Posted on 06/21/2002 2:58:14 PM PDT by Dawgsquat
God, I spend more time there than on Free Republic!
(but FR is almost as good)
We'll do the Teddy Roosevelt thing:
walk softly, carry a big stick used to smack some sense into 'em...har
I'm sure the news today, just after the Two Minutes of Hate, said we've always been at war with East Asia.
War is hell, if you don't want to be treated as a detainee, don't pi%% off the country so much that the congress authorizes the use of military force against you!
So, if the Supreme Court says so, it must be? 7-2 unborn humans may be murdered.
Pissing off the gov't is not against the law. Hating America is not against the law. Receiving training is not against the law. What laws did Padilla break? NONE!!! That is why he is a "combatant." Cite all the court decisions you want, I cite the 6th Amendment! That scumbag is a citizen, arrested on US soil by the CUSTOMS SERVICE!!!
We are also not at war. Where does the Constitution give the Congress the right to suspend trial by jury for a US citizen arrested out of a combat zone, in the US, who was carrying no contraband, and has killed nobody?
If Congress declared war the use of force against tax cheats, do travellers from the Caymans automatically become "combatants?"
What good is the Bill of Rights if it can be suspended by the whims of executive power?
In the 1860s the nation was on fire. In the 1940s we were fighting for survival. This is not even close to a real "crisis." You are advocating the suspension of the Constitution for no good reason (if there was a good reason ).
If you can find a better place to put the war power than in congress, feel free to try to amend to the constitution!
Meanwhile, don't be joining no group to wage war against Americans. You might find yourself up a Habeas Corpus proceeding without a paddle.
I'm happy with what the Founders accomplished. IMHO the reason you aren't is that you do not wish to be.
Meanwhile, don't be joining no group to wage war against Americans. You might find yourself up a Habeas Corpus proceeding without a paddle.
From the sounds of it, the gov't may find that it likes this little legal maneuver. With such, you may be labled a "combatant" anytime the gov't can't win its case.
Kinda like when the Left lables you a "racist." They only do it when they have lost the argument.
So, be good and sober when you're deciding to wage war on the U.S.
The Founders didn't like people who do that.
The appearance that the administration is making up the rules as it goes along (which is the only way I can make sense of that discrepancy) is disturbing indeed.
My understanding is that there are laws that allow forfeiture of citizenship for doing what Padilla is accused of doing. The key word, obviously, is "accused".
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