Reply #3: Yes he can. [View All]

[txaslftist]

It is amazing to me that people aren't more upset about this, but a significant number of people seem to think it's okay.

The magna charta established the writ of habeas corpus, and it was incorporated into our constitution twice. First, in the language that says the writ of habeas corpus shall not be abridged, and secondly in the language forbidding bills of attainder. Bills of attainder are legislative devices where a legislature orders a person arrested by name.

Neither of these ideas are solely about the misuse of power. They are primarily about NOT GRANTING, or denying these noxious powers to tyrants, governors, legislative bodies, etc.

The country gets mesmerized by the sight of two airplanes flying into two buildings, and suddenly it's okay to pass the USA Patriot Act, giving the president the power to arrest based solely on his own say-so.

Jose Padilla, a US citizen, was arrested and held as a "foreign combatant" for three years. This was based solely on an executive branch decision, and it was only at the end that the judicial branch got involved. The question is not whether Padilla was guilty or not, because who knows? The question is if it could happen to YOU.

And it could. It could happen to you based on something you write on the internet. You could be arrested, held without bail for the rest of your life. You could be shipped to a foreign country that permits torture. You could be waterboarded (a mock drowning) until you confessed to whatever 'sin' the administration wanted you to confess to. If you refused to confess, or if it was decided you were 'bad', you could simply disappear. And this power is not just theoretical, the administration is actually using it.

1,000+years of history tossed down the crapper because of 9-11, and we've returned to the days of Torquemada and the inquisition, the Salem witch trials or the Star Chamber in England.

We've restored the terrible absolute power of monarchy to the president and undone the American Revolution.