How to start this post. I wanted to start with something that would catch your attention, a "hook" if you will. Unfortunately I don'e seem to be able to do that. No "witty" phrase of such comes to mind. I am just deeply sickened that the USA has dropped to such lows that it is almost unbelievable. Most unfortunately, it IS believable. The Senate has passed the vile, disgusting piece of legislative crap and Gobomber is now set to sign this bloody excuse into law.
I refer you to the "National Defense Authorization Act" and all of its implications. This is the very same piece of bovine excrement that "dear ;eager" WAS on record as saying he would veto. I suppose that "dear ;eager" has had a "change of heart". Must be that, or did he get some message from a "higher" authority? Yes, maybe that is it, he may have changed his mind after a phone call from Bibi Nutty-yahoo. That would be the "higher" authority.
Oh dear, it sure looks like I might wind up on some damn list as a "security threat" for being so damn sarcastic. Folks may very well tell me to go straight to hell even. Big deal, I have had countless "offers" for such a journey that I just might take up that offer. Hey, when so many tell me that I should go to a certain place, I figure it is only the decent thing to go and see what all the fuss about the place is like. Yeah, you survive the Marine Corps and time in the Vietnam war zone and not much can scare you. Just ask the troops who have made it back from Iraq or Afghanistan. After surviving a war, not much else they can do to you to frighten you.
Also, I want to share this quote I came across on the internet. I have not seen who is supposed to have said it, no origin was given, but I think it fits our times. Here goes; "When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty". Ah yes, words to ponder. Words to take to heart even. I'll resist as long as I can. True, my physical disabilities might crack without too much undo pressures, but I doubt my spirit will crack very easily, if ever. Maybe that attitude of mine is something I can thank the Marines for. Works for me.
The White House announced after the Senate passed the NDAA that yes, the president WILL sign this bill into law. This means that Gobomber is on record as being openly supportive of denying American citizens basic due process rights, such as the right to trial by peers, the right to legal representation.
This new law allows the military to detain without trialAmerican terror suspects arrested on US soil. These people can even be shipped off to sunny Cuba. Yes, those people could be sent to Gitmo to be held indefinitely, without trial. This was NOT reported in the New York Times. The donkey gang has NOT spoken out about this outrage.
The US supreme court ruled in 2004 in Hamdan vs Rumsfeld that the use of military tribunals for terror suspects CLEARLY violate basic protections under the Geneva Conventions. Being that the USA ratified the Geneva Conventions means that the supreme court said that the use of military tribunals for terror suspects violate US law. Yes folks, any treaty that is ratified by the congress of the USA IS law. Don't believe me? Check out the Constitution of the United States of America. This from Article VI of the US Constitution states that; "This Constitution and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and all Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding." The US Constitution makes the Geneva Conventions the "Law of the Land".
Of course that does not seem to phase our "dear leader" very much. The same can be said of the majority of BOTH houses of our(??) congress and also of past (recent even) occupants of the White House. One of our most recent occupants of "our" White House is said to have referred to the Constitution as that "goddamn piece of paper". Well, sorry to let you down there bud, but it IS the law, like it or not.
The trouble is, how do we, as common citizens of this country go about enforcing the Constitution? OWS surely has got the attention of the folks in congress and even the banksters have taken notice. Then again, they had the police out to destroy the encampments of OWS in more than one city. New York and Oakland seem to have suffered the most abuse by the riot cops. I may not be 100% correct in that, but from my readings on the net, those cities seem to have had the most violent abuse from "authority".
I know that my "attitude" gets me in deep manure from both sides of the political mess. The "right" thinks a former Marine should wave the flag and support every damn fool war the government gets us into. The "left" cannot stand that I am critical of Gobomber and the donkey gang. Well, too damn bad. I stand by my positions and will change them only when presented with a good enough argument to get me to change my views.
I ran across some more quotes that I want to share here. First off, Dwight Eisenhower said; "May we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion." I stand by my own honest dissent.
Now for Theodore Roosevelt; "To announce that there must be no criticism of the president.....is morally treasonable to the American public."
I wonder how much honest dissent or criticism Gobomber and congress can manage. No doubt I have made it onto a list or three, big deal. I fail to see how a disabled war veteran could be to the powers that run this show. Well, after this vile "act" is law I might find out how much, or better yet, how little dissent is still legal here in the "land of the free and the home of the brave".
As the state motto of New Hampshire goes; "Live Free or Die"
semper fi
18 comments:
You're not alone with your disgust and fears. I've had this sinking feeling that the U.S. is sliding into becoming the Soviet Union under Stalin ever since they passed the Patriot Act back in 2001. Everyone thinks that shredding the Constitution won't affect them. Well, this country already has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world (the one thing we seem to excel at is building prisons) -- how much higher is that rate going to go once it's okay to lock people up without due process?
I'd like to approach this bill from a different angle--
Imagine, for example, if just one of the major media had opposed this bill and made a stink in the papers about it every day interviewing constitutional scholars, libertarians etc.
They could have incited so much anger and hostility that the bill never would have passed...
But, think about it...think about how all the media and elite opinion now moves along the same fascist track...no divergence of opinion at all. They have waited a long time for this opportunity to put working people back in our cages, and I see no evidence that they plan to stop until they are done.
Whether we like it or not...we're now fighting for our lives.
MSM = Dept. of Propaganda.
This was endorsed by both sides of the aisle along with the White House.
That is why the MSM did not explore this act of treason..
And another quote, Charlie:
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” John F. Kennedy
Charlie, your concerns are justified. America seems to be falling into a bottomless pit.
The story today on ICH about the Iraqi who had his face 'skinned' by a marine and other horrors makes my flesh crawl.
I only partially understand what is happening in the U.S. Some of it just doesn't make any sense. It's like the Dark Ages are returning.
Anyway, look after yourself and have a great Xmas!
Kind regards,
David.
...if just one of the major media had opposed this bill...
That's a good point. All the media are corporate owned. The media used to be one area where monopolies were not tolerated. The big companies in the old days were restricted in how many outlets they could own in any one area, at least. All that is gone. The concentration of power in all spheres including the media due to 'free market' dogma has eliminated competition, not encouraged it.
The 1% know who they are and what they need to do to stay where they are and they think they can pull it off.
Time will tell. It's a shame that we don't get worked up until we get squeezed financially, but we're getting squeezed financially now and the greed of the 1% prevents them from doing anything about that, so there is going to be steadily increasing resistance.
It's a race to the collapse of the world financial system, with ordinary people trying to fix it and the banksters doing everything in their power to delay any fix for just one more trading session... like true junkies.
Unless we organize a majority of our congressional districts and turn the duopoly out of power,.. we're doomed to waiting to put things back together after the fall.
That's how it looks to me anyway.
Nan,
Thank you for your comments.
Actually the US has THE highest rate of incarceration. We lock up more people per capita than ANY country.
It is amazing how many people here assume that they are not affected by any of this war OF terror crap.
With this new NDAA I fear many will find out just how it does affect them.
Mike,
Excellent! Exactly, if, and it is a very big IF, just one major news outlet had made noises about this bill it would have started a high debate in the country.
Can we call the news media cowards? Yes we can. I'd go so far as to call them chicken shit. Of course that is the old Marine in me coming out.
RZ,
True, BOTH wings of the war party, elephant and donkey voted for this vile bit of legislation. Why not? They get their paychecks from the war industries and the banksters. The congress has sold out the American public.
gesneri,
Excellent quote. Too bad so many don't seem to care. Soon enough they will find out just how much power has been given to the president. Disgusting is being very, very polite.
David,
Wars give all sorts of stories like that. Some people actually enjoy the killing and the depredations that come with war.
As to the goings on here in the US, I agree that we seem to be going backwards to a sort of dark ages. Just how far will things go before the people wake up is the unknown right now. OWS is a very good start, we just have to keep that alive and grow it.
John,
Great comments.
Yes, how sad that for many people they have to get hit in the old pocketbook before they wake up. Well, in that case, there should be a great awakening soon in the US.
The 1% sure do not want to share even a very small portion of their hoardings. They do NOT create any jobs unless one counts the nannies and gardeners they hire and pay less than minimum wage to.
I remain hopeful that people are starting to wake up to the lies of the 1% and their media and congress critters.
I am not an optimist, but I do not think of myself as a pessimist either. I prefer to think that I am a realist. Still, if we give up any hope, then to me, we have lost, end of story. So I have to retain some small hope for truth coming out.
Happy Xmas, Charlie! Hope you are surrounded by love and peace. There's little enough of it in the world!
' Dwight Eisenhower said; "May we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion." '
That's a good quote Charlie. It makes me think about Bradley Manning. Two links I saw this morning, one from Marjorie Cohn:
http://robinlea.com/pub/Bradley_Manning-a_hero_not_a_traitor.html
and one from Robert Parry :
http://consortiumnews.com/2011/12/24/americas-debt-to-bradley-manning/
Both must reads, in my opinion, for their particular. They're speaking the truth.
Marjorie Cohn contrasts the Army’s war criminal 'Lethal Warriors' and their treatment with Bradley Manning's.
Robert Parry points out just how the new IAEA head got his job, and how we'd never have known that without... whoever did dump the databin... a hero whoever he or she was. Maybe Bradley Manning.
John,
Thank you for the links.
I ran across one item that mentioned Manning and how he was "classified" by some people. One said he was 'Not like Ellsberg" and that got my attention as Ellsberg himself has stated more than a few times how HE thinks of Manning as doing what he did with the Pentagon Papers.
I think that whoever leaked the cables, whether it was Manning or somebody else, took an act of courage. No doubt there are those who will disagree on this until hell freezes over. Any way, I still have my opinion and we all can make our own decisions on who is or is not heroic. My only request for the old corner at least is that any disagreements stay civil.
US threatens war in the Persian Gulf
' The Obama administration’s bellicose stance towards Iran is setting the stage for a dangerous slide towards war in the Persian Gulf. Having provoked Tehran with legislation for what amounts to an oil embargo, the US is threatening Iran with military action if it retaliates by shutting down the Strait of Hormuz.
' The press immediately added fuel to the flames by backing Washington and vilifying the Iranian regime. An editorial in the New York Times on Thursday fully supported the Obama administration’s threat of military action against any Iranian attempt to block the Persian Gulf. The editorial condemned Iran for “its recklessness and its contempt for international law,” declaring, “This is not a government any country should want to see acquire nuclear weapons.” '
This is my 10th New Years outside the US. What's the story Charlie? Do people still fall for this bullshit about 'the other guys' being the bad guys? Or have the lights finally come on in a majority of heads by now?
Happy New Year, Charlie.
We are headed into uncharted waters, Charlie! Maybe there are similarities to other Empires, but never has an Empire so encapsulated our whole planet. Bradley Manning is brilliant for what he has done to blow the lid of the deadly secrets of our "free" society. There is a clear case of him defending our Constitution and American citizens. No biased court may acknowledge that! Thanks for your rants, Charlie. They are a breath of fresh air in our "changing" world. Keep on keeping on.
John,
Yes, unfortunately, some DO fall for the crapola coming from the politicians. The fact that they have any who support them proves it. Also, they even get big money to back them, so it is not just the under educated working class and poor folks who follow them. True, the big money wants control, but they still back these nut balls. That calls their judgement into question for me.
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