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Friday, October 19. 2007
Reruns
Call me lazy, call me irresponsible — call me a corporate pig, but I’m gonna do what the television networks so often do: Dish up a rerun. I've been busy all day and didn’t have time to dash off new content, but thought, “I’ve been putting something up every day now for three days. What to do?”One thing I always find disappointing is tuning in the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and finding it to be a rerun. Now, most Daily Show episodes are worth seeing a second time, but really, I want the news of the day skewered as only the Daily Show can.
I still watch the reruns ... and laugh just as much as the first time I watched the episode. So, in that spirit, I offer a portion of what I had written a year ago, less than a month before the mid-term elections when were all wondering, “Will the Democrats win control of Congress?”
Salient question; since the Democrats have bee notoriously adept at blowing it. It still boggles my mind that John Kerry lost to George W. in 2004. Back when G.W. was awarded the presidency by the Supreme Court, I used to make jokes about his resemblance to one of my fictional heroes, Alfred E. Newman, the iconic character of Mad Magazine. Makes one sigh with sadness to think a cartoon character could actually be a better public official than a flesh and blood cartoon character ... so needless to say, I don’t joke about it anymore.So, what did I write about a year ago, other than fretting over the very real possibility the Democrats could blow it? Well to start with, there is Al Jazeera cameraman Sami Al-Hajj, who was taken without due process and held without charge as an enemy combatant. Nicholas Kristof wrote an impassioned editorial about his detention at Gitmo and as of today, Al-Hajj is still in captivity. His crime(s)? Well, he lost his passport in 1999 and it's been used by identity thieves.
Then of course there was the Mark Foley scandal. You remember the Republican congressman from Florida who had authored tough legislation aimed at giving stiff (that is such an appropos pun!) penalties to people who seduce or try to seduce minors over the internet — and then got caught playing cutsey with some male congressional pages — all of whom were minors.
Ever wonder what happened with that? Foley actually violated the law he sponsored when he sent dirty little e-mails and instant messages to these underage boys. As of yet no charges have been filed but the Church of Scientology has removed an article from their website boasting of their friendship with Foley. Now that’s gotta hurt!
Foley got away with it. Now that’s Republican values.
I still remember Republican congressman Patrick McHenry of North Carolina being interviewed by Wolf Blitzer on CNN after McHenry claimed the scandal was false and had been orchestrated by the Democrats to influence the elections. When Blitzer asked McHenry if he had any proof, the Carolinian’s reply was, “Do you have any evidence that says they weren’t involved?”
When you get called on your bullshit, pull out the trusty old “prove a negative” defense.
The bulk of that blog though was about the assault on our civil liberties by the patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act of 2006. So here comes the rerun:
Among other policies, it codifies and allows torture. According to[then] Attorney General, Alberto Gonzalez, anything short of causing organ failure and death is permissible. In other words, the president gets to pick and choose those parts of the Geneva Conventions he wants to follow.
Not only does it allow torture, it allows information acquired from coercion — torture — to be used in trials against those who were tortured, a clear violation of Article Five of the Bill of Rights:
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation
and Article Eight: Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
If you don’t see the connection between torture-induced testimony and the Fifth Amendment, let me point it out: If a suspect is tortured into giving a confession and that confession is used as evidence against the suspect, that violates the clause in bold.
The Military Commissions Act of 2006 violates several more articles in the Bill of Rights: It allows for the seizure of anyone, citizen or not, without warrant, without probable cause and without oath or affirmation. The president or his agents (military or civilian intelligence and even law enforcement) can proclaim you or me an “unlawful enemy combatant” and whisk you off to Gauntánamo Bay or worse, holding you for as long as they see fit without counsel, without trial; simply put, without due process. Clearly a violation of Articles Four, Five, Six and Eight.
What trumps all of that even, is the abolition of the Writ of Habeas Corpus. “What’s that,” you ask?
The literal translation of the Latin phrase is: You Have the Body. What it means in U.S. and British law is that a prisoner has the right to petition the government to decide if that prisoner has been lawfully detained.
Supreme Courts throughout our Nation’s history have held that Habeas Corpus is the foundation of all our rights. “… [t]he writ of habeas corpus is the fundamental instrument for safeguarding individual freedom against arbitrary and lawless state action.” Harris vs. Nelson (1969). Courts have quoted that sentence repeatedly since 1969 when prosecutors and lower courts have sought to challenge the writ.
There is a provision in the Constitution that allows for the suspension of Habeas Corpus: “… the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.” Well, there is neither a rebellion nor invasion, unless you count the ants crawling all over my kitchen the other day.
The shame of our nation, the assault on not only our rights and freedoms, but our “values” as well, was signed into law October 17, 2006. While we were all glued to the news about Madonna’s adopted baby (did she or didn’t she buy it?), whether or not Brad and Angelina were getting married, not to mention the tragedy of Iraq, the campaign season woes of the Republicans and the latest in Mark Foley-related news, our rights — our values — as American citizens have just been taken away.
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) may have put it best: “ … a sad day when the rubber-stamp Congress undercuts our freedoms.”
The freedom from unwarranted government intrusion, a cornerstone of Republican philosophy for as long as I can remember, is by far our most important value as a Nation.
If you can remember the Cold War, we held up that one value above all others when we trumpeted our superiority over the communist systems of the Soviet Union and China, and all their satellite puppets. We didn’t require I.D. cards or travel passes to visit other parts of the country. Law enforcement couldn’t come crashing into our homes without proper warrant; our property couldn’t be seized without that due process.
We held our Nation to a higher standard, that no matter what our enemies did to our soldiers and civilians held in captivity, we wouldn’t stoop to their tactics and crimes.
This one bill, passed by the rubber-stamp Congress and signed into law by our Nation’s latest emperor wannabe, has done away with all that moral high ground, however flawed it may have been. We are no longer the beacon of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” We are, instead, a Nation of despotic rule.
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Well, since then the Democrat-controlled Congress has just approved more laws stepping on our civil liberties. So much for a change of direction with the news Congress.
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