People, we are entering very dangerous times. A bill now in the US Senate would allow the president to send anybody, including American citizens to Gitmo to be held indefinitely without any recourse to legal representation. In short, the president could send anybody he thinks is a security threat to the US to be held as long as he wants to hold them with no lawyers allowed to represent him/her.
All that would be required for any of us to be held indefinitely is for the president to say that any of us is a "security threat" to the US. There is NO requirement for the president to say just how the person represents such a threat. In short, it is entirely the whim of the president. This is extremely frightening. No president has ever had such powers. The bill apparently also includes the authorization to allow the president to us the US military troops to be used as law enforcement. The last time that was done was during the Reconstruction period after the US War Between the States. WHen Reconstruction ended in 1876, the Congress at that time passed a law that prevented all presidents from that time until now from using the military as law enforcement.
Consider a USA where the president can us military troops as a police force and he alone can designate any of us as a "security threat" and have us locked up in some dank prison indefinitely with no legal representation.
You think this cannot happen in America? Think again my friends, this bill now in the US Senate would allow all of this and no doubt much more.
I wonder, if this vile piece of legislation passes, will the next Occupy action result in the protesters being carted away to Gitmo for indefinite detention? Who among us would trust anybody with such power? I would not even trust myself with that amount of unlimited power, let alone some Wall Street tool as Gobomber.
Now, our president has said that he will veto this bill if it passes the Senate. Do you really believe this guy? Remember, he promised during the campaign in 2008 to shut down Gitmo by the end of his first year in office. He has been on the job almost three years now and Gitmo is still operating as usual. Now, do you still trust this guy? Hell, I just might be on his "hit" list for my rants here on the old, corner. Well, hell, if you don't hear much from me in the next few weeks, no doubt I might be in sunny Cuba in one of those "nice" cells at Gitmo.
I'm going to close this rant with a few quotes that I have run across recently. I may have read them before, but this week I came across them again, and decided to share them.
Steve Biko said "The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed."
These next two I have no idea who said them, they came off different web articles. As to the OWS making no list of demands, one of the protesters said; "OWS has made no demands. Terrorists make demands. OWS are NOT terrorists." How very true, they ARE patriots who are asking for the broken system to be replaced with one that is fair to ALL of us.
The last one is; "Bailing out banks to save us from socialism is like fucking to save virginity." Excuse my language but that is the BEST way to describe things in my opinion. Short and to the point.
We are entering very dangerous times people. I have no idea where this is going or how it will end. I know that the system IS broken and we need real change. I hope it does not devolve into armed revolution with blood running in the streets. We can do this peacefully, but that means the top 1% has to listen to the people and put aside their greed for ever more and more. At some point even the very rich must have to ask themselves, how much is finally enough. The people have had more than enough of the greed of Wall Street and the war industries. End the damn fool wars of choice. Close all those military bases in foreign countries. Rebuild America and let the rest of the world alone to sort out their troubles without the US interfering. ENOUGH! Enough of the damn fool wars of choice. Enough of the greedy banksters and their pals on Wall Street and in the war industries.
America, what a country.
semper fi
