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5-4 really, since Roberts ruled with the minority as an Appeals Court judge and had to recuse.
John Paul Stevens is 86.
Congress was consulted now, it can be said, on military tribunals, a key part of Stevens' majority opinion.
The retroactive immunity clauses ensure a total lack of accountability, such that even if this is overturned it won't matter to the Administration in terms of their own culpability.
And we've had plenty of "America is dead" moments before, in our past: the Alien and Sedition Acts, the Dred Scott decision, the suspension of habeas in the Civil War, the internment of Japanese-Americans, to name a few. All were eventually overturned, and the nation eventually noted its regret. But each time the wound in our national character grows greater. And I'll say this: it's a heck of a lot less fun living through this kind of history than reading about it.
D-Day, the newest blog on the internet (at the moment of its launch)
by dday on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 04:45:39 PM PDT
I thought for many years I would never have to live through one of these shameful periods. And then we had an election in 2000.
It's a neighborly day in this beautywood. Relentless!
by ablington on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 04:47:30 PM PDT
[ Parent ]
Politically this could be a HUGE victory if the Party was willing to go toe-to-toe on it. You can absolutely expect "Sen. X voted to give rights to terrorists" commercials. You can absolutely expect that the GOP is confident there won't be any "Sen. X voted to put our troops in danger" or "Sen. X believes in torturing other human beings" or "Sen. X thinks innocent people should be plucked off the street, thrown in jail indefinitely without being allowed to challenge their detention."
But there ABSOLUTELY ought to be.
by dday on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 04:48:32 PM PDT
do we NOT see those commercials???
GOP is confident there won't be any "Sen. X voted to put our troops in danger" or "Sen. X believes in torturing other human beings" or "Sen. X thinks innocent people should be plucked off the street, thrown in jail indefinitely without being allowed to challenge their detention."
We need them! We want them! I am an adherent of the observations in the diary series "Down at the Gun Shop" where the writer observes that gun enthusiasts are finally noticing that wiretapping is a sign of tyranny.
Run AGAINST monarchical powers! Run on LIBERTY!
"The extinction of the human race will come from its inability to EMOTIONALLY comprehend the exponential function." -- Edward Teller
by lgmcp on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 05:17:41 PM PDT
in the Democratic party think that they can continue this 'we'll take the higher ground' approach to politics when the other side doesn't even play by the rules to begin with.
Flying Squid Studios - Cartoons to Rot Your Brain!
by Arken on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 05:29:38 PM PDT
Are they putting something in the DC water or something? A dash of koolaid, perhaps??
How fucking stupid and gullible ARE these people??
America needs John Edwards.
by willers on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 07:17:48 PM PDT
and run commercials like this against ALL the fascist collaborators who voted for this evil bill. Which means they have to run in Ohio against Brownie Jr., Florida and Nebraska against the Nelsons, etc., etc., besides against the (many more) Republicans who went along with this. Obviously no Democratic group is going to do that. Which is why we need a new organization, one along the lines of Move On, but with a real conscience, to mobilize this nationwide campaign.
Anyone know of a group that brave? that American? that Democratic? If you do, I'll make a donation to them tonight.
by matt n nyc on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 06:18:22 PM PDT
There's no guarantee the Supreme Court will overrule now that Congress has spoken. And like you said, Justice Stevens is 86.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Schurz#Schurz_on_.22The_True_Americanism.22
by Ningen on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 05:11:14 PM PDT
this WILL rank up there with some of these infamous laws we now read about.
I am for sure suffering from "outrage fatigue", and mounting health issues. Nevertheless, I have the sense, having watched some history, that this was indeed a defining moment/vote, which will be recorded more than many others which also occasioned outrage.
We still live with the wounds of the Civil War, the "peculiar institution", the Alien and Sedition Acts, and Korematsu. This may well prove to be as toxic.
I guess I am learning firsthand what it might have felt like, very, very, dimly, to have been Jewish in Germany on the eve of Kristallnacht. Please do not flame me or rate me a troll for this, I will immediately proclaim that I know the comparison is overblown.....but, I have spoken with more than one survivor of the Holocaust, who has noted, unbidden and unasked-for, an eerie similarity.
by Bhishma on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 05:23:39 PM PDT
...that history 200 years from now? Winston Smith?
I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land. -- Mark Twain
by Meteor Blades on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 05:42:23 PM PDT
Time Past and Present are both contained in Time Future.
by Bhishma on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 05:44:33 PM PDT
wide narrow
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