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06/29/2004 Archived Entry: "Mindboggling differences of viewpoint"

MINDBOGGLING HOW DIFFERENTLY WE SEE THINGS. Rick sent this USA Today op-ed that says yesterday's Supreme Court decisions on "enemy combatants" would make the Founding Fathers proud. Huh?

I can see that on the Guantanamo Bay case; decreeing that even foreign nationals being held by the fedgov have rights to protest their treatment is U.S. courts is a step up from barbaric Bushevik black-hole policy.

But in the Yaser Hamdi case, the Supremes have blandly declared that the U.S. has authority to indefinitely hold a U.S. citizen without charges or trial. Yes, you can protest your treatment in court after you're locked up, Little Citizen. But in the meantime, the government can hold you for years without any reason. No criminal charges. No hearings. No evidence. No trial. This would make the Fouders proud?

Spin, spin, spin! And I don't know whether the editorials or the Founders in their graves are making that whirling sound.

The Supremes say Congress gave the president the authority to lock up citizens without criminal charges or trials. Where did Congress get the authority to abolish yet another part of the Bill of Rights?

Posted by Claire @ 09:06 AM CST
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