Well, I'm a former lawyer, who has been out of practice for 9 years, and practiced for 14 years before leaving.  I left for a number of personal and professional reasons, but if I were to boil it down, I left because Law was turning from a profession to a business.  It was always a business, I know.  But the idea of professional respect, both between attorneys and towards attorneys, was dying, or already dead, when I left.  Medicine is heading that way.  If the legal profession is in crisis, it is because it is no longer viewed as a noble pursuit of justice, but instead is seen as a way to find loopholes and grab large piles of money.  Every commercial I see for automobile accident firms, mesothelioma claims and SSA disability claims just reinforces this view.  Law now panders to the victim classes, rather than seeking to prevent victimization.  Rant off.

Well I went about 8 or 9 months w/o an avatar.  Then a few months ago someone (sorry, I don't remember whom)said Ricochet members w/o an Avatar should be ashamed for being to lazy to have one.  (Or something to that effect).  So I searched online for images of St. Patrick.  Patrick is both my given name and my confirmation name.  I found this picture which is a close up of the face of St. Patrick carved on the outside of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin.  Alas it is the Anglican St. Patrick's.  But I think the Cathedral pre-dates Henry the 8th, so I am sure it began life as a good Papist statue. 

And it goes Onan, Onan and on.

Picture this- A wrestling ring.  Inside it, Ronald Reagan, shirtless, pinning Gorbachev to the mat, with Mrs. Thatcher in a bikini, holding up a sign saying "Round Two".  In the background a pile of broken concrete and Stalin statues labeled "Ash heap of History".   

If he doesn't get it, then my idea is free for the taking.   

CJS, Here is a link to the cartoon I referenced.  Breathed is unabashedly liberal, but he is funnier than Trudeau.

http://www.the40yearplan.com/img/070208_full_bloom_county_strips.jpg

CJS- Was your post inspired in part by an old Bloom County strip?  If it was,  you will know the one I'm talking about.  If not, I will try to find it and post a link.

Well, I'm Catholic, but I'll let the Lord judge whether I am Staunch or not.  And I hold many libertarian views.  But I can't quite get into the we're-all-our-own-armed-camp-leave-me-alone-and-do-what-you-want position that I see as being fully libertarian.  So I guess I qualify as mildly libertarian.

" in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons."

I focused on this aspect of the law.  If the ricin poisoner is an American citizen acting in America against the US government, this isn't an act of  international terrorism.  It is an act of national terrorism, or treason. 

But, to speak to the question asked, acts, which if committed on the battlefield would be war-crimes,  do not become war-crimes when committed off of the battlefield.  So yes, the ricin poisoning suspect is entitled to all due process rights afforded to criminal defendants in the U.S.

OK, I'll admit it Indaba, I was the one male with enough fortitude to wear a baby blue tux, ruffled shirt and black (clip-on) bow tie..  My date wore an orange long-sleeve, high neck line dress..  We must have looked like a walking Howard Johnson's ad.  Of course, in 1981, we were at the height of fashion.  We stayed til the prom stopped at midnight, went to her parent's house aferwards w/ three other couples, had a pizza party until about 4:00 AM, then my friend and I left our dates at her house.  They most emphatically would not go to the hotel room that I had procured for a post prom party w/ about ten other couples.  Both were good Catholic girls.  When we got there, everyone was either passed out or about to.  So at 5 AM we started drinking.   

Well that is true, but noting the Courier's hatred of Mitch McConnell is like noting that the sky is blue.  

David, I'm still amazed by the game, and touched by the reaction of players on both sides.  And afterwards, I watched the Lady Cards beat Baylor, in a great effort,  March 31, 2013 was a good day to be a Cards fan.   We got to cheer both athletic excellence and watch the best come out in the charactars of the young people playing yesterday.

We Catholics call it Mass.  Our Protestent bretheren call it services. Beyond those events, I think every event any more is expected to end in sex.

Sigh.  Will I ever get the chance to vote against her?

The closest thing for me was the time I was about 11 or 12, in the mid '70's..  At the end of Mass the Priest then said"  The Mass is ended, go in peace".  To which we responded "Thanks be to God".  I put a little to much emphasis on that last response, according to my mother.  Or at least that's what she said when I got punished as soon as we left church.

It seems to me that if the USSC finds DOMA  unconstitutonal as Federal law reaching into a purely state matter, then it should also find that the Federal Courts lack jurisdiction to determine if California's Prop 8 is constitutional.  

I've read that grief shared is grief halved, and joy shared is joy doubled. I am so sorry for your loss. You, your sister and your family are in my prayers.