Thursday, September 28, 2006

Sherwood Boehlert Betrayed Our Trust with 6166

Sherwood Boehlert betrayed the citizens of New York's 24th Congressional District yesterday. He voted for the HR 6166, the bill that revokes a large number of our freedoms.

Maybe you don't know what HR 6166 does. After all, the name HR 6166 seems pretty harmless - just a bunch of boring paperwork, right?

Wrong.

Here's what the legislation will do if the Senate passes its version, S 3930, today:

If it becomes law, this legislation will:

1. It will revoke habeas corpus
2. It will create a secret committee appointed by Bush and Rumsfeld that has the power to declare any person - even a US citizen - to be an enemy, instantly depriving them of their legal rights. There will be no appeal allowed.
3. It will allow police to search your home without a search warrant
4. It will revoke protection of prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions
5. It will give George W. Bush amnesty for any war crimes he has committed
6. It will allow for people to be put on trial in front of a kangaroo court military tribunal, even if they aren’t in any military, and have not engaged in military attacks against the USA
7. It will allow the government to convict people of crimes on the basis of secret evidence that the accused never sees
8. It will make it legal for the government to use testimony extracted through torture
9. It will end the legal right to be protected from forced self-incrimination
10. It will allow the government to imprison people without telling them what crimes they are being charged with
11. It will remove the right to cross-examine witnesses
12. It will allow for the records of trials to be kept secret from the American public
13. It will enable trials to begin even before a thorough investigation of the alleged crime has taken place
14. It will take away the right to a speedy trial

If you say that the law won't do these things, it tells me you haven't even read the law. Many members of Congress haven't read the law. Did Sherwood Boehlert bother to read it before he voted yes?

This is a betrayal of the most basic American values. Sherwood Boehlert has lost forever the ability to be fairly called a moderate. This is not a moderate law. This is extremism of the worst kind.

This isn't the kind of issue that wins or loses elections. This is about what's right and what's wrong.

I don't care if you're a Republican, Democrat, or independent voter. We all ought to be able to see that legislation is a serious threat to the American way of life. Our freedom is on the line.

Please, call Senator Schumer this morning. Call Hillary Clinton. Ask them to vote AGAINST S 3930.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

A bill with all three sixes in it, just for Our Leader, The Prince, so that he might retroactively legislate himself out of paying for the crimes he committed. If Boehlert voted for this, Ray Meier would have voted for it twice if at all possible.

Anonymous said...

I called Clinton and Schumer and asked them to filibuster it, but we know they won't. I'll bet 99 out of a 100 people don't even know this is happening in this age of easy access to information. Very depressing.
I do think the Supreme Court will eventually rule it unconstitutional though. They all ready responded to this in Hamden v Rumsfeld.

Anonymous said...

Damn, It passed 65-34. Regarding the St. Patrick's 4;

`Sec. 950kk. Attacking protected property

`Any person subject to this chapter who intentionally engages in an attack upon protected property shall be punished as a military commission under this chapter may direct.

Anonymous said...

But didn't Arcuri say he supported this bill last night during the debate?