So many people around the world believe Bush and Cheney and the rest are power-mad fools who have failed miserably in their Iraq war. It is sometimes hard to remember that they’re still in power. Dangerously so.

Now Congress is ready to pass a law on so-called enemy detainees that goes against the spirit and the law of two centuries of American jurisprudence. On the bright side, it has provisions that would be very familiar in the Latin American dictatorships that were trained by the US in the 70s and 80s, or … wait a minute, in Saddam’s Iraq! I thought we won that war, did I miss something?

All joking aside, this is profoundly disturbing. Enshrining detention without trial, secret lists of approved torture techniques, breaking Geneva Conventions on presidential whim, accusation supported by secret evidence. This is what we have a Bill of Rights to guard against. If this passes, the fruit of a propaganda-happy GOP, it is another step away from the ideals that the US is supposed to be based on.