WP, Cohen: "This Time, Congress Has No Excuse"

[DeepModem Mom]

Bench Conference
By Andrew Cohen
This Time, Congress Has No Excuse

Of all the stupid, lazy, short-sighted, hasty, ill-conceived, partisan-inspired, damage-inflicting, dangerous and offensive things this Congress has done (or not done) in its past few recent miserable terms, the looming passage of the terror detainee bill takes the cake. At least when Congress voted to authorize the Iraq War legislators can point to the fact that they were deceived by Administration officials. But what's Congress' excuse now for agreeing to sign off on a law that would give the executive branch even more unfettered power over the rest of us than it already has?...

***

"This dangerous compromise," (Yale Law Professor Bruce Ackerman writes in the L.A. Times), "not only authorizes the president to seize and hold terrorists who have fought against our troops 'during an armed conflict,' it also allows him to seize anybody who has 'purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States.' This grants the president enormous power over citizens and legal residents. They can be designated as enemy combatants if they have contributed money to a Middle Eastern charity, and they can be held indefinitely in a military prison."

Scary enough for you? But wait, there is more. The legislation also appears to allow illegally-obtained evidence-- from overseas or right here at home-- to be used against enemy combatants (which gives you an idea of where this Congress really stands on the National Security Agency's domestic spying program). And wait, there is this: the Administration's horrible track record when it comes to identifying "enemy combatants" and then detaining them here in the States. Two of the most famous ones, Yaser Hamdi and Jose Padilla, both ended up having the highest courts in our land back up their legal claims, which is why the government had to release Hamdi outright and then turn Padilla over to the regular civilian courts (where he is a defendant in a weak case against him).

Do you believe the Administration has over the past five years earned the colossal expanse of trust the Congress is about to give it in the name of fighting terrorism? Do you believe that Administration officials will be able to accurately and adequately identify so-called "enemy combatants" here at home so as to separate out the truly bad guys from the guys who just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? Did you want your legislative branch to abdicate so completely its responsibility to ensure that there are adequate checks and balances upon executive power even in a time of terror? You might have answered "no" to all three questions. But your answer doesn't matter. And neither does mine. To Congress, the answer is "yes, sir." Our Congress is about to make yet another needless mistake in the war on terror and this time the folks making it won't be able to say that the White House tricked them into it.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/benchconference/2006/09/shame_on_congress_for_passing.html#more

[neuvocat]

1. Here's one thing that never crossed their minds:

Bush could have the power to lock up members of Congress too.

[Toucano]

2. Your opposition to my Iran war funding bill is materially aiding the enemy

The American Gulags are open for business.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

3. But that would probably violate their "gentleman's agreement". He wouldn't

do something as unsporting as that now, would he?

[Dem2theMax]

4. You forgot the sarcasm smilie.

;)

[The Backlash Cometh]

31. "gentlement's agreement."

I think that means they'll take you on a hunting trip before they shoot you in the face.

[SammyWinstonJack]

35. In a heartbeat! nt

[acmavm]

16. He'd have to pry their lips off his ass with a crowbar or the jaws of life

first.

[INdemo]

19. What about a person that would make some unkind comment against

GW?Could they be tracked down and arrested?(enemy combatant)I realize of course the our SCOTUS is now conservative but our only hope is that this court will put the President and the Congress in their place and declare this legislation unconstitutional..Our only hope!!If there was ever a time in our history when such a ruling would mean saving our democracy and protecting our rights it is now.What in the hell is wrong with this Congress..Are they stupid.It was to their political advantage to vote against this bill.

[pberq]

22. This is exactly what Dennis Kucinich said on the floor of the House

[magellan]

5. Well, if the Dems didn't see fit to stand in unity against this outrage

...then I guess we're wrong. Torture is not just okay -- torture is the purest expression of American democracy! So sayeth the majority!

Don't we owe an apology to the Soviets?

[VP505]

27. Well said

and it also makes me wonder why we even have a Democratic Party, if the leadership can't or won't stand up and defend our basic Constitutional freedoms what reason is there for them to exist???

[William Bloode]

28. Sherod Brown thinks so.

Heres a quote from him on why he voted as he did.>>>"Unlike Mike DeWine, I'm willing to stand up to my party when they're wrong."...

I reckon he thinks torture, and loss of Habeas Corpus is the right thing to do.




http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15049251

[ProgressiveFighter]

40. I told you Hackett would be the best choice. Shame on you Dewine

So much for all the liberal assholes who said Sherrod was some progressive.

[ninkasi]

6. This is an excellent editorial

People need to read this, and think about what Mr Cohen says. Our country's reputation, and our whole way of life depends on stopping this immoral regime from inflicting any more damage on us, or the rest of the world.

During WWII, when I was born, we faced an enormous evil from Hitler, and the other fascist countries who were trying to fight their way to conquer the world. We joined the Allied forces, and were able to help the ones who had been fighting alone, to secure victory.

My own generation was the one which drafted young men my own age, and a few years on either side, to fight a war which should not have been. After everything was over, we prayed for peace, and healing. We were reeling under the blow of losing so many of our heroes...JFK, RFK, and the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. There were others, perhaps not as famous, but who nevertheless stood for a just world for all races, and all colors, and paid enormous prices for their bravery.

We should have learned many lessons by now. We should have learned that the greatest power the United States has ever possessed, is the right of habeas corpus, and the refusal to employ torture, or other brutal tactics, to secure and protect our country. I thought that those lessons had been learned. They were certainly drilled into me in Civics classes in high school.

Now, though, a whole new generation of ruthless and corrupt people have seized power. They might be in their sixties, like me, or younger, but the one trait they share in common is the absolute disdain for fair play, or for making sure that the prosperity of our country is shared by all.

They are the ones who outsource our jobs, who set up dummy corporations in countries who oblige them, in order to avoid paying anything like their fair share of taxes, and who are making us here work longer hours, while cutting our benefits, and not increasing our salaries. They are willing to enrich HMOs, and stay silent while more and more of us lose access to health care.

The wars which Bush lied about to sway Congress to grant him more and more power, are being fought not by their children, but by ours. Staying the course while hundreds and thousands more of our loved ones either come home irreparably damaged, is now the norm. or flown in secretly. The secrecy is as though they committed some act of shame, when they lose their lives to cater to the wealthy elite's thirst for more wealth.

We are now being threatened with barely concealed messages of the detainment centers that are supposed to be for "illegal alien" emergencies, or unnamed "other programs". The mask they wear slips a little more every day. For every abuse of power they commit, they also toss off casual threats, designed to frighten us into silence.

I was born in an America that was fighting for freedom from Nazi oppression. I hope to die in a country which has won that battle.

[DeepModem Mom]

7. Thank you for this eloquent post, ninkasi. nt

[ninkasi]

8. Thank you, DeepModem Mom

for all of the important threads you have started. I always look for them, and for the ones that several others post. You are tireless in bringing the political dangers we face to our attention. You are a true :patriot:

[DeepModem Mom]

9. One to another --

:patriot:

[countryjake]

11. Kicking & recommending so others will see your post too!

Fighting to stop fascism got a lot scarier today.

[nam78_two]

48. recommended/nt

[Solly Mack]

10. recommended

If only those that needed to read this would...and I mean really read it..absorb it

[countryjake]

12. Think this means I should get rid of my "Overthrow the Regime" sticker?

Or how combative does one have to be, to be considered enemy?

[Solly Mack]

13. Keep the sticker. Fuck'em.

Die on your feet...far better than living on your knees

I know you know that, cj!

Just venting

[madrchsod]

14. any one who voted is a coward and a traitor

the leader of this country is not trusted by the majority of the population yet these cowards vote to give him the power no president in a non war setting has ever had -the right to jail any american without do process. our fathers of this nation warned us and today they cry

[humbled_opinion]

15. Bush's "Enabling Act"

Are we witnessing the beginning of the end. Did we not learn from History.

[rambler_american]

17. What are you worried about?

This only applies to the bad guys, the ones who hate us for our freedoms. The bushies would never take away ordinary citizens just because we oppose...
hang on a sec. Sombebody at the door. Be right back.

[patriotX]

18. No shelter!

When I read last night that this passed, I died a little on the inside.

I don't know... this day, more than any other, signals to me that we're not in Kansas anymore if you get my meaning.

America, and all she stands for, is dying a slow death at the hands of fascist thugs and it feels like there's nothing we can do about it. We always ask "Why didn't the Germans stop the nazis?" Now we know why... because we stand as powerless here, today, in this place...

I feel like I'm gonna be sick...

And the most disturbing thing is that the jackass freepers who support these thugs would just as soon tell us how we're opposing the intent and will of the founding fathers... bah /spit

They call undoing Habeas Corpus patriotic? Undoing one of the most time-honored tenets of western justice since the Magna Carta and they want to chirp and chime about how what the repugs do is the will of the framers?!?

I'm so angry... and I'm rightfully angry. Yeah, we're the angry left. If you're not angry, if you're not outraged, you're either stupid or insane, or both.

No shelter!

No shelter for the Democrats who voted for this! And certainly no shelter for the Republicans who voted for this... it's time to stand up and heed the call of our founding fathers, and take back our democracy.

[newyawker99]

41. Hi patriotX!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[ms liberty]

47. Welcome to DU! n/t

[malaise]

20. Mr Bohen is correct

Everyone declared his or her hand yesterday.

[Don1]

21. But WAIT, there's more to this bill

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2852529

Among other things not mentioned, there is also the retro-active pardon for mild forms of torture in the new law.

[mom cat]

23. Kick

[exlrrp]

24. Kicking it to the Supreme Court

I don't think anyone in Congress thnks this will make it by the Supreme Court and think of it therefore, as a throwaway vote. This is complete cowardice and an abdication of their Congressional oversight duty.
Its a last minute election ploy to pretend theyre actually doing something. They can say theyre doing something about terrorism even if they aren't.
I don't understand why any Democrat voted for this, I really don't.

[Don1]

26. it is more than a throwaway vote

it retroactively pardons mild torturers since 9/11. see why they passed it now?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2852529

[Leopolds Ghost]

25. In A Time Of Terror?

In a Time... of Terror.

One Man...

no, scratch that,

In a Time... of error.

[deutsey]

29. Rove: "The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away"

Obi Wan, where are you when we need you?

:evilfrown:

[Nordmadr]

30. Every time I hear "Homeland" it makes me shudder.

I wonder who will read these messages after we have gone. We did not surrender, we just didn't know how to fight...

Olafr

[The Wizard]

32. Makes you wonder who is that guy behind the curtain,

Pol Pot? Idi Amin?
For now the best we can do is to take care of ourselves and those around us. These people are serious fascists who will suffer the same fate as the fascists who came before them. This time the trials will be somewhere other than Nuremberg, but there will be trials. At least I'll be able to honestly tell my grand children I did what I could within my power to prevent the plunge into darkness. Now get out and hit the streets and get people to the polls on election day, and hope our votes are counted for the candidates we select.

[AX10]

33. K & R!

[peacetalksforall]

34. The United States Govt is the most unchristian government in

the world. I am going to repeat this in at least 11 more postings to DU.

Our WH uses repetition to spread propaganda.

I will use repetition to spread truth.

THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT IS THE MOST UNCHRISTIAN GOVERNMENT IN THE WORLD.

This government, including every Senataor and Congressperson, is predominately Christian. What they have done and what all the lawyers who support the WH have done and all the corporations, military, reverends and their flocks for whom this White House exists demonstrates NO Christian values. They are predominately Christian in name and by their claim, but there is no Christ there.

They have declared war on the citizens of this country, including all its Moslems, Mexicans, and who one calls Macacas. And they have declared war on Moslems everywhere. Even our soldier kids are targets of their war.

THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT IS THE MOST UNCHRISTIAN GOVERNMENT IN THE WORLD.

[warrens]

36. Home run

The upside is, we can designate these fascists enemy combatants and throw away the key when we take back Congress. And they can't do a damn thing about it.

[emmadoggy]

37. I read the comments at the end of the article...

lots of good, intelligent responses - and a few idiotic ones.

This is a dark, dark time in our country and the world and for the first time, I am really, truly afraid.

[KansDem]

38. Careful, Andy. Anymore thoughts like these and "Cohen might be goin'"

...goin'......gone.........

[Stand and Fight]

39. None dare call it treason... n/t

[Imagevision]

42. This post should remain kicked thru 11/7/06...

[TornadoTN]

43. Can someone provide a link for the voting record?

I have searched around and it appears to be buried (rightfully so, we have had a lot to talk about!).

Can anyone send me a link to the complete voting record on this bill by the House and Senate? I'm curious about some of the lesser known Congressmen & women.

[nealmhughes]

44. Here is the House link:

http://clerk.house.gov/cgi-bin/vote.asp?year=2006&rollnumber=508


Here is the Senate link: http://thomas.loc.gov

Thomas is our friend at the Library of Congress...

[TornadoTN]

45. Thanks, I appreciate it n/t

[countryjake]

46. Direct link to the Senate vote...

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00259

[nam78_two]

49. You rock DeepModemMom

Your posts like Kpete's, Hatrack's and so many other indefatigable DUers rock!

Thanks for all you do.... :patriot: