Thursday, September 28, 2006

In The Year 2525...

Future historians will look back on this decade as an era of collective insanity, and will struggle to explain how Senators and Representatives on both sides of the aisle so willingly gave up the democratic principles this country was founded on. Or why the majority of the American public did not notice, or simply did not care.

7 comments:

Interrobang said...

Not only has your government shredded the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, several centuries of Common Law, and the Geneva Conventions today, they managed to finally get their way and shred the Treaty of 1814, too.

My government didn't do jack shit about it, either.

Rick said...

I'm a little puzzled by all of this. Don't Bush, Cheney, et al. worry about other countries establishing similar "laws" which could have serious implications for Americans in foreign countries? Clearly if this happens there's squat the US gov't could do about it. Are they really that stupid?

Eli said...

My government didn't do jack shit about it, either.

What *could* they do?


Don't Bush, Cheney, et al. worry about other countries establishing similar "laws" which could have serious implications for Americans in foreign countries?

First of all, they're not in combat, so it's not *their* problem (although I'd love to see some other foreign country grab them and detain them indefinitely without trial for aiding and abetting terrorism). Second of all, for them provocations are a *good* thing. (Look how evil those lawless Muslims are! They'll just grab an American soldier and torture him for no reason! We need to invade some more countries over there!")

karmic said...

Historians might look back. But will Murikans? And we know in general America does not like to look at itself in the mirror.

Clearly if this happens there's squat the US gov't could do about it. Are they really that stupid?

Well kyklops theyreally are not. I would posit that if Americans do get captured and treated badly, this bunch will use it as a chance to say how barbaric the other side is. And that the only way to stop them is for us to get more "tools"

karmic said...

Oy @Eli..you just beat me to the punch about them being evil.

Interrobang said...

What *could* they do?

Well, three years ago when the Liberals were still in power here, maybe Paul Martin could have said "No, you're not going to do that." There are joint bodies involved with transborder regulatory issues for the Great Lakes watershed (in which I live, so I'm pretty familiar with the territory) -- there have already been numerous water-rights disputes settled this way. The US and Canada are constantly engaged in cold resource wars, and water is only one of the fronts.

Since the protocols for keeping armed boats off of the Great Lakes are outlined in the Treaty of 1814, I suspect there would be a Constitutional petition to be made, since international treaties are supposedly the supreme laws in the US. (Ha ha.)

So it isn't quite as simple as "It's on our side of the border so we can do whatever we want with our turf."

Of course, that's assuming a rational administration in the White House. So I'm not surprised at the ultimate outcome. I would have rather my government tried and failed than just acceded, is all.

Eli said...

Of course, that's assuming a rational administration in the White House. So I'm not surprised at the ultimate outcome. I would have rather my government tried and failed than just acceded, is all.

Yeah, that was kinda what I was getting at. I can't think of anything Canada could threaten that would give Bush pause. I think you'd just end up as the newest member of the Axis Of Evil.