One of the darkest sides of the Bush administration’s war on terror was it’s secret rendition and interrogation program.  This was a process where prisoners can be transferred to another country that does not have the safeguards or human rights protections that the US does.

Under President Obama this horrible practice will end; now prisoners can be transferred to another country that does not have the safeguards or human rights protections that the US does.

Sec. 3. Closure of Detention Facilities at Guantánamo. The detention facilities at Guantánamo for individuals covered by this order shall be closed as soon as practicable, and no later than one year from the date of this order. If any individuals covered by this order remain in detention at Guantánamo at the time of closure of those detention facilities, they shall be returned to their home country, released, transferred to a third country, or transferred to another United States detention facility in a manner consistent with law and the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States.  –(Executive order)

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‘Take a bow for the new revolution …’

One of President Obama’s first actions was to shut down Guantanamo oops, sign an order about Guantanamo, and then to change howthe CIA treats alleged terrorists.  Under Bush the prisoners were tortured by waterboarding; under the Obama administration waterboarding isn’t torture.

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‘... Pick up my guitar and play ….‘

While Obama tries to make the issue one of personalities —Rush versus TheOne®—  instead of content, Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi says the economic stimulus bill is ‘bipartisan’, even though no Republicans voted for it. Pelosi defends her use of ‘bipartisan’ by claiming Republicans could have voted for it.

bipartisan   : of, relating to, or involving members of two parties ; specifically : marked by or involving cooperation, agreement, and compromise between two major political parties –Merriam-Webster Dictionary

This must be the new, hopey-changey version of ‘bipartisan’.  The circus continues.

The executive order to shut down Guantanamo doesn’t necessarily change anything . . . except possibly the location . . . for some select individuals.  Eric Posner, Professor of Law at University of Chicago and one of the Volokh Conspirators, points out the legal wording is a giant slippery, slimy mass of non-ordering and non-closing.  It’s all for show.

Hopey all you want, but the more things changey, the more they stay the samey.  Guantanamo is gone, long live Guantanamo uhh, we mean Bagram Theater Internment Facility.  It seems to have been was named ‘theater’ for a good reason.

Over at the Reason & Revelation blog, an article shows that changey-hopey may not be all it’s cracked up to be.

It’s cute but only scratches the surface, and makes the real undercurrent all the more disturbing.

This just caught my eye:

“Offshore drilling benefits only one constituency: Big Oil.” — Miles Grant

Right . . . and the Food Fairy brings all that stuff to the grocery stores.

Isn’t America great? People like this survive into adulthood. The sad part is this guy is running for a delegate seat.  Two guesses about which party.

Predictably, Virginia’s gun-grabbers get upset when the people’s representatives actually represent their people. Over at NLS Ben calls it “Screwing Democrats”. What a jerk.

Funny thing is, Delegate Armstrong of Martinsville has some odious history . The Washington Post notes his district went McCain this election, making Republican competition viable this election.   On the other hand it seems right in line with past performance to protect civil rights, it was Armstrong who patroned HB 1531

Healing arts; unprofessional conduct in practice thereof; it being a violation to make : Oral or written inquiry to a patient concerning the possession, ownership, or storage of firearms, where such inquiry has no relationship to the practice of the healing arts or the medical condition of the patient, and is for the purpose of gathering statistics or to justify patient counseling, unless such inquiry is the subject of a request, or related to a medical complaint, made by the patient. —A Bill to amend and reenact § 54.1-2915

That was a good call then.  Regardless of the partisanship, he made a good vote this time.

Act II - Come election time, watch Virginia’s gun-grabbing leftists in the ‘D’ party throw their own under the bus for ‘disloyalty’. If so, remember that a house divided cannot stand.

Another blog takes a look at my 2007 article on honesty and hidden agendas in political speech . . . and fails the test. It’s exasperating. My article was superb; written after my failure at a debate to stand fast and challenge a biased moderator.

One purpose of the article was to show simple litmus tests on whether an issue is being cynically used to push an agenda, or if there’s a decent chance of discussion. After quoting my article, BVBL immediately turns around and failed that test.

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Back in 2007 I participated in a forum on illegal immigration where the moderator prohibited —said the concept was outrageous, and literally banned mention of it— any talk about corruption in south-of-the-border governments and culture .

With his pronouncement, the moderator exposed his own prejudice; an agenda to keep the talk limited to ‘mean and horrid right-wingers versus soft, cuddly, sympathetic lefties’. It was one of those moments —we all have them— which I handled poorly by staying with the panel under that restriction.

In order not to repeat that mistake again, and hopefully to keep others from making the same one, I wrote an article that had two points. The first was how to know when other people have biased agendas: to ascertain when they refuse to reason and are only interesting in arguing for argument’s sake.

The second part was to post a mass of evidence confirming Latin America as the second-most corrupt place on earth. That corruption drives people away —they vote with their feet— into the US. As long as neighbor countries are corrupt and therefore poor while we have decent government allowing prosperity, there will be immense pressure to immigrate.

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It was appealing to see my article quoted and considered by such a well known, high-traffic site, and then utterly disappointing to see the article immediately failed the ‘agenda test’.

“So just how would we rid central American governments of the kind of widespread corruption and abuse for which they are so famous? We certainly can’t subsidize good governance. We’re not going to occupy a half-dozen nations in order to reform their governments.” –Greg L

We can’t subsidize good governance? We most certainly can. The US has done it in dozens of other nations. China is a recent example where we tied subsidies (most favored nation trade status) to their governing policies. The fact is that we —the USA— do that all the time.

We can subsidize good governance. Whether that is the right thing to do, politically feasible, affordable, or a good idea is another matter, but when people refuse to discuss the subject it shows their bias.

We’re not going to occupy a half-dozen nations in order to reform their governments? We are occupying in Germany, Korea and Japan, having explicitly reformed their governments; had troops in Italy, the Philippines, Grenada, Haiti, and are currently occupying two Mid-East countries with the same goal: reform their governments.

Latin American relations with the United States is a long series of (military) interference; from splitting Panama away from Columbia, replacing the government in Mexico, supporting Nicaraguan guerillas, propping El Salvador, and replacing the government in Panama. The US has intervened in Latin America many times for many reasons, though never to remove corruption.

We can occupy to reform a nation’s government. Whether that is the right thing to do in Latin America, feasible, affordable, or a good idea —and for the record I do not think it is— doesn’t matter when people refuse to consider the subject.

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Here’s the facts: Clean, honest government is not the only answer to the illegal immigrant problem; there is no ‘silver bullet’. But there will never be any workable solution without better governments below our southern borders.

We can build the New Iron Curtain. Make undocumented immigration a felony. Bus ’em back. Outlaw taco restaurants. Shoot border crossers. Make undocumented employment a crime. Make documented entry easy. All of that (well, maybe not the restaurant thing) will probably reduce illegal immigration somewhat.

But none of that will have a substantial effect until ordinary Latin Americans don’t want to abandon their homes, sneak across the border and undergo tremendous hardship just to get to the United States for our worst jobs. That change will not happen until their governments are cleaned up.

There is a lot we can do diplomatically and economically to push our Latin America neighbors to reform, and we should do that for both our interests and theirs. Reform is a central part of any genuine solution, and dismissing the idea of reform without discussion or reasoning means you do not want answers; you want to shout slogans and push other agendas.

Immediately after Reid had him barred, Roland Burris and his team got a Supreme Court to say that Reid was cheating and lying to keep Burris from his rightful, lawful appointed position. This is —to Illinois voters— Senator ‘No blacks need apply’ Reid.

Yes, it’s the dreaded race card, but Reid begged for it. Illinois has dozens of incompetent but eligible people of all sizes, shapes, races, and sexes. Reid didn’t mention one of these in his phone calls to Blagojevich, just three black men. Burris swung at the pitches he got, and connected.

A Supreme Court ruling.

It doesn’t get much better than that. They aren’t playing politics, playing lawyer, or playing the media; it’s all of them at once. Blagojevich and Burris are looking shrewder and more competent every day.

In addition to the national issue, the Supreme Court effectively said that leader of the opposing faction, Illinois Secretary of State, was ineffectual. Secretary White tried to block Blagojevich’s appointment by refusing to sign a document, and the Court ruled his signature was unnecessary.

Not only will Burris become Senator, he also will help his faction —certainly Illinois state Senate President Emil Jones and Bobby Rush, possibly even Blagojevich— carry their next Illinois elections. He won’t be helping Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., one of the Obama campaign’s many national co-chairmen.

Jesse Jr. wanted the Senate appointment, but was one of those blacklisted by Reid. Blagojevich kept him in the running anyway due to his fundraising abilities —the same qualities Obama valued.

Now it looks like Jackson’s ‘ratting’ to the US Attorney probably deep-sixes his future political chances. For the last ten years Jesse Jr. has been feeding information to the U.S. Attorney’s office, and he reported on Blagojevich, though allegedly not in this current case. With Obama’s support of Reid’s choice against him, Jesse Jr. is under the bus, out favor with either faction.

The criminal case against the governor includes charges he tried to sell the Senate seat for campaign cash or a plum position for himself or his wife, and pressured people into making campaign contributions.

A Jackson aide says Blagojevich asked Jesse Jr. for a $25,000 campaign contribution, which Jackson didn’t give. Then Jackson’s wife, who wanted to be state lottery director, was not appointed. According to reports, Blagojevich insinuated (or boasted, the accounts vary wildly) the decision was due to not contributing.

[In Virginia, appointments are tied to contributions; look at all of Tim Kaine’s picks and compare them to VPAP campaign cash. The key to legality is how tightly they are related. Cash contributors usually ‘suggest their vision of government’, discuss ‘roles that would help the candidate’s government’, or other euphemisms for pay-to-play. Those deals are legal. It is not legal to promise an appointment for a price; i.e. selling the position. It is a fine line.]

While the Illinois House voted to impeach Blagojevich, it also voted ‘no-confidence’ in the federal case. State proceedings include the federal accusations in a list of unrelated allegations: that Blagojevich expanded a health care program without authority, that he circumvented hiring laws to give jobs to political allies, that he spent millions on flu vaccines that he knew couldn’t be brought into the country.

With no wiretap tapes of a crime, and the prosecutor postponing his already publicized case, Illinois legislators are prudently insuring their action.

 Unanimous Illinois Supreme Court uses sneaky tactics, cites the US Constitution, Senate Rules, and Laws.

Roland Burris took the appointment ball to the Court hoping for an assist, and instead found himself scoring big. Illinois Justices cut Reid’s legs out from under him, quoting the 17th Amendment that Reid got elected by.

The Court then called a technical foul on the Senate leader for violation of the Senate’s own rules. Senate Rule 2 states clearly that (in gubernatorial appointments) the Secretary of State’s signature is optional —the phrase is ‘recommended’, not mandated— and that the Senate improperly turned the appointed Illinois Senator away.

Burris was rebuffed by the Senate on Tuesday because his papers were not signed by the Secretary of State. Burris asked for a writ of mandamus from the Illinois Supreme Court, claiming the Secretary had no discretion to refuse to sign the appointment document. Today, the Illinois Supreme Court denied Burris’s request, saying that it was not needed, and further certifying the validity of Burris’ appointment. The opinion is here.

At this point, however, there is no question at all that the Governor did, in fact, make the appointment. If there was ever any question about that on the part of the United States Senate, it should have been removed when the Governor’s envoy appeared at the Senate with a copy of the certificate of appointment in hand.In their pleadings, Petitioners suggest that the United States Senate has taken the view that the Governor’s signed, hand-delivered certificate of appointment is insufficient to meet the requirements of the Senate’s own internal rules. We note, however, that nothing in the published rules of the Senate, including Rule II, appears to require that Senate appointments made by state executives pursuant to the seventeenth amendment must be signed and sealed by the state’s secretary of state.

Moreover, no explanation has been given as to how any rule of the Senate, whether it be formal or merely a matter of tradition, could supercede the authority to fill vacancies conferred on the states by the federal constitution. Under these circumstances, the Senate’s actions cannot serve as the predicate for a mandamus action against the Secretary of State. — Supreme Court of the State of Illinois

Slam dunk!  Senator Roland Burris.  In reality, unless Reid’s colleagues can’t stop him from being more foolish, the Senate will dither and try to act like they wanted Burris all along, seating him in a few weeks.

Moving right along, as expected, Governor Blagojevich was impeached by the Illinois House, starting the process of his trial. He has not been convicted, and regardless, his appointment of Burris was done long before.

Apparently a lot of folks have forgotten that Fitzgerald released accusations of misconduct, but to date there have been no charges placed. Yes, the Governor was arrested, but formal charges have not been filed; that’s the way that law works.

Now Fitzgerald suggests he may give more of his secret tapes to the impeachment committee of the state legislature.

If the federal judge who originally authorized the wiretaps understood that Fitzgerald would use the material for such political purposes, would he have gone along with it? Fitzgerald has asked for an extension to April to produce an indictment, and it’s a good question as to whether he will be able to deliver one then. —IndyStar.com [emphasis added]

To make this circus complete, remember that all circuses have rings.  Circles; lines that turn back to meet themselves.  Some of those wiretap tapes will be of Senator Reid calling Governor Blagojevich, telling him about Reid’s choices of a replacement senator.  Even money is riding on the phrase ‘no blacks’.

Sit back and watch the Democrats’ show, they can put on a good one.