When you go to the polls you may wish to remember
what the folks you sent to mind the store have wrought
in your name while you were earning a living and not
watching them. Both New Hampshire Senators voted
for the Military Commissions Act and both voted for
the Patriot Act. Now before you dismiss these votes
as something acceptable to you, assuming
you know what these ‘laws’ are making legal,
ponder for a moment just what these authorize
in the context of our state motto: “Live Free Or Die”.
The Military Commissions Act allows the president to
apply the moniker of “enemy combatant” to any
terror “suspect” taken into US custody and strip them
of their human rights. The president is under no obligation
to file charges or provide evidence of guilt. The arrest is
completely arbitrary and depends entirely on the
discretion (whims?) of the executive and his minions.
It is a flat rejection of the basic belief
that “men are innocent until proven guilty”.
Yale Law Professor Bruce Ackerman states in the
L.A. Times, "The compromise legislation....
authorizes the president to seize American citizens
as enemy combatants, even if they have never left
the United States. And once thrown into military prison,
they cannot expect a trial by their peers or any other
of the normal protections of the Bill of Rights."
Similarly, law Professor Marty Lederman explains:
"this [subsection (ii) of the definition of 'unlawful enemy
combatant'] means that if the Pentagon says you're
an unlawful enemy combatant
-- using whatever criteria they wish --
then as far as Congress, and U.S. law, is
concerned, you are one, whether or not you have
had any connection to 'hostilities' at all."
To quote the statute: "No court, justice, or judge
shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider any claim or
cause of action whatsoever, including any action pending
on or filed after the date of the enactment of the
Military Commissions Act of 2006, relating to the
prosecution, trial, or judgment of a military
commission under this chapter,
including challenges to the lawfulness of procedures of
military commissions under this chapter."
This simply means there’s zero judicial review
after you’re picked up. No appeal, no lawyer,
no Supreme Court - nothing.
This is precisely what the case was in Nazi Germany
when the Gestapo picked someone up; they simply disappeared
into Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen, Ravensbruueck or
any one of the other “internment centers”.
When a law uses the nebulous phrase “in breach of
an allegiance or duty to the United States” to describe
people who are subject to these “military tribunals”
- draconian provisions in contravention to the
Bill of Rights, common law and Constitutional
protections which were the foundation of the Republic,
one must ask oneself if or when they themselves
might be subject to these interpretations.
Perhaps when one dissents,
files a Freedom of Information request,
when one protests outside designated
(fenced) protest zones or, perhaps, when one writes
something which might be construed as disloyal or
derogatory towards the President or his clearly illegal policies
(such as writing this missive)?
For whatever whimsical reason one might
be construed as having been disloyal or “in breach of an
allegiance” to the United States then the terms of this
legislation kick in: "No person may
invoke the Geneva Conventions or any protocols thereto
in any habeas corpus or other civil action or proceeding to
which the United States, or a current or former officer,
employee, member of the Armed Forces, or other agent
of the United States is a party as a source of rights in
any court of the United States or its States or
territories." But hey, this is only going to be used against
the “terrorists” so who cares about them, right?
The folks you sent to Washington also approved the
Patriot Act which redefined an enemy combatant (those ‘bad guys’
they can now lock up without charges, without trial, without legal
representation and then torture). The new definition applies now to any
American citizens who "may" have violated any provision of Section 802
of the first Patriot Act. (Section 802 is the new definition of domestic
terrorism, and the definition is "any action that endangers human
life that is a violation of any Federal or State law.")
By this wide open definition were you drunk & driving
("endangering human life" in violation of State law)
one can be deemed a "terrorist" subject to their new
law authorizing detention and torture.
Here’s what Winston Churchill said about habeas
corpus: “The power of the executive to cast a man into prison without
formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the
judgment of his peers, is in the highest degree odious, and the
foundation of all totalitarian government whether Nazi or Communist.”
Leaders and representatives deciding IF our government will comply with
the Geneva Conventions, dismissing hundreds of years of Constitutional
protections and Rights? Our elected representatives
approving warrantless searches, warrantless wiretaps,
arrests without charges, secret evidence and secret prisons?
Once upon a time I swore an oath, as did some of
you who have served this country or state,
to “protect and defend the Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic”;
the folks we elected to represent us had to swear the same oath.
Unfortunately, by their actions and their votes our Constitution
is being kicked to the curb. They are effectively destroying
the foundations of our old Republic that we swore allegiance
to are transforming it into something else.
Only you can decide if you’re a person of principal.
If you are, do something about it before it’s too late to act.