Tag Archives: law

Chris Hedges’s Lawsuit Against Obama and Panetta

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The brave journalist fighting against the hindrance of American rights

Written by: Jill Heagerty

Chris Hedges, a well-established and accomplished journalist, is suing President Obama and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta over the legality of the Authorization for Use of Military Force in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act. His questioning over the legality comes from the section of the bill that allows the military the right to indefinitely detain without trial U.S. citizens suspected to be terrorists or associated with any terrorist activities.

2012’s NDAA is a major blow to the Constitution and Bill of Rights that guarantees every citizen the right to due process. Terrorism is terrifying, but so is the American government stripping away the country’s core beliefs in democracy and liberty.

According to Hedges’s blog, he believes the purpose of this bill is to “thwart internal, domestic movements that threaten the corporate state.” It is not hard to be considered as a terroristic suspect in our country, acts such as hoarding more than seven days of food, paying cash for a hotel, and trying to conceal a private text message in a public place are suspicious to the government. Mostly everyone I know is suspected of terrorist activity with that in mind. Hedges suspects that the Occupy movement will be added to this list for its treacherous behavior to question the motive behind corporations and the government, which is not a far off thought as Biden has already compared the actions of tea partiers to that of terrorists.

The government is afraid of anyone who questions its motives, so laws that hinder our rights are being put in place to keep us complacent and afraid. The NDAA of 2012 does not explicitly state what it considers necessary to hold citizens indefinitely. Could it include anyone speaking freely against public actions? Will the right of freedom of speech be considered treason if the speech is anti-government? Could freedom of the press go out the window with free speech?

Hedges’s lawsuit is the right step to protecting our rights. America invades foreign countries under the pretense of promoting peace and democracy, yet democracy is not even being promoted at home anymore. The country is on the road to a dictator form of government if this continues. Already we have seen police brutality with Occupy protestors, demoting the right to assembly. Now the right to a trial no matter what is extinguished, and it would not be shocking to see other Amendments be taken away with the guise of protecting ourselves from terrorists. If Hedges and other fighters for liberty fail, America could be the country writers such as George Orwell and Aldous Huxley only dreamed of years ago.

Playground Pooch Police: Drug Sniffing Dogs At Schools

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Hey poochie.

Drug sniffing dogs are common at airports and border checks and they’re about to become a familiar sight at some schools in Western Washington, too.

Local law enforcement and Peninsula School District leaders worked together to add this new wrinkle to the learning experience. Starting this spring, the cop canines and their handlers will regularly patrol the parking lots and halls of all three of the district’s high schools, sniffing out pot, heroin and cocaine. But apparently, the new policy won’t have much bite.

The dogs will keep to the byways and not actually go into classes. When a dog pegs drugs on a student or in a locker, the police officer at the leash will not arrest or search the student. He’ll just tell the principal on him or her.

The plan is meant to be a deterrence, rather than an enforcement effort. But for kids who already view their schools as a police state and their authority figures as intrusive, controlling nannies with weapons and rules, this will likely fan the teen angst flames to levels never seen.

The Peninsula School District encompasses Gig Harbor and Key Peninsula, near Olympia, Wash. The law enforcement agencies involved include Gig Harbor police and the Pierce County Sheriff’s department.

Short-sighted Republicans May Lose the Latin Vote Over Arizona’s Immigration Law

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They probably won't vote Republican ever again

Despite the popularity with the base Republicans, the parties leaders are starting to see how Arizona’s immigration law could really hurt the GOP‘s hispanic vote. Even the Republicans heading heavily Hispanic states – like Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and Rick Perry – are expressing their criticisms as they call the law overreaching.

Those thinking long-term are worried that the drastic immigration law is just a quick political fix that may backfire as an enormous divergence between the expanding hispanic electorate, and the GOP. According to Matthew Dowd, George W. Bush’s chief strategist back in 2004, said that it’s impossible to win a national election without

Without documentation, citizens are aliens

the Latino vote, which is something the Republicans already had trouble with during previous attempts to penetrate the White House. Other members of the party concur as the express their concerns with the short-sighted decision. Karl Rove came to grips with the possibility of the bill having some constitutional problems; Rick Perry (of Texas) asserts that he has issues with the bill, which wouldn’t be a great idea in Texas; and even Jeb Bush was quoted saying: “I don’t think this is the proper approach.”

Nevertheless, the short-sighted law is popular with voters; however, ninety percent of Hispanics are not of legal age to vote in Arizona.

Obama Hires Help For Implementing His Beloved Health Care Reform

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Pete Rouse in the Oval Office

Knowing that Obama-care will not effectively reduce high medical costs without some direct implementation, President Obama has turned to some of his best for another push forward. Pete Rouse, one of his most trusted White House advisers, is just one of the talented individuals that he’s personally asked to help him construct an intricate model meant to expediently press the new health care laws into action.

Obama is really close with Katherine Sebelius

Nancy-Ann DeParle,  the individual who often stood at the forefront of legislative effort in the health sector, has also been employed to manage the construction of the mechanism that will extend coverage out to 30 million presently uninsured Americans, while ultimately achieving the law’s long-term goal of cost containment. Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services (and previous insurance commissioner), has undertaken the difficult task of re-introducing regulations for Medicare, Medicaid and private health-care providers. In doing so, she has already reorganized the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services so that space is available for a new center intended to find more efficient ways of reimbursing providers that improve patient care and reduce government spending. And, to make matters even more hopeful, the president has ensured that any of the secretary’s brilliant ideas will be free to expand nation wide, without the permission of Congress.

Some, including David M. Cutler – Harvard economist and Obama’s chief campaign adviser on health policy – believe that the president is ushering in one of the largest government transformations since World War II. Seems like a really good thing; after all, isn’t about time that 50-year-old health policy gets an upgrade?