Sea Change November 10, 2006

I’m finding myself giddy with optimism this week as I anticipate the changes for good that will come as the government fundamentally changes.  I also have a deep resurgence of faith in humanity from having seen so many voters turn out to exercise their right to speak.  (Thank You!) We have exhibited a new awakening and mindfulness about how we want our civilization to run, how we want our environment to be protected (goodbye Mr. Pombo), how we want to operate in the world at large, and the values that are important to us.  When they talk about Ms. Pelosi and her San Francisco values, they think they are being insulting.  But San Francisco values mean to me a sense of balance, a caring for others, tolerance and inclusion, an effort toward peace, an emphasis on education.  I have a strong belief that now, Republicans and Democrats will be able to solve problems and work together, each side bringing their considerations to the table and finding win-win solutions.  After all, that is the benefit of Democracy.  Will we see an end to divisiveness? I hope so, and its hard for me to believe, given the recent Blue State/Red State wars that we could ever find our way to the middle again.  But I think we can!  And if we are no longer divided, we have a chance to enable people to live freer, happier lives, and a chance to hold our heads high again on the world stage.  There are many things to be happy about this week, and in the future. What a difference a day makes!

Your Civil Rights - what you should know October 19, 2006

Watch this video:

The beginning of the end of America

Mark Morford writes: Keith Olbermann is getting so good, it’s frightening.

On the death of habeas corpus, the appalling destruction of vital American rights, and how we have become, in our attempts to defeat a terrorist enemy we can’t really even define or locate, just a little bit more like them.

Articulate, intelligent commentary simply does not get any better. Or, I suppose, worse. Please watch it.

A return to the Dark Ages? The Writ of Habeas Corpus is a legal proceeding in which an individual held in custody can challenge the propriety of that custody under the law and has been in usage since at least 1305 A.D. The right of habeas corpus—or rather, the right to petition for the writ—has long been celebrated as the most efficient safeguard of the liberty of the subject. Dicey wrote that the Habeas Corpus Acts “declare no principle and define no rights, but they are for practical purposes worth a hundred constitutional articles guaranteeing individual liberty”. For any government to take away the right to habeas corpus means that PEOPLE CAN BE HELD IN JAIL WITHOUT THE RIGHT TO QUSTION THEIR JAILERS effectively returning our civilization to a legal Dark Ages. According to the ACLU, this bill “removes important checks on the president by: failing to protect due process, eliminating habeas corpus for many detainees, undermining enforcement of the Geneva Conventions, and giving a “get out of jail free card” to senior officials who authorized or ordered illegal torture and abuse.” According to Christopher Anders, an ACLU Legislative Counsel, “nothing could be less American than a government that can indefinitely hold people in secret torture cells, take away their protections against horrific and cruel abuse, put them on trial based on evidence that they cannot see, sentence them to death based on testimony literally beaten out of witnesses, and then slam shut the courthouse door for any habeas petition, but that’s exactly what Congress just approved.” (from Wikipedia)