The War At Home

Allow me to say this in the most eloquent way possible: WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU IMBECILES THINKING?

The imbeciles to whom I refer are, of course, the duly elected members of the US Senate, led by Carl Levin and John McCain, who passed the abortion known as the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The bill passed the Senate 93-7, which ought to give anyone with the vaguest shreds of intelligence the galloping heebie-jeebies. Whenever something makes it through any branch of Congress with near-unanimity, we (the People) can count on a thorough ass-raping, sans lubricant.

This particular assault on our collective sphincters is nominally about funding the US military. McCain and Levin tossed in an amendment which would basically give the President- any President- unlimited authority to use military force against anyone “who was a part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners.” That sounds dangerously vague. Someone please define “substantially supported” for the rest of the class, because it seems our elected representatives in the Senate didn’t bother with such picayune details. How about “associated forces“? Anyone? Buehler?

I’m reasonably certain that this bullshit is unConstitutional on its face, but I’m not a lawyer, and I don’t play one on TV. Oh, and this lovely abomination is not subject to any such minor distinctions such as duration or national boundaries. For all time and everywhere on Earth (and, presumably, to the ends of the Universe), the President of the United States can identify any group or individual as “substantially supporting an associated force“, and that person (such as you or I) or group (such as, for example, the Boy Scouts or the Elks Lodge) could be snapped up by the Marines or Navy SEALs and deposited in Gitmo without benefit of habeus corpus hearing or any other pesky legal proceedings. How can you get a lawyer to plead your case when you are being held in a military detention facility in another country? Under this bill, anyone suspected of substantially supporting al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces would not have any due process or civil rights otherwise guaranteed by the Constitution- you won’t get a phone call, you won’t get to speak to an attorney, and there will be no speedy trial. You can be deprived of life or liberty at any time, anywhere in the world, on the say-so of whoever happens to be occupying the White House.

Didn’t we have a Revolution a couple of hundred years ago over far less vexatious abuses? Let’s take a look at the Declaration of Independence, shall we? I’ll just sample a few of the perfidies laid at the feet of the British monarch to see how they shape up today.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

George the Turd doesn’t come off as that bad a guy compared to our own Senators. I wonder how that worked out for him?

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Oh, yeah. That. I believe we may owe our British cousins a bit of an apology.

There were ninety-three (93) Senators who voted for this vile bit of legislative filth. Unless your Senators are on this list [Coburn – (R-OK), Harkin – (D-IA), Lee – (R-UT), Merkley – (D-OR), Paul – (R-KY), Sanders – (I-VT), Wyden – (D-OR)], they have failed to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Every other Senator has betrayed the public trust and has voted to turn our Republic into a military despotism, and they have thereby forfeited their right to continue in their present positions. Every last one of the Senators not listed above should be recalled, immediately, and turned out of office. If they are very lucky, that would be their only punishment for such a betrayal of the American people and Constitution. Lifetime imprisonment would be far more just, but might be legally unjustifiable under the Constitution. Of course, if this pernicious bill becomes law, the President could simply declare all of them de facto enemies of the state and lock them all up in some foreign hell-hole for infinity plus ninety years. That would be justice for their attempted raping of American liberties and ideals.

Here’s an idea: has anyone besides me noted that Bernie Sanders and Rand Paul are on the same side of this issue? Those two are cultural and political opposites. If they can agree that this bill is anathema to everything America supposedly represents, how could ninety three other Senators have voted in favor of this contemptible legislation? What are they afraid of?

The War at Home is coming here, by legislative decree. America has been declared a battleground in the halls of Congress. Now and forever, war without end.

Cry, “Havoc!”

Current status: Shaking with rage

Current music: Whip It by Devo