Is American fucked now? Why bother having a bill of rights?

[heiska]

It's funny how the law works. The act of keeping a goat or pig as a household pet will generally prohibit you from ever eating it, since then it falls under the category of a "companion animal" - and as such is entitled to all sorts of legal rights.

Only in fucking America.

[1000possibleclaws]

Sometimes I wonder if there's a small group of people behind this movement who frame strategic opportunities as "injustices" to profit from the influence they have over their a nerd teenage following. Having the PSN down for all that time must have made some people VERY rich.

And it's so blatant this is targeting that group of kids. It's full of random internet pop culture- from Mass Effect quotes to memes, that are used in serious context...

I'd be more worried about America getting fucked in these sorts of ways than over some law that would never be used in the context they suggest, because it would all but guarantee to dissolve whichever government was currently in power.

[temisturk]

because it would all but guarantee to dissolve whichever government was currently in power.

No it wouldn't.

Think of José Padilla. There were protests over his treatment but the government didn't fall. And this Act is legitimising the treatement he received. It's a small incremental step. All such steps are small and incremental. Nobody is going to order mass detentions the day after the Act is passed but sooner or later there will be a second Padilla, and a third and a fourth and a fifth. And each time the protests will be less and less people will even notice. And each time the risk of mistakes, abuses, and injustices will increase.

[prpower]

Lol. They are nerds not terrorists.

[mills]

pretty srue when the constituion was made they didnt think the goverment would grow to the size that it is today.

[strugart]

I dont thinks many americans can suppport the politician who vote for the law. I think Bachman quiting the race show that to most this law is unconstitucional (beyond what a group of gray people may say). I dont lose much sleep because some politician in bed with some defense contractor or progun group have this idea, and try to make a law of it.
About Jose Padilla and the bad treatment of detainees i think people forget about that sort of thing (like some recent news in HuffPost about 16M of american child beign poor and some even without food security), I dont thing americans can live this days knowing the whole truth of their problems, if they did i dont think they could wake up in the morning.

[sandman_1]

Everyone should be concerned with the implications of this act. Temisturk is correct in that they erode your freedoms a little bit at a time. Americans are so complacent now (most), they won't even notice it. I find it comical and sad that Obama had to say that he had reservations in signing this and that his administration will not indefinitely detain American citizens. LOL ok, but what about other administrations? I guess not his problem once he is out of office.

They are using fear mongering to push through these erosion's of liberty. Jesus, all of the Republican candidates use it when it comes to Iran. Newt Gingrich was dissing Ron Paul about his views on Iran. In the process, he made Americans sound like we are a bunch of pussies scared of Iran. "Ohh Iran is going to kick our ass if we don't do something about them!!", jesus people need to wake up and grow a pair and realize what these numbskulls are really doing.

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Ben Franklin

Every time I hear the word Democracy uttered by a politician, I shudder and think of this quote from James Madison

Hence it is that democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and in general have been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths... A republic, by which I mean a government in which a scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect and promises the cure for which we are seeking.

Sound familiar?

[sandman_1]

wait until iran has proper war heads

So. We still have what 5-10 thousand more than they will ever have. It gets back to the MAD concept except it is more a one-sided MAD thing, you fuck with us with nukes and your little country is a barren wasteland for the next million years.

[sandman_1]

i dont live in iran..

but what are those american ships doing in irans waters?

iran can still nuke israel...

All Iran is doing now is saber rattling. All countries do it to make it look like they are the shit so they don't get pushed around. Do you really think Iran's one nuke(maybe if they have any at all in the near future) is really going to do Israel in when they have probably 150? I just don't think Iran is that stupid despite what some of these Republican candidates think, "suicidal". North Korea has nukes and a huge army but I don't hear anyone saying they are a imminent threat like they are with Iran. I mean we don't live in fear from North Korea everyday do we? It is all fear mongering.

[999969999]

i dont live in iran..

but what are those american ships doing in irans waters?

iran can still nuke israel...

All Iran is doing now is saber rattling. All countries do it to make it look like they are the shit so they don't get pushed around. Do you really think Iran's one nuke(maybe if they have any at all in the near future) is really going to do Israel in when they have probably 150? I just don't think Iran is that stupid despite what some of these Republican candidates think, "suicidal". North Korea has nukes and a huge army but I don't hear anyone saying they are a imminent threat like they are with Iran. I mean we don't live in fear from North Korea everyday do we? It is all fear mongering.

This actually makes a lot of sense to me.

And think about it from North Korea's point of view. Our constant military presence in South Korea would be like having Russia's military in Mexico. How would we react to something like that?