Hold the Habeas

Overheard on Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me this weekend…

When Democrats said that this bill, in stripping detainees of the right of Habeas Corpus, was potentially violating a legal principle that goes back 900 years to the Magna Carta, President Bush responded by saying he didn’t realize the United States was that old.

But here’s the bright side of the whole thing. The bill is a way of reaching out to our enemies. The president has said they hate us for our freedoms, so getting rid of them is sort of a peace offering.

Gotta laugh sometimes to keep from crying, eh?

Listen to the whole show at npr.org and, on a more serious note, don’t forget the fantastic Habeas Schmabeas episode of This American Life. So much for that whole right to a fair trial thing.