

Lindsey Graham wants ability to lock you up forever without trial - sjcsjc
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/11/senators-want-be-able-lock-you-forever-without-trial

======
greyfade
I sometimes wonder if perhaps there should be criminal penalties associated
with a government official drafting a bill or amendment or action or
whathaveyou that clearly violates the Constitution.

I mean, Congress seems to want to try to attach a criminal penalty to
everything else. Why not put them in prison for trying to violate the
Constitution?

~~~
pav3l
Everything is evolving, people should be able to amend the Constitution. What
you're proposing would make that illegal.

~~~
Turing_Machine
There's a clearly defined procedure for amending the Constitution.

"Whatever some government official wants to do" isn't the criterion.

------
corwinstephen
I know this might be a borderline inappropriate comment for Hackernews, but
sometimes I wonder whether having horrible, racially insensitive, biased,
outdated ideas is the definition of being Republican.

~~~
adventured
It's not just inappropriate, it's bigoted and extraordinarily ignorant. You
just slandered at least 100 million Americans.

Care to discuss all the scary laws and accepted practices Obama has ushered
into existence the last four years? Let's talk about the indefinite detention,
the torture ("enhanced interrogation"), the right to assassinate (murder)
American citizens, the drone killings worldwide, the NDAA, the continued war
in Afghanistan and killings that go with it, the extreme spying powers and
general violations of civil liberties by the Obama admin that seems to have
become the every day norm. What happened to the elected Democrats being the
protectors of civil liberties?

And then let's talk about whether there are actually any differences between
the Democrats in power vs the Republicans in power. All I see is an Obama
Administration that is continuing where Bush left off.

~~~
corwinstephen
Before I say anything, let me first mention that I'm not trying to defend my
right to post comments like this. I shouldn't have said anything.

That said, if you're struggling to find differences between Obama's
administration and Bush's, you're looking in the wrong places.

I assume when you mention "the right to assassinate American citizens," you're
referring to the case of the Yemeni boy who was killed by the drone? If that's
the case, trust me when I say I don't disagree with you here: it's a horrible
thing. BUT, just because it's horrible doesn't mean it wasn't avoidable. The
boy knew that his father was on the "kill list" as a known extremist. In
choosing to go and visit him in Yemen anyway, he would have accepted the
possibility that he would be put in harms way by association. It was an
avoidable risk that he knowingly chose to take. I don't find that nearly as
offensive as say, Guantanamo bay, which I might add was created by the Bush
administration.

But international politics is a messy area, and I think it's safe to say that
no matter who is president, horrible things are bound to happen as a result of
global economic climate, and independent of who's in office. What REALLY
offends me, though, are the things that happen here at home.

When I hear conservatives say things like "We don't need more trees! We need
more jobs!" I'm immediately offended that someone so short-sighted could even
consider running for office. When important officials are making claims about
women's bodies rejecting fetuses that are the result of rape, and others are
refusing to teach the theory of evolution, I'm offended. These ideas are not
healthy: they're toxic. They hinder the advancement of society.

So frankly, if I had to pick one thing about the Obama Administration that I
do "care to discuss," it's gotta be the fact that never have I ever heard him
suggest any such toxic ideas. I can't say so much for the other team.

