Feb 22, 2007

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.

1 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

Stabenow's vote didn't make any fucking sense. Her race wasn't even that close. Certainly not close enough to warrant the neutering of habeas corpus.

I called both Levin's and Stabenow's offices just prior to that vote. Whomever it was I spoke to in Levin's office impressed me quite a bit. He explained that they have a policy of not announcing their vote beforehand, but I was pretty obvious about my stance, so he assured me (in a subtle *wink* kind of way) that Levin would be voting the right way. I love Carl Levin. It's nice having at least one representative in the Senate who I don't have to worry about which way he's going to vote.

All I got from Stabenow's office was a "no comment", and no one ever responded to the email I sent afterward, in which I let her know how disappointing her decision was. I think she got a lot of flack for that one, because usually I at least get a form letter back. Hopefully she doesn't try anything like that again. We're watching.

*sticks bad juju pins a stabenow shaped rag doll*

10:02 AM  

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