The Senate has passed a defense authorization bill that allows the military to indefinitely detain American citizens on US soil, without trial or even charges. Goodbye due process, goodbye rule of law, goodbye sixth (and fourth) amendment, and if the government can arbitrarily throw citizens in prison forever, what do any other rights mean?
Here are two interesting responses. First from Jon Stewart:
And even stronger, from Anonymous:
Left out of these videos is the fact that this bill is actually pure politics. Ironically, these provisions are opposed by the Pentagon, the intelligence community, the Justice Department, and the White House. So why is the Senate doing this? To force Obama to veto the bill, so they can accuse him of being soft on terrorism in the upcoming election. It makes me sick.
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He (Obama) may be soft on terrorism (?), but that is at least 1,000 times better than being inept and incompetent at everything like the Republicans.
If there’s enough publicity on the issue, Obama’s repeal of the bill should work against the Republicans.
-The Optimist
Watching this unfold, I’m amazed that there is no real outcry from the citizens of this country. Are those who care simply assuming that Obama will veto the bill? I’m certainly hoping that he will, but I have no guarantees that will be the case. Since 9/11, the speed at which basic constitutional rights have been modified and now stripped has accelerated. The collection by the gubmint of personal information has accelerated. Although in many ways counterbalanced by the Internet, freedom of speech has been dramatically curtailed in public and especially on the public airwaves and now strong initiatives in Congress are looking to seriously undermine freedom of the Internet, too.
Although the Anonymous piece is overstated in apocalyptic terms, it carries a lot of truth. We can’t imagine our gubmint doing terrible things to us as citizens even thought he evidence is there that it has already taken advantage of the openings provided by the Patriot Act and other pieces of police state law.
I retired from that gubmint 3 years ago and am proud of what I did in the service of our country, but I’m fearful of the increasingly obvious development of controlling mechanisms that reduce dissent. This being said, I think the bigger issue is the lack of response to this bill and others by the general population of this country. Far more hue and cry was orchestrated by the right with regards to health care legislation. I’ve lost much of my faith in Americans as thinking human beings who can place the care and feeding of our entire society in front of their selfish, Darwinesque viewpoints.
This being said, I also believe that we as a country have been forced in that direction by those with the wherewithal to do so. The Kochs and Murdochs of the world. The Roves and Cheneys. The sweet talkers that have convinced so many that voting against their own and the country’s best interests is the thing to do and until these non-thinking Americans find those shut down areas of their brains that generate compassion and promulgate logical thought, I don’t see the power of these people waning but rather waxing.
Last I checked the Senate was controlled by the Dems. Matter of fact the bill was crafted by Sen. Carl Levin (D). Sen Rand Paul (R) was against it. I think the real reason it passed was the pork stuffed into it. They think Obama won’t veto it so he doesnt appear soft and they get their pork which he said he definately would veto. Here’s a good take on it from the Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/29/senate-votes-to-let-military-detain-americans-indefinitely_n_1119473.html
Glen Greenwald had an article about it, he said Obama is doing more than this bill (assassinating US citizens without due process), and Jon Stewart also mentioned, Obama veto is not about civil liberties…
This is no surprise, learn a little about REX-84(might be 85 but I’m pretty sure its 84) and the puzzle starts being put together
Since 9/11, Americans have lived in fear, not unlike the fear of the “Red Terror” during the McCarthy era and HUAC. What the citizens of the USA need to remember are the words of FDR during his first inagural, “The only thing we have to fear –is FEAR itself!”
Unfortunately, most Americans are too “busy” with mundane concerns, forgetting that the very promises of the republic are at risk.
I wish I had an answer to the blase attitudes and misinformation infecting the citizens of what was once the best nation on the planet.