For the last few months, my family has been living at my parents' home. It was gracious of them to offer, given that we're "between homes" at the moment, and so help me, Ringo, I've been trying real hard to be the Shepherd in return. But when Fox News provides the nearly constant background soundtrack to our lives, tensions tend to run high.
I'm not sure what the actual subject of conversation was. Might've been about Westboro Baptist. Might've been about something else. But a few days ago, my mother was going on and on about how "those people" don't "deserve their rights" and if weren't for the "fucking liberals" who always intercede on behalf of "the scum", America would be a far better place.
Well, I hate standing up for "the scum" as much as the next "fucking liberal", but if that puts me in the same company as the Founding Fathers, and puts you in the same company as Roger Ailes I don't regret it for a second. More after the fold.
The morning Fox News drama in my parents' household is certainly a hoot (at least it is once I've had my first cup of coffee) but then I like to switch on my laptop, and get an ounce of reality.
And oh, how stark that reality is this morning:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
U.S. approves killing of American cleric
N.M.-born extremist is believed to be recruiting terrorists in Yemen
By Scott Shane
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration has taken the extraordinary step of authorizing the targeted killing of an American citizen, the radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is believed to have shifted from encouraging attacks on the United States to directly participating in them, intelligence and counterterrorism officials said Tuesday.
It would seem, much like my wingnut mother, that the Obama administration also believes "those people" don't "deserve their rights".
Now, I'm no constitutional law professor. And I'm certainly not accusing anyone of breaking the law, domestic or otherwise; the article takes great pains to point out that this is all on the up-and-up. It's all legal. The i's have been dotted, the t's have been crossed, and the x's have been placed over the Predator drones' targets:
As a general principle, international law permits the use of lethal force against individuals and groups that pose an imminent threat to a country, and officials said that was the standard used in adding names to the list of targets. In addition, Congress approved the use of military force against Al Qaeda after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. People on the target list are considered to be military enemies of the United States and therefore not subject to the ban on political assassination first approved by President Gerald R. Ford.
But what's "legal" doesn't always synch up with what's right. Can anyone tell me why we're so afraid of what makes this country so great? Can anyone explain to me why we like to wrap ourselves in the Constitution only when it's convenient, and never when it's painful or difficult?
From the much ballyhooed criminal trials in New York for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, to this incident, it seems that we're all too eager to find ways around the Constitution when we don't like the person who would benefit from its protections.
If you're an American citizen, you should have nothing but concern over this story, even if you (like myself, like my wingnut mother, like the Obama administration) feel that Anwar al-Awlacki is "scum". Because in another time, in another place, with another President, the definition of "scum" might not be so limited to Muslim extremists. And American citizens are clearly fair game.
H/T to: fairleft2, mikeE, and Billy Glad. The story isn't quite as fresh as I thought it was when I first read today's Times article, but still important. Certainly, it was the first I heard of a specific American citizen being targeted for assassination by our government.