I was shocked by the Supreme Court decision granting prisons the power to strip search any of us. If I am arrested in an OWS action this spring, or in an environmental action say with 350.org, they can strip search me even. If I end up in custody for say an error in a traffic citation, they can strip search me. (Maybe I shouldn't be so upset, it is already being done in airports and we should be glad to send more money to security contractors.)
Knowing how Obama has continued W. Bush policies and exceeded them in many cases, I should not have been surprised at all that the Obama justice department argued in favor of the position in the Supreme Court decision. was surprised to learn that the Supreme Court followed what as met and in several cases exceeded the civil rights laws that so many of us were upset about under W. Bush.
The justification is always security. That is why the government can now collect information on anyone and hold it for years. Strip searches of everyone in prison is being done for security.
In an article from October
The Obama administration is siding with the prisons in the case and urging the court to allow a blanket policy for all inmates set to enter the general prison population.
“When you have a rule that treats everyone the same,” Justice Department lawyer Nicole A. Saharsky argued, “you don’t have folks that are singled out. You don’t have any security gaps.”
Glenn Greenwald has yet again pointed out what is being done by Obama. When he goes along with conservative positions, there is no out cry from the right. They are getting ready for when they again win the presidency and they can lease the security state with the information collected on everyone and now being held for years.
Greenwald's article
http://www.salon.com/...
Jesselyn Radack's diary today described the use of security contractors to collect information on all of us.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Lets connect the dots.
Chris Hedges wrote on Monday about testimony in a suite challenging Obama on the NDAA bill that allows the arrest of suspected terrorists. Others in the suite include Noam Chomsky. A woman in the suite
Alexa O’Brien, a content strategist and information architect who co-founded the U.S. Day of Rage, an organization created to reform the election process and wrest it back from corporate hands, was the first plaintiff to address the court. She testified that when WikiLeaks released 5 million emails from Stratfor, a private security firm that does work for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Marine Corps and the Defense Intelligence Agency, she discovered that the company was attempting to link her and her organization to Islamic radicals and websites as well as jihadist ideology.
In other words, it would be a short step if I was engaged on U. S. Day of Rage to reform the electoral process, I could end up being tracked by contractors and getting on a list as a terrorists supporter. What if I marched in Chicago against the G8 meeting (which has since been moved), or a 350.org event on the environment, or some OWS action.
Chris Hedges ends the article with the following paragraph
If we lose this case it will hand to the vast network of operatives and agencies that investigate and demonize anyone who is not subservient to the corporate state the power to detain citizens and strip them of due process. It will permit the security and surveillance state to brand as terrorists any nonviolent protesters and movements, along with social and political critics, that in the government’s imagination have any trace of connection to al-Qaida or “associated forces.” If the National Defense Authorization Act is not reversed it will plunge us into despotism, leaving us without a voice, trapped in eddies of fear and terror, unsure of what small comment, what small action, could be misinterpreted to push us out of our jobs or send us to jail. This is the future before us. And we better fight back now while we can.
http://www.truthdig.com/...
dailykos.com has been too focused on the diversion of the election. When the political system does not deal with the real issues, one has to go outside the conventional wisdom.
If you have not been following these issues, I strongly recommend that you study Chris Hedges and Glenn Greenwald's articles over the last several weeks. And, always keep up with Tom Drake and Jesselyn here on dailykos.