Seven retired judges from both sides of the aisle filed papers with the U.S. Court of Appeals urging parts of the just signed Military Commissions Act to be declared unconstitutional.
The judges said stripping courts of the right to question how the military handles terrorism suspects "challenges the integrity of our judicial system" and effectively sanctions the use of torture.
Bingo! Anyone who has read the act can easily find disturbing language that opens a Hummer sized hole for both permanent detentions without trial and the use of torture. Thank heaven a few courageous leaders stepped in from the sidelines. It's time for more to come forward.
The Justice Department had no comment and has until November 13th to respond. My history with Justice Department response has been less than satisfactory. They completely blew off my concern about the White House leaving out the New Orleans hospital with the highest patient death toll post Hurricane Katrina. I’m sure The Carlyle Group’s lawyers appreciate the free pass given to their affiliate, LifeCare Hospitals in the President’s Lessons Learned report.
Justice’s Antitrust Division gets a second chance to respond as I contacted them with my concerns about our two local hospitals merging to form a new for-profit entity. The Bush healthcare “blanket party” is causing our long time nonprofit safety net hospital to throw in the towel. Will Justice do any better the second time around? Should I hold my breath the normal way or self waterboard?
No comments:
Post a Comment