catmartini:

“The National Defense Authorization Act is the greatest threat to civil liberties Americans face”— Forbes

If you haven’t heard of the National Defense Authorization Act provision that just passed the Senate which would allow the US government to detain US citizens indefinitely without a trial, this is a good little clip about it.

If you prefer Print media here are two good articles:

Forbes:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/12/05/the-national-defense-authorization-act-is-the-greatest-threat-to-civil-liberties-americans-face/

And a more pithy sarcastic article, yet chocked full of good facts and links:

http://gawker.com/5865089/20-things-you-should-know-about-americas-most-horrifying-new-law

One of the provisions of the bill would allow the military to detain anyone deemed to be “a part of” or deemed to have “substantially supported” Al Qaeda, the Taliban, or “associated forces” — This last clause is sufficiently vague enough to have me concerned.

The vague terminology is disturbing because the November 15th police raid on Occupy Wall Street protesters at Zuccotti Park saw the application of the term “frozen zone” applied to peaceful protesters. Which according to Mother Jones’ Glossary: Decoding the Police Jargon overheard at Occupy Wall Street, “usually describes an area that’s officially off limits due to immediate risk of terrorist attack. Ground Zero was a frozen zone for weeks after 9/11… Before our story ran, the last reported “frozen zone” was the World Trade Center site during the 10th-anniversary 9/11 ceremonies, due to predictions of a possible al Queda assault that day.”

http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/11/glossary-police-jargon-occupy-wall-street

If NYC police have already applied terminology typically used to describe terrorist activity to peaceful protesters, the vague language of “associated forces” in the NDAA could have serious implications for the Occupy Wall Street movement and the future of political dissent for this country.

Tags: occupy wall street