Habeas Non Corpus
With smug inanity and invocation of the ghosts 9/11 George W. Bush signed the Military Commissions Act 0f 2006 ostensibly to expedite trials against detainees in custody but slyly extending the amorphous borderlands that define the ever abstruse encroachment of absolutist Executive Authority.
Presidential interpretation is the new rule. International standards and the Geneva Convention are out. Waterboarding and other “unspecified” modes of abuse are in because quite simply the president can authorize anything he wants and transcend legal and ethical time and space by making sure that the law applies retroactively to include putative cases of past torture, abuse, or any Geneva defied situation.
Got some hearsay, no problem, it’s all good. Forget habeas corpus – down in the hole you go until the detainee possibly, maybe gets a trial in a few years or so while constantly having the s#*% kicked out of you daily until you’d confess to being L. Ron Hubbard in drag.
So watch thy back. The despot tightens his icy grip in carefully crafted legalese. Don’t speaketh ill for they’re listening. And prepare thyself for the next phase – I would say microchips or something pathetically cliche, but the despot is crafty and the cabal is craftier in their sheepskins – they’ll find a way to impugn one’s “patriotism” and extend the “War on Terror” further into each American’s very soul.
Quick reminder that all comments until 10/31 gives you a chance to win an iPod shuffle!
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Far more disturbing to me than Bush’s unbridled and unchecked grab for more and more executive authority, which should come as no surprise to anyone, is the level to which Bush’s supporters apologize for and defend him and his policies.
While his approval ratings are in the toilet comparatively, there are still 30% of our population who regard torture and the suspension of habeas corpus as perfectly acceptible. And not only perfectly acceptible, but necessary to such an extent that opposition to these policies that directl undermine the Constitution is tantamount to treason.
And these 30% mostly represent the uberallegiance of the inveterate Republican faithful. It’s no surprise that hardcore partyliners go along with anything wrought from Bush’s pulpit – just yesterday he had enough time to regale some of the more infamous “conservative” talk show hosts visiting the White House. Those obedient parrots who obsequiously squawk the talking points transcripts of Rove – a nice “Attah Boy” photo op for the office wall to remind them that they are nicely filling the niche of culling the submissible into unanalytic acceptance.
Just don’t tell them that or you’re a bomb-throwing-flaming-hater wanting nothing less than utter destruction of American Culture BY Gawd!
“Abstruse encroachment?”
More like overt intrusion!
Blatant theft of rights.
“A haiku?” he asks.
“But why would this post prompt poem?”
“A free pod,” I say.
Toilet paper clues
In late night conversations.
Power still corrupts.