posse comitatus

Obama to sign indefinite detention bill into law by Glenn Greenwald

In one of the least surprising developments imaginable, President Obama – after spending months threatening to veto the Levin/McCain detention bill – yesterday announced that he would instead sign it into law (this is the same individual, of course, who unequivocally vowed when seeking the Democratic nomination to support a filibuster of “any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecom[s],” only to turn around – once he had the nomination secure — and not only vote against such a filibuster, but to vote in favor of the underlying bill itself, so this is perfectly consistent with his past conduct). As a result, the final version of the Levin/McCain bill will be enshrined as law this week as part of the the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). I wrote about the primary provisions and implications of this bill last week, and won’t repeat those points here.

The ACLU said last night that the bill contains “harmful provisions that some legislators have said could authorize the U.S. military to pick up and imprison without charge or trial civilians, including American citizens, anywhere in the world” and added: “if President Obama signs this bill, it will damage his legacy.” Human Rights Watch said that Obama’s decision “does enormous damage to the rule of law both in the US and abroad” and that “President Obama will go down in history as the president who enshrined indefinite detention without trial in US law.”

Bush Weighed Using Military in U.S. Arrests [after 9/11]

Posting NY Times article in full for posterity; visit the original at the link below so the Times knows you're interested. First link is to Raw Story's commentary, based on the NY Times article and other sources (Raw's headline and article is more to the point, imho, Times article has more detail):

Cheney pressed Bush to test Constitutional limits by using military force on US soil
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/07/24/cheney-pressed-bush-to-test-constitutional-limits-by-using-military-force-on-us-soil/

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/us/25detain.html?_r=1

Bush Weighed Using Military in U.S. Arrests

By MARK MAZZETTI and DAVID JOHNSTON
Published: July 24, 2009
WASHINGTON — Top Bush administration officials in 2002 debated testing the Constitution by sending American troops into the suburbs of Buffalo to arrest a group of men suspected of plotting with Al Qaeda, according to former administration officials.

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Week-old Daily Kos 9/11 Poll

From a week-old poll on Daily Kos regarding discussion of 9/11 at http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/6/21/104514/131

"Cognitive Dissonance on Daily Kos: The 9/11 ‘Policy’ and Michael Moore
by posse comitatus

Thu Jun 21, 2007 at 08:49:05 AM PDT

What happens when one of the champions of the progressive movement, who has led the fight against government corruption, corporatism and globalization by making Academy Award winning documentaries, has his comments banned from a leading liberal blog? And what’s more, this same liberal blog that censors his comments, currently runs an ad for his huge, groundbreaking new film on the top of their front page!
Poll

Should Daily Kos Revise its Policy on Discussion of 9/11?
Yes
54% 88 votes
No
45% 73 votes
Undecided
2% 3 votes

164 votes"

Go ahead and vote; it's still open.

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