Tuesday, January 31, 2012

OK; so I'm a day late!

I have no excuse, except that, for the first time in about 5 weeks, we had a couple of clear days, and I got to hit the highway "on 2";  I really miss it when I don't get to get my "acceleration fix" for awhile!  Getting on the freeway is really the only place I get aggressive with the bike, and I know I probably shouldn't, but it's such a rush. . .



A couple of weeks ago, I addressed the question of why, after the economic collapse of 2008, no one was being held responsible, and posted a couple of links that suggested why.  Another example came to light this week, with the arrest of Texas "financier", Allen Stanford, who, for 20 years had been running a $7 billion ponzi scheme, and had been protected from investigation by members of the SEC, who are supposed to protect us from crap like this.  http://tinyurl.com/7ss37s7"  Better late than never", I guess, but how many people have been hurt or destroyed by this thief?

For the last few months, I've been watching a bill called the "National Defense Authorization Bill" making it's way through the Senate and Congress, and, although he said he was against it, the Prez signed it into effect on Dec. 31 of last year.  Here is the truly frightening portion of the bill:

"The detention sections of the NDAA begin by "affirm[ing]" that the authority of the President under the AUMF, a joint resolution passed in the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, includes the power to detain, via the Armed Forces, any person "who was 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," and anyone who commits a "belligerent act" against the U.S. or its coalition allies in aid of such enemy forces, under the law of war, "without trial, until the end of the hostilities authorized by the [AUMF]." The text authorizes trial by military tribunal, or "transfer to the custody or control of the person's country of origin," or transfer to "any other foreign country, or any other foreign entity."[18]  Addressing previous conflict with the Obama Administration regarding the wording of the Senate text, the Senate-House compromise text, in sub-section 1021(d), also affirms that nothing in the Act "is intended to limit or expand the authority of the President or the scope of the Authorization for Use of Military Force." The final version of the bill also provides, in sub-section(e), that "Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect existing law or authorities relating to the detention of United States citizens, lawful resident aliens of the United States, or any other persons who are captured or arrested in the United States." As reflected in Senate debate over the bill, there is a great deal of controversy over the status of existing law.[19].  An amendment to the Act that would have replaced current text with a requirement for executive clarification of detention authorities was rejected by the senate.[20]" (From Wikipedia)


What this basically says, is that should this blog, or anything published on the net, in the newspapers, broadcast on TV or radio, be considered a "belligerent act" by our government, and notice that that term is not defined (!), the author of such can be taken into military custody, with no legal recourse, or taken to some other country. . . You may say, "but this says that it doesn't apply to U.S. citizens, but there are 2 other bills before both houses, which make it possible for the government to strip citizenship from an individual, which also means removing their rights!  Again, I urge you to contact your Congressmen/women and Senators about this; page down for a link to them!  Ok, so, enough politics for the week. 

To mellow you out a little bit, here's a link to 2 of my favorite performers, Grace Potter and Joe Satriani, teaming up on a great Neil Young song:  http://tinyurl.com/86aayab  My favorite moment is about 4 minutes in, when Grace starts cracking up with joy; man, she is just so darned cute, and what a voice!

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