powwow

The United States is clearly not at war with Yemen. Yemen is working to apprehend and bring to justice alleged international criminals on its territory, as the U.S. Department of Defense concedes (and apparently financially and operationally supports). And Yemen has now officially confirmed that it granted, but has since withdrawn, permission for selective U.S. bombing of its territory. In these circumstances, our government’s disproportionate targeting of Anwar Al-Awlaki for summary execution in Yemen, as publicly reported by multiple outlets, seems to clearly amount to an Executive attempt to “outlaw” Al-Awlaki – something that the U.S. President has no Constitutional authority or power to do.

The D.C. Circuit federal appeals court, backed by the Supreme Court’s inaction, continues to threaten the independent judiciary’s role in checking the Executive’s unilateral imprisonment of suspected non-citizen armed conflict participants – this time by allowing the immediate rendition to Algeria of an unlawfully-detained Guantanamo prisoner against his wishes, though he fears for his life if sent to Algeria, a nation he left behind more than fifteen years ago.

A farewell to the longest-serving federal legislator in American history, Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia. Including excerpts from the tributes of his colleagues, and recommending that certain modern abusive practices be ended to restore the true glory of the institution he loved, served, and defended so well for so long – the United States Senate.

On Thursday, June 24, 2010, the Obama Justice Department will be arguing against ACORN and the Center for Constitutional Rights in a hearing in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, in an attempt to uphold the ACORN funding bans passed by Congress in 2009 that were deemed in December, 2009 and March, 2010 to be unConstitutional Bills of Attainder by Federal Judge Nina Gershon of the Eastern District of New York.

While the Supreme Court studiously looks the other way on multiple appeals attempting to hold to account abusive government actors, as in its repudiation of the final appeal for justice from Canadian Maher Arar, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals continues to dismantle Boumediene, and two crucial rulings from the new Court of Military Commission Review are overdue with regard to the legitimacy of the Guantanamo Military Commissions, the 2006 Military Commissions Act, and convictions thereunder.

An analysis of the legislative language changes made to modify the original Bernie Sanders Audit the Fed amendment (SA 3738), after those modifications were unexpectedly introduced on the Senate floor 5/6/2010.

Another decision in the ongoing Guantanamo detainee habeas corpus cases finally being heard in our independent Judicial Branch of government exposes the poor, and human-rights-hostile, recent judging of a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals panel, and highlights the ongoing official American indifference to the fate of our long-suffering, long-abused Guantanamo Bay military prisoners, citizens of nations around the world who are still deprived of their liberty by the American President without indictment, trial, conviction, or the protections of Prisoner of War status.

St. Patrick protect us from federal “representatives” who can’t be bothered to represent anyone but the President and his imperious will, as Rep. Kucinich proclaimed today he would now be doing on the pending health reform legislation.

A second working thread to help selise finish formulating her Seminal diary about forcing the real, physical filibuster back to life in the Senate, and to help her discuss and review what she hopes to learn, or needs to ask, about that proposition from the office of the U.S. Senate Parliamentarian.

A working thread to help selise finish formulating her Seminal diary about forcing the real, physical filibuster back to life in the Senate, to help her discuss and review what she hopes to learn, or needs to ask, about that proposition from the office of the U.S. Senate Parliamentarian.