Memo to White House: The Constitution Works

Of the many things that gall me about Bush's "War on Terror" is his rationale that there are lots of Muslim's who hate freedom and, therefore, hate us. I'm no fan of Sharia Law or it's implications for society. But I sense that it's not so much our freedoms that the terrorist despise but how we willfully fall short of the promises of our Constitution. It's the promise of the document that leads to so many people from around the world to continue to come here.

As the Bush administration selectively shred what makes our country great, it was nice to see three affirmations that our system of government still works and that we are a nation of laws, not individuals.

1) Scooter's (probably) going to jail. I'm thinking those pleas for leniency by Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld probably didn't do him much good. His argument of, "I've been a good person, I shouldn't go to the slam" is a bunch of crap. He says that he should get leniency because he's spent so much of his adult life in public service the ultimate in hypocrisy. Cut me some slack because I undermined everything I worked for by trying to torpedo a federal investigation? Please. Having powerful people pay for their crimes separates us from banana republics. Which brings me to...

2) William Jefferson gets indicted. How this guy got re-elected shows how powerful a victim mentality can be in Louisiana. In brief, he's accused of using his office to steer business in Africa to his friends as long as he got a cut. Political parties hate throwing out their own, but to Speaker Pelosi's credit she has denied Jefferson some chairmanships that he normally would have gotten due to seniority. Of course, why he doesn't have the decency to resign (or be forced to) is beyond me. I just can't wait to hear his story about the $90k in cash he had in his freezer. What, he doesn't trust banks? Again, when the powerful get caught, democracy flourishes.

3) Military judges tell the White House that military tribunals in Guantanamo are a bunch of crap. Nothing is making us look worse in the world than our treatment of the prisoners in Gitmo. Preaching freedom to others while Bush comes up with different ways to hold kangaroo courts is shameful. Hm...so, the Supreme Court AND the military have told Bush that these people are entitled to a modicum of rights. What's he waiting for, Cheney to say it's OK? We are so far behind the curve on this I don't know how we can dig our way out. Given these guys legitimate trials would be a start.