Surviving Capitalism (Not) : The U.S. wins the right to abduct innocent people with impunity

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

The U.S. wins the right to abduct innocent people with impunity

by Glenn Greenwald from Salon. I guess all the high school civics textbooks will have to be edited to remove the part about "checks and balances" in US government. After the recent US court rulings it is now clear that the Executive branch rules with impunity :

Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of his lawsuit on the ground that courts have no right to interfere in these decisions of the Executive Branch. That was the decision which the U.S. Supreme Court let stand today, ending Arar's attempt to be compensated for what was done to him.