On Saturday, President Obama signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) a/k/a the “Homeland Battlefield Bill,” (so named because it defines the entire U.S. as a battlefield in the War on Terror), that grants the executive virtually unlimited power to indefinitely detain any American citizen he deems a suspected “belligerent”—at his own discretion, with no evidence necessary. Obama had earlier sworn to veto the law, but of course he’s already shown his proclivity for keeping and expanding every executive power-grab, so it’s no surprise he flip-flopped on this promise as well.
One would think the media would mark the end of habeas corpus with a mention of some sort, but there has been a virtual black-out on this item, akin to its coverage of Ron Paul’s candidacy until he pulled into first place.
An Associated Press item buried in Sunday’s paper did make note of the signing, “President signs defense bill.” Yet the body of the article makes no mention of the law’s granting the president unprecedented, unlimited, discretionary powers, and the caption for the photo accompanying the article reads:
President Obama has concerns about the treatment of suspects linked to terrorism, such as those at Guantanamo.
Take a look: here.
This disconnect between what’s going on and the media’s coverage of it in large part accounts for the seemingly inexorable growth of leviathan. Fortunately, there are now alternative sources of information to the mainstream media, most notably on the internet, more concerned with covering threats to liberty.
Which only then underscores the multiple dangers of new efforts to censor the internet under the guise of copyright protection and other Trojan horses.
Eternal vigilance, indeed.
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