Christopher Dodd introduces a bill to roll back the MCA

Christopher Dodd has introduced a bill that would undo the damage of the Military Commissions Act. In particular, it restores the right of habeas corpus to detainees. You can become a citizen cosponsor of the bill by clicking here.

There is also a charming video of Dodd explaining the act. He's at his desk, with his tie loosened, and a half full Styrofoam cup of coffee in front of him. I don't know if the look is deliberate, but it does project a "hard working legislator" image.

Doubleplusgood Protest Idea

The Ministry of Love is sending copies of 1984 to all the goodthinkers in the legislature who voted for the Military Commissions Act. Miniluv is looking for donations from proles and Outer Party members to assist the project. Order copies of 1984 and have them sent to Ministry of Love, Box 655, Guilford, CT 06437. Earmark one for your representative! I ordered 10, including one for John McHugh. Those with a real bellyfeel for the protest can use paypal to support the inner party members at miniluv directly.

Via Comrade O'Brien, in the comments

Habeus developments

The Supremesa district court has issued a new ruling in the Hamdan case. LizardBreath blogs it here. As she reads it, it is a good news/bad news case. Good news: RobertsRobertson, the district court judge, agrees that the military commissions act cannot deny habeas rights to anyone who has them under the constitution because there is neither invasion nor rebellion going on right now. Bad news: Robertson doesn't think Hamdan had habeas rights to begin with. You can't deny habeas rights to citizens, no matter where they are, and you can't deny anyone habeas rights if they are on US soil, but you can deny non-citizens habeas rights overseas. The discussion at Unfogged includes much back linking to Obsidian Wings, where CharleyCarp is putting up the argument that this goes against the habeas rights in English common law. This remark about the English laws that formed the basis of modern habeas rights gets featured

More to the policy end of things, one of the main reasons for the 1679 act was the crown's policy of intentionally placing prisoners beyond the reach of the writ, so that it would not have to justify its conduct in a court of law. This was tyranny then, and it's tyranny now: there is (imo) and should be no place on earth where the American Executive is free of the constraints of the legal document that created it.

Article in American Conservative denouncing torture

Again via Steve H. Jim Bovard in American Conservative magazine denouncing torture and the Military Commissions Act: "The new law -far more dangerous than the more controversial Patriot Act- is perhaps the biggest disgrace Congress has enacted since the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850."

Keith Olbermann on the Military Commissions Act

Here. "Your words are lies sir, lies that imperil us all."

Save Our Constitution! Ask Me How!

It looks like our local civil liberties group, Save Our Constitution, is going to be printing up buttons that say "Save our Constitution! Ask me how!" There has also been some discussion of how to respond if someone asks you how to save the Constitution.

The answer is simple, and I urge it on you the internet.

These are the lists of everyone in the House and Senate who voted for the Military Commissions Act of 2006. Don't vote for these bozos.

Govtrack presents the same information in more readable format, including a nifty map, here and here. Govtrack, btw, seems to be a nifty site.