So I have to admit it's a rare occasion for me to cry-on-the-shoulder [via cell-phone] of my Uncle Brian for political comfort - but yesterday; I did just that. And I'm very glad I did - before I called I was pretty bad: angry, depressed, feeling powerless - and I still am on some
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level, but, thanks to Brian, in a way that I can cope with.
To explain: Yesterday I read that, after sitting on the legislation for two weeks, Bush finally signed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 into law. Which, without getting to lengthy, simply means that 9 of the 10 rights with-in the 'Bill of Rights' are gone... not suspended, not weakened, not re-worded... gone.
As of today... in the United States - a person can be thrown in jail or one of our who-knows-how-many secret prisons without trial... without evidence [or sorry, that's not entirely true, there is "evidence", but for reasons of national security it can never be show to the person detained or to any level of judicial review] for the rest of their lives by the President alone.
It's also worth mentioning that the person detained can be tortured to the point right-before permanent organ failure or death - and it also is worthy mentioning that the hundreds upon hundred of cases against the government by people who were wrongfully held and tortured by our government before Oct' 17th [a.k.a. - before it was legal] no longer have a leg to stand on in the courts. The act retroactively pardons all involved.
I just kept remembering sitting in history class during middle school, learning about the constitution - the Bill of Rights - Habeas Corpus. I can still remember that, I still remember half-paying attention as I stared out the windows overlooking Slee Road. I wonder if I would payed closer attention then if I had known that by the time I turned 25 those very same civil-rights would be gutted by our own government? I hope I would have.
When I called Brian he, at first, didn't recognize the bill by it's name - but when I mentioned Habeas Corpus he knew immediately what I was upset about, and he sounded just as stunned and scared as I was. It was strange, I felt such a relief in knowing that someone else out there was paying attention to this... that someone else understands how terrible and serious this is. I think all I needed to know was that I wasn't alone.
Then just before we said goodbye he made me laugh by having me look on the bright side of things, like for example, he said, "ok, so you don't have any civil rights but you still have your health, right?". I guess the only you can do sometimes is laugh at how amazing fucked this country has become. Either that or get in a car and drive to Canada.
If you're still reading this - I'm going to embed a clip of Keith Olbermann discussing this on Countdown, please take the time to watch.
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