We all, rightfully, directed a lot of our attention at the monstrous Torture and Gulag bill that passed on Thursday. It didn't end with that bill. There were other bills that we hadn't been following that were rocketed through passage that, when added to the previous bills (original Patriot Act, Torture bill) make a horrific situation much much more dangerous.
I was reading over my local paper this morning when I ran across an article detailing some last-minute bills that have passed. Reading what they entailed put a leaden weight into my gut. Remember Bush wanting control of the National Guard? Well, he got it. That's right, apparently congress passed a bill that Bush will happily sign that allows the President to take control of any state's National Guard troops regardless of what the affected governor wants in event of natural disaster or emergency. EVERY single governor is opposed. It that wasn't bad enough, the bill also gives Bush greater leeway "activating active-duty troops on American soil, currently limited by the Posse Comitatus Act." The precise nature of the "extra leeway" isn't detailed in the article but consider it in aggregate with the other bills: we do not have a single bill that quite fits the "Enabling Act" of 30s Germany but we are getting a "fine" series of threaded bills that act together rather well to do the same thing.
Then there is the 700-mile border fence to keep out illegal...and can work just as well to keep in people if need be. That last may be a bit much but considering the momentum we have going I just can't rule out the end game. And then there are those KBR/Halliburton prison camps being built for "immigration emergencies and other programs".
Bush gets to take control by fiat of any or all state National Guard units. Bush gets more leeway to activate regular US troops on American soil. Bush gets to determine who is an enemy combatant or a willing "supporter of attacks on Amerika" with language broad enough to mean citizen or non-citizen and have them packed away to a gulag without access to the courts.
Even if the Dems were to take control of BOTH houses of congress this fall, the could not reverse any of this. They will NOT obtain sufficient control to override a presidential veto. We are stuck with these new Enabling Act laws for the indefinite (detention) future.
Why was there no hew and cry about these bills? How did they sneak by us. How did they sneak by the Dems? THEY could have made a stink but they didn't. They silently let them go after barely putting up a fight on the Torture bill.
We are right royally screwed.