Definition of Tyranny By Bob Herbert

[jbfam4]

Definition of Tyranny
By Bob Herbert
http://64.226.238.78/PA/bh/bh218.shtml

Published: July 17, 2006

The Bush-Cheney regime believes it can do whatever outlandish things it wants, including torturing people and keeping them incarcerated for life without even the semblance of due process. And it's not giving up. The administration now wants Congress to authorize what the Supreme Court has plainly said was wrong. White House lawyers, in a torturous (pun intended) interpretation of the court's ruling, seem to be arguing that the kangaroo courts, otherwise known as military commissions, will be quite all right if only Congress will say so.

They're not all right. They're an abomination (like the secret C.I.A. prisons and the practice of extraordinary rendition) that spits in the face of the idea that the United States is a great and civilized nation.

"Can you imagine if the Hamdan decision, among others, had gone the other way?" said Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, which has been waging an extraordinary fight to secure basic legal protections for prisoners at Guantánamo. "I mean we'd be looking at a dark nightmare."

The court's decision brought into sharp relief the importance of one of the most fundamental aspects of American government, the separation of powers. Checks and balances. The judicial branch put a halt — a check — on a gruesomely illegal practice by the executive.

Mr. Bush has tried to scrap the very idea of checks and balances. The Republican-controlled Congress has, for the most part, rolled over like trained seals for the president. And Mr. Bush is trying mightily to pack the courts with right-wingers who will do the same. Under those circumstances, his will becomes law.

[msongs]

1. dems are afraid to call bush a tyrant, a liar, or any other truth

that people will recognized after they've heard it a few times and been given the evidence.

bummer.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/demfest1.htm

[yurbud]

2. 'we just have some different ideas about how best to protect America...'

'They think the Spanish Inquisition is a good model for a justice system. We think the jury is still out on whether that is really productive...'