Letters to the Editor
ondelette
Published Letters: 2259 Editor's Choice: 19
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Bobby G. here is the links
[Read the article: The president and "the program"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Sorry for the double post, I should have read Bobby G.'s request for a link before I posted. Here are the links for the Bush version and the Senate draft.
http://balkin.blogspot.com/Bush.Military.Commissions.Bill.pdf
http://natseclaw.typepad.com/natseclaw/files/senate_armed_services_draft_number_3.pdf
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I hate to tell you this
[Read the article: Keep the Great Writ alive]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I hate to look askance at such a well written article by people so genuinely concerned with the rights of the detainees, but... The article multiple times says that the legislation would allow the administration to detain any non-citizen outside the United States indefinitely and deny them habeas corpus.
The latest version as of this morning, allowed them to deny habeas corpus and the right to a speedy trial (which is a clause in the Military Code saying that those arrested must be charged, informed of the charge or released) to any alien who is
1) in U.S. custody
2) has been determined to be an enemy combatant *or is awaiting determination*
This means that any non-citizen, outside the U.S. or inside, who has been arrested and is in custody *for any reason* could be construed as being "awaiting determination of enemy combatant status". The "awaiting determination" language is new, it was not in the Senate version last week, or in the original Bush version.
So Mr.Ratner and Ms.Miles' article is chilling, but as of this morning, apparently not chilling enough.
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Way to go Patrick!
[Read the article: Sen. Leahy on the "un-American" detainee interrogation bill]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It has it all right: any alien, for any length of time, no requirement on wrongdoing, un-American, tyrannical. Senator Leahy's response is the first in the Senate to properly characterize this bill as the abomination it truly is: the end to our concepts of freedom and liberty.
Please,please,please -- let this be the beginning of the loud, forceful, what-ever-it-takes Democratic opposition. If the party does nothing else right this fall, defeating the torture bill will redeem it for a long time to come.
Shame on McCain--the tortured man has become the ultimate jailer: The Maiden of Death rather than Death and the Maiden.
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The whole thing has been passed
[Read the article: So much for the Great Writ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The whole Military Commissions Act of 2006 has passed. It contains the following Immigrant Reform legislation:
"No court, justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider an application for a writ of habeas corpus filed by or on behalf of an alien detained by the United States who--
(A) is currently in United States custody; and
(B) has been determined by the United States to have been properly detained as an enemy combatant or is awaiting such determination."
This applies to any non-citizen, anywhere in the world, and due to the phrase "or is awaiting such determination" allows any non-citizen of the United States to be held in indefinite detention without charge or recourse to law for any reason whatsoever, so long as the government says it is in the process of determining enemy combatant status. Charles I of England got his head chopped of for asserting the right to do this. Thirteen colonies fought a war of independence to end this practice in 1775. Today President Bush became the first person in an 800 year tradition to re-acquire the divine right of kings. What abject cowards are running this "war on terror"?
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Investigation? I disagree.
[Read the article: Foley pushed child porn bills, asked: "Do I make you a little horny?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Sorry, but I don't think this merits an investigation.
Instead, given the dangerous nature of the crime from the Republican point of view, I recommend stripping Mark Foley and any people complicit before or after the fact (the House Leadership for example) of their citizenship, so we can exercise the justice they all just gave speeches for, and incarcerate them all indefinitely while they await a determination on their enemy combatant status. That way we can use a whole range of alternative measures not rising to the level of torture to find out whether there are any other "hebephile" ticking time bombs in the Legislature.
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It's amazing, isn't it?
[Read the article: Politics? That's for 9/11, not Mark Foley]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]These guys spent two years politicizing President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, took it to court, even went to have him disbarred after he left office. They were running Willie Horton style attack ads featuring sexual predators in three states when this story broke. Now every other word is about how horrible it would be to politicize this "awful incident", or for another (the spokesman for the head of the Congressional Campaign committee running the attack ads) criticizing the Democrats for "trying to take advantage of a very tragic and wrong situation". They hyped gay marriage amendments, got all weepy-eyed about the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, have been ranting about George Bush and God, condemning everybody else's morals and yammering about "family values" for years.
But if anyone says anything about a sexual predator that they were concealing for months they are taking advantage of a tragic situation?