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OpEdNews Op Eds    H3'ed 9/14/12

Failing the Test: Obama and Pennsylvania Gov. Corbett Must Go

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By Dave Lindorff

What hope and change?
What hope and change?
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Just because someone has the ability to do something, does not mean he or she should do it.


We have two examples of such a situation before us at the moment: President Barack Obama and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett. 


Here in Pennsylvania, Terry Williams, a man who has been living on death row for three decades after being convicted murdering two men when he was just 17 and 18, is slated to be executed October 3. He has exhausted his appeals and his family, his attorney, and even the wife of one of the men he killed, are asking the state's governor and former attorney general, Republican Tom Corbett, to grant him clemency. Why? Williams was repeatedly raped by his two victims, beginning when he was only a 13-year-old boy.  It's ironic that the same Gov. Corbett who turned a blind eye to Penn State serial boy rapist and football coach Jerry Sandusky is now, at least so far, allowing this obscene execution to go forward. Corbett signed the death warrant for Williams' execution early this month. 


Then we have President Obama. Last fall he signed into law the Constitution-shredding National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes a provision allowing the military, inside the United States, to arrest and detain indefinitely without trial American citizens. He initially assured the public that he would not use that tyrannical power as president. Not wanting to trust that all presidents would say the same thing, a group of journalists and other plaintiffs then filed suit in federal court, claiming the law was unconstitutional (the sixth amendment to the Constitution, part of the Bill of Rights, guarantees to all people -- not just citizens -- the right to a "speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury").  Two days ago, Federal District Judge Katherine Forrest (an Obama appointee to the bench) issued a permanent injunction in New York declaring that the provisions of the NDAA which allow for the kidnapping and indefinite detention without charge of American citizens were permanently enjoined because they were unconstitutional. That could have been the end of it, but late yesterday, after newspaper deadlines had passed and after the evening news programs had run, the White House appealed that ruling.  The president who says he would never use this horrific law is fighting in court to overturn the decision declaring it unconstitutional!


There are lines that should never be crossed, and here are two of them...


For the rest of this article by DAVE LINDORFF in ThisCantBeHappening!, the new independent Project Censored Award-winning online alternative newspaper, please go to: www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/1328

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Dave Lindorff, winner of a 2019 "Izzy" Award for Outstanding Independent Journalism from the Park Center for Independent Media in Ithaca, is a founding member of the collectively-owned, journalist-run online newspaper (more...)
 

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