You know, I actually haven't had a good nights sleep in about 40 years... just knowing that Charlie Manson is in prison on American soil makes me cry into my pillow every night. They actually didn't send him to another country to try him, what recklessness, what foolishness! It's just impossible for me to feel safe knowing how fast and loose they play with my safety and security.
Jeezus H. Willikers, are we Americans not the most cowardly, wimpy people on the face of the earth? We're afraid to try criminals on our own soil. We're afraid to release the innocent, and man (and woman) up to it and say "we're sorry, we were wrong, and we can never make it right to you and for you, but for what we did to you, we will give you lots of what we love the most in all the world: money. So maybe you can resume your life, and have a chance to have a prosperous and productive one."
But no. We can't do that. Well, I know you and I can, but Obama can't. Hillary can't. McCain can't. Biden can't. Rush and Glenn and Mike Huckabee and Juan Williams and Nina Tottenburg and Thomas Friedman can't. Why is it that our leaders and our scribes and our "intellectuals" are all so much stupider, and crueler, and smaller, and more primative than we are? They say people get the government they deserve. You and I don't, that's for damn sure.
Guantanamo trials of terror suspects can resume, Obama says
President Obama has lifted his administration's freeze on new prosecutions at Guantanamo Bay -- though the White House insists he still intends to close the facility.
By James Oliphant and Christi Parsons
Washington Bureau
The Los Angeles Times
March 7, 2011
Reporting from Washington
President Obama on Monday cleared the way for new military trials for suspected terrorists at the Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, while the White House insisted that the president still intended to eventually close the embattled facility.
Obama lifted a freeze on new prosecutions under the military commission system that he put in place shortly after taking office in 2009, saying that the process, which had been heavily criticized by human-rights groups and other countries for a lack of fairness, had been revised to better safeguard the rights of detainees.
The president said his actions Monday "broaden our ability to bring terrorists to justice, provide oversight for our actions and ensure the humane treatment of detainees."
About 170 detainees remain jailed at the prison, down from 242 when Obama took office.
Shuttering the prison at Guantanamo and shifting cases to civilian federal courts was a bedrock promise of Obama's presidential campaign, and he argued that the facility's reputation was used a recruiting tool for terrorists. But the Justice Department's decision in 2009 to try high-ranking Al Qaeda operative Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in New York City provoked outrage among both Republicans and Democrats and damaged momentum for closing the prison.
In addition, the administration's plans to transfer some of the detainees to facilities in the United States also became highly controversial.
According to the White House, procedures for the reworked tribunals will include a ban on the use of statements taken as a result of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and a revamped system for handling classified information. Obama also outlined procedures in an executive order for periodic reviews of the circumstances of each suspect's detention to determine whether the individual constitutes a significant threat to national security.
The White House's announcement, however, included a vigorous defense of trying suspected terrorists in federal courts, suggesting that the administration is not backing away from its commitment to use the civilian criminal justice system where possible. Late last year, Congress restricted the ability of the administration to transfer terrorism suspects to the United States from Guantanamo for trial. The White House said it would seek the repeal of those restrictions.
Just last week, Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder conceded to a congressional panel that he didn't know whether the administration would be able to close the facility by the end of the president's first term.
In a statement Monday, Holder said the president's order "strengthens the legal framework under which we will continue to detain those individuals who are at war with our country and who pose a significant threat to the security of the United States. In addition, federal courts will continue to review the legality of detention of individuals at Guantanamo. While we continue to work to close Guantanamo, these steps will ensure that the detention of individuals there is appropriate under our laws."
latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-guantanamo-20110308,0,5728203.story
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I want to play in your town for you and 2 of your friends.
http://eventful.com/performers/matt-love-/P0-001-000156481-4/demands
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