Neocon no-no

At a Senate Judiciary hearing last Thursday, ultra-conservative U.S. Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, made a disturbing statement that put into question 250 years of interpretation of habeas corpus, the right to be protected from unlawful imprisonment . In response to a series of questions by republican Sen. Arlen Specter on the Military Commissions Act of 2006, Gonzales said, "The Constitution doesn't say every individual in the United States or a citizen is hereby granted or assured the right of habeas corpus ... It simply says the right shall not be suspended."\nIn plain English, the legal puppet of the Bush administration is asserting in an official context that American citizens may not actually have a right to due process protection from illegal searches and seizures or freedom of association, among other generally accepted rights. Because the wording of much of the Bill of Rights is an assertion of negative rights ("Congress shall make no law…") as opposed to positive rights ("citizens have the right to…"), then those rights we hold dear don't actually exist, he implied, and that the United States Congress cannot take away such rights. However, by stating that Congress cannot suspend certain rights, he acknowledged the existence of those rights de facto.\nLet me remind you that this terrifying and illogical interpretation of the Constitution is coming from the man responsible for defending the interests of the government (read: not you and me, but the popular electorate) in Supreme Court cases where the United States is a party. He was appointed by President Bush because his views reflect those adhered to by the administration. Not only that, but President Bush tried to push through this frightening, strict constructionist when both Justices O'Connor and Rehnquist's positions were vacated in the Supreme Court. \nPutting two and two together only further reveals what so many have alleged before, that the Bush administration has little regard for constitutional precedent and no interest in preserving the rights traditionally recognized therein. Though our president has the good-ol'-boy act down pat, I don't believe it for a second. He and his administration have been on an active power trip crusading against our civil liberties from day one. Though I doubt the conspiracy theories linking Sept. 11 to our president, his administration has certainly milked it for all it's been worth. Tapping our phones, violating our freedom of speech, surveying our bank records, censoring our media-- it's a veritable laundry list of offensive, power-hungry actions against our civil liberties, all in the name of national security. When those in charge, who have been given nearly free reign with the vagueness of wartime powers, refuse to recognize constitutionally-protected citizens' rights, it's time to be very afraid.\nLet's just pray for no more Supreme Court vacancies until the Bush administration is out. If anymore neoconservative, pseudo-fascist ideological permanence is allowed in the body responsible for protecting the intent of our founders and our civil liberties, we can all kiss our well-loved First, Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights goodbye.