Back again... more on that later. So today, Huckleberry Graham managed to filibuster (gee, didn't the republicans want to end that practice?) a basic civil right enumerated in the US Constitution... the right to Habeus Corpus.
The Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2007, as the legislation wending its way through Congress is known, would not have been necessary but for these failures of Congress and the administration. But justice now demands passage of the measure, sponsored by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) and ranking Republican member Arlen Specter (Pa.). In the Senate, where debate commenced yesterday, the legislation has been attached as an amendment to a defense bill. A vote on the amendment is expected later this week.
The republicans love to cite the stripping of Habeus in "time of war" by Abraham Lincoln, personally I think that if Lincoln were alive today he'd move to Canada and pretend he never heard of Americans and certainly that he'd never heard of republicans.
So they've voted on cloture for Huckleberry's filibuster, and the American people lost 56-43, because 60 votes were needed to make that little fascist from South Carolina sit down (aren't you South Carolinians proud of ol'Huck?) I guess this is revenge for Ft Sumter or something.
Another sad, sad day for our Republic. You have to hope that someday grown-ups with spine will once again govern here. But I guess not (I'm looking at you Nancy and Harry) any time soon. The other funny thing is how folks like St John of the Keating Five likes to cite his sacrifice to "protect and defend" our rights, and then he votes against Habeus. Nice.
Vulnerable incumbents like Normy Coleman should also be especially remembered next year for their votes... it might not matter today, but next November, it will in a big way.
