Tuesday, June 2, 2009

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The (Bush) administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court Friday to reject a request for a hearing from 17 Chinese Muslims currently being held at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, arguing they have no right to come to America despite a district judge's orders last Fall that they immediately be brought to the U.S. and released.


Unfortunately, there’s not a whole lot of options for these people as they are not welcome on their home turf in China (actually, the Chinese would love to have the Uighurs back, in a manner of speaking) and no other country has stepped forward to accept them.

It’s all good, though because for the time being, their current digs aren’t too shabby. Take it from a Bush administration official who had this to say about the bunking arrangements:
"In contrast to individuals currently detained as enemies under the laws of war, petitioners are being housed under relatively unrestrictive conditions, given the status of Guantanamo Bay as a United States military base," Kagan writes, saying they are "in special communal housing with access to all areas of their camp, including an outdoor recreation space and picnic area." They "sleep in an air-conditioned bunk house and have the use of an activity room equipped with various recreational items, including a television with VCR and DVD players, a stereo system, and sports equipment."

Throw a copy of “Women of the Kyber Pass” on the coffee table and a bean bag chair in the corner and it’s a regular ol’ bachelor pad.

In other news this week, President Bush won some more breathing room in attempting to deal with detainees as a federal judge agreed on Monday to put on hold a ruling permitting legal challenges by some prisoners pursuing habeas corpus in seeking release from imprisonment that are currently being held at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan.

Of course, this has definitely chagrined those on the left but they don’t much care for President Bush as it is. Fighting the bad guys in War on Terror is some tricky (and messy) business so we’re glad the President hasn’t abandoned common sense for lofty rhetoric and/or the narrow ideology clung to by fringe kooks who can’t stand him anyway.

Stay strong, sir.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Off-topic PSA:

You can go to any national park for free on designated weekends in June, July, and August.

Yes, courtesy of the guy in the picture's Sec. of Interior.

http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/index.php/free-entry-to-nation-4570/

- Mongo Highly Recommends Tuolumne Meadows in August. No Mosquitos!

Dean said...

I'm a little confused. I've been hearing radio spots for npca.org which is the national park conservation organization soliiciting donations to what they feel is an underfunded national parks system.

Yet, $2 bil is going to the Parks, ostensibly for infrastructure repairs/upgrades via the stimulus bill (still not enough, according to npca)... but now everyone is getting in for free over the summer?

I'm all for making our parks as accessible as possible (who am I kidding? Let's keep the riff-raff out) but if I see so much as one backed-up toilet or overgrown campsite at Zion or the Grand Canyon, someone is getting a strongly worded letter...or something.

Forget it, Dean. It's Porkulus-town

Anonymous said...

A good question.

But think of it as a "tax holiday" (only in the form of a user tax). You should be all over it! Three weekends of tax-free bliss, and in the national park of your choice to boot!

You can even bring a gun!

I should think I would find huge gatherings of teabag-toting Limbaugh-types with sidearms mumbling "It's Clinton's fault..." and... oh, yeah, about those backed-up toilets...

- Mongo Introduces You to The Enviro-Friendly and Pleasantly- Scented Vault Toilet