Brendan Calling

A Grain of Salt

One of the reasons salt has historically been so important to humanity is its ability to preserve food and to hide the taste of rot. Hence the expression, “take it with a grain of salt” when someone tells you something that might not be accurate.

When it comes to Senator Arlen Specter, you’re talking about enough salt to kill an elephant.

As promised, I called Senator Specter’s office to inquire as to whether he knew what was going on at Walter Reed hospital, and if so, how long he had known. I knew ahead of time that neither answer was going to be satisfactory: if he had known about the disgraceful way our injured soldiers were mistreated, why had he not done anything? If he hadn’t known, why not? After all, the Senator has been a fixture on the Veterans Affairs Committee since the 97th Congress, serving as Chairman several times.

As expected, his receptionist told me he couldn’t speak for the Senator, but if Specter didn’t know what was going on before, “He certainly knows now.” Is that a good enough response? And why on earth should I believe Senator Specter or his staff?

This is the same Arlen Specter who didn’t know who added last-minute provisions to the PATRIOT Act allowing the Bush Adminsitration to conduct a purge of attorneys, until it turned out that Arlen himself had added the provisions.

The same Arlen Specter who promised “no radical pro-life justices” would pass the Judiciary Committe under his chairmanship, then promptly gave the nod to Samuel Alito and John Roberts.

The same Arlen Specter who said the Military Commissions Act of 2006, a/k/a the “Legalized Torture Act” was “patently unconstitutional on its face” and then voted for it anyway. The same Arlen Specter who said he would put a stop to the President’s illegal warrantles spying and then wrote legislation offering the President everything he wanted and then some, including retroactive immunity.

There is another saying that dovetails perfectly with “take it with a grain of salt.” “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

Either Arlen honestly didn’t know what was going on at Walter Reed, which suggests that he doesn’t deserve to sit on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, or he knew and didn’t do anything, which suggests he doesn’t deserve to sit on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee. But no matter what Arlen’s role in this whole fiasco, there is the very real concern that the Senator’s constituents have been consistently betrayed by a man who says one thing and then does the opposite. Who in their right mind can believe a word that comes out of the senior Senator’s mouth?

3 Responses to “A Grain of Salt”

1. phillybits Says:
   February 20th, 2007 at 6:36 pm

   Speaking of Arlen Specter and the Military Commission act, it has now been ruled that Detainees can’t challenge cases:

   Guantanamo Bay detainees may not challenge their detention in U.S. courts, a federal appeals court said Tuesday in a ruling upholding a key provision of a law at the center of President Bush’s anti-terrorism plan.

   The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-1 that civilian courts no longer have the authority to consider whether the military is illegally holding foreigners.

   Barring detainees from the U.S. court system was a key provision in the Military Commissions Act, which Bush pushed through Congress last year to set up a system to prosecute terrorism suspects.

   Surely it will be appealed but I want you (and your readers) to take a listen, if you have a chance, to an interview that aired last week on NPR with Navy lawyer Charles Swift who represented Salim Ahmed Hamdan.

   Very interesting and disturbing stuff in the interview including allegations by the lawyer that when he was first put on the job, it wasn’t to defend Hamdan but to get a guilty plea from him.

   When Hamdan spoke up about that, they almost refused access to Hamdan unless Hamdan first plead guilty to the charges before him.

   I’m pretty sure that’s what was said in the interview but regardless, it’s something to listen to. And although Hamdan didn’t plead guilty before seeing his attorney, since his attorney spoke up and fought for the man, it makes one wonder how many other detainees, possibly innocent detainees, have plead guilty just to see their attorneys?

   I mean…what the fuck good is an attorney if you’ve already plead guilty in a military tribunal without being able to see or challenge the evidence that allegedly incriminates you as it poses a direct threat to national security?

   What kind of America is that?

2. Brendan Says:
   February 20th, 2007 at 6:51 pm

   It’s Arlen Specter’s america, where you’re entitled to the best justice you can afford.

   “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

3. Brendan Calling - I hear the voices, and I read the front page, and I know the speculation. But I'm the decider, and I decide what is best. » Things I Learned From Arlen Specter’s Office Today Says:
   July 18th, 2007 at 1:30 pm

   [...] Act so the President could bypass the Senate’s confirmation of US attorneys general”, his knowledge of abuses at Walter Reed or last night’s filibuster, you can count on Specter’s staff to tell you outright lies [...]