Thanks for another great piece. This is off topic and that annoys me but I just wanted to let you know that I have made three posts on Politico over the last several days and referenced your piece about their connections to the Republican Party. They are polite posts not vulgar rants and they never get posted. I have had other topics posted but not that one, and I have not read any other references to your work on their site.TPM got a refrerence today and I was shocked.

That is correct. You should quit while ahead.

I really have no idea why you imply that I would support rounding up people willy nilly without warrants - but as I have noted in many of your columns, you always seem to take an idea and distort it to make your point. I thought the point of this column was an argument if Habeas Corpus has situations where it could be suspended.

You're serious, aren't you? You really thought he was writing in favor of such suspension.

English isn't your first language, is it? Or are you simply among the thousands of Americans who can't read?

It is time the Democrats take some responsibility and fix what they were afraid to challenge.

One point I would make is regarding this statement in the article: "That is the system of American justice which the 2006 Congress imposed -- people swept off the streets of America and imprisoned indefinitely, with no charges and no venue to prove one's innocence."

I would only add that in the system of American justice prior to this 2006 act of Congress, Americans did not have to prove their innocence. The government had to prove they were guilty. I suspect that is what the author meant, but we should be careful in our language. Everyone should understand that the burden of proof lies with the accuser and not the accused and "innocent until proven guilty" should not be compromised in anyway.

I believe I stated that the situation that we have now is "grey" because we have a non-governmental entity (Al-Qaida, Salafism, Jihadism or whatever you want to call it) that effectively has developed the ability to wage war on selected targets with military level force.

Just like Timothy McVeigh or the first WTC bombing attempt? But you didn't wet your pants then, did you?

The main difference is that on 9/11 they didn't bother to rent the delivery vehicles, they had the nerve to steal them. Military level force? You are hysterical. Consult a physician. Get an hysterectomy.

My memory is hazy, but wasn't that the time period where the republicans had control of just about everything, the bill was the brainchild of a member of the democratic party(LIEberman), and the Republicans were threatening the "Nuclear Option" and marking up bills right down to within minutes of the vote, so that noone really knew what all they were voting on, other than the title of the bill (aka repub talking point) which may or may not have anything to do with what was actually IN the bill. The repubs were calling votes without discussion, in the middle of the night, and keeping the vote open for hours until they had done enough arm twisting to get the thing passed, and noone wanted the fillibuster to be killed.

They could have tried to make some noise about it, but the press wasn't covering anything they said anyway.

So, what exactly should they have done??

In response to Dirks' post about congresscritters and their understanding of the consequences of their actions in agreeing to and enabling the consolidation of Autocracy...

From their statements at the time, I don't think most of them did understand in 2001 when they squelched the challenges to the Florida vote and went along with the Supreme Court's lawless action in assigning the Presidency to Bush instead. It was an unprecedented situation -- for them -- and they clearly didn't seem to know what to do. Rather than explore the options open to them under the Law and the Constitution, the easier path was to go with a Decision that had already been made.

But some congressmembers objected loudly, for they knew what was wrong and what needed to be done, even if the eventual result was the same. By usurping the authority granted in the Constitution to Congress, the Supreme Court effectively subverted the Constitution, a subversion from which we all still suffer.

Did they know it was going to lead to an Autocracy? I don't know. Scalia was leading -- all but forcing -- the Supreme Court intervention, and he has expressed more than a little contempt for the very idea of Constitutional Self Government (it's not Godly, you know) over the years, so it's quite possible he knew and was all in favor of Autocracy. But maybe not.

Afterwards, however, the Congress really has no excuse. They could see the results of their complicity before their eyes, especially after 9/11 and the Anthrax Attacks. Tom Daschle wrote a book about the period in which he explains that what happened "changed America forever," and he seems to have understood quite clearly what those changes were about, and what his role -- and that of other Congressmembers -- was in enabling and securing those changes.

The People could see what was happening, too, and they were objecting loudly and persistently throughout. They weren't being heard.

Media had a big role in making sure they weren't heard. Making sure that Congress didn't deviate from the Autocratic Program. Would your typical Congressperson be non-plussed by use of the correct term, Autocracy, for what our government has become? Some would be, sure. But I think more would offer mordant chuckles, because they know and many of them have known all along, and they are trying (now, belatedly) to figure out what to do about it.

You know, George W. Bush is such a nice man, it's hard to believe he'd behave like this. And Cheney may be frightening, but he's whip-smart, and surely he knows what he's doing, and everyone is so busy.... Just give it enough time and things will get back to normal. But I doubt there is a "normal" to go back to anymore.

The husk of the Roman Republic continued on through much of the Empire, after all. Didn't mean anything any more, but hey: SPQR!