Guantanamo
How Shall We Sing the Lord's Song?
Photo used with permission from Heartland
My heart rouses
thinking to bring you news
of somethingthat concerns you
and concerns many men. Look at
what passes for the new.You will not find it there but in
despised poems.
It is difficultto get the news from poems
yet men die miserably every day
for lackof what is found there.
Hear me out
for I too am concernedand every man
who wants to die at peace in his bed
besides.
--
William Carlos Williams
“Asphodel, That Greeny Flowerâ€
It is a miserable death, I think, to die unheard, unheeded, alone. Cut off from friends, family, all that is familiar, men and women find methods to assuage their madness. Poetry beckons. Songs of lament. In the Bible, we call them Psalms. In the eyes of the United States government, we call them "classified." Not fit for public view. Potential vehicles for terror.
Censorship | first amendment | Guantanamo | Homeland Security | Poetry | Psalm 137 | William Carlos Williams
Are You Happy Now, Congressman Arcuri??
Are you looking for something to do today? Would you like to send a letter to the newly elected Representative from NY's 24th? Michael Arcuri was elected in November, 2006 to represent the NY 24th. He's a Democrat, the former prosecutor for Utica.
He's got a lot of positions that I like, and some folks may consider him a liberal. Except. When he was asked at campaign stops about HR 6166--the torture bill, he said that if he had been in Congress, he would have supported it.
In other words, Mr. Arcuri is not a big fan of the ancient principle of habeas corpus. It leaves me a bit troubled, does this. It's not some small inconsistency that's the hobgoblin of little minds; to me, it's a giant inconsistency that makes me wonder what other rights Mr. Arcuri believes to be expendable in the "war on terror."
Today, The US Court of Appeals denied the right of detainees at Guantanamo to have their cases reviewed by civilian courts. The US Court of Appeals wrote that habeas corpus does not apply to aliens held on US soil. You can read the judgment here in PDF--all 59 pages of it.
Then, if you like, you can drop Congressman Arcuri an e-mail here. Just ask him what exactly he thinks of this ruling.
Guantanamo | habeas corpus | Congress | Michael Arcuri | US Court of Appeals
