|
Here's my LTTE:
On tuesday the president signed into law the Military Commissions act. I think never in the history of this once proud nation has such mayhem be done to our Constitution.
This law now gives the president the unbridled power to declare ANYONE, citizen or not, and enemy combatant and to imprison that person without limits. Even more importantly, the law removes the right of anyone imprisoned to Habeas Corpus, meaning that we can no longer ask a court to review the constitutionality of our imprisonment. Effectively, Mr. Bush has just struck down the Bill of Rights. We now have only those rights that he agrees to let us have. Torture? You and I are now subject to water boarding, etc should we come to the attention of our supposed - (I use that term because no one who has sworn to uphold and protect the constitution and then does it such harm should be entitled to the name) - president, or anyone to whom he assigns the power he now claims.
This law is far worse than the one that sent all Japanese-Americans to internment camps during World War II. This applies to all of us.
The question then becomes: just who do we blame for the current state of affairs? Well, for myself I blame all of us for not standing up and demanding that congress deny Mr. Bush this unlimited power. More importantly, I blame the Orlando Sentinel in particular and the rest of the corporate media in general for not raising questions about this law before it was passed. I recall only one small article on an inner page before passage of this law, and not even a mention of the terrible consequences of losing the right to Habeas Corpus. An informed electorate is necessary for an effective democracy. You and the rest of the media abdicated your post in this case, and God help us all.
We will all come to rue the actions of this administration. Sooner, I'm afraid, than later.
|