23 October 2006

Habeas Corpse [Rebate]

Habeas Corpus (The Great Writ) has been tarnished and broken, as a bill passed by Congress and signed into law by Shrub. And almost no one cares. Ben Franklin is reported to have said:

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor safety.

I'm not the first to write about this, nor will I be the last. I even stole the quote from somewhere, because I'm just not current on my Franklin quotes. I just feel compelled to put something down in words, even if some of it is a cheap rip-off.

As a part of Constitutional Law, the right to know why you are imprisoned and what evidence there is against you is fundamental. Without that right, you really have little else; just hope they don't come for you. Under the new law, any "unlawful" detainee labeled by the executive has no recourse - no right to appear in court, no right to a lawyer, not even the right to see evidence piled against you.

My ancestor fought along side of Washington and the many other patriots in the first Revolution (do we need another?) against the red-coat Brits back in the day. Many of our families go back that far. Many more do not, but that in no way lessens their inheritance. That check, written in blood and signed by sacrifice, was the great gift given by the revolutionaries to all that would follow them. The new bill (err, law) written with lies on the paper of deceit and signed by a shameless fool, is a big red 'void' stamped on that inheritance. At best disrespectful, at worst treasonous, against the ideals of the founders and those who stood with them.

There is no check, no balance on this new law. Nothing to stop my name, or your names, from being on the list. There only need be the assertion that you have provided "material support" to the enemy. And when you're on that list, who is going to get you off?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Evidently we learned nothing from McCarthy.

JR said...

Those who don't learn from history are doomed [to repeat it].