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the suspension of habeas corpus is a de facto declaration of a state of emergency. i do not think that anyone wants to actually live under a state of emergency with george w bush at the helm.
that the supreme court failed to overturn this suspension outright is not a good thing (the combination of the two main decisions yesterday appears to have indicated an unease with the legal black hole of guantanamo and elsewhere with a concession of the state of emergency logic).
the assumption at work behind this sort of thing appears to be either (a) in paranoid times, it is best to sweep with a broad brush, without having to care about guilt or innocence--ruining lives is secondary to creating the illusion of action on the part of the state or (b) the Law is drawn to the guilty. the second is the more alarming--over and over again in talking with various conservatives, i have encountered a version of this attitude, which is somewhere between kafka and inquisition. and i have wondered how reasonable people can come to believe this. it still mystifies me----how is it that suspicion of "dangerous activities" comes to function as proof of them? i suppose that if you see things through the hysterical lens of bushworld, that "We" are in a war of survival with an ill-defined, omnipotent yet invisible Other over the american way of life in itself, then it might make some sense---but that rationale is itself a significant part of the problem.
the "intel" justification seems to be bullshit---i agree with choskins on this--and the kind of information being gathered and acted on seems nuts as well---not to mention racist:
friends of mine who happen to be egyptian american have been visited by the fbi several times because they have a photography darkroom in their basement--this of course requires chemicals to develop the photographs--because they are egyptian american, the interest in photography in hysterical times links to small streams of "intelligence" flowing around and suspicions being raised. but these are decent folk with whom no-one but the most racist would have any problem---had they not co-operated with the fbi investigating their darkroom and hobby practices, they could well have been arrested, and arrested under the same kind of ridiculous non-legal umbrella--obviously because they happen to fall under the racist category of the moment, having the bad form to be muslim etc.---and if that had happened, they would have found themselves without recourse to habeas corpus--what the hell is that? even supporters of bushworld should recognize that with the vague definitions of the "enemy" at play, there are going to be lots and lots of errors here---the only protection one has to the unlimited extension of state power is (not a gun) but the right to trial....
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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