Before I get to the office and the day gets busy, I wanted to note a website that I heard about when I turned on the TV while having my morning mug of strong coffee. It was the tale end of a segment on Joe Scarborough with Naomi Wolf that involved a discussion of the erosion of Constitution under Chimperator Bush and an organization that had been organized to resist the subversion of the Constitution and citizens' civil rights. The web address is: http://www.americanfreedomcampaign.org/
The organization's agenda is as follows: At critical moments in our history, Americans have been called upon to protect our Constitutional guarantees of liberty and justice. We face such a moment today. The American Freedom Campaign is a non-partisan citizens' alliance formed to reverse the abuse of executive power and restore our system of checks and balances with these ten goals:
1. Fully restore the right to challenge the legality of one's detention, or habeas corpus, and the right of detained suspects to be charged and brought to trial.
2. Prohibit torture and all cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
3. Prohibit the use of secret evidence.
4. Prohibit the detention of anyone, including U.S. citizens, as an "enemy combatant" outside the battlefield, and on the President's say-so alone.
5. Prohibit the government from secretly breaking and entering our homes, tapping our phones or email, or seizing our computers without a court order, on the President's say-so alone.
5. Prohibit the government from secretly breaking and entering our homes, tapping our phones or email, or seizing our computers without a court order, on the President's say-so alone.
6. Prohibit the President from "disappearing" anyone and holding them in secret detention.Prohibit the executive from claiming "state secrets" to deny justice to victims of government misdeeds, and from claiming "executive privilege" to obstruct Congressional oversight and an open government.
7. Prohibit the abuse of signing statements, where the President seeks to disregard duly enacted provisions of bills.
7. Prohibit the abuse of signing statements, where the President seeks to disregard duly enacted provisions of bills.
8. Use the federal courts, or courts-martial, to charge and prosecute terrorism suspects, and close Guantanamo down.
9. Reaffirm that the Espionage Act does not prohibit journalists from reporting on classified national security matters without fear of prosecution.
In my view, these are serious issues about which much of the American population is clueless.
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