“How is holding them in a prison in Guantanamo that meets all the standards here or holding them in a prison in your neighborhood, your hometown, New York, Chicago, or Cleveland? What’s the difference? If they are in jail, they’re in jail. What the real difference is we have a place where we can secure them even if the military commission that tries them doesn’t find them guilty.”
–Representative Michael Rogers (R) – Michigan
Why would we need to detain or secure someone in a prison, if said person was found not guilty? What an idiot. No, not an idiot … an evil, small-minded, and un-American moron. The legal systems of both our country and our military don’t imprison people who are found not guilty at the end of their trial/commission. Not saying innocent people don’t end up in prisons, but we usually take the time to falsely find them guilty first. When I heard Mr. Rogers saying this last night, I had a serious WTF?! moment.
The Daily Show bit from which I grabbed the above quote was funny and worth watching. Well, funny in that sad sort of way Daily Show bits tend to be. Stewart makes it funny, but it’d be even more funny if this kind of stupid crap wasn’t going on out here in reality.
There are a lot of people who are still sore about the 13th Amendment and the end of American feudalism.
I had to rewind the show to make sure I’d heard him correctly or that he hadn’t just had a slip of the tongue, but no, he actually believes there are people who can be found innocent but should still be locked up. Wonder if he would feel the same if they weren’t brown or if it was one of his family members? It’s pretty freaking crazy and un-American. That’s not the way our legal system is supposed to work.