RIP habeas corpus act in the US (c. 1679 to 2006); song in memory

See THIS POST and this one too for more on this topic.

News flash: the Military Commissions Act of 2006 was just passed. Say bye bye to the writ of habeas corpus (news search)!* The age old guarantee of a fair, free trial and imprisonment and rule of law is now history. Who knows what Orwellian vision this could bring for the US. Big Brother can listen to you without warrant then detain you without trial or with a trial rigged to find you guilty... no matter what the international community says. How does the US government expect to gain any friends — or not gain enemies — if it continues this rampage against human rights? Goddamn hypocrisy, that's what it is! To think this law has been passed in the "war on terror" — a mission by Bush and others to spread democracy and preserve it from people who want to take it away. Well, that's exactly what Bush and co. are doing... taking democracy away and glorifying torture and invading civil liberties!

A song I just wrote in memorium of habeas corpus in the United States. To be sung to the tune of "Candle in the Wind" by Elton John:

Goodbye habeas corpus,
though I never knew you at all
you had the strength to guarantee fair trials
no matter what...

You crawled out of British law
and you were entered,
by name,
into democratic history
and never had shame...

And it seems to me
you lived your life
like a candle burning strong,
never waning when the King
fought you off...
(tried to blow you out).

And I would have liked to know you
but I have never been imprisoned,
your candle of freedom burned out long before
your legend ever will...

Goodbye habeas corpus
thanks to those bigwigs in Washington
you cease to protect
the very people in need...

Goodbye habeas corpus,
though I never needed you know
there still are plenty
who dooo....

* For more see recent Slate articles on "habeas corpus", a Google search on the same thing, and a Google News search too. And, of course, see all the links above.

From NYT:

President Bush signed legislation today that created new rules for prosecuting and interrogating terror suspects, a move that Mr. Bush said would enable the Central Intelligence Agency to resume a once-secret program to question the most dangerous terrorists.

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