TSA Paved The Way For The NDAA
Behold a new meaning for the phrase "it's important to keep a balanced diet": FEMA says all Americans should keep a three-day supply of food on hand in case of emergency. But the department of justice says anyone with more than seven day's worth of food is a potential terrorist, and the new defense authorization bill says anyone suspected of being a terrorist can be locked in a secret military prison without a trial, without a lawyer, without anyone even knowing you're there. So to keep your family safe, you need at least three day's worth of food but no more than seven. Got that?
I remain convinced that the TSA groping policies -- or rather, the millions of Americans who continued to fly despite them -- paved the way for the indefinite-detention bill. The thing about indefinite detention is this: most Americans will console themselves by thinking, "This won't be used against me and mine; it's only those other people who need to worry about it." But that was never the case with TSA groping (which started in airports and is spreading to other forms of mass transit); it happens to any American citizen who wishes to travel within the borders of his own country. It's not even something where people can say "It'll never happen to me" ... yet still, the majority went along with it. "Yeah, I don't like the groping, but what am I supposed to do -- vacation someplace within driving distance? Screw that."
Groping people without cause is a gross constitutional violation. Waterboarding people is a gross constitutional violation. The department of defense classifying peaceful protests as "low-level terrorism" is a breathtaking expression of contempt for constitutional freedoms. So why be surprised to hear the government now wants to do away with the right to a trial, the right to a lawyer, any rights at all? Ever since 9/11, the government violated the constitution over and over and over again; who thought it would stop of its own volition? Who was naive enough to think they'd ever say "Okay, we've seized enough power now; we don't need any more?"
Everyone who submitted to a TSA grope-down, for starters. Do you feel safe now, cowards?
I remain convinced that the TSA groping policies -- or rather, the millions of Americans who continued to fly despite them -- paved the way for the indefinite-detention bill. The thing about indefinite detention is this: most Americans will console themselves by thinking, "This won't be used against me and mine; it's only those other people who need to worry about it." But that was never the case with TSA groping (which started in airports and is spreading to other forms of mass transit); it happens to any American citizen who wishes to travel within the borders of his own country. It's not even something where people can say "It'll never happen to me" ... yet still, the majority went along with it. "Yeah, I don't like the groping, but what am I supposed to do -- vacation someplace within driving distance? Screw that."
Groping people without cause is a gross constitutional violation. Waterboarding people is a gross constitutional violation. The department of defense classifying peaceful protests as "low-level terrorism" is a breathtaking expression of contempt for constitutional freedoms. So why be surprised to hear the government now wants to do away with the right to a trial, the right to a lawyer, any rights at all? Ever since 9/11, the government violated the constitution over and over and over again; who thought it would stop of its own volition? Who was naive enough to think they'd ever say "Okay, we've seized enough power now; we don't need any more?"
Everyone who submitted to a TSA grope-down, for starters. Do you feel safe now, cowards?
posted by Jennifer Abel at 12:41 AM
8 Comments:
Thanks for this! I don't believe everything needs to be turned toward a political rant, but this is very specifically the reason I intend to vote Ron Paul. I get his ideas are unconventional and people get nervous easily, but he's the only politician that this kind of stuff seems to bother. The NDAA is a terrifying idea! I wish other countries the best, but I find it hard to lobby for their "freedom" when we're being legally terrorized in our own country. At least there's SOME people out there who haven't totally lost their grip!
So does that mean Mormon Romney will be arrested and held without trial or lawyer because he and all his cultist have a 1-year supply of food?
I wholeheartedly agree... I am in continuing amazement that the people of this nation haven't yet hit the "Okay, NOW you've gone too far." button. We can only hope....
I was born during Hitler reign and lived under Communism. US with its groping and road check-points feels like a Communist country I immigrated from 30 years ago. Vote Ron Paul because there is no other country to immigrate to.
The language in the bill is ambiguous but that just means the government can bend it to their will easier. The brain dead conservatives don't seem to realize that the Pentagon has already classified Tea Party types and Ron Paul people as low-level terrorists, and the brain dead liberals don't realize the same applies to anyone in a peace group or OWS. My bet is that they are preparing for the total collapse of the global economy in the next year or so and will use this to take out anyone who doesn't accept their fate as serfs.
We are living in a strange in between time where the system is too broken to be fixed within itself but no so broken that we have to start shooting the bastards.
Dead on, excellent piece.
Not only have people forfeited their rights in exchange for being able to fly to Cancun, they have let their children be sexually assaulted by these creeps.
They remain oblivious to the fact that TSA is the only agency to have a propaganda ministry much like the Nazis, Soviets and North Korea.
When they are sitting in the gulag without a trial or lawyer they'll wonder how it got this far.
@David
My bet is that they are preparing for the total collapse of the global economy in the next year or so and will use this to take out anyone who doesn't accept their fate as serfs.
That's a pretty safe bet, I think.
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