Is at Sadly, No, in response to a wingnut troll:
Dorothy said, January 14, 2007 at 23:46
OMG! My Constitutional liberties have been diminished! I’m not sure exactly how, but maybe Gavin will shed light on it. I’ve heard that, while I can still talk to my terrorist friends, there is a chance it might be recorded. The HORROR! Constitutional rights down the toilet! Freedom disappearing! I can’t go on!!
The problem is, Kevin, that once Constitutional rights have been denied to any single American citizen, we are all equally at risk. I’m going to say this very slowly: there is no legal distinction between you and me and Jose Padilla. We share the same legal status: we have not been arrested, charged with any crime, pled a case before a judge, or convicted in a court of law. Whether or not he is actually guilty of anything is completely irrelevant: legally, the government has exactly as much right to detain him as they do you and me and Gavin and my cat. None. What. So. Ever.I don’t care if they toss him in prison and throw away the key after his trial. He hasn’t had one. The government isn’t planning to give him one: they are now arguing that he is incompetant to stand trial, so even if they were planning to give him a trial, they can’t now. Oh, well, them’s the breaks. Too bad, so sad.
And if they get away with this, there is nothing and no one that can prevent the same thing happening to you. Or a member of your family. Or one of your friends.
So’s here’s the new Miranda warning; get used to it:
You had the right to remain silent. Now, you can be tortured until you confess, and anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law–that is, assuming you actually ever get to see the inside of a courtroom or even military tribunal chamber.
You had the right to an attorney, but since we no longer allow you to notify anyone that you have been detained and keep the fact that you’re in custody a national secret, we’d like to see you try to contact one. And we won’t let you talk to your attorney anyway, so there.
If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you by the court–at least, until we get the boycott of attorneys who represent detainees pro bono under way and drive those Constitution-hugging traitors out of business. Besides, when we’re done with you, you won’t be sane enough to stand trail anyway, so boo fucking hoo.
Quit acting like a girl. That was in no way an attempt to offend girls. It’s just that Gavin was acting like one of you. Girls rock. Gavin, not so much.
Please define “acting like a girl”. I’m dying to see what behavior patterns you characterize as “rocking” when performed by “a girl” and yet offensive when done by Gavin.
“Giving a damn about one’s fellow Americans,” maybe?
Or “valuing the rule of law that is the foundation of our country”?
Or how about “realizing that something doesn’t have to affect one personally in order to be bad”?
Maybe just “not being a self-centered asshole”?
Not a lot one can add to that is there?
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