Helen's Question

Helen Thomas, the "First Lady" of the press corps who's covered every President since JFK has been silent in the Bush Administration.... until now. pResident Bush decided to field one question from her and she didn't waste the moment.




A beleagered Bush fumbled for his correct soundbite, and clearly messed up.

But what is really interesting beyond the fact that pResident Bush has no concept of what his Administration has him doing, is the way he will fight like a caged animal to defend whatever it was they told him he was doing. Listen to his intensity as he defends his righteousness.

Now that should scare even the most ideologically challenged of his constituants...shouldn't it?

Habeas Schmabeas

Today, Arlen Spector did a 180, now supporting Unitary Executive Privilege! Now he says FISA laws are antiquated...who's been over to pay him a visit? Bush speaks about Iraq... says the tv lies... don't believe your eyes... believe my lies! This must be what it was like to be a Jew in 1932 Germany.... difference being that Hitler WAS elected.


Please listen to this broadcast of This American Life with Ira Glass....search for Episode #310 Habeas Schmabeas 3/10/06 in the 2006 archive.

Tune to the audio story that discusses Habeaus Corpus. It is very interesting. The right of habeas corpus has been a part of this country's legal tradition longer than we've actually been a country. It means the government has to explain why it's holding a person in custody. But now, the war on terror has nixed many of the rules we used to think of as fundamental. At Guantanamo Bay, our government initially claimed that the prisoners should not be covered by habeas – or even by the Geneva Conventions – because they're the most fearsome terrorist enemies we have. But is that true? Is it a camp full of terrorists, or a camp full of our mistakes?

Who are the terrorists now?

PS. When Seton Hall Professor Baher Azmy discusses the classified file of his client, Murat Kurnaz, in ActOne, he is referring to information that had previously been made public and published in the Washington Post. That material has subsequently been reclassified.

Happy Mothers Day

Julia Ward Howe, founder of Mother's Day, author of the Mother's Day Proclamation in 1870 following the Civil War, called for peace and disarmament.

An excerpt follows:

From the voice of a devastated Earth
a voice goes up with our own.
It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
at the summons of war,

Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women,
to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel
with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...






Today we celebrate her courage and efforts... by screening the film The Promise of America.