Does anyone else remember this charming bit of government logic in a December 2, 2004 CNN report:

In a surprise move, [U.S. District Judge Joyce Hens] Greene greeted the government attorneys with a series of penetrating hypothetical questions to test the limits of the administration policy on designating enemy combatants.

“If a little old lady in Switzerland gave money to a charity for an Afghan orphanage, and the money was passed to al Qaeda, could she be held as an enemy combatant?” the judge asked.

Boyle indicated that might fit within the definition of enemy combatant and stressed the need to give the executive branch of government wide latitude during a time of war.

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I have a new header that is replacing the dolphins. It features the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution isn’t that long, but it is rather obvious that beyond taking an oath to support and defend the Constitution, the government of the United States can’t be bothered about doing what it tells them they must do, nor not doing what they are told they cannot do.

The guys who wrote that document had very clear opinions about a number of issues.

They didn’t like corporations. As Thom Hartmann pointed out: “the real Boston Tea Party was against the Wal-Mart of the 1770s”, the British East India Company. The government of Britain handed the company rather generous tax breaks that broke the back of competitors.

Their view on banks wasn’t quite as blanket, but even the supporters saw them as a necessary evil, that was never fully trusted and they were right. Did you ever wonder why all of your credit cards seem to come from Delaware or South Dakota? Because those states don’t have usury laws which allows the banks to charge whatever they want.

The Treasury has apparently been terrified that Wall Street would go Galt if they weren’t given everything they wanted. Galt? The slimy scum went Gekko years ago and had no intention of giving up any of their perquisites just to be bailed out by the taxpayers. If bankruptcy was good enough for Thomas Jefferson and General Motors, it is good enough for Citicorp. They aren’t lending; they aren’t dealing with foreclosures; they aren’t dealing with their toxic assets – just let the FDIC deal with it. Only the government of the United States is “too big to fail”.

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