un-American

I've tried to take a break from political awareness for a little while. After the heady change of power in November it quickly became apparent that the Democrats were either unwilling or unable (even with a majority) to do what their constituents want them to do, and frankly the reality of it all is too depressing.

This note in Balloon Juice, though, got me good and pissed again. I won't add to its analysis of the Military Commissions Act, only highlight two of the post's more poignant parts.

"Under the commissions act, the government may indefinitely detain foreigners who have been designed as “enemy combatants” and authorizes the CIA to use aggressive but undefined interrogation tactics."

and

While we can hope the Supreme Court overturns this nonsense, our best bet is to use the mechanism that created this mess- Congress and the President. Support legislation to reign in this authority, and refuse to vote for any candidate who will not work to overturn this garbage. To do anything else is to shirk your real duty as a patriot and a citizen, despite what the know-nothing scaremongers yell otherwise.

We need to be vigilant about this, and remember who voted how, no matter the reason; political compromise, or expediency, or whatever poor excuse may be spouted down the road. So, just for fun, I looked it up (Senate and House). For my readership of four in Michigan (hi, mom!), the vote was down party lines in the House, Blues against, Reds for - do with that what you wish. In the Senate, though, Democrat Debbie Stabenow voted for it (other Dem Levin, of course, did not), probably in a timid bid for centrism as she was in a tough race. Doesn't matter. We need people willing to stake their temporary jobs (really, she's not going any further in this industry) on their values and in this case we're talking about whether we think it is okay for a government (ours or someone else's as we kind of set the standard, internationally) to detain and torture, indefinitely, people that government doesn't like.

Bad juju on Stabenow and the Red Michigan Representatives.