“A computer is like an Old Testament god, with a lot of rules and no mercy”


Wednesday, April 7

Slippery Slope

U.S. Approves Targeted Killing of American Cleric

That's not from some right-wing, black-helicopter, conspiracy-theory-toting moon bat's website. That's from the frakin' New York Times, the bastion of Liberalism.

And that story. That's the freakin' American government authorizing the assassination of an American citizen. It doesn't matter what the man is doing, he's still a citizen and is protected by the same Constitutional rights and guarantees as you or I.

Holy crap! If the .gov starts getting into the business of assassinating American citizens who they don't like or disagree with, watch out. This is so not a good thing.

2 comments:

Old Doctor Weasel said...

He's overseas, which changes his rights. I'm not happy that Bush & Congress never sorted this out. Under Bush, feds grabbed Jose Padilla off the street and held him as a terrorist. It was the right thing to do, but set a bad precedent that should have been defined & limited by subsequent law. Still waiting.... This case is justified in itself, for a known enemy of the US overseas, but for precedent's sake it needs to be limited by laws that Congress should start drafting.

Anonymous said...

Um, yeah, No. First, he's engaged as an enemy combatant in a war against the United States. Secondly, the 'Constitutional Rights' of American Citizens are curtailed all the time. Felons are still citizens, and they can't be tortured or taxed without representation. But they can't vote or own guns, either. To the extent he has crossed the line from talking shit to doing shit, he is a legal target, and rightly so. That would be the case regardless of whether he was in the CONUS or not, to the extent that he represented an immediate or even imminant threat to U.S. citizens or property. Yes, it's legal to kill him to prevent him from murdering someone else. It's not simple or pretty, but those are the facts. His right to free action ends at my right not to be killed by terrorist assholes.