Glenn, I understand the importance of habeas corpus, but is the MCA law itself even constitutional? Shouldn't it require a constitutional amendment to take away such a fundamental right? If all it takes to undo the constitution is a simple bill signed into law, what's to stop the next GW when they, say, start shutting down media outlets and imprisoning reporters?

That this should be a topic of discussion in the first place. This is the USofA were talking about, right, not Chile under Pinochet? If this unconstitutional garbage can only be undone by years of litigation then GW was correct when he pronounced our constituion/bill of rights to be "just a piece of paper". Will we wake up one morning and find that Finegold, Reid, Waxman, Pelosi, et al seem to be missing and that interim republican (bushie) replacements have been appointed? What on earth can stop him/them from doing that? The "rule of law" only works if everyone plays by the rules.

CarolynC,

That's Mike McConnell, not Sen. Mitch McConnell. I had to reread it a couple of times myself...

...A stupid psychopath - remember our long supply lines in Iraq, the ones with hundreds of truck convoys supplying our troops in country? The ones that get attacked everyday? How would the situation "change" with 15 million pissed-off Shia, all armed to the teeth?

The only way to roll back George W. Bush's abuse/invalidation of the US Constitution & Bill Of Rights unfortunately REQUIRES ignoring both the US Constitution and the Bill Of Rights. Meaning of course that WE THE PEOPLE are FUCKED. Thanx, George. (But then, again, you morons supported Regean, what is today but merely SOME of his chickens coming home to roost? - (What did Regean support that G.W. DOES NOT? - name ONE?)

Barak Obama, I know why you said what you've said and frankly, I understand why you said it but nonetheless, DAMN YOUR EYES for saying it. Franklin's 'experiment in democracy' ended August of 2006 w/ the MCA and it's time to stake the corpse lest it continue its vampiric pillage. The future is grim for the working class and as I am not a breeder, my future dies with me. It is YOUR CHILDREN, suckers, that will have to deal with both the problems ahead and the parasitic elite above who will profit from their sufferings. Lotsa luk, chumps, but again, 'twas a majority approval of the rethuglican congress & of GW in particular that allowed all of this to happen.' And you and your folks keep approving their legislation - is that why they permitted the Dems to 'win' the 2006 elections? A 'Rethug' congress would have acquired too much blame if they had kept on permitting Chaney's bunch?

p.s. The Kurt Russell movie from 1981, "Escape from New York", had airliners used as missile weapons...

wrt a President Gore in 2001 vs. the reality of Pres. GW than IMHO it's essential to ask if the 9/11 attacks would have happened in the first place. The mechanism that allowed the attacks was and would have been in place, namely the damned airlines being too cheap to install a decent lock on the interior door of the cockpit. But I can state without a shred of doubt that a President Gore on seeing a PDB summary 8/6/2001 entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." would not have dismissed it saying "Alright, you covered your ass, you can go.". BTW, it was Lieberman on the ticket that made me hold my nose while I voted for Gore.

I frequently read both Glen & Dennis though I'm probably closer to Perrin's POV. And as for 'democracy' as practiced in the US, the US Senate is about the most undemocratic body in the US government - Why the hell should two senators from WY these days have the same say as two senators from CA when the latter represent 100X (?) more people? (Yes, I'm fully aware of the history of the senate) But today, that makes less sense than the electoral college which isn't saying much.