Bananas.
That shit's bananas.
Could just be a hoax, though. I fake some headaches, everyone gets used to poor helpless Spike. Then one day, no warning, I snap a spine, bend a head back, drain 'em dry. Brilliant.
Spike ,'Potential'
Natter 63: Life after PuppyCam
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
DavidS - Jan 22, 2009 6:04:47 pm PST #3152 of 30000
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Typo Boy - Jan 22, 2009 6:06:34 pm PST #3153 of 30000
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.
If after seven years, you can't put together a case against some of these guys that doesn't rely heavily on tortured confessions, you just don't have a case, whether or not you "think" the guy is guilty.
I do believe that some of these detainees may be guilty, but if you can't prove it without playing Calvinball with the rules of law and justice, it's time to give it up.
This. If some of the detainees are dangerous, we have to live with that. Our government tortured them, making it impossible to get convictions by any standard of innocent until proven guilty (presumption of innocence is an American tradition in both civilian and military courts.). So we need to let them go, and live with any risk that entails.
Hil R. - Jan 22, 2009 6:11:24 pm PST #3154 of 30000
Sometimes I think I might just move up to Vermont, open a bookstore or a vegan restaurant. Adam Schlesinger, z''l
OK, the Gitmo sketch on Daily Show was just the perfect balance of insightful and surreal and wtf?
Emily - Jan 22, 2009 6:18:40 pm PST #3155 of 30000
"In the equation E = mc⬧, c⬧ is a pretty big honking number." - Scola
One of my kids today commented on how Obama wants to "let all the people in Gitmo go." People really seem to think that it's Guantanamo or NOTHING, somehow, as though there's no other way to incarcerate or try people.
Not to mention, apparently so long as the people we're dealing with aren't American, American standards shouldn't have to apply (like, I don't know, due process and innocent until proven guilty). Now, I'll admit I don't know the legal details, but... that doesn't seem right to me exactly.
billytea - Jan 22, 2009 6:21:16 pm PST #3156 of 30000
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.
Our government tortured them, making it impossible to get convictions by any standard of innocent until proven guilty (presumption of innocence is an American tradition in both civilian and military courts.).
Yep. Even if they could've been convicted on evidence completely independent of the way they were treated, any trial is now impossibly tainted. Benjamin Franklin said something along the lines of "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety". The Bush administration managed to give up both.
Sean K - Jan 22, 2009 6:23:19 pm PST #3157 of 30000
You can't leave me to my own devices; my devices are Nap and Eat. -Zenkitty
I also like to think of the words of Thomas Jefferson, who said something to the effect that it is better that a thousand guilty people go free than a single innocent person get wrongly convicted.
Connie Neil - Jan 22, 2009 6:30:53 pm PST #3158 of 30000
brillig
I also like to think of the words of Thomas Jefferson, who said something to the effect that it is better that a thousand guilty people go free than a single innocent person get wrongly convicted.
I used that on someone once, and he said, "No, it isn't." I asked, "What if that innocent person was someone you loved?" He laughed: "That wouldn't happen." Because of coure, "decent" people wouldn't get in that kind of situation.
Cashmere - Jan 22, 2009 6:38:47 pm PST #3159 of 30000
Now tagless for your comfort.
I'm watching You Kill Me and oh, man, Ben Kingsley? Still sexy.
Sean K - Jan 22, 2009 6:44:47 pm PST #3160 of 30000
You can't leave me to my own devices; my devices are Nap and Eat. -Zenkitty
What if that innocent person was you?
Connie Neil - Jan 22, 2009 6:51:07 pm PST #3161 of 30000
brillig
What if that innocent person was you?
Why, a fine upstanding citizen like himself would never find himself in such sordid circumstances as to be charged for a serious crime that he wouldn't be immediately be acquited of. And, really, such a person who couldn't prove his innocence would probably be guily of something, and probably wouldn't be a loss.