Hello,
My name is Matthew A. Brotherton, and for the first time in my life, I’m ashamed of the fact that I am a United States Citizen. Sure, there have been plenty of times over the years when my country has done something I didn’t personally agree with, but I have never been ashamed of being part of it. I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to say that again.
A week or so ago, the US Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a standard military budget bill that is reissued every year like clockwork. This year, however, thanks to the brilliant insight of two devious and horrible men, Carl Levin and John McCain, added a little something special to the bill. An amendment granting the United States Military the right to detain US Citizens on US Soil for an indefinite amount of time, without trial, without lawyers, and subject to the same interrogations and “Information Gathering” techniques used on Guantanamo Bay prisoners.
As outlandish as this seems, the bill was still passed in the senate by a 93-7 vote.
Yes, America, that means 93% of your Senators decided it was okay with them to revoke all of your human rights and put you into torture prisons on a military whim.
We thought we would be okay, since our President had spent the last several weeks promising to veto the bill with all of his vetoing powers.
Then he once again reminded us that he has no testicles at all, and will cave to anyone who looks at him a little upset.
Yesterday, the White House announced he would sign the bill if it passed the House of Representatives.
Today, the house passed it with a 67% majority.
When Obama signs the bill into law in a few days, it will be another nail in the coffin of the Freedom our Forefathers created this country to represent and another step towards Orwell’s 1984.
Of course, at the same time that the US Government has decided it will start detaining and torturing US Citizens, they have also put into effect the means with which to keep the citizenry ignorant of their crimes. As I sit writing this, and if you’re actually able to read it, while you read it, the US Congress is pushing through the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) a complimentary bill for the Protect IP Act (PIPA) that was passed earlier this year. What these bills do is grant the United States Government the legal authority to block the IP Adress of websites it deems to be “dangerous.”
This means they will literally have the ability to censor the Internet, effectively destroying Free Speech in the Age of Global Communication.
Some dark things are bound to happen in the months to come, and at this juncture, I can only rant and rage.
God willing, some form of sense and reason can be put into place again soon, and this will all be a speed bump on the road to a better world.
Somehow, I sincerely doubt that.