McCarthy missed this one

Republicans are great at "finding" enemies of America. After Al Qaeda and the Taliban and Saddam, they "found" the Democrats, the press, Joe Wilson, Valarie Plame, Gen. Erik Shinseki, Bunnatine "Bunny" Greenhouse and American citizens to name a few. When W said "you are either with us or you are with the terrorists" I didn't think he meant the New York Times. Silly me. Now the Corrupticans have "found" another aider and abettor of the enemies of America -- the Federal Judiciary.

The attack on the judiciary from the "law and order" Republicans has been total. Whether it was in the Schiavo case or creationism or pledge of allegience cases it has always been the same - if you rule against us you are an activist judge who hates god, loves abortionists and probably worships the devil while molesting puppies and drinking the blood of Christians, Evangelicals who worship money, tax cuts, the death penalty and pre-emptive war that is. Now the White House has has upped the ante by arguing to the country that traitors and Al Qaeda sympathizers are in the Federal Judiciary.

Three years ago Jose Padilla, an American citizen, was "arrested" in America at Chicago's O'Hare airport and accused of plotting to detonate a radiological "dirty bomb." For three years he has been held as an "enemy combatant" without being charged or tried for plotting to use a "dirty bomb." So little was known about Padilla that only after three years when he finally got to talk to a lawyer did we even find out his name is pronounced Pa-dill-ah and not Pa-dee-yah. Basically this American gang member was dissappeared as an "enemy combatant" for three years without access to a lawyer or trial and all we knew was what the governement told us. Not only was no evidence offered but we didn't even know how to properly pronounce his name! Now as the Supreme Court was in the process of probably reviewing the case and the limits of presidential powers, W and his capos decide "forget it, never mind about the whole 'enemy combatant' thing, forget about dirty bombs and stuff, we'll just criminally charge him with some unrelated helping terrorists get a phone card or something. Thanks for the three years, hope you enjoyed it."

Well a three-panel federal bench, all appointed by Republicans, "questioned the government's changing rationale for Padilla's detention since the September decision, because the criminal charges do not mention a dirty bomb plot or any attack inside the United States. The court said prosecutors had left the appearance that they were trying to avoid Supreme Court review of Padilla's case and suggested that Padilla might have been "held for these years, even if justifiably, by mistake." Uh oh. Questioning the Supreme Executive? What's next? Applying the Bill of Rights to all fifty states? Then what? Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together...mass hysteria!

The Justice Department has answered this questioning of authority. The Justice Department brief said the 4th Circuit had mischaracterized the events of Padilla's incarceration and engaged in "an unwarranted attack on the exercise of Executive discretion." Prosecutors accused the court of going so far as to "usurp" Bush's authority as the nation's commander-in-chief and his government's "prosecutorial discretion." The government went on to argue, "There is nothing remotely sinister about the government's effort to pursue criminal charges that minimize evidentiary complications," the brief said, adding that "there is no basis for questioning the good faith of the government in moving forward with the indictment."

No basis for questioning the good faith of the government? The W Adminstration in a nutshell. Don't question us. Any dissent makes you an enemy of the state including now the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. One nation, under W, with liberty and justice for all except the enemies of freedom and our political interests who we'll tell you who they are thank you very much.