The already infamous Military Commissions Act was signed into law by President Bush yesterday, and don’t think that this milestone in the decline of American democracy went unnoted. George W. Bush himself said that the occasion was historic. I agree, but not with the same value. October 17, 2006 will be a day of shame for the United States of America. It will take us a generation to recover from the attacks on liberty represented in the Military Commissions Act, if we ever recover at all.

The Military Commissions Act, HR 6166 and S 3930 ends enforcement of the Geneva Conventions, removes habeas corpus rights, makes torture legal, sets up kangaroo courts in the USA, and gives the President the power to imprison anyone he likes, so long as he declares that person to be an “enemy”. The law also gives legal amnesty to any American who committed war crimes over the last 5 years… including George W. Bush himself.

In short, the Military Commissions Act establishes Hell on Earth. Perhaps it is no coincidence, then, that this video fireside chat of President Bush in his secret undisclosed location has surfaced: