Intro to Fascism
17 July 2008 by Bob
Well, just so we’re all on the same page (cuz, like, it’s kind of important)…
The power to imprison U.S. citizens without charges
…[T]he President has the power to arrest U.S. citizens and legal residents inside the U.S., and imprison them indefinitely in a military prison, without charging them with any crime, based on his assertion that the imprisoned individual is an “enemy combatant.” [...] [T]he President can order anyone in the U.S. imprisoned in a military brig as an “enemy combatant” — even if they have never fought on a battlefield or with a foreign power against the U.S. Rather, mere accusations by the President of “terrorism” are sufficient to justify the indefinite incarceration of such an individual as an “enemy combatant,” who is then denied basic Constitutional guarantees. To say that such individuals can be held “for the duration of relevant hostilities” means, of course, that such individuals can be imprisoned by the President in a military brig not just for years but for decades. [...] Most critically of all … this decision applies every bit as much, and to exactly the same extent, to U.S. citizens on U.S. soil as it does to non-citizens (such as al-Marri) who are in the U.S. legally. [...] So, then, the President has the power to imprison in a military prison even U.S. citizens inside the U.S. — who are pure civilians, having not been anywhere near a battlefield — indefinitely and without having to charge them with any crime.
Enjoy the rest of your day…
And God Bless America
17 July 2008, on 12:56 pm
Didn’t Lincoln do this during the Civil War. Seems to me it didn’t go over well, then. Perhaps because people didn’t have American Idol reruns available to them, they were too easily distracted by their Constitutional rights.
17 July 2008, on 1:18 pm
“Seig…HEIL!”…I mean…
“Sick…FUCK!”
I’d say the good ole “Peter Principle” has reached new heights (or lows?); allowed to happen by a sufficiently brainwashed, fearful, numb-skull, and essentially bobble-headed-like, number of the jackass American voting public.
As in:
“Yes, President Douchebag…anything you say…President Shveinhunt!…slap me…HARDER…and now…kick me in the ass…AGAIN…AGAIN…”
“OK…now…in the crotch!”
Oh, wait…
my phone just rang!
17 July 2008, on 2:56 pm
Just wait until a Democratic President has this power. See how long it will be until the War on Terra suddenly dries up.
17 July 2008, on 4:24 pm
Does this mean that President Obama could have Bush, Cheney, et al carted off to Gitmo? Please?
17 July 2008, on 5:06 pm
Hehe. They could all try the cockmeat sandwich.
17 July 2008, on 5:23 pm
invisible dragon-
Now THAT’S looking on the bright side of life!
17 July 2008, on 7:44 pm
Bush and Cheney would work harder with a gun at their back for a bowl of rice a day…
17 July 2008, on 7:57 pm
Seriously, I don’t see Obama changing this.
17 July 2008, on 9:11 pm
Just wait until a Democratic President has this power. See how long it will be until the War on Terra suddenly dries up.
I came here to point out the same thing. I’m sure the Republicans thought that they could hold on to power indefinitely, so they probably weren’t too concerned about this. Except of course for the fact that their policies are so disastrous that it is inevitable they they will soon lose power because even the red states will start turning blue as they continue to run the country into the ground.
17 July 2008, on 9:51 pm
“It’s the suede-denim secret police.
They’ve come for your uncool niece!”
Sorry, this sort of news makes me channel Jello Biafra.
18 July 2008, on 12:26 am
Really, what is the point of the Constitution at this point?
BTW invisible dragon–that is priceless.
18 July 2008, on 8:06 am
“the President of “terrorism””
I don’t think that was intended as a title but that’s the way it appears to me and you know it seems highly appropriate. shrub is indeed the president of terrorism. He’s the terrorist n chief. The only ‘terror’ I ever feel is when I think about what the US is going to do to my country.
20 July 2008, on 6:56 pm
If memory serves, the entire ‘enemy combatant’ issue got tossed out by the SC - was it 2006?