tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post115188716264233466..comments2023-10-24T04:29:23.693-06:00Comments on Atheist Ethicist: Military CommissionsAlonzo Fyfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05687777216426347054noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-1151976533508341832006-07-03T19:28:00.000-06:002006-07-03T19:28:00.000-06:00Those who propose that individuals designated terr...Those who propose that individuals <I>designated</I> terrorists deserve no due process rights (even the minimum standards of common clause of Article 3 of the Geneva conventions) are proposing an argument against their own rights.<BR/><BR/>Our government was founded on the notion that all people are born with rights that are inalienable. No legitimate authority can take these rights away. This is why our Bill of Rights <I>guarantees</I> them.<BR/><BR/>But if these rights are inalienable, then does that not mean that they are rights that belong to all humanity, not just Americans? If the gov't can take these rights away from people, then the gov't is saying that these rights are, in fact, not inalienable.<BR/><BR/>Secondly, spreading democracy is said to be a central front in the "war on terror." Can democracy be spread by saying that our most basic democratic prinicples don't apply beyond our borders?Hume's Ghosthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13551684109760430351noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-1151938484217895462006-07-03T08:54:00.000-06:002006-07-03T08:54:00.000-06:00Hear, hear. We need to reclaim our country's comm...Hear, hear. We need to reclaim our country's commitment to freedom and justice before *we* become the next North Korea.<BR/><BR/>Stop the witch, er, I mean terrorist hunts. If you can't prove someone's guilt in a real court, according to principles of law and justice, then maybe they're not really guilty. The point of all this "proof" stuff is to prevent serious mistakes that endanger people's lives.<BR/><BR/>One of the reasons witch hunting lasted as long as it did was the idea that anyone who criticized witch hunting was attacking the Church and thus committing a mortal sin. Replace "witch" with "terrorist", "Church" with "president" and "mortal sin" with "treason" and you have today's neoconservatives. What does this tell us about the terrorist hunters and those who defend them?<BR/><BR/>I urge every American (well, every human, really) to read Carl Sagan's _The Demon-Haunted World_, if they haven't already. Pay particular attention to the chapter "Real Patriots Ask Questions", which has never been more necessary in this country than it is today.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com