What's left of the Bill of Rights?

Television commentator Keith Olbermann hosts Countdown on MSNBC. Well known for his liberal views, he is one of many on the left who consider the Military Commissions Act as an enormous infringement of fundamental rights.

On October 10. 2006. not long after Congress passed the administration-backed Military Commissions Act, Olbermann began his program as follows: "The president has now succeeded where no one has before. He's managed to kill the writ of habeas corpus."

He continued the broadcast with several quotes resurrected from lawmakers such as the following from Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), another liberal: "The bill before us would not only suspend the great writ--the writ of habeas corpus--it just eliminates it permanently. Conditions for suspending habeas corpus have not been met."

Olbermann then displayed an enlarged copy of the Bill of Rights and proceeded to show how the destruction of habeas corpus affected nine of its 10 amendments to our nation's Constitution. These amendments, of course, were added to prohibit government from attacking and destroying fundamental rights. Pointing to his blown-up copy of the first 10 amendments, he proceeded to X-out one after another of the articles as follows:

 
   OK, number one is gone. If you're 
   detained without trial, you lose your 
   freedom of religion and speech, press, 
   assembly, all the rest.... And, you know, 
   you can't petition the ...