The US Senate says torture (including rape?) is in, habeas corpus is out if the Bush Administration decides you are an “enemy combatant.” I’m beyond expecting than any of the cheerleaders of this dark age, bloodthirsty crowd would be concerned about the “inalienable rights” our founding fathers spoke of, but given the administration’s track record of holding and torturing people who have nothing to do with terrorism, you’d think they’d at least be concerned about some of their own constituents.

But oh – I forgot – they never make those kind of mistakes with non-brown people, so who cares?

Embracing torture and scrapping habeus represents the most significant victory of the “hate America” crowd. These are people for whom our Constitution is anathema. They cloak themselves in nationalistic rhetoric and furor, but it’s a different nation they are proud of. The one they are trying to create.

Don’t believe me? Our nation’s organizational document is the Constitution. It defines what America is and how it’s run. It’s a document they despise so much, they never miss an opportunity to try and change it to their own liking. Consider:

• Their proposed flag-burning amendment
• Anti-choice amendment
• Forced school prayer amendment
• Anti-gay amendment
• A right-to-vengeance amendment

I mean, they hate this document.

And when they don’t want to rewrite it, they just ignore it. From gleefully stomping all over congressional oversight responsibilities and promoting singular, monarchical powers vested in a god-king, to threats to the independent judiciary from the leaders of the GOP.

The effort to destroy America and build something different took a big step forward today. Strategically, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid blew it, reportedly agreeing to withhold a filibuster attempt (despite Senators such as Feingold indicating they’d support one)in exchange for freedom to offer amendments on the floor (none of which succeeded). It is a failure in judgement of potentially apocolyptic proportions for this country.

But we should remember not just the fanatics who gleefully pushed this atrocity through, but their enablers as well. If the Ds retake the Senate with their help, it will indeed be a bittersweet victory (but yes…sigh…still a victory for sure).

“This bill is everything we don’t believe in,” -Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio.

“This is basically the legalization of the Jose Padilla treatment” – Glenn Greenwald

UPDATE I: Here’s the Dem hall of Shame:

Tom Carper (Del.)
Tim Johnson (S.D.)
Mary Landrieu (La.)
Frank Lautenberg (N.J.)
Bob Menendez (N.J)
Bill Nelson (Fla.)
Ben Nelson (Neb.)
Pryor (Ark.)
Jay Rockefeller (W. Va.)
Ken Salazar (Co.)
Debbie Stabenow (Mich.)

…and the whatever-the-hell-he-is Hall of Shame:

Joe Lieberman (Conn.)

The usual crowd that lets us down, although I was surprised to see Rockefeller on that list and shocked to see Lautenberg. Menendez is in a tight race (the GOP’s best potential pick-up) and now deserves to lose.

The other 32 Dems, joined by Chafee (R-RI) and Jeffords voted in favor of morality and the Constitution.

UPDATE II: Check Freyne for a great piece describing Leahy’s lone-voice-in-the-wilderness, quixotic (but noble and appreciated) attempt to stop this travesty.

Guess we have to hope for another SCOTUS ruling. Hardly a safe bet.

The Torture Bill passed the House today, in the shiny wrapping paper of an immigrant-hate bill, literally adding insult to injury.  Tomorrow it will likely be voted on in the Senate. Friday it will probably become law.

Other administrations protected our basic constitutional rights in the face of whole nations, armed to the teeth with massive numbers of extraordinary weapons that threatened to wipe us all out in a few hours. Other administrations faced dangers so grave that the entire world literally hung the balance, and they did so with the Geneva Conventions intact. Other administrations faced  unprecedented dangers without fearing every person’s right to a day in court, to face their accuser and see the evidence against them – a guarantee that has been in place for nearly 800 years.

But this cowardly crew is so frightened by a rag-tag band of thugs they’re cutting and running from the very basis of democratic society.

Retreating from democracy is the realm of cowards.

Any legislator, in any party, who votes for this bill, no matter what other bill it may have been cloaked in for the day, is not worthy of the trust bestowed by the voters and should be run out of office.

Washington DC Subway Ad, 2003

( – promoted by Jack McCullough)

Some readers may be old enough to remember John Dean as the White House counsel who blew the whistle on Nixon’s Watergate crimes; younger readers may be only vaguely aware of him.

If you don’t know of him, you should. John Dean came out of Watergate a changed man, and in recent years has written critically of the current trend of doctrinaire extremism that has taken over the Republican Party. He has also written widely in defense of civil liberties.

This Friday John Dean will be speaking at a fundraiser for the Vermont chapter of the ACLU. One thing we’ve learned during the Bush Administration is that we need the ACLU more than ever, and this is a chance to hear John Dean speak and to support the organization.

John Dean, White House legal counsel to President Nixon during the unfolding of the Watergate scandal, will speak at an ACLU-Vermont fundraiser Friday, Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. at the Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center in South Burlington.

As much as any single individual during the Watergate era, Dean was responsible for identifying the abuse of power undertaken by the Nixon administration as it sought to solidify power and silence critics. Since that time, Dean has been an incisive analyst of the American political scene.

The topic of Dean’s Vermont address is “Spying, Secrecy, and Presidential Power.” Tickets are $20, and may be obtained through the ACLU (802-223-6304, or info@acluvt.org), at Bear Pond Books of Montpelier, at the Vermont Book Shop in Middlebury, and at the Peace and Justice Center in Burlington. A reception will follow; tickets for that event (which includes admission to the talk) are $60.

You can also find out more at their web page.