"To bereave a man of life …without accusation or trial,
would be so gross and notorious an act of despotism,
as must at once convey the alarm of tyranny throughout
the whole nation; but confinement of the person by
secretly hurrying him to jail, where his sufferings
are unknown or forgotten, is a less public, a less
striking, and therefore a more dangerous engine of
arbitrary government."
-Alexander Hamilton in Federalist No. 84

Our Founding Fathers are turning over in their graves at this dictatorial Military Commissions Act.

How on earth could 35 Democrats vote in favor of this? 4 Democrats from Georgia and 4 from Tennessee voted 'Yes', while 89% of fellow Democrats voted 'nay'.

I think it's because the MCA was sold as an "anti-terrorism" measure. There's plenty of fear about terrorism, and in my humble opinion, a strong undertone of racism.

How and why so? It is strange that 4 from each State (Tenn and Georgia) voted that way. Like to hear more on your opinion. Anything in writing from those 8?

I think that the fact that the terrorists were Arab Muslims invokes racism the way that it would not have been invoked if the terrorists had been, say, white European Communists like the Baader-Meinhof Gang. Or for that matter like Timothy McVeigh. I heard a lot of opinion that we should "round up all the ragheads" after the attacks. For some reason, those same people never recommended rounding up all the blond, blue-eyed right-wing Army veterans after McVeigh's attack. I wonder why not?

I realize this is a gross generalization, but I think racism is still stronger in the South than in the North. And more closely correlated with right-wing thinking than with liberal or left-wing thinking. And right-wing thinking is stronger in the South than in the North. Therefore, I think the fact that the eight Democrats who voted in favor of the MCA were from the South reflects those attitudes on the part of their constituencies.

I'm not in possession of any written opinions or statements from the eight Democrats.

It's easy for people to casually say...round up the ragheads because it is easy to identify them as a group. McVeigh...it was just easier to say he was a nut case. Besides, what self respecting redneck would say, "lets round us up"?



The generalization part...yep. But heavy on the factual side. Strangely enough though, the 2 states represented are two of the states I was stationed in several different times. More than any other state did I find a not only a fierce standard of racism, I saw it demonstrated often by locals. And you could believe that voted reps would echo a constituant belief.

Still makes me curious as to how this was explained. Breaking ranks from party platforms in groups....2 states seems unusual. One's or two's maybe.......Ive got some Googling to do.

Thanks....

My belief on the Democrats from both GA. and TN. is that, being in conservative states and with the election right around the corner (I believe that this vote was strategically timed by the Bush junta) they are pandering for votes by voting it in. After hearing Harold Ford speak tonight on CNN (he being one who voted 'yes' in TN. and is in a tough Senate race) I think this guy will say whatever it takes to get elected. I also think he is a better candidate than his Republican challenger from what little I know about either one. Alabama was another state where some Democrats voted yes. It does strike me as a southern heritage thing somewhat.

The irony is the confederacy caused a civil war and now marches in lockstep with Washington (in response to the constituents who vote there) and is the "tip of the spear" in stripping Americans of their civil liberties, as the vote in House reflected (Repukes of course voted yes)

And, to further add drama, Maryland and Massachusets, with long histories as being the cradle of American independence, voted completely across the aisle against it.

In response to McVeigh, it wont be long before some disaffected Veteran goes off somewhere, and the government, the same one who started this war in the first place, may use this as their pretext to start holding blonde, blue eyes "terrorists" in custody.

Who knows how many future Timothy McVeigh's are out there right now, returning home wounded and ignored by their government, after being exposed to the daily shootout that is Iraq.

I agree. Extremely overt. Let's see... Terrorists reside in the Middle East. Terrorism that we fight is Islamic based. The terrorists we fight over there are Iraqis and Afghanistanis. And possibly soon, Iranian too.

Now I don't hear that term very often...'Raghead' Did you make that one up like Allen's Macaca???

Ppphhhsssstttt! Racism does exist people.

I would have thought you would use the more broadly accepted racist trem, 'Islamofascist' to describe the Arab Muslims that America places on their watch witch list.

Nice try but in your haste to look down your nose you missed something.




Yea, I know. You can't apologize for being wrong or hasty on the judgement trigger. Intellectual thing, right?

DOH Short slope on that nose... Ever see Homer tumble???

Agreed about that undertone!

If yer brown, we gotta frown.





I consider it interesting that the US actively keeps tracks (and maybe actively conceals) exactly how many US deaths are involved in Iraq, and can give anyone the pertenant information of every single sacrifice.

But for the brown people that actually live there, those for whom we have been told we are there to help?
Us conspiracy minded loonatik Libruls are left to do that.



If what was happening in Darfur were to happen in say, France?
The world would be all over it.

Sergeant Major didn't say it. I did. And I was quoting.

yeah, but I bet they would be even more pissed at "We the People" for not raising hell unto these crooks