The Outrage Of Today's CNN Poll

[ThomWV]

The real question of today's CNN poll is should a person before a court in the United States of America have the right to defend himself and to call witnesses in his own behalf.

Look at the poll results. Over half of the people in this country do not seem to understand the importance of that right. Think about that.

www.cnn.com

Thom

[arcane1]

1. who in their right MINDS would say 'no' to that????

are they mad? What possible thing could they be afraid of???

CNN and the rest of the news orgs are becoming threats to the public health and need to be shut the fuck down

:grr:

[Terwilliger]

4. I think it's all about buzzwords

either the American public is fretfully stupid, or they simply see that Moussaoui wants something so they instinctively disagree

[elfwitch]

9. I vote fretfully stupid

n/t

[PaDUer]

14. It's been

freeped...

[arcane1]

17. that is because freepers hate American values

like justice, right to a speedy trial, confronting witnesses, etc

they would be happier in a dicatorship

[CityZen-X]

2. C-orporate N-eoCon N-etwork

Can't, won't, connect to any item coming from this vile, odious machine of a so called network!!

[RandomKoolzip]

3. Jeez...

I wish I had time to be outraged at every damn stupid thing I've seen on TV or in the media in the last three years. Right now I'm kinda experiencing outrage overload....

[madaboutharry]

5. Many Americans do not

understand the judicial system, the Constitution, or the Bill of Rights. I am surprised that the "yes" answer is as high as 44%. I recall years back, maybe in the 70's, a television reporter went out on the street in New York City and had people read the Bill of Rights and then asked if they agreed with it. Most people thought it was some kind of Communist doctrine from the Soviet Union.

[grannylib]

6. People in this country don't seem to understand a lot of stuff...

if you gave the Citizenship test that immigrants have to take, to most average Americans who were born and raised here, most of them would fail miserably.
Letterman once asked people on the street why we celebrate July 4th and some moron said, "We needed a holiday between Christmases??"
OMG...

[RebelOne]

8. You are definitely right.

I had a Russian next-door neighbor. She showed me the questions that were to be asked on the citizenship test and I didn't even know the answers. But of course, it been a long, long time since I've been in school.

[northzax]

7. hmm, that's not how I read it

but I would like the following solution to be followed, one that permits both sides to have what they need, Moussaoui gets to ask the questions he needs, and the government can achieve the also very real protection they require. I would have the judge, or perhaps the appellate court, appoint a team of qualified, security cleared lawyers, perhaps military ones, let's say three of them. Moussaoui's lawyers can provide them with a list of questions they want to ask in a deposition, and the names of the people they want to depose. The team of appointed lawyers would then conduct videotaped interviews with the relevant prisoners, with government counsel present, of course, and counsel for the prisoners, should they request it. The tape of the sessions would be viewed by the judge (although held by the government for security) The judge would then be able to make a more fair determination of whether any of these prisoners would be relevant or useful to the defense (they make this decision all the time) those that are relevant would be provided for deposition by the defense, in a secure environment. The others would never even be seen, or acknowleged to even exist.

Of course, this method does, in fact, require some trust in the judge, but we ask that all the time. It would make it easier to maintain security and provide access to witnesses that might help the defense, without Moussaoui or his lawyers, ever dealing directly with the irrelevant ones. It's not the best solution, which would be for the prisoners to be made freely avaliable, but that's unrealistic.

[ThomWV]

12. Patently Absurd

Your suggestion is absurd.

Let him stand at open trial with freely called withesses just like in any other court in the nation. There is no reason on earth why the Constitution should be ameneded on a case by case basis, not now, not ever.

[AntiCoup2K4]

10. Of course it will never happen, but if I had my way...

..Moussaui's lawyers would be able to call the Bush Fraudministration as witnesses. Not that I have much sympathy for Moussaui, but it's obvious that he knows something about the plotting of 9-11 and it seems the BCE is scared shitless that he's going to talk.

[CityZen-X]

11. Good Point!!1

I was discussing Moussaui's situation with a few friends and we came to your point.

You have to wonder why they have not silenced him as expediently as they did Timothy Mc Veigh?

[Brotherjohn]

13. Amendment VI of the Constitution:

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense."

They might as well be asking "should people have the rights to free speech and freedom of religion"!

Amazing!!

[ThomWV]

15. Exactly

You could not have said it better. This is the shame of our educational system. No, that's not it. This is the result of not having an educational system.

I used to wince when the people of our good country were called cattle, not I'm not so sure. Even cattle can't graze contently on nonexistant or poisoned grass.

Thom

[CaptainClark23]

16. I call it "Deducation"

And the whole program is bearing fruit now. Label me a tinhatter if you will (been called worse) but all the things that outrage us today would not be POSSIBLE if the general populace had not been gradually but definitively desensitised and dumbed down.

More and more I'm becoming convinced that this is both the result of a public education system that was designed at the onset of the industrial revolution to create a class of obedient laborers and consumers, and of a cultural bias propogated through media channels which have become increasingly homogenised and politically controlled.

Lets not be too amazed at the poor state of the American condition. These are our countrymen and neighbors, and the poor bastards have been fecked over just like us. Deliberately and with selfish intent.

Ain't no accident we're so stupid.