This is why I don't take Republicans seriously

At least the current crop. See Glenn Greenwald's great post on how Mel Martinez (Republican party chair and Florida Senator) has made great noise about how he helped protect a U.S. citizen who was convicted in Vietnam for terrorism against the government (Vietnamese government). Martinez won her release, but made a lot of noise about the fact that Foshee had been "arrested and imprisoned in Vietnam and for the first 14 months of her imprisonment, she was not formally charged nor allowed to seek legal counsel. . ."

Shocking, just shocking. Martinez, of course, also loves Bush's Military Commissions Act: "Senator Martinez said: “We must remember the detainees this law affects are terrorists engaged in an ongoing war against the United States." Oddly enough, Cuc Foshee (our American Vietnamese terrorist) was extended far more rights by the communists in Vietnam than anyone charged under our own Military Commissions Act. She had a right to a trial, she was allowed access to the U.S. consul, and she was not tortured.

Get that? The Vietnamese treat their suspected (and in this case, actual) terrorists better than the American government. Under this monstrosity of a law, our detainees could be denied trial, tortured, and refused access to anyone. Yet Martinez can brag about his efforts to get her released AND praise Bush's attack on habeas corpus.

First item of business for a Democratic House and Senate has to be fixing that law.