(no subject)

The US government has given assurances to Attorney-General Philip Ruddock that David Hicks will not face the death penalty, but the US has still given no timeframe on when he will go to trial.

He can, as of today, however, be tortured, have any information obtained with that torture used at his "trial", be convicted with evidence he and his legal team are not allowed to see, be convicted with hearsay and evidence from other people's torture, and have no legal remedy to pursue these egregious violations of his rights in court. Oh - and that's assuming he ever goes to trial. Otherwise, he can be just kept locked away for ever and ever on the say-so of the President that he's a Bad Person. And again, with no legal rights to challenge this imprisonment.

And Ruddock is just peachy-keen fine with this.

Mr Ruddock said he had demanded the trial be dealt with as quickly as possible.

"We've made it very clear we would be very unhappy to see it go on for any length of time. We want to see it resolved as soon as possible, but we have to be realistic."

Hicks was first handed over the the US in JANUARY 2002. 4 and a half years. What exactly is "any length of time"? Is 5 years too many? 6? 15?

things I am grateful for

... Right now, I am extremely grateful that I don't live and vote in the US. The legislation passed today in the US Senate (and yesterday in the House of Reps) is so extraordinarily vile that I would literally explode with rage. As it is, I'm barely able to contain my disgust.

This legislation was rammed through 2 days before the close of Congress for elections, largely for some cheap political advantage - being able to run attack adverts saying "see how much we want to protect America?!"

You might have seen pieces in the media about how Bush "compromised" for this. Here's the compromise:

Bush wanted the Congress to rewrite the War Crimes Act and the Geneva Conventions to let him keep torturing people.

The noble and independent republicans standing against him said No. We Will Not Do This. Instead, they changed the law so that Bush can secretly decide what torture is and is not allowed under the War Crimes Act and under the Geneva Conventions.

You might be thinking "hell, they didn't get anything! That's no compromise!" but you'd be wrong. They got coverage. The coverage of utter scum and cowards. They weren't prepared to go on the record as having voted for the utter violation of everything that our western civilisation stood for, so instead they let someone else do it secretly. And they know this - this is a deliberate decision. These pieces of worthless human meat are so utterly chickenshit that they couldn't even own their own decisions - instead they have to hide behind their Big Brave President to let him do it in secret for them.

That's the big compromise they got. That's, apparently, what someone like John McCain (who thinks of himself as a future president) is a noble thing to ask for.

You thought Abu Ghraib was bad? That was just the start. This is much, much worse. Now it's legal. The supposed greatest, most wonderful nation in the world just signed up for legalising torture.

And yet, and yet. That's not all. It gets worse. Not content with allowing Bush to rewrite the rules of what does, or does not, constitute torture, they weren't done yet. In addition, the legislation allows the executive (that's Bush, again) to grab anyone, anywhere, for "supporting terrorism" and imprison them, purely on their say-so. And anyone so seized cannot even go to court to challenge this. And when they do, maybe, decide to have some sort of trial, they can use hearsay, evidence obtained through torture, and the defendent may not get to see the evidence against them.

Well done, guys. It's been said that the Australian Liberals want to return Australia to a mythical 1950s. These fuckers have their sights set much, much higher. In killing Habeus Corpus, they've returned things to the 14th Century.

Part of me wants to just say "fuck it". Enjoy your police state, you shits. And yet, and yet... basic humanity cries out "no". And there's a self-preservation thing, too. Here in Australia, we have a federal government that's both lockstep behind the Americans, and mad-keen on any power-grab they can get away with. You don't think someone like Ruddock looks at this and thinks "damn! neat idea" ?

If you're in the US, and you choose to vote for someone who approved this travesty (all of the Republicans, and a handful of Democrats) you deserve everything that is coming to you. I mean it - this is beyond anything vile that these fuckers have ever tried.