What is wrong with our effing Democratic Party Senators?
I expect the Authoritarian Republican Party have knee jerk reactions to fear and loathing and want to usurp the rule of law.
The Patriot Act of 2001 was originally written and passed in panic yet extended for another four years in 2011 with the added bonus of "domestic terrorists and lone wolves.
The Military Commissions Act of 2006 was sheer cowardice, ditto for 2009.
Now we have the real deal
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012.
Once again the Senate in a rare show of bipartisanship when it comes to circumventing the rule of law passed it 93-7
“This bill puts military detention authority on steroids and makes it permanent,” Christopher Anders, senior legislative counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement. “If it becomes law, American citizens and others are at real risk of being locked away by the military without charge or trial.”
Even people I disagree strongly with see this.
Rep. Ron Paul (R) of Texas, Sen. Rand Paul (R) of Kentucky spoke forcefully against the measure: “We are talking about people who are merely suspected of a crime, and we are talking about American citizens. If these provisions pass, we could see American citizens being sent to Guantánamo Bay.”
We have already accepted that American citizens can be killed without trial overseas just so long as the label "terrorist" is applied, so in fact we can kill anyone we please without even having to present the evidence.
The Sixth Amendment
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
Speedy trial as defined in Barker v Wingo 1972
Public trial as defined in Sheppard v. Maxwell 1966.
Presidential concerns may result in a veto, however, we now rely on the Republican controlled house to ditch this Bill.
As Open congress links
Bills like this give the US Government the ability to skip that step and classify someone as a “terrorist” arbitrarily without a fair trial, which is no different than giving the Executive branch the power to call someone a murderer and execute them on the spot. Once you start going down that path, the potential for abuse is catastrophic! Section 1031 needs to be removed.
At least one of my senators voted against this pile of dangerous dross
So we are now possibly reduced to the point where the government alone defines who is or isn't a terrorist, great, personally I lack that type of faith, and so did the founders of our nation.
We have torture with impunity, we have held people without trial, we have used extraordinary rendition when even our base morals were too high to commit the acts of degradation desired. Now we are to give the rights to our government of judge, jury and jailer?
When is the Constitution Shredding Press Conference due?
How many people are going to die or just simply disappear if this is allowed to continue?
This is a truly bipartisan destruction of our rights and I refuse to support any senator who voted for this crap; that goes for any member of the House who votes the same way.