Article: Goodbye habeas!

If anyone here has ever experienced having an idea bouncing around inside your head that caused you insomnia, then you know how this thing has affected me. I came up with the basic idea on the day of darkness, October 17, 2006; a date that will live in further infamy. It is a sad, forlorn love song to a once proud legal right. It's a funeral dirge for every freedom America once held sacred, yet was so easily sacrificed on the altar of so-called "national security". It is a tribute in song to our paranoid nationalistic fervor that first gave us the (un)Patriot(ic) Act, and reached its insane pinnacle with the Military Commissions Act of 2006. Finally, it's a lyrical indictment of DUBYA, Dick(LESS) Cheney, and the rubber stamping idiots in both Houses of congress, from both political parties. While I invoke the right of satire and parody in rewriting of the lyrics to the Sir Elton John / Bernie Taupin song Candle In The Wind, please know that I do not look upon this as either a parody or a piece of satire. I look upon it as an indictment of the kind of mentality that would give rise to willingly giving away our freedoms in the paranoid name of "national security." Just because "they" supposedly, "hate us for our freedoms," is no reason to remove our freedoms. "They" will still hate us, and our freedoms will be naught but a far distant memory. So, with that lengthy preface out of the way, I give you, Goodbye Habeas, a lyrical condemnation of the (un)Patriot(ic) Act and the Military Commissions Act of 2006. SUNG TO THE TUNE OF CANDLE IN THE WIND By Sir Elton John and Bernie Taupin. Goodbye, habeas Though I never used you at all You were the basis of liberty And justice for all. Born in 1215, On England's soggy plains It was the Magna Carta In which you were contained. (refrain) And it seems to me They've tried to snuff you Like a candle in the rain For you guaranteed our freedom From men insane And drunk with Absolute power Who went to great pains To kill our sacred freedoms And stupefy our brains. 9/11 was rough The roughest episode We'd ever faced DUBYA created a straw man And "war on terror" Was his name In the name of this goblin Our freedoms were subdued For the Patriot Act In congress was pushed through. (refrain) Goodbye, habeas Though I never used you at all You were the basis of liberty And justice for all. Goodbye, habeas From the country With its back against a wall You will surely come back again When this horrid law falls. (refrain). So, there you have it. At long last, I can finally put this thing to rest in my head. While I can't guarantee I'll get to sleep any easier tonight owing to the toothache that is currently kicking my ass, at least I know the idea above will no longer be bouncing around in my head. I wish to end this by sending out my undying respect to the original authors of the song. Your songs have filled my heart over the years. Please do not take this as a slam against your music. I would never presume to do such a thing to two of my musical heroes! Blessed be! Pappy