Austin Cline on Enemy Combatants

Austin Cline from atheism.about.com has been guest posting each Sunday at Jesus' General, and last Sunday he had a great post about enemy combatants, along with a wonderfully designed propaganda poster. Here's a few snips from the post:

Habeas corpus is a limit on arbitrary, dictatorial state power and the Congress has removed it in a manner that opens up a door that should have forever remained shut. They have authorized the president to imprison people permanently, without trial or review. How is that not the basis for tyranny?

...

Conservatives have traditionally insisted that the Constitution doesn’t create or grant rights, but instead guarantees rights that are a gift from God. President Bush sometimes continues to mouth these phrases, but it’s clear that this is nothing but rhetoric because now these same conservatives are treating constitutional rights as something which the government can arbitrarily withdraw at will. Isn’t that interesting?

For a statist, Austin Cline's writing keeps impressing me more and more. He's always been a good writer in my opinion, but he seems to be hitting the nails more squarely on the head lately, while mincing less words. In addition, he is doing excellent dot-connecting by finding patterns and similarities between related concepts. And Austin's criticisms of government and the politicians' associated religious views are becoming stronger in their condemning conclusions, and are great to read. While you are there, be sure to check out Austin’s propaganda poster gallery. He is a talented artist, and many of his posters include a mixture of political and religious criticism.

I wonder, could there someday be an anarchy.about.com? Hmmmm...