[Grovenet] The law

[Katie Allnutt]

I guess that the concept of a Creator endowing people with 'certain  
unalienable rights'
missed a few of the folks at the Justice Department.
Perhaps in their vision humanity stops at the boundaries of the US  
and anybody outside the boundaries is not entitled to anything.

What irritates me the most is the attitude that 'our' Creator endows  
us with such rights, but 'their' Creator didn't.  It seems to make  
'our' Creator that much less powerful. That our Creator couldn't  
spread such protections to other people, that people in high places  
in the US government have the authority to grant those rights or  
withhold them regardless of what the Creator intended.

Not only is this whole episode a disservice to the concepts of  
justice and rights, it is an insult to the power of any supreme being  
that these officials presumably believe in.

It did create an allegiance issue for many and they quit in the  
aftermath of what went down. They of course didn't get much airtime  
on the TV.  But on the bright side they probably sleep a lot better  
than those who stayed.



Katie




On Apr 2, 2008, at 11:33 AM, Steele, Mike wrote:

> News reports today offer the following little tidbit:   "The Justice
> Department
> <http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/U.S.+Department+of 
> +Just
> ice?tid=informline>  sent a legal memorandum to the Pentagon
> <http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/The+Pentagon? 
> tid=inform
> line>  in 2003 asserting that federal laws prohibiting assault,  
> maiming
> and other crimes did not apply to military interrogators who  
> questioned
> al-Qaeda
> <http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Al+Qaeda? 
> tid=informline
>>  captives because the president's ultimate authority as commander in
> chief overrode such statutes."
>
>
>
> Hmmmm...but here's the standard military enlistment oath for enlisted
> personnel and officers:  "I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm)  
> that I
> will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against
> all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and
> allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the  
> President
> of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me,
> according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So
> help me God."
>
>
>
> Hmmm...let me see...the constitution comes first in line...the  
> president
> only later...and the Uniform Code of Military Justice does not permit
> torture (waterboarding having been a prosecutable war crime in US
> charges against Japanese war criminals)...
>
>
>
> One wonders if this created an allegiance issue for those who received
> the memorandum?
>
>
>
> --Mike
>
>
>
>
>
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