The real danger

As if the destruction of the gulf coast and a nightmarish war in Iraq going from bad to worse wasn't enough, we have a little story tucked away in the back of the paper that should make you shudder:

Court allows ‘dirty bomb’ suspect to be held

The three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that the president has the authority to detain a U.S. citizen closely associated with al-Qaida.

This is frightening on several levels.

Initially, it is horrifying that a federal appeals panel unanimously held that the president gets to decide who is entitled to constitutional rights and who is not. Look, I'm not defending Jose Padilla. He is a low-level street thug who may well deserve to be locked away for years. However, this country is premised, at least in theory, on the idea that we afford full constitutional protections to even the most vile of miscreants among us. Bundy, Dahmer and Gacy were each read their rights, afforded counsel, tried by juries and afforded access to appeals and to all other aspects of due process. The notion that George W. Bush, by one stroke of a pen, can banish U.S. citizens to his own private gulag without rights or recourse is indeed a shocking affront to the constitution.

But it gets worse from there. Circuit Court Judge Michael Luttig is on W's short list for the Supreme Court vacancy.

Be afraid, be very very afraid.