Greetings!
This issue, instead of talking about something in the news I’d like to talk about something that’s NOT in the news. Have you heard about Bradley Manning? No? He’s the twenty-two-year-old Army private accused of leaking to Wiki Leaks, and he has been held without trial for months at the Marine Brig in Quantico, Virginia. He’s being held in conditions known to cause permanent mental and physical damage, which is “cruel and unusual” punishment at best, and would be considered torture by most nations. And he hasn’t been convicted of a crime.
That’s what I mean about not being in the news. Brad’s story made a small bump in the news cycle a couple weeks ago, but we haven’t heard anything since. Yet he’s still there. Without trial. Being punished as though he’s guilty. And no one’s talking about it.
For eight hundred years, the right of Habeas Corpus has protected against arbitrary state action. Habeas allows people to command their government to show cause for their imprisonment or be set free. Punishment, if there is to be any, is only to be used on those who have been convicted of a crime after due process. Habeas is absolutely fundamental to the Rule of Law. When your government can imprison you without accountability, what rights do you really have?
This is just the latest glaring example of the collapse of the Rule of Law in America. When draconian punishment is inflicted without due process on common people, but elite criminals like Rove, Bush and Cheney are vigorously shielded from accountability or prosecution, the basis of all our laws has vanished. I hate to keep harping on this rule of law thing, but without it we have lost the basis for a free and functional society. None of us should risk silence on this!
On another topic completely, I have some good news. Keith Tucker, a local Portland artist who has drawn the attention of Thom Hartmann, Greg Palast, and other, has agreed to come on the Tom Dwyer team. He’a a progressive cartoonist who’s wit finds targets from across the political spectrum. From now on, you can look for each weekly issue of Keith’s “What Now?!!” Toons on our website under the “Features” tab. And, even better, Keith has agreed to do a special cartoon for every future issue of “Your Car Matters”. I hope you enjoy his work as much as I do!
Make a great day,
