12.15.11
“I’m not paranoid, I’m just well armed.” Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Today is:
The 220th anniversary of the Bill of Rights’ ratification.
The day the National Defense Authorization Act FY 12 (NDAA) goes to the President’s desk.
Prepare yourself for a rant which may lose coherence at times. Along with a deep sadness, and overwhelming confusion, comes no small dose of angst.
MSM had little to say about it, and the blogosphere / social media was exploding with dissent on the matter. “Oh, it doesn’t effect our Bill of Rights…Americans are exempt…it says so right there!” vs. cries of “POLICE STATE!!”
I personally wondered if the very foundation of our way of life had just slid out from under us. I imagined having a conversation with my now 8 year old son, maybe 5 years down the road, and trying to explain what the US had stood for, what life was like once upon a time, while preparing him for life to come under the new regime. After a lot of deep reflection, and a little bit of distance, I feel like I can have a quasi-rational, semi-detached discussion on the matter.
So, what’s the hubbub, bub?
NDAA is a bill which covers a multitude of military / defense expenses. All that aside, it also includes two sections (Sections 1031 and 1032) re: Detainee Matters. The bill has become known as the “Indefinite Detention” bill. Here is the pdf for the whole bill, as passed by the Senate, after House approval: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112s1867es/pdf/BILLS-112s1867es.pdf . I highly recommend you read the sections in their entirety. The sections begin on page 426 of the pdf.
The polarity of opinions on the bill are due to a number of things, and there is much confusion on whether this “indefinite detention” does in fact include US citizens on US soil. If you want to quit reading now, you can. We won’t know the answer to this question for a while, after many court cases, and undoubtedly a Supreme Court show down, or, when, in fact, such detentions begin.
A good deal of this confusion is due to the inconvenience of trying to find exactly what language was passed by both the House and Senate and is, indeed, headed to the President’s desk. I’m pretty fair in the thorough research department, and finding the most up to date, actual bill’s language is inconvenient at best, leaving me frustrated and lacking confidence that I am reading what I want to know.
Every pundit on the planet has weighed in on this. Many, interestingly, have claimed “progressive / left leaning” views, and defended the opinion that the bill is no threat to the Bill of Rights, as it explicitly excludes American citizens. They continue to say that the left is shooting itself in the foot by getting excited about artificial infringements on our rights.
The interpretation that these sections will substantially infringe on our rights claims a total evisceration of the Bill of Rights: indefinite detention without charges, military operating against US citizens, etc.
One side is an ostrich sticking its head in the sand, ignoring any possible expansive interpretations of the sections. The other is chicken little, once again screaming the sky is falling.
For a very balanced opinion from this morning, please see:
However direct the headline, this includes a very good roll call of what the author is NOT saying in the final paragraphs. He still sees the specter of abuse lurking in the wings.
So there is the unbiased part of this post, a brief description of the landscape on the issue.
Now, for my humble opinion, I begin by asking you to watch Sen. John McCain, one of the bill’s original sponsors, define the spirit of the sections:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2011/12/2011121643213177164.html
To sum up his comments, “Yes, Americans are protected, BUT…”
BUT: If you are a terrorist, you’re in deep shit.
Here is where the indefinite detention issue makes me nervous. Whether or not you are an “exempt citizen” or an “enemy combatant” is a totally amorphous definition, left to the determination of National Security.
I read George Orwell’s 1984 in the 7th grade. It changed my perception of the world forever. Mind you, I was an Air Force brat during the height of the Cold War. I read the book through that lens, knowing the Commies were the bad guys.
Now, we have now entered the realm of true Orwellian double speak. “Of course your rights are safe and sound, it says so right in there, we are only going to get the bad guys.” But who those “bad guys” are is not so clear as during the us vs them of the Cold War superpower struggle.
One man’s patriotism is another man’s treason. One man’s patriot, is another man’s terrorist. This is something that is absolutely imperative to understand here.
If anything is for sure, it is that this legislation takes these definitions out of the hands of “We the people”, and puts them in the hands of a national security system.So what makes a terrorist? How do you pigeon hole this individual? Is it someone who takes to the streets for their voice to be heard? Someone who throws a Molotov cocktail?
As I wrote in my blog on 12/2/11 (http://bhg3.blogspot.com/2011/12/12211.html):
1) FACT: Occupations across the country have faced militaristic shut downs, coordinated from the federal level.
2) FACT: Courts across the country have dismissed charges against occupiers on 1st amendment grounds.
3) FACT: The current defense funding bill (approved by the Senate, SB 1867, awaiting House approval) allows for indefinite detainment of Americans on US soil (maybe), without charges. This eliminates relevancy of posse commitatus, severely challenges habeas corpus, and is a total end run on anything which would legitimately protect occupations.
One does not have to be an Einstein to see how 1+2=3. I should say could =3, tho I cannot see past the linkage myself.
Back to the present post.
We have seen petrol bombs lobbed at financial institutions in Western OWS occupations. We have seen tens of thousands in the streets, ports shut down, sporadic events of broken windows. We have seen a whole litany of abuses at the hands of the authorities across the country.
Let’s go abroad for a minute:
In 2011, we have seen MILLIONS of people take to the streets, face bullets meant for aircraft, and peacefully stare down snipers for change, until they could no longer remain peaceful and full scale revolutions erupt. “Oh…but that’s over there”. True, but the people are still coming to the streets, all over the world, where the bullets haven’t started flying yet. China and Russia are the most recent to the party.
We have seen massive protests in Europe, some numbering 500,000 voices. Large scale protests in Greece became street riots as the violent factions began petrol bombing the peaceful, the riot police trying to manage the mayhem between them. In Italy, The Powers That Be (PTB) have received letter bombs, bullets delivered. Italian sources fear the return of violent, internal groups conducting armed resistance.
“Well, ok, it’s not the Middle East, North Africa, or some other failed 3rd world state, but it’s still over there”.
We have seen London burn. OWS London has been declared a terrorist group.
“Uh…but that’s not here…right?”
“It can’t happen here” – famous last words.
Looking at the letter of the law, the language in Sect. 1031 and 1032, I have not been convinced about the sanctity of or explicit threat to the Constitutional Rights of the US Citizen. I have heard some good arguments on both sides.
Listening to the spirit of the law, the speeches of the proponents, I hear nothing but double speak attempting to veil a very clear message that the PTB will be the ones writing the definitions of “the enemy”. When will the veil definitively fall?
WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!!!
I have been called a fearmonger, a sheeple, and chicken little for “reading between the lines on things,” told to get over it by my fellows, it’s nothing, focus on the real problems – financial inequality, etc, stay on message with OWS.
But, honestly, it isn’t a great leap of logic to see where this is going. The horse may still be in his stall, but the barn door is wide open.
The PTB do NOT want to see the change proposed by OWS, do NOT want things to go any farther than they have. That much should be obvious to anybody with eyes in their heads. Surveillance / infiltration are already facts, ancient history.
“US citizens have nothing to worry about UNLESS you are otherwise determined to be a threat” is the take home message for me.
Another excellent take on the matter, from Matt Tiabbi in Rolling Stone, 12/9/11:
Let’s take a quick look at who is already on the “potential” threat list, could be a domestic terrorist:
Right wing extremists (ie racial hate groups, Aryan Brotherhood) and Left wing extremists who generally profess a revolutionary socialist doctrine and view themselves as protectors of the people against the "dehumanizing effects" of capitalism and imperialism." (http://www.fbi.gov/news/testimony/the-terrorist-threat-confronting-the-united-states)
From fbi.gov current most wanted list: Members of the Environmental Liberation Front (ELF) and Animal Liberation Front (ALF).
Simply off the top of my head, I can recall homesteaders, preppers, off the grid folks, gun owners, disgruntled veterans…that list goes on forever.
Let’s not forget the homegrown jihadi.
How many of the qualifying boxes on this list can you check off? Share any facebook posts which might show your hand? Take part in any direct actions lately? Own a few guns? Keep a modest supply of food on hand?
Then, a quick look at who stands to benefit the most should the “police state” hypothesis prove out:
Again, it’s our old friends in the military industrial complex, the true 1% who have their talons in policies of the state deep enough to control policy as it benefits their bottom lines.
The militarization of the domestic police force is an exploding market, as evidenced by OWS raids nationwide and spoken of eloquently by many. Often, this legislation has been referred to as “designating the US as a part of the battlefield in the global war on terror”. It’s pretty obvious this is the case. For instance, in my little, benign community of about 2500 souls (and I’m being generous in that estimate) police officers wear body armor, under the shirt, out of sight, of course. From rapidly expanding steel batons to LRAD, the militarized police equipment sales potential is limitless.
Specifically, indefinite detention and the drone war are a match made in heaven. It is just now coming to light the extent of the existing drone presence in places like Iran and Nebraska, it is also widely publicized that the industry is expanding dramatically. Drone use and technology is being compared with the computer industry circa 1980, with nothing but explosive growth ahead. Already, small, commercial versions of unmanned surveillance equipment is out on the public market for less than $20,000 and used widely by MSM.
For anyone who would argue the NDAA flap is irrelevant as a whole, or off topic for the OWS movement, please say your piece, and let’s check in again in a year. As to the applicability to OWS, this, to me, is a front and center example of the 1%’s ways and means. This, to me, is the “real” 1%. Not the wealthy with incomes of $500k, but those who know no bounds in increasing their billions.
We have about reached the threshold of tolerance from the PTB. There will be repurcussions.
SOPA (google it) is not far behind. Will it be the “internet kill switch” as prophesied by the doomsayers? Stay tuned for that, and find out if I fall squarely in that demographic.
As Tiabbi closed his blog, so will I: “I do not see this ending well”.
1 comment:
Well put!
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