by Jill Dalton
As I head west on Chambers Street toward the Court House I hear a huge roar followed by loud chanting ricocheting off the stonewalls of the buildings and I'm elated. This is amazing, I think. There must be hundreds of people protesting the NDAA outside 40 Centre Street. But then I realize the protest is the transit workers school bus strike now in its third week. I stop to take a few photos and give them a thumbs up before continuing along my route.
Hedges v. Obama by Jill Dalton
By the time I reach the 40 Centre
Street I've already missed Hedges, Ellsberg, Drake, Chomsky and the other
notables who've already entered the Court House. What I find are 25 or so
activists milling around and a huge group of photographers standing in a line
on the opposite side of the sidewalk watching the proceedings along with
several police cars and officers. So much for my dream of a large peoples
presence to protest Obama signing the NDAA into law on December 31, 2011 as
unsuspecting Americans sipped champagne and sang "Auld Lang Syne."
Perhaps Obama figured no one would notice and most people didn't but Chris
Hedges did and he filed a lawsuit against Obama and Panetta.
Whenever I mention the NDAA most
people give me a quizzical look and ask, "What's that?" To which I give
them the "in a nutshell' answer. The NDAA stands for the National Defense
Authorization Act, which has provisions for the government to use the US
military against US citizens and can throw us into prison without due process
until the end of hostilities, which in our case of permanent war means
forever! They then look at me and ask, "Are you making this
up?" To which reply, "Google it." Let's be honest who could make
this up? Well, besides some member of the SS.
This is why plaintiffs and
supporters in the Hedges v. Obama lawsuit are challenging the controversial
indefinite detention provision set forth in Section 1021(b)(2) of the NDAA and
were back in court on February 6 th. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit, referred to as the
Magnificent or Freedom 7, are: Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Chris
Hedges, whistle-blower Daniel Ellsberg, NDAA Case Coordinator and founder
of Revolution Truth Tangerine Bolen, author Noam Chomsky, Icelandic
parliamentarian Birgitta Jonsdottir, Occupy London activist Kai Wargalla and
journalist and activist Alexa O'Brien. Bruce Afran & Carl Mayer serve
as counsel for the plaintiffs.
Magnificent 7 by Jill Dalton
Back in May US District Judge
Katherine Forrest ruled Section 1021 of the NDAA was unconstitutional.
Her ruling returned us to the country we were before Obama signed this act into
law. Meaning the government cannot strip a US citizen of due process or
use the military to arrest US citizens and hold them in a military prison
indefinitely. Judge Forrest then granted a permanent injunction on the
NDAA provision, which was appealed the next day by the Obama White House.
The 2 nd Circuit Court of appeals then placed Section 1021 of the NDAA
back into effect.
Hedges describes the NDAA as, " The final battle between the restoration of due process and the
imposition of a military state. "
" They seek to subjugate us all. " Chris Hedges
The only thing more craven
then Obama signing the NDAA into law is the total lack of any coverage by the
corporate media, which has proven itself to be nothing more than the propaganda
arm of the corporate state. There were no cameras from NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX
or CNN in front of the courthouse. The reporters were from Democracy
Now!, RT, WBAI and various other independent media outlets. But worse
still is the complete denial on the part of the American public that anything
out of the ordinary is going on. The willful ignorance of American's is
astounding to me. We've become a nation of zombies.
Obama is a brand and I believe he
was put into office to do what no Republican could ever get away with.
He's the kindler gentler face of corporate empire. Here we have a president
who's much worse than Bush in so many ways. Obama's extended the
wars, created new wars, extended the Bush tax cuts for the rich, gave
additional bail out money to the banks, allowed the health insurance industry
to write the healthcare bill, extended the Patriot Act, escalated drone attacks
(6 times more frequently than Bush) and prosecuted twice as many
whistle-blowers under the Espionage Act of 1917 as all other presidents
combined. Obama has assassinated three US citizens without due process
and now wants to carry this draconian power out at home and to that end signed
the NDAA into law and amazingly still finds time to ruminate over his "kill
list' on "Terror Tuesdays.'
Under his watch not one member of
the Bush Administration has been held accountable for leading us into wars
built on false evidence and lies; not one banker's been held accountable for
the fraud and corruption that brought down the global economy. Obama is
every corporatist's wet dream.
Miss Liberty by Jill Dalton
Is the American public willfully
ignorant or just ignorant? Or as a friend of mine told me when we were
arguing over Mr. O and his policies. "Well, I don't want to know. I'm
happy with my little life and if I know I'll just be depressed." Perhaps
that's the same logic the Germans used as Hitler came to power and began
systematically stripping away civil liberties and silencing all descent.
I used to wonder how the Germans could remain silent with all that transpired
but now see it happening here in the US and I'm truly amazed and pissed off by
our complicity in this corruption.
Glenn Ford refers to Obama as the
"more effective evil" and I have to agree with his assessment. I mean
give me a break. Don't listen to what Obama says. Talk is cheap.
Look at his actions. It's not that difficult. Obama's completely
charmed and neutered the African American community. And the hypocritical
liberals are so full of crap. They're a bunch of crybabies who under Bush
raised holy hell and now under Obama remain silent sycophants to his reign of
terror. These so-called liberals are enabling cowards. Defending
their murderer in chief at every turn. The liver lilied, hypocritical
liberals lay prostate and impotent at Obama's feet pleading to be stomped
on. They beg for their enslavement. Jesus, are they truly that
deaf, dumb and blind?
The corporate takeover of our
government and the erosion of our civil liberties continue and if it's allowed
to continue unabated then we are truly done for. We will be a full-blown
corporate police state with no rights and no jobs. We'll be a penal
colony. A third world country filled with serfs and warlords.
Hedges affirms, " All these laws are being put through by design ."
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