Threat of Defense Authorization Bill

The House and Senate have both passed the "Threat of Defense Authorization Bill". Obama was set to veto it, but for the wrong reasons. Now the White House says that Obama will not veto the bill (after some of the bill was changed so that it guaranteed some powers for the President). 

This bill gives the executive branch the ability to indefinitely detain American citizens without charges or a trial. This bill received 93 aye votes and 7 nay votes in the Senate. One of the "nay" votes in the senate was Rand Paul, Ron Paul's son. Ron Paul voted against it in the House. Unfortunately most of congress voted for it, republicans and democrats alike. 

I know most of you are well aware of the 2nd amendment, and you may base your entire political thought on protecting that amendment, but this bill completely demolishes the 4th and 6th amendments. If you think that this bill and its provisions are justifiable to "protect America", perhaps you should re-evaluate what America is all about. 

If terrorists hate us for our freedom, they don't have to worry long because our government is helping them get rid of that pesky freedom, constantly. 

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Ben Franklin

Truer words have never been spoken in regards to what America stands for.

http://www.nationaljournal.com//nationalsecurity/white-house-lifts-veto-threat-of-defense-authorization-bill-20111214 (White House won't veto)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution (The 4th Amendment to the Constitution)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution (The 6th Amendment to the Constitution)

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/12/05/the-national-defense-authorization-act-is-the-greatest-threat-to-civil-liberties-americans-face/ (What forbes has to say about it)

http://www.opencongress.org/vote/2011/s/218 (See how the senate voted on the bill)

This bill was crafted by John McCain and Carl Levin. The main part of this bill is to authorize the military budget for 2012, but they piggybacked this junk with it.

Levin has said, “The requirement to detain a person in military custody under this section does not extend to citizens of the United States."

However, the bill actually lets the government detain a citizen in military custody indefinitely without a trial or even without charges being filed. The magic words are "suspected belligerence". The executive branch will be able to detain any American citizen for "belligerent" actions. 

This country's justice system was founded on the principal of "innocent until proven guilty". Of all the things in the political news lately, this is the one everyone should be aware of. It's shocking that the press hasn't been talking about it much.  

Along with this, I should also point out that the Protect IP act is another piece of legislation we should all be looking at. This gives the government unlimited power to censure the internet, just like China does. 

Some of you may hate Obama, but you should also be looking real close at the rest of Washington that is behind these things. So while the TV has you worried about whether Obama mentioned God during Thanksgiving or whether we're taking the Christ out of Christmas, EDUCATE yourself about the important things that are actually going on. 

If you feel like it's worth anything, forward this. At least people can research this and find out more for themselves. Lack of real understanding about the issues is crippling America right now. Read your constitution. Understand our basic liberties and how they are being removed to "protect" us. This is exactly how, historically, governments have stripped people of their rights, by fear. This is exactly how the Nazis took power in Germany.

Mr. Lowerly, my high school history teacher had two very fond sayings: 1.) It's was all about money. 2.) History repeats itself.

We study history to learn from our mistakes, but when we forget those mistakes we often repeat them. The central bank of England was a historical mistake that our founding fathers learned from. We forgot about that in 1913, and instituted the Federal Reserve. We have to keep sight of what they accomplished when they created this country. They created a very good system of government. It has been abused and distorted to benefit a few at the expense of many. 

Thanks for taking the time to read through this.