clever title and the parody lived up to the promise...5s

No vote from me here, Royce...My opinion? Yes, there have been and are worse prisons than Gitmo. No, the United States should not base it's actions on the "Lowest Common Denominator"...if we are not better than what is being done in our name at Gitmo then we have no business telling the rest of the world how they ought to comport themselves...Do you REALLY believe it's a humane situation there? Open-ended imprisonment for people who have not had anything resembling Due Process. Could some of them been picked up erroneously or on the word of someone with an axe to grind? It appears that some, perhaps many have...but hey, if we torture, humiliate and abuse them enough maybe they will tell us something useful...and their family and friends back home will surely rush to embrace and join us in our efforts. Does that make any sense whatsoever? Or is it OK to do stuff to them because, after all, they are "different" from us? probably have belabored my point, but sometimes these points cry out for belaboring ~ ~ ~

Well, we've had one of "our" citizens there, got him back "declared innocent" six months ago, and from what I can tell by what he has said publicly after that I think the world might have been a better place if he'd been left in chains. So this isn't about that, clearly suspects of terrorism must be detained while under investigation, problem is that Bush and Co are doing that part so badly that in the Muslim part of the world and in large parts of the rest of the world outside America they are losing the PR war part to a resistance that includes "people" sawing heads off other people! (Which effect the rest of the world, which hasn't American resources to defend their countries against new acts of terrorism in the same way). So yeah, you got all the right in the world to detain and investigate those people held at Gitmo, but why do it in a way that reminds the rest of the world of WW2 concentration camps? I just can't get my head around that part, I really can't.

Paul--I wouldn't have expected you to agree with me--doesn't matter to me, that you don't agree. That's the good thing. I make my points in my writing and expect others to do the same, and that's it.

Excellent points, Royce. It would be one thing if Guantanamo Bay conditions were only marginally better than the places Senator Durbin compared it to (Soviet Gulag, Nazi prisons, etc.), but there is no comparison. Every detainee receives 3 culturally appropriate meals per day, a Koran in his own language, access to doctors, mail call, and exercise periods. And unlike the places that Durbin compared it to, not one detainee has died at Guantanamo Bay. .

And contrary to some people’s misconception, every detainee currently being held at Guantanamo Bay has received a hearing before a military tribunal. As a result of those hearings, more than three dozen Gitmo detainees have been or will be released. And those who advocate using civilian trials instead if military tribunals should listen to former President Clinton. He acknowledged the problems of using civilian trials recently when he said that prosecuting terrorists sometimes requires "the presentation of evidence which would reveal the identity of the intelligence source, compromise the life of the intelligence source, maybe risk the life of the intelligence source, but more importantly dry up what we thought we were finding out about terror networks."

JJ - I hold no brief for any REAL terrorist. But the Tribunals are a sham...For one thing, no detainee has ever been allowed to call a witness...I know it won't change your mind...you appear to approve, but I cannot see why, as it seems to undermine our claim to Moral Authority - perhaps you do not believe that is of much import...BTW, I believe most of the 3 dozen released detainees have been so released at the FIRM REQUEST of their Native Government...such as the half-dozen or so from Great Britain...who were investigated when they returned home and, please correct me if I am wrong, IMMEDIATELY released from custody...Uh...I think that means they hadn't done anything wrong, got swept up somehow in the confusion, handcuffed, chained, hooded, possibly drugged, tossed on an airplane and flown somewhere else to be imprisoned and allegedly mistreated...for an indefinite period with no idea when or IF they might ever be freed...That might seem like the "American Way" to some folks, but it sure doesn't to me...if we want to "sell" our brand of "Freedom" to the rest of the world we ought to do a better job of "Walking the Walk"...otherwise it's just more dribble and jive...Thanks.

Newseek was right, Durbin was right. This parody was wrong. I'm surprised that it didn't include Iraq being responsible for 9/11 - because it seems that if you right-wingers say it enough, people believe it's true. It's no wonder that our American friends in New York are so incensed.

I agree with Royce Miller. They should just kill all those prisoners now because they don't deserve to live. And they should kill all the Democrats too because Democrats love terrorists and most of them are terrorists anyway. They should also kill all the homos and other people who are bad. I wish that this earth could be all Republican. We could all have a Bible in one hand and a Rifle in the other, and the world would be just as the good Lord intended it to be.

"Proud" Republican: You don't agree with me; you are saying stuff I didn't say; what a shocker.