Who is Your Friend When the Law is the Enemy?

I am not one of those paranoid guys that is completely anti-governement. In fact, I supported the Patriot Act, and still do -for at least another few years. But even I, a firm believer in the priority of national security have to draw the line.

"On Sept. 28, key rights guaranteed by our Constitution, plus the central tenet of the Magna Carta, were nullified by an act of Congress..."

Michael Ventura raises some striking parallels with his editorial:

The Fourth Amendment guarantees a "speedy and public trial." But a commission judge "may close to the public all or part of the proceedings" for reasons of national security, which he alone gets to decide...

The bill states elsewhere that torture is prohibited but supplies a loophole: The judge has power to decide otherwise and admit a self-incriminating statement spoken under "coercion"; "evidence shall be admissible if the military judge determines that the evidence would have probative value to a reasonable person"...

Evidence, so-called, can be introduced without citing sources or proving the integrity of its evidentiary trail. The judge determines what constitutes "a sufficient basis."...

There's much more, read it.

This isn't just about terrorists. This includes Citizens, and the ability to subject any person through it after he is classified as an unlawful enemy-combatant, for numerous (and non-terror) reasons.

I'm confident President Bush has good intentions and as far as he can control, would not purposefully abuse this power. But what about those beyond his reach and oversight, including future administrations, future Judges, future prosecutors, future law enforcement. Once the lower level machinery of the government becomes accustomed to this nullification, who is to stop the malevolent use of it? It's outrageous. No, it's more than outrageous, it's tyranny in embryo. It must be crushed.

Via War on Guns