NOT, Ill not, carrion comfort, Despair, not feast on thee; Not untwistslack they may bethese last strands of man In me ór, most weary, cry I can no more. I can;
Can I be Jailed Under the Patriot Act for Criticizing Bush on the Internet?
Only if you call Shrub the following bad names: Shrub. Smirk. Chimp. Traitor. Illuminati. Satan. Antichrist. Israeli-Firster.
Actually if TheStateInc wants you, there are so many fascist laws on the books, they can always manufacture a reason to come knocking. And Shrub...er ahh..Satan..er ahh..Chimp is finding new ways every day.
In a CorporoFascist capitalist society, there is no money in peace, freedom, or a healthy population, and therefore, no incentive to achieve these - - IndieTX
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act - - George Orwell
there are so many fascist laws on the books, they can always manufacture a reason to come knocking.
You just have to love robin´s note; The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws. Tacitus
I read at one time, some years ago, that there were more than 10 MILLION pages of rules and regulations just pertaining to the Federal Reserve. And people tell me how difficult it is trying to obey God´s some 700 laws! NO ONE CAN OBEY THAT MANY LAWS!!!
The Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
The Gonzales statements on habeas during that hearing started me on a slow burn. On one level, he is engaged in Dickensian lawyering. He didn't say a thing that couldn't be backed up. Indeed, on a very technical level, looking at every word he uttered, his statements about the Rasul case (this is the case they talk about without naming) are arguably more accurate than Specter's - the technical holding, from a stare decisis perspective - does not rest on constitutional norms.
But go back and look at Thomas Jefferson's First Inaugural Address: he says very clearly that habeas is one of the basic premises of our entire system of government; that it's a fundamental right that shores up all the others. Elsewhere he identifies habeas as one of the "four pillars" of our constitutional system. You're not going to convince me that the Founding Fathers didn't view habeas as "grandfathered" into the US system - that's simply obvious. So why are we now being subjected to this Stalinist historical revisionism? Why does the Attorney General of the United States make comments like this in such a public forum? He would only make them because he needs them for cover, i.e., because he has advocated and implemented a consistent policy of violating habeas corpus rights that rests on each of these niggling distinctions. Which is why one should stop scrutinizing the footnotes of law review articles and be worried.
This also reveals a fundamental Gonzales deceit. We shouldn't forget that back in the first weeks after 9/11 when concerns were being raised about tactics, he held up habeas corpus very prominently. Don't worry about overreaching, he said, anything we do will be subject to habeas corpus challenge. From his Nov. 30, 2001 op ed in the NYT:
"anyone arrested, detained or tried in the United States by a military commission will be able to challenge the lawfulness of the commission's jurisdiction through a habeas corpus proceeding in a federal court."
He repeated this in a series of interviews and public appearances, always the same thing: don't worry, habeas will provide the cure. (Of course, the weasels over at DOJ will say this applies to the empty set, they will say no one is "arrested, detained or tried in the United States," since all those proceedings will be in Cuba!)
Our sitting attorney general is the living embodiment of that old phrase the banality of evil. The smirky twerp of an AG is quietly trying to set back 800 years of of Anglo-Saxon and American legal tradition. Check out this exchange about our constitutional right of habeas corpus, which is an inheritance from the Magna Carta of 1215.
But as far as Gonzales is concerned, everyones been misreading the Constitution since its ratification in 1789:
There is no expressed grant of habeas in the Constitution; theres a prohibition against taking it away, Gonzales said.
Gonzaless remark left Specter, the committees ranking Republican, stammering.
Wait a minute, Specter interjected. The Constitution says you cant take it away except in case of rebellion or invasion. Doesnt that mean you have the right of habeas corpus unless theres a rebellion or invasion?
Gonzales continued, The Constitution doesnt say every individual in the United States or citizen is hereby granted or assured the right of habeas corpus. It doesnt say that.
You may be treading on your interdiction of violating common sense, Specter said.
Congress preparing to criminalize critics? Senate bill would 'create most expansive intrusion on First Amendment rights ever'
The Senate is considering legislation that would regulate grassroots communications, with penalties for critics of Congress.
"In what sounds like a comedy sketch from Jon Stewart's Daily Show, but isn't, the U. S. Senate would impose criminal penalties, even jail time, on grassroots causes and citizens who criticize Congress," says Richard A. Viguerie, chairman of http://GrassrootsFreedom.com
Section 220 of S. 1, the lobbying reform bill before the Senate, would require grassroots causes, even bloggers, who communicate to 500 or more members of the public on policy matters, to register and report quarterly to Congress, as lobbyists are required.
"Section 220 would amend existing lobbying reporting law by creating the most expansive intrusion on First Amendment rights ever," Viguerie said.
For the first time in history, he stated, critics of Congress will need to register and report with Congress itself.
"The bill would require reporting of 'paid efforts to stimulate grassroots lobbying,' but defines 'paid' merely as communications to 500 or more members of the public, with no other qualifiers," Viguerie said.
The Senate passed an amendment on the bill Jan. 9 to create criminal penalties, including up to one year in jail, if someone "knowingly and willingly fails to file or report."
Viguerie said the legislation regulates small, legitimate nonprofits, bloggers, and individuals, but creates loopholes for corporations, unions, and large membership organizations that would be able to spend hundreds of millions of dollars, yet not report.
"Congress is trying to blame the grassroots, which are American citizens engaging in their First Amendment rights, for Washington's internal corruption problems," he said.
The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws. Tacitus
Honestly, after reading Alien Gonzales comments the only thought that comes to mind is public disembowelment. Sorry for the gross mental image, but i'm being truthful.
Letter to the Editor Earns 81-Year-Old Pa. Man a Visit From Secret Service Agents
BETHLEHEM, Pa. Jan 21, 2007 (AP) An elderly man who wrote in a letter to the editor about Saddam Hussein's execution that "they hanged the wrong man" got a visit from Secret Service agents concerned he was threatening President Bush.
Gonzales continued, The Constitution doesnt say every individual in the United States or citizen is hereby granted or assured the right of habeas corpus. It doesnt say that.
He's right. Specter's wrong. The privilege of the writ predates the written Constitution. A Constitution, and the lawyers and executive branch functionaries charged with obeying it, either traduce or respect the privilege, but the privilege does not come from the Constitution.
The same is true of other rights. If they come from any place, they come from our constitution (small c), or our Creator, if you prefer.
A Constitution articulates a sense of the order of a society, but it our constitution that determines whether that articulation is empty or quickened.
NOT, Ill not, carrion comfort, Despair, not feast on thee; Not untwistslack they may bethese last strands of man In me ór, most weary, cry I can no more. I can;
I'll take your word for it T, and frankly it wouldn't make a difference if the writ were chisled in stone and brought down from the Mount. These fascist swine are god-like in their own mind. I pray they aren't bullet proof too.
Gonzales is merely an Hispanic version of Janet Reno.
"It is the old practice of despots to use a part of the people to keep the rest in order; and those who have once got an ascendency and possessed themselves of all the resources of the nation, their revenues and offices, have immense means for retaining their advantages." Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 1798
Torture boy is trying to justify the lack of due process for all the Gitmo detainees, and of course, any future American citizens thrown in prison for whatever.
You don't really believe that Americans do not have the right to habeas corpus do you? Alien Gonzales is twisting words and logic to try to say we do not.
The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws. Tacitus
Actually if TheStateInc wants you, there are so many fascist laws on the books, they can always manufacture a reason to come knocking.
Reason Number 283,574 for not allowing yourself to be fingerprinted for any reason:
Friday night, I took a drive to Albany to have dinner, and when I parked my car and got out, I looked down and saw something that looked an awful lot like a bag of weed laying in the parking lot. I picked it up and sure enough, it was. It was also quite wet and probably uselss at that point. I don't smoke the stuff, so I just tossed it up onto the grass and went on my way.
It occured to me today that if a cop were to find it, and fingerprint the bag, and my prints were in a database somewhere, they sure would have a great excuse to come knocking at my door in the middle of the night, huh?
Alien Gonzales is twisting words and logic to try to say we do not.
But the points he's most elastic on are war and insurrection. What Specter would agree with him on in many other areas is the idea that failure to enumerate a right means we don't got it.
Ain't neither of these guys being consistent.
Clearly we'd be better off without those exceptions of war and insurrection to the limitation of power, with even stronger language in the limitation than "suspended", e.g. "shall not be infringed."
Or maybe not. The words say what the rulers say the do, unless the people correct them.
NOT, Ill not, carrion comfort, Despair, not feast on thee; Not untwistslack they may bethese last strands of man In me ór, most weary, cry I can no more. I can;