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Title: Can I be Jailed Under the Patriot Act for Criticizing Bush on the Internet?
Source:
libertypost.
URL Source: http://libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=173643&Disp=16#C16
Published: Jan 21, 2007
Author: Iforgetwhopostedit
Post Date: 2007-01-21 11:56:28 by Itisa1mosttoolate
Keywords: None
Views: 297
Comments: 23
Can I be Jailed Under the Patriot Act for Criticizing Bush on the Internet? Sorry: This Article does not exist!
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 9.
#8. To: Itisa1mosttoolate (#0)
Comment from Andrew Sullivan's blog today: 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: 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!)
At last the Senate made fun of Alien Gonzales. http://www.rollingstone.com/nationalaffairs/?p=909 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, everyone’s been misreading the Constitution since its ratification in 1789: “There is no expressed grant of habeas in the Constitution; there’s a prohibition against taking it away,” Gonzales said. Gonzales’s remark left Specter, the committee’s ranking Republican, stammering. “Wait a minute,” Specter interjected. “The Constitution says you can’t take it away except in case of rebellion or invasion. Doesn’t that mean you have the right of habeas corpus unless there’s a rebellion or invasion?” Gonzales continued, “The Constitution doesn’t say every individual in the United States or citizen is hereby granted or assured the right of habeas corpus. It doesn’t say that.” “You may be treading on your interdiction of violating common sense,” Specter said. Freeper reaction... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1770290/posts?page=9
#10. To: All (#9)
I'm sure freeperville is excited about this further invasion of our Constitutional Rights. http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53813 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.
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.
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.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest"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."
#9. To: Peetie Wheatstraw, Itisa1mosttoolate, HOUNDDAWG (#8)
(Edited)
Replies to Comment # 9.
#11. To: all (#9)
(Edited)
#15. To: robin, Jethro Tull (#9)
Gonzales continued, “The Constitution doesn’t say every individual in the United States or citizen is hereby granted or assured the right of habeas corpus. It doesn’t say that.”
End Trace Mode for Comment # 9.