The Guantanamo Bay one raises my ire!Originally Posted by Jim Rose
There is an Australian incarcerated there, David Hicks, he hasn't been chargdd. The US government has even changed the rules after having been challenged in court. Fuckwit Bush has to be America's most corrupt President. Sadly our Johnnie supports Dubya!
Rex
On the Sunshine Coast, in the Sunshine State Queensland (QLD), Australia
>>Sadly our Johnnie supports Dubya!<<
Maybe he supports the principles of the US--- The President is a short term thing-- even our King George is due to leave soon.
Many Americans, myself among them, are very much troubled by the idea of arresting/holding a person in custody, indefinitely, without charging him with a specific crime - and so on.
Hitler and Stalin used the same sort of bullshit tactics - appealing to the warped patriotism (and exploiting the fear) of their countrymen, painting these people as "enemies of the state" - just like today's "enemy combatants."
Perhaps the individuals involved are criminals or terrorists; if so, however, they should be charged and prosecuted accordingly. The rule of law is what separates a decent country - and government - from one run by thugs.
We currently suffer under a thug, unfortunately. But in 24 months, with luck, he will be sent back to Texas.
>>We currently suffer under a thug, unfortunately. But in 24 months, with luck, he will be sent back to Texas. <<
And we don't want him---
Our Prime Minister, John howard is under pressure from members of his own party to bring David Hicks back, and to be tried under Australian law, or even international law.
I hope that will happen, and soon. that will at least show Dubya that we are a sovreign nation not beholden to the world bully!
Rex
On the Sunshine Coast, in the Sunshine State Queensland (QLD), Australia
I hope that will happen, and soon. that will at least show Dubya that we are a sovreign nation not beholden to the world bully!
Australia is less tolerant of Muslims than the U.S. and of Illegals in their country than the Political Correct Society over here. I never thought your Prime Minister or your country was beholden to the U.S. I wish George Bush could do what your Prime Minister has done
You are going to tell me what our Prime Minister has done? Please enlighten me
Rex
On the Sunshine Coast, in the Sunshine State Queensland (QLD), Australia
Apprx. 1 month ago the australian government issued an order that all illegal middle easterns be returned to their country of origin.
As we are a fair country they have the right of appeal....it applies to all persons her not just thosefrom the middle east
Rex
On the Sunshine Coast, in the Sunshine State Queensland (QLD), Australia
"Our Prime Minister, John howard is under pressure from members of his own party to bring David Hicks back, and to be tried under Australian law, or even international law.
I hope that will happen, and soon. that will at least show Dubya that we are a sovreign nation not beholden to the world bully!"
I hope your PM stands up to The Chimp; Australia is a sovereign state that ought to look out for the interests of her citizens - and refuse to be told what to do by a strutting fool like our Chimp.
It's shocking to me how blase many Americans are about The Chimp's assault on habeas corpus, smirking/winking endorsement of torture as state policy and his assertion that he may, at his discretion and without providing specific evidence, label anyone he pleases (including American citizens) an "enemy combatant" and essentially strip them of due process rights and hold them, incommunicado and without access to legal counsel or appeal, indefinitely.
The man is a vile thug - and I thank fate that he is being exposed for what he is; that a majority of Americans now oppose him - and that people are beginning to see through him and the demagoguery and contempt for our way of life which has characterized his administration.
The problem I have with your general tone is that it leads to the sort of problem Mexico had last week. Fortunately, most people learned how to moderate their public discourse by the time they got to 9th grade.
Mike,
The assaults on our civil liberties by this man are extreme - and merit an extreme response. I'm sorry if my "tone" meets with your disapproval - but I get my back up when I listen to a smirking half-wit impugn my patriotism, threaten basic rights (including habeas corpus) evince open contempt for honest disagreement, who drags us into a needless and tragically run war - then refuses to acknowledge his errors, make changes or hold anyone (let alone himself) accountable.
Screw that SOB. He is without doubt the worst president of the last 100 years; perhaps ever.
The only reason he would be regarded by anyone as "the worst President in the last 100 years" is that most history books are written by college professors, usually liberal by tone and peer pressure if not by actual persuasion.
On that note, sort of, Dottie asked her students on Dec. 7 this week if they knew the significance of the date. They didn't, even after she quoted the section of FDR's speech, "December 7, 1941, a day that will live in infamy."
Studies show that most high school seniors can't name who we fought in WWII, can't get the dates of the war within 20 years, and can't get WWI in the correct century. It has become politically incorrect to call a foreign government an aggressor.
Pity Jean Kirkpatrick died yesterday. She invented the phrase, "Blame America first."
On the other hand, she didn't smoke a pipe like Millicent Fenwick!
We shall see.
I believe the Iraq war will have (and has already had) repercussions that will negatively affect this country for decades to come - and may perhaps be seen in retrospect as the trigger/catalyst of some awful things we can't yet imagine.
I do know - because it is a fact - that this war has already wasted thousands of lives and many billions of dollars. And I do know - because it is a fact - that it was The Chimp (not I) who brought the level of public discourse to its current state by demonizing any criticism as being simpatico with "the enemies of freedom."
I cannot think of a single positive result to date of this man's presidency. As I stated previously, he has managed to ruin everything he's ever touched - and then walks away to leave others to pick up the pieces.
And many of us feel the same about Clinton, a man who will go down in history at best as a deeply flawed, over-ambitious man who was saved from himself by the disastrous (to him) 1994 election and one Democrat (Robert Byrd) who said that although he believed Clinton had committed an impeachable offense, could not bring himself to vote against a Democrat President.
Fortunately, time gives a perspective that is lacking at the time. Lincoln was largely regarded as one of the worst Presidents ever in his day, and for some time after his death. Washington was widely hated and called "King George" by many in his day.
JFK was well on his way to a similar fate. His own party was furious at him for proposing major tax cuts. The military was furious with him for giving away our strategic capabilities in Turkey in order to get the Russian missiles out of Cuba (a trade that may have been at the base of the whole crisis), and medical analysts today say that his drug addictions may have killed him before his term was up.
But, I have said before, the great thing about our country is that although no party has a pipeline to truth and wisdom, they all have good ideas, and the country is healthiest when power switches back and forth.
Clinton certainly had his faults; I won't argue with you on that.
However, nothing in the Clinton presidency can be compared with the debacle that is Iraq. The extent of the human and monetary costs are simply staggering. And the strategic consequences of the inept way this war has been run are potentially catastrophic.
The damage done to the ideals of limited government, etc. has also beenenormous. If we get Hillary in '08, it will be in large measure as a consequence of the monkey having run conservatism through the mud - because it is now associated with him and his misbegotten policies, not the legacy of fiscal austerity, nationalism, federalism and individual rights that were once the bedrock principles of conservative politics.
You may recall that I made a statement about Bush before the 2000 election that, while it applied mainly to the upcoming election, it applies to much since then. That was, he is a much better political strategist than most give him credit for. Many of his opponents don't realize they're even in a fight with him, until they look down and discover their legs are missing from the knees down.
Remember that?
I do - and I agree the SOB is an effective political operative. But he is a terrible leader and an awful president who has brought disgrace to the office and tragedy into American lives.
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