe, he was sitting in a cell during the war, not leading troops. But that doesn't matter. In the MSM, the story is the blurb, the sound bite. Obama, and especially his surrogates, have to attack the notion of McCain as military leader. We in the blogosphere need to visit less friendly sites and raise these questions about his actual experience, and about his apparent lack of understanding of the current situation overseas.

Posted at June 14, 2008 10:58 PM in response to The Mythos of McCain (w/Thanks to Francesca Hamilton)

In the brawl of ideas, McCain is bringing only a pea shooter and Obama is toting a howitzer.

Posted at June 14, 2008 10:34 PM in response to Obama as the General Election Candidate: "Wanna Rumble?"

I wish you would have inverted the income brackets. I had to scroll a loooonnnng way to find mine.

Posted at June 14, 2008 2:12 PM in response to Obama and McCain: tax policies analysis

I believe Barack is 46 years old, which is comparable to my age of 48. I reached draft age a few years after Viet Nam ended. Following a decade long disastrous war, the military was not highly regarded as a career choice. I considered the Marines' Officer Candidate School during college, but decided against it. The country was not at war; I never felt a compulsion to join. I'm sure my experience is very similar to many men my age, and may reflect Obama's experience.

I am very thankful to those who have served and fought when called upon. I often think of how few men in this world have never had a gun thrust in their hands by their government, have never had to point a gun at another man or had a gun pointed at them. I've been fortunate to fall into that category.

Posted at June 14, 2008 9:35 AM in response to McCain's "I'm a POW ..." is to Rudy's "9/11"