Shame.

I was angry when I saw that the Military Commissions Act passed in the Senate without amendment. On the whole, it's a terrible piece of legislation. The New York Times wrote a terrific editorial ["Rushing Off a Cliff," Sept. 28, 2006] about the bill that sets out everything that's particularly wrong with it. The opening to whet your appetite:

Here's what happens when this irresponsible Congress railroads a profoundly important bill to serve the mindless politics of a midterm election: The Bush administration uses Republicans' fear of losing their majority to push through ghastly ideas about antiterrorism that will make American troops less safe and do lasting damage to our 217-year-old nation of laws — while actually doing nothing to protect the nation from terrorists. Democrats betray their principles to avoid last-minute attack ads. Our democracy is the big loser.

But what I suppose is most disturbing to my sensibilities is a provision in the act that strips detainees of their right to habeas corpus. That is, their right to challenge their detentions in court. Without habeas corpus, any non-citizen -- notice, NOT just foreign residents or illegal immigrants, but even LEGAL RESIDENTS of the U.S. . . . like my parents were prior to their naturalization in July 2001 -- can be arrested, imprisoned, denied an attorney, and, most terrifying, denied to the right to challenge their arrest and imprisonment in a court of law. This is offensive to the spirit of our Constitution and to the beliefs upon which our nation was built. And yet the vote to strip the bill of at least the habeas corpus provision lost 48 votes to 51.

Arlen Specter, a Republican Senator from Pennsylvania, proposed the amendment that would've removed this killing of habeas corpus. Four Republicans were rational enough to join all but one Democrat (Ben Nelson of Nebraska) in voting for this amendment. I'd like to ask any of my readers who are from these gentlemen's home states to drop them an e-mail and thank them. They are Lincoln Chaffee (RI), John Sununu (NH), Gordon Smith (OR), and, of course, Senator Specter.

So, this amendment did not pass and the bill was put to a vote as it was. I expected a similar vote tally when it came to passing the bill itself. I was wrong. It wasn't nearly fifty-fifty. It was 65 to 34. I was shocked that 12 Democrats (along with 3 of the 4 Republicans above) ended up voting for the bill, particularly with the habeas corpus provision still intact. Now, here's the absolute worst part:

BOTH of my Senators, Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez, voted for it.

WHAT. THE. HELL?

I've had issues with Mendendez before. He was one of the few Dems to vote for the waste of time that was the Flag Burning Amendment. When I found that out, I stopped paying attention to my Bar/Bri lecture and immediately shot off an e-mail lambasting him for his vote. Maybe I should've known that he might've voted the way he did. He's in one of the toughest Senate races in the country and maybe he saw this vote as a way to appealing to some of his opponent's supporters. I don't know. But Lautenberg? What the hell were you thinking? And don't feed me some 9/11 sensitivity bullshit because both NY senators voted against this. Let the Southern Democrats do shit like this. Let the cowards running for reelection do it. But not you, man. Not you.

There is a chance that the Democrats can reclaim the Senate in November. There are a good twelve Senate races that could go either way, among them Mr. Menendez versus Republican Tom Kean, Jr. in my beautiful home state of NJ. Check out this colorful map to see the latest polls on how the races are shaping up. The Dems are looking fairly strong in quite a few spots (knock on wood). Then again, with Democrats like the ones listed below, I wonder if a Dem majority would even do any good.

The 12 Democrats who voted for the Military Commission Act
(in order of most to least disappointment felt when I learned what they'd done):
Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey
Robert Menendez* of New Jersey
Debbie Stabenow* of Michigan
Thomas R. Carper* of Delaware
Ken Salazar of Colorado
Bill Nelson* of Florida
Mark L. Pryor of Arkansas
John D. Rockefeller or West Virginia
Tim Johnson of South Dakota
Mary Landrieu of Louisiana
Ben Nelson* of Nebraska
and, of course, Joseph Lieberman* of Connecticut.

Half of these Senators (those starred*) are facing reelection in November. While I certainly don't advocate voting against them (except for Joe Lieberman . . . GO NED LAMONT!), if any of these is your senator and you're as steamed as I am, let him or her know. Contact info available at Senate.gov.