Thursday, November 19, 2009

Trials and Tribunalations

How many “Trials of the Century” are we up to now? Looks like another one is coming to a NYC courthouse near you.

There sure has been a lot of fuss about having a terrorist trial on our “soil”. We’ve done it before, I’m sure we’ll have to do it again.

This is how we do things in America. We put people on trial. We have rules. We do not wisk people off the streets and throw them in the dungeon. That’s what they do in our enemies’ domain. We’re supposed to be better than that. That’s the kind of thing we fight against.

The downside is that it carries risks of retaliation, secret leakage and God forbid… acquittal! But no one ever said our Constitution was set up to be easy. It was set up to be just.

Naturally, the Republicans are having a conniption fit and universal “harrumph.”
It doesn’t really matter what the issue is… if the Obama administration is “fer”, the Republicans, led by the waterheads at Fox News are “agin.”

How would Fox cover it if the Justice Dept. had chosen military tribunals?
Next, a panel of straight white conservatives ask questions like:
Now over to the O'Reilly Hack-tor: Bow-Tox
At least this brouhaha has gotten “Bow-gate” off the lead story. You know… the “Big Controversy” about how the President bowed to the Japanese Emperor.

This is the kind of controversy you get when people are flat-damn out of ideas. THIS is what they choose to get their shorts in a bunch over? The President followed local custom and did what it was tradition to do? This is an issue tailor-made for people with short attention spans… easily led people that get distracted by shiny objects.

Gee, how well did the “Cowboy/Everybody-Can-Go-Fuck-Themselves/We’re-The-Baddest-Asses-In-The-World/So-You-Can-All-Bite-Me” attitude fare during the previous administration? Everybody loved us, right? They came rushing to help out in Iraq, right? Did they cut us lots of trade deals after the unmitigated greed of the unregulated banking industry had our economy sagging around our collective ankles like Senator Larry Craig’s pants in a Minnesota airport bathroom stall?

So the guy showed a little class and respect and Fox and the Republicans go apeshit.

Didn’t their mother ever tell them they could catch more flies with honey than over-aggressive playground piss-ant machismo?

7 comments:

Cher Duncombe said...

You are absolutely right on this. Have they never heard of "When in Rome..."? It is about respect and class and regaining some of the moral ground that Bush squandered. It takes time to mend fences and rebuild trust so that we can again be heard on the global stage without hanging our heads. I'm really sick of the whole lot of these Republican blow-hards.

The Guy's Perspective said...

I watched some news shows the other night for about ten minutes and then I remembered why I don't watch news shows. Ridiculous, stupid people, saying ridiculous, stupid stuff.

They just found water on the moon. Hopefully it's ready to support life soon. We can jettison the Fox News Team and all their supporters to their own little "world."

Cher Duncombe said...

I'm with THE GUYS. Let's send the entire FOX team to the moon. Maybe they can start a colony of ants to step on, that's how irrelevant they are.

Mary Ann said...

Remember when "Cowboy" Dad-President threw up on the Japanese Prime Minister at dinner. Was THAT classy! And the Japanese think making eye contact is rude.
Mohammed will get a fair trial. Eric is here. There will be no glitches. Of course, Fox News will be too busy interviewing Sarah Palin to cover the event.
Fox News is easy to pick on, and fun. I accuse most journalists, especially in the visual media, since radio has no pictures, of yellow journalism, cowardly and sensational pandering to the public desire for gossip, titillation and scandal. A few provide authentic, valuable news important to our lives and our nation. The rest blather about speculation on the reasons for the latest mass murder or interview an endless array of military figures never known for their intelligence or insight but with a serious scowl and lotsa stars.
Shame on NBC, CBS and ABC. "And now a word from our sponsors...".

bluzdude said...

Cher and GUYS:
If you tell them there are tax breaks on the moon, they’ll build the rocket themselves. They can start their own little colony where they can be idealistically pure and cluck at all the idiot earthlings, scraping about down there in their imperfect little Godless community. Because the “real’ God is up there on the moon with them.

Mary Ann: I pick on Fox because of their obvious political bias, while masquerading as "fair and balanced." The other networks may be ineffective, but I don't find them willfully deceptive.

Twice in the last week, Fox has been found using video footage from a prior event spliced into the coverage of a current conservative event, designed to make it look better or more well attended. Both times they claimed it was an accident.

Right. Thank God Jon Stewart is on the case, in case there are any more "accidents."

CrackerLilo said...

Hey, Bluzdude, what if we told them there were no queer people or atheists on the moon?

My mom watches Fox. A lot. Now I know why she was upset over Obama bowing. ("It's what they *do* in Japan, Mom." "Yes, but he bowed very deeply." "Yes, but he's very tall. There are real reasons to be pissed off at him.") Those people on their morning show are annoying as hell, too. I think it was Bill Maher who invented the term "fake outrage hard-on." Those folks have it all the time, even the women.

I hate that the trials are happening so close to Ground Zero. My wife lost a friend at WTC and worked there herself; she's had nightmares again. At the same time, we ultimately agree with you--this is what makes us America. This is what makes us better than them. This is what we're supposed to be fighting for. The most sickening thing about Bush 2's policies was how we almost lost ourselves in the process of "defending" America. We are on the way to becoming a just people again.

On a much less serious note, I love the new logo. :-)

bluzdude said...

"Fake outrage hard-on" is the perfect term for what is going on with the right. With all the very real things in the world to be upset about, they invariably settle for trivia.

Best wishes to you and your wife, while this trial goes on. I can't imagine how hard it is for her to have to relive. Like I intimated above, the right thing to do is often the hardest thing to do.

As for the logo, I figured I needed something more colorful than the back of my car. I used to have something similar up there, but then the Pens went and won the Cup. I got the brilliantly photoshopped picture and awkwardly stuck the D-Fish on it... I only wish I had some photoshop skills of my own, to make it a little less stark. One day...