Baby blog, interrupted
This is not a political blog. You all probably have your favorite such and don't need another. But tonight I had to post on something that profoundly affects Edith's future, and yours and mine: the Senate's craven vote today in favor of Senate Bill 3930. This bill was President Bush's proposal. It grants his administration the right to arrest, detain, and torture anyone anywhere that it deems an "enemy combatant," including U.S. residents. People so labeled have no recourse to civilian courts or to any of the fundamental legal protections granted by the Constitution.
Both of my senators, Frank Lautenberg (D) and Robert Menendez (D), voted in favor of the bill. Senator Menendez will not receive my vote in November. I am suspending my contributions to the DNC. I urge those of you who live in New Jersey and other states whose senators voted in favor of this disastrous bill to write them immediately voicing your dissent. Admittedly, it would have been much better to raise a protest before the vote. Nevertheless, Congress needs to hear from American citizens that they cannot continue to sell out the Constitution to save their own hides--and hope to continue to represent us.
Congress is charged with acting as a check on the executive branch, and each member of Congress, with upholding the Constitution. Today it absolved itself of both those responsibilities.
The New York Times ran a scathing editorial today that analyzes the bill's flaws point-by-point. Please read it.
6 comments:
A perfectly acceptable reason for interrupting the baby blog. Thanks for sharing the Times editorial.
This is the sort of thing where I typically say to myself, at least I'm living in Massachusetts. My senators being who they are, it was a pretty safe bet they'd vote against this particular bill. It's nice to know they will pretty much always vote the way I feel.
I share your outrage, regardless. Let's keep our fingers crossed over the outcome of the upcoming midterm elections, shall we?
When I lived in Massachusetts, I never knew whether to be glad or frustrated that my representatives usually voted as I would. On the one hand, of course, I was glad to be represented as I would want to be represented. On the other hand, it left me feeling like I had fewer options for voicing dissent when the overall vote looked like it would go the other way. As Tom has reminded me repeatedly, the first thing a legislator does in response to an appeal is to check whether the author is a constituent. If not, the appeal is almost always trashed without a glance. Sometimes it seems like the most useful place to live, if one could stomach it, would be Texas.
Damn right. Thanks for posting this.
And I know exactly what you mean about the pros and cons of living in MA. I sometimes think about using my old address in PA-- not to vote, of course, but just to write the PA senators (one of whom I was glad to hear standing up and voicing dissent) and let them know how I felt.
... just checked, though, and Specter still voted Yea. Coward.
I hate to be so partisan, but remember that Menendez is in a tight race this fall, and that having a suboptimal Dem in there is much better than a repub. If we want to retake the senate we can't have Reds winning a seat in our blue state.
Honestly, hobokener, I'm beyond faith in the Democratic Party. Last week's vote looks to me like the total abrogation of Constitutional responsibility by the party at large. I don't find them markedly different from their opponents and don't see that we will be better off by their staying in power. But feel free to try to convince me otherwise.
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