Congress gives Bush the right to torture and detain people forever.

On this day in American history... it was shown that the politics of fear wins out over higher ideals, real morality and plain fucking decency.

How incredibly depressing.

But it's okay, because somewhere, somehow, swarthy brown people "hate our freedom", so that makes it all worth it.

Congress gives Bush the right to torture and detain people forever

Following in the footsteps of the House, the Senate this afternoon approved the bill which vests in the President the power of indefinite, unreviewable detention (even of U.S. citizens) and which also legalizes various torture techniques.

...Nonetheless, it is simply a fact that virtually every Republican in the House and the Senate (with one sole exception in the Senate and only 7 in the House) voted in favor of this tyrannical bill, while Democrats overwhelmingly opposed it (in the House, 160 Democrats voted "no," while 34 voted "yes"). With those facts assembled, it is fair to say that the Republicans are the party of torture, indefinite and unreviewable detention powers, and limitless presidential power, even over U.S. citizens on U.S. soil.

...and don't forget this most important part of the urgency and haste in passing the bill before the next election cycle, when Republicans may lose one of the houses of Congress -

Veterans, legal experts hit deal on torture

He pointed out that the McCain-Warner-Graham bill does not expressly forbid any of the brutal practices such as “water-boarding” in which detainees are made to feel they are drowning. “But it does retroactively absolve administration officials of legal responsibility for past war crimes.”

Because you've got to know what's important, right?