The continuing crisis
Today's updates on the continuing decline:
The six Guantanamo detainees who are slated to be tried by the Bush administration's kangaroo courts are now facing the death penalty; if that's their sentence, they'll be executed at Guantanamo. The charges, the torture-derived evidence, the trials, the rules of procedure, the judge, the jury, the sentences, and the executions will all be carried out conveniently beyond the reach of American civilian courts, the UCMJ, an international body like the ICC, or anything else resembling the rule of law or democratic values; instead, the whole show will be directed by Bush's minions, under his rules, with no oversight by Congress or legitimate courts.
However, at least one Supreme Court Justice thinks torture is just dandy because he's a fan of "24," and he thinks that it doesn't in fact violate the principles he swore to uphold.
John McCain, who likes to stand in front of a mirror and call himself a "maverick" (and who will likely be the next president if Hillary Clinton ends up being his opponent), has accepted $400,000 in bribes contributions from lobbyists, including $100,000 from Jack Abramoff's former K Street firm. The co-sponsor of the McCain-Feingold Act, which purported to limit the toxic effect of lobbyists' money, took the checks with a straight face and saw no irony or hypocrisy in doing so.
To absolutely no one's surprise, the spineless Harry Reid sold out your rights and caved to the Bush administration again, gleefully spitting on the Fourth Amendment and giving the phone companies amnesty for breaking the law.