Sage asked ... Mediawingnuts replies ...

It seems to have started sometime before this event ...

Sage said in a comment in/on the previous posting:


"I wish you had given us a link to the article that you must be referring to as I am unaware of what you are talking about. Who is killing the HC concept?

7:01 PM"

First, to answer your question/request directly, here are a couple of links that I used in preparing the previous posting, plus one that's more recent (like today):

Link 1 Brings the matter of Habeas Corpus and the 48-51 defeat of Arlen Specter's amendment to the bill (the one now before GWB awaiting his signature) to us in a very personal way, I think.

Link 2 is a brief summary of the amendment proposed by Senators Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) that would have given suspected terrorists Writ of Habeas Corpus protections.

Link 3 is a somewhat biased view (biased towards life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness ... or something like that), but can be summed up by Christopher Anders' quote at the conclusion of the article. He is the legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union -- not one of my favorite organizations usually, but he made the following insightful statement, "Nothing could be less American than a government that can indefinitely hold people in secret torture cells, take away their protections against horrific and cruel abuse, put them on trial based on evidence they cannot see, sentence them to death based on testimony literally beaten out of witnesses, and then slam shut the courthouse door for any habeas corpus petition ... but that's exactly what Congress just approved."


Link 4 provides some insights into what the Jose Padilla (left) case was all about and what our Supreme Court had to say about it.

And yes, Jose Padilla is an American citizen ... although the Constitution of our country doesn't even require that!

A couple of additional quotes might help, Sage:

1. From the Magna Carta: Articles 38 and 39 of the Magna Carta said: "38 In future no official shall place a man on trial upon his own unsupported statement, without producing credible witnesses to the truth of it. 39 No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land."

2. In the Gospel of Matthew, Habeas Corpus was actually recognized, but not properly applied, when Pontius Pilate said to Jesus, "Do you not hear all of the evidence that is brought against you?"

[A total non sequitur ... Sage, if you don't mind my saying so, that was a superb quotation from the 1960's vintage Home Economics textbook on your blogsite. Where did you ever find it?]