Archive for February 21, 2009

Arthur Carter Watch, that didn’t last long

Posted: February 21, 2009 by datechguy in arthur vs carter
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Andy McCarthy asks the question What good is it to validate Gitmo and defend renditions if Obama is going to release the terrorists anyway?:

We are going to need a Friday night news-watch on this administration.

According to the New York Times, the British government has announced that it has struck an agreement with the Obama administration to release the terrorist Binyam Mohammed.

The article gives the details and closes thusly:

A couple of Fridays ago, the Obama administration promised families of the 9/11 and Cole bombing victims that justice against terrorists would be swift and sure. Well, this certainly is swift, isn’t it?

Hey that point lasted almost 5 hours: Carter 10 Arthur 4

Zombie vote wants it’s due

Posted: February 21, 2009 by datechguy in fun
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Today we discover that its not just women and children that are hardest hit by this economy:

Joblessness up 20% among Zombie Population Many claim discrimination in favor of the living.

The Star Village World Inquisitor elaborates:

Lobbyists for the undead that try to peddle their influence on Capital Hill usually get rounded up and thrown into incinerators out of the sheer ignorance of the living. Most people that have been willing to help the undead in their efforts are shunned by others of their kind.

“Only through tolerance can we overcome this burden,” says Car the Zombie, spokesperson for the undead.

Considering the money that is being thrown around it was inevitable that the Zombie population would want its share of the pie, particularly since Acorn has been registering them and they have been a powerful voting bloc in Chicago for decades. Looks like Glenn was way ahead of the curve.

Via Gimmie 5 Cents who proves the economy is worse than we thought. After all during the depression they wanted you to spare a dime, he’s asking half price even with inflation!

Arthur Carter Watch Finally a contrary vote:

Posted: February 21, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
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I was bemoaning the lack of Arthur votes and viola the administration delivers:

Detainees being held at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan cannot use US courts to challenge their detention, the US says.

The justice department ruled that some 600 so-called enemy combatants at Bagram have no constitutional rights.

Hot Air notices and grins:

Remember how the Left considered Bush a war criminal for taking this exact position? I’d like to see how they square the circle with Obama now. A few like Glenn Greenwald will rip Obama on principle, but the rest will suddenly discover the reasonableness of detaining terrorists and treating them not like burglars but like enemy combatants who have themselves violated Geneva Conventions through their terrorism.

Just as we did in the George Bush administration.

Pair this with the Gitmo news and Arthur gets that needed hit. Carter 9 Arthur 4.

Dissenting Justice continues with his honorable style in comment:

My purpose for engaging this subject arises from my belief that the Left must hold consistent positions and that it must rethink the uncritical approach it took with respect to Obama during the Democratic primaries and the general-election campaign. If McCain (or probably even Clinton) had won the election and began validating Bush’s policies, my fellow liberals would condemn him as Bush III.

In order for our arguments to have legitimacy, we must remain consistent or explain why we shift. If progressives now believe that they overreached in condemning Bush, they should make this clear. If progressives simply wanted to drum Republicans out of power, they have made a mockery of the very values they claim to embrace. Criticism and consistency, rather than partisan defense of “our” candidate, can permit greater accountability. Silence and acquiescence do not. I hope I am not the lone progressive who sees this.

No Kryten for him.

Hell my friend already told me that

Posted: February 21, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
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First (Dec 3) there is the known unspoken reality:

You can take this to the bank: Any successful attack on American soil during an Obama administration is going to be wholly owned by not only that administration but the Democratic party.

Next (Jan 16) there is the quiet acknowledgment:

“Obama is now saying how difficult it is going to be to close Gitmo, he is now seeing the same intelligence that President Bush has seen for the last 6 years.”

Then (Jan 25) the ground is prepared:

One would think that the media wants to give cover to the new administration in case it takes say the first terms to decide what to do with these oppressed individuals, dangerous terrorists. It will be interesting to see what happens.

And lo and behold now the Obama administration is telling us that all those stories about Gitmo being the Gulag of our times were just…stories:

A Pentagon report requested by President Obama on the conditions at the Guantánamo Bay detention center concluded that the prison complies with the humane-treatment requirements of the Geneva Conventions. But it makes recommendations for improvements including increasing human contact for the prisoners, according to two government officials who have read parts of it.

Glenn Reynolds notes;

So, kinda like the Katrina stuff, this Guantanamo stink was all just a bunch of political propaganda?

The Other McCain goes snark:

“This is a remarkable achievement,” the president told a press conference Friday. “A mere four weeks ago, Guantanamo Bay was a human-rights catastrophe such as the modern world had never seen. Yet today, through the power of Hope, we have succeeded in making this facility a shining examplar of freedom, a beacon of Change admired throughout the world.”
The amazing transformation, Obama told reporters, would not have been possible without the “tireless labors” of the staff of the newly-created federal Department of Unicorns and Rainbows. . . .

Now if they had talked to Josh who served there like I did years ago they would have already known this. I now wait to see if the left goes Kryten, or retracts their previous comments.

Update Volokh notices:

In the past, objecting to a Gitmo-Gulag comparison was evidence of a “withered moral sensibility,” but I suspect we’re allowed to reject such false equivalencies now.