Daily archives: September 28th, 2006

Coling Powell Continues to Enlighten

More and more generals are critical of our international policy.

Powell wrote to Senator John McCain expressing his belief that redefining Common Article 3 of the Geneva Convention would be a grave mistake.? “I do not support such a step and believe it would be inconsistent? with the McCain amendment on torture which I supported last year,” Powell wrote.
And then, this:

The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism.” Colin Powell, September 14, 2006.

The world has been in doubt for a long time.


Gallup Poll: Bush Blamed More Than Clinton

A recent Gallup Poll reveals that far more Americans blame President Bush for the United States’ failure to capture Osama bin Laden than they blame former President Clinton.? While some do blame Clinton to a certain degree, far more blame Bush.

Perhaps the sky is clearing.


65-34: Freedom is Going, Going, GONG!

They did it.

By a vote of 63-34, the United States Senate approved the detainee bill sought by the Bush Administration.

Take a look at the sky tonight, this morning, this afternoon, this evening. Wherever, whenever you are. Take a look at the sky.

It’s different, somehow.

Think about all of the things this country is going through right now. Check out the stats on health insurance in the United States. Over 45 million people in this country have no health coverage at all.

45 million. Many of them are children. At least one child for every three children in the United States has no health insurance at all.

Look at schools in Ford Heights, IL, compared to schools in Naperville, IL. Or, pick two towns where you live.

But at least we wrote universal health care into the Iraqi constitution. At least we’re building schools in Iraq.

Of course we should be building in Iraq. We destroyed Iraq. But look at our national priorities. What are we really spending on housing for our poor? What are we doing to eradicate poverty? How many of our young people can really afford college? How many parents can afford to work and put their children in day care?

Republicans rushed this bill through the Senate. “There is no question that the rush to pass this bill — which is the product of secret negotiations with the White House — is about serving a political agenda,” said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.
Yet another chunk of our Constitution has been taken away. Habeas corpus, gone. Look at the sky today. It covers the same land it did yesterday, but it’s all somehow different.


America Embraces Torture

What is going on in Washington? Just a week ago, prominent Republican congressional leaders were condemning the proposed legislation that would allow the Bush Administration to disregard the l Geneva Convention. The detainee treatment bill would deny the fundamental right of habeas corpus to detainees held abroad. The most frightening aspect of this legislation is that it would forbid detainees from challenging the legality of their detention or their treatment, even if they were tortured, by recourse to habeas corpus actions. This confounds and astounds me.

There is nothing in the United States Constitution that distinguishes between what type of prisoner has rights and what type of prisoner does not have rights. This country gains its power not from its arsenal but from that very Constitution!

The Bill of Rights was inspired by civil rights violations by the British before and during the Revolutionary War. America was to be different. Our Founding Fathers were committed to the ideal that this country would not abuse its prisoners, be they American Citizens or Prisoners of War. We cried out at the atrocities many of our service men and women suffered in Vietnam, and we stand poised to justify even greater atrocities.

And the majority of Americans are silent. That is the greatest shock of all.