I know what you’re thinking. You’re looking at these pictures and you’re saying to yourself, “No! Not another blog post about Sarah Palin!” But I literally cannot help myself. I just read this article from the New York Times and it’s both brilliant and terrifying. Ostensibly, it’s about Palin’s book tour, why people are drawn to her, and how both of these things point to what happened during last year’s election. But it’s also about what has happened since the election, when one part of America decided that everything was suddenly right with the world and another part decided that the world was coming to an abrupt end. Basically, then, the article’s a microcosm of America. Here’s why:

The crowds included stray disaffected Obama voters, as well as hard-core conspiracy theorists insisting that the president is a Communist who wants to send everyone to re-education camps.

Of course:

Few people in the lines were reading Ms. Palin’s book, despite having hours to wait.
“It’s more fun talking politics with people who agree with you,” said Lucy Vigmostad, who was celebrating her 18th birthday by being first in line in Grand Rapids.

And then there’s this:

As they wondered whether Ms. Palin would run for president, people here could not say exactly what they thought she would do differently to get the country out of its messes. But, they argued, she has common sense and understands how to run a family and a state. That seemed to be enough.

Last, but certainly not least:

“I’m looking forward to her giving me hope,” said Cheryl Geraty, waiting in the rain in Grand Rapids.
That sounded something like Mr. Obama, who had effectively started his own campaign for the White House on a book tour in 2006. No, Ms. Geraty said, shaking her head and smiling, “It’s a different kind of hope.”

This isn’t about Sarah Palin, America, this is about you.

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My friend Mark Moon says that he loves NASCAR. But I don’t think he’s really embraced the whole culture, as his comment on this picture concerned his happiness at coordinating the camouflage pattern on both his Dale Jr. hat and his High Life can. Though it’s probably pretty obvious, let me state for the record that I don’t endorse Miller Brewing Company, Dale Earnhardt, Hendrick Motorsports, the Sprint Cup, or driving around in circles in general. But I do endorse Mark Moon. If any of the above-named companies want to advertise on this blog, they should talk to him.

My friend Mark Moon says that he loves NASCAR. But I don’t think he’s really embraced the whole culture, as his comment on this picture concerned his happiness at coordinating the camouflage pattern on both his Dale Jr. hat and his High Life can.

Though it’s probably pretty obvious, let me state for the record that I don’t endorse Miller Brewing Company, Dale Earnhardt, Hendrick Motorsports, the Sprint Cup, or driving around in circles in general. But I do endorse Mark Moon. If any of the above-named companies want to advertise on this blog, they should talk to him.

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Forum Shopping and Justice

There has already been a fair amount of discussion surrounding Eric Holder’s announcement that one group of “War on Terror” detainees will be tried in federal court in New York. Former attorney general Michael Mukasey claims that this “decision represented a turn from the Bush administration’s war footing to a ‘Sept. 10, 2001’ mentality.” If that’s correct, then I’m glad; my sense is that this country can’t remain on a permanent war footing and remain a strong liberal democracy that champions rights and freedoms at home and abroad.

That said, the vast majority of squawking, on the various cable news channels that I religiously ignore, seems to revolve around the following complaints:

  1. They will be provided with legal protections they don’t deserve;
  2. They will be provided with a forum for expressing their terrible views;
  3. They will poison other inmates with their terrible views, if convicted;
  4. They will endanger Manhattan again by their presence.

To that list - though not discussed by cable news personalities nearly as much, for obvious reasons - we should add that a trial in New York will likely raise the issue of the torture of detainees. All of this amounts to one main complaint: terror suspects don’t belong in a civilian court. But we all know that a pretty sizable number have already been tried in these courts, including such well-known terrorists/enemy combatants as Timothy McVeigh, John Walker Lindh, and Zacarias Moussaoui.

As a very interesting op-ed in yesterday’s Washington Post points out, Holder’s decision likely has something to do with the fact that military tribunals haven’t had a particularly stellar track record. But the point that this raises, one that isn’t discussed very often, is that there aren’t really any rules for where suspects will be tried. And so, while this group will be tried in federal court, another group will be tried before a military tribunal. The op-ed authors - Jim Comey and Jack Goldsmith - don’t have any problem with this state of affairs:

These decisions have already invited charges of opportunistic forum shopping. The Bush administration, criticized on similar grounds, properly explained that it would use whatever lawful tool worked best, all things considered, to incapacitate a particular terrorist. Holder’s decisions appear to reflect a similarly pragmatic approach.

While it is certainly a pragmatic decision and while the Bush administration certainly argued that anything that worked was perfectly acceptable in the “War on Terror,” I’m not convinced that this is the appropriate standard. Ultimately, we’re choosing where to try these suspects based on expected success, not on the basis of some rule that is tied to our understanding of justice. It would be akin to trying a murderer from Detroit in a Toledo court because we’re legislatively prohibited from getting a death sentence in Michigan. We can’t do that because of jurisdictional issues, but when it comes to these detainees there are no such issues. We could send them to Egypt for trial, if we felt like it, or just keep them in custody until we find a venue that will lead to the outcome we most desire. But none of this, in the end, really comports with our understanding of justice.

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