What Did They Fight For?

Produce the Body
While we focus on the immoral "torture" part of the new torture bill, we're missing a more insidious little tid-bit: removing the right to a trial.

In England, way back in 1679, it was made illegal to stuff people in prison without charges and leave them there to rot. This was done because imprisonment had become the government's favorite means of suppression. Parliament thought this was a really bad idea, mostly because the peasantry had become so fed up with being silenced in this way, that the Lords who ran Parliament were in fear for their lives. So Parliament wised-up and passed a law to stop the practice.

Note: In the following excerpt, I'm removing the long lists of people to whom one can appleal, the lists of who can make appeals, who can be served a writ, and shortening other lists, such as "warrant or warrants" and removing some adjectival expressions to shorten the text and make it easier to understand. The full text is available here: http://www.constitution.org/eng/habcorpa.htm

Note 2: "Habeus Corpus" below means "show me the defendant" (or literally, "produce the body")

... it shall and may be lawful to and for the person or persons so committed or detained ... or any one on his or their behalf, to appeal or complain to ... any one of his Majesty's justices ... (4) and the said ... justices... are hereby authorized and required ... to award and grant an habeas corpus..., (5) to be directed to the officer or officers in whose custody the party so committed or detained shall be, returnable immediate before the said ... justice; (6) and upon service thereof ... the officer shall ... bring such prisoner or prisoners before the said ... justice ... true causes of the commitment ... (7) and thereupon within two days after the party shall be brought before them, the ... justice ... shall discharge the said prisoner from his imprisonment, taking his or their recognizance, with one or more surety or sureties, in any sum according to their discretions, having regard to the quality of the prisoner and nature of the offense, for his or their appearance in the court of the ... city or place where ... the offense was committed, or in such other court where the said offense is properly cognizable ... (8) unless it shall appear ... that the party so committed is detained upon a legal ... warrant ... for such matters or offenses for the which by the law the prisoner is not bailable.

Or, in short: Every prisoner must have his or her day in court. Every prisoner should be able to defend themselves against accusations - just in case those accusations turn out to be nothing more than the spite of someone who doesn't like you.

Prior to that, the Magna Carta, in 1225, had granted the same:

To any man whom we have deprived or dispossessed of lands, castles, liberties, or rights, without the lawful judgement of his equals, we will at once restore these.

This concept has been recognized as a basic element of civilized societies for 781 Years.

In dictatorships, the "Writ of Habeus Corpus" does not exist - prisoners have no right to trial, no right to defend themselves. Heck, they don't even have to be accused of any crime. They can simply be tossed into some dingy hell-hole because they pissed off the wrong person. In such countries, the government gets in the habit of "disappearing" people it doesn't like.

Until now, we in the United States have firmly believed in freedom. Until now, we have believed the fact that people shouldn't be thrown in prison unless they had done something wrong. Until now, we have believed that everyone has the right to defend themselves in a court of law. Until now, we have believed that people who didn't commit any crime should be allowed to live free.

Until Now.

For hundreds of years, people have given up their lives, their limbs, their youth to defend those rights.



But those who, upon taking office, swear to protect those rights against ALL threats have decided to turn their backs on freedom:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

Those we trusted to care for the most precious element of our democracy - our freedom - are ready to sign it away. Cowadice pushes them to want to appear "tough." They are not brave enough to keep our democracy alive.

The fertile field of democracy, first planted 230 years ago, has been abandoned to a harvest of fear.

Click for more...

BeggingYour Pardon

"Pardon Me"

It's the new game in town, brought to us by none other than the Deciderer, grand Inquisitor of the new crusade.

See, the President has spent the last 5 years promoting and ordering torture. Torture is immoral. That's why 194 countries, led by the United States (back in the days when we actually held the moral high ground in the world), cobbled together the Geneva Conventions. The Geneva Conventions prevented thousands of our soldiers from torture in the dark days of WWII.

The Geneva Conventions were heralded as a sign of humanity's commitment to true and lasting civilization. It was a commitment to the belief that as humans, we are better than frightened animals; a commitment to the belief that we are better than petty, cruel, murderous barbarians.

The Father of our country, George Washington, did not allow his troops to torture the British. Washington understood something that the stunted adolescents now occupying office in the city that bears his name don't: torture is wrong, inhumane, immoral, and counterproductive.

"Always some dark spirits wished to visit the same cruelties on the British and Hessians that had been inflicted on American captives. But Washington's example carried growing weight, more so than his written orders and prohibitions. He often reminded his men that they were an army of liberty and freedom, and that the rights of humanity for which they were fighting should extend even to their enemies. ... Even in the most urgent moments of the war, these men were concerned about ethical questions in the Revolution."

Now, in the city named after the man who started the uniquely American trend away from petty cruelty and vengence, the current President and his apologists are playing the game of "Pardon Me." It goes something like this:

1. Do something so deeply immoral that all of the civilized world signed a treaty agreeing never to do it again.
   
   
2. Keep making excuses for this immoral behavior until it looks like you're actually about to get caught red-handed, because some of your victims are about to be interviewed by a neutral international humanitarian organization.
   
   
3. Then, as the fan starts to spin and the manure pile starts to stink ... grant yourself a pre-emptive pardon!

It's easy: Just write a bill that "clarifies" the wording of the treaty - wording that has saved countless numbers of our soldiers from inhumane treatment over the decades, through at least 4 wars and 8 presidents. Rewrite it to make it "clear" that you're excusing yourself for your own immoral acts. It's just like excusing yourself from going AWOL, or excusing yourself from illegal drug use, or heck, even from skipping school.

What's one more excuse? So what if it hands our children over to cruel abusers beyond imagining? So what if it turns America from a shining beacon of morality into just another petty bully on the world stage? So what if it means lower-quality information from our prisoners, leading us to waste millions on wild goose chases and causing us to kill, maim, and torture innocents on the way?

So what?

Well, Pardon me, but I know we're better than that.

For hundreds of years, from George Washington all the way through to Bill Clinton, we have been better than that. We must not let this petty President excuse himself for his behavior. He doesn't get a "pass" just because he's not used to taking responsibility for his actions. If anything, it's high time someone taught him about the importance of personal responsibility - that there are consequences when you do something wrong. It's something most kids learn from an early age.

It's time for those who are required to provide 2/3 of the Checks and Balances built into the Constitution to take their obligation seriously. Do not pass ANY of the laws that seek to change the wording of the Geneva Conventions - the treaty that brought a new level of hope and security to the civilized world.

Compromising our integrity and our morality is inexcusable.

Call or write your Representatives and Senators and tell them you won't accept any more excuses. Tell them that you will accept neither the President's Detainee Bill, nor any proposed compromise bill.

Click for more...