President Obama's Weekly Address - September 15, 2012

Carrying on the Work of Our Fallen Heroes

The Terrorists Won

The Daily Beast: A Long Island woman has been charged with allegedly calling in a phony bomb threat on Sept. 10th—reportedly because she did not want her family to fly on the tenth anniversary on the terrorist attacks. Airport police in Tucson, Arizona, said they received an anonymous call from a woman on Sept. 10th who claimed she had heard her boyfriend and others discussing a plot to bomb Southwest Airlines Flight 2475 to Long Island that day. Police called bomb squad officials and notified the FBI, who tracked the call to Mary Purcell, 37, who said she was worried about her mother and brother flying that day. She is set to be arraigned in federal court, but the exact charges are unknown.

Yes, when someone calls in a bomb threat in order to cancel the flight for fear of her family flying on the anniversary of 9/11, the terrorists have won.

I'll add my two cents: there were plenty of tickets available for Broadway shows this weekend, mostly due to the fact that this was the first week back to school in New York City. I wouldn't doubt that at least a small part of the reason was because it was the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and some were leery of traveling into Manhattan either because of fear or they just didn't want the hassle of security checkpoints on the highways.

Since it was a light week, many of us in the industry were offered complimentary tickets to the Sunday shows. On more than one occasion, I heard colleagues who couldn't give Broadway tickets away worth hundreds of dollars because either people were frightened to be in the city that day, or they had initially accepted the tickets, but then reneged after someone else talked them out of it.

The terrorists have won.

President Obama's Weekly Address - September 10, 2011

Coming Together as One Nation to Remember

Tweet of the Day

Herman Cain? Seriously?

Is this what passes for a serious politician in the eyes of the Tea Party, or whoever is actually donating money to Herman Cain?

At the beginning, he seemed like just another in a long line of wannabe candidates committing silly gaffes like confusing the Declaration of Independence with the Constitution while touting Constitutional tenets. But here we are, further on down the line from his initial foray into the world of American politics for his humble pizza mogul beginnings, and it would seem the more we know about Herman Cain's positions, the more we can categorize them, and him, as troubling to say the least.

White-knuckling the Constitution while agreeing with religious discrimination is disturbing.

Presidential hopeful Herman Cain on Sunday sided with communities that want to ban mosques, saying Americans have a right to oppose the construction of places of Islamic worship.

..."Our Constitution guarantees separation of church and state. Islam combines church and state," Cain said Sunday. "They're objecting to the fact that Islam is both a religion and a set of laws," Cain said of the opponents.

When asked if his beliefs constitute discrimination, Cain disagreed, saying: "I am willing to take a harder look at people that might be terrorists. That's what I'm saying."

Well, the Constitution doesn't literally guarantee separation, but as we can obviously tell, Cain is by far not a Constitutional scholar. And sure, he's just looking out for terrorists because you know, they're all Muslim. (Please omit Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, Ted Kaczynski, Britian's Robert Cottage and David Jackson, need I go on?)

Still, separation of church and state hasn't been what Cain's advocated in the past.

Repeatedly over the last several years, Cain has spoken out in support of letting local, state and federal government be used to promote Christianity. At a recent Tea Party rally, Cain angrily declared, “It was during the Fifties that the United States Congress voted to add ‘one nation under God’ with liberty and justice for all, because we are a God-fearing Christian nation!”

Well, what is it? Are we a Christian nation or do we believe in religious separation when it comes to politics? And this is after Cain has stated he wouldn't appoint Muslims to his Cabinet posts or federal judgeships should he become President. I suppose he'll need to reread his precious Constitution to refresh his memory on the No Religious Test clause.

Oh, and should we mention Cain thinks it's a good idea to have a Great Wall of Chine type of fence, complete with an alligator-filled moat as a deterrent to border immigration? Or that President Obama isn't a real black man? The more Harman Cain opens his mouth, the more he amazing us with jaw-dropping quips. And the more he reveals himself to be an unserious candidate despite Tea Party support.

Do I Look Like A Terrorist?

Posted by Desert Crone

No, I don't look like a terrorist. I look like a 63-year-old woman--who has had a knee replacement, a heart attack, and kidney cancer. Yet, every time I board an airplane, my knee sets off the alarm, and I am frisked and "wanded." It doesn't matter that I have a very official looking card from my doctor attesting to the fact that I have a titanium knee. I offer that card to every TSA agent I can corner, but they aren't even interested in giving it a glance.

Before I walk through the thingy that dingies, I tell the agent that I will sound the alarm--that I have a knee replacement and a very official card. Still, I'm just ushered through with a loud announcement "WOMAN NEEDS TO BE SCREENED!" And then I am "wanded" and frisked. TSA says, "Now I am going to touch your breasts with the back of my hands." Oh yeah, well, you better frisk around my knees then because I AM SIXTY-THREE YEARS OLD!

I have been tolerant and even jocular about all this hoopla until June 10. I walked through the dingy thingy wearing my flip flops. The TSA agent scowls as he tells me to take off my flip flops as if I might be hiding a bomb in my Crocs. Then I walk through and set off the alarm again. I tell Mr. Cranky I have a metal knee, but he again glares at me and yells "WOMAN NEEDS TO BE PATTED DOWN!" He was clearly irritated with me.

As usual, I am ushered to the glass stall--screw privacy--and patted down. However, as I looked through the four other glass stalls, I see three more old ladies being patted down. One ol' gal has a neck brace on and another has to be helped out of wheelchair for the pat down.

By the way, TSAs are now being screened at least one time during each work day because some have been caught smuggling drugs on the planes. They are screaming in protest--which is a nice segue into my point.

I am ready to scream in protest, "I am mad as hell, and I'm not taking it anymore!"

Why are we wasting time and money on this false sense of security? Four old women wearing a neck brace, sitting in a wheelchair, and wobbling on one good knee didn't fly airplanes into the Twin Towers. I'm not advocating profiling, but I want my government to use some common sense. Alas, I've always been an idealist.

(I wrote this piece three years ago when I was 60. In light of the story of the elderly woman who had to have her Depends removed, I thought this was apropos. Now, when I fly, I have to go through the body scanner AND the pat down, which is more like “May I feel you up, old woman?” Hey, whatever turns you on.)

American Taliban

Every civilzation, society or people have terrorists. And news flash: you don't have to wear a turban or have dark skin to be a terrorist.

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Madera's Planned Parenthood clinic is closed Thursday after someone firebombed it with a Molotov cocktail. The FBI is investigating this case as it continues to search for clues in an attack on a mosque last week on the other side of town.

Can the fundamentalist Christians that were obviously involved in the latest terrorist attack against a Planned Parenthood clinic because of their religious ideological beliefs be called terrorists now? How are they different than any other terrorist? It's time we start calling out these "Christians" for what there are, because blowing up a clinic in retaliation for a completely legal medical procedure that doesn't jibe with their religious ideology isn't the Christian thing to do. It's terrorism. And they may as well be categorized as the American Taliban.

(H/T Oliver Willis)

Terror Babies... Shazzam!

The House of Representatvies' own Gomer Pyle is freaking out over terror babies. TERROR BABIES! Republican Rep. Louis Gohmert (Texas... where else?) is convinced, CONVINCED I TELL YOU!, that illegal terrorist Muslim immigrants are having babies in this country as sleeper cells who will commit heinous acts of terrorism in 15 to 20 years. And Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!, he has no actual proof.



IEEEE! TERROR BABIES!

Oh, and just to make us all feel a little better, Louis Gohmert was a judge.  ...Oy...

Whatever Happened to Ann Coulter?

Ann Coulter. Remember her? It seems like only yesterday I watched as Coulter made the rounds and was front and center on seemingly every cable news show, magazine cover and conservative circle jerk. But for the most part, she burned out her popularity because she was even too nutty for the run of the mill neocons to hold her in any esteem. Besides, they now have Glenn Beck to adore. The only time we ever see Coulter anymore is on her annual CPAC fellatiofest and even then, we have to search for it. Well, leave it to the Rude Pundit to remind me of the ghastly existence of Ann Coulter.

Coulter's latest article (and if by "article" you mean the jibbering, nonsensical rant of an increasingly insignificant has-been who knows it) goes to great lengths to blame the Obama administration for a myriad of things related to the failed SUV Times Square bombing attempt. There are sooooo many things wrong with this article that even rational anti-Obama factions may cringe while reading it. It's almost not worth it to go point by point and debunk the latest turd crapped out of Coulter's syphllitic brain. But just the same, here are some of the highlights.

"It took Faisal Shahzad trying to set a car bomb in Times Square to get President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano to finally use the word 'terrorism.'"

Wrong. Wrong. Absolutely wrong. And everyone knows it, but she insists on using debunked accusations.

"...having the Transportation Security Administration wanding infants, taking applesauce away from 93-year-old dementia patients, and forcing all Americans to produce their shoes, computers and containers with up to 3 ounces of liquid in Ziploc bags for special screening pretty much blows that "not intimidated" look Obama wants America to adopt."

While I happen to agree with Coulter (gulp) in the use of some of the ridiculous procedures she lists above, she seems to be blaming Obama for TSA guidelines created by the previous Bush administration. I wonder who on the right, pray tell, would be the first to criticize the current administration if it were to tamp down TSA procedures?

"...it would be a little easier for the rest of us not to live in fear if the president's entire national security strategy didn't depend on average citizens happening to notice a smoldering SUV in Times Square or smoke coming from a fellow airline passenger's crotch."

And it would be a little easier for the reality-based public to accept her critique had it not been for the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 overtaking the 9/11 hijackers or the passengers subduing shoe bomber Richard Reid during his failed attempt to blow up his tootsies. You see, Ann, we all have a responsibility to do something. And you, as well as everyone else critical of Obama for the reason du jour, seem to have forgotten that the worst terrorist attack on this country happened during a Republican administration, you know, because the GOP keeps us so safe while the Democratic Party is soft on terrorism.

"If only Dr. Hasan's gun had jammed at Fort Hood, that could have been another huge foreign policy success for Obama."

Foreign policy success? Is Fort Hood not in Texas anymore? Or has Coulter just pre-emptively decided that secession is the right move for them? She unfortunately goes on.

"In the case of the Times Square car bomber, the Department of Homeland Security failed, the Immigration and Naturalization Service failed, the CIA failed and the TSA failed."

If capturing a suspected terrorist within 53 hours of a failed attempt is considered a failure, what would the definition of success be? I would also remind Coulter that the Immigration and Naturalization Service ceased to exist in 2003, since it was swallowed up by Homeland Security, the largest bureaucratic clusterfuck known to the history of American government created by... wait for it... the Bush administration. But still, let's break this down for a minute.

Any one of us can go to a few different Home Depot or Lowe's stores and buy three barbecue style propane tanks. While I'm there, I can buy fertilizer for my lawn. Any one of us can fill two 5-gallon containers with gasoline at any gas station. Any one of us buy a couple of alarm clocks at a Wal-Mart. Any one of us can drive across the Queensborough Bridge (no toll booths) and end up on 45th Street and Broadway.

I don't know the last time Coulter was in Times Square (since it was cleaned up of XXX venues, whores and drug dealers) but it is riddled with cops. Had Mr. T-shrt Vendor not notified a police officer when he did, chances are authorities would have detected the SUV emitting smoke within seconds and the same procedure would have taken place.

But hey, why am I giving Coulter the satisfaction of an explanation? It's not like she'll change her feeble mind. The point is that the system worked like it was supposed to. Local law enforcement did it's job, coordinated with federal law enforcement and the suspect was caught in two days.

As far as Shahzad going as far as getting on the airplane, reports I've read and interviews I've heard confirm that the No Fly List is updated every 12 hours. On this particular day, it was updated at 4:30pm. Shahzad made his reservation at 5:30pm, before whatever desk he stood in front of had an updated list. No worries, because after the flight is completely boarded, the passenger manifest is sent to the FAA before takeoff for one final list check. This is when they realized Shahzad was on the flight and hence put him in custody.

Coulter's rambling about how 100,000 passengers at JFK were made to take off their shoes, belts and coats while Shahzad waltzed on to his flight makes absolutely no sense, since he didn't have any contraband on his person.

"The federal government didn't stop the diaper bomber from nearly detonating a bomb over Detroit. It didn't stop a guy on the 'No Fly' list from boarding a plane and coming minutes away from getting out of the country."

Diaper bomber? Uh, maybe you'd want to ask the government of Amsterdam, where the underpants bomber boarded his flight that question. And Shahzad did indeed get on that plane, but if this was a failure, would be talking about how he was in hiding somewhere in Pakistan now instead of under arrest in the US.

"Both of the attempted bombers who sailed through airport security, I note, were young males of the Islamic faith. I wonder if we could develop a security plan based on that information?"

Coulter is pro-racial profiling apparently. That wouldn't have stopped Richard Poplawski. Or the Hutaree Militia. Or Scott Roeder. Or James Von Brunn. Or Ted Kaczynski. Or Timothy McVeigh.

And speaking of a "highly trained federal force," who's working at the INS these days?

No one since 2003, you idiot.

 But it never really mattered for Coulter to be fact free and fascist before, so why should she start caring now?

When Did They Stop Believing In The Constitution?

These have to be the saddest quotes in the ever evolving debate on Mirandizing criminals.

Rep. Pete King (R-NY): “Did they Mirandize him? I know he’s an American citizen but still.”

Within 36 hours of the failed SUV Times Square bombing attempt, a suspect is in custody, found at Kennedy Airport. A US citizen. And they're asking if he was Mirandized. Why? Because he's of Pakistani descent?

"Obviously that would be a serious mistake...at least until we find out as much information we have," McCain said during an appearance on "Imus in the Morning" when asked whether the suspect, 30-year-old Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized American citizen from Pakistan.

"Don't give this guy his Miranda rights until we find out what it's all about," McCain added.

Fuck habeas corpus, right Maverick? First it was enemy combatants and because they were foreigners, why should they get the same rights as US citizens? Now it's brown-skinned US citizens, but hey, he's not a "real American," right?

 Who's next?

Just Another Day In The Big City

NY TIMES: Federal authorities have joined the search for a suspect who planted a crude car bomb of propane, gasoline and fireworks in a smoking Nissan Pathfinder in the heart of Times Square on Saturday evening, prompting the evacuation of thousands of tourists and theatergoers on a warm and busy night.

Although the device had apparently started to detonate, there was no explosion, and early on Sunday the authorities were reviewing surveillance tapes and forensic evidence as they sought out a motive.

And then the very next day, there is a No Nukes Peace rally happening just three block south of the incident.

Terrorism?

Yesterday, a man named Joe Stack was so filled with rage at the government and the IRS in particular, he decided to burn his house down and fly a plane into an office building housing an IRS office in Austin, Texas.  It takes a special kind of crazy to be so angry about being taxed (as is everyone else in the country) that you'd kamikaze into a building.  That showed them, huh?

I just have one, simple question: What if someone with the same exact gripe against the government did the same exact thing, but instead of a name like Joseph Stack, it was Yusef Mohammed Abdul-Salaam? You think that the crazies would be calling it a terrorist act?  How soon would they be on their soap box blaming President Obama and a Democratic majority who is weak on terrorism?

Suck On It, Cheney

NY Times: The Taliban’s top military commander was captured several days ago in Karachi, Pakistan, in a secret joint operation by Pakistani and American intelligence forces, according to American government officials.

The commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, is an Afghan described by American officials as the most significant Taliban figure to be detained since the American-led war in Afghanistan started more than eight years ago. He ranks second in influence only to Mullah Muhammad Omar, the Taliban’s founder and a close associate of Osama bin Laden before the Sept. 11 attacks.

Mullah Baradar has been in Pakistani custody for several days, with American and Pakistani intelligence officials both taking part in interrogations, according to the officials.

It's stories like these that make Dick Cheney look even more foolish than he already does when criticizing the current administration in the "war on terrorISM" on the Sunday show circuit. In one year, the Obama administration has done more to root out anti-American extremists in Afghanistan than the Bush administration had done in the previous seven.

Whether you agree with the increase of troops and our presence in Afghanistan is another issue entirely, but Cheney misinforming the public and never letting go of his fear mongering ways on a seemingly endless basis, makes him look stupid, petty and out of touch with what's actually happening. All to stay in the public eye until his memoirs get published in the next year.

Rep. Peter King Knows About National Security

Rep. Peter King (R-Lala-Land) sure knows how to increase our nation's security against terrorism. Just have the President use the word "terrorism" more. Boom! Easy-peasy. Now we're safe.

You are saying someone should be held accountable. Name one other specific recommendation the president could implement right now to fix this," host George Stephanopoulos said to King.

"I think one main thing would be to -- just himself to use the word terrorism more often," said King, the ranking Republican on the Homeland Security Committee.

This is the ranking Republican on the Homeland Security Committee and that's his coup de grace in dealing with terrorism. Say "terrorism" more. BRILLIANT! And the GOP wants to be taken seriously with hackery like this.

Perhaps if President Obama rolled up his sleeves, wore a cowboy hat and walked with a swagger (or like he took a dump in his pants) as well, he could usher in world peace.

President Obama's Weekly Address - January 2, 2010

The Fight Against Al Qaeda

Quote of the Week

...the former Vice President makes the clearly untrue claim that the President – who is this nation’s Commander-in-Chief – needs to realize we are at War. I don’t think anyone realizes this very hard reality more than President Obama.

...The difference is this: President Obama doesn’t need to beat his chest to prove it, and – unlike the last Administration – we are not at war with a tactic (“terrorism”), we at war with something that is tangible: al Qaeda and its violent extremist allies. And we will prosecute that war as long as the American people are endangered.

~ White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer in response to Dick Cheney assertion that President Obama wants to "pretend we're not at war."

It's Not About Knitting Needles

Every airline trip is an adventure for me. Having a similar name to someone on the "No Fly" list, I never know what I'm going to encounter from trip to trip. Sometimes, I check in and print my boarding pass at home, sometimes I can't. Sometimes I zip right through TSA security, sometimes I get pulled out of the queue.

I suppose I've learned to deal with the inconvenience of it all. I greet the TSA agent with a friendly salutation and a smile, obediently take my shoes off and empty my pockets, deposit anything metallic in their requisite rectangular, plastic gray bin, pull out my laptop from the bag that's going to get scanned anyway. I don't find the whole process any less asinine. I've just learned to deal with it. I must admit that appeasing my wife on these travel trips instead of showing my displeasure about being scrutinized it is part of the reason. But still, I deal with it.

Then comes the Scrotum Bomber. Seriously?

I sat in wonderment in the middle of Cincinnati when I heard about the attempted bombing of a plane in Detroit by a Fruit of the Loom freakazoid and thought I would wind up being strip searched in the airport just to get home after the holidays. I heard about new "restrictions" while flying such as not being able to access carry-on baggage, not being able to leave your seat and not being able to use a blanket during the last hour of a flight. And I thought it was the stupidest thing I had ever heard.

And this is the crux of the problem with airline safety. We live in a world of reaction, not prevention, hence the ridiculous rules and restrictions. We have to take our shoes off because some idiot tried to blow his shoes up on a plane. What are the chances that method will be used again? We can't pack liquids of more than 3 ounces. Who made that arbitrary decision? Why not 4 ounces? Or 3½ ounces? If I can only find a 3½ oz travel size bottle of hair gel or toothpaste, will TSA take it away because it's a half ounce over the limit? And why do we have to put it in a separate plastic bag and unpack it for inspection when the baggage is being X-rayed anyway? Please don't insult my intelligence by telling me that your friendly, neighborhood TSA agent is specially trained in detecting the difference between hair product and ignitable chemicals with the naked eye. And why do I have to remove my laptop from my bag when they eventually scan the now empty bag as well?

But this show is what passes for security. And in the latest case of the would be terrorist who dared set his nutsac on fire, the problem in the security lapse had nothing to do with TSA, at least not in any of the US airports. His name was on a watch list after the government was warned, yet never made it on to the no fly list. So they watched him get on a plane. Twice. This has nothing to do with removing my shoes at the TSA security gate.

And we're not even thinking of our incredibly porous port security. We may as well shut down everything coming in and out through our borders if we want to begin thinking about safety. But that's not what we do. That would affect our bottom line. Gotta keep those lead laden children's toys coming in from China. Instead we stand in a booth and get little blasts of air shot at us. Boy, do I feel safer after that. And the show continues.

And of course, there's nothing like politicizing the situation and playing the blame game. US Representatives Pete Hoekstra (yes, the same Hoekstra who compromises our security every time opens his mouth) and Peter King were pretty quick to blame the Obama administration for this security lapse. Maybe they should talk to their own party's Senator Jim DeMint who has personally blocked the confirmation of Obama's nomination for head of the TSA for the last four months. Or maybe we should ask why the nomination of Tara O'Toole for DHS Undersecretary of Science and Technology was blocked by GOP members for six months. So quick to accuse, these Republican hacks, while blocking literally hundreds of nominations for posts in the Obama administration. That's the equivalent of bitching that your quarterback gets sacked when you refuse to let the offensive line on the field.

The thing is, that if they're angry enough, and crazy enough, no matter what we can do to try and deter terrorists, there will always be a way to get around the security. Because it's not about looking for weapons. It's not about profiling. It's about proper training to distinguish suspicious behavior. And that takes a little more time than 10 weeks of training just to shine a little blue light on driver's license or confiscate bottled water.

It's not about box cutters or pocket knives or knitting needles. It never was. It's all reaction.

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad, Fear Mongering, Profiling, Flight 297 Viral E-Mail

I received a forwarded e-mail (the worst kind) today from a friend's mother who usually sends me these kinds of e-mails in order to debunk them. Being as she's a reasonably liberal older person in a conservative town, she's more often than not a target for such fear mongering, smear e-mails. This one was a great read, complete with heroic feats and amazing courage. It's almost a shame it wasn't true.

It seems that a man named Theodore Petruna took it upon himself to tell the real tale of the reason Air Tran Flight 297 from Atlanta to Houston was delayed on November 17th, 2009; the full story that the media wouldn't tell (that "media" being Fox News).  And the proof is in the brown-skin hating pudding because Mr. Petruna says he was on the flight.

The real reason the flight was delayed? Muslim terrorists on a dry run!

►Continue reading The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad, Fear Mongering, Profiling, Flight 297 Viral E-Mail◄

Dana? Get. Out.

Dana Perino: "We did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush's term..."



Well, in Perino's defense, she wasn't the Press Secretary on 9/11. I can only assume she didn't know about it considering she didn't even know what the Cuban Missile Crisis was either.

What was that Fox zero tolerance policy for on-screen errors again? Yeah... nevermind. Something tells me Perino isn't going to last long in her new position.

(H/T Bob Cesca)

D.O.J. Decides to Try K.S.M. in N.Y.C. and G.O.P. Loses Their S.H.I.T.

What a bunch of quivering, diaper soiling pussies these GOP and wingnut mouthpieces be. Today, the Department of Justice announced that 9/11 alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would stand trial in New York City  for the 9/11 attacks at the World Trade Center along with four other suspected terrorists currently being detained in Guantanamo Bay.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said he would seek the death penalty against the five defendants if they are found guilty in federal court.

He announced those decisions in a news conference Friday at the Department of Justice. The arrangements would mean that civilian prosecutors would handle those detainees accused of the 2001 terrorist attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, northern Virginia and Pennsylvania, while the 2000 attack against the Cole would remain within the military system.

Holder went on to add that despite the possibility of certain evidence being thrown out of court due to the way it was obtained (damn, that waterboarding!) there was no way he would let these trials go to Federal court had he not been "confident that the outcome would be a successful one."

But the puzzling thing that I want to know is, why do these bed wetting Republicans opposed to this move have such little faith in the United States Justice system? Why do they insist on, at the the very least, a continuation of their fear mongering?

Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey: "It shows a willingness to disclose how our intelligence process works and offer [the suspects] a platform in our legal system to gather intelligence for themselves," Mukasey said before an audience of conservative lawyers at the national Federalist Society's annual legal convention in Washington.

Holder's plan "creates a cornucopia of intelligence for those still at large and a circus for those being tried," Mukasey said."

House Minority Leader John Boehner: "The Obama Administration’s irresponsible decision to prosecute the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in New York City puts the interests of liberal special interest groups before the safety and security of the American people. The possibility that Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his co-conspirators could be found ‘not guilty’ due to some legal technicality just blocks from Ground Zero should give every American pause."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell: “Nobody in America wants these people tried in their local community,” McConnell said, adding that getting a conviction in a civilian court will be “much tougher” and that once the U.S. Justice Department “hands these people over to the court system, they have no more control.

“If they are acquitted, a judge could simply let them go,” McConnell said. “There is no rational basis for bringing these foreigners into the U.S. court system.”

Joe Lieberman: "The terrorists who planned, participated in, and aided the September 11, 2001 attacks are war criminals, not common criminals. Not only are these individuals not common criminals but war criminals, they are also not American citizens entitled to all the constitutional rights American citizens have in our federal courts. The individuals accused of committing these heinous, cowardly acts of intentionally targeting unsuspecting, defenseless civilians should therefore be tried by military commission rather than in civilian courts in the United States...

...It is inconceivable that we would bring these alleged terrorists back to New York for trial, to the scene of the carnage they created eight years ago, and give them a platform to mock the suffering of their victims and the victims' families, and rally their followers to continue waging jihad against America."

These are our intrepid leaders, pissing in their pants at the thought of a fair trial.  Moaning about how our Justice system shouldn't be used for "non-citizens" while (as the Rude Pundit notes), "the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution says, 'In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial' and then talks about the rights that entails. That really doesn't distinguish between citizen and non-citizen and, indeed, there have been many decisions that allow for fair and speedy trial for immigrants both legal and illegal, as well as for non-Americans extradited to the United States for trial."

Speedy and public trial. Does speedy mean being held for six years without charges?

What are these chickenhawks frightened of?  Do they seriously believe that our supermax prisons, which hold  our most dangerous criminals, can't contain a terrorist? Do they have such little faith in our national security apparatus that even the idea of Gitmo detainees setting a physical foot on precious US soil would undermine our safety? Is McConnell really that dense to think that if by some infinitesimally slim chance KSM is somehow acquitted, he'd be able to walk out the front doors of the courthouse and disappear into the New York City streets?  Of course not.  It's all fear mongering and political posturing for his brainless base. Why would former AG Mukasey think that having Mohammed inside a federal courtroom "discloses our intelligence process" to terrorists?  How is it possible that a former prosecutor like Rudy Giuliani now thinks that the federal courts he worked in as a district attorney now can't handle terrorist cases?  Has he forgotten the name "Zacarias Moussaoui" so quickly?

All which leads to the question: why do these elected officials hate the Constitution (save Boehner who doesn't know the difference between the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence)?   These war mongering, pants soiling chickenhawks should have a little more faith in the system they claim to defend than throwing out the Constitution whenever it suits them.