More Police State Follies
I don’t think I have to source the allusion to the arrest of Henry Louis Gates. I am still not comfortable with how the situation was handled. Obama was right to characterize the Cambridge police actions as stupid; no beer session needed. Instead, how about a nation-wide questioning of the irrational responses police are allowed to enact when a citizen exercises a little free speech?
Eric Holder has serious responsibilities to uphold U.S. and International law, to which we are signatories and, abracadabra, that’s U.S. law, too. Obama’s social agenda may be important, but so is upholding human rights in a democracy and ensuring that abuses of executive power receive due penalties, so future executive branch occupants don’t think they can get away with it.
Turns out the military’s reliance on robot technology poses serious threats to civilian lives. Who’da thunk it?!
Lastly, prominent decision-makers in Michigan, including Senator Carl Levin are considering the economic benefits of warehousing the illegally detained prisoners currently held in Guantanamo Bay. I understand the state’s desperation; and our prison industry has turned several rural parts around America into the incarceration equivalent of factory towns. But until these guys are charged with something and put on trial in a real court of law (and not some second string military venue), their detention is illegal, no matter where we put them.
