If it’s for real, then WOW what a story.

“Gimme facts.”

Yes well, that’s just the problem, isn’t it … for years we were told of “the worst of the worst” with no supporting evidence. Remember the old axiom of “Justice must not only be done; it must be seen to be done.”

We’ve seen a lot of claims about the “worst” and few of those claims supported in any meaningful way. So, from “dirty bomber” to a human interest angle, why take exception now?

Not a very good way to run the ship of state.

@ 74

I am not a neoliberal.

Maybe I don’t even ‘belong’ at Firedoglake. =:)
If not for the Libby trial liveblogging, I might not even have discovered here. But I’m glad I did. Even if I do not share a lot of the ideology, I do appreciate educated people who express themselves well.

I probably wouldn’t choose to have a beer with Padilla, but I would always have advocated his right to ‘rule of law’ in an open American criminal justice system. And let the chips fall where they may.

Just ask Donald Vance his impression of how far wrong this administration has gone …

dakine01 @ 49

the trial of Patty Hearst (which I still do not understand why and how she was prosecuted and convicted)

Lefties have cooties, remember?

Bullshit, Patty Hearst was the Paris Hilton of the day . . . I followed that from start to finish, from San Mateo, CA where I lived . . . she was spoilt, pampered, and drugged up BEFORE the SLA took her . . . she did it all voluntarily most likely under the same drug haze they took her in. I worked with people in restaurants who LIVED in Hillsborough and told stories of Patty’s Proclivities . . .

And her daddy and her money got her less, MUCH LESS, than others who were involved, as a sentence . . .

Like the Padilla theme, there’s too many folks believing a kind of kool aid that don’t follow facts . . . a human interest story about a ‘victimized’ person being prosecuted does NOT excuse them from being judged one way or another . . . granted, Padilla deserves a FAIR and complete judging (again), but for crying out loud, that he’s a CARING human being after finding Islam and he was a LOADED DANGEROUS FOOL before, stretches my human loving heart in all the wrong ways.

Harumph.

Neoliberals.

Obviously this will not be given to the masses, the gubbimint don’t want you to know how badly they have handled this whole thing. Good on her for digging it out and good on you for bringing it here.

She writes about a human interest angle to a long and wierd tale NONE of us know squat about . . . that’s all it is!!

He’s not less guilty, or more guilty . . . this is just a READ.

Padilla could have EASILY had malice on his mind . . . there’s plenty to suggest he did . . . question is, had he ACTED on any of that malice? Or WOULD he?

We nabbed him at a really bad time, but he still could be a really bad guy . . . what’s this uprising about his humanity all of a sudden in here?

Now, you wanna rail about the usurping of our constitution and habeus, that’s a different story . . . but for crying out loud, a human interest story? To be judged and used as a MEANS to judge his standing? NO!

Gimme facts.

If the light of day is seen, most of them will seem like Padilla. They can not be convicted in a court of law, or even a military tribunal without it being a kangaroo court. That is why so few prosecutions have even been attempted.

Simply put, if this administration does try these people, they will be caught in a lie. They would have us believe that they have rounded up a bunch of terrorists, when in fact they have rounded up a bunch of criminals, misfits, and in all likelyhood, innocent bystanders.

There is a reason that Gonzales, against all odds, still stays in the Bush administration. He is, always has been, their dirty work legal expert, their firewall.

I really want to see him pay! I want to see someone put in the AG position who will get closer scrutiny of congressional approval than he had at the time he was confirmed.

God bless Izzy