Thursday Constitution blogging

Amendment VI

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

This means you aren't held forever without a trial.

You are entitled to a jury.

You know what you are accused of.

You know who accuses you.

You can use the force of the law to have people testify on your behalf.

You are entitled to legal counsel.

We have all seen enough cop shows and television trials to know most of this.

But what if the President says you are an enemy combatant? As things stand now, until someone effectively challenges this and changes us back to the status quo ante, you are fucked. None of this applies. Because the current president and his gang of thugs have decided they are above the Bill of Rights.

Here is your quiz for today: In whose name (by whose authority) is the Constitution of the United States promulgated?

a) God
b) the several States that make up the United States
c) the People
d) the Founding Fathers
e) the Flying Spaghetti Monster

See you here next week for more constitutional deliciousness!
--the BB

While thinking of our Armed Forces

And THANK YOU, all you who serve...

Let's remember why we call them to serve.

In the Preamble to the Constitution we find these words:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

[I figure I can't repeat them often enough.]

Not that Iraq's oil reserves have anything to do with our invasion and occupation....

Just sayin'.

SUPPORT OUR TROOPS! Bring them home. Don't send them on vague missions without concrete goals. Don't send them into battle except as a last resort. Don't send them inadequately armed and protected. Don't send them illegally. Don't take away their moral defense by promoting torture.

Bring them home. Be grateful for them. Take care of their health needs. Help them reintegrate with civilian society. AND GET THEM A NEW COMMANDER IN CHIEF. Stop troop abuse now. Stop the lies. Stop Cheney and Bush.



Posters courtesy of Old American Century
--the BB

Criminal conspiracy ... and for what?

It is a fact startling in its cynical simplicity and it requires cynical and simple words to be properly expressed: The presidency of George W. Bush has now devolved into a criminal conspiracy to cover the ass of George W. Bush.

All the petulancy, all the childish threats, all the blank-stare stupidity; all the invocations of World War III, all the sophistic questions about which terrorist attacks we wanted him not to stop, all the phony secrets; all the claims of executive privilege, all the stumbling tap-dancing of his nominees, all the verbal flatulence of his apologists...

All of it is now, after one revelation last week, transparently clear for what it is: the pathetic and desperate manipulation of the government, the refocusing of our entire nation, toward keeping this mock president and this unstable vice president and this departed wildly self-overrating attorney general, and the others, from potential prosecution for having approved or ordered the illegal torture of prisoners being held in the name of this country.

Thus begins Keith Olbermann's special comment from yesterday.

The United States of America tortures. George Walker Bush has structured our nation to allow this to happen. He stands before us and says America does not torture. He lies.

All the political kabuki going on in the Capitol is to protect Bush and his cronies.

They deserve no such protection.

They are criminals.

War criminals.

They have violated their oath to uphold and defend the Constitution.

Enough.

Impeach.

Now.

--the BB

Just for the record

I am outraged by the false outrage generated over Pete Stark's having spoken the truth on the floor of the House. Ever since shoving firecrackers up frogs' butts, George Bush has taken pleasure in blowing things up. We all know Bush is a narcissist incapable of empathy and untouched by the damage he does except as it affects him. Pete Stark was getting into only somewhat hyperbolic territory when he spoke in outrage of laments that we cannot afford S-CHIP:

“You don’t have money to fund the war or children. But you’re going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president’s amusement.”

Over the top? Absolutely. Might he have toned it down some? Of course. Does he owe the President an apology? Hell no! When Bush apologies for lying us into an unnecessary, illegal, immoral war that has wasted lives, shattered a country, and made the Unites States less safe, THEN it might be time to apologize to him.

Do we all recall the crack-addled fratboy making jokes about not finding WMD? Just what is so funny about exposing the bad intelligence and bad judgment that sent our troops to invade and occupy a country that was not threatening us (and then got our troops and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed)? Every time that sick SOB punctuates his illiterate, insulting speech with his nervous giggle, don't you wonder what happened to his soul somewhere along the line? (Well, considering his family situation one needn't wonder.)

Oh, and does Rep. Stark owe his colleagues an apology? Not in my opinion. His words hurt no one, and any harm consequent to his uttering them was caused by overreaction, not the words themselves.

Bush has so degraded the office of President of the United States that he can lay no claim to respect for the office so long as he is in it.

Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Welcome, friends, to Constitution Thursday!

Hope you've enjoyed the Iraq fiasco because the Iran nightmare is coming at us like a freight train and nobody is doing a damned thing to stop the crazies.
--the BB

The Supreme Law of the Land

Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

I'm just saying....

Article VI.
Clause 2: This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

[Are you listening, Congress? Do you remember this document, somewhere in the recesses of your memory?]
--the BB

It's the right thing to do