Something I’ve not talked about much on my personal blog, is politics. I love politics, when it comes to Presidential vote time, I get excited at the process of Democracy. But this is another story. Also another story is how much I love Ayan Rand and why I’m a fan of Doug Mataconis @ Below The Beltway. Anyway, more on all that later, a recent post of Doug’s freaked me out. Mind you, I want the bad guys caught as much as the next person but not at the expense of our civil liberties and the constitution. I am a firm believer in our Constitution and Democracy.
Repost from Doug’s Blog “John McCain Declares War on the Fifth Amendment”:
Only hours after Faisal Shahzad was taken in to custody at Kennedy Airport, John McCain was on the air suggesting we deny him his civil liberties:
It would have been a serious mistake to have read the suspect in the attempted Times Square car bombing his Miranda rights, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Tuesday.
McCain, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and a longtime leading Republican on national security issues, said he expected the suspect in the case could face charges that might warrant a death sentence if convicted.
“Obviously that would be a serious mistake…at least until we find out as much information we have,” McCain said during an appearance on “Imus in the Morning” when asked whether the suspect, 30-year-old Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized American citizen from Pakistan.
“Don’t give this guy his miranda rights until we find out what it’s all about,” McCain added.
McCain isn’t alone in jumping the gun:
Rep. Peter King (N.Y.), the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, wants to know whether the Justice Department consulted with the intelligence community.
“I hope that [Attorney General Eric] Holder did discuss this with the intelligence community. If they believe they got enough from him, how much more should they get? Did they Mirandize him? I know he’s an American citizen but still,” King told POLITICO.
“I hope that if they did read him his rights and if they are going for an indictment as opposed to a tribunal that he did discuss it with the Director of National Intelligence, the Central Intelligence Agency, all the component parts of the intelligence community,” King said.
(…)
King acknowledged that Shahzad’s case is different. “It is different from the Christmas day bombing because one this guy is an American citizen, it appears that most of the work was carried out here in the United States as opposed to Abdulmutallab who was flying in,” King said. “That said, before there’s a rush to indict him, I think they should make an effort to figure out what is the best venue for him.”
That sound you hear is the Constitution of the United States being run through a shredder.
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Not sure why I hadn’t posted this back in January but a friend recently friended the Earl Blumenaur page on Facebook and it reminded me. I live in Washington and Blummy represents in Oregon, he wouldn’t even chat with me over email on this. His stock (staff’s) response was that I wasn’t in his constituency so he wanted me to talk to my representatives. I call this BS, a lobbiest from where ever can represent a topic from his area and talk to him but living near isn’t good enough. Anyway, this public official used our money to enjoy himself in Copenhagen and it irritates me. Here’s the letter to Obama but the same was sent to Earl and all the other elected officials who abused our public funds:
FROM THE DESK OF
KRISTIAN L VOCKLER
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