They Passed It...

In a purely self-centred rush of emotion, I thought, Thank goodness I didn't go to the US for grad school...

So it seems as though the US has tossed out habeas corpus, most of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, all in one fell swoop. The New York Times, not exactly a bastion of radical leftist thought, has some very pungent opinion in an op-ed today. Glenn Greenwald, the blogosphere's best legal writer, gives an exegesis, which reads in part:

even if there were a habeas corpus right inserted back into the legislation (which is unlikely at this point anyway), it wouldn't matter much, if at all, because the law would authorize your detention simply based on the DoD's decree that you are an enemy combatant, regardless of whether it was accurate. This is basically the legalization of the Jose Padilla treatment -- empowering the President to throw people into black holes with little or no recourse, based solely on his say-so. ... And as a result, we are now about to vest in the President the power to order anyone -- U.S. citizen, resident alien or foreign national -- detained indefinitely in a military prison regardless of where they are -- U.S. soil or outside of the country.

Given the cavalier treatment of the Arar case by the US government (when approached by the Canadian government in response to Monia Mazigh's complaints, their reaction was basically, "So? And?", not to mention their exonerating their drugged-up pilot for dropping ordnance on our soldiers in Afghanistan!), we can expect more of the same in the future. Isn't it about damn time we kicked Bush's Canadian clone out of 24 Sussex Drive and put someone in there who isn't inclined to open their mouth and smile when the US shits all over us?

In any case, since I have a first name that is one of the most common ones for Muslim women (spelling and all), even though I'm not Muslim and my last name is depressingly white, and I always get called out for extra searches when going through airports (despite being a totally conscientious veteran flyer), I don't think I'll be visiting any time soon.

Update: Greetings to everyone visiting from Unclaimed Territory! Please take Glenn's word over mine; he's a lawyer and a better political writer than I am. If, on the other hand, you're inclined to stay and look around at all, I recommend What Happened in 1996? and the Streetcar Series (links in sidebar). Thank you for visiting. Come again sometime, if you like.