Sorta knocks the myth of the two opposition party system, and exposes the
2 Corporate party system, doesn't it?
Geez, there isn't even a place far enough left for Republicans, to be
republicans anymore with their intent of being the supporters and
defenders of the American Business's after working over time to destroy
them and help the international Corporations and bankers suck them up.
Scott
AMERICAN DEMOCRACY IS DEAD, LONG LIVE FASCISM!
LOGINSIGN UP
Join our Network
221,913 Strong!
Signup | Login
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
HOME
ABOUT US
DONATE
SUBSCRIBE
ARCHIVES
HOME
Subscribe to Common Dreams News Updates
Most Popular This Week
Most ViewedMost Emailed
This Is Called Humanity
Half of America In Poverty? The Facts Say It's True
Woody's New Year: Change Socks, Dream Good, Wake Up and Fight
Protect Your Cell Phone from Prying Eyes in 2012
The Big Lie: Wall Street has Destroyed the Wonder That Was America
More...
Today's Top News
Egyptians Wrap Up Landmark Elections
Occupy Heckles Romney Before Iowa Caucuses
Occupy Protests Follow 123rd Annual Rose Parade
Austerity Reigns in Europe as Crisis Deepens
Ohio Fracking Wells Closed After Earthquakes
More News...
Donate
Find us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
E-mailPrint
Share
Discussresize:+ - reset
Published on Monday, January 2, 2012 by Jonathan Turley's Blog
The NDAA's Historic Assault on American Liberty
By signing into law the NDAA, the president has awarded the military
extraordinary powers to detain US citizens without trial
by Jonathan Turley
President Barack Obama rang in the New Year by signing the NDAA law with
its provision allowing him to indefinitely detain citizens. It was a
symbolic moment, to say the least. With Americans distracted with drinking
and celebrating, Obama signed one of the greatest rollbacks of civil
liberties in the history of our country
and citizens partied in
unwitting bliss into the New Year.
Ironically, in addition to breaking his promise not to sign the law, Obama
broke his promise on signing statements and attached a statement that he
really does not want to detain citizens indefinitely (see the text of the
statement here).
Obama insisted that he signed the bill simply to keep funding for the
troops. It was a continuation of the dishonest treatment of the issue by
the White House since the law first came to light. As discussed earlier,
the White House told citizens that the president would not sign the NDAA
because of the provision. That spin ended after sponsor Senator Carl Levin
(Democrat, Michigan) went to the floor and disclosed that it was the White
House and insisted that there be no exception for citizens in the
indefinite detention provision.
The latest claim is even more insulting. You do not "support our troops"
by denying the principles for which they are fighting. They are not
fighting to consolidate authoritarian powers in the president. The
"American way of life" is defined by our constitution and specifically the
bill of rights. Moreover, the insistence that you do not intend to use
authoritarian powers does not alter the fact that you just signed an
authoritarian measure. It is not the use but the right to use such powers
that defines authoritarian systems.
The almost complete failure of the mainstream media to cover this issue is
shocking. Many reporters have bought into the spin of the Obama
administration as they did the spin over torture by the Bush
administration. Even today, reporters refuse to call waterboarding torture
despite the long line of cases and experts defining waterboarding as
torture for decades.
On the NDAA, reporters continue to mouth the claim that this law only
codifies what is already the law. That is not true. The administration has
fought any challenges to indefinite detention to prevent a true court
review. Moreover, most experts agree that such indefinite detention of
citizens violates the constitution.
There are also those who continue the longstanding effort to excuse
Obama's horrific record on civil liberties by blaming either others or the
times. One successful myth is that there is an exception for citizens. The
White House is saying that changes to the law made it unnecessary to veto
the legislation. That spin is ridiculous. The changes were the inclusion
of some meaningless rhetoric after key amendments protecting citizens were
defeated. The provision merely states that nothing in the provisions could
be construed to alter Americans' legal rights. Since the Senate clearly
views citizens as not just subject to indefinite detention but even to
execution without a trial, the change offers nothing but rhetoric to hide
the harsh reality.
The Obama administration and Democratic members are in full spin mode
using language designed to obscure the authority given to the military.
The exemption for American citizens from the mandatory detention
requirement (section 1032) is the screening language for the next section,
1031, which offers no exemption for American citizens from the
authorisation to use the military to indefinitely detain people without
charge or trial.
Obama could have refused to sign the bill and the Congress would have
rushed to fund the troops. Instead, as confirmed by Senator Levin, the
White House conducted a misinformation campaign to secure this power while
portraying the president as some type of reluctant absolute ruler, or, as
Obama maintains, a reluctant president with dictatorial powers.
Most Democratic members joined their Republican colleagues in voting for
this un-American measure. Some Montana citizens are moving to force the
removal of these members who, they insist, betrayed their oaths of office
and their constituents. Most citizens, however, are continuing to treat
the matter as a distraction from the holiday cheer.
For civil libertarians, the NDAA is our Mayan moment: 2012 is when the
nation embraced authoritarian powers with little more than a pause between
rounds of drinks.
© 2012 Jonathan Turley
Jonathan Turley is a professor of law at George Washington University.
E-mailPrint
Share
Discuss
76 Comments so farshow all
Join the discussion:
You must be logged in to post a comment. If you haven't registered yet,
click here to register. (It's quick, easy and free. And we won't give your
email address to anyone.)
Common Dreams
Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
Independent, non-profit newscenter since 1997.
Home | About Us | Donate | Subscribe | Archives
To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.
www.commondreams.org
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe: <mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe: <mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Digest: <mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Help: <mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Post: <mailto:la...@egroups.com>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
laamn-dig...@yahoogroups.com
laamn-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
laamn-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
