At 08:00 AM 6/1/00 -0400, Tim Romano wrote:

>Where on earth is it a
>crime, punishable by imprisonment or death, to express (deluded) political
>opinions?  Why are free men expected to give up their constitutionally
>guaranteed freedoms when the nation prepares for war?

Answer to question 1: Not quite everywhere on earth, but there are places
-- Confucian and Communist China being two of them. If Pound's side had won
World War II, the area of the imprisonment zones would now be larger.

Answer to question 2: United States Constitution, article I, section 9:
"The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless
when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it." At

http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/9/0,5716,53479+1+52173,00.html

you can find a discussion of _Ex parte Merryman_, a decision concerning
President Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus. As the encyclopedia
article notes, it hasn't conclusively been decided who has the power to
suspend habeas corpus -- the President or, on the other hand, the Congress.
However, the courts have always understood that, yes, free men actually can
be expected to give up their constitutionally guaranteed freedoms when the
nation prepares for war.

Perhaps the current thread could be cut shorter if we refrained from asking
rhetorical questions -- or at least tried to answer them for ourselves
before asking the list.

Jonathan Morse