Author: hankkalet

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the president today and for the U.S. Constitution.

The Supreme Court today delivered a sweeping rebuke to the Bush administration, ruling that the military tribunals it created to try terror suspects violate both American military law and the Geneva Convention.

In a 5-to-3 ruling, the justices also rejected an effort by Congress to strip the court of jurisdiction over habeas corpus appeals by detainees at the prison camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

And the court found that the plaintiff in the case, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a former driver for Osama bin Laden, could not be tried on the conspiracy charge lodged against him because international military law requires that prosecutions focus on specific acts, not broad conspiracy charges.

I don’t have muc to say about it yet — it is too early and I need to take some time to digest it — but I’d suggest this bit of analysis from the SCOTUS blog (courtesy of Talking Points Memo, the single-best political blog out there).

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press

OK. This is getting weird.

The Star-Ledger reported that Assembly Democrats staged a sit-in earlier today, demanding that the state treasurer meet with them because of comments made by the governor yesterday. Gov. Jon Corzine is threatening a veto of the budget if it does not include his proposed sales tax hike.

The day, as the Ledger reported, was “strange … even by Trenton standards.”

(T)he Assembly Budget Committee convened this morning, demanded the state treasurer come to them, waited all day and then recessed at 5:30 p.m. — without taking a vote on any bills, or on a version of the state budget.

The sit-in left budget negotiations “in a state of emergency of their own” — a reference to the flooding hitting the western part of the state.

Here’s the Ledger’s description of the fun and follies:

This morning, the Assembly Budget Committee staged a sort of sit-in. The committee, led by chairman Louis Greenwald (D-Camden), was scheduled to vote on a budget bill that does not include Corzine’s proposed rise in the state sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent. But when committee members assembled in a room filled with lobbyists just after 11 a.m., they said there would be no vote.

Instead, they called on state treasurer Bradley Abelow to come to the meeting room and explain in detail Corzine’s statement the night before that he would veto the Assembly budget plan.

The committee even sent a Sergeant-at-arms to the treasurer’s office and then the governor’s office — but he was rebuffed at both places.

Corzine, who was holding a news conference about the flood preparations, criticized the Assembly committee’s action.

“My treasurer has been made available over and over again now doing things on the spur of the moment — which is, by the way, one of the major problems we have in this whole budgetary process,” Corzine said.

Seems pretty obvious that neither side is in a mood to compromise. So don’t expect a deal on this budget anytime soon.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press

Bob Menendez voted for an amendment to ban flag burning (Frank Lautenberg voted no). A curious move — until you realize he’s up for his first full term in the U.S. Senate. Just thought I’d mention it.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press

Paul Begala’s recent post to Talking Points Memo is worth checking out. The former Clinton strategist basically turns conventional wisdom on Iraq and the Democrats on its head, making the salient point that unanimity in favor of bad policy may be fatal to the GOP. “Democrats can and will win the Iraq debate,” he says, “if they embrace the fact that they disagree and contrast it with the slavish, mindless rubber-stamp Republicans.”

The only place in the American government where there is an honest and spirited debate over Iraq is within the Democratic Party. Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer are not on the same page – and that’s a good thing. Hillary Clinton and John Kerry disagree. Hooray for that.

If anyone tells you the solution to Iraq is easy or obvious, they’re a liar or a fool (a false choice in the case of our president). So why not feature the debate? At least someone is debating what to do.

The fact is the American people want a new direction in Iraq, and the Democrats offer several. The Republicans, on the other hand, offer nothing more than a four-word strategy: more of the same.

Democrats should seize this moment to attack the rubber-stamp Republicans for their lemming-like devotion to a failed strategy and a set of incompetent and dishonest leaders. Republicans have a faith-based Iraq policy. They have faith in Donald Rumsfeld, they have faith in Dick Cheney, they have faith in George W. Bush. We don’t. They are liars and nincompoops – and the lives of tens of thousands of our best are in their hands.

Every time the GOP says “cut and run,” Democrats should say, “rubber stamp.” Every time they say we’re weak, we should say real strength is standing up to your president and your party when American lives are on the line. When they attack our patriotism, we should challenge them to sign their kids up for the military: “Since when did the sons and daughters of working people corner the market on patriotism, Senator? If this war is so wonderful, so noble, so vital, why the hell is your son throwing up on his date at Ivy League frat parties?”

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press

The latest column from the Progressive Populist.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press