96% of Congressmen Agree: Bad Legislation Is Easier To Craft In Secret
from the what-the-public-doesn't-know-will-probably-hurt-them dept
We recently discussed the National Defense Authorization Act currently working its way through the House and Senate. Both have passed their respective bills but some debate continues over a controversial provision which aims to extend indefinite military detention (without charge or trial) to cover US citizens, rather than just foreign terrorist suspects.The whole "indefinite military detention" aspect of the bill is heinous enough even if it just ends up being used against foreign suspects. But the decision to declare US territory as a "war zone" in order to mobilize the military against US citizens is particularly worrisome. Due to the fact that this provision is highly controversial and yet another in a long line of post-PATRIOT Act attacks on the Bill of Rights, Congress has decided to move the discussion behind closed doors, presumably to avoid any scrutiny from the very public it wishes to foist this legislation upon. The vote wasn't even close:
With the House having voted 406-17 to "close" portions of the meetings and avoid public scrutiny, members from both chambers and both parties are meeting in a secretive conference committee to work on reconciling the differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill. On the military detention provision, their main task is going to be to find a solution that can pass both chambers (again) and not draw a veto from President Obama.Here is the very brief list of representatives who still believe that government still has something to do with being "by the people, for the people":
Justin Amash (MI)As depressing as it is that only 17 representatives out of the 423 voting would stand up for government openness, it's even more depressing that the threat of a veto doesn't carry much weight. The administration is not altogether opposed to this provision, as is evidenced by this Statement of Administrative Policy:
Earl Blumenauer (OR)
Yvette Clarke (NY)
John Conyers (MI)
Peter DeFazio (OR)
Keith Ellison (MN)
Sam Farr (CA)
Raul Grijaiva (AZ)
Michael Honda (CA)
Dennis Kucinich (OH)
Barbara Lee (CA)
John Lewis (GA)
James McDermott (WA)
John Oliver (MA)
Ron Paul (TX)
Fortney Stark (CA)
Lynn Woolsey (CA)
Section 1031 attempts to expressly codify the detention authority that exists under the Authorization for Use of Military Force (Public Law 107-40) (the "AUMF"). The authorities granted by the AUMF, including the detention authority, are essential to our ability to protect the American people from the threat posed by al-Qa'ida and its associated forces, and have enabled us to confront the full range of threats this country faces from those organizations and individuals. Because the authorities codified in this section already exist, the Administration does not believe codification is necessary and poses some risk. After a decade of settled jurisprudence on detention authority, Congress must be careful not to open a whole new series of legal questions that will distract from our efforts to protect the country. While the current language minimizes many of those risks, future legislative action must ensure that the codification in statute of express military detention authority does not carry unintended consequences that could compromise our ability to protect the American people.Basically, the administration is expressing its "concern" and advising Congress to pass clarifying legislation in the future. Of course, the legislation the House wanted to pass will already be on the books and judging by the swift passage of both the House and Senate versions, combined with this overwhelming vote for secrecy, there's no reason to believe Congress will ever feel the urge to dial back its overreach.
In fact, the only thing the administration strongly opposes enough to deploy a veto is the provision that would mandate this power be used against all terrorist suspects besides US citizens.
The Administration strongly objects to the military custody provision of section 1032, which would appear to mandate military custody for a certain class of terrorism suspects.The adminstration wants to retain its power to detain suspected terrorists outside the context of war and the Geneva Convention protections, but (at least according to this statement) it's much less concerned about mobilizing the military against US citizens. So the controversial Section 1031 can likely remain intact, unlike the Bill of Rights. It would be the Section 1032 mandate that would need to be altered to fit the administration's desires, namely broad power over suspected foreign terrorists.
The long and the short of it is that the government wants to retain its worldwide overreach and is more than willing to extend this grasp to US citizens, provided detaining the home crowd indefinitely doesn't interfere with detaining the visiting team indefinitely. All of this is being done under the pretense of keeping the US safe. And nothing's safer for citizens than being in indefinite "protective" custody, apparently.
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Filed Under: detention, national defense authorization act, secrecy, transparency
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Chilling effects
The police were created to protect and serve the people.
What we are seeing here is the mixture of the two.
You now have the military acting as the police. When that happens the military will tend to think that the enemy is the people it's supposed to protect.
I can't think of any way that this passes Constitutional muster. If it actually passes as a law, expect a lot of resistance to this law.
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Re: Chilling effects
Either way, people in America expect the government to protect them, even if they give everything up.
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Re: Re: Chilling effects
I would most definitely NOT want to be the one tasked with trying to pry those away.
All I know is which side I'm picking and it ain't the dude with a shiny badge and a donut gut...
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Re: Re: Re: Chilling effects
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Re: Chilling effects
Commander Adama - Battlestar Galactica.
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Re: Re: Chilling effects
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Freedom
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Re: Freedom
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Re: Re: Freedom
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Re: Re: Re: Freedom
I'm sorry, that was just a temporary marketing promotion...
Unlike the former, the McRib will be back :(
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Re: Re: Re: Freedom
I'm sorry. That item is currently out of stock and won't be offered anymore.
We do have our new and improved civil rights package. It's a larger box with really eye-catching graphics on it and cool catch phrases on it like: "For the children!".
Unfortunately, there is 98.2% less content in our new offering, but, we are currently offering it a all-time low price of lifetime incarceration.
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You elect these people for a reason. Stand back and let them do their jobs, quit back seat driving. If you don't like the results, toss the bums out at the next election.
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Re:
We are not consumers of a product they are manufacturing, to boycott their goods.
We can't just ignore laws they pass that detrimentally effect us.
We need to prevent those laws from being enacted in the first place, to the best of our abilities.
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Re:
If I remember correctly, you believed that pointing out how the same politician argued for a 180 degree different position six months ago was a smear.
That's not a smear.
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Re: Re:
Thanks for playing bullshit political games, you know, the ones you get pissed off about when the other side does it.
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Re: Re: Re:
Perhaps you disagree, but because they're public figures, they're legitimate targets for lawful speech attacking them.
We intend for there to be consequences for these lawmakers come the next election, anyway, so we're using both of your tracks.
After all, the Tea Party might be pissed enough at Lamar Smith for writing a law allowing the evil Obamolech to socialistically censor the Internet that it might field a very well funded challenger to him in the Republican primary.
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Re:
No, I'm not going to "stand back" while you lobby my country away.
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Re:
If you disagree, I suggest you take up residence in China or Iran and write back (assuming you're even allowed) telling us all you like living without free speech.
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Re:
Toss them out in the next election? Has that ever worked before? You don't get rid of someone just because you don't like them: you replace them with someone more competent. But the uneducated masses have their heads stuck so far in the sand that they would probably do more good for the world by not existing.
Stop breathing our precious oxygen and forcing your stupidity onto the rest of us! I'd rather not have a drone strike on my head just because I express views contradictory to the idiot US government's.
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Re:
If it's only .001 percent of the population then the politicians shouldn't be so worried because it would hardly affect their votes any. and why should any .001 percent of the population have no representation whatsoever? They should be represented just as much as the rest of the population should be.
"smear a law's authors"
Just about every politician will get smeared no matter what position he or she takes. Being smeared and dealing with people who 'derail the process' is part of the job of being a politician. No one forced a politician to be a politician. He could have found another job instead. "But those other jobs also have things that people don't like". Work sucks, I know. Almost every job has something undesirable that comes with it. So? Everyone else has to work and put up with workplace problems too. What makes politicians so special?
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Re:
Get your head out of your ass already! People who don't speak out aren't "for" anything, they're sheep, they don't have an opinion.
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Appeal to authority. Man, they gotta love gullible wusses like you.
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You'd rather, it seems, prefer an autocracy.
One nice thing about a constitutional monarchy, like the UK or Canada is this lovely provision in Magna Charta that says the King cannot have an army. No grey areas there. None at all.
Seems that not only does this bill seek to ignore/overturn the US Bill of Rights it also seeks to overturn Magna Charta by placing the military back in the hands of the executive rather than the legislature.
There is something odd, sad and alarming that what appears to be happening, bit by bit, in the United States is the gradual overturning of what are widely considered the two founding documents of the democratic process in the English speaking world whether congressional or parliamentary today and the source documents of most of our freedoms and liberties.
We'll really be in trouble when someone decides to craft a bill, in secret of course, that cedes the legislature's right to set and control the budget to the executive.
Of course, then they can all go home, land jobs in Hollywood at obscene salaries and congratulate themselves on a job well done.
To borrow a phrase and apologize up front for any offense to copyright -- "we have met the enemy and he is us".
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Re: Re:
The Magna Carta doesn't apply in the US. The US military is and always has been under the control of the executive. The President is also the Commander in Chief of the US armed forces.
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Wake up, America and vote for Ron Paul - or this new legislation is just a preview of hundreds of other similar bills in the future.
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Re: Re:
Perry = bat shit crazy / bigoted / religious zealot.
Romney = Not quite as crazy, but has changed positions more time than a porn star.
Bachman = Bay Shit crazy / doesn't have the experience / would close a non existent embassy in Iran.
Santorum = Google his name says it all.
Paul: Yes, a few years ago he was seen as a psycho outsider with hair brained ideas that would never float. Compared to the Tea Party he is one of the most sane people out there. Compared to the rest of the GOP field hes is the least crazy.
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Source: http://kevinunderhill.typepad.com/lowering_the_bar/case-law-hall-of-fame.html
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Constitution
The US Government has been systematically ignoring and violating the 1st Amendment (and others along the way) since the war on drugs (who was the President back then?), my opinion is that the Patriot Act was the first that really opened the Pandora's Box. Along with the failed war on drugs and terror came unwarranted raids and seizures, torture, death of due process, guilty upon accusation.
Is it too late to save what's left of one of the things that used to make the US one of the best places to be born in the world???
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I want you out of my lawn
We will end all rights together
Pirating from now until forever"
Vengaboys - Boom, boom, boom, boom
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Under Bush people thought (and saw in the election) that the Democrats where the safe haven from the Over-reaching, strong-arm, plutocrats in the Republican party (patriot-act anyone?). Then the middle (which holds no allegiance to 1 party or the other) ran to the other side.
Now we have Obama and his actions (some by his administration, some by Congress, and some by things out of control, NOBEL) have people saying "Oh crap, they are all the same! We now have Over-reaching, Strong-arm, Socialist" thus the Tea-Party's (love or hate them) start barn storming and raising a voice. They win the House back, and went quiet(and gridlock Congress, or so was the hope). Now OWS steps out on the stage (love or hate them) and people see the same things happening, the Rich buy influence (even most of the Candidates that said they would be different) and with the stroke of a pen, individual liberties disappear...No voice from the people, Just Special Interest, Big Biz, Big Media, and Entertainment
So of course this kind of Legislation comes about, to make it easier to control these mass's that think "they know better than the elected" and pushing the mass more and more to the point the Congress/President (I hope) is trying to avoid, an actual revolution (either at the ballot box or armed)... both mean they lose their comfy job and worse their power.
People do not believe in either party (just different sides of the same Poop Lollypop) and they are starting to not believe in Congress or the President, or the police.... and it scares them... So break out the military its going to be a long crystal night...
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Re:
Now all the government has to do is label as a terrorist anyone who dissents/protests/voices an opinion, and they can silence them without so much as a trial (because really, they didn't do anything wrong; in fact, they're right).
Prepare for the greatest military state of all history.
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Dear Lord, what do they think they are doing?
I will tell you this right now, I do not support the actions of Congress and if we have to march right up there and drag them out of office kicking and screaming and put them on trial for their crimes against this country then I am all for it. There is no excuse for any of this BS that they have been putting on us for the last 10 to 20 years.
They keep getting worse and worse. They, along with the executive and judicial branches, keep violating our Constitutional rights. They are violating humanitarian protocol that our country helped put together almost half a century ago. They are breaking with the Geneva Conventions.
Who the hell do they think they are? This is insane. I am all for stopping terrorists, but these actions don't stop terrorists. These actions turn our other police and military forces into government sponsored terrorists.
I am voting all incumbents out of office in this next round of elections. We need representatives that actually believe in the rights of citizens.
We also need a bill that requires ALL government legislation, ALL treaties, and ALL executive agreements, from beginning (prep work and negotiations) to end be fully open to the public and documented (video and audio of everything) on the internet for the world to see.
As far as I am concerned any bills that are not created fully in the open should be automatically become null and void. They are worthless and illegal and harmful to everyone. They are a threat to the stability, security, and wealth of this nation.
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Re: Dear Lord, what do they think they are doing?
If we go to war, we should target the rich, not the government. They are the head of the beast that needs to be slain. Let's cut it off at the head.
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Misnomer
Let's say it like it is...Detention.
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closed isn't always bad
I think it's a mistake to make it sound like discussing behind closed doors is always bad and openness is always good. I thought this to be especially true during the deficit negotiations, when people complained that the super committee was meeting behind closed doors. Do you expect any Republican to agree to raising taxes in an open meeting? Or a Democrat to suggest a replacement for unfunded entitlement programs?
Of course, the other view is that government can't do anything right, and that it needs to be restrained in every way possible. While they may pass a few good laws, most of them will be terrible, in which case openness would be good, as it creates gridlock.
Now I don't think that this law is necessarily good (because we probably elect more terrible politicians than great ones that are constrained by their party/constituents), but I don't think everyone here seems to be aware of the implicit tradeoff they're making when demanding openness.
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Re: closed isn't always bad
Deception and secrecy is always bad in a democracy though, (in my books at least), since a democracy is dependent on the public having access to information about the operation of the country. If the information that the public is allows access to is controlled, the voting is controlled and you don't have a proper democracy.
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Re: closed isn't always bad
I'd rather have mediocre law. Especially when the bad laws are this horrifyingly bad, and the good ones aren't terribly impressive.
I thought this to be especially true during the deficit negotiations, when people complained that the super committee was meeting behind closed doors. Do you expect any Republican to agree to raising taxes in an open meeting? Or a Democrat to suggest a replacement for unfunded entitlement programs?
Since they completely failed to accomplish anything meeting behind closed doors, I'm not sure what your point is.
Now I don't think that this law is necessarily good (because we probably elect more terrible politicians than great ones that are constrained by their party/constituents), but I don't think everyone here seems to be aware of the implicit tradeoff they're making when demanding openness.
First of all, "not necessarily good" is about the understatement of the century. Secondly, do you actually have any evidence for your claim that closed sessions produce better laws? I know it's hard to measure, but I'm curious if you're just going with your gut or if you're backing it up with something.
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The 2nd amendment should have been the 1st
Maybe now people will understand why we have a 2nd amendment. Personally I would have made it the 1st amendment because with out it, we don't have the others.
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Congressmen..
The ghosts of Himmler and Beria would be proud of the U.S. congress, the White House, and the military as well.
The White House and the spooks want to be able to make anyone they dislike disappear without trace, which is the hallmark of a government that believes in the rule of an iron fist rather than the law. We proudly castigate the governments of China and Iran for violating human rights and then we turn around and do the same thing. The government is run by hypocrites.
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Re:
Sadly, we built Abraham Lincoln a monument and enshrined him in our history books as our greatest president and a great defender of freedom. And we wonder why we keep making the same mistakes.
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Puzzled
I can only feel that if such legislation says such strange things only to be massively supported by Congress then they already have an exact detainee in mind that they are writing this very bill for.
It almost sounds like they have Osama Bin Laden hidden away there somewhere or someone else of such high standing.
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Re: Puzzled
You know he's dead, right?
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Re: Puzzled
You know he's dead, right?
So they claim and history is wrote by the winners. Well you can name anyone you like that makes Congress turn the US in a war zone just to detain.
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Re: Re: Puzzled
So they claim and history is wrote by the winners. Well you can name anyone you like that makes Congress turn the US in a war zone just to detain.
I think it's more likely it's just a general power grab and not aimed at anyone in particular. If it was just one person they wanted, I think they would just disappear him and not worry about the law.
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Living in a Society of Fear
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Laws would be better if...
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