Molly Ivins: Habeas Corpus, R.I.P. (1215 – 2006) [Truthdig]
I’d like those supporting this evil bill to spare me one affliction: Do not, please, pretend to be shocked by the consequences of this legislation. And do not pretend to be shocked when the world begins comparing us to the Nazis.
via mark at wood s lot
It is now official. Everything I was taught to believe about the government of the United States of America as a child, as an Eagle Scout, as a delegate to the American Legion’s Boy’s State in High School and in Government class is,… a quaint historical fiction. The terrorists have won.
How did your Senator vote? [Nevada: Reid = no, Ensign = yes]
How did your Represenative vote? [Nevada: Berkley = no, Gibbons = yes, Porter = yes]
It’s a 40 day slog through the desert to the polls for you and I. I certainly know who I will be voting for. How about you?
Senator Harry Reid’s (D-NV) floor statement on the detainee bill:
The Framers of our Constitution understood the need for checks and balances, but this bill discards them.
Many of the worst provisions were not in the Committee-reported bill, and were not in the compromise announced last Friday. They were added over the weekend after backroom meetings with White House lawyers.
We have tried to improve this legislation. Senator Levin proposed to substitute the bipartisan bill that was reported by the Armed Services Committee. That amendment was rejected.
Senators Specter and Leahy offered an amendment to restore the right to judicial review – that amendment was rejected.
Senator Rockefeller offered an amendment to improve congressional oversight of CIA programs – that amendment was rejected.
Senator Kennedy offered an amendment to clarify that inhumane interrogation tactics prohibited by the Army Field manual could not be used on Americans or on others – that amendment was rejected.
And Senator Byrd offered an amendment to sunset military commissions so that Congress would simply be required to reconsider this far-reaching authority after five years of experience. Even that amendment was rejected.
I strongly believe this legislation is unconstitutional. It will almost certainly be struck down by the Supreme Court. And when that happens, we’ll be back here several years from now debating how to bring terrorists to justice.
The families of the 9/11 victims and the nation have been waiting five years for the perpetrators of these attacks to be brought to justice. They should not have to wait longer. We should get this right now – and we are not doing so by passing this bill. The National security policies of this administration and Republican Congress may have been tough, but they haven’t been smart. The American people are paying a price for their mistakes.
History will judge our actions here today. I am convinced that future generations will view passage of this bill as a grave error. I wish to be recorded as one who voted against taking this step.
From Majikthise:
Majikthise : Final passage: Bush/McCain Torture Bill
Watch your back.
Another from kos:
That England, that was wont to conquer others,
Hath made a shameful conquest of itself.
-Shakespeare, Richard II, Act 2 scene 1
mcjoan at dailykos:
On the question do you favor (1) allowing the President to define torture, (2) strip the court of judicial review via habeas corpus (even though the constitution does not allow you to except in cases of invasion or Rebellion), and (3) allowing the President to jail American citizens arbitrarily and without court review?
Gutless Democrats saying Aye:
Tom Carper (Del.)
Tim Johnson (S.D.)
Mary Landrieu (La.)
Frank Lautenberg (N.J.)
Bob Menendez (N.J)
Bill Nelson (Fla.)
Ben Nelson (Neb.)
Pryor (Ark.)
Jay Rockefeller (W. Va.)
Ken Salazar (Co.)
Debbie Stabenow (Mich.)Gutless Connecticut for Liebermans saying Aye:
Joe Lieberman (Conn.)History will not absolve you.
Matt Stoller over at MyDD:
Final Tally on the McCain Torture Act, 65-34
Democrats in favor (12) – Carper (Del.), Johnson (S.D.), Landrieu (La.), Lautenberg (N.J.), Lieberman (Conn.), Menendez (N.J), Pryor (Ark.), Rockefeller (W. Va.), Salazar (Co.), Stabenow (Mich.), Nelson (Fla.), Nelson (Neb.)
Republicans against (1) – Chafee (R.I.)
Independents against (1) – Jeffords
Later: I see Garret calls it ‘a dark day‘ as well.
Go little Rover!
NASA Mars Rover Arrives at Dramatic Vista on Red Planet
NASA’s Mars Rover Opportunity has arrived at the rim of a crater approximately five times wider than a previous stadium-sized one it studied for half a year.Initial images from the rover’s first overlook after a 21-month journey to “Victoria Crater” show rugged walls with layers of exposed rock and a floor blanketed with dunes. The far wall is approximately 800 meters (one-half mile) from the rover.
“This is a geologist’s dream come true,” said Dr. Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal investigator for NASA’s twin rovers Opportunity and Spirit. “Those layers of rock, if we can get to them, will tell us new stories about the environmental conditions long ago. We especially want to learn whether the wet era that we found recorded in the rocks closer to the landing site extended farther back in time. The way to find that out is to go deeper, and Victoria may let us do that.” [more]
tristero at Hullabaloo is (still) on a roll…
Yes, the NY Times gets it. But it’s not telling the whole truth.
The truth is that the United States government is presently holding, torturing, and even murdering countless numbers of people who have no chance in hell of obtaining a lawyer, let alone anything resembling a trial. The government is doing this under the direct orders of George W. Bush. There is no law, no bill, and no legislature who can stop him. If Congress were to pass a law unequivocably banning torture and send it to him, he’d use it for toilet paper. If the Supreme Court were to rule against Bush in the harshest and bluntest language, he’d yawn.
The truth is that there is a rogue presidency and there has been, since January, 2001 (earlier, if you count the stolen election). Certainly, everyone in Washington knows it, but no one dares to admit it. The bill legalizing torture merely enables Congress to pretend they still have some influence over an executive that from day one was governing, not as if they had a mandate, but as if Bush were a dictator. If, for some miracle, the bill didn’t pass, every congress-critter knows Bush would keep on torturing. (…)
The time truly is long overdue where there simply is no choice but to say “enough.” It should have been enough over the stolen election, or the neglect that led to 9/11, or Schiavo, or the filibuster.* But voting to permit the US government to sidestep Geneva? To suspend habeas? What the fuck is Congress thinking, for crissakes??? Has fascism moved so slowly that only a few bloggers can perceive the inevitable progression? I don’t think so.
There’s no question about it. Any person in Congress who votes for this – listening, Hillary? – will never get my vote again. Ever, not even for dogcatcher, let alone president. If there is going to be a public Constitutional crisis over Bush’s rogue presidency – and there will be sooner or later, guaranteed – bring it on now. (more) [emphasis in original]
I’m with tristero, anyone who votes for this is will must be actively opposed.
I have wondering about Bush’s comment about Iraq being ‘just a comma‘ and suspected that it was more code for his base. Today I saw this from Ian Welsh referenced at kottke.org.
[T]his is another case where Bush is using code words to speak directly to his Christian right base.
The phrase is: “Never put a period where God has put a comma.” Which is to say – it ain’t over yet, and God may well make it better. So Iraq’s bad, but if we trust in God, he’ll make it better. (…)
The other name for this is dog whistle politics. When you blow a dog whistle humans can’t hear it, but the dogs sure can. It’s a pitch higher than humans can hear. When you speak in code like this, most of the time the only people who hear and understand what you just said are the intended group, who have an understanding of the world and a use of words that is not shared by the majority of the population. So it allows you to send out two messages at once – one pitched for the majority of Americans, the other pitched for a subgroup. This goes on all the time, and usually it isn’t caught – most people don’t hear it, and the media is made up of people who can’t make the connections because they don’t belong to these subgroups. So they can’t point out the subtext either. [more at The Agonist]
It is time for an anthropological lexicon of these various terms. A ‘map’, if you will, of what is being referred to in these conversations, so we all can hear the message. Not just for the Christian right, but the Left and the in-between. Just like police and community activists can read gang sign and tags (well, some of them can), we need to be able to read the political topography. There’s too many secrets that people use against each other.
Any social cartographers out there? Or has this already been done and I just don’t know about it? Anyone?
And just why, again, do you say Americans do not have an accurate view of the happenings outside their borders?
Newsweek’s latest cover, by geographical region: [thinkprogress.org]
The real question is (and I agree with fredo)– Why has Newsweek failed to keep the international community informed about what is truly important?
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