Are Michael Ryan and Conservatives Capable of Rational Thought?

Re: "Obama's Dangerous Show Trial," from the November 17th edition of the Augusta Chronicle.

The decision to try criminal terrorists in New York has caused the latest conservative outrage and, of course, Michael Ryan jumped on the bandwagon this week. Their arguments prove they are incapable of rational thought.

It's a lie for conservatives to say that trying the case will give terrorists "as of yet undetermined access to valuable and sensitive national security intelligence." First of all, if the information is yet to be determined, how do conservatives know that terrorists will get access to it? Second of all, the U.S. government's not going to give terrorists information they can use to hurt us. That's just a ridiculous naive assumption.

It's a lie for conservatives to say the trial will give "terrorists a pedestal to spew anti-American propaganda." Nonsense. No judge is going to let that happen in a trial they precide upon.

And there's no way, these guys are going to be acquitted, as Mr. Ryan fears. The federal government has lots of evidence against these criminals. The feds are not like local prosecutors, such as in the OJ case Mr. Ryan uses as an example. When the feds get an indictment, they get a conviction 90% of the time, and in this case I'm confident they will nail these guys. They wouldn't put them on trial unless they had lots of convincing evidence.

The case will not become a circus. The U.S. government already convicted a 9-11 terrorist in a trial in New York and it never became a circus. Why should this one?

Mr. Ryan claims that the decision to put these terrorists on trial is "an abomination...and a most dangerous and regrettable precedent." It's not a precendent--the Bush administration put a 9-11 terrorist on trial already. And to say that it's dangerous is completely unfounded.

Here's the real reason conservatives don't want these trials: It will look good for the Obama administration when these terrorists are finally brought to justice, and it's likely the convictions will come just in time for the 2012 elections.

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The Augusta Chronicle runs Star Parker's column . This is the woman who supports the legal loan shark industry. She's absolutely opposed to abortion and government welfare, yet she's had 4 abortions and survived poverty, thanks to the grace of welfare and foodstamps. Can anyone say, hypocrite?

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RE: "The White House numbers racket," from the November 19th edition of the Augusta Chronicle.

Here, Mr. Ryan is making far too much of a real Obama administration gaffe. In fact, his column is a hysterical overreaction to it.

Mr. Ryan accuses the Obama administration of being guilty of deliberate fraud or outright stupidity when reporting the number of jobs created by the stimulus package.

I'm sure the Obama administration didn't deliberately inflate numbers because they're aware the media can easily keep track and debunk them. The whole problem is due to a data collecting glitch. The Obama administration made a big mistake because they decided to rely on outside reporting sources.

However, there is no doubt the stimulus package did save jobs--just not as many jobs as the Obama administration is claiming.

Mr. Ryan is just outright lying when he claims the stimulus package is a massive failure. It has helped a little, but was never meant to completely turn the economy around. The natural business cycle will right the economy no matter what the government does. The stimulus package was more of a band-aid and was about all the government could do in the short term.

Here's the real reason Mr. Ryan want to label the stimulus package a massive failure: He wants Obama to fail.