The events of the last few days in Washington D.C. have been remarkable, but they are not the most remarkable we shall see. The government of George W. Bush is on the verge of falling apart as the result of its own radical ideology.
The Bush Republican ideology says that the law doesn't matter, that the Constitution doesn't matter, that the Bill of Rights can be chucked right on out the window whenever the President of the United States deems it necessary. This ideology makes the President into a dictator who is above the law.
Ray Meier is a part of this ideology. He supports Bush, and he has refused to distance himself from Bush's pro-torture, anti-freedom legislation.
George W. Bush and John McCain have performed a very clever shell game to come to their "compromise", but the plain fact is that their proposed legislation still changes the law to make torture legal (just so long as it doesn't kill the prisoner or cause major permanent harm to the body) and still provides amnesty for war criminals.
The Bush-McCain torture legislation also takes away our right to habeas corpus protections - the foundation of all our other freedoms. That outrage was pointed out by the Republican chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday. Senator Arlen Specter called this attempt to rip the bottom out of American democracy "inexplicable", and pointed out that it is in clear violation of the Constitution, which only allows habeas corpus to be temporarily suspended in the case of a rebellion against the government or an invasion by a foreign power.
As Senator Specter pointed out, there is no invasion and there is no rebellion. Yet, George W. Bush is asking Congress for a permanent revocation of habeas corpus rights.
It's not just me, some blogger off in an Upstate New York village, who's saying that this legislation is a threat to our democracy. United States Senators, Republican and Democrat, are coming together to denounce the McCain-Bush proposal on the grounds that I cite here. Senator Patrick Leahy made the following statement yesterday, for example:
"This provision would perpetuate the indefinite detention of hundreds of individuals against whom the Government has brought no charges and presented no evidence, without any recourse to justice whatsoever. That is un-American, and it is contrary to American interests.
Going forward, the bill departs even more radically from our most fundamental values. It would permit the President to detain indefinitely – even for life – any alien, whether in the United States or abroad, whether a foreign resident or a lawful permanent resident, without any meaningful opportunity for the alien to challenge his detention. The Administration would not even need to assert, much less prove, that the alien was an enemy combatant; it would suffice that the alien was “awaiting [a] determination” on that issue. In other words, the bill would tell the millions of legal immigrants living in America, participating in American families, working for American businesses, and paying American taxes, that our Government may at any minute pick them up and detain them indefinitely without charge, and without any access to the courts or even to military tribunals, unless and until the Government determines that they are not enemy combatants.
Detained indefinitely, and unaccountably, until proven innocent. Like Canadian citizen Maher Arar. As the Canadian Government recently concluded in a detailed and candid report, there is no evidence that Mr. Arar ever committed a crime or posed a threat to U.S. or Canadian security. Yet, while returning home to Canada from a family vacation, he was detained, interrogated, and then shipped off to a torture cell in Syria by the Bush-Cheney Administration While the Canadian Government has now documented that the wrong thing was done to the wrong man, the Bush-Cheney Administration has, as usual, evaded all accountability by hiding behind a purported state secrets privilege."
The so-called "compromise" of George W. Bush and John McCain is falling apart because it isn't a compromise at all. It's the same old pig, dressed up in a hat and lipstick.
Republicans and Democrats are coming together to say no to Bush's anti-freedom ideology. Bush's ideology is on the verge of disintegration. Yet, Ray Meier still holds on to that ideology, standing with Bush no matter how crazy Bush gets.
Ray Meier doesn't have enough sense to step away from a destructive ideology, even while it's crumbling before his very eyes: That's reason #10 out of 30 to NOT vote for Ray Meier for Congress
14 comments:
Clinton & Arcuri: http://news10now.com/content/all_news/?ArID=80970&SecID=83
Jon, please do some basic research before making your posts. Both Arcuri and Meier stand for what is right here.
Candidates for Congress agree on detainee issue
by DAN GUZEWICH
Staff writer
Rome Daily Sentinel
9/21/06
The congressional candidates in the 24th District have found some common ground. Both agree that the terror-fighting plan for detainees goes too far. That puts Republican Raymond A. Meier and Democrat Michael A. Arcuri in opposition to President George W. Bush — a Republican.
The candidates both reject Bush administration’s effort to redefine a provision of the Geneva Convention that opponents contend could lead other nations to abandon their treaty obligations and put captured Americans at risk.
"This is a very dangerous precedent the president is trying to do," said Democrat Arcuri, who is Oneida County’s district attorney. "We need to look very, very closely at what we’re doing."
Said Republican Meier, also a lawyer: "It would not serve us well to be seen as backing away from the fundamental guarantees of the Geneva Conventions."
The White House’s plan would give the government wide latitude to detain and interrogate terror suspects. The need for the legislation grew out of a Supreme Court ruling in June that struck down the administration’s rules for prosecuting accused terrorists before military tribunals.
Arcuri said he’s especially concerned with the possible impact on U.S. soldiers if taken prisoner.
"They’re going to be treated the same way we treat prisoners," he said, adding that "you’ve got to look at the end" result of the terror-fighting plan.
He pointed to the opposition from figures like former Secretary of State Colin Powell and Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
"We have to heed them," he said, "They’re the experts."
Meier, the state senator in the 47th District, is looking for a balance between fighting terrorism and the rights of individuals.
"Our country needs to take the strongest possible stand against terrorism and to have every reasonable means to do so," he said. "At the same time, America has always been a beacon for human rights around the world."
He said he has discussed the federal terrorist detainee legislation with the incumbent congressman, Sherwood L. Boehlert.
"It is my understanding that the House leadership has agreed to delay a vote on the administration’s proposal. This is encouraging," Meier said. "I would hope that a reasonable solution can be found along the lines proposed by Senator McCain."
A rival set of rules circulated by McCain and several other senators would bar any use in the trials of secret evidence or information obtained from "cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment" and would admit information from coercive interrogations only if the military judge found it reliable and pertinent.
While Meier’s stance on the detainee legislation sets him part from the White House, the Arcuri campaign contends that Meier if elected would be too much an ardent supporter of the Bush administration. Meier responds that he would maintain his independence.
First Lady Laura Bush will make an appearance in Utica Tuesdayon behalf of Meier’s bid to replace Boehlert, who is retiring at year’s end after 12 terms.
In July, Vice President Dick Cheney headlined a Meier fundraiser, also in Utica.
Thousands and thousands of dollars are being pumped into the race in the 24th District by the national parties as the GOP battles to keep the position on the Republican side of the aisle while Democrats view the open seat as an opportunity as they seek to regain the majority in the House of Representatives.
Oh, excellent, anonymous.
EXCEPT, Meier EMBRACES the McCain-Bush so-called "compromise", which in fact does still allow torture, and takes away habeas corpus rights, as well as lowering a whole bunch of other standards, as I've discussed.
So, the fact is that I DID that research, and Meier is still on the wrong side of the issue.
...... He (Arcuri) pointed to the opposition from figures like former Secretary of State Colin Powell and Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
"We have to heed them," he (Arcuri) said, "They’re the experts."
I guess that places your guy on the wrong side of the issue too.
It may well. I wouldn't be surprised. I'm not a cheerleader for Michael Arcuri.
Ray Meier, however is a part of the total ideology. He's stuck in the pro-torture, anti-Constitution Republican Party.
At least Arcuri is a Democrat, and his weakness of right wing leanings and accomodation for excessive Executive power can be checked by his party's leadership.
It's not much of an edge, I know, but it does exist.
7:48 - read the new article I posted this afternoon. It shows how the contentions of that article by Dan Guzewich, merely the repeated claims of George W. Bush and John McCain, are bogus.
This new law gives President Bush the power to torture, to imprison people without due process, and to replace our system of courts with a new system of kangaroo courts.
You obviously, anonymous, have not read the law yourself. YOU do the research. Read it. You'll be scared shitless.
Yes the new revision is both scary and wrong, and this is coming from a conservative republican.
However, nowhere have I read the position of either candidate on this "new" revision. Have you and if so where? Just your endless conjecture. I doubt either Meier or Acuri go along with it.
Read above: Ray Meier said, "I would hope that a reasonable solution can be found along the lines proposed by Senator McCain."
There you have it - Meier is for this terrible, pro-torture, anti-habeas corpus, freedom skewering legislation.
The current "new" revision is a mix of the McCain proposal and Bush proposal. Not just the McCain proposal which was being discussed at that time.
Keep spinning .....
What we really need here is a definative answer from both candidates on the issue. Not conjecture from the internet.
SPINNING? Oh, come off it, 10:15. This blog is the only place in this entire campaign that's even talking about this issue.
Don't see the Republican hack "Biggus Dickus" writing about it on his blog.
Don't see the "Weekly" Democrat writing about it. Don't see Maimun Khan mentioning it. Definitely don't see Meier or Arcuri dealing with it.
Give credit where credit is due, creep.
Creep????
I give you all the credit in the world for your one man crusade.
One man crusade? Now, Anonymous, you're taking the art of political spin to a new level. As you well know, I'm not the only person talking about this issue.
Senator Patrick Leahy's comments on the legislation, along with Republican Senator Arlen Specter's protests against it, as I've already posted on this blog, give ample testimony to that.
I'm disappointed in both congressional candidates for giving short shrift to this issue. It's much more important than consolidating tax credit programs in the Department of Education, as is the "centerpiece" of the Arcuri for Congress campaign.
I should have been more clear when stating "your one man crusade".
I ment your online blog support for the democrat in the 24th. No one else is blogging for this guy - even Hyde stopped. What is the deal with that?
Oh, that's an excellent question - what DID happen to all those Democratic bloggers?
Even Maimun Khan has stopped her blog writing for the most part, just as she should be ramping it up. Her last post was "They Like Mike", dealing with... not much at all.
I don't see myself as having a crusade - rather, I have come to regard this blog as more of a vigil, watching the disintegration of the process of healthy politics in our congressional district and in our country, and still holding out something higher, and something better.
I end up angering the Republicans and many in the Democratic leadership as well, because I don't repeat the party line. I don't care. The Republicans have betrayed the best of the American tradition, and the Democratic party line has been incoherent mumble from the start.
The House of Representatives just voted IN FAVOR of this sick and twisted bill - and Sherwood Boehlert was among those voting "AYE". Boehlert just lost forever the right to be called a moderate - he marched in lock step with the totalitarians.
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