Due Process, Equal Protection
Today is Monday, 9 July 2007.
On this date in 1868, the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States (one of the three “Reconstruction Amendments”) was ratified.
The key provision is found in Section 1:
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
Two points are made here. African-Americans are full citizens, and everyone, citizen or not, are entitled to due process and equal protection of the law.
It is the latter which is under attack by the renegade Bush-Cheney regime. For example, the latter claims jurisdiction over anyone detained or kidnapped anywhere in the cosmos on suspicion of involvement in “terrorism”, yet claims the 14th Amendment applies only as the regime allows. The assertion and acceptance by some courts, that the Guantanamo concentration camp does not constitute an area under USA/USE jurisdiction, is laughable.
Are not military and civilians at Guantanamo subject to USA/USE jurisdiction, law, and domination? Of course.
This is the famous “slippery slope”: if the Bush-Cheney regime can deny due process of law to “Them”, the regime will, when necessary, deny due process of law to all of us.
As Rev. Martin Neimoeller, a German pastor who started out a good German nationalist, then saw the light and ended up in a concentration camp, said:
"In Germany, first they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist, so I did not speak out.
Then they came for the Social Democrats, but I was not a Social Democrat, so I did nothing.
Then came the trade unionists, but I was not a trade unionist.
And then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did little.
By the time they came for me, there was no one left who could stand up for me."
___________________________________________
Ironically, also on this date, in 1951, the novelist Dashiell Hammet was sent to federal prison for the "crime" of refusing to testify before the terroristic entity known as the "House Committee on Un-American Activities".
___________________________________________
Will irony never cease?
On this date in 1797, died political philosopher Edmund Burke.
This quote is fitted for Bush-Cheney: "The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse".
___________________________________________
Impeach, convict, imprison!
On this date in 1868, the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States (one of the three “Reconstruction Amendments”) was ratified.
The key provision is found in Section 1:
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
Two points are made here. African-Americans are full citizens, and everyone, citizen or not, are entitled to due process and equal protection of the law.
It is the latter which is under attack by the renegade Bush-Cheney regime. For example, the latter claims jurisdiction over anyone detained or kidnapped anywhere in the cosmos on suspicion of involvement in “terrorism”, yet claims the 14th Amendment applies only as the regime allows. The assertion and acceptance by some courts, that the Guantanamo concentration camp does not constitute an area under USA/USE jurisdiction, is laughable.
Are not military and civilians at Guantanamo subject to USA/USE jurisdiction, law, and domination? Of course.
This is the famous “slippery slope”: if the Bush-Cheney regime can deny due process of law to “Them”, the regime will, when necessary, deny due process of law to all of us.
As Rev. Martin Neimoeller, a German pastor who started out a good German nationalist, then saw the light and ended up in a concentration camp, said:
"In Germany, first they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist, so I did not speak out.
Then they came for the Social Democrats, but I was not a Social Democrat, so I did nothing.
Then came the trade unionists, but I was not a trade unionist.
And then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did little.
By the time they came for me, there was no one left who could stand up for me."
___________________________________________
Ironically, also on this date, in 1951, the novelist Dashiell Hammet was sent to federal prison for the "crime" of refusing to testify before the terroristic entity known as the "House Committee on Un-American Activities".
___________________________________________
Will irony never cease?
On this date in 1797, died political philosopher Edmund Burke.
This quote is fitted for Bush-Cheney: "The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse".
___________________________________________
Impeach, convict, imprison!
posted by HH at 2:37 PM
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