[extropy-chat] Tyranny in place

[Joseph Bloch]

Personally I find all this talk about "tyranny" to be little more than 
hyperbole.

The Supreme Court said that Congress needed to establish the rules for 
treatment of terrorist suspects being detained by the United States, and 
so Congress did.

It was not tyranny when thousands of Japanese and Germans (yes, Germans 
too) were interred during World War II. Was it illegal and misguided? 
Arguably so. But not tyranny. Not a usurpation of the government. Not an 
unconstitutional suspension of rights of American citizens (nothing in 
the article originally referenced supports the notion that ordinary 
Americans can be detained under this bill as far as I can tell).

The right of Habeus Corpus, according to the Constitution, cannot be 
suspended except in times of invasion or insurrection. We have seen both 
of those things. Foreign terrorists attacking our shores on 9-11. 
Americans going to join their cause in armed militancy supporting Al 
Quaeda and the Taliban. I think there's a case to be made that the 
conditions for the suspension of Habeus Corpus have been met. Others may 
disagree, but it's hardly the case that it's an open-and-shut "no." If 
the Bush administration were determined to overthrow the rule of law, 
they would have started with the first Supreme Court ruling that said 
the military tribunals as originally composed were illegal.

Talk to me about true tyranny when George W. Bush is still in the White 
House on January 21st, 2009. Until then, I see nothing more than a 
possibly over-zealous (and only possibly so), but still 
well-intentioned, attept to protect the United States from an enemy 
which is determined to eradicate our way of life and in the process 
stifle forever the Transhumanist dream, if only incidentally as a part 
of its attempt to drag the world back to the 13th Century.

The goal of the Islamists; a global Caliphate which places all of 
humanity under strict Islamic law, is a scenario which must be avoided 
at all costs.

Joseph

spike wrote:

>>bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Eugen Leitl
>>Subject: Re: [extropy-chat] Tyranny in place
>>
>>On Fri, Sep 29, 2006 at 11:18:48PM +0200, Amara Graps wrote:
>>
>>    
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>>>There should be massive demonstrations over this. Why isn't there?!
>>>      
>>>
>... 
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>>Those who don't care about impeaching a criminal don't care
>>about their country turned into a dictatorship...
>>    
>>
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>My understanding is that it was congress that did this, not the executive
>branch.  I would interpret it as empty electioneering: the congressmonsters
>do not want to appear soft on terrorism right before the election.
>Legislative branch grandstanding is done all the time, but it is still
>meaningless.  What counts is if the supreme court upholds it.  I predict
>that the court will knock it down without a second thought.
>
>Regarding massive demonstrations, we have congressional elections in a few
>weeks.  We will see what happens there.
>
>spike
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