The Watch

The Watch is concerned about the increasing pressure towards feudalism in the United States from corporations, social regressives, warmongers, and the media. We also are concerned with future history concerning our current times, as non-truths which are “widely reported” become the basis for completely false narratives.

Thursday, August 28, 2003

Padilla and Peabody

Our Vanishing Rights Watch

Here is an article which first addresses the use of US torture in interrogation of foreign nationals by the use of venues outside the United States. (Oh, and Chemical Ali? Apparently we didn’t kill him those many months ago in a bombing, another administration war lie). It then reminds us Jose Padilla, fellow US citizen, is being denied his legal and civil rights, while the rest of us in this country do nothing about it. Now this Padilla guy, for all that I know, is a skunk who would just as soon do us all harm as breathe - but that doesn’t mean we should throw away all of our legal and civil rights legacies just because we are scared, or too complacent to complain. If they can do this to Padilla, what is stopping them from doing it to anyone? I know, you’d think people would complain in that case; but then again, Padilla is still rotting in a cell somewhere, with no access to a lawyer. The subtitle of the article is "The United States figures it can get plenty out of the newly captured Chemical Ali. But how? And are these ‘interrogation’ techniques being readied for American citizens?". Here is an excerpt:

Padilla was declared an "enemy combatant" based on the assertion - not the presentation - of "some evidence" by the administration that he was a bin Laden bad guy. As an enemy combatant, Padilla has no right to appear in court. And he has no right to see a lawyer. Indeed, by executive fiat, he’s been deprived of every inalienable right with which our creator endowed us. The Lawyers Committee for Human Rights has filed a brief in the case damning this approach as (quoting James Madison) "the very definition of tyranny".


Big Fat Idiots Watch

On a happier note, The Franken/Fox lawsuit has ended in favor of Franken. U.S. District Judge Denny Chin, after listening to about half an hour of oral arguments, said the lawsuit was "wholly without merit, both factually and legally." USA Today has published a hilarious excerpt from the introduction to his new book. This is a rather humorous recounting of one of the lies that Franken caught O’Crybaby, or as I like to call him, Mr. Peabody, in this spring.

This summer's contretemps began at a Los Angeles book publishing convention on May 31, during a panel session featuring the authors of coming political books that included Franken and O'Reilly. The session aired on C-Span, whose cameras captured a clear portrait of the two writers' mutual distaste. Franken usually cloaks his partisan gibes in the bookish wise-guy tone he mastered in his years as a writer/producer/performer on "Saturday Night Live." But when he turned his sights on O'Reilly and his Peabody claims, his gibes had a current of rage that seemed to push Franken close to tears. Finally, O'Reilly cracked. "Hey, shut up!" he shouted. "You had your 35 minutes! Shut up!"


It’s good to know Mr. Peabody enjoys a good debate, even off of his show.

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