Editorial NYTimes A Dangerous New Order

[jbfam4]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/19/opinion/19thu1.html
Published: October 19, 2006

Once President Bush signed the new law on military tribunals, administration officials and Republican leaders in Congress wasted no time giving Americans a taste of the new order created by this unconstitutional act.

Within hours, Justice Department lawyers notified the federal courts that they no longer had the authority to hear pending lawsuits filed by attorneys on behalf of inmates of the penal camp at Guantánamo Bay. They cited passages in the bill that suspend the fundamental principle of habeas corpus, making Mr. Bush the first president since the Civil War to take that undemocratic step.

Not satisfied with having won the vote, Dennis Hastert, the speaker of the House, quickly issued a statement accusing Democrats who opposed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 of putting “their liberal agenda ahead of the security of America.” He said the Democrats “would gingerly pamper the terrorists who plan to destroy innocent Americans’ lives” and create “new rights for terrorists.”

This nonsense is part of the Republicans’ scare-America-first strategy for the elections. No Democrat advocated pampering terrorists — gingerly or otherwise — or giving them new rights. Democratic amendments to the bill sought to protect everyone’s right to a fair trial while providing a legal way to convict terrorists.

[Demit]

1. "It will be up to the courts to repair the harm this law has done to the

Constitution." Hopefully a challenge will come sooner rather than later. And hopefully there will be more publicizing of this horrible law in the meantime, so that it will finally start to dawn on every Jane, Dick and Harry who are too busy watching Dancing With The Stars that something awful is happening to this country.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. It's uncertain how the Supreme Court would rule on this law.

And the law is made of many provisions. The law will not necessarily be invalidated in toto, but more likely in components.

Nevertheless, it will take years for it to progress that far unless a federal court puts a stay on the application of the offending provision.

This is a law so fearsome that the PATRIOT Act looks mild in comparison.

[seafan]

2. Last sentence in the article:

In the short run, voters should see through the fog created by the Republican campaign machine. It will be up to the courts to repair the harm this law has done to the Constitution.


Everyone buckle yourselves in. It's going to be a bumpy ride.

[rodeodance]

3. i am not confident that People see through this as the last polls say

the majoritiy approve of the terror bill-----but, as for the full meaning of the bill--I do not think people are aware of the consequences.



.....While the Republicans pretend that this bill will make America safer, let’s be clear about its real dangers. It sets up a separate system of justice for any foreigner whom Mr. Bush chooses to designate as an “illegal enemy combatant.” It raises insurmountable obstacles for prisoners to challenge their detentions. It does not require the government to release prisoners who are not being charged, or a prisoner who is exonerated by the tribunals.

The law does not apply to American citizens, but it does apply to other legal United States residents. And it chips away at the foundations of the judicial system in ways that all Americans should find threatening. It further damages the nation’s reputation and, by repudiating key protections of the Geneva Conventions, it needlessly increases the danger to any American soldier captured in battle.

In the short run, voters should see through the fog created by the Republican campaign machine. It will be up to the courts to repair the harm this law has done to the Constitution.

Copyright 2006 The New

[madrchsod]

5. they put him there

they backed him for years and now they are upset? well nyt ya fuck`d up and they will be coming after you next

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. They are so desperate, that they're using a scorched earth strategy.

Someone here had a name for it. If the Democrats win, it will be a Pyhrric Victory?

[The Count]

7. Given this particular law, I was wondering same.

[Raffi Ella]

8. God Damn!

The hypocrisy of Hasterts statement is ludicrous.We are living in the twilight zone!

I'm still in disbelief this is actually happening in America.When the Dems didn't fillibuster this I tried to understand the reasoning behind it but now...here we are and I DON'T understand.

[teryang]

9. Have any previous bills passed to revoke citizenship?

i understand that this was proposed in the so called Patriot Act II draft but wasn't adopted. Some characters have indicated that the section pertaining to the provision of "material aid and support" that make one a terrorist, is a reference intended to relate to citizenship revocation provisions of earlier security law drafts. I don't have access to US Code on lexis or Westlaw so i am unable to check myself.

[katty]

10. Sounds of Silence

The Sound Of Silence Simon & Garfunkel

Hello darkness, my old friend. I've come to talk with you again.
Because a vision softly creeping left its seeds while I was sleeping
and the vision that was planted in my brain still remains within the sound of silence.

In restless dreams I walked alone, narrow streets of cobblestone
‘neath the halo of a street lamp, I turned my collar to the cold and damp
when my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
that split the night and touched the sound of silence.

And in the naked light I saw ten thousand people, maybe more.
People talking without speaking, people hearing without listening.
People writing songs that voices never shared, no one dared disturb the sound of silence.

"Fools," said I, "you do not know, silence like a cancer grows.
Hear my words that I might teach you, take my arms that I might reach you."
But my words like silent raindrops fell and echoed in the wells of silence.

And the people bowed and prayed to the neon god they made
and the sign flashed out its warning in the words that it was forming.
And the sign said "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
and tenement halls and whispered in the sound of silence."

[cassiepriam]

11. Those who sold their souls to the devil, now screaming the loudest..

To late these idiots get smart.

[n2doc]

12. Yeah, but the MF'ers repeate the lie that this doesn't apply to US Citizen

I asked this earlier on another thread, does the new act apply to us, and it does. The NYT just is propagating the lie that this act was passed to go after terrorists. It was passed to go after us. I hope someone manages to get a LTTE published pointing this out there, and everywhere the lie is propagated.

[yurbud]

14. the only part that seems to unambiguously not apply to us is habeas repeal

otherwise, if you have been declared an enemy combatant, you can be sent to tribunal.

[yurbud]

13. kick