Not Yet Time For Reconciliation

There is a lot of talk about reconciliation and bipartisanship going on right now. This is the last thing this country needs right now. The Democrats swept Congress and gained six Governors not so we can sit here and watch the war and the torture and the spying go on.

We need to press our newly elected members of the House and the Senate to repeal the Military Commissions Act that allows the torture of detainees and the indefinite detention of anyone the President of the United States deems to be an “Enemy Combatant.” This Act removes Habeas Corpus from our rights and must not stand.

We need to repeal H. R. 5122 SEC. 1076. USE OF THE ARMED FORCES IN MAJOR PUBLIC EMER- GENCIES. This law allows the President to over ride the Posse Comitatus The Posse Comitatus Act is a United States federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1385) passed in 1878 after the end of Reconstruction. The Act was intended to prohibit Federal troops from supervising elections in former Confederate states. It generally prohibits Federal military personnel and units of the United States National Guard under Federal authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity within the United States, except where expressly authorized by the Constitution or Congress. The Posse Comitatus Act and the Insurrection Act substantially limit the powers of the Federal government to use the military for law enforcement.

The original act referred only to the United States Army. The Air Force was added in 1956, and the Navy and the Marine Corps have been included by a regulation of the Department of Defense. This law is often mentioned when it appears that the Department of Defense is interfering in domestic disturbances. (From Wikipedia.)

We need to stop domestic spying without a warrant.After Bush decides to help us clean up his mess in Iraq; after he admits he was wrong to lie, torture and detain; after he makes certain that the torture and detentions have stopped then we can harbor thoughts about reconciliation. Until then he remains a criminal at large. Until then we must do what we must to resist him at every level of our society.