No Habla Habeas?

The Vatican replied that the Pope was on holiday.

The Pope does not, as a routine matter, receive politicians while on retreat at Castle Gandolfo.

However, at least one Italian newspaper is calling it 'an obvious snub,' as the United States ignored the Vatican's objections to the war in Iraq, and that their inability to secure the region means Christians and other non-Muslims are also at risk from spiraling violence.

Forty-three members of the Senate don't believe in habeas corpus. Well, at least not for 'illegal enemy combatants' and other alleged terrorist types. As a result, the Democrats lack the votes necessary to defeat a fillibuster by Republicans on an essential issue of Constitutional rights for all Americans.

Habeas corpus was denied such prisoners as part of the Military Commissions Act, meaning that once they get thrown in the slammer, we're not obligated to actually charge them with anything or observe due process of law - even if they happen to be United States citizens.

Disgraced former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales claimed that the Constitution does not guarantee habeas corpus. (While there is only mention of suspending habeas corpus, you can't suspend that which does not exist.)

We've been through this before with the Japanese internment. It was wrong, it was unwarranted, and we wound up paying reparations to the citizens involved.

If your senator voted no, perhaps it's time to give them a call or write them a letter and ask them why.

Senator Jim Webb's amendment to assure our troops get adequate time-at-home was also defeated by a similar count. Apparently, there are Senators who think grinding your knife to a blunt point and a dull edge is the way to win a knife fight.

But the winner is Republican Senator Mel Martinez, who asserted that, "I think we would demean their service if we were to say to them that there had to be a parity between the time in service out of the country and the time at home."

Got that? Our troops want to live in constant danger and risk of being killed! They want to spend years away from their families and loved ones, to raise their children in absentia! How dare we interfere with such a noble sacrifice!

It should be noted that Senator John Warner, who originally said he would support the Webb amendment, changed his mind as he has in the past and supported President Bush's inane strategy of keeping our troops in harm's way indefinitely.

A Boot to the Head to Associated Press writer Deb Reichmann, who reported that the Protecting America Act was designed to make FISA 'more efficient.'

A process that requires a warrant to safeguard the Constitutional rights of the citizenry is not made 'more efficient' by eliminating the need for such warrants.

Get it right. FISA was trashed because Alberto "I Can't Remember Anything of Substance" Gonzales didn't want to be bothered with the paperwork.

Remember, the issue with 9/11 was that government law enforcement agencies 'couldn't connect the dots' because they failed to inform each other of related items, and not because we missed the magic phone call.

Okay, I finally did manage to see the clip from ABC's The View in which Sherri Shepherd demonstrates what a colossal ultramaroon she is.

(Following Shepherd's comment that she 'doesn't believe in evolution, period.')

WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Is the world flat?
SHERRI SHEPHERD: Is the world flat? (laughter)
GOLDBERG: Yes.
SHEPHERD: �I Don�t know.
GOLDBERG: What do you think?
SHEPHERD: I� I never thought about it, Whoopi. Is the world flat? I never thought about it.
BARBARA WALTERS: You�ve never thought about whether the world was round or flat?
SHEPHERD: I tell you what I�ve thought about. How I�m going to feed my child�
WALTERS: Well you can do both.
SHEPERD: �how I�m going to take care of my family. The world, is the world flat has never entered into, like that has not been an important thing to me.
ELIZABETH HASSELBECK: You�ll teach your son, Jeffery, right?
SHEPHERD: If my son, Jeffery, asks me �is the world flat,� I guess I would go�
JOY BEHAR: You know, didn�t some person already work this question out? I mean, why are we doing this again? (laughter, applause)

I'm not sure what is more disgusting, that Shepherd apparently doesn't know the Earth is round, or that she's actually, like, you know ... considering it and weighing the evidence.

As comedian Jeff Foxworthy says, "Here's your sign."

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