A new Dawn Part 2: The Return of Liberties and the Rule of Law

I was encouraged by evidence of a New Dawn reading about the groundswell within the US Senate to restore lost liberties and bring back the rule of law.

Adam Cohen, writing on the editorial page of today’s New York Times, reports of progress made by US Senators, even before the new President takes office. Lead by Democratic Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, the effort has included a Senate hearing back in September – long before Barack Obama won the election – when law professors, lawyers and civil libertarians outlined the challenges.

Senator Feingold prepared a list of key actions. Quoting from Mr. Cohen’s article, these include:

• “… amending the Patriot Act”
• “… giving detainees greater legal protection”
• “… banning torture, cruelty and degrading treatment”
• “…amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to restore limits on domestic spying”
• rolling “back the Bush Administration’s dedication to classifying government documents.”

Senator Feingold concedes that it will not be easy to restore the rule of law. As Mr. Cohen reports: “Many programs, like domestic spying and extraordinary rendition – the secrete transfer of detainees to foreign countries where they are harshly interrogated – have operated in the shadows.” (In actuality, the practice of extraordinary rendition started in the Clinton Administration.)

The time to act is early in the Obama Administration. The Bush Administration distorted the intent of the Constitution through the unlawful expansion of the powers of the executive. Through the practices of torture, detention without trial, and extraordinary rendition, it defamed the reputation of the US as a beacon of freedom and defender of human rights throughout the world.

When it comes to President-Elect Obama restoring liberties and the rule of law, I’m hoping: “Yes, he can!”

Reference: Cohen, Adam, "Democratic Pressure on Obama to Restore the Rule of Law," New York Times, Nov. 14, 2008, p. A28;
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/14/opinion/14fri4.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Adam%20Cohen%20Rule%20of%20Law&st=cse&oref=slogin

7 Words You Shouldn't Say on the Phone or E-mail

The late comedian George Carlin has a hilarious routine about the 7 words you can't say on TV. Well, thanks to the Bush administration and a weak Congress, you better watch out when making international calls! See below for a list of 7 words you shouldn't say on an international call or e-mail.

The Administration now has broad powers to listen to any international call or e-mail. You might think they would focus on known or suspected terrorists or other bad guys. But the law is broad and the Feds could take the approach of sifting through the entire haystack looking for one needle.

So, on international calls and e-mails, the "Santa Rule" applies: "you better watch out." Don't say anything that sounds like you're a friend of any known or suspected terrorist group or others who may be up to no good.

Here's 7 words to start the list of what not to say:
1. bomb
2. Al-Qaeda
3. Taliban
4. jihad
5. Allāhu Akbar (God is great)
6. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (president of Iran)
7. Death to America

Please add others to the list.

And remember, thanks to the Bush administration, free speach is limited! Practice it only when you're sure the Feds. aren't listening.

Brief side story: An Iranian friend of the family, a medical doctor, came to the US for a better life and because he had to be very careful of what he said in Iran, least he be arrested for critizing the government. So I ask you, why is the US becoming more like Iran than like the land of freedon we were meant to be?