GoldbergBlog

Election 2006: Of Pages and Prisoners

Over on another message board I frequent, the theory has been floated that since the Republican leadership already knew about Representative Mark Foley’s “habits”, that they puposely devoured one of their own in order to get Woodward’s recent book, State of Denial and all of the other bad Iraq news out of the cycle. I personally don’t buy it. The party of “Family Values” does not exchange a foreign war for a gay sex scandal (I hesitate to use the phrase “gay pedophile sex scandal” since the page was 16-years-old; it’s statutory cyber-rape at best).

While I don’t exactly weep about bad things happening to the Republican party, I do lament that this is not news. This story may even hurt the Republicans in November, but I still lament that this is not news. The Foley scandal is a breach of trust, an abuse of power, but the greater impact of the story only reaches as far as high school students reconsidering that future in politics.

The real news is the recently passed “Torture Bill”, which also has the fun benefit of suspending habeus corpus. While it’s important to understand that the bill cannot suspend habeus corpus for U.S. citizens, the Government could still conceivably lock you up for years as an “enemy combatant” while your case dragged out for years. Also, somehow bypassing the Fifth Amendment, you are not entitled to speedy trial by a jury of your peers.

Still, the real danger is for non-citizens who will basically have no rights at the drop of a hat. They could well be in for an adventure of Kafka-esque proportions.

But listening to NPR this morning, John Yoo, who helped to formulate these policies, argued that the reason for suspending these basic civil liberties like “Right to an attorney” and “Innocent till proven guility beyond a reasonable doubt” was because…wait for it… it’s too expensive. That’s right. Apparently the trial process is too costly for all those who want to be treated fairly. How’s that for a kick to the balls? It’s not just about fighting dirty; it’s about fighting cheaply. Unfortunately for all those thay may be locked up and innocent right now, we just don’t have the cash to pay for all that freedom and democracy we keep preaching about.

Now who wants another tax cut?

Said In a Crotchity Voice

“Whatever happened to Fruitopia?”

According to the last bastion of truth, Wikipedia, it became Minute Maid.

I cry shenanigans! We already had Minute Maid! Fruitopia was great! It’s what Sir Thomas More would have drank.