The AUDACITY of THE NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT 2011

It is absolutely shocking, well to me at least, that a bill such as the NDAA, National Defense Authorization Act, could ever become law in America. You know, "land of liberty", "land of the free", however as of this writing I understand it awaits the Presidents signature to "officially" make it law. Having read, prior to it passing the House and Senate,that Obama would veto the bill if it passed with this provision, I now can't help but feel that was a ruse, so we'd let our guard down, relax, believing there was no way, not in American, a bill with such scope and sweeping powers, would allow for the arrest, without charge, and indefinite detention in a military prison, of american citizens within the US.

But it seems the President is poised to sign this very Bill, perhaps he already has, that just as this Bill was seemingly concocted in secret behind closed doors, over the busy holiday season when most americans were busy with holiday preparations, the signing followed suit.

This morning I learned with some margin of relief that Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif) has introduced a Bill to negate this stunning provision of the Bill. Her Bill is co-sponsored by the same Senators who voted in opposition to the NDAA but as that Bill passed with a huge majority, I don't expect the Due Process Guarantee Act, repealing the provision of which I speak, to ever really see the light of day.

I don't know about you, but I feel a cold, slimy, shiver of fear run down my spine when I contemplate the sweeping powers that the NDAA has just given our already overly pervasive goverment. As if the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act weren't crippling (to our civil rights) enough in their scope, this new bill, with all its perhaps well-meaning (I'm trying to be generous regarding the actual intentions of those who voted for this Bill) pretty much seals the deal. I find myself in disbelief, that in my lifetime, in a blink of an eye, we are witnessing the hacking away of the Constitution, and with it all civil rights guaranteed to we the people, that we are handing over this incredulous power to a Govt and Congress we all mostly, according to polls, have NO faith in. That is also the audacity of whats unfolding!

I expect there will come a time, not long down the road, as America moves into its rewritten future, citizens will reflect and reminisce about freedoms forever lost, such as those once guaranteed under Bills such as the 6th Amendment - you know the one that guaranteed "the right of the accused to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and District wherein the (alleged) crime shall have been committed.....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 defense".

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it. ~Thomas Paine