Silence of the Lambs

I've ran into Molly Ivins Habeas Corpus, R.I.P. several times. Must be this week's "progressive" spoonful of rant and fear.

Seems the fear is the recently passed bill will eliminate the right of habeas corpus for those detained as enemy combatants. Fear for a law that pertains to non-citizens? I suppose Big Daddy Government's long arm could label many of us Joe Regular folks as "enemy combatants" but I've other things to fear (American education system for example).

Many seem to forget Clinton smoothed the way with similar "keepin' us safe" bullshit with the Comprehensive Terrorism Protection Act of 1995. All the rightwing sites at the time were rabid with claims of how Clinton's provisions would "present cause for grave concern with even the best of Presidents in office." Rants on the Clinton administration's brazen lust for power, and its shameless exploitation of the Oklahoma tragedy for political gain. The incessant power grabs of the Clinton administration … on and on, on and on.

Clinton was accused by the "right" of battling terrorism with tyranny, now the "left" yells the same slogan. Might say, without evoking Hitler but staying domestic, it's the same shit, different asshole.

Remember the first Republican, Abe Lincoln, also suspended the writ of habeas corpus in 1860 or '61; to be reinstated in 1866. Woodrow Wilson's imprisonment of Eugene Debs. FDR's incarceration of Japanese Americans. Etc. etc. Infringement on the peoples rights is at the whim of the powers that be.

Habeas corpus doesn't worry me. Nor the Patriot Act, which can be rolled back if the people want to. We need honest elections, public accountability of the government, and an honest press. Elections are rigged, the press 99% propaganda, and government pardons itself.

If pols are held accountable, elections honest and open, and the media "fair and balanced" even a dictator could be done away with. In 2000 when SCOTUS appointed the pResident it indicated Americans and their "representatives" would accept nonsense as reason.

Since the assassination of JFK I've watched the entire system slowly distort - crisis after crisis, hoax after hoax - making the American public dumber, dependent, and more infantile.

Everywhere I look Americans are dependent on government handout, from a few dollars worth to a few million – whether welfare mom, disability, corporate subsidy, or federal xxx-based initiative. Everyone I know receives some form of dole, outside of myself and family (although my sons joke the military is just welfare with honor). Americans are not outraged in great numbers because most are getting a free lunch somewhere from the government. They won't bite the hand that feeds them.

The "war on terror" is the newest lucrative industry to lead the sheep, from minimum wage airport worker to billionaire defense contractors. The times remind me of the serenity prayer: grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.

The majority of Americans, with no serenity or courage, don't seem to know the difference. The most manipulated population on the planet bleating over planned and planted news bytes of fear and propaganda. Distracted with vague fuzzy threats to civil liberty, framed by poetic pundits from the "left" or "right" - while the legal plunderers plunder on.