Today I asked ten people if they knew what 'Habeas Corpus' was.

[The Doctor.]

I was at Wal-Mart (the only place I could get emergency school-shoes at 12am), and I asked the cashier if he knew what 'Habeas Corpus' was.

Not a clue.

So I explained it. I also explained the Military Commissions Act Bush signed... summarized really.
Not a lot of candle power there though. No doubt he was more concerned about other things.

I asked some people in the parking lot what they thought about 'Habeas Corpus'. Said they'd never heard of it.

-That the new Hip-hop rave?-

I asked four more at a gas station. Two customers had no clue. They shrugged and went about their business. The cashier said, "doesn't that have something to do with being innocent until proven guilty or something?"

-A glimmer of light. The young man qualified himself, somewhat apologetically, by saying that he was just out of high-school.

Then there was the customer that had 'internet' written all over him. I asked the same question;

"Habeas Corpus? It sucked! Now just think of all the pesky people we can get rid of by claiming they're terrorists!"

He went on to talk about how he and his friends threaten to turn each-other over to the Department of Homeland security. It's a joke to them, but he gets it.

It should be a joke, but it's not and we know it.

The last person I talked to was a 24 hour cable-'tech'. I asked her if she knew what tomorrow was, if she was planning on doing anything at all.

She said "Well, it's Tuesday. I'm working... why do you ask?"

-There's a lot more work to be done, and I live in a 'blue' state.

Even if the Dems take control today, this is far from over.
We need to get out there, cast our inhibitions to the wind and educate people about the country they almost lost.

[dchill]

1. Why...

do you torture yourself like that? Isn't your mind already boggled enough? I know mine is.


Edit to add: ;)

[The Doctor.]

2. Lol... no, I have ulterior motives...

Ask a question in public that begets engagement and you have a brilliant little opportunity to educate others.

I've been at it for while now. But since I'm an extrovert in a 'blue' state, the risks are minimal and the returns are acceptable.

[dchill]

7. I congratulate your resistance to boggling.

I'm more of an introvert in a purple state (PA), but the more I talk to people around here, the less I want to engage them. At best, I'm amused by their ignorance, at worst I'm horrified by it.

I still remember something I overheard a couple years ago: a woman in the next aisle at Walmart saying to a companion: "What would we do without Walmartses?" I shudder to think of begetting engagement with her. I admit, though, that I should have asked for whom she had voted for President. Her answer would have been informative, I'm sure.

[Tellurian]

17. Most people are living in the twilight zone..

Watch Jay Leno's man on the street interviews.

Leno asked a passerby by if they knew where New Jersey was, on the west or east coast.

They said, they always get their jerseys at the GAP rather than Wallmart, they last longer.

Do you ever wonder why it was so easy for a Republican takeover?

[sakabatou]

3. :: head desk ::

[Disturbed]

5. Dr_eldritch I admire you for what you are doing.

I am surprised no one said: "Does it have somethin ta do with dead people?"

I bet at least 80% of Americans do not know what it is. Even most of those that do probably don't care because they don't think it effects them.

Most Amerikans don't care about Warentless Wiretapping.

Amerikan mostly don't care about The Constitution or The Bill of Rights and prolly don't know most of what those Docs contain. That is why a Fascist Police State in Amerika wouldn't be so hard to bring about.

[Bucky]

4. Kicked and recc'd. Eldritch reminds us tomorrow isn't the finish line. It's the opening scene of...

the sequel to the Bush travesty.

[The Doctor.]

13. "Amen... and get yer hip-waders on." n/t

[CC]

6. It is amazing how

many people out there do not know and could care less isn't it? I have been doing the same thing everywhere I go the last few weeks. Believe it or not I have the most luck with truck drivers (DH is one) and they can get pretty pissed off. They also talk , a lot and everywhere.

[tblue37]

26. Let me tell you something cute about a truck driver.

I have a very popular grammar and usage website. Last year, I got an email from a reader, a truck driver, who wanted me to help him diagram the Sixteenth Amendment. He told me that one way he passes the time on long hauls is to diagram complicated sentences. I diagrammed it for him and sent it along, and he was so delighted with it that he said he would frame it and hang it on his wall!

Notice that he not only passed his time diagramming sentences, but he was trying to diagram one of the amendments to the Constitution. He at least was paying attention to the Constitution!

[CC]

32. I'll have to show this

to my hub when he gets home. Every time there are AAR going bankrupt rumors flying he freaks. Before then and XM radio all they had was right wing hate radio and even he couldn't tolerate it. He has spent the last 6 years (really longer) trying to educate the ones that listen to nothing but hate radio. Things are changing though. More people pipe up on the cb to argue how bad Bush and all are. He used to feel like a lonely voice of reason out there.

[SoCalDem]

8. Someone surely said it was a new energy drink

:evilgrin:

On a serious note though..

I have always maintained that the high schools have sent out millions of kids who know NOTHING of government and don;t even care,

even kids who go to college, CAN graduate from college knowing nothing much about government.

It's a win-win for the propagandists who prefer to let Hannity & Limbaugh "educate" people..

Lots of people have NO clue how the senate/house/presidency/SCOTUS even affect their daily lives

it's downright sad...

seemingly smart people will say.. "I don;t vote because I don;t have time to study up"..

But these same people spend hours and hours filling out paperwork that is probably mandated by those lawmakers..

[The Doctor.]

10. "kids who go to college, CAN graduate from college knowing nothing much about government."

Case in point;

[Binka]

9. This Is A Good Site For Legal Questions & Information

http://www.lectlaw.com/def/h001.htm. It is extremely comprehensive but relatively easy to read and understand.

Now as far as the shopping at Wal Mart goes :spank: what the heck did you need shoes for at 12am?

[The Doctor.]

12. "Children"

The child has school bright and early tomorrow morning. (this morning now. -I really can't sleep much with the fate of the nation in the balance y'know.)

He managed to trash one pair of shoes and lose a boot all just before bed. I was finishing appointments at 11pm and Mrs. Dr. Eldritch was home with children.

Ergo; sally forth do I into the maw of the beast to return triumphant so's the tyke don't have to wear bunny slippers to school. (Though I'll admit I was sorely tempted)

;)

[Binka]

20. You Are Forgiven!

I knew children had to be involved!

[AtomicKitten]

11. and the truly scary part is that these people vote

eom

[B Calm]

14. Have them read "The Innocent Man" by John Grisham

[B Calm]

25. Book Description: John Grisham’s first work of nonfiction,

an exploration of small town justice gone terribly awry, is his most extraordinary legal thriller yet.

In the major league draft of 1971, the first player chosen from the State of Oklahoma was Ron Williamson. When he signed with the Oakland A’s, he said goodbye to his hometown of Ada, Oklahoma and left to pursue his dreams of big league glory.

Six years later he was back, his dreams broken by a bad arm and bad habits——drinking, drugs, and women. He began to show signs of mental illness. Unable to keep a job, he moved in with his mother and slept twenty hours a day on her sofa.

In 1982, a 21-year-old cocktail waitress in Ada, Oklahoma named Debra Sue Carter was raped and murdered, and for five years the police could not solve the crime. For reasons that were never clear, they suspected Ron Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz. The two were finally arrested in 1987 and charged with capital murder.

With no physical evidence, the prosecution’s case was built on junk science and the testimony of jailhouse snitches and convicts. Dennis Fritz was found guilty and given a life sentence. Ron Williamson was sent to death row.

If you believe that in America you are innocent until proven guilty, this book will shock you. If you believe in the death penalty, this book will disturb you. If you believe the criminal justice system is fair, this book will infuriate you.

[lvx35]

15. There is a bright side of this, too. Never forget.

Its that if the people knew what Bush is doing, they wouldn't stand for it. The people in the USA are not cowed by fear, nor have they aquiesed to anything. All they have noticed about Bush is that he is losing a war in Iraq and its annoying them. Even the idea that Bush has given himself great power hasn't even crossed these people's minds. So if Bush tries to USE his self granted power, he is in for a rude suprise.

[NMMNG]

16. I suppose it doesn't matter now that it's dead.

:sarcasm:

[Gelliebeans]

18. I spoke to the receptionist

at my doctor's office today and since I know her real well, I made her promise she would go vote, in fact when I spoke with my doctor (he is a Dem) and I asked if he was going to give her time off to vote? He went one better and said he was only working the office half day tomorrow so there is no reason for not voting.
I love my doc.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

19. Tomorrow You Should Ask Them To Define Subpoena Duces Tecum

Seriously... Habeas corpus is the most important right of all...

[Disturbed]

21. When the Fascist Police State arrives it will be draped

with the Amerikan flag and a cross.

[krispos42]

22. In their defense, it has been such an assumed part of law...

that nobody every questions it anymore, at least not in this country. The assumption is that it has always existed (and 800 years is pretty close) and will always exist. Just like gravity. I mean, who was the first person to really notice gravity? As a constant, not as a painful inconvience when falling out of a tree.

I think most people just assume the basics have been sorted out a long time ago and now we're just fighting over the little stuff, at least where it refers to basic tenants of law.

I have a "Got Habeas Corpus?" sticker on my car, but nobody's asked me about it yet. :-(

[Selatius]

23. There was a time when politics and American life were not separated

Back in those days, many communities practiced "townhall democracy," where the people talked about the major socio-economic issues of the day. You had to; otherwise, you die. Eventually, this became the breeding ground for the American Revolution. Political dialogue was more apart of the daily discourse, not something engaged in once every two years.

Today, we've taken the political discourse away from the community. Today, it has become centralized.

To further the problem, the Repubs don't even talk about issues that really matter to Joe Sixpack's wallet. Today, they talk about gay marriage instead because they can't talk about any other issue without pissing off the workers who know they just got sold down the creek.

[sweetpotato]

24. Maybe the best way to explain it is that when the

Homeland Security guys show up to arrest you, they won't be reading you the Miranda rights, because you won't have ANY rights if they "suspect you are a terrorist."

That's what Habeas Corpus means to them.

[No Exit]

27. "Have-his-carcase"

"Have-his-carcase" is what some uneducated Charles Dickens characters call Habeas Corpus.

I think it's perfect.

[npincus]

28. sad to say, but the lot of Americans are uneducated morons...

who vote against their own self-interest for Republicans.

[Vinca]

29. I've decided it's a good thing some people don't vote.

If you get that deer in headlights look from them, they're for Bush.

[wildflowergardener]

30. Habeas Corpus

I consider myself an intelligent person - a college graduate - and I didn't know what it meant before recently. I had heard of the word and I had a vague idea about what it might mean.

That is why I wish on some of the news coverage that the people on TV had explained what it was, if they said that we were losing it. I think it has alot of impact when you explain it - rather than if people just hear the word and don't necessarily know what it means.

Saying you can throw a person in jail and never charge them and keep them there forever is probably alot more scary to people than if they hear that a person has lost habeus corpus.

Meg

[sinkingfeeling]

31. Duers need to run for school boards and put CIVICS back into our schools!