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Via the Swashblogger at Scaramouche, the newest Mark Fiore cartoon is available.

[Even though he is a Bay Area blogger, Scaramouche would never descend to the level of the terrorist sympathizer ploy.]

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His hoppiness, the marsupial master of miniscule, skippy, the bush kangaroo, is recommending people engage in the deplorable practice of creating a Google bomb linking the term, terrorist sympathizer, with a certain obnoxious twit who has suggested that terrorists blow up a monument to the heroic firefighters who battled the multiple conflagrations that occurred after the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and continue to risk their lives.

Just because this total moron is unaware that members of the San Francisco Fire Department are currently deployed in war zones with their National Guard and Reserve units is no reason to include <a href=”http://www.billoreilly.com/”>terrorist sympathizer</a> in posts on your web site, or in comments on the sites of others.

No matter how much of a terrorist sympathizer you believe this individual to be because of his mindless spewing of hate directed towards American voters and members of the military currently at risk, this is not nice.

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While most of those who are deemed the winners of the Great War observed Armistice / Remembrance / Veterans Day yesterday, in the German Catholic areas of Europe “the 11^th minute of the 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month” marks the beginning of Fasching or Karneval which ends on Fastnacht. This is the extended period of parties and celebrations that ends on Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras being a shortened form of the season.

It is hardly a coincidence that the armistice that ended the First World War was timed to begin 11 minutes prior to the beginning of this festive season that encompasses Christmas, New Years, and Shrove Tuesday celebrations.

München hardly has time to recover from Oktoberfest before Fasching begins.

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The writ of habeas corpus is rather simple, it is a court order to the state to produce an individual held in detention for a hearing on whether there exists a reason to continue holding that person.

It is mentioned in Article I, Section 9 of the US Constitution as a power of Congress:

The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in causes of rebellion or invasion of the public safety may require it.

From a BBC Magazine article on the history of habeas corpus:

It is thought to have been common law by the time of Magna Carta [1215], which says in Article 39: “No freeman shall be taken or imprisoned or disseised or exiled or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him nor will we send upon him except upon the lawful judgement of his peers or the law of the land.”

The suspension of habeas corpus has been reviewed by the Supreme Court following the Civil War in ex parte Milligan (71 US 2 [1866]):

In this case, Lambden Milligan, for whom the case is named, was arrested in Indiana as a Confederate sympathizer. Indiana, like the rest of the United States, was part of a military district set up to help conduct the war. Milligan was tried by military commission and sentenced to die by hanging. After his conviction, Milligan petitioned the Circuit Court for habeas corpus, arguing that his arrest, trial, and conviction were all unconstitutional. What the Supreme Court had to decide, it said, was “Had [the military commission] the legal power and authority to try and punish [Milligan]?”

Resoundingly, the Court said no. The Court stated what is almost painfully obvious: “Martial law … destroys every guarantee of the Constitution.” The Court reminded the reader that such actions were taken by the King of Great Britain, which caused, in part, the Revolution. “Civil liberty and this kind of martial law cannot endure together; the antagonism is irreconcilable; and, in the conflict, one or the other must perish.”

Did this mean that martial law could never be implemented? No, the Court said. The President can declare martial law when circumstances warrant it: When the civil authority cannot operate, then martial law is not only constitutional, but would be necessary: “If, in foreign invasion or civil war, the courts are actually closed, and it is impossible to administer criminal justice according to law, then, on the theatre of active military operations, where war really prevails, there is a necessity to furnish a substitute for the civil authority, thus overthrown, to preserve the safety of the army and society; and as no power is left but the military, it is allowed to govern by martial rule until the laws can have their free course. As necessity creates the rule, so it limits its duration; for, if this government is continued after the courts are reinstated, it is a gross usurpation of power. Martial rule can never exist where the courts are open, and in the proper and unobstructed exercise of their jurisdiction. It is also confined to the locality of actual war.”

What would make Senator Lindsey Graham [R-SC], who is not only a lawyer, but a Colonel and JAG in the Air Force Reserve, believe there was a basis for suspending habeas corpus for a group that has been arbitrarily designated “enemy combatants” by the Executive? The whole point of the writ of habeas corpus is to make the Executive justify its action.

The attack on September 11^th, 2001 did not shut down the courts, even in New York City. There has been no invasion of the United States, nor has a rebellion taken place.

If the Congress of the United States believes it should suspend the writ of habeas corpus, that debate should take place in the open and the action should be part of a separate bill, not hidden away in other legislation.

I have nothing but scorn for the five Democratic Senators [Kent Conrad ND, Ron Wyden OR, Joe Lieberman CT, Ben Nelson NE, and Mary Landrieu LA] who voted for this abomination. Dozens of people who were spirited to Guantanamo were released because there was nothing to charge them with, this after they had been declared “enemy combatants”. Serving military JAGs have said that the system of military tribunals set up is not just or fair. You have handed a major victory to Osama bin Laden by your actions, you have surrendered to the terrorists.

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Steve Bates has posted that Sony CDs will no longer be shipped with the “rootkit” software on them.

His post has a list of CDs known to have the software installed, but any CD that has an XCP sticker on it, or is from one of the record companies listed should be treated as suspect.

This is another example of corporations making people pay to be used in a corporate marketing and research program. Just because Microsoft does it, doesn’t make it a good idea.

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Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s group, now calling itself Al Qaeda in Iraq, is claiming credit for the bombings in Amman, Jordan, but something is wrong. The authorities are saying that the bombers were Iraqis. Al-Zarqawi’s group is notably non-Iraqi, the “foreign fighters” that the Pentagon talks about.

Dr. Cole has his suspicions about this for his reasons, which make sense.

In a Washington Post article about recent tension between Jordanians and Iraqi immigrants, it is noted that the February 28^th bombing that killed 125 people in the Iraqi city of Hilla was carried out by a Jordanian, a probable member of Al-Zarqawi’s group.

Revenge is an old tradition in the land around the two rivers. The bombers seem to have targeted a Jordanian wedding party that was taking place in one of the hotels. The Jordanian authorities have made significant penetrations into the Al-Zarqawi group, and have stopped a number of potential attacks.

It would be useful to know if the Amman bombers can be identified as Shi’ia, which would point to a revenge killing for Hilla.

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