Wimpy Wimps Wimply Wimping

Posted on 05/19/2009 at 1:33 pm by Bob Cesca

Can we oust Harry Reid yet?

President Barack Obama’s allies in the Senate will not provide funds to close the Guantanamo Bay prison next January, a top Democratic official said Tuesday.

With debate looming on Obama’s spending request to cover military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the official says Democrats will deny the Pentagon and Justice Department $80 million to relocate Guantanamo’s 241 detainees. [...]

I’m speechless.

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  • http://www.broadwaycarl.blogspot.com Broadway Carl™

    This is unbelivable. Everyone’s talking about Pelosi being ousted when this douche Reid needs to grow a pair and straighten this shit out.Speaking of Reid…

    “…a poll, conducted for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, also showed just 38 percent [of Nevadans] see him in a positive light. A full 45 percent say they will definitely vote to replace Reid, with just a third saying they will vote to reelect him. Seventeen percent will consider another candidate.

    … and there is still no serious challenger to run against him.

  • http://www.broadwaycarl.blogspot.com Broadway Carl™

    Screwed up the Reid link.

  • Mike

    Obama got great head lines “closing” the place though…They were tortured though, they’ve served their due, I think if now one else will take them, we put them on probation, and give them a fresh start here in the states.Nothing like good intentions without one ounce of a plan, other then getting those headlines. Definitely made the anti-bush crowd happy for a while. Of course, everyone once his side, once appeased, will forget completely about it, and move on to the next “change”.

  • http://tarackian.deviantart.com J M Ashby

    This is hogwash.They dont want to fund relocating them because the republicans are going to fearmonger over them being on US soil?There are much more freightening people already in our prisons.Harry Reid is a shell of a man. Empty and spineless.

  • http://nanotyrnns.blogspot.com/ Nanotyrannus

    Exactly, Carl. There are a few scaries here in Colorado up at Supermax ( a place that a local independent paper printed a few articles on how dangerously understaffed it was during the Bush administration). However, this is part and parcel of how the Democrats are perpetually unable to make an argument for doing anything positive. They want to close Gitmo, but they don’t know how to control the discussion on why and are afraid of the electoral consequences if they do close Gitmo. The midterms are around the corner and they are thinking ahead.We need Howard Dean back.

  • http://nanotyrnns.blogspot.com/ Nanotyrannus

    Oops — I mean Ashby. You do look so much like Carl though…

  • http://broadwaycarl.blogspot.com Broadway Carl

    The fact that there are some cowards crying Not In My Back Yard is ridiculous.

    Earlier this month, Hardin [Montnana's] town council voted unanimously to offer the US government a deal: Send Hardin the detainees that most foreign countries and other cities the US are afraid to take.

    “Why not us?” [Greg Smith, Hardin's economic development director] asks. “They’ve got to go somewhere.” He dismisses security concerns over housing inmates former Bush administration officials famously described as “the worst of the worst”. “We have some very hardened criminals in our own country that have committed some heinous crimes, and they are in communities all across this country,” Smith argues. [...]

    He estimates at least 100 new jobs would come from filling the prison, a real boost to this small, beleaguered community. Smith describes the town’s quest to become a new penal colony as “a piece of the American dream.” “Like anything in America, we’re looking for opportunities,” he says.

    That’s 100 out of 241. This is a great opportunity for towns on the verge of financial collapse. Besides, I didn’t know that Gitmo detainees had incredible superpowers that allowed then to break out of maximum security prisons in which we house our worst murderers and rapists.

    This after Cheney was on the Sunday talking head shows saying he didn’t know of a single congressional district willing to take Gitmo detainees. Suck it, DICK.

  • http://phydeauxpseaks.blogspot.com Phydeaux Speaks

    So, $80million is like, what… 0.005% of the budget? Yeah, no way we can afford to spend such a huge amount to end something so blatantly anti-everything-this-country-is-supposed-to-stand-for.Idiots, morons and hypocrites, the lot of ‘em.

  • http://phydeauxpseaks.blogspot.com Phydeaux Speaks

    Oops.I remembered incorrectly as to the size of the 2009 budget. It’s twice what I had thought, so …0.00025% of the budget.Oy.

  • JJ

    From the link-”Once the administration develops a plan to close the facility, congressional Democrats are likely to revisit the topic”In absense of a plan, how can you justify spending $80 million dollars?Nobody wants these people. If they are going to be tried and locked up after that, why not just keep them where they are right now? If on the other hand, they might get turned loose, that is a real problem. What do you do then, when nobody wants these people? What if something does happen because they were set loose, can you imagine the fallout from that? That would be political suicide.Closing Guantanamo down is easier said than done. The “want to” is there, but the “how to” isn’t.

  • http://broadwaycarl.blogspot.com Broadway Carl

    JJ – your argument doesn’t hold water in light of the fact tha Hardin, MT said they would take almost half of the detainees (see above). When you say no one, you mean the politicians, not the voters.

  • eve

    Wasn’t it here that I read there were thousands of POW’s imprisoned in the US during and after WWII? We seemed to have survived that.We are a country of cowards if we cannot be the least bit inconvenienced for the protection of our own country.

  • http://broadwaycarl.blogspot.com Broadway Carl

    We are a country of cowards if we cannot be the least bit inconvenienced for the protection of our own country.

    Eve, I’m trying to figure out the “inconvenience” of having detainees in maximum security prisons. Why am I inconvenienced by this?I said it above but will repeat, I didn’t know that Gitmo detainees had incredible superpowers that allowed then to break out of maximum security prisons in which we house our worst murderers and rapists.

  • http://www.colorado-yardening.com Peter

    I knew it was going to come to Cavin’ Harry Reid screwing us over. He’s an idiot. Grow a pair? At his age? With all the estrogen he ingests?I think cities are on the right track to take in the Gitmo detainees. Lots of cities have busted economies and who creeps me out more: hard core criminals or religious fanatics?The former because they’re not going to change, ever. The terrorists/fanatics don’t bother me so much because we have muslim neighbors and well, I don’t know. If I had to choose who to jail it would be the hard core criminals who have devastated our community.That being said I’d like to see the American Taliban rounded up and thrown into jail for fraud. Start with James D.

  • Mike

    Carl,It’s called ACLU. These guys at Gitmo didn’t do anything wrong, atleast most of them. The superpower, dirty rotten lawyers looking for headlines.

  • http://broadwaycarl.blogspot.com Broadway Carl

    Mike, what does the ACLU have anything to do with it? It’s the polticians who are screaming NIMBY. Just now, Sen. Inhofe says he doesn’t want any detainee on US soil to be “set free.” And he took credit for an amendment to stop the funds to close Gitmo and that “Senate Democrats put their name on it” and passed it.

  • http://tarackian.deviantart.com J M Ashby

    Eve – Yes, we imprisoned tens of thousands of germans right here in the states.

  • http://broadwaycarl.blogspot.com Broadway Carl

    Clarifying, whether Inhofe’s statement is true or not makes no difference. There is no legitimate reason to refuse the detainees into this country when they are still going to be tried in military tribunals. The incarceration mechanism shouldn’t be a consideration. If it’s safe enough for our worst convicts, its good enough for the detainees.

  • http://arkytek.blogspot.com/ ∇•B=0  Silly Ratfaced Git  ∇•D=ρ

    The ACLU law suits were about constitutional violations which Obama has already addressed. They sued over:1. Lack of Habeas Corpus.2. Denial of Due Process.3. Denial of access to counsel.These are all violations of our Constitution.I always love how right wingers attack the ACLU at every opportunity. The ACLU is such a subversive group insisting that we actually follow our laws and abide by the Constitution. According to the wrong wing doctrine, defending the Constitution is unAmerican.Why do republicans hate the Constitution? They seem to require ignoring it as a matter of policy.

  • 24hourjack

    inhoffe and the repubs are already touting this as a victory for their “no terrorists in my backyard” bill and their whole opposition to closing gitmo period.seriously.he was just on msnbc talking shit about how the dems backed down etc…look,we all know that the whole “what did pelosi know” thing is merely a distraction and a bunch of horseshit.having said that,my question is:with all the capable,genuinely intelligent and thoughtful dems in washington,how did we end up with pelosi and reid heading up congress?

  • ceu

    If the courts dismiss the charges on most of the detainees (and they have for 25 of the 29 trials held) for lack of any shred of evidence (now that hearsay and info obtained under duress can’t be used), why aren’t we letting them go? Why are we hunting for maximum security prisons to hold these “worst of the worst terrorists” who haven’t done a damn thing to deserve having been held & mistreated all these years?Isn’t ANYONE thinking about not continuing to punish them for things they didn’t do??

  • Jan

    imho- I think this is a plan. Obama made a big deal out of closing Gitmo. Then he realized how hard it would be- no countries would take these detainees and of course the rethugs would make it a huge deal about taking them to American soil.Obama screwed up big time by campaigning on this without knowing what he was talking about.So he asks Reid to fall on the sword and refuse the money. Then Obama looks like the good promise keeper and Reid looks bad for a few days til the story goes away.So it stays open, we continue with the clown court military tribunals, Obama looks like he tried but failed because of those darn democrats.

  • eve

    Carl, I used the word inconvenienced to try to say that it seems much of the citizenry will get all worked up in response to the repubs scare tactics, but do not want to make any sacrifice, no matter how small, to protect us from real or imagined threats.I didn’t mean that we necessarily WOULD be inconvenienced by the Gitmo prisoners. To be more specific, I think that many people don’t care about human rights or protecting the constitution. And they only care about protecting this country as long as they personally don’t have to do anything themselves except buy a bumper sticker. What they care about is going shopping, chatting or texting on cellphones and what’s for dinner tonight.

  • http://politicalpartypooper.wordpress.com/ politicalpartypooper

    Okay,I guess I HAVE to be the only one who will ask the OBVIOUS question.Why does it take $80 million dollars to move 241 people?!!!?Is this like the Pentagon’s procurement system, where an airline ticket costs $331,950…and 21 cents?At that price, I don’t think we should fund it, either. This is fucking ridiculous. $80 million dollars feeds 10,958 people for an entire year with a daily food budget of twenty dollars.And we need that much to move 241 people?!? Isn’t anyone else pissed off?

  • Alex

    PPP,That’s about the second question that came to my mind right after “Who wants to bet that any of these “terrorists” doesn’t get shanked within the first 50 days they’re in prison in this country?”