A Vote for _____ is a Vote for Torture
Posted on
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
by Gary A. Ballard
To continue on my political tac for a second, I just want to make it abundantly clear what those Americans who vote for an incumbent Republican on Nov. 7, 2007 will be voting for. Let's make no bones about it, you will be voting for torture. Period.
I'm talking about the Military Commissions Act of 2006 of course.
It's an effective soundbite and one I wish the Democrats would lash onto. It has teeth. It draws attention. As the above linked story will show you, the news media is all too willing to softsell this bill as authorizing "harsh interrogation" which really lacks the resonance of torture. It's also highly disingenuous, but I suppose they can be forgiven. After all, there's this juicy Mark Foley pedophilia story to salivate over, what with its idiotically lurid instant messages about the size of a young man's penis. Never let it be said the mainstream news outlets don't pander to the lowest, vilest parts of our snake brains.
But the fact of the matter is that this bill, overwhelmingly passed in both the House and the Senate is a bill about allowing the torture of anyone deemed an "enemy combatant." Now who that enemy is and what criteria can be used to define a person as an enemy will be determined by the President. What is torture or "cruel and inhumane punishment" will of course be definable by the President, even though such a definition exists already in the Geneva Conventions. The law gives the President the right to redefine the Geneva Conventions and thus avoid having to follow them. It legalizes military tribunals whose rules of evidence by not allowing the accused to see some of all of the evidence used to try him. It violates the Constitution by suspending the right for the accused to petition a judge for an explanation of his detention. And it protects the people who do these things from prosecution by making the illegal acts they will commit or have commited legal. In short, it gives the President and those he appoints the right to drop your sorry ass in a deep, dark hole for as long as they want, do what they want to you short of killing, raping or crippling you, and you can't do shit about it. It also gives him the power to spy on you without any sort of evidence that the spying is justified.
Sure, they claim it can't or won't be used on American citizens. It's also worded so vaguely as to be applicable to citizens whether the framers of the bill thought it would or not. After years of Bush authorzing such acts without any legal authority to do so, can you really trust that he won't use that on citizens? He's already shown a complete lack of respect for the law and the Constitution.
All of these things are part of the compromise bill that was so loudly trumpeted by Republicans before the Foley scandal broke. The term comprosmise is a deception as well, since it gives the President everything he wanted with no sacrifice on the President's part. With that in mind, I can safely say that any of the Congress-persons who voted for this bill do not deserve their job and quite frankly, don't deserve to be Americans. This bill makes our laws no better than the laws of Hussein-era Iraq. It allows the chief executive to decide who is an enemy and how cruelly that enemy should be treated. That sounds a lot like a dictatorship to me.
And so, I can safely say that a vote for a Congress-person that voted for this bill is a vote in favor of torture. This includes the Senator I used to have respect for, Sen. John McCain. Shame on your Senator McCain. You should know better than this, but I guess your party loyalty got in the way of your clear head. But don't worry, the Republican National Committee thinks you're a hero. Read that link. It shows you some of the names of the real Americans still serving in Congress. If your Senator or Representative is not on this list, chances are he stands for torture.
America does not stand for torture. Voting for anyone who voted for this bill means you think that torture is completely American. Please let's prove them wrong.
I'm talking about the Military Commissions Act of 2006 of course.
It's an effective soundbite and one I wish the Democrats would lash onto. It has teeth. It draws attention. As the above linked story will show you, the news media is all too willing to softsell this bill as authorizing "harsh interrogation" which really lacks the resonance of torture. It's also highly disingenuous, but I suppose they can be forgiven. After all, there's this juicy Mark Foley pedophilia story to salivate over, what with its idiotically lurid instant messages about the size of a young man's penis. Never let it be said the mainstream news outlets don't pander to the lowest, vilest parts of our snake brains.
But the fact of the matter is that this bill, overwhelmingly passed in both the House and the Senate is a bill about allowing the torture of anyone deemed an "enemy combatant." Now who that enemy is and what criteria can be used to define a person as an enemy will be determined by the President. What is torture or "cruel and inhumane punishment" will of course be definable by the President, even though such a definition exists already in the Geneva Conventions. The law gives the President the right to redefine the Geneva Conventions and thus avoid having to follow them. It legalizes military tribunals whose rules of evidence by not allowing the accused to see some of all of the evidence used to try him. It violates the Constitution by suspending the right for the accused to petition a judge for an explanation of his detention. And it protects the people who do these things from prosecution by making the illegal acts they will commit or have commited legal. In short, it gives the President and those he appoints the right to drop your sorry ass in a deep, dark hole for as long as they want, do what they want to you short of killing, raping or crippling you, and you can't do shit about it. It also gives him the power to spy on you without any sort of evidence that the spying is justified.
Sure, they claim it can't or won't be used on American citizens. It's also worded so vaguely as to be applicable to citizens whether the framers of the bill thought it would or not. After years of Bush authorzing such acts without any legal authority to do so, can you really trust that he won't use that on citizens? He's already shown a complete lack of respect for the law and the Constitution.
All of these things are part of the compromise bill that was so loudly trumpeted by Republicans before the Foley scandal broke. The term comprosmise is a deception as well, since it gives the President everything he wanted with no sacrifice on the President's part. With that in mind, I can safely say that any of the Congress-persons who voted for this bill do not deserve their job and quite frankly, don't deserve to be Americans. This bill makes our laws no better than the laws of Hussein-era Iraq. It allows the chief executive to decide who is an enemy and how cruelly that enemy should be treated. That sounds a lot like a dictatorship to me.
And so, I can safely say that a vote for a Congress-person that voted for this bill is a vote in favor of torture. This includes the Senator I used to have respect for, Sen. John McCain. Shame on your Senator McCain. You should know better than this, but I guess your party loyalty got in the way of your clear head. But don't worry, the Republican National Committee thinks you're a hero. Read that link. It shows you some of the names of the real Americans still serving in Congress. If your Senator or Representative is not on this list, chances are he stands for torture.
America does not stand for torture. Voting for anyone who voted for this bill means you think that torture is completely American. Please let's prove them wrong.
posted by Gary A. Ballard @ 2:32 PM
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