No MP3s today, but I’ll be heading home to New Hampshire tomorrow and will have my new Macbook by Wednesday which will let me get back to sharing music with a lot more ease. For now, it’s just a few of the more ridiculous quotes from the week, and some other political goodies…
First, for the winner of this week’s “Are They Serious?” contest, check out the latest from Charles D. Stimson, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs:
I think the news story that you’re really going to start seeing in the next couple of weeks is this: As a result of a FOIA request through a major news organization, somebody asked, ‘Who are the lawyers around this country representing detainees down there?’ and you know what, it’s shocking.
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I think, quite honestly, when corporate C.E.O.’s see that those firms are representing the very terrorists who hit their bottom line back in 2001, those C.E.O.’s are going to make those law firms choose between representing terrorists or representing reputable firms, and I think that is going to have major play in the next few weeks. And we want to watch that play out.
Those freedoms the terrorists supposedly hate us for sure don’t mean a lot to Cully Stimson, do they? Freedoms like the right to legal representation, the opportunity to have one’s case heard in court with all the available evidence assembled. Let us all remember that these are alleged terrorists, hundreds of which have been sent home for lack of any evidence of wrongdoing.
Don’t get me wrong: some of them (perhaps even most of them) assuredly are guilty and are probably Very Bad People. But the premise that an accusation of terrorism is enough to strip away all the legal protections we supposedly treasure so dearly reminds me all too much of colonial witch trials.
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Speaking of clueless people, how about this quote:
“Republican discipline was critically important when we were passing legislation and moving an agenda,” House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said. “The Democrats will soon move from these issues that poll at 80, 90 percent to issues that really matter.”
What does it say about the GOP that one of their spokespeople thinks issues with overwhelming support of the American people don’t “really matter?” I guess that’s not “serious” politics, not like insisting on escalating a failed war for lack of any better ideas.
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It sounds more and more like Obama will run. The latest tip is from Political Wire and involves Oprah.
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Is Bush going to actually do something about global warming? I won’t believe it until I see details and indication that he’s willing to put some muscle behind it, but on the tiny, tiny chance that this will be a meaningful effort, I might be willing to declare the Bush Administration something other than a complete disaster.
See my previous post about global warming, or read up on my favorite energy solution: feebates. If the State of the Union thing pans out and energy is looking like a major issue for 2007, I’ll probably talk in a lot more detail about why feebates are great.
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Finally, do not let John McCain distance himself from the escalation in Iraq. It’s his idea and he needs to be held accountable when it doesn’t work.
To do your small part, join in the googlebomb campaign.