Term limits are just something to be ignored, Pons.

Heh, hope and change. Change the constitution and Hope nobody will do anything about it.

Yeah, look how fast it took the President to become “deeply concerned” about the Zelaya’s detention.

Wish he could have found the same urgency with Iran. Of course that was just a possible pro-democratic movement, so I guess it’s not a big deal to him. Or maybe he thought it’s even the wrong direction for Iran; he seems to like it when the government tells the people how it is gong to be.

So let’s cook them and eat them. In western civilization at least, human rights, as opposed to citizen rights, were recognized more than 2,000 years ago. And certain courtesies to captured enemies more than 3,000 years ago if you believe Homer. Our forefathers died to bring this land out of savagery and into civilization, exterminating or near-exterminating the native savages who tortured, and sometimes ate, their prisoners, and we should not go back into the jungle because a bunch of greasy ragheads think they can challenge us, or some empty suit can think of nothing better.

Dave – Agree 100%, although I would insert the word foreign for clarity and note the Supreme Court got it wrong on this subject in Boummedienne(?) partly because a colloquy was inserted into the Congressional record after the fact which they interpreted as part of the floor debate. Scalia had a masterful dissent on the case outline the history of the habeus corpus principle and how extending it in war time was completely unprecedented.

from yahoo AP: “I am deeply concerned by reports coming out of Honduras regarding the detention and expulsion of President Mel Zelaya,” Obama said in a statement.
…
Zelaya was detained shortly before voting was to begin on a constitutional referendum the president had insisted on holding even though the Supreme Court ruled it illegal and everyone from the military to Congress and members of his own party opposed it.

What was the amendment (the AP article cited by yahoo does not mention it)?

from UPI.com:: Zelaya wanted to seek a second term next year. By law, the Honduran leader, elected in 2006, is limited to one term in office.

I guess that means no hotdogs for the Hondurans, too.

Don’t think so.

The rights and privileges mentioned in the Constitution don’t apply to enemies captured during war time.

The rights and privileges of foreign nationals (or traitors, according to Quirin) captured in war are covered in various treaties (like the Hague and Geneva conventions), which, by definition are the Supreme Law of the Land, along with the Constitution (per Article VI).

Captives taken in war don’t have protections like those mentioned in the body of the Constitution (e.g. “The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus”) or in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, or 5th amendments (just to mention a few).

If we (stupidly) try to extend those privileges and rights to captured terrorists (or soldiers)…we’ll lose every war we fight.

I would think, that all this would be obvious…even to dense liberals on the SCOTUS or that fella in the White House, but apparently not.

I will probably join you in voting Libertarian unless the GOP can get its act together (unlikely). However, I don’t agree that the Constitution applies equally to non-citizens, just as the Constitutions of other countries do not always apply to me, even when traveling there. I generally cannot buy property in Mexico, Canada, or South Korea for example, even though their citizens can do so in their own countries. There are plenty of situations where another country’s Constitution would not protect me as it would one of their own citizens. I would contend that there are many situations where the Constitution of the United States should apply, but the detainment of unlawful combatants is not one of them.

O/T from a previous thread: I’m still not sure what to think about Vietnam because, although they have made some changes since the war, I don’t know if they (or we) have done enough to justify normal relations. There’s been too much propaganda on both sides to really be sure. I do know that Iran hasn’t done enough and we shouldn’t be reaching out to them. Just my opinion though and I readily admit that I’m still angry about the embassy takeover.