Photo: Andrew Dallos
The New York City General Assembly of Occupy Wall Street is gathering today in our neighborhood. Andy Dallos sends the pics above and below from outside 30 Rock. The NYCGA writes:
January 3rd will be a spontaneous show of people power in reaction to Obama's treasonous signing of the National Defense Authorization Act. Not only does this act violate our first, third, fourth, fifth and sixth amendments, as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, but this Act was signed quietly this past New Years Eve violating what little trust remained between the people and their established government. We see what's happening here, and we will not stand for it.
Last night on the show, Rachel looked at the import of the NDAA and President Obama's signing statement about how he intends to use the legislation. Under the new law, the U.S. government reserves for itself the right arrest and confine American citizens in military custody, without benefit of trial, indefinitely. President Obama says his administration won't do that, but the law remains a law. "I'm not sure we're going to appreciate its radicalness until it's undone by other legislation or until a president as radical as this bill decides to use it to its fullest extent," Rachel said.
Photo: Andrew Dallos
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There is no criminal class in the United States, except for Congress.
Sorry - the "other" criminal class is Corporate personhood!! Just look at how the banksters got away with tanking the economy - and none of them went to JAIL!!!
Obama is the one abandoning the Constitution by signing this totalitarian law..
wait. So congress gets a pass for writing the legislation and then passing it, but the president does not for signing it and adding a signing statement? o.O. You'll have to explain that one to me moneyos.
I don't think those people were saying they were giving congress person a "pass" on this legislation...it's what Congress people do .... things FOR lobbyists and immediate, forever, secretive, no rights, no lawyer, enhanced interrogation techniques, and all you've done as an American Citizen as say the 911 has unanswered questions and works to educate people that our government was part of that along with some of our foreign "partners".
Obama was the LAST STOP to defend habeus carpus and freedom and his oath.
He failed, it's that simple.
Actions speak louder than words.
Actions show intent
Actions are the final judgement of character.
We have institutionalized a Future (of his signing statement HE won't use it that power') "Fuerer" or Fuerress"
Really really bad
Bob...:D
The first victim of this law will either be an Occupy protester or a gay rights advocate caught glitter bombing GOP candidates.
First thing I thought of was the occupy movement when I read this.
First thing I thought about was people with HIV. I'm sure some of our Republican friends would be glad to "indefinitely detain" people who are HIV positive to "protect society". And who's to stop them? Obama and his promise to not use this law? Well, we know about his promises.
I won't even try to predict who will be screwed the most by this law. All I know is that it seems tailor-made for the next Republican president.
The next republican president? Obama could have all of the candidates arrested and detained at any time now for no reason. He could say they're terrorists. What's next? He'll probably eliminate presidential elections and declare himself king. This is how dictatorships start..
No, it isn't. Try to maintain some kind of grip on reality. If you really think that Obama is a dictator, then I have a beachfront property in North Dakota with a fine view of the Adriatic that I'd like to interest you in.
He's not a dictator.....yet. But he does ignore the constitution on a daily basis..
....what exactly does Obama ignore on a daily basis in regards to the constitution? Can you substantiate that claim w/ evidence?
I'm sure he/she/other can't. Maybe a distinct right-wing slant is being betrayed here. After all, the right excoriate the Obama administration for having decided to not defend DOMA in the courts, and do so with the claim that failing to defend the law is a violation of the Constitution (which is a false claim). So, I suspect something like that is the basis for moneyos1's claim. To wingers, everything Obama does is unconstitutional, un-American, or unnatural.
It's not unnatural for leftists...and it's not a right-wing slant, it's more a pro-america slant....you know, the one the left and Obama are trying to convert into a socialist, totalitarian state.
Here is what he thinks of the constitution. Why would he uphold it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11OhmY1obS4
You spoke too quickly MM.
Moneys even if you don't know what the entire context is of the speech he is giving you automatically know that he isn't stating the constitution is a bad document, but that something w/in the constitution is. Given by the fact that he keeps stating "it" you should immediately be asking yourself what "it" is that he's referring to. And your instinct should probably be race relations given that this was a speech he gave before being in office.
Oh and wouldn't you know? He was talking about slavery:
http://mediamatters.org/mobile/research/200810280007
This does not make you seem more intelligent moneys and this is what I keep trying to tell the right wing bloggers who come here. I get that you want to win the argument, but every time you try to win the argument by pandering to fallacies, bad reasoning, lack of context, or lack of factual representation you only end up making your argument weaker. If you really care about conservatism and the ideologies on the right then you will not stoop to this level because it weakens the right's cause.
So I will repeat again: demonstrate that President Obama violates the constitution on a daily basis as was your initial assertion.
It seems to me, Mouzer, that you are reaching. Do not insult conservatives for lacking intelligence. Some of us have Ivy league degrees
And you can't resist a little ad verecundiam, apparently. The fact that you even attempted that particular substantive distraction only serves to reinforce Mickey's claim about the right-wing habit of relying on fallacies, etc.
And, it's more than a little disingenuous to slap Mickey for allegedly being insulting after moneyos1 insinuated that everyone not right-wing is in fact un-American (an amazing display of a lack of self-consciousness on his/her/whatever part, considering my prior remarks).
I am worried that the extreme outrage, the underwhelm-ment of the former Obama voters are going to give us an EXTREMELY conservative and PRO Corporate PRO war (NO— RON PAUL (nor the perfect liberal Utah candidate) WON"T BE PRESIDENT-and if one looks under the hood, who would want to return to the 18th and/or 19th century?) oligarchy and facism.
http://obrag.org/?p=51960&cpage=1
We have to remind ourselves to give criticism but face the REAL possibility of WORSENING the conditions in the Supreme Court cases-there are many things at risk when folks are just expressing their anger and nothing comes of it but more BAD.
We already have a pro corporate president. Obama has not pushed for investigations and indictments for Wall Street and the banks. They stole trillions of dollars. Obama and the Dems have collected more campaign money from the banks and Wall Street than have the Republicans. He is also pushing a global settlement for the mortgage fraud that would allow Wall Street and the banks to pay pennies on the dollar. I would say that is pro corporate. Obama is being justly criticized by OWS and other progressives.
Yes he has....but those he nominated to do just this were always blocked by congress GOP
The president could call Holder at the Justice Dept. to get investigations and indictments underway. No appointment by the president is necessary.
Yes, he can rightfully be criticized, I am still worried, though. I do feel it would be much worse with a Republican President and Republican Congress.
Take 2 aspirins, go to sleep, and wake up and worry what Obama''s golf score is
Tom, I notice that you enjoy bossing people around. That's about all I can see from you, telling people what to do and making fun of them as entertainment. That is what the Yahoo boards are like. AT least Mike offers us informed opinions.
I'll not waste any more time and board space with you.
I sincerely regret that I'm only allowed to "like" your comment once, sandy. I'm afraid I tend to be far less diplomatic than either Mouzer or MM, so it's usually best for me to just keep it zipped and enjoy the show.
The point is, we shouldn't have to rely on the good will and character of whomever is in office to ensure a law, enforced AS WRITTEN, doesn't violate our civil and human rights. The laws are in place BECAUSE people don't always do what they're supposed to, it can't rely on the interpretation of the one enforcing it to be used properly, it should be written in such a way that it CAN'T be misused.
I am so glad more people in the media are paying attention to this. This changes everything for the American people. This was brought to a president that ran and continues to brand himself as a warrior for the middle class and against everything GW did in his 8 years and HE still signed it, knowing it could and possibly would be used in the future. What does that say about everyday peoples future in America?
Hold uup their mmerriner, I beleive u are overlooking the same thing the GOP is crowing about.....falsely. There was nothing he could do if it could not be gotten to his desk by Congress. GOP and Teaparty made damn sure that didn't happen.
Welcome to Chicago style politics. Back room manipulation
.....that's quite a stretch Tom. It's almost like no one knew that this bill was coming up, that there were no protests about it, that the president hadn't discussed it openly for weeks in advance, and that there wasn't heavy media coverage over the issue. nope....it was back room. Le sighs.
Also I talked about this earlier on another thread- this bill doesn't "change everything for America." It is a continuation of policies that were already in place that changed everything in America since the World Wars. This bill is nothing more than a continuation of current political trends. Do not pretend like you haven't seen this coming or that this is some new amazing thing w/ some unforeseen consequences not yet tested. More than likely SCOTUS will end up ruling the indefinite detention portion unconstitutional as SCOTUS has done with all the other attempts at indefinite detention throughout US history. This bill commits to law bad policy, yes. But it's not new and likely will not change anything that wasn't already being put into place here in the US.
Obama could have Vetoed the bill and sent it back with a stipulation that that portion be struck - or simply have made both houses vote it out of veto territory. Obama flubbed on this one, big time.
I suppose he could have - and the veto would have been overturned in the Senate because they had more than enough votes (I definitely have a thing or two to say to the dems voting with the republicans on this one). Obama added his signing statement to guarantee that the ACLU had something to hang their hat on when it goes before the Supreme Court.
Somehow, I find there are more pressing issues than this. Poverty, American children going to bed hungry, American families living in cars - these things are shameful and more worthy than who's getting arrested - have any of you been arrested and detained indefinitely? Probably not. I understand President Obama said he never intended to use this. Well - keep him in office then!
A lot of people fought and died to obtain and maintain the rights specified in the peoples Constitution and Bill of Rights. This past weekend they were taken away from you and every other American. Those facts may not seem significant to you now because you took those rights for granted and apparently never witnessed or experienced tyrannical injustices.
The appreciation of liberty is something I can't force upon you, nor would I want to: that's your path. One thing I can say, though, is that your comment (made in innocent ignorance) is an affront to all brave solders who fought and died so that we can live free from oppression.
If you really want to honor them you can express your gratitude and honor them by fighting for your freedom to insure that their sacrifice (and their families) means something.
Fight back against this assault on your freedom. You are an American.
Indefinite detention? The NDAA turns the Statue of Liberty into a euphemism for tyranny. Let's change her name to the Statue of Irony.
Priceless.
the power of american people.
I really and truly believe, Obama's intelligence is not being given full recognition here. I don't believe he would ever sign anything like that that he didn't already have in mind how to dump it, fix it at least when new Congress comes in. He let's them "think" (not their long suit) they got away with something but THIS? Nah. I'm not worried.
Based off the comments here, I take it no one has ever heard of precedent. You know, that old adage, give them an inch, they take a mile. Well the precedent for this was set by the Patriot act, which determined who was a human being with rights and who was not. That bill stated that only U.S. citizens were human beings with rights, which set the precedent for rights being changed to privilege, as they no longer applied to everyone. This is the next step. This step sets the precedent that even U.S. citizens can no longer be considered human beings with rights, for various offenses to the u.s. such as buying a one-way plane ticket, sharing a name with someone, or purchasing items with cash. That, along with the notion that corporations now have more legal rights than human beings, sets the stage for any new bushleaguer to push this country the rest of the way into madness.
We've been toeing the line for a while now, and it was only the constitution and the bill of rights that kept us from turning into a militarized fascist state. This sets the precedent for that no longer being the case. And all folks have to say is this is not a big deal? Are you @!$%#ing joking? Just because something is unreasonable and hasn't happened here before, doesn't mean it never will. And the 'keep Obama in power' idea won't work forever...it may not even work once. The wolves are at the door, and all the little piggies just say, oh, he can never get through that door. We're perfectly safe. I'm sorry, but I have to disagree that this isn't a big deal. This marks the beginning of the end for civil rights in America. Wake up and smell the betrayal. Obama just lost 1,000 points on this one.
They say this current Republican Party isn't the real Republican Party. What joke when it is. I am laughing my butt off over that one. Who do you think you are kidding. It is the GOP and the 1% who picked these people.
If the new law NDAA is unconstitutional don't the court system or judicial system have anything to say about it? Or how about if someone filed a lawsuit and took it to court. If congress passes a law that unconstitutional, and nobody can touch it , that would make America a fascist government.
Someone has to file a law suit against this law which the ACLU has stated it's going to do. If the ACLU does not get a hearing for this first then what has to happen is someone has to be detained under the provisions of the law or forced to face military court instead of civilian court. They then can challenge the law and push it up through the court system. Until there is a challenge to a law, however, the law cannot be ruled unconstitutional (that's just the way the court system works). Historically SCOTUS has ruled against these measures as unconstitutional so if we go purely off precedent it is likely if there is a challenge section d won't hold up in the court of law. What is highly annoying about this law- for me at least- is this is another example of government waste as put forward by congress. There was no reason for this provision to be added to NDAA. It wasn't being asked for by the US military, or the White House/Executive branch, or any federal law enforcement agency. Congress just pulled this one out of it's hind quarters to be "tough on terrorism"- I guess for someone's re-election? In any case now the DoJ is going to have to waste money defending the stupid provision in court which means you and I as tax payers get to waste millions of dollars on something that will likely get ruled unconstitutional for no purpose.
And unfortunately, the Supreme Court has NO authority or meens to make the federal Gov't follow any of it's ruleings. Parts of the Patriot Act were found unconstitutional but are still enforced.
Not technically accurate. The portions of the Patriot Act deemed unconstitutional were dropped immediately. What happened, however, was that the administration signed in a bunch of new executive orders that went around the SCOTUS ruling (meaning that did not directly violate the SCOTUS ruling). As an analogy let's say I am your boss and I make a new rule that says you cannot wear blue shirts to work anymore. So you respond by wearing a teal shirt. You're not technically breaking the rules, but you are pretty much accomplishing the same objective. I don't blame people for their outrage at PBO and the US Congress for passing this law. I am merely saying that to pretend like this is new, or to pretend like these rights haven't already been infringed upon, is ludicrous. This is an expansion of a work that has been in process now for more than 10 years. In particular the sudden outrage annoys me because conservatives and neo-conservatives were zealously advocating these exact same policies during the Bush Administration....but now that PBO has done them, well now they're unconstitutional. It was wrong 10 years ago, it's wrong today, and it should be stopped. It's not a partisan issue and to make it into one is just insane.
And none of them went to jail!
And none of them went to jail!
And none of them went to jail!
And none of them went to jail!
And none of them went to jail!
Habeas corpus is the one legal right that makes the entire thing work. Without it, we have nothing.
Don't be fooled. They're ALL bought and paid for. Your constitutional rights were taken away by The President and by almost unanimous BIPARTISAN consent in Congress.
YOUR GOVERNMENT DOES NOT REPRESENT YOU. THEY ARE A WHOLLY OWNED SUBSIDIARY OF THE CORPORATE/MILITARY INDUSTRIAL-COMPLEX AND WALL-STREET.
Your mainstream media is corporate owned and will NOT inform you for the same reasons your government will NOT WORK FOR YOU. There is no one out there who will fix this for you. NOBODY IS GOING TO RESCUE YOU.
Time to impeach those responsible:
https://www.change.org/petitions/1000000000-against-the-ndaa-indefinite-detention-of-american-citizens
You're obviously a terrorist and subject to arrest.
https://www.change.org/petitions/1000000000-against-the-ndaa-indefinite-detention-of-american-citizens
The President’s refusal to prosecute massive fraud perpetrated by wall street which caused one of the worst economic implosions in American history and his willful shredding of the people's Constitution tells you precisely where his allegiances lie. To ignore these facts and choose to be believe in his “good will” is insane.
NOTHING WILL GET FIXED UNTIL PEOPLE ARE MADE TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE
I belive the first taking hostage will be the suspect of the arson at the abortion clinic in pensacola, they have feds everywhere.....
Pepole should be jolted by the fact there is a media blackout on NDAA.
Not all the media. Fox news is all over it...
They're not mainstream though.
President Obama was able sign into law something only previously achievable in a neo-cons wildest wet-dream.
Below is really good segment with Cenk on TYT discussing NDAA, sec. 1021 and sec. 1022. Below that is an excellent breakdown of sec. 1021. It may be too late, but for those who don't already know, you'll now understand how hosed we all are.
Remember: always keep your hair short and keep a toothbrush in your back-pocket.
See you in detention!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gstBozWfhQ&list=UU1yBKRuGpC1tSM73A0ZjYjQ&feature=plcp
http://www.naturalnews.com/034538_NDAA_American_citizens_indefinite_detainment.html
Use these links instead of the above:
NDAA & Obama: Defenders Are Wrong - Here's Why
Myth busted: Yes, the NDAA does apply to Americans
2jays, please try to consolidate your comments instead of flooding the thread like this.
What do you mean by "consolidate" and "flooding"? Do you mean don't make anymore mistakes in hyperlinking and/or don't segregate my posts in logical manner? Is your server running low on memory so you need to conserve on the number of posts? How many posts constitute a "flood" and what is the prescribed frequency (Kennith)?
SOMEONE SHOULD MIC CHECK YOU, MODERATOR
Law.com: Montana Supreme Court defies Citizens United ruling http://bit.ly/yBWaow
Does anyone ever notice that Maddow and all the MSNBC show host never stay at the OWS sites. They just make money pretending they support OWS but always from afar. They are so for the middle class that they make tons of money talking about them! They all live in the lap luxury! Wise up and see tem for what they are.. interested in being in the top 5%. FOX and MSNBC are in it to make lots of money.
Are you claiming that you live in an encampment? If so, prove it. If you want us to believe that you belong up on your high horse, show us the horse. Secondly, how on Earth does anyone make "tons of money" by reporting on OWS? How does reporting on OWS make more money than not reporting on OWS? Try to make sense.
MSNBC perpetuates peasantry by it's duplicity with the WH and it's lack of coverage of NDAA. It is one-stop shopping for the blind-ideologue. Freedom is maintained by a vigilant press and a discerning pubic. MSNBC: Do your job!
“If tyranny and oppression come to this land it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.”
“No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”
― James Madison