JoeClarke.Net

I had a dream . . . where the most vicious and seditious demoralizers of the American troops in Iraq were temporarily impounded and, maybe even sent off to prison ships (like those garbage barges off the shore of New York city) for the duration of the war. They, of course, would be accommodated with better creature comforts than were afforded by Abraham Lincoln to the incorrigible Democrats that he arrested during the Civil War - 13,000 Copperhead Democrats. Yes, floating club Gitmos with Par 2 Putt Putt mini golf courses, even. No one would miss Al Franken or Michael Moore set out to sea for a while. The entire New York Times staff could be relocated to one of these "ships." I am sure the barge stench would not bother them. Maureen Dowd could be the cabin boy. Dreams can come true. . . they did for old Abe Lincoln . . . It can be done with more conservative activist courts.

As a Vietnam veteran, it pains me every day to hear how the Dems devise every conceivable scheme to subvert the war effort while undermining the morale of military troops. The lies, obfuscations, and exaggerations never seem to end. Lately, anti war lib dems who voted for the war in Iraq are now saying that they had "different prewar intelligence" than President Bush.

The life and limb of American soldiers do not matter to these dems even as recent polls have suggested: Most democrats are deliberately attempting to undermine the war as we have all known.

At what point does the libs' freedom of speech so tread on the safety of our armed forces and jeopardize the secure future of the United States that a we (1)Suspend Habeas Corpus (2) Restrict Freedom Of The Press, and (3)Arrest the most seditious Copperhead Democrats and detain them on rusty prison ships until the war is over? Abraham Lincoln might say the time is now.

From World Press Freedom Committee
Stifling The Anti-Union Northern Press

Horace Greeley's New York Tribune continued to lead the anti-slavery movement
among the mainstream papers. Greeley had quit the Whig party over the slavery issue and helped nominate Lincoln for the presidency. For 20 years, the Tribune's editorial page had examined social as well as political issues in calm, responsible fashion. He worried that industrialization and unrestricted capitalism were producing social hardships. He provided editorial space for differing reforms, including support for movement to the 'free lands' of the West. Greeley's reprinting of his best editorial matter for a weekly mail report sold 200,000 copies regularly. It was known as the 'bible of the Midwest.' Greeley had published his own anti-slavery 'Prayer of Twenty Millions' on August 20, 1862.

In New York, only five of the 17 daily newspapers were full supporters of Lincoln.
Greeley routinely backed even the president's hard decisions such as the draft call of 1863.

The war, for the most part, was fully reported. But some military censorship was
inevitable. Mutual press-government understanding was needed. At first, in August 1861,in the interest of public security, the new telegraph and railway post were brought under maritime regulation. The faster movement of news by telegraph now made it possible to disseminate information that could be useful immediately to Southern troops.

On February 25, 1862, closer control was initiated. Edwin M. Stanton, secretary of
war, ordered all field reporters to submit their stories to provost marshals for approval before transmission to their newspapers. Several grand juries asked courts to punish newspapers for 'encouraging the rebels.' The postmaster excluded five New York newspapers from the mails as 'dangerous for their disloyalty.'

General William T. Sherman, who had generated controversies with correspondents,
tightened the noose further in 1864. All correspondents must be accredited journalists, he ordered, and acceptable to his field commanders. This became an established wartime feature of American press-government relationships-until the Vietnam war, when censorship was largely absent.

Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus was employed only twice. When challenged,
Lincoln said he had presidential authority to exercise 'the law of war' to quell 'disloyal activities.' His Emancipation Declaration was issued without legislative approval. The Supreme Court later repudiated the presidential claim of vast emergency power in wartime.

The generals took most of the action against the press. The Chicago Times was suspended by General Ambrose Burnside for criticizing the president after he issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The Times had been often warned that its pro-slavery stance would inspire public unrest during wartime. Lincoln indicated his view of press freedom by rescinding the military order after three days. The New-York World was similarly charged with pro-slavery instigation. In May 1864 the World and the Journal of Commerce carried a forged presidential proclamation claiming a draft of another 400,000 men was coming. General John A. Dix suppressed both papers for two days.

A notable development in the coverage of the war in the South was the binding together of 45 southern newspapers in their own wire service similar to the Associated Press in the North (from which the Southern papers had withdrawn). The Press Association of the Southern States of America-'PA' rather than AP-vowed to offer no news of value to the enemy, and to refrain from editorializing (that is, criticizing the war's management) in the news reports. Press coverage by PA moved over southern military telegraph lines at cut rates.

On the West Coast, the Civil War created increasing demand for news from the
Eastern battlefields. In 1860, delivery of news was speeded by inauguration of the Pony Express. Riders carried thin tissues of mail and news some 1,900 miles from St. Louis to a place near Sacramento. Delivery time was reduced from 23 days by steamer to eight days by pony express. In 1861, the telegraph was extended to California putting it within instant contact with the East.

The AP credo, moreover, was based on 'objectivity'-the absence of bias or the writer's interpretation inserted in news accounts.

What Lincoln Did With Peace Democrats From Civil-Liberties.Com

As the Civil War started, in the very beginning of Lincoln's presidential term, a group of 'Peace Democrats' proposed a peaceful resolution to the developing Civil War by offering a truce with the South, and forming a constitutional convention to amend the U.S. Constitution to protect States' rights. The proposal was ignored by the Unionists of the North and not taken seriously by the South. However, the Peace Democrats, also called copperheads by their enemies, publicly criticized Lincoln's belief that violating the U.S. Constitution was required to save it as a whole. With Congress not in session until July, Lincoln assumed all powers not delegated in the Constitution, including the power to suspend habeas corpus. In 1861, Lincoln had already suspended civil law in territories where resistance to the North's military power would be dangerous. In 1862, when copperhead democrats began criticizing Lincoln's violation of the Constitution, Lincoln suspended habeas corpus throughout the nation and had many copperhead democrats arrested under military authority because he felt that the State Courts in the north west would not convict war protesters such as the copperheads. He proclaimed that all persons who discouraged enlistments or engaged in disloyal practices would come under Martial Law.

Among the 13,000 people arrested under martial law was a Maryland Secessionist, John Merryman. Immediately, Hon. Roger B. Taney, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States issued a writ of habeas corpus commanding the military to bring Merryman before him. The military refused to follow the writ. Justice Taney, in Ex parte MERRYMAN, then ruled the suspension of habeas corpus unconstitutional because the writ could not be suspended without an Act of Congress. President Lincoln and the military ignored Justice Taney's ruling.

[Ed. Democrat administrations would not be trusted with such Draconian measures. After the war is won, everything may return to normal]