YouthDemocracy.net

The recently passed Military Commissions Act of 2006 gives George Bush the right to name anyone an enemy combatant. If you remember right, an enemy combatant is just the name that gave to war criminals in the war against terror because we didn't want to have to give the the same rights that war criminals have. So the US cheated and gave them new names. That way we could do whatever we wanted to with them. And the best part for the George Bush crew is that no one could say it was wrong or against the law because no one had ever heard of the term enemy combatant before.

Thats not all that the Military Commissions Act of 2006 does. It also legalizes torture. Thats right. The United States only has two specific limitations to torturing it's so called "detainees." They may not "murder" or "rape" their detainees. Other than that, it seems as if anything else is on the table.

Ever heard of habeas corpus? There is no real brief way for me to explain it other than it's your right to ask the government why you are in jail. It has been around for 800 years. Now with this bill it has been destroyed. If George Bush names you an enemy combatant and takes you away to Cuba or some other secrete prison your toast. They don't have to charge you with anything. They don't need to tell you why your there. They don't need to show you any evidence against you. They simply don't have to do anything. George Bush can now have anyone he wants put away for as long as he wants.

Watch your back. I'll be watching mine. 1 9 8 4 ?

Being a 16-year-old my self, I can really identify with this story. I have worked with state legislators and congressmen. Luckily they weren't sex predators. I have a very simple view of this. It isn't about the Democrats taking the house back at all, but rather it is about politics. The fact of the matter is, your either with the people that are trying to cover this up or you think everyone involved that didn't turn this man in should not only resign but also be prosecuted. Things are that simple. The Republican leadership knew about this in 2003 and chose to try to cover it up. Anyone involved should resign and be prosecuted. Why would you try to save a sex predators ass? Politics. It was all politics and it still is. Denny Hastert should resign but won't because of one thing, politics. He even says thats why he won't resign. He says that it is important for him to stay on as speaker of the house because if he resigned it would make the story seem bigger and Democrats could take control of the house. That right there is SICK! He ignored the signs that this man was taking advantage of kids because he didn't want a scandal and now he won't take responsibility for it because he doesn't want the scandal to get bigger. What a scumbag. I'm sorry, I don't call people names often but this man is a creep. As a teen that would be interested in doing the page program this really scares me. People like that are in power over in DC. People who would cover up something like this just to see their party stay in power. That is wrong.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/01/washington/01foley.html

G.O.P. Leaders Knew in Late ’05 of E-Mail

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 — Top House Republicans knew for months about e-mail traffic between Representative Mark Foley and a former teenage page, but kept the matter secret and allowed Mr. Foley to remain head of a Congressional caucus on children’s issues, Republican lawmakers said Saturday.

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"Anyone who was involved in the chain of information should come forward and tell when they were told, what they were told and what they did with the information when they got it," said Representative Peter T. King, Republican of New York. Mr. King called it a "dark day" for Congress and said, "We need a full investigation."

Representative Christopher Shays, Republican of Connecticut, said any leader who had been aware of Mr. Foley's behavior and failed to take action should step down. "If they knew or should have known the extent of this problem, they should not serve in leadership," Mr. Shays said.

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I don't understand why this isn't a huge full blown scandal yet. The big wigs in the Republican party knew this man was a sexual predator but choose to do nothing but give him a a warning. Just a warning not even a slap on the wrist. WTF guys?

It is very obvious to me that the GOP cares much more about its self than the youth of this nation. We must work as hard as we can to get this party out of power. We have no choice. How far could this have gone? If the Republican leadership knew he was really raping kids would they have stopped it? We don't know the answer to that question. But what we do knew is that they didn't say anything while they knew he was committing these unspeakable acts.

Caleb