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2008.06.25 - Liberated Text's FISA Amendments Act 2008 Congressional Records Archive has now been updated through April Congressional Records. It looks as if Congressional Proceedings during the month of May 2008 regarding FISA were almost non-existent. Due to the present relevancy, we plan to start marking-up June 2008 FISA Amendments Act related Congressional Records, and skip over May for the time being.
A mark-up of pertinent Congressional records to H.R. 1592: Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act Of 2007 - An Act to provide Federal assistance to States, local jurisdictions, and Indian tribes to prosecute hate crimes, and for other purposes. The Bill was passed May 3, 2007, in House Roll Call Vote No 299: 237 Yeas, 180 Nays and 16 No Votes, and was divided closely along partisan divides.
With what can best be described as stranger than fiction, House Republicans managed to ground their opposition to the expansion of Hate Crimes definition to include violent acts perpetrated upon individuals chosen because of their sexual preferences or gender identity as being a violation of the 1st Amendment's Religious Establishment clause. An odd proposition for a Party that often claims that America is a Christian Nation, since Christian philosophy has at its foundations the concepts of "Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged" and "He Who Is Without Sin".
Documents related to the Passage in the House of H.R. 3161, and the subsequent Republican complaints.
On August 2, 2007 The House voted on H.R. 3161: Agriculture, Rural Development, Food And Drug Administration, And Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008.
Representative Jerry Lewis (R-CA) offered a motion to recommit the bill with instructions to place within it:
(1) Prohibits any funds in the act (including grant funds) from being used to employ an alien who is not authorized to be employed in the United States; and
(2) Prohibits any funds in the act for rental housing assistance programs to provide assistance to an alien not authorized to receive such assistance pursuant to 213A of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
At the chair's gavel the vote went from 214-214, and then 215-213, and then 212-216. Because of the confusion, House Majority Leader, Rep Steny Hoyer offered to vacate the vote, and hold another. Many Republicans protested loudly, and continued to protest throughout the last few days of Congress before the recess. What is notable though is that the protestors are not claiming the final tally isn't the one that best represents the will of the House members voting that night, and none disagree with the fact that the electronic voting machines in the House were acting up. They instead chose to argue purely on procedure, that their side should win, irrespective of the will of the House majority. The editors at Liberated Text are not persuaded by this argument. Sadly, many Americans are, and more probably will be.
Transcripts of The Congressional Daily Record from 2007, pertaining to the War Upon Iraq. This is not a complete archive of any Congressional Record having to do with Iraq, but is instead records arbitrarily chosen by the editors of Liberated Text.
This project is currently still active, and will have further content added to it.
Latest Update July 28, 2007: finished marking-up the relevant April Congressional Records, began checking the Records for May document to include in the archive.
The Military Commissions Act of 2006, signed into law by Mr. Bush, strips away the natural right of habeas corpus from the GWOT detainees. Liberated Text dot org believes that this is an unconstitutional edict; we know that it is an illegitimate state act.
This was not the first time that Republican Politicians attacked habeas corpus; for some limiting habeas corpus has been a career long fantasy. During the enactment of Terror Prevention legislation during the Clinton Presidency, a Republican Majority fought against many recommendations, claiming they were unconstitutional or a governmental overreach, that in this post-Patriot Bill age would seem trivial, while at the same time gutting federal prisoners access to the Court system on habeas corpus appeals. How can the severe limiting or downright theft of Habeas Corpus prevent terrorism? It Cannot, because a terrorist's acts are not impaired by the potential for swift justice after the act.
The Republican Party loudly proclaims itself to be the party which defends America the best. It is doubtful the GOP is anxious to see the Congressional Records which document their opposition to enactments, minor by today's standards, enter the public's consciousness.
Browse the Records for yourself, and decide if the Republican Party has properly defended America, or instead slavishly adhered to partisanship, at America's great expense.
This project is currently still active, and will have further content added to it.
The Authorization of Force is an archive of the discussion and debate that preceded The Congressional Authorization of the Use of American Military Force in Iraq During the Fall of 2002. Presently the archive consists of transcripts from October 8, 9 and 10, 2002. There are more transcripts which will be published sometime in the future.
This is a record that all Americans should take the time to read, and they should not let themselves be duped by short out of context political sound bites, claiming that it was all a politician said regarding the use of force in Iraq.
The Nine Shameful Senators is a mark-up of the October 5, 2005, Senate debate, discussion and vote on Senate Amendment 1977 to the 2006 Department of Defense Appropriations Act, better know as the McCain anti-torture amendment.
October 5, 2006 was a good day to be an American. It was a day when the Senate stood up and vocally reaffirmed the USA's commitment to humanity. It has since been neutered a great deal by further Senate actions, which have stripped away due-process rights to detainees held as 'criminal combatants'.
The amendment was rousingly passed in a vote of 90 - 9; which explains the title given to this archive.
As a bit of background, Senator McCain, and several other Senators had attempted to bring the passage of this amendment through the Armed Services committee, but the Leader of the Senate, Bill Frist (R-Tenn), had pulled all Armed Services Committee matters off of the scheduling itinerary for the whole Senate body. Frist was attempting to use his administrative powers to kill the anti-torture legislation. Ranking members of the Armed Services Committee instead brought it, along with some of what they believed was their most pressing concerns up for a vote during the appropriations committees legislation consideration by the whole Senate. It is noteworthy that Sen. Frist, after his back channel maneuvering to squash the amendment, voted his assent to it.
Sen. Stevens (R-Ala) was the chairman of the appropriations committee, and Sen. Warner (R-Vir) was chairman of the armed services committee. These two senators engaged in quite a bit of vocal and procedural sparring with Senator Warner generally coming out ahead.
Since the McCain anti-torture amendment was enacted, much equivocating about Natural Rights has ensued in Congress. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who was an able and vocal advocate of the amendment has proposed legislating habeas corpus limitations upon the 'criminal combatant' detainees. The newest Army manual has eliminated all mention of the Geneva Conventions. Congress has quietly acquiesced. Habeas Corpus and Due Process are rights which Congress cannot legitimately infringe upon, especially in regards to our enemies. Any true concept of justice requires an equal application to all. We have also published an Op/Ed.