Terrorism

The Supreme Court voted 6 to 3 that it was illegal for Americans to help terrorists. The 3 who thought it was OK for Americans to help terrorists were Breyer,Ginsburg and Sotomayor. Guess who argued the case for the Government???
Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan argued and won the case for the government.

This case seems considerably--vastly--more complex than "helping terrorists"...I haven't been following it, and I've only heard sketchy reports, but if I understand the case:
The parties involved maintained they were involved in trying to show an organization (listed on one of the USG's "terrorist group" lists) how to present their viewpoint/aims through peaceful means instead of through "terrorist" acts (bombings, murders etc).
So, assuming the organization was actually a bomb-murder etc type of terrorist organization, that was trying to achieve its aims thru terrorist acts, is trying to convince them to use peaceful means (peaceful demonstrations, elections) "aiding" terrorism (bad) or should it be considered working to reduce terrorism (good)???

Well, you can count on one fact. With a bunch of lawyers being involved, if it says one thing in writting, then it probably means the opposite.

Gene

Yeah, terrorist is a pretty lose word these days. Its like $ex offender. Might be a rapist, or just a 18 yo boy caught with his 17 yo girl friend.

Remember the CIA sponsored all kinds of terrorist groups over the years and taught them to fight as dirty as needed. None of those folks in jail for it.

The godless 9.........Oops I mean the supreme court doesnt use common sense for deciding important cases, like Terrorism, Abortion, prayer in schools and homos in the military.

Personally, I don't want the Supreme Court.....or any court.......to use any kind of sense, common or otherwise. I want them to FOLLOW THE LAW; if we don't like the laws, we can change them.

While I am certainly no defender of the track record of the Supreme Court, it strikes me that people in general and the government in particular seems to see a terrorist hiding behing every tree. The civil rights and freedoms that have been carelessly laid aside in the last ten years or so stagger the mind. I spend far less time worrying about some "extremist" trying to light his shoe on fire than I do being hassled at every airport checkpoint, being asked to surrender such weapons as finger nail clippers letter openers or shaving cream, enduring endless lines at border crossings while elderly couples are asked to step out of their cars at border crossings or being required to carry drivers licenses that having tracking chips,
--all in the name of "safety" or "national security". All this, while we can't secure our own borders, from those who would simply walk accross and compete for jobs without being citizens. Sadly, the majority of people simply fall into line and meekly accept such outrages as the price to be paid to live in a country with a high standard of living.


“Whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship, all you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”--Nazi leader Herman Goering’s advice to rulers who want to increase their power.

This will be our first court to have: no protastants, no one who served in the military. and everyone graduated from Harvard or Yale. Seems like a resonable cross-section of America to me.

Oliver North, darling of the right, supported terrorist groups (notably the "Contras") and sold weapons to enemies of the US (namely Iran) to pay for it. I guess what he did is now against the law, if it wasn't before.