Justice

“Tilting at Windmills” is a metaphoric expression of the futility of fighting a battle one cannot win. The idea is the product of an adventure experienced by the hero in Cervantes’ Don Quixote. In the story, Quixote, a slightly off-kilter errant-knight, mistakes a row of windmills for evil giants and charges them with his lance at full tilt. As his lance tore through the windmill’s sail,”the wind whirled it round with such force that it shivered the lance to pieces, sweeping with it horse and rider, who went rolling over on the plain, in a sorry condition”.

Still, sometimes the battles that seemingly cannot be won are those that must be fought. As Rand’s John Galt fought the increasing nationalization of business by government, so too, we must fight against our government’s increasing intrusion into our lives. In the end, Galt was successful in stopping the motor of the world, and so I write, though often I feel I’m tilting at windmills.

John McCain was on “The View” yesterday and one of the topics of discussion was Roe v. Wade. McCain was explaining that he believes the law should be overturned, not because he is against abortion, but because its blatantly unconstitutional–a “law” legislated by the bench, rather than the legislature. McCain said that he believed if Roe v. Wade were overturned, the States would “make their own decisions”. McCain was explaining his belief that the Constitution calls for a small, non-intrusive national government, and leaves to the states the establishment of laws that were not directly reserved for the federal government.

Whoopi Goldberg then said to McCain that it sounds like he wanted “strict constitutionalists” and then in her full ignorant glory, asked

“Should I be worried about being a slave, about being returned to slavery because certain things happened in the Constitution that you had to change?”

Then she begins this ridiculous display of fanning herself out of worry that somehow John McCain was going to slap her in irons and throw her on the slave boat.

Unfortunately, when it came to the point McCain was trying to make, Whoopi completely missed the boat. (pun intended)

MORE: Michelle Malkin; Hot Air

The Supreme Court has just shot down Washington DC’s 30-year gun ban! In striking down the DC ban, considered the strictest in the country, the Court (finally) acknowledges that each American citizen has a Constitutional right to gun ownership. According to Justice Antonin Scalia in the 64-page majority ruling:

“There seems to us no doubt on the basis of both text and history that the Second Amendment conferred an individual right to keep and bear arms [and] This meaning is strongly confirmed by the historical background of the Second Amendment.”

Furthermore,

“We hold that the District’s ban on handgun possession in the home violates the Second Amendment, as does its prohibition against rendering any lawful firearm in the home operable for the purpose of immediate self-defense.”

It doesn’t get any clearer than that! Expect the floodgates to open with legal challenges across the country, as citizens exercise their newly clarified right!

MORE: Complete coverage at Hot Air; American Pundit shows another Obama flip-flop: He was for the ban, before he was against it; Bookworm at Webloggin discusses the Court’s 157 page opinion; Michelle Malkin has commentary and blog highlights, plus an insightful quote from Jim Geraghty at NRO, who says,

“All statements by Barack Obama come with an expiration date.”

Too true!

Finally, the United States will seek justice for the 9/11 attacks! The Pentagon has charged six Guantanamo detainees with murder and war crimes in connection with the 9/11 terror attacks. Among the six is Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the attacks.

The military is recommending the six be tried together before a military tribunal recommend that the six men be tried together before a military tribunal. This would afford the detainees with the same rights given U.S. service members tries under the military justice system. However, there’s concern that the case may be clouded due to recent revelations that Mr. Mohammed was waterboarded. Of course, this will be something the military judge will have to consider. It will be up to him to determine what evidence is allowed.

Previously, the Bush administration shied away from public trials of suspected terrorists; instead, interrogating them in secret in the hope of staving-off future attacks. However, only resulted in fear and distrust of the U.S., both domestically and abroad. And if that wasn’t enough, the trial procedures first issued by the Bush administration significantly deviated from current military law, such as excluding the defendant from his own trial, allowing the introduction of any “probative” evidence, including statements made under torture, and forbidding the defendant to appeal to an independent court. Naturally, this didn’t bode well for the President and the Supreme Court shut him down.

Now, the tribunal will unfold in a specially designed courtroom at Guantanamo, within a tent city called “Camp Justice”. The camp will house the prosecution, defense lawyers, journalists and others. Survivors and relatives of 9/11 victims will be invited to watch the trial through closed-circuit broadcasts in the U.S. However, according to officials, wider public access is unlikely.

This is no time for secrets! Censor the testimony if you must, but air the trial on CSPAN!

Mohammed Mansour Jabarah, a 25-year old Canadian citizen of Iraqi descent, was sentenced to life in prison after planning to kill federal agents and prosecutors. Jabarah was an al-Qaeda member who admitted to being sent by Osama bin Laden to bomb U.S. embassies in Manila and Singapore. He pleaded guilty to the foiled bombing plots and provided information to authorities that led to the capture of the architect of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. However, during a search of Jabarah’s room in 2002, prosecutors discovered that he intended to kill FBI agents and prosecutors with whom he had contact. After the accusation, he subsequently refused to cooperate any further.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Raskin said the agents found two steak knives, a 3 1/2-foot length of nylon rope and notes in Arabic among Jabarah’s possessions. In one note, he said “I swore to life in dignity or to die.” In a letter to his parents, he wrote “I have a mission that I can’t ignore.”

Defense attorneys argue that it was the FBI that chose to stop dealing with Jabarah after discovering the items, which BTW, were obtained for “legitimate” purposes.

(maybe so, but…)

What else did authorities find?

• a list of prosecutors and federal officers involved in terrorism cases in Manhattan, including the case of Ramzi Yousef, convicted of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
• The lists also included officials involved in the cases of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, who was found guilty in a plot to bomb New York landmarks, and the four bin Laden followers convicted of involvement in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
• A photo of Mohammed Atta, a Sept. 11 hijacker, and had written over the picture “Commander of the 11 September units, may God bless his soul.”
• A photo of bin Laden, Jabarah allegedly wrote “God keep you” and “May he grant you the highest, most lavish and sweetest honors of heaven.”
• A note written in Arabic stating, “Oh God, make my aim accurate, balance my feet on the ground, protect my heart.”
• A list of FBI agents, New York police detectives and prosecutors with whom he had contact and a list of tasks he wanted to complete.
• Directions for how to make an explosive device
• A map of Fort Dix, the U.S. Army installation in New Jersey where he was held for part of his time in secured custody.
• A U.S. Army memo describing New York City’s drinking water system and a map of the city’s water supply and testing results.

After the discovery of these items, the prosecutors argument that

“Jabarah had secretly disavowed cooperation and was affirmatively planning further jihad operations,including in all likelihood the murder of government officials in some sort of suicide operation.”

seem very reasonable.

Of course, Jabarah told U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones,

“I do not believe in terrorism, violence or killing,” … “I am not, I repeat, I am not an infamous terrorist who was indoctrinated at an early age to kill Americans on a terrorist mission.”

and asked to be allowed to return to live with his family, which has relocated to Kuwait, instead of being sent to prison. He said he would like to study medicine and become an ophthalmologist.

(…and not, certainly not, a terrorist. I promise, your honor!)

Evidently, Judge Jones didn’t have too much faith in his veracity.