Habeas Corpus

Habeas Corpus
Current mood: angry

Folks--

I'm sure many of you are just as concerned about this issue as I am, so I wanted to point you toward an excellent resource for the current court cases and international conflicts dealing with the United States' practice of "Extraordinary Rendition" (shipping people picked up as "enemy combatants" to countries like Syria where there are no laws against torture) as well as secret CIA prisons in Europe and the overall suspension of the core right of habeas corpus (right to a fair trial), even for US citizens, in the arena of the so-called "War On Terror."

www.democracynow.org

This is a fabulous, aggressive, independent media organization dedicated to covering the issues that matter, and which the mainstream media largely ignores. They've also recently started podcasting their daily hourlong show, so sign up through Itunes if interested. I highly, highly recommend Amy Goodman and the folks running democracynow. They are truly committed to the kind of indepedent, take-no-prisoners investigative journalism which is in shorter and shorter supply these days (but is needed more than ever as the media is further consolidated and homogenized).

Today and through the weekend they've done a special investigation into the issue, and I must say it has really broadened my knowledge of what I already felt was a much bigger and wider problem---the slow erosion of some of the most basic rights protected by the constitution.

When I hear the prez and folks talk about "spreading freedom," all I hear is blatant hypocrisy. While they preach to the world about this, the past 5 years have seen a definite downturn in our country's philosophy on freedom. Normal, average US citizens can now be wiretapped without a warrant; they can be arrested without charge; they can be held indefinitely without any evidence; and they can be thrown in shady prisons such as the one in Guantanamo where the Geneva Convention is largely ignored and torture is commonplace.

While many people think, "Well, this doesn't apply to me---I'm a good guy" I would respectfully suggest that you pull your head out of your ass. These basic constitutional protections apply to EVERYONE and if we allow them to be taken away, they will only continue to be abused further and further. I guarantee that one day we'll look back on this period in history and wonder how we could have been so ignorant.

One of the most depressing things I've noticed over the past 5 years is how willingly we as citizens have given up our freedoms. It's not the government's fault---it's OURS for allowing it. When I flew back from Salt Lake City after Xmas, I actually had to stand in a big chamber, right before the metal detector, that proceeded to blow air all over my body (presumably to detect explosives). This, of course, in addition to taking off my shoes, giving up my liquids, and being wanded. What's next? A pre-flight piss-test and polygraph?

All I could think after this ordeal was that the terrorists have already won. They've scared us so shitless we're more than happy to give up thousands of years of human progress in order to feel "protected." Well, I give that point of view the BIG middle finger. They haven't scared me yet. I will fight tooth and nail for my freedom, all of it, and they will only take it away over my dead body.

Check out the website and read the myriad of stories posted today on the subject. Post a response if it gets your blood boiling like it did mine.

(On a completely different-yet-related subject, why is a country that is so obsessed with the afterlife so afraid of death? How deep does our "faith" really run if we need George Dubya to protect us instead of Jeebus? A future blog post, I'm thinking.)

Currently listening :
Peng!
By Stereolab
Release date: 10 March, 1998