I had other items planned to post… fun, interesting, entertaining doggie related items… but this is much more important since there has been a virtual media blackout on this crucial topic… if the Bill of Rights means anything to you, then please read on.
Congress, the media, the US government, the 1% are counting on you being too busy with Christmas shopping and your own issues, to notice the travesty of bills they have snuck by us this week… they like doing things secretly, behind closed doors. Because they know that Americans (and the rest of the world) would NOT agree with SOPA and the NDAA.
Maybe you spent the last weekend shopping for gifts, writing out holiday cards or studying for final exams. For most of America, the end of the year is a busy time. In Congress, this is a season usually spent trying to jam through bad bills while they hope no one is looking.
WAKE UP AMERICA !!!!!
Let me put it in animal lovers terms, who is going to take care of your pets when they arrest you and ship you off indefinitely for having protested animal abuse, for having a pit bull or God only knows what? think I’m crazy, paranoid or alarmist, read on.
Dispelling the common lies, myths/denial about the NDAA …’
In sum, there is simply no question that this bill codifies indefinite detention without trial (Myth 1). There is no question that it significantly expands the statutory definitions of the War on Terror and those who can be targeted as part of it (Myth 2). The issue of application to U.S. citizens (Myth 3) is purposely muddled — that’s why Feinstein’s amendments were rejected — and there is consequently no doubt this bill can and will be used by the U.S. Government (under this President or a future one) to bolster its argument that it is empowered to indefinitely detain even U.S. citizens without a trial (NYTEditorial: “The legislation could also give future presidents the authority to throw American citizens into prison for life without charges or a trial”; Sen. Bernie Sanders: “This bill also contains misguided provisions that in the name of fighting terrorism essentially authorize the indefinite imprisonment of American citizens without charges”).
http://www.salon.com/2011/12/16/three_myths_about_the_detention_bill/singleton/
list from https://www.facebook.com/pages/Recall-Every-Congressman-Who-Voted-for-the-NDAA/248343955227401
1. Q: This defense bill is the same one that is passed every year.
A: This is true.
2. Q: This year the GOP decided to add this to the usual bill
A: Actually, it was a bi-partisan effort, with both a Republican sponsor – McCain and a Democratic one – Levin. (for the Senate version of the bill. In the House, it was sponsored by Rep. Howard McKeon, R-CA25)
3. Q: because they knew people would freak out
A: Actually, they were counting on our apathy. “Hey, isn’t there a Christmas going on? That’s right, keep shopping; we’ll add the SOPA to the mix too! We learned; we did the same thing when we introduced the Federal Reserve in 1913, right around Christmas also. People are busy celebrating, you know…”
4. Q: It has been removed of course, and they knew it would be
A: No, it hasn’t. The bill was just “adjusted” to reflect the wishes of Obama, so as to not limit his executive powers in any way. Absolutely nothing has been done to the offending Indefinite Detention Clause.
5. Q: However, the damage is done and the internet ‘media’ is running wild with this just as planned.
A: Actually, few Americans know about this offending bill, since there is a media blackout on it.
6. Q: They know this nonsense was removed, but that doesn’t get clicks, the GOP scores.
A: Actually, this was a bi-partisan effort with a great many Democrats voting for it. They finally agreed on something. Judging from the way they voted on the Patriot Act, taking our Freedoms away seems to be the only endeavor the two parties agree on. The bill garnered a 74% approval in the House and a 93% approval in the Senate. Only 7 Senators voted against it, six of which also voted against The Patriot Act extension that occurred earlier this year. And yes, both Ron Paul and Rand Paul voted against it.
7. Q: because everyone thinks that the President wants to lock US up.
A: Actually he really can. He can also order American citizens killed. But this is nothing new; Obama has already done so. This simply codifies it – making it legal.
8. Q: It is just another stupid stunt, just like the last 10 or 15 stunts.
A: That would be nice.
H.R. 1540: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h112-1540&tab=summary
S. 1867: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s112-1867
S.1867: http://bit.ly/S1867 and http://1.usa.gov/S1867b
Final Senate vote on the bill: http://1.usa.gov/NDAAvote
Final Vote in the House: http://bit.ly/NDAAHouseVote
The original problem sections (1031 and 1032) are still in the bill and contrary to the claims of supporters of the bill, the wording of section 1032 does not, in fact, provide protection for US citizens. The use of the phrase “not required” instead of “prohibited” leaves the decision to allow the military to detain citizens entirely in the hands of federal authorities.
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The ACLU said last night that the bill contains “harmful provisions that some legislators have said could authorize the U.S. military to pick up and imprison without charge or trial civilians, including American citizens, anywhere in the world” and added: “if President Obama signs this bill, it will damage his legacy.” Human Rights Watch said that Obama’s decision “does enormous damage to the rule of law both in the US and abroad” and that “President Obama will go down in history as the president who enshrined indefinite detention without trial in US law.”
Both groups pointed out that this is the first time indefinite detention has been enshrined in law since the McCarthy era of the 1950s, when — as the ACLU put it — “President Truman had the courage to veto” the Internal Security Act of 1950 on the ground that it “would make a mockery of our Bill of Rights” and then watched Congress override the veto. That Act authorized the imprisonment of Communists and other “subversives” without the necessity of full trials or due process (many of the most egregious provisions of that bill were repealed by the 1971 Non-Detention Act, and are now being rejuvenated by these War on Terror policies of indefinite detention). President Obama, needless to say, is not Harry Truman. He’s not even the Candidate Obama of 2008 who repeatedly insisted that due process and security were not mutually exclusive and who condemned indefinite detention as “black hole” injustice.
http://www.salon.com/2011/12/15/obama_to_sign_indefinite_detention_bill_into_law/singleton/
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Feinstein was able to include a largely symbolic amendment which states that “nothing in the bill changes current law relating to the detention of U.S. citizens and legal aliens,” but this measure is meaningless according to Republican Congressman Justin Amash, a fierce critic of the bill.
“Some have asserted that Sen. Feinstein’s amendment, S Amdt 1456, protects the rights of American citizens and preserves constitutional due process. Unfortunately, it does not. It’s just more cleverly worded nonsense.” http://bit.ly/NDAAscrewed4
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The reason the compromise amendment worked is that it leaves the question of domestic military detention open, leaving the matter for Supreme Court to resolve should a future president decide to assert the authority to detain a US citizen on American soil.http://bit.ly/NDAAscrewed
The only “silver lining,” if one can call it such, is that the military isn’t forced to detain American citizens without trial, it’s merely allowed to. The Senate has officially declared the entire United States to be a battleground. And you and I are potential enemies.http://bit.ly/NDAAscrewed5
“The detention mandate to use indefinite military detention in terrorism cases isn’t limited to foreigners. It’s confusing, because two different sections of the bill seem to contradict each other, but in the judgment of the University of Texas’ Robert Chesney — a nonpartisan authority on military detention — “U.S. citizens are included in the grant of detention authority,” http://bit.ly/NDAA9
Amnesty International: The new National Defense Authorization Bill (S1867) presented to the Senate by the Armed Services Committee is such a disaster for civil liberties and human rights it is difficult to know where to begin. http://bit.ly/NDAA4
The ACLU: “The bill is an historic threat to American citizens and others because it expands and makes permanent the authority of the president to order the military to imprison without charge or trial American citizens,” said Christopher Anders, ACLU senior legislative counsel. “The final amendment to preserve current detention restrictions could turn out to be meaningless and Senators Levin and Graham made clear that they believe this power to use the military against American citizens will not be affected by the new language. This bill puts military detention authority on steroids and makes it permanent. If it becomes law, American citizens and others are at real risk of being locked away by the military without charge or trial.http://bit.ly/ACLUonNDAA
presidential election not a referendum on the economy as much as it is on whether the president vetoes NDAA or not… that is what the press/pundits do not want to say because they do not want people to know about the NDAA and Obama’s false image as the people’s president is being exposed for what it is… FAKE… we voted for someone unlike Bush and instead we got a President who has expanded and extended the loss of our civil liberties, caved on most of his campaign promises and now has declared war on the 99% for speaking up and out…
One of the gravest grievances described in the Declaration of Independence was the misuse of standing armies against the colonialists. Numerous state constitutions declared standing armies a threat to liberty and the U.S. Constitution showed antipathy to militarism. Now, the Congress and President Obama are prepared to turn the military against Americans and allow indefinite military detention without any finding of guilt. If the elites think military force against Americans will quell the revolt of the people they are wrong; it will have the opposite effect and fuel the revolt against the elites.
http://www.truth-out.org/use-military-designed-occupy-movement/1323885549
