sincere: DGM: Lenalee's back to the viewer ([other-comic] dose of political wtf)
Kay ([personal profile] sincere) wrote2006-10-18 04:10 am
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Arrested, Tortured, Convicted, and Executed -- and there's nothing you can do about it

In case anyone out there isn't terrified yet, the writ of habeaus corpus has been suspended.

Let me quote y'all my favorite and most telling parts of this news story, which has apparently been mostly overshadowed because the bill was passed by Congress the same exact night when the Foley scandal was leaked. Prosecute Hastur as hard as you bastards can.

Civil libertarians and leading Democrats decried the law as a violation of American values. The American Civil Liberties Union said it was "one of the worst civil liberties measures ever enacted in American history." Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin said, "We will look back on this day as a stain on our nation's history."

"It allows the government to seize individuals on American soil and detain them indefinitely with no opportunity to challenge their detention in court," Feingold said. "And the new law would permit an individual to be convicted on the basis of coerced testimony and even allow someone convicted under these rules to be put to death."


And, I couldn't help but enjoy this gem for sheer agitation value,

Snow rejected the idea that Americans should be able to see and judge the standards for themselves, particularly in the aftermath of illegal abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison.

"The only way accountability doesn't exist is if you believe that the military is not committed to it," Snow said.


You dumbass, that is such a fundamental misunderstanding of the concept of "accountability." Accountability only fails if we don't have blind faith that other people will hold themselves accountable for their actions? That's the OPPOSITE of accountability. In fact, I don't think we would even NEED accountability if that were the case.

[identity profile] emptybackpack.livejournal.com 2006-10-18 01:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh my God. I . . . how can nobody be freaking out about this? It's just like in all the science fiction we think we'll learn from. This is one of the basic basic rights you learn about in any American Government class. Does nobody remember?

[identity profile] maladaptive.livejournal.com 2006-10-18 03:32 pm (UTC)(link)
I've always been really disappointed when I mention that this happened and people either go "what?" or "it's not that important."

AMERICAN. CITIZENS.

They can hold you indefinitely. No. No one will know that you're there, they can do this all secretly. And the government has picked up every day citizens for seemingly innocuous actions that only in retrospect look threatening (one woman, an author writing a fictional novel about life in the middle east, had her home ransacked, her research and computers taken away, because the library thought there was something off about all the research she was doing on the middle east and reported her).

And. And. Just. Augh. This alone makes me want to move to another country. I should not be afraid of my own government violating my human rights in such a fundamental way. Especially not a country that's all about free speech!

Nope, can't have an educated electorate, nope....