Sudoku of the day

Habeas Corpus (deliver the body)

The Declaration of Independence says

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

This country is founded upon the premise that all people, not just U.S. citizens, not just "good guys", not just people with the right skin color or religion, but that all people are endowed with certain Rights. They have these rights, not because a government or a king gave them these rights, but because they were created with them; they have them by virtue of being human beings. What's more, these rights are "unalienable." That means they can't be taken away, not by a government, not by anyone. A person can't, even of his own volition, give these rights away. That's what unalienable means.

In a society, no right is absolute. There are things a person can do, such as killing another, that can cause a person to lose their life or liberty. But before a government can step in a deprive you of these rights, they have to show certain things. Our system is based on the premise that the government can not just arrest you in the middle of the night and put you in a jail cell and throw away the key - and not have to justify their actions. There are governments that do that, they are called police states or dictatorships, and they are evil.

The first thing that anyone asks when they have been arrested is "what did I do?" And the most basic, minimal right that anyone can have is to require the police to have to answer that question in front of an independent judge. Before the police arm of a government can deprive anyone of life or liberty they should, at the very minimum, have to answer that question in front of someone else, someone besides themselves.

That's what Americans believe and that's why we must pass legislation to reinstate the principal of Habeus Corpus NOW.

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