Coming to a County Near You: Habeas Vote Nullification

Warning from a favorite informed Democracy Activist friend of mine:

Reflections on Dorothy Fadiman's "Stealing America, Vote By Vote": "Well, on June 6, 2006, or 6-6-6, the mark of the beast visited our democratic elections. Not only did we have the dreaded but expected secret vote counting, but in a very close election with recount requests and election contests on the way, the Speaker of the House chose to swear in Brian Bilbray as the Congressman from the 50th! This was a selection, not an election. They actually filed a motion saying no court or anyone else even had power to look into the election now that the speaker had essentially indicated his preference of candidate. We called this what it is: ELECTION NULLIFICATION AND ELECTION TERMINATION.

They claimed article I section 5 of the constitution providing that congress shall judge the qualifications of its members, means that Congress can ignore the state's role to implement and supervise both counts and recounts, as expressly provided in the paragraph immediately before section 5, in article I section 4. Prior to the election, everyone expected that the state would do the count and the recount. If you recall the arguments made by Republicans in Florida 2000, they screamed at the top of their lungs the mostly misleading claim that rules were being made up after the fact for the election, which was illegal. Here, they had no problem changing all the rules of recounts including whether one could even be had, and destroying citizen rights generally. "

--snip--

IF they will do this kind of stuff way out in the open, intentionally, and without remorse or regret, might Dorothy Fadiman's film, which concerns the limited but compelling evidence of what is happening under conditions of secret electronic vote counting, be RIGHT ON THE MONEY? Might they do MUCH MORE with the benefit of secrecy to protect them than they did in open court in San Diego's 50th?

We've appealed to the 4th Division of California's court of appeals but I make a further appeal to all of you: Do not think for a moment that things as popular as freedom and democracy will stay without a struggle. One person's freedom is another's irresponsible act, and another person's democratic decision was the ill-informed decision of people who watched too many misleading political ads. In short, freedom and democracy are always under attack by PEOPLE WHO HAVE BETTER IDEAS and are therefore willing to enforce them.

At 9:15 a.m. on Tuesday October 17, 2006 President Bush will sign the Military Commissions Act of 2006, providing for military courts where citizens rights to ask why they are being held in jail and whether that detention is legal or not are ELIMINATED. This is called the elimination of habeas corpus, around in some form as a limit on the power of the kind since the Magna Carta in 1215. Fighting terrorism is a better idea than freedom, folks. The bill will also legalize many forms of torture, but since it also authorizes the President to interpret all international law, it is already apparent that the President intends no limits be put on his Administration in these areas. Even the most conservative justice Antonin Scalia wrote in the case of Hamdan which the Military commissions act tries to reverse, that "the very core of liberty under our Anglo Saxon system of laws is the right to be free from the fear of indefinite detention at the will of the Executive." Habeas corpus is the writ that protects this principle. On Tuesday October 17, 2006 at 915 a.m. PST the very core of liberty comes to an end. There is no such thing as partly free.

Do you not find it odd, that tomorrow at 6 AM, the Constitution will be "executed" and the United States of America taken by a coup without a single defending shot? Is it true, that you get the democracy you deserve--and this is what you deserve--the end of it?