Letters to the Editor
casual_observer
Published Letters: 1249 Editor's Choice: 1
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Lincoln's suspension action
[Read the article: Democrats bear responsibility for restoring habeas corpus]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Surprisingly brief reference to it at wiki, but here it is:
"Suspension during the Civil War and Reconstruction
On April 27, 1861, habeas corpus was suspended by President Lincoln in Maryland and parts of midwestern states, including southern Indiana during the American Civil War. Lincoln did so in response to riots, local militia actions, and the threat that the border slave state of Maryland would secede from the Union, leaving the nation's capital, Washington, D.C., surrounded by hostile territory. Lincoln was also motivated by requests by generals to set up military courts to rein in "Copperheads" or Peace Democrats, and those in the Union who supported the Confederate cause. His action was challenged in court and overturned by the U.S. Circuit Court in Maryland (led by Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney) in Ex Parte Merryman, 17 F. Cas. 144 (C.C.D. Md. 1861). Lincoln ignored Taney's order. In the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis also suspended habeas corpus and imposed martial law. This was in part to maintain order and spur industrial growth in the South to compensate for the economic loss inflicted by its secession.
In 1864, Lambdin P. Milligan and four others were accused of planning to steal Union weapons and invade Union prisoner-of-war camps and were sentenced to hang by a military court. However, their execution was not set until May 1865, so they were able to argue the case after the Civil War. In Ex Parte Milligan 71 U.S. 2 (1866), the Supreme Court of the United States decided that the suspension of the writ was unconstitutional because the President was not empowered to try and convict citizens before military tribunals. The trial of civilians by military tribunals is allowed only if civilian courts are closed. This was one of the key Supreme Court Cases of the American Civil War that dealt with wartime civil liberties and martial law.
In the early 1870s, President Grant suspended habeas corpus in nine counties in South Carolina, as part of federal civil rights action against the Ku Klux Klan under the 1870 Force Act and 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act."
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Enemy within
[Read the article: Democrats bear responsibility for restoring habeas corpus]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Paul sez "Or is it the other way around? Because we've always been preoccupied with the enemy within, and locking up folks who are close at hand, we naturally focus on our own internal Muslim population?"
I tend to think not, and repeat that european terror appears to be home-grown. I'm speculating that our counter-terrorists are looking at Madrid and London and have the same mindset/strategy that European counter-terrorists do--the greatest threat is from within. This is why they inserted two guys into a terrorist "cell" of 6 totally-clueless (and hapless) "terrorists" working out of a pizza shop in New Jersey, surveiled them for 1.5 years. This certainly gives one the impression that resources for internal counter-terrorism are more than abundant.
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About Field Trips
[Read the article: Answers for Joe Klein]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Looking from the outside, it seems to me that every post a blogger makes is a "field trip" around the country, as the blogger is immediately bombarded with helpful (and I'm sure most welcome) criticism and feedback of all sorts, from spelling corrections to death threats. And indeed can and does change his/her product as a result of it.
Viewed this way, blogs have a huge advantage over traditional media. Hard to see how a blogger could ever become isolated-- regardless of physical residence-- simply because of the nature of blogs. Not so with the columnist or reporter, obviously. They labor much more in isolation. The consumer is distant, has no role to play aside from dropping the quarters and reading the advertising.
On this issue of popular voice--I personally don't care if Broder (or Savage) speaks for the heartland. Further, I don't know if either has ever claimed to do so. That's not what I read them for, and besides, even if such a voice existed, I'm not sure it would be worth the coin.
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A Suggestion
[Read the article: A beautiful mosaic of anti-blogger hatred]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Dear Media,
Everything changed after the Blogosphere
One way or the other, you will deal with this fact.
Sincerely,
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Two Links
[Read the article: A beautiful mosaic of anti-blogger hatred]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]These two links result from an argument I recently suffered through at a local bar. They are OT today's post, but On Topic if you have suffered through any of the AG congressional hearings, such as CSPAN broadcast yesterday. I wonder how far executive meddling at DOJ has to go before it becomes obstruction or conspiracy, or some other type of felony.
The Political Profiling of Elected Democratic Officials: When Rhetorical Vision Participation Runs Amok
http://www.epluribusmedia.org/columns/2007/20070212_political_profiling.html
That Mishandled Marston Affair
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,945941,00.html
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The Flipper of God
[Read the article: A beautiful mosaic of anti-blogger hatred]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]dclaw sed
Not only that, but I'm with Digby in seeing this behavior as strikingly racist. Let me remember, wasn't it just yesterday that I heard Chris Matthews say something to the effect that "Looking at the Grand Canyon, you could say the hand of God exists. Looking down Flatbush Avenue, not so much."
I don't take this as racist, but I do think it's a good example of how so many people segregate "works of God" and "works of Man" along the lines of a cheap comic-book storyline. The perception is that God's stuff is beautiful and awe-inspiring. It's the stuff you build your summer vacations around. Man's stuff is more often than not screwed-up crap. That's the stuff you're fleeing from on your vacation.
For my money, the evolution of Flatbush is every bit as interesting as the erosional gash in Arizona. And for those that have a need to see the Hand of God (personally, I believe it's The Flipper of God) at work in the world, I suppose the challenge is to be able to see it in both places, equally.
Nature and God are One, but Man is Other. That's part of our conceptual problem. In reality, we are all together in one, inseperable, increasingly warm, soup-pot.