Welcome, one and all to the most intnse nightly read on the sphere: This is Bitsblog’s Nightly Ramble.
This is the firehouse edition, for no reason other than I can.
- Destroying the mobile middle class: I’ve said it before; Our ability to be mobile is part of the foundation of our empowerment. Meanwhile the government wants to further tax our mobility, by putting a tax on each mile we drive [1]. The power to tax is the power to destroy. What is it that will get destroyed with this tax, do you suppose?
- Redefining war and crime: One of the few places where James Joyner and I disagree [2]:
The key problem with the Bush policy wasn’t detention but rather the lack of even a modicum of due process. So long as the Obama administration comes up with a way to let suspects put forth evidence that they’re not who we think they are, we’ll have moved forward. Sullum isn’t happy:
Such suspects need not even be tried by military tribunals; they could simply be identified as “unlawful enemy combatants” through a process that is yet to be determined but that will certainly be much less rigorous than a full-blown trial. What will be the basis for deciding which suspects get full due process and which get something far less, which receive determinate prison sentences and which are held indefinitely? If the option is available, it will always be tempting to take the easier route, which could mean that every case related to terrorism will be militarized. Then anyone accused of aiding terrorism can forget about justice as it is usually understood.
So long as we treat terrorism as a national security problem rather than a criminal justice problem, no one should expect different.
Sorry, James. No sale.
If I recall, Clinton treated the war against us as a criminal jusrtice issue, too. A quick check shows there’s still a pit in southern Manhattan providing mute testimony as to how that plan worked out.
- Wow, reality! What a concept!! Along those same lines, a comment from Boortz, today [3]:
This should make you feel really great .. the United Nations is now saying that Iran has enough enriched uranium to build one nuclear bomb [4]. Quick! Barack! Go over there and talk to these people!
Looking at that nonsense gives us a fairly clear picture of why such matters are not in fact criminal justice matter. See, here’s the issue. Reality. Or, rather, the lack of it being applied here by people trying to treat this war on the non-Islamic world, as a crimnial justice problem.
There’s something else, here, too, that I find disturbing. Have a look again at the post I put up this monring which was partially about the military training being run in Iowa. Treating acts of war as a criminal justice issue, blurs the lines of when and where military can be utilized, doesn’t it?
- ZOMBIES SIGHTED: Speaking of of OTB, the caption contest there [5]saw YetAnotherJohn grabbing third place while the Boss got an honorable mention.
- ZOMBIES READING? I wonder if they’ve been reading this stuff. [6] Looks like they’re re-writing “Steal This Book”. [7] I admit being a little uneasy about that.
- McCain Wins, press loses, sorta: Vicki Iseman’s Lawyer is Claiming Victory [8]in the lawsuit over the story spread about her and John McCain. Note, please, that this is likley the only notice that will ever be made of it. The Dinosaur media, after all, is unlikely to file reports about their own smear tactics on McCain.
- Cowards! You’re not giving me any targets to shoot at! Look, Victor, [9] and for that matter, Jonah… [10]what really went down here is Holder is upset because now that he’s got the power of government to enforce his views, he hasn’t got any active lawsuits to push those views. he knows that once the conversation starts again, there will be stuff out there he can procecute. Bottom line; He’s attempting to flush some game, so he can be the victorious hunter. And is it any shock that the Huff and Puff tried to prime that pump [11]with a bit of fakery? Don’t tell me Holder didn’t know what he was doing.