I’m hardly what you would call a legal scholar–I took one class on constitutional law in my tenure as a University student–but it seems like everything interesting lately to me is happening in the courts.

First you have the decision by the Obama administration to finally bring 10 of the Guantanamo prisoners to trial, 5 in Civilian courts in New York and another 5 in modified military.  While it’s nice that we’ve decided to bring x number of the people we hold in a legal black hole to at least some semblance of a legal proceeding, I’m not terribly happy about the continuing of military commissions.  Though, on the other hand, I don’t really see how you can have foreign prisoners of war tried in civilian courts.  So if commissions and civilian courts aren’t appropriate, then you should give them a courts-martial right?

Oops!  Did I forget to mention that they’re *not* prisoners of war?  I think they’re enemy combatants, or unlawful combatants, or men from mars for all we know.  The important thing is that they’re not prisoners of war.  Despite the fact that we’re conducting a “War on Terror".  Confused yet?

It’s not surprising, that the handling of detainees has been so schizophrenic, given the precedents inherited by a declaration of war.  Which, in all honestly, is probably scarier in terms of legal implications for American citizens.  States of war tend to produce very sketchy behavior by the government towards civil liberties and press freedoms.  Compounded by the fact that we’ve declared war on an idea, which are notoriously hard to vanquish (see: racism, sexism, et al), you’ve got a perfect storm of totalitarianism.

Not to say that we’re actually anywhere close to that, but it’s unnerving to say the least; and who’s to say that another terrorist attack or credible threat won’t push us closer to that point.  At the beginning of the Summer, President Obama declared that “some detainees who are deemed too dangerous to release but too difficult to prosecute” will be held in indefinite detention.  Which as far as Western liberal democracies go, is a big no-no.  I understand the argument that:

1. They’re not US citizens
2. They’re probably f**king terrorists

To which I would answer that a) that’s a slippery slope, and b) who’s to say?  We already prosecute foreign nationals that commit crimes in the United States, or at least request their extradition.  But detaining them indefinitely flies in the face of rule of law and democracy.  It’s unfortunate that the Obama administration didn’t have the will to call an end to the war on terror in real policy terms, instead of merely renaming it to a “Overseas Contingency Operation”

Like most people, I have a list of things I wish I had seen and done before it became impossible to do so. I would have liked to see the Ramones in concert; meet Kwame Nkrumah; and to see a mock trial put on by a repressive totalitarian regime to liquidate political opposition. Well, this past week one of my dreams has been realized by the conservative Iranian regime rounding up about a 100 old men, dressing them in prison pajamas and beating them within an inch of their life to extract ludicrous confessions of foreign collaboration against the regime. It’s quite amazing really; I would have thought that in an age where Twitter was winning the war against repression, that something as antiquated as blood-stained confessions would be no match.

Alas, nobody informed the Iranian government, whose ‘cunning plan’ is likely to use these confessions to arrest bigger political figures in the reform movement. Foreign Policy contributor Daniel Drezner pointed out that televising these trials live is not nearly as effective as after-the-fact radio broadcasts or print propaganda. The consensus appears to be that few people are actually buying the confessions, which allege foreign collusion with the Reform movement to overthrow the Islamic Republic. Or something like that. Now, it’s one thing to get a political opponent to say that in a ‘official’ capacity; but it’s another thing when you see it delivered by a man whose lost thirty pounds and looks like his face had gone 5 rounds with a baton. If perhaps they Twittered their confessions, it would be immeasurably more effective.

“Khatami: @Ayatollah I totally lied about the elections and hate the Iranian Republic. Also, I love the USA and think that Islam is teh Suxz0r”

Right! Now that’s some propaganda! Guilty as hell, I say!. Now make him fans of the UK and the US Army on his Facebook profile and you’ll have the whole ‘Reformist’ (aka: Pro-Western Traitor) movement nipped in the bud by the end of the week. I just made this up, and I already believe it 100%.

Now, I’m not saying that I support the Iranian government; it’s just that if this is the only mockery of justice that I get to see in my lifetime, I want it to at least be done right. If not, then the whole sad tradition of fabricating false allegations against political opponents faces the threat of extinction. Take for example, the Stalinist trials in the 30’s; he was able to do two of them before most people started to even think that they might be a complete crock. From what I can tell, no one is taking the current trials seriously; except the Iranian government, (which is important, because they’re the ones with the firing squads).

But really, this is just another example of how the United States has fallen behind in yet another endeavor. It’s been nearly 60 years since we as a nation have engaged in an old-fashioned political witch-hunt. And no, I will not include tea-bagging, birthers, and Medicare beneficiaries screaming about socialism as “real” forms of political character assassination. The political right in this country is so terrible at this, their godless, communist, liberal enemy had to fabricate their spurious evidence for them. This is why nobody wants to buy a GM anymore America! I can only hope that in the future, our children will be able to live in a country, where the opponents to progressive change in this country will be able to meticulously and decisively trump up political accusations, use questionable legal practices and generally ruin the lives of their political foes. Sort of like this guy.

First off, I have no idea what is in the stimulus bill.  I’ve heard wildly varying accounts, mostly from the Drudge Report, about mice in California and Tax Credits for illegal immigrants.  Since the final version isn’t finished yet, I’m not going to dig too deeply.  I did find this easily accessible text of the house bill.

I did find, through the graces of the Washington Post, this wonderful little video that a spokesman for Congressmen Eric Cantor sent to a reporter in response to his overlord’s position on the stimulus bill.  It may be safe to say ‘ex-spokesman’ at this point.

So here’s the scoop:  Anyone remember the Anthrax attacks of 2001?  The ones that happened the week after 9/11 and mailed by Saddam Hussein and Hitler?  Well, turns out that they were actually sent by a US Bio-Weapons researcher that committed suicide on Tuesday, before the Justice Department could indict him.

Now, I don’t mean to go all tin-foil hat on this one, but seriously?  The weird part is that no one is even trying to explain why this guy would send those letters in the first place!  Nevermind the doubt that should be cast on the people working in our bio-weapons programs!  Next thing you know, we’re all going to be fighting off the living dead that have escaped from some government research lab, where jimmy the janitor accidentally coats his pizza with ‘zombie-virus’ mislabeled as Parmesan cheese.  It would actually go a lot like this.

Follow this to be freaked out more by the Bush Administration

Spring Break is finally here, and brings with it a much needed slow down.  I’ve never been one of those folks to go on trips to warm sandy beaches, resulting in lawsuits and twenty years of blackmail; my spring breaks are distinguished by working longer hours and sleeping more.  Not exciting, but at least I don’t have to go to class.

Billy got back last week from New York and bought me a cookbook from The Strand, an impeachable reason for why New York is super awesome.  I’ll never understand or reconcile my fascination with the Concrete Jungle and my love for the ‘Great Outdoors’.  My battle cry as of late has become ‘Anywhere but Suburbia’, which I think is perfectly acceptable at this point and can only lead to exciting adventures.

So the cookbook… Is an older one by Craig Clairborne, who was at one time quite famous and probably considered instrumental in ‘informing’ the American palette (which I think is ascribed to most popular American chefs or food writers since the end of WWII…).  Star pull aside, The New York Times International Cook Book is quite the collection for 1973, and eclectic by todays standards as well.  Admittedly, the largest portions of the book are dedicated to France and Italy, but significant portions are dedicated to Greek and Asian cooking as well.  Two of the most significant differences between an older and more modern cook book, which I think can be applied generally, are photos and a focus on health.  The book is very sparse with photos, and it’s hard to know what anything was supposed to look like.  Often times, a photo will not correlate with the recipes on the opposite page.  I was making aioli, which is a French garlic sauce, and literally had no idea what it was supposed to look like or its consistency.

This maybe due to the fact that I was experimenting with French cooking, for which it is rightfully famous for, but good God, is this food bad for you!  I used 9 tablespoons of butter to cook a steak and make the sauce for it.  Put that on top of the 2 cups of oil and 4 egg yolks that went into the aioli and I became just a little concerned with my health.  I’m not one to worry about such things, but I am used to my cookbooks having suggestions for making a lighter, healthier meal.  Sometimes I’ll even follow the suggestions, if I think they would be tasteful.  But this cookbook has no sympathy for the healthy eater; I can imagine Craig Clairborne screaming and throwing heads of lettuce at Ellie Krieger, telling her exactly what he thinks of margarine and Egg Beaters©.

In other news, it appears that a rather large and scary bank, is on the scary road to Chapter 11.  I had mentioned before that I was a little apprehensive about the whole economic collapse thing; now I’m a little more then apprehensive.  Without a doubt, my potentials for earning are not related to mortgages or gigantic investment banks, but I am affected by the overall willingness of banks to loan money.  Companies depend on credit to do their daily operations, and when that becomes harder to acquire it has a real effect on business decisions.  And the fact that gasoline is over $3 in a state like Oklahoma is not reassuring either.

I hope I get my tax rebate before the Fed changes its mind.