Yes Martha, the Obama Administration is going to detain certain suspected terrorists indefinitely. So now we as a nation will be "safe" from those . . . people . . . who are denied due process because the government . . . . might loose . . . on account of the previous Administration's refusal to abide by the rule of law in the first place. But we'll be "safe."
Problem is, once a system of permanent detention gets set up, it will be nearly impossible to take just down, just as the "War on Terror" will be nearly impossible to end (so loose are its defining parameters). History also teaches us that such a system, while initially turned outward against some "other" will all too easily be turned inward against crticis of the regime. Think I'm joking? The USSR used to do it, and Russia still does in Chechnya. Nearly every South American country has had a totalitarian phase with unlimited detention without trial. So does North Korea. Think our President, at some point, won't use it? Really? Play the lottery much?
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Rachel Maddow referred to this as one of the most radical ideas ever from any administration. They are taking the policy beyond the Bush administration and a lot of liberals are giving them a pass.
Sadly liberals are, and I think its because we're so . . . close on healthcare and other reforms - not to mention still trying to figure out how to save the economy - that civil liberties issues like indefinite detention without due process are just falling of fthe radar.
And with the loss of Dan Froomkin at the Washington Post, there's little coverage of the issue here for politicians to read.
I am beyond a little bit upset about this...I haven't blogged about it, because quite honestly, I am sick to my stomach about this new administration, much like the last one.
Consider me one who is giving no passes. But then, I didn't vote for him...
DuWayne,
Thanks for stopping by. Take a look around - you might like what you see.
As to Mr. Obama, other the Glenn Greenwald and Dan Froomkin (soon to be at Huff Po), there seems to be little outcry about this sort of thing from anyone . . . with a lot of traffic. Imagine if PZ was blogging regularly about these abuses of civil liberties - that would be off-science blogging that I would welcome.
Hopefully, more then just a few of us who ARE blogging about this are also writing our Congressmen and Senators (though I suspect it won't do much more good). Sadly, if this part of the Obama agenda doesn't start turning, and soon, I may not vote for him again - which makes my chioce in 2012 really slim.
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