On the floor of the House of Representatives yesterday, Congressman Louie Gohmert, a Republican from Texas, introduced a sarcastic piece of legislation. The full text of H.R. 6615 is not yet available, though I expect that it’s rather short. The summary
“A bill to provide for the transport of the enemy combatants detained in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to Washington, D.C., where the United States Supreme Court will be able to more effectively micromanage the detainees by holding them on the Supreme Court grounds, and for other purposes.”
Do you get the joke? Congressman Gohmert is saying that if the Supreme Court wants to rule on the legality of the President’s imprisonment of people at Guanatamo Bay, then the Supreme Court ought to be willing to have the prisoners housed on Supreme Court grounds. Ha, ha.
It’s really not very funny when one considers the context of Louie Gohmert’s anger.
First, Representative Gohmert is upset because the Supreme Court ruled that people have the right to habeas corpus. Habeas corpus is the legal foundation of modern justice. Without habeas corupus, we regress to the age of kings, with absolute rulers who have the right to throw anyone into prison without having to provide a reason for the imprisonment. A Supreme Court ruling that the United States must operate under habeas corpus is what bothers Louie Gohmert so much.
Second, Congressman Gohmert is angry at the Constitution for separating powers between the Judicial and Executive branches of government. He seems to think that the Judicial branch ought not to have any power to make rulings on the supreme law of the land – the Constitution. He seems, however, to want to force Executive responsibilities, such as the lawful administration of prisons, upon judges who defy the political will of Congress. Furthermore, Gohmert appears to think that judges who attempt to use their authority to prevent government abuses should themselves be punished.
In short, Louie Gohmert’s sarcasm comes from his anger at the Constitution and the ideals of liberty and justice that it guarantees. Mr. Gohmert ought to remember that he swore an oath to uphold the Constitution. If he doesn’t feel like honoring that oath any more, then he ought to resign.
Yeah, ya see Truman, since the Constitution seems to be irrelevant anymore, what’s the difference whether this bum upholds his sworn vow? Oh the executive branch can just “interpret” it anyway it wishes now, with no action from Congress that it’s in any way wrong to do so. What do you make of all those “signing statements” that Bush has abused over the past 7 years. What about all the “cooked intel” that lead us into the Iraq fiasco? Why is it that we taxpaying, rule obeying CHUMPS are getting saddled with the total war budget, the mounting debt and are being hosed all over again with the banking deregulation fallout that’s Phoney and Fraudy (all while the government continues to print its fiat money we’re supposed to us to pay for all this) while the value of our own homes has fallen as a result of the Wall Street gang and the mortgage lending industries?
More importantly, are we THAT complacent that we don’t care anymore? Do we just all continue to play dead while getting financially mugged by the corporate sector via the complicity of our own government?
i’m afraid, if people don’t start taking action of SOME kind, more of this will occur until the wheels come off and the dollar becomes worthless as an international currency and we are at the root of a global economic depression. People just aren’t organized or represented any longer – probably because there’s so MUCH wrong, it’s hard to know where to start – while it’s K streets JOB to influence our legislators.
Capitalism is destroying our country, and in the end it will bring about calamity on the world.