Senators are concerned that tourism to the United States has dropped nearly 20% since 2001 and they want to open a special office to promote tourism. Of course this accidental activist couldn't resist putting together an example of what their first big PR blitz might look like!

Attorney General Gonzales arrives for a review of war crimes trials at Guantanamo Bay



Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (Rotters) - An angry Alberto Gonzales flew overnight to Guantanamo Bay Cuba in an apparent effort to stave off disaster for the Bush administration after yesterday's dismissal of charges against two detainees by two military judges. Charges were dismissed against the two prisoners over what appears to be a technicality in the failure of last fall's hastily prepared Republican legislation passed by Congress to address a Supreme Court ruling over the legality of the administration's ability to prosecute detainees in Guantanamo Bay.

One of the cornerstones of our great American experiment is that all persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty, and each person is entitled to representation by a competent attorney when accused of a crime.

I guess the Deputy Secretary of Defense hates the Constitution and the very principles upon which this country was founded. Why else would he threaten lawyers representing Gitmo detainees? Read on intrepid progressives, because one more nail in the coffin of this great experiment just got pounded on Friday.

The Center for Constituional Rights will file a suit in Berlin on Tuesday charging Donald Rumsfeld with war crimes for Gitmo and other abuses of the Geneva Convention.

I can understand the rationale for not wanting to impeach Bush, Cheney, et al, but if a sitting President can get away with destroying the Constitution the way Bush has, then why do we even have impeachment proceedings anymore.  We are not talking about covering up a second rate burglary job or fibbing about a consensual sex act in the oval office.  We are talking about the systematic destruction of the document that holds this country together -- what else do you have to do to get impeached.  My question is what will the new Congress do if their investigations/subpoenas turn up evidence of impeachable offenses.  Will they move forward or simply sweep it under to rug?

See the case for impeachment for more information

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"The Camp X-Ray Tango"




[DICK]

Cock.

[SCOOTER]

Fitz.

[DENNY]

Swish.

[GEORGIE]

Uh uh.

[DONNY]

Gitmo.

[TOMMY]

Dipshits!

[ANCHORMAN]

And now the six merry treasonists of the Guantanamo Bay Facility in their rendition of "The Camp X-Ray Tango"...

"The power of the executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgment of his peers, is in the highest degree odious, and the foundation of all totalitarian government whether Nazi or Communist." ~~Winston Churchill

And so we sit, shackled by self-imposed chains of fear, captivated by shadowy forms that move discordantly across the walls of our perception. Once again we are eager to accept appearance for reality. The Supreme Court ruling last week rejecting George Bush's military commissions to try Guantanamo detainees casts a huge shadow on the wall. Many are saying it not only curbed Bush and Cheney's unlimited presidential power grab, but absolved us of the responsibility of having to do anything about it.

The GOP has caved in on Guantanamo. Just a few days after the Senate approved an amendment stripping the detainees of access to the courts, Graham and the Republicans have caved in in the face of an impending lawsuit by Senator Jeff Bingaman and heavy public pressure on Senators. The Associated Press has broken the story.

The new bill is a compromise that will grant automatic access to the courts in cases where people are sentenced to over 10 years and the courts could have discretion to hear lesser sentences.

This case is significant, because it used to be that the GOP caving in on such an issue used to be unthinkable. But now, with Senators worried about their own reelection, the unthinkable is starting to happen.