Comments on Opposition Brief: Extraterrestrial Reach of Boumediene v. Bush?

Perhaps I should have checked the origins of my ph...

2008-06-14T18:47:00.000-04:00

Perhaps I should have checked the origins of my phrase, because I meant to suggest merely a current trajectory, not an irreversible destiny. To run with the analogy, though, I actually think that lopping our country's head off (figuratively, of course, through Constitutional means) might slow its journey to hell, rather than hastening it.

According to the notoriously unreliable Wikipedia,...

2008-06-13T23:45:00.000-04:00

According to the notoriously unreliable Wikipedia, the origin of the terms "hell in a handbasket," though unknown, may be the fact that the head of those executed by beheading was often caught in a basket, so the executed went to hell with his head in a basket. In other words, he (or she) went down there quicker than might otherwise have been the case, consistent (somewhat) with the modern meaning. Certainly the current administration has made it more likely that our nation will suffer a disaster, and less likely that we would be able to recover from one should one occur, but I'd argue that we are still quite a robust entity, unlikely to be executed. I think the better analogy is that of the nation as a nice sports car owned by a reckless teenager for a few years. The oil went unchanged, the exterior unwashed, and it was driven aggressively and rudely, so everyone thinks the car is owned by a jerk. But a new buyer could repair it, drive it with class, and really get a lot of good miles out of it. It is, after all, a classic.

Did our government really try to maintain that Cub...

2008-06-13T21:17:00.000-04:00

Did our government really try to maintain that Cuba exercises sovereignty over a U.S. military base abroad? That's an exceptionally lame argument.

The contortions that have been necessary to try to justify torture, rendition, deprivation of habeas corpus, etc., are embarrassing, and I wouldn't think the Supreme Court would have to break a sweat to beat them back. It's a disgrace that we get a 5-4 decision on this crap. We're going to hell in a handbasket.