I hate when I forget to hit "post"

[solarbird]

I hate it when I forget to hit "post." Pretend this appeared last night rather than this morning, tho' I edited "today" into "Thursday" a couple of places so that it makes a little more sense on a Friday morning.

Thursday's miles: 2.1
Miles out of Hobbiton: 1327.7
Miles out of Rivendell: 862.7
Miles out of Lothlórien: 407.7
Miles to Rauros Falls: 1.1

On the McCain-Bush compromise: we need to see the whole thing. We need to see the actual law. CNN has a history of getting things wrong, but they're the only people getting particularly specific about this "deal" the Republican insurgency reached with the Bush administration. But there is one line in particular they are reporting that, if correct, makes the whole thing a sham: "the agreement explicitly gives the president 'the authority for the United States to interpret the meaning and application of the Geneva Conventions.'" And just as a backup, the Associated Press reports that the bill "bars individuals from protesting violations of Geneva Conventions standards in court."

In short: the Geneva Conventions mean whatever the hell the sitting president wants them to mean, and whether they might apply to someone, and might not - all depending upon his whim. And you have no legal recourse.

This is not law. Arbitrary imprisonment and exemption from the process of law is not the power of a president. This is so very, very far from "checks and balances" that I can no longer see the Constitution or the Federalist Papers from here. I can see a couple of the Anti-Federalist papers, though, like warning signs we long passed but the shadows of which still trail along the ground behind us. And that's just a damn shame.

But still, we need to see the actual resulting bill, and then the compromise bill. Hopefully CNN and the Associated Press - the only people reporting this part as of Thursday night - got it wrong. CNN, after all, isn't what you'd call "highly reliable." Maybe there are details in the language that makes it look like one thing but actually be another. Hopefully we'll find out Friday.

Comments

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

What ever happens there will be a Signing Statement which gives Bush the right to do whatever he damn well pleases. He has no respect for the law and just uses it to give him to the right to trample Everyone.
They are just rushing this through before the election recess so that if the Democrats take over, they can claim Bush Didn't break the law and can't be impeached, even though a Republican Circuit Court has already said he has done so.
Karl Rove Marches On!

[llachglin.livejournal.com]

I'm completely demoralized by this whole debate. Take a look at the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/21/AR2006092101647.html) on the compromise just reached:

The bad news is that Mr. Bush, as he made clear yesterday, intends to continue using the CIA to secretly detain and abuse certain terrorist suspects. He will do so by issuing his own interpretation of the Geneva Conventions in an executive order and by relying on questionable Justice Department opinions that authorize such practices as exposing prisoners to hypothermia and prolonged sleep deprivation. Under the compromise agreed to yesterday, Congress would recognize his authority to take these steps and prevent prisoners from appealing them to U.S. courts. The bill would also immunize CIA personnel from prosecution for all but the most serious abuses and protect those who in the past violated U.S. law against war crimes.

The Congress is folding and letting the president do whatever the hell he wants, and the compromise does nothing substantive to block him. Previously, the Congress could argue that the president was acting outside of the law. By passing a law anything like the current compromise, they're making themselves equally culpable. They're abdicating their role as a check on executive power, and transforming themselves into a rubber stamp for torture.

This is so bad I cannot accept it's happening. I keep thinking it will somehow be sabotaged in conference or voted down. It can't pass, I keep telling myself. But it looks like whatever passes will in fact put the Congress on the record for the first time as condoning torture. The current practice of torture will continue, and probably, given the nature of such things, greatly expand.

I'm ashamed for my country today.