SUPREME COURT GIVES BACK WHAT’S BEEN MISSING: RIGHTS
By Schuyler ThorpeAuthor and Political ActivistThis week’s ruling in the Supreme Court dealt what many see as a severe setback in denying these 270 detainees their rights under the criminally negligent,
Bush administration.
Yes, that’s right:
Detainee rights.
Not prisoners of war. Not captured enemy soldiers.
Detainees.
Remember that word and let it roll around in your head for a second:
Detainees.
Go ahead. Say it one more time with me kids:
Detainees.Have you heard enough yet? I sincerely hope so. Because this travesty will be with us for decades to come. It’ll become a blotched stain on our nation’s history–as a country whom
upheld the rule of law and was a foresworn runner of all things
freedom, democracy, and
rights.
Need some more convincing?
Then let me explain.
Someone whom is
detained by the cops for questioning and or suspected of a crime are
always given their rights under our laws. It’s been the bedrock principle in our nation’s illustrious history ever since George Washington became this nation’s first President.
Our founding fathers made it so that the
Constitution was a solvent document that could be used to keep our nation and its government alive and in check.
But ever since 2001, the Bush administration had taken upon themselves to ignore that fragile document and become masters and kings themselves;
without just cause.Simply by
detaining 270 terror suspects in a camp not on US soil is against every standing law created by this country since its inception.
But to deny them their rights and hold them indefinitely without trial or charge?
Not even the most
egregious regime on this planet does these things! They recognize that in order to be convicted of a crime, you have to be
charged with such said crimes and then be giving your rights under law!
But sadly, the Bush administration has made their intent quite clear:
We don’t recognize your stinking laws! We’ll do whatever we damn well please, and you’re going to like it!
The victory handed down by the Supreme Court is a direct slap in the face to Bush–by the very judges that he himself had appointed to tip the court vastly to the right.
To inherently
validate every crime that this bastard government had committed so vagrantly these last 8 years.
Denying people their rights is just another nail in this administration’s coffin.
And history will not be so kind to them–once the next administration takes over and starts digging into the last two terms of this corrupt one.
Schuyler Thorpe is an author, a political activist, and a frequent letter writer to The Everett Herald of Snohomish County. He can be reached at: starchildalpha1 at yahoo.comLabels: Bush administration, detainee rights, President Bush, Supreme Court ruling
MYANMAR JUST ANOTHER KATRINA EXAMPLE
By Schuyler ThorpeAuthor and Political ActivistAlmost 3 years to the day, New Orleans was devastated by a Category 5 storm.
Almost 3 years to that fateful day, the Bush administration did everything in its power to
forget the people of New Orleans.
Forget the French quarter. Forget the people of the 9th Ward.
Nearly three years later, New Orleans is nowhere near its former glory–but the people there are still struggling to rebuild:
Without the help of the federal government.
Because our government had essentially abandoned them to their fate.
But it doesn’t mean we (the people) have forgotten how the Bush administration has neglected and forgotten a major US city–destroyed by a natural disaster aggravated by the effects of increasing climate change and/or global warming.
Even if Bush has.Three years later, a powerful cyclone named Nargis made landfall along the coast of Myanmar–formally known as Burma–going from a Category 1 to a Category 4 storm seemingly overnight; then slamming into the coast with unrelenting ferocity.
Death toll? Some estimates are placing the overall tragedy at 100,000+.
With over two million displaced, the Myranmarese government controlled by an unforgiving military junta has essentially left its own people to a fate worse than death.
Much like the Bush administration, the military junta controlling Burma’s democratically elected government has turned
indifferent to the people’s needs; rather instead
focusing on ways to entrench its power and position at the expense of the people it is supposed to serve.
While the people of New Orleans was warned of Katrina’s approach, the military junta did not warn its people and thus far have been inclined to help their people or accept foreign aid from outside sources–especially the US.
And that has become not only a crime of gross negligence, but a crime against
humanity itself.
It must not continue. Either here at home or abroad.Schuyler Thorpe is an author, a political activist, and a frequent letter writer to The Everett Herald of Snohomish County. He can be reached at: starchildalpha1 at yahoo.comLabels: Bush administration, Katrina, military junta, Myranmar
TERRORISTS AREN’T THE THREAT–OUR GOVERNMENT IS
By Schuyler ThorpeAuthor and Political ActivistThanks to the bastard legislation–known as the
Patriot Act–our government is now worse of a threat to our own civil liberties than any terrorist we are supposed to fear like a scared little mouse.
The Bush administration contends that it has the
right to spy on us without any legality in place, no checks or balances, no
nothing that demands any oversight. (Kinda like the failed war in Iraq right now. Paul Bremer ring a bell?)
Because if they don’t–as Bush claims–Al-Qaeda will rain down hellfire and brimstone down on us.
Well, since the provisions of the
Protect America Act had expired 2 weeks ago…
nothing has happened.
No attack by Al-Qaeda. No nothing.
Curiously enough, Bush is silent on the matter. Where is his bravado now? Where is his righteousness that spells out all the doom and gloom–if he doesn’t get to spy on us right this very
moment?
Funny thing about law: Once it is in place, even an “above the law” President is contend to follow it–even if he doesn’t like it!
So maybe there are some checks and balances left in place–which haven’t been trampled yet by the Bush administration.
But tell that to the FBI.
Turns out they are worse gross violators of the law than the President is. Under secrecy and covert operations, this little outfit has now replaced the “Dirty Harry” of the mob and done away with being an organization which once prided itself with being thorough and fearless.
Through
national security letters, it has gone after just about
anyone it sees fit–even if they are innocent.
E-mail? Regular mail? Bank records? Everything and anything is fair game to them. It doesn’t matter if you are suspected of being affiliated with Al-Qaeda or not.
The FBI has your number. Quite literally.Director Robert Mueller says that they’ve done nothing improper and that everything is within the law.
Right.And this is the reason why the agency violated the law between 2003 and 2006–misusing the national security letter protocols on such levels that it is
beyond baffling?
Sure, it’s so easy to blame human error when overzealousness is clearly involved.
In this case–not seen since the McCarthy era–both our own government and the FBI is now treating
everyone from every walk of life as the
enemy and a distinct
threat to the nation as a whole.
Which is why they have been so adamant that we allow them to ignore the laws set forth by past administrations, the canon principles set forth by our own Constitution, and the overall definition of what a democracy should act and function like in the real world.
They need to act
above common decency and right–in order to protect us from our own worse fears.
And that…makes them a much bigger threat than any terrorist on the planet.
Schuyler Thorpe is an author, a political activist, and a frequent letter writer to The Everett Herald of Snohomish County. He can be reached at: starchildalpha1 at yahoo.comLabels: Al-Qaeda, Bush administration, civil liberties, FBI, illegal spying, Patriot Act, rights
GOVERNMENT AND FEDERAL BANK CLUELESS ON RECESSION
By Schuyler ThorpeAuthor and Political ActivistIf we all paid attention to what top economists and Alan Greenspan is saying–we’d be still waiting for the recession which has already gripped us all.
Forget waiting till the end of next year–when Greenspan’s forecasts suggest only a 1.5 percent GDP or less for the final three months of 2008–
look at what’s happening now.
Now is more important than trying to see into the future by a full year.
We are in the throes of a recession–whether the clueless Fed or the stubborn Bush administration wants to admit it or not.
10 months ago, preliminary housing data suggested a downturn which the Fed, the government, and Wall Street basically
ignored–despite persistent prodding from many outsiders to stabilize the housing market through sound fiscal intervention and a strengthening of the dollar–to give homeowners and the average American consumer reassurances and breathing room.
But they didn’t.Summer of the 2007 gave what many had hoped was a
wake up call to Wall Street, but that hope was short lived; as the fear melted away and stock brokers resumed their parochial fantasies that everything was still bright and peachy-keen.
Nevermind the fact that the dollar was steadily losing value and foreign investors were jumping ship left and right.
The Fed’s response in the next three months?
Drop interest rates–the single-handedly most
boneheaded move that the central bank could ever make!
The subsequent drops in interest rates haven’t made any difference on the housing meltdown or the credit crunch, but it certainly has made a
dramatic impact on the purchasing power of the dollar.
Basic essentials are now more costly than they were five years ago. With wages depressed and inflation reaching new all-time highs, living on what you have becomes more of a challenge for those who barely have enough as it is.
And oil and energy prices are continuing their staggering climb towards $100 a barrel, with $4 gas not too far off into the distant future.
But the government’s response to this?
Nothing to help America overall. Nope.
Just 220,000 homeowners out of the estimated 3.3 million that are affected by the housing crisis–based on a ridiculous plan that does little to assist the majority with their mortgage problems. (But what would you
expect from the Bush administration? This asshole government has been nothing more of a hindrance for the average consumer than a real-life godsend these days!)
And this trend is already having a devastating impact on the average consumer’s lifestyles.
With housing numbers falling to the lowest levels in 12 years, the cost of renting an apartment has skyrocketed dramatically; forcing many people to re-evaluate their place of living.
But the high demand for affordable housing may become a thing of the past; as tent cities have sprung up in some parts of the country–mainly because people on limited or fixed income cannot find a place to live.
Even those in foreclosure status may not be safe from the specter of becoming homeless themselves.
And the Fed’s new move for the new year?
More interest rate cuts. Not what this nation and economy desperately needs.
But tell that to the five banks whom (collectively) injected almost a half-trillion dollars of liquid funds into the US’s sagging banking system in an effort to shore up its loan and hedge fund operations.
Money isn’t what this nation needs to get back on its feet. It needs sound fiscal policy and responsibility. It needs the Fed to stop with its interest rate cuts and start shoring up the dollar.
Or this recession–which has gripped this nation for the betterment of the last five months or so–will only get progressively
worse, and not better as government officials are so optimistic about.
Schuyler Thorpe is an author, a political activist, and a frequent letter writer to The Everett Herald of Snohomish County. He can be reached at: starchildalpha1 at yahoo.comLabels: Bush administration, credit crunch, Federal Reserve Bank, government, housing meltdown, recession
