I Will Be Eternally Hateful

Ann Althouse always has the capacity to completely and utterly astound me. There is always another layer of just plain nuts.

The pictures of Jose Padilla being led to the dentist in leg shackles and  blackout goggles have provoked outrage and disgust and bafflement. Why the goggles? What's the point?

Althouse has an answer:

Perhaps there is a fear that he will communicate in code by blinking.

And upon being informed that this is, in fact, completely absurd, she becomes characteristically petulant:

I'm not saying Padilla deserves to be treated the way he has over the years, but I am responding to the assertion that there is absolutely no conceivable reason for blindfolding him. Plainly, I have refuted that.

Plainly. She was blinking when she typed it.

I fear there is not snark enough in all the world for Althouse.

UPDATE: Altmouse weighs in.

Comments

[Paul Dirks]

I fear there is not snark enough in all the world for Althouse.

Perhaps in the near future we will find an asteroid made of pure unadulterated snark which we be able to mine in order to help brigde the gap.

[NTodd]

I wish somebody would blindfold, gag and hobble her. And break her typing finger (yes, singular).

[flory]

And then she tosses is one of her better comments:

Finally, it's important to write with some style. Some folks have no ear, no humor, no sharp edge.

There are no words.

[Kathleen]

Ann Althouse always has the capacity to completely and utterly astound me.

amazing, isn't it?

[Andy Axel]

>>>I Will Be Eternally Hateful

Dammit, now I have "Hot Freaks" stuck in my head.

[Jay B.]

It's obvious she's felt the blinked distress signals from her students in the past and understands that if Madison law students can 'talk' through eye-eyelid communication (i.e. rolling, sagging, sleeping), even dregs like Padilla can.

In fact, if I were he, after being in solitary for the past couple of years, I know I'd blink the following in morse: "T-h-i-s-s-u-c-k-s"

[Righteous Bubba]

There could be a reason that someone would suggest something as dumb as blinky-code. Perhaps moon-rays, from a moon of Saturn. Plainly, I have shown there is a reason for the suggestion of blinky-code.

[Katherine Hunter]

i have never been able to understand why this woman gets so much attention / snarky as it is / i mean, what's the point of reading someone so basically uninteresting ? huh ?

[Alan in SF]

m-y-t-o-o-t-h-r-e-a-l-l-y-h-u-r-t-s

[Handsome]

Padilla has most likely been kept for the most part in the dark -- I don't mean metaphorically, I mean, literally, in conditions without visible light -- for years at a stretch now. When you take someone out of that kind of environment into normal lighting, much less full daylight, you need to fit them with black out shades. Or risk having him be photographed with his hands up over his face, stumbling along, obviously blind as a bat in the bright sunlight, which, you know, doesn't look good.

[watertiger]

Oh, nice, Thers. Real nice.

You just told everyone the name of Althouse's therapist.

Count the spaces in your post, man!

[watertiger]

And besides, it wasn't a blindfold. Padilla is simply modeling the latest in Prada eyewear.

[Billy B]

I mean, literally, in conditions without visible light -- for years at a stretch now. When you take someone out of that kind of environment into normal lighting, much less full daylight, you need to fit them with black out shades

Bwahahahahahahahahahaha.
That's great, Alan.

That explanation is only slightly more logical (or less absurd) than Almouse's.

[Billy B]

Oops, my bad. That was 'handsome' not ALan in SF.

[steve davis]

Alan, my response to that would be, "And the sound-proof headphones are....for what purpose again? So that Padilla doesn't have to hear the dental drill? This sort of behavior goes beyond bad penal procedure and into war crimes. I'm sorry, but there used to be a film that made the rounds of every 8th grade civics class: "Man without a country." I can never remember exactly why, but this fellow gets put on a ship and is isolated in such a way that he gets no news of loved ones or of America for the rest of his life. In the movie, the fellow had to voluntarily accept that punishment. We've done that to Padilla and the government is too chickenshit to even bring him to trial.

[Kathleen]

you know, Scott Summers has to wear goggles ALL THE TIME and no one is saying Stan Lee violated his human rights. Think about it.

[S.D.]

...
But will hr blink:
"T-O-R-T-U-R-E"?

I sure hope not. Note, he may be guilty as Sin, but EVERYONE deserves there day in court. His treatment is something for all to be ashamed of.

[storwino]

Billy,

No, the headphones are to prevent him from sending coded messages by wiggling his ears.

[Oldhoya]

I think Ann nailed it. I mean, wasn't it already obvious that the reason they put him in shackles is to prevent him from communicating in code through interpretative dance?

C'mon folks, try to keep up!

[storwino]

Oops, my bad, that was Steve Davis, not Billy.

[paul]

What, no one mentioned the deadly islamo-hypno-rays he might have projected to convert his guards into fellow terrorists?

Of course there is a perfectly good reason, the same one that causes other kinds of criminal to blindfold their victims: so that Padilla would not be able to identify his torturers in open court.

[Chrissy]

She must have watched "The Unit" on CBS last week.

[charley]

i was think'n of those pics today. straight out of 1984.

room 103 right down the hall from room 101.

I doesn't excuse the treatment of Padilla, but a US POW did blink out "torture" in Hanoi. So, it isn't impossible, but I have no idea what message they think he could pass.

The incident was portrayed in a movie a few years back.

[John Gillnitz]

"Perhaps there is a fear that he will communicate in code by blinking."

Communicate to who? I'm surprised these tapes even made it out in the open.

[Gabriel]

As for sending messages via blinking, clearly no one here has watched "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" recently enough. The student in the front row of Indy's class blinks and has something written on her eyelids. Padilla could have clearly used the dust in the corners of his cell to create a rudimentary eye-shadow with which to spell something. Good thing he took the vocational cosmetics class the prison offered...
And now that he's been in prison so long, what message would he be sending out that would be of any relevance? If he had been a part of a plot, by now it's either been completely abandoned, broken up by intelligence agencies, or carried out.
Get this man a trial now or release him - the only two sane options.

[Jose Padilla]

Who turned out the lights?

-

[GWPDA]

Althouse is nothing more nor less than a BIG SCREAMING MEANIE.

Have some bacon.

[Tlazolteotl]

The incident was portrayed in a movie a few years back.

So, if nothing else, this just proves that Althouse watches too much TV.

[feckless]

They torture you until you are insane. And then they say you can't prove youv'e been tortured, because y'know, your'e insane.

Wow, that's alot for Ann to blink about.

[Brooklyn Girl]

I doesn't excuse the treatment of Padilla, but a US POW did blink out "torture" in Hanoi. So, it isn't impossible, but I have no idea what message they think he could pass.

The incident was portrayed in a movie a few years back.

Yes, but that was for a propaganda film they were making. This situation is entirely different.

[nessy]

Plainly, the woman is in desperate need of an intervention.

Ann, just put down the kool-aid and step away.

[rumpole]

Wisconsin's own Lionel Hutz.

[NTodd]

Maybe while Padilla was in the slam, he found a doctor who would shine his eyes for 20 Menthol Kools...

[ked]

a real counter-intel operative would WANT him to try to communicate w/ our adversaries - this is precisely HOW you "connect the dots" & track down cells. I don't know much about this Althouse character, but she is over her head, or out of it, or something. cheers!

[mdhatter]

even Hannibal was limited to a mask and a dolly, and he ate people.

-wink-

[minusp]

Actually, I figured it out earlier... the blackout shades are so the guards can walk him into curbs, garbage cans... good times, I tell ya!

[Jon H]

They forgot to wrap his head in tinfoil in case he was sending telepathic brain-exploding signals.

[Derek Jeter]

The message he would be blinking is "D-i-d-t-h-e-C-u-b-s-m-a-k-e-t-h-e-S-e-r-i-e-s?"

[Drano]

The stupidity of this woman and people like her might have a bad effect on higher education. It's already in difficulty but she isn't helping.

[Sharoney]

I think ol' Haystack Head's hair bleach has infected her brain.

And it's clear that Padilla is blindfolded so that he can't accidently glimpse Liberal Feminist Boobies. Because that would be wrong.

[winner]

What the fuck is he going to communicate? This is just retarded.

[biggerbox]

If a prisoner in isolation blinks his eyes and there's nobody there to see it, does it make a noise?

[Sandman]

Yueh Althouse! Yueh Althouse! A million deaths snarks are not enough for Yueh Althouse!

I've obviously read "Dune" too many times.

[W. Kiernan]

No, the obvious reason they blindfold this guy (probly with a special inside-mirrored blindfold) is because if they don't HE'S GONNA FIRE NUCULAR LAZER BEAMS OUTA HIS EYEBALLS!!!1!

Now you understand, I'm not saying Padilla deserves to be treated the way he has over the years, but I am responding to the assertion that there is absolutely no conceivable reason for blindfolding him. Plainly, I have refuted that.

[Phoenix Woman]

No, the obvious reason they blindfold this guy (probly with a special inside-mirrored blindfold) is because if they don't HE'S GONNA FIRE NUCULAR LAZER BEAMS OUTA HIS EYEBALLS!!!1!

OHMIGOD!!! He's Cyclops from the X-MEN!!!!

[Ace]

Love those camo uniforms. Great for hiding in the whitewashed prison corridors!

[scout]

Now Ann started the ultimate iconic brief blog...don't blink or you'll miss it

[bryan]

his magical terrorist tears cures the sexual inadequacies of John Bolton and must be harvested for this reason.

[Kevin Hayden]

To Ann Althouse, veal is relevant to a discussion about where one can find a good steak. Or to the dangers we face from exploding cows.