Slog - Comments on The Case for Torture

Comment by seattle98104

seattle98104 — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 11:33:23 -0800

ARG!

WTF?

ARG!

Comment by Hernandez

Hernandez — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 11:37:12 -0800

Until I read this, I never knew it was possible to laugh and cry at the same time...

Comment by brandon

brandon — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 11:38:10 -0800

scary scary times we live in, no?

Comment by DOUG.

DOUG. — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 11:40:55 -0800

Fuck Dan, don't get your panties in a bunch. Why don't you read the original article. This had nothing to do with "deliberations", it was simply a panel discussion amoungst judges where someone else brought up the Jack Bauer hypothetical and Scalia responded. It was hardly a judgement from the bench.

Comment by Jack B.

Jack B. — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 11:44:30 -0800

The supreme court is legally wrong to say precedents from other countries don't count. First of all you can cite non-binding precedents. Alabama precedents are cited in other states all the time, although they are nonbinding-- in other states.

Second, international law including treaties and customary law is CONSTITUTIONALLY part of the supreme law of the us.

Comment by Ziggity

Ziggity — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 11:45:09 -0800

You know who ought to be convicted? The Noid. He ruins pizzas!

Comment by Fnarf

Fnarf — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:02:43 -0800

It's still a representative of the finest legal tradition in the history of the world using a vile, manipulative TV PROGRAM to justify the use of torture. Scalia is very upfront: he digs torture. He doesn't have a problem with indefinite detention without charges. He's a disgrace to the robes and a threat to the Constitution.

Comment by Original Andrew

Original Andrew — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:06:13 -0800

Fnarf @ 7,

You just described virtually everyone in the US Federal Government today.

Comment by ecce homo

ecce homo — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:12:13 -0800

Why does everyone at the stranger hate America?

Comment by east coaster

east coaster — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:15:29 -0800

Rest in Peace, oh final scrap of Justice Scalia's sanity.

Comment by flamingbanjo

flamingbanjo — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:18:00 -0800

Superman, however, would never stoop to torture. Which leaves me in a bit of a moral quandary. Which fictional hero should I look to for guidance?

Comment by Mr. Poe

Mr. Poe — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:23:54 -0800

...what?

Comment by Tost

Tost — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:24:52 -0800

Who is Jack Bauer and what has he done with my freedom

Comment by DOUG.

DOUG. — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:33:29 -0800

Scalia's an asshole for many reasons, but he did write the 2004 dissent in Hamdi v. Rusmfeld, stating that the US government could not detain a citizen as an enemy combatant without charges.

Comment by Tiffany

Tiffany — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:42:32 -0800

Not to speak for Ecce, but I'm pretty sure that was sarcasm, Mr. Poe.

Comment by Tone

Tone — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:44:37 -0800

Comment #6 wins my coveted and just-invented Best Comment of the Month Award.

Comment by Levislade

Levislade — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:47:32 -0800

Fnarf, say what you will about Scalia, but 24 (as a work of fiction, not as a basis for governmental policy) rules!

Comment by dirge

dirge — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 13:05:06 -0800

@17 Ick, 24 is just "The Bachelor" with heavy explosives.
Who's going to get catty with the president?
Who's Jack going to give his torture ring to?
Who's going home (to hell) this week?

Comment by Jack Bauer Facts

Jack Bauer Facts — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 13:11:28 -0800

Jack Bauer never retreats, he just attacks in the opposite direction.

Professor Charles Xavier from X-Men once tried to read Jack Bauer's mind. Now he's sitting in a wheel chair.

When someone asks him how his day is going, Jack replies, "Previously, on 24..."

Comment by vegetable lasagna

vegetable lasagna — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 13:11:38 -0800

If they can write in a Constitution and work on protecting liberties, I'll just climb in my TV.

It really isn't a matter of where he said it (although I thought it was months ago), it's that he's a strict constuctionist and is thinking like a 12 year-old in public. Plus, he's talking like a cowboy. If they wrote crap lines likee it onto 24, it would be too corny. Thank god they serve for life.

If you didn't know that, it's the answer to your question 'why hasn't gonzalez fired Stevens, Breyer and Ginsberg?'.

Comment by Whoa...

Whoa... — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 16:14:20 -0800

This post overlooks the difference between refusing to look to international jurisprudence for guidance and relying on a TV character to bolster an argument: Bauer's 'merican.

Comment by JessB

JessB — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 21:28:58 -0800

It really, really sucks that people like Scalia, and Rush Limbaugh are sitting at home watching 24 (a show I love, adore, and watch religiously) and thinking "Yeah man, that Jack Bauer he's got the right idea." Fuck its SUPPOSED to be entertainment not strategic planning. Kiefer Sutherland is horrified by that shit.

Comment by Aexia

Aexia — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 08:45:47 -0800

I guess Scalia also forgot that the terrorist nuke in season 2 was sponsored by right-wing elements in the government that faked evidence to force the US into a war in the Middle East to benefit a consortium of oil companies.

Or that unless your name is Jack Bauer, torture has always proven to be an ineffective interrogation technique on the show.

Comment by anon

anon — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 11:07:33 -0800

A problem with TV shows is that the hero never acts on false information that the torture victim makes up just to get the torture to stop.

Another problem with TV shows is that the hero never misses the opportunity to save the world by spending 3 hours torturing some guy who doesn't know anything.

Comment by upyhblwj lvqse

upyhblwj lvqse — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 15:27:05 -0800

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Comment by upyhblwj lvqse

upyhblwj lvqse — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 15:29:53 -0800

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