So, Obama strengthened the policy.
So, if the Republicans introduced the policy, and the Democrats confirmed it, what hope?
Yes, I could dream for the election of Libertarians. But in the meantime, Senator Rand Paul (R-TN) comes to the rescue.
Senator Rand Paul has submitted an Amendment to Senate Bill 1867 (known as the National Defense Authorization Act) which would strike the section of the bill that allows the US government to indefinitely detain individuals without trial or due process. The Amendment is #1062 and would eliminate Section 1031 which states:
"Congress affirms that the authority of the President to use all necessary and appropriate force...includes the authority for the Armed Forces of the United States to detain covered persons...Detention under the law of war without trial"
The Democrats and their supporters made plenty of noise about human rights when Bush was in office. They did so correctly. Shame on them for not acting on their noisy rhetoric once in office. A bunch of empty suits. Well, this is consistent of them in so many things- deficit spending, war in Iraq, presidential power, etc., etc.
Rah-rah Rand Paul!
3 comments:
Mike, there are plenty of progressive Democrats who have criticized this policy regardless of who is in the White House. I certain have heard and read plenty of that on a regular basis. The continuation of this policy is probably the strongest evidence that President Obama is not the uber-liberal "socialist" some make him out to be.
That is encouraging, to some limited degree. I am certainly familiar with Dennis Kucinich, as I lived in his district in Cleveland many years ago. Still, here we are seeing Rand Paul introduce this legislation, and not, say, any Democrat in the Congress.
From where I sit, this continuum does not so much mitigate criticism of Obama as a socialist, mainly because I viewed Bush as something of a socialist. Not straight of the textbook in either case, but without doubt cut from the same authoritarian cloth.
Fundamentally, media approved candidates will be status quo candidates who simply implement the zeitgeist.
The Pakistan drone strikes under this administration exceed anything GWB ever managed, though don't expect to hear about it in the MSM.
Fair play to the President, when campaigning, he managed to say hope and change a lot with a straight face.
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