Letters to the Editor
tempus
Published Letters: 469 Editor's Choice: 8
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Except the Constitution gets in the way
[Read the article: The Ron Paul phenomenon]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Using Ron Paul's philosophy, what would happen in Dover, Pa is that those school board members would be required to follow any state legislation regarding separation of church and state in state supported public schools. If they were within the letter of the law and you don't agree with them, then you campaign to remove them from power and have new members of the board change the rules.
You cannot simply ignore the 1st Amendment, both the words AND the underlying intent...in juxtaposition with other FACTS such as the Treaty of Tripoli produced during none other than George Washington's Presidency (how do you get more Founding Father than that...along with getting at original intent?). The United States is in no way a Christian Nation...says the Treaty. It was ratified by the Senate. It was widely published in the papers as well at the time. No uproar, no argument.
The United States was not, never has been, and never was intended to be, a Christian nation. ANY moves to codify the opposite is unconstitutional and in direct opposition with original intent in the clearest sense of the word.
Paul thinks differently (and wrongly) and thus, his ideas as to what is and is not constitutional are ALL suspect. He is wrong on Church/State separation in glaring fashion, he is also wrong on what the Constitution is about and means. We are NOT a Christian nation and schools are not the place to indoctrinate kids into religion unless they are specifically PRIVATE religious schools. It is really that simple.
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Glenn...a word please?
[Read the article: What happened to the Senate's "60-vote requirement"?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I fear the Senate passing a law to ban waterboarding. I fear that doing so would be worse than doing nothing at this point. The reason I fear such a law is twofold: it renders waterboarding (and hence, torture) merely a matter of parochial US statute, something NO other country is bound by. It takes waterboarding (torture) out of the purview of the Geneva Conventions, the Conventions Against Torture, and other international laws and makes it merely a banned "interrogation technique" for the US. This automatically means that it is open for use by any and all other countries by mere statute in THEIR countries. American citizens and soldiers can then be waterboarded with wild abandon and the US can't do squat legally to stop it. No one is bound by US statute but the US.
My second problem and fear about passing such a law (and perhaps it was the intention of Schumer and Feinstein, etc, all along?) is that it de facto gives legal protection to Bush, Cheney, the CIA leadership, the Military leadership who OK'd and promulgated waterboarding up to the time the law passes. Ex post facto kicks in and the Dems not only manage to make torture merely a matter of US statute, but also give absolution to those involved in outright torture in the US government. UNACCEPTABLE.
Your thoughts on this Glenn? Also, I wonder if there is a way to pass a law on waterboarding that still keeps Bush, etc, in the legal crosshairs. Could the Congress not pass a law that simply reiterates reality? It might state that the US recognizes that waterboarding has been a means of torture throughout history and, thus, has been and remains illegal by Treaty and US law.
Would not this wording ensure that it is clear that waterboarding CANNOT be done. Period. But that past acts of waterboarding were illegal acts and those involved REMAIN criminally liable?
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By the by...those Presidential "candidates"
[Read the article: What happened to the Senate's "60-vote requirement"?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]That were just too busy to vote on Mukasey (and, better, FILIBUSTER him) have lost any chance at all that I will vote for them if they are the nominee. They have rendered themselves ineligible for my vote in the primaries AND the general. To whit: Clinton, Biden, Dodd, and Obama. Too busy to vote against torture and for the Rule of Law and basic human decency.
So...I'm too busy to support or vote for them.
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Wow, for once
[Read the article: What happened to the Senate's "60-vote requirement"?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I agree with shooter:
That's right! Impeach the lowlife scum that put forth this candidate for AG! Impeach Chuckie Schumer!!!!
Keep up the good work.
I would LOVE for there to be a process to "impeach" sitting senators. I would see Feinstein, Schumer, Bayh, Dodd, Biden, Clinton, Obama, about half a dozen other "Dems", and a HUGE number of GOPer happily out the door.
Schumer IS an enemy. He NEVER does the right thing, just like Specter. Speaks the words but then falls down when it comes time to stand up. The only person worse than Schumer (and Specter) in this regard is Feinstein.