Democracy Has Prevailed.

October 22, 2007

Hey, Look at What Ron Paul (R-TX) Did!

On October 15th, he introduced a bill he's calling the "American Freedom Agenda Act of 2007"

You can read the bill (which was referred to the House Judiciary, Armed Services, Foreign Affairs, and Intelligence Committees) here.

Some curious provisions. On military commissions:

(a) The Military Commissions Act of 2006 is hereby repealed.

(b) The President is authorized to establish military commissions for the trial of war crimes only in places of active hostilities against the United States where an immediate trial is necessary to preserve fresh evidence or to prevent local anarchy.

(c) The President is prohibited from detaining any individual indefinitely as an unlawful enemy combatant absent proof by substantial evidence that the individual has directly engaged in active hostilities against the United States, provided that no United States citizen shall be detained as an unlawful enemy combatant.

(d) Any individual detained as an enemy combatant by the United States shall be entitled to petition for a writ of habeas corpus under section 2241 of title 28, United States Code.

On those "signing statements":
The House of Representatives and Senate collectively shall enjoy standing to file a declaratory judgment action in an appropriate Federal district court to challenge the constitutionality of a presidential signing statement that declares the President's intent to disregard provisions of a bill he has signed into law because he believes they are unconstitutional.
And so on. It bans torture and kidnapping and the use of secret evidence to designate someone an "foreign terrorist." You mean that's allowed now?

I've already written on some other less attractive bills the Congressman has introduced and I am reminded that as this bill just focuses on some aspects of the "War on Terror", it has nothing to say about privacy (medical or otherwise) or any other domestic issue.

On its face, though, it's a good start on the road back.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

He's got balls. Altmire doesn't.

It is clear that Nancy and her lieutenants (stinks of Steny's and Rahm's work to be honest) forced Stark to back off, with Broderesque nonsense of "we have a winning issue with SCHIP, stop giving the Republicans a way out of dealing with a losing issue for them".

I really am at wit's end here. Every single time we speak truth, from Durbin's comparing Abu Graib to torture camps, to Stark's point about this war being for Dubya's sole benefit (since it clearly isnt in the national interest of the country), we get punched in the face by the jackals on the right and in the complicit traditional media, and STILL we dont learn the lesson.

What the hell do we do?

UPDATE: This is truly pathetic. From Down With Tyranny 5 Dems voted with Pubs to condemn Rep. Stark (D-CA), and 8 voted present. Here is the list of the 5 who voted to condemn their fellow Democrat for speaking truth to power (all freshmen in red districts):

Jason Altmire (PA), still not kicked off the DCCC Front Line list

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/10/23/12430/705