So Long Constitution It Was Nice While It Lasted
Over at the Undernews there is an article on the 'torture bill' that recently passed congress. Torture isn't the biggest deal here. Don't get me wrong it is a big deal just not the biggest.
Personally I am appalled that we, as a country, were even considering legalizing torture, let alone actually passing it. That our politicians are discussing whether or not or how much we can torture or which 'techniques' we can use is a new low for this country. We have with this bill undone decades of international agreement and essentially given the rest of the world the right and reason to torture Americans. Positively shameful.
Even so, the torture issue is not the biggest turd in the toilet where this bill came from. This bill gave the president the right to declare ANYONE an unlawful enemy combatant. Once again, this bill gave the president the right to declare ANYONE an unlawful enemy combatant. Not just Iraqis, ANYONE. Not just Arabs, ANYONE. Not just foreigners, ANYONE. Not just immigrants, ANYONE. Get the picture? The President of the United States of America can, when this bill becomes law, declare John Jones, American Born and lived here all his life, church goer, mechanic, hard working father, an enemy combatant. At that point he can be arrested and held for the rest of his life without bail, without a trial, without any chance to contest his imprisonment. He can be tortured and if he ever is brought to trial he cannot see the evidence against him, and he cannot have his own attorney. This sounds like a third world dictatorship to me, not unlike Argentina and Chile not so long ago.
But, you say, surely there must be some standards for what constitutes an enemy combatant. Well there will be, but that will be the sole discretion of the President. Oh, and they will be secret. The President never has to reveal what those standards are, according to this bill. And there is one more bit to make things more distasteful. If the President should be uncomfortable with making people 'disappear' and deciding who should be tortured, he can confer this ability to anyone he wishes. Put another way if the President has too many scruples he can simply hand this off to some without any and get himself some plausible deniability.
So folks please place your rights and freedom in the receptacles located by the exits You may keep your hope for what good it will do you.
By the way that large sucking sound was Democracy going down the tubes.
Personally I am appalled that we, as a country, were even considering legalizing torture, let alone actually passing it. That our politicians are discussing whether or not or how much we can torture or which 'techniques' we can use is a new low for this country. We have with this bill undone decades of international agreement and essentially given the rest of the world the right and reason to torture Americans. Positively shameful.
Even so, the torture issue is not the biggest turd in the toilet where this bill came from. This bill gave the president the right to declare ANYONE an unlawful enemy combatant. Once again, this bill gave the president the right to declare ANYONE an unlawful enemy combatant. Not just Iraqis, ANYONE. Not just Arabs, ANYONE. Not just foreigners, ANYONE. Not just immigrants, ANYONE. Get the picture? The President of the United States of America can, when this bill becomes law, declare John Jones, American Born and lived here all his life, church goer, mechanic, hard working father, an enemy combatant. At that point he can be arrested and held for the rest of his life without bail, without a trial, without any chance to contest his imprisonment. He can be tortured and if he ever is brought to trial he cannot see the evidence against him, and he cannot have his own attorney. This sounds like a third world dictatorship to me, not unlike Argentina and Chile not so long ago.
But, you say, surely there must be some standards for what constitutes an enemy combatant. Well there will be, but that will be the sole discretion of the President. Oh, and they will be secret. The President never has to reveal what those standards are, according to this bill. And there is one more bit to make things more distasteful. If the President should be uncomfortable with making people 'disappear' and deciding who should be tortured, he can confer this ability to anyone he wishes. Put another way if the President has too many scruples he can simply hand this off to some without any and get himself some plausible deniability.
So folks please place your rights and freedom in the receptacles located by the exits You may keep your hope for what good it will do you.
By the way that large sucking sound was Democracy going down the tubes.
posted by Carlton Noles at 10:33 AM
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