Barack Obama: The Lesser Of Two Evils?

    The U.S. Senate passed a bill known as the  National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 which allows the military to act against American citizens in the United States, and to indefinitely detain US citizens, and to deny US citizens their Article III rights to a jury trial. All of these act run contrary to the Constitution of the United States, but who cares about what that piece of paper says anymore, right? Our government certainly does not, whether run by the Republicans or the Democrats.

The bill also would provide for indefinite detention of suspected terrorists, even US citizens detained within US borders, without legal counsel, judicial review, or trial by jury. (sources here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/... and here: http://www.aclu.org/... and here: http://www.aclu.org/...)

And according to one report, the NDAA2012 also legalizes sex with animals (here: http://www.texasgopvote.com/...).  Perhaps the authors of this article chose the whole legalizing-sex-with-animals thing in an effort to distract readers from the real humping canard of this bill: the US military taking action against US citizens.     Source

    Obama has said that he will veto this bill if it makes it to his desk unless the provision that requires military detention of suspected terrorists is removed, but he says not a word about the use of the military against against its own citizens or the fact that our constitutionally protected rights are being tossed into the garbage bin.

The Patriot Act removed many of the constitution protections against search and seizure of citizens; it gave the government permission to tap your phones and read your mail without a warrant or judicial review.  The NDAA2012 hacks broadly at civil protections enumerated in Article III of the US Constitution and amendments V, VI, VIII, and IX (limitations on trials and punishment, the right to confront witnesses, and prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishments)               Source

   In case you have not noticed, President Obama has been running our national security in much the same way that the lesser-Bush did when he was in office. In fact, Obama has added to the onslaught of our freedoms and rights.

   In fact, the Obama administration has been pretty busy intruding on all of our rights. you can check out some of those intrusions here.

Criminalization of Dissent and Militarization of the Police
Anyone who has gone to a peace or justice protest in recent years has seen it – local police have been turned into SWAT teams, and SWAT teams into heavily armored military. Officer Friendly or even Officer Unfriendly has given way to police uniformed like soldiers with SWAT shields, shin guards, heavy vests, military helmets, visors, and vastly increased firepower. Protest police sport ninja turtle-like outfits and are accompanied by helicopters, special tanks, and even sound blasting vehicles first used in Iraq. Wireless fingerprint scanners first used by troops in Iraq are now being utilized by local police departments to check motorists. Facial recognition software introduced in war zones is now being used in Arizona and other jurisdictions. Drones just like the ones used in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan are being used along the Mexican and Canadian borders. These activities continue to expand under the Obama administration.

   and:

Technological Spying
The Bay Area Transit System, in August 2011, hearing of rumors to protest against fatal shootings by their police, shut down cell service in four stations. Western companies sell email surveillance software to repressive regimes in China, Libya and Syria to use against protestors and human rights activists. Surveillance cameras monitor residents in high crime areas, street corners and other governmental buildings. Police department computers ask for and receive daily lists from utility companies with addresses and names of every home address in their area. Computers in police cars scan every license plate of every car they drive by. The Obama administration has made no serious effort to cut back these new technologies of spying on citizens.                       Source

  Sadly for America, the 2012 elections will once again be a choice between the lesser one of two evils. This time though, I’m not so sure that there is a lesser evil. The only difference between Obama and Gingrich is that Obama has not turned into a serial adulterer, yet.

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama,Civil Liberties,Constitution,Article III,F.B.I.,C.I.A.,Bill Quigley,United States,Current Events,An American Gothic,National Defense Authorization Act,NDAA

 

The Republicans: Perpetually Lacking an Alternative

 

 By Gunnar Jonsson    28 November 2011                   Original Article  in Swedish        Translated By Grace Olaison for Watching America

The USA’s Republicans are still on the hunt for Anyone-But-Romney — any presidential candidate but the boring Mormon turncoat, Mitt Romney. According to opinion polls, it seems the grassroots have found a Messiah in Newt Gingrich.
In some ways Gingrich is not a bad alternative. Stupid he certainly is not, rather too intelligent for his own good (with a tendency to consider everybody else as idiots). However, he can debate history, foreign policy crises and American health care without stumbling, qualities that the other non-Romneys seem to be sorely lacking.
Gingrich is a minor legend within his own party. His “Contract with America” gave a colossal victory in the congressional vote of 1994 and forced Bill Clinton to start over with his presidency. However, it was also here that the problems began: that which was perceived to be hyperconservative in the ‘90s is wishy-washy liberalism among today’s Republicans.
The deportation of 11 million illegal immigrants is the doctrine of the party, but Gingrich considers this to be inhumane. He called the Republicans’ budget proposals right-wing social engineering. Until recently he even believed that climate change was real. When the tea party movement discovers what Gingrich thinks, he’ll be in deep trouble.
He doesn’t have an entirely spot-free past either. Congress imposed on him sky-high fines for financial improprieties in the ‘90s. Furthermore, two out of three marriages have crashed and burned due to infidelities, which were even happening when he attempted to get Clinton removed for dishonorable conduct.
Last summer, Gingrich was almost knocked out of the game. His election organization was described as a Cadillac campaign on a Bud Light budget, and the entire staff resigned. Gingrich still has just as little money as the discipline a candidate must have.
As rapidly as he opens his mouth to impart new ideas, he manages to stick his foot in it. Calling Obama’s Democrats a “secular socialist machine” as dangerous as Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union was not believed by conservative analysts to be especially clever.
Gingrich as a presidential candidate could probably be an entertaining but definitely reckless project. President Gingrich sounds utterly terrifying.

Technorati Tags: Newt Gingrich,Herman Cain,Rick Perry,Republican Party,Barack Obama,2012 Elections,Current Events,An American Gothic