In which I wax patriotic

We spend a lot of time talking trash here, like the Dikembes of blogging. But today I'm going to take a minute to say how freaking great this country is.

As I'm sure you know by now, the Supreme Court ruled against the Administration and said that military tribunals for Gitmo detainees were a violation of the Universal Code of Military Justice, the Geneva Conventions, the Constitution and probably the Code of Hammurabi as well. (Summary of some articles here.)

This morning on the radio there was a woman from The Center for Constitutional Rights who was elated at the ruling. She mentioned that Salid Hamdan, the original defendant in the Supreme Court case, had heard of the ruling from his lawyer and that he was completely dazed and amazed that such a thing could happen. That this is still a country of enough law that the Court could stand up and say The President Is Wrong. Which reminded me of how Zaccharias Moussaoui (again, spelling?) was also amazed and impressed that he was not given the death penalty. He had not believed that it was possible to receive anything resembling justice here. Which reminds me of something sexy sexy Joe Wilson (Mr. Valerie Plame) said (while we were chatting a couple of weeks ago, ahem). He said that is another country he would have already been killed for what he has said and done.

These things constitute real freedom. These are the things that are worth fighting for. The right of everyone to be treated equally before the law. The right to dissent. These are the things that we can show the world - the world who now hates us - with pride. It is precisely this - the independence of the courts, the belief in justice and law over vendetta and fear, that might win us back some hearts and minds. Dude - if people in Gitmo can be impressed with our justice system, anyone can.

So go celebrate the 4th of July and wave your flags and be proud. These have been dark days, but someday the rain will stop.