"Yesterday a New York federal court acquitted Ahmed Ghailani, who was at the center of the 1998 African embassy bombings, on 284 of 285 terror related charges; he was found guilty on one count of conspiracy. This, simply put, is insane! Ghailani is the first Gitmo detainee to be tried in federal criminal court, and the Obama administration hoped that a sweeping guilty verdict would help clear the way for other Gitmo detainees to be tried in federal court. But if the President is honest here, and if he truly puts American security first, he'll now admit that trying major terror figures in federal court is wrong and potentially dangerous. Military tribunals are far more effective venues for these cases. Consider the evidence presented to the jury: Ghailani purchased the flammable gas that made the bombs more deadly, he stored the electric detonators, and he provided the cell phone to the suicide bomber in Tanzania. Yet for all of this, he was convicted merely of conspiring to blow up a government building, not for the murders of 224 people who were in the building. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley says the verdict shows that America has 'a transparent legal system.' What's transparent is that liberal legal agendas of the President and Attorney General Eric Holder have paved the way for terror defendants to game the system. This man should have been convicted and executed years ago."

Laura welcomed two guests who took issue with her Talking Points. "The system worked," declared former ambassador Nancy Soderberg, "and Ghailani is going to spend the rest of his life in jail. There would have probably been no different outcome if this had been a military tribunal. This is a guy who went around trying to buy stuff to help blow up Americans - he was caught and he's going to jail." Defense attorney Scott Fenstermaker, who has defended alleged terrorists, actually argued that every inmate at Gitmo should be set free. "Mr. Ghailani should have been released many years ago," Fenstermaker asserted. "The process he received was corrupted and no human being should face the process that Mr. Ghailani or his colleagues face. The defense attorneys were selected by the United States government and the judge was hand-picked for this case. Mr. Ghailani will spend the rest of his life in jail, notwithstanding the fact that he is basically innocent."

Laura pursued the Ghailani trial with law professor John Yoo, who served in the Bush Justice Department. "The Attorney General and the administration," Yoo said, "are very lucky that they even got one conviction out of 285 counts. This doesn't tell us whether federal courts are going to be useful for the harder cases coming down the line, such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Military commissions have been used for hundreds of years to try enemies for war crimes, so why turn to the civilian justice system? I worry that it's because President Obama and his administration want to win a popularity contest with the rest of the world." Laura reiterated that military tribunals are the proper venue for terror trials: "If the argument is that civilian trials are just as effective and put people away for just as long, then why is there this big opposition to military trials? First and foremost, we need to be secure as a nation."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations is advising Muslims to avoid certain procedures at airport security checkpoints. CAIR spokesman Zahra Billoo outlined her organization's stance. "We're actually working with the TSA," Billoo said, "and we're not asking for special treatment. But if you are singled out for a secondary screening because of the 'bulky clothing' policy and that bulky clothing is your headscarf, then the pat-down should be limited to the headscarf." Billoo pointed out that other groups are also opposed to revealing X-ray scans. "Pilots and flight attendants are objecting to this, and that's because these machines are dangerous and don't make us any safer." Laura complained that a refusal to profile has led to airport chaos: "Isn't this what CAIR wanted? You wanted nobody to be profiled based on country of origin or ethnic background, and so now everyone is subjected to these screening techniques."

A few liberal Democrats, among them Al Sharpton and Senator Jay Rockefeller, have argued that conservative talk radio and Fox News should be shut down. Laura explored the issue with conservative writer Stephen Hayes and Democratic pollster Doug Schoen. "The problem Jay Rockefeller has with Fox News," Hayes said, "is that Fox's viewership is growing in a strong way. Rockefeller is putting himself on a pedestal and trying to lecture us on proper political discourse." Schoen accused Rockefeller of advocating state censorship. "This is abhorrent because what makes this country great is our diversity of opinion. No government entity should have anything to do with regulating, controlling or tamping down speech. This is just scary." Laura added that attempts to shut down dissenting voices are nothing new: "It's a Stalinist and a subjugating tactic, and it shows the weakness of what's happening on the left. The left has never been about free speech unless you're a pornographer or burning the American flag."

As far-left activists try to rebound from the Democrats' recent pounding, their financial godfather George Soros has implied that Barack Obama may not be the right man to lead progressives to the promised land. Laura discussed the disenchanted left with former Bush aide Ari Fleischer and Democratic strategist Joe Trippi. "I think Soros is worried that Obama will do what Bill Clinton did in 1994," Trippi theorized, "and that he'll start compromising and going down the middle. Soros wants things to be a lot different and he doesn't think the President fought hard enough." Fleischer posited that liberal anger will only grow stronger. "You talk about disgruntled liberals, but that's redundant - they are always grouchy about something. And just wait until July of 2011 when the President has to make a decision about withdrawing from Afghanistan. If there is not a meaningful withdrawal, the anti-war movement of the Democratic Party may very well run a primary opponent against Barack Obama."

President Obama wants Congress to pass the DREAM Act, which would grant citizenship to illegal immigrants who meet certain criteria. Laura welcomed one of the act's proponents, Congressman Luis Gutierrez of Illinois. "We wanted to get comprehensive immigration reform," Gutierrez said, "but we didn't. So we suggested to the President that he focus on the DREAM Act, which would allow young people to earn their legalization by going to college or serving in the military. They came here as children and we should not hold children accountable for the actions of adults." Laura questioned the act's basic fairness: "This is an amnesty for 2.1 million people who are here illegally. How is that fair to the Latino kids who are here legally?"

Thursday's Patriot or Pinhead: The Cornell professor who berated one of his students for yawning in class. You can decide whether the prof is a Patriot or a Pinhead by voting here on BillOReilly.com.