Just For Furriners
Kim du Toit - a reminder that the newly-signed Military Commissions Act applies only to "alien unlawful enemy combatants", where "the term `alien' means a person who is not a citizen of the United States." I posted the following comment: [kimdutoit]
I've been pointing out that the MCA applies to only aliens since it was put on the President's desk. It still greatly worries me, though. It allows a military commission to decide who is an enemy combatant, and other military commissions to review appeals. The President's men at all stages. At no point does anyone else have a say in the matter.
Courts are there for a reason, to protect the people, all the people, from government gone bad. When justice leaves the courtroom, or never gets a trial, there will be no more peaceful arrests. The cartridge box will be our only alternative.
Olbermann had a good point when he asked, "If you are pulled off the street tomorrow, and they call you an alien or an undocumented immigrant or an 'unlawful enemy combatant' -- exactly how are you going to convince them to give you a court hearing to prove you are not?"
Anyway, it will be interesting to watch all you neocon apologists when President Hillary's commissions start using the power Bush gave her. Maybe your guy will use it only to fight people YOU call terrorists. Don't expect that to always be the case. Habeus corpus is for everybody, not just citizens.
When they came for the fur'ners I did nothing, because I wasn't a fur'ner.
Previous Posts:
The Voting Ritual
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Bill Maher Smacks Around Some NeoCons
New Media and Party Affiliation
Security Theater of the Absurd
Election 2006: Staying Home
Countdown Special Comment: Death of Habeas Corpus: "Your words are lies, Sir."
Keith Olbermann DEMANDS Bush Apologize 9/18/06
DHS proposes "permission to travel" / Claire watches United 93
Not to mention, the
Not to mention, the constitutional requirement for ANY suspension of habeus is "during times of rebellion or invasion," neither of which is currently the case. (A friend of mine argues that 9/11 counts as invasion, but if so, that invasion ended five years ago with the death of all the invaders.)
Since the Constitution doesn't give different requirements for suspension of habeus for citizens vs non-citizens, that means that if habeus can be suspended for furriners, it can be suspended for the rest of us. All it takes is one more act of congress.
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