Seen on the street in Kyiv.

Words of Advice:

"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne

“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *

"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown

“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie

"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad

"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown

"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers

"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown

"Eck!" -- George the Cat

* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck, A/K/A Dolt-45,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset., A/K/A P01135809

Monday, May 10, 2010

Limiting Miranda Rights

The Obama Administration is caving to the fearmongers:
The Obama administration said Sunday it would seek a law allowing investigators to interrogate terrorism suspects without informing them of their rights ... [Attorney General Eric] Holder proposed carving out a broad new exception to the Miranda rights established in a landmark 1966 Supreme Court ruling. It generally forbids prosecutors from using as evidence statements made before suspects have been warned that they have a right to remain silent and to consult a lawyer.

He said interrogators needed greater flexibility to question terrorism suspects than is provided by existing exceptions.
I would agree to this on one condition: That any "carve-out" of Miranda rights will also apply to Federal elected officials.

I don't see this passing judicial scrutiny. The cops can say "we suspected of terrorism, yer Honor, because we found him drunk behind a 7-11" or anything else.

This is a stupid-ass idea.

9 comments:

Nangleator said...

Anyone can see the further arguments...

Child rapists shouldn't have Miranda rights!

Then, murderers...

Thieves...

Tax evaders...

Voters for the losing party...

I was happy about Obama until I realized he'll only be shaped by the people that voted against him. He'll only give in to those who refuse to help him. Why won't he resign? They want that, right?

Presidents need to stand up for what they stood up for on the campaign trail. Not what their opponents did.

Comrade Misfit said...

I agree. Listening to Traitor Joe's ideas on constitutional law has to be one of the dumbest ideas yet put forth by Holder & Co.

Allan S said...

Good bye America, hello Totalitarian regime ....at least you are heading in that direction.

For Gods sake, take back your country before its too late!

BadTux said...

Allan, we are a democracy. The policies adopted by our government tend to be those supported by the majority of our people (and if a party long-term goes against the will of the majority -- like the Republicans in the late 'oughts -- they get thrown out of power). The fact that the majority of Americans agree "accused terrorists should have no Miranda rights" is sickening and appalling, but the notion that we should "take our country back" (i.e., that the minority should overthrow rule of the majority) is equally sickening and appalling.

I am disgusted by where American democracy is going, but what is the alternative? Tyranny by a "moral" minority that imposes its morality upon the majority? I'm sure the tighty righty religious zealots would love that notion, but I am appalled that someone who would consider themselves "liberal" ever could, because history is quite clear on what happens once you go down that road.

- Badtux the Democracy Penguin

Allan S said...

Bad Tux, I see where you're comming from and I agree. I love democracy, here in Canada we elect our dictators. But south of the border the general populace seems to make their decisions from bad or sloppy intel.

We need multiple news sources, at least more than FOX or CNN to make informed, balanced judgements.

That being said, I have a cautionary tale about media. I have had the priveledge to be on the periphial of three media stories. The only way I could tell that the three incidents were the same ones that I was involved in was becaus the dates were correct and they had the main protagonists named correctly. Other than that, I was all 'WTF' over the content.. Just saying, we might all be screwed here:)

Nangleator said...

It would be nice if our teachers would spend a little more time explaining the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Plainly, many of our citizens don't seem to understand the content or the philosophy.

But I guess the teachers are too busy making sure kids pass the tests that insure Federal money keeps flowing. I suppose I ought to look into who proposed that testing.

montag said...

For a constitutional scholar, Obama seems very comfortable violating it whenever he likes. Unlike Bush, Obama knows what he is doing.

BadTux said...

I'm quite aware of the media issues, Allan. I've been quoted accurately only *once* of the several times I've been interviewed by "reporters", and the only factually correct article I've ever been involved with is one that I wrote myself for a computer publication.

Still, this isn't new. Americans have always been bloodthirsty and vicious. In the aftermath of the Kent State Massacre, *70%* of Americans said they supported the actions of the National Guardsmen at Kent State -- despite the fact that the four dead had nothing to do with protests, and the closest of the dead was over 50 yards away from the Guardsmen, clearly not threatening them in any way! There seems to be a knee-jerk "law'n'order" response in Americans, where *anything* done by someone acting under color of law is okay, even outright *murder*, because the victims "had it coming". This kind of violence and viciousness appears burnt into the American psyche, and I don't have a solution for it but denying it isn't a solution, that's just self-delusion...

- Badtux the Viciousness-scryin' Penguin

merlallen said...

Miranda rights aren't rights. There is no such thing as a "Miranda right". they are just informing you of your rights that you have whether you know it or not.