Sunday, July 04, 2004

My neighborhood has been celebrating Independence Day with lots of (illegal) fireworks and (even more illegal) gunfire. It's reassuring that so many people in this mostly immigrant neighborhood are eager to celebrate this most American of holidays in the traditional American way, in defiance of government tyranny. 9:29:45 PM    comment () "A World Without Jews" by Karl Marx. A few days ago, I found a copy of the 1959 translation (published by Philosophical Library) of Karl Marx's "A... [Survival Arts] 10:46:11 AM    comment () # Jim Duensing at The Libertarian Enterprise - Hamdi v. Rumsfeld - another take on the Supremacists recent ruling that Bush has to offer a kangaroo court to his "enemy combatants". [tle] The Supreme Court, that great bulwark against intrusions against our constitutionally protected liberties, did not agree with the Bush team. Instead they handed down a decision, which held "that a citizen-detainee seeking to challenge his classification as an enemy combatant must receive notice of the factual basis for his classification, and a fair opportunity to rebut the Government's factual assertions before a neutral decision maker." Further, hearsay evidence may be relied on, the neutral decision maker may employ a rebuttable presumption which forces the detainee to prove his innocence--rather than be presumed innocent until proven guilty, and that neutral decision maker could be a "properly constructed" military tribunal. To translate, an American citizen, we'll call him Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, may be captured by the military, declared an enemy combatant, a term for which there is still no definition. Alex can be housed in a military prison like the military concentration camp at Guantanomo Bay Cuba, where prisoners are known to have been tortured mentally and physically. To be sure that the military doesn't abuse this power of random arrest and permanent detention, a military court will hold a hearing where a military intelligence official can declare "we have a cohesive collection of concrete allegations which strongly suggest that Alex is an enemy combatant who hates our freedoms and respect for individual liberty." Alex, aided by a militarily appointed lawyer, will then have to prove that he is not an enemy combatant, a term for which there is no definition. If Alex fails to meet this minimal standard, he can be detained without being charged until the forces of civilization are victorious over the forces of evil who hate our freedoms. Being temporarily detained for the duration of a permanent war is a small sacrifice for an innocent person to make if it means ultimate victory for the forces of freedom. [End the War on Freedom] 10:38:55 AM    comment ()

© Copyright 2006 Ken Hagler. Last update: 2/15/2006; 2:02:25 PM.