Why does Kathleen Parker have a job?

For those of you lucky enough to be unfamiliar with Chatty Kathy, she is a dimwitted winger columnist based in Cracker City, USA (Orlando). She had a gem today, it has to be seen to be believed.

She has her shorts in a bind over the administration's decision not to re-nominate politicking ruthlessly ambitious climber Peter Pace to head up the joint chiefs. In one of the most bizarre bits of intellectual gymnastics ever, and proving once and for all that the shortest distance between two totally disconnected points is at a bottle and a half of pinot grigio, Chatty Kathy finds the roots of Pete's demise not in his leadership of a disastrous war but rather in the political machinations of HILLARY CLINTON! Oh the humanity!

I know it is tough to follow, but--Pace made dumb anti-gay comments back in the spring. I'll let you read the rest for yourself:

One doesn't need much of a running start to make the leap to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who also sits on the Armed Services Committee and who, you may have heard, is running for commander in chief. No one benefits more from Pace's removal than Clinton, who would have had to vote for or against the man and be stuck with a position that could hurt her. As the Democratic candidate for president, Clinton couldn't endorse Pace, now identified in some quarters as anti-gay. Her husband is responsible, after all, for the 1993 "don't ask, don't tell" policy that evolved as a compromise to his campaign promise to lift the ban on gays in the armed forces. As a future commander in chief, Sen. Clinton could ill afford to be perceived as siding with the liberal agenda and the gay lobby, which continues to push for the original Clinton promise.

So it is all about gays and Hillary? The WHITE HOUSE killed the nomination which does wonderful things for the Democratic frontrunner? Good God.

One doesn't need much of a running start to make the leap to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.... Well, Kathy, actually the only people who could make that leap are slow-witted administration apologists like you. I'm going out on a limb here, but since Gates wanted him back, do you suppose that the White House didn't want angry public hearings on its ongoing disaster? Just a thought.

Hey Pete - I think Mike Huckabee would disagree with you!

From ThinkProgress:

Later, on CNN’s Late Edition, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) expressed his disagreement with Powell about closing Guantanamo, saying “most of our prisoners would love to be in a facility more like Guantanamo and less like the state prisons that people are in in the United States.” (emphasis added)

Pressed by host Wolf Blitzer to address the fact that “detainees are being held, by and large, without charges, without any evidence,” which is “causing a smear on the U.S. reputation,” Huckabee said it didn’t matter because hypothetically, “if we let somebody out” they could “come and fly an airliner into one of our skyscrapers.”

Let's hear it for the 4th Circuit

One 3-judge panel, at least, a panel that rejected the Bush administration's Star Chamber claims to hold "terrorists" without charge.

"For a court to uphold a claim to such extraordinary power ... would effectively undermine all of the freedoms guaranteed by the constitution."

Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri may be a very bad guy. He may have been an al-Qaeda operative. As reported in the Chicago Tribune,

Although not charged with a terrorism offense, al-Marri was tied by authorities to Al Qaeda because he allegedly placed calls to a phone number in the United Arab Emirates linked to one of the paymasters for the Sept. 11 operation. His computer contained more than 1,000 apparent credit card numbers and instructions on making hydrogen cyanide.

So let's CHARGE HIM and TRY HIM. Try him in the courts that try criminal matters EVERY DAY. I don't care at all what happens to Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri. I care what his treatment does to our constitutional liberties. A legal U.S. resident, he has been held IN MILITARY CUSTODY WITHOUT CHARGES for almost four years. That is horrifying.

The Bush administration, desperate to hold on to their power to make people disappear, will seek en banc review of this three-judge decision, i.e., consideration by all 12 circuit judges. It rarely is granted, but this is a very conservative circuit. If the court denies an en banc review or affirms, then the Supremes are next. If this court, as conservative as it is, desires ANY institutional integrity, they cannot reverse this ruling.

King George, redux

From Salon's WarRoom:

"Yes, it's an interesting comment about Congress, isn't it?" Bush responded. "On the one hand, they say that a good general shouldn't be reconfirmed, and on the other hand, they say that my attorney general shouldn't stay. And I find it interesting. I guess it reflects the political atmosphere of Washington. And they can try to have their votes of no confidence, but it's not going to determine -- make the determination who serves in my government."

So, the Giggling Murderer in Chief comes out and puts it as plainly as he can, given that he has spent his life abusing that sad excuse for a brain he was born with. It's his government, dontcha know, and he'll do what he wants.

He is frighteningly dismissive of Congress - "they say a good general shouldn't be reconfirmed" - well, George, they do have that power (remember that Constitution thing?). And "They can try to have their votes of no confidence..." Wow, does that have a ring of "go out and play, young Congress, and let daddy take care of the country." There is something Congress could do about this, to let his lordship know they're not his serfs. Of course, there are too many of them who are still his willing lapdogs.

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.