Unconstitutional Endorsement & Gitmo

This morning J and I were discussing the whole Koran abuse issues they're having at Gitmo. A thought, somewhat belatedly, occurred to us. Why is the government providing prisoners with Korans in the first place? Isn't that an endorsement of religion if government provides you with religious texts? I think this is blatantly unconstitutional and the ACLU should sue.

It has the nice side effect of derailing any further stories about Koran abuse. Git rid of the Koran and get rid of the abuse.

Oh, and while I'm on the subject of Gitmo, Dick Durbin is an asshat. There are parts of his speech that contain some valid criticism. However, you completely undermine that validity when you use over the top comparisons to make your rhetorical point. It is sufficient to say "This Administration’s detention and interrogation policies are placing our troops at risk and making it harder to combat terrorism." Leave out odious comparisons to totalitarian regimes, if for no other reason than the resulting uproar drowns out any points you were trying to make.

For a quick comparison, let's see how people were treated under the Soviets:

Zayenko, a mousy young man from Kharkov, disdained killing his victims with his own hands. He had a knack for artistic flogging and would end his part of the performance by skinning his victim's hands. The actual killing was left to his assistant, Eduard, who made it a point of honor never to shoot before telling the practically dead man a funny story.

Hmm. Out of all the stories I've read about this, I have yet to hear of US troops skinning anyone. Somebody needs to clue in Newsweek if that's the case.

Nazi comparisons? I think we're a little light on the body count yet. When the trains full of Muslims start running to the gas chambers, feel free to make the comparison. Until then, it's overwrought and reveals you as morally adrift in addition to being a poor speaker.

Pol Pot? Yeah, Gitmo is the same thing as Tuol Sleng or Choeung Ek. In the wildest fantasies of the most deranged leftist, maybe. In reality? Not anywhere close.

The very fact that the US Senate is having a debate on the treatment of the prisoners in Gitmo disproves the comparisons. In any of the regimes mentioned, there wouldn't be an issue about what to do with the prisoners. They'd all be dead.