Fresh Loaf

Georgia Libertarian megablogger Jason Pye has chopped, diced and filleted the idiotic GOP talking point asserting it’s somehow dangerous to close Gitmo and hold suspected terrorists in federal prisons.

Pye accomplishes said task by resorting to an exceptionally cunning rhetorical trick known as “stating actual facts”:

Pye:

“[T}here are already terrorists imprisoned in the United States who have committed or were planning to commit acts of terrorism, including several al-Qaeda members, both before and after 9/11.”

He goes on to name 20 of them.

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JIM MARTIN: Soundly defeats Vernon Jones to win the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate; will face Saxby Chambliss in November.

TED JACKSON: There’s a new (Democratic nominee for) sheriff in town.

CLAYTON: Kem Kimbrough beats controversy-prone Sheriff Victor Hill for the Democratic nomination.

DEKALB CEO: Burrell Ellis beats Stan Watson and, with no Republican contender in the race, is the new CEO.

EX-BIN LADEN DRIVER: Found guilty today in the first Guantanamo war crimes trial.

SEA TURTLE NESTS: A record number have been found in Georgia this year.

ARBORING A GRUDGE: The New York Times reports on former Atlanta senior arborist Tom Coffin, who was fired July 29 for pointing out to his bosses the under- or nonenforcement of the tree ordinance in certain parts of the city.

WILLIE B.: The subject of a new documentary produced by Andrew Young.

UGA: Named by Sports Illustrated as the magazine’s preseason No. 1 and featured on one of five regional covers this week.

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I’m celebrating Sen. John McCain’s victory in Florida last night.

With the win, McCain seemingly has a lock on the Republican presidential nomination. This means that, of the three remaining candidates (McCain, Clinton, Obama) with a realistic shot at the White House, not one supports the Bush policy of torturing prisoners or detaining them in perpetuity without access to courts.

Two of the Bush administration’s most shameful, profoundly un-American policies will end in January 2009.

It’s not everything, but it’s something.

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The Soviet gulag prison system will be the subject of a panel discussion hosted next week by the Carter Center – or will it?

Actually, here’s how the CC describes the event: “A panel of human rights leaders will discuss its impact on Russia and the world today, as well as offer comparisons to the American Civil Rights Movement.”

Fair enough, but does anyone imagine that the topic of America’s own gulag at Guantanamo Bay won’t come up among a panel that includes Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA; former Gulag prisoner Sergey Kovalev; and Pres. Jimmy himself?

Just yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on the question of just how much access to the judicial process the more than 300 in Cuba should have. Said the Bush administration: not much. Said a lawyer for 37 detainees who’ve been locked away for more than six years without a proper hearing: more than they’ve gotten so far.

According to the NYT, the 83-minute hearing didn’t seem to go so well for the government, which tried to convince the court that being represented by an assigned officer before a military tribunal is all the justice the detainees deserve.

So the Carter Center event should be interesting. Shame you can’t go. Apparently, the program – scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 12 – is already sold out. However, you can listen to a live webcast of the discussion on the CC’s website.

You can also check out an exhibition on the gulags at the Martin Luther King Jr., National Historic Site. It’s billed as the first U.S. retrospective of the Soviet gulag system. Be sure to bring the kids.

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