Remember how, just a few weeks ago, the cooperation of a minority of Congressional Democrats permitted H.R. 6166 and S. 3930 (the Tyrrany Act) to pass through the House and Senate? Remember the cry of partisan Democrats to “Calm the Fuck Down Already”? No? Well, let me refresh your memory:
I swear to freaking God. Everybody needs to take a freaking chill pill on this torture legislation.
Yes, torture is awful. Yes, the bill purports to eliminate the right of habeas corpus. Yes, American citizens are included. Yes, these are fundamental American values. Yes, Democrats should stand up for those values.
Yes, yes, yes. Yada yada yada.
But please end the incessant hand-wringing, and try to remember how government–even under this administration–works.
This bill doesn’t change SHIT. Not today. Not yesterday. Not tomorrow. Nothing.
…
So get over it. Let the Republicans have their meaningless political theater. It changes absolutely nothing, and it will be struck down by the first, second and third courts that get their hands on it.
And then send some REAL Americans–the ones with (D)s after their names–to Congress. Because that’s what REALLY matters here.
Chill.
In sum:
Torture? Yada yada yada.
Tyranny? Oh, please, the bill doesn’t change SHIT.
What REALLY matters? Sending Democrats — the Americans with (D) after their names — to Congress.
The basis for this partisan call to be “calm,” and to not hold Democrats accountable for voting the Tyrrany Act through Congress, has proven false. It didn’t even take 24 hours for the other shoe to drop. It didn’t even take 12. Within just a few hours of George W. Bush signing the bill, Bush’s Justice Department officially notified courts that all habeas corpus motions by “unlawful enemy combatants” were null and void. Indefininte detention without court review is here, and it isn’t just a manner of what illegalities George W. Bush can get away with. This thoroughly unconstitutional practice is now the law of the land, and it is in legal effect.
The partisan Democrats’ claims to the contrary, SHIT has now, officially, changed. And more SHIT is coming down the pike: torture becomes acceptable if George W. Bush decides it is. Unelected committees of the president unilaterally and irreversibly declare citizens and non-citizens alike to be “unlawful enemy combatants” because… well, under the law they damned-well feel like it is all the cause they need. Bye-bye to the constitutional guarantee for a speedy trial. Hello to the use of witch-trial hearsay to condemn people to death. I SHIT you not: read the bill — excuse me, the LAW — for yourself.
What are the Democratic partisans going to say next? That trying to overturn the law is a bad idea, because that will only make it harder for Democrats to be elected in 2008? Well yes, actually, that sounds exactly like the kind of thing that they will say next, which is really frightening and discouraging. We’ll have to pin our hopes on the Bush-stacked courts to protect us from the acquiescence of partisan Democrats. Oh, dear.
This action exposes an awful aspect of the Military Commissions Act. It establishes the presumption of guilt in the American system of justice. Why are the suspects deprived of the right of habeas corpus? Because they’re terrorists. How do we know they’re terrorists? Because George W. Bush says they are.
Presumption of Guilt is a hallmark of totalitarian regimes. Welcome, America, to totalitarianism.