By FITSNews || U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is in hot water for instructing agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to read suspected Times Square terrorist Faisal Shahzad his Miranda rights shortly after arresting him Monday.
Huh?
Since when did it become controversial to read a U.S. citizen his or her rights?
Like it or not (and we mean nothing ethnic by that), Shahzad is Civus Americanus, which means he lives in a free country – despite the best efforts of George W. Bush and Holder’s boss, Barack Obama, to chip away at the underlying foundations of that freedom.
As of right now, freedom means the right not to incriminate yourself and (since 1966) the right to be advised of your right not to incriminate yourself while being apprehended and taken into police custody.
For those of you unfamiliar with the term, Miranda rights – a.k.a. “you have the right to remain silent,” etc. – are named after the late Ernesto Miranda, who was the subject of the famous 1966 Supreme Court case Miranda v. Arizona. Miranda was no saint (he was a rapist who died a decade later in a bar brawl, in fact), but the Constitutional protections associated with his name have become key components of the American justice system.
Of course while we defend Holder’s use of Miranda rights on U.S. citizens accused of crimes, we do not support his (and Obama’s) ongoing efforts to extend American justice to enemy combatants.
That’s a recipe for disaster – literally.
Also, this is neither here nor there but “Miranda” also remains our least favorite Sex & The City girl.
"Sic, you suck!"
By Natural Rights May 6, 2010 at 7:53 pm
The underpinning of our free society is that people are endowed with inalienable rights. This notion that Constitutional protections apply only to citizens contradicts that principle.
If rights apply to some but not all, then by definition they’re not inalienable and we concede the notion that the government gets to pick and choose who is entitled to Constitutional protections.
Come on, Will. You’re a smart guy. You should understand the dangers here.
By fitsnews May 6, 2010 at 8:35 pm
Natural Rights:
We are Old Testament. Hammurabi. And obviously Jefferson’s definition of “inalienable” only applied to crackers, so there’s a question of the definition from the get-go …
We also love us some circumstantial discernment …
-FITS
By SubZeroIQ May 7, 2010 at 7:23 am
FITS: Hammurabi was not Hebrew but Babylonian-Persian.
The Old Testament has an earlier version of the Fourteenth Amendement’s “Nor shall any State deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
It’s “any person,” not any citizen.
One of the Old Testament’s most-often repeated commandments is a reiteration of these words: “If a foreigner comes to sojourn among you, you shall not vex him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. The sojourner shall be like the native among you. One law you shall have, for the sojourner and the native alike.”
That Commandment appears in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deutoronomy, Isaiah, Malachi, and several other Old Testament Books.
Having lectured you a bit, I must say I am very proud of you for defending Attorney General Holder and the MIRANDA rights. Are you becoming mature and principled or what?
Now, I could not get a whisper for my alarm over the dangerous challenge to another most sacred Constitutional Principle: Police and Armed Forces answer to the elected civilian authority.
City of Columbia Police Tandy Carter, whose officers never Mirandize anyone (in fact they arrested one lawyer who was trying to advise his friend and dinner companion to remain siled at Five Points on 17 October 2010) refused to apper before City of Columbia Council on Wednesday, 5 May 2010 to answer questions about why his supposed investigation of the Benjamin collision is so secretive and slow.
Not only did he refuse to appear, he insisted that he will not turn the supposed investigation over to another agency even if the Council wants him to do so.
Worse yet, it was reported that Keel said they cannot take it over at this point but will review it when finished. The supposed reason is that Keel’s people did not take photographs or measurements at the scene and did not interview witnesses.
Well, what if, whenever Carter decrees that he has finished, it turns out that Carter’s people did not take measurements or photographs at the scene and did not identify or interview witnesses? What will Keel say and do then? Has anyone heard of a cold-case investigation? Why does he not get in now and rescue what he can before it gets even colder?
FITS: I applaud your defending MIRANDA. Now please go defend the right of “we the people,” through our civilian elected representatives, to demand and receive answers from those whom we arm with our taxes.
Thanks and God bless.
By No Way! May 7, 2010 at 8:02 am
This guy is just another disaster! When he walks into any room, he is also the least experienced among his peers (just like Boy Wonder Obama!). Obama’s idea of putting up these cabinet officials with no experience is resulting in the “chickens coming home to roost”, a phrase the president would be more than familiar with given his alligience to Rev J Wright. Look at Janet and Homeland Security, no experience, no problem! She is another walking disaster of an appointment. We will all be better off when this guy is booted from office in the next election. However, this is bad news for his cabinet, they will contribute to unemployment given their lack of competentance.
By Another Comment May 7, 2010 at 8:49 am
The guys was a US citizen therefore he legally must be read his Miranda rights, of course “No Way” as usual, just completely ignores the point of discussion and commences with his usual, no point anti-Obama rant. Simple minds stay on simple tracks i guess.