Weak kneed Democrats and what needs to be done

Today the NY Times devoted its entire editorial page to a to-do list for Congress. Here are the items:

* Restore Habeas Corpus
* Stop Illegal Spying
* Ban Torture
* Close CIA Prisons
* Account for "Ghost Prisoners"
* Ban Extraordinary rendition
* Tighten Definition of Combatant
* Screen Prisoners Fairly
* Ban Tainted Evidence
* Ban Secret Evidence
* Better define "Classified Evidence"
* Respect the Right to Counsel

A great list. All top priorities. But, none of this is going to happen. After all, the Dems can't even agree to defund the war. The best they can come up with are some rules for troop rotation which the president is going to be permitted to ignore if he thinks it's in the interest of national security to do so. Of course he'll ignore them if they permit him to in the language of the bill. This is no better than the AUMF that authorized the war to begin with. It gives the president a blank check, signed by Congress.

A pox on all their houses.