A couple of days ago, I receive a few emails regarding provisions in the newest Senate Defense Authorization Bill which would allow military to arbitrarily arrest and detain individuals anywhere over the globe. Senate Bill 1867 mostly regards boring defense budget appropriations and general administrative issues. However, sections 1031 and 1032 directly address detainee issues. I have attached the text at the end of this post.

At issue is the proposed exemption of US citizens and permanent residents from arbitrary military arrest and detainment. Senators Levin and McCain along with others on the Senate Defense Sub-Committee has proposed removing the exemptions, allowing the military to detain anyone it likes, anywhere it likes.

Unfortunately, I must confess that I did not catch this nuance at first and referred only to the original text of the document. I had to insert said foot into said mouth when I got past the poor representation of the issue which was rich on sensationalism and poor on details. For that, I stand up and willingly state that I WAS FUCKING WRONG and now have to come out against this travesty of American Justice.

Fortunately, the Obama administration has vowed to veto the Appropriations Bill if the exemptions for US Citizens and Permanent Residents is not included, according to Democratic Senator Udall of Colorado, who is fighting to keep the exemptions. This alone will likely facilitate the inclusion of exemptions that will protect at least legal US residents.

However, the fact that this measure has gotten this far in the legislative process should be troubling for everyone, particularly if one has any memory of the awful Bush years (though this memory seems to be fading as fast as the battery in my laptop). We’ve sown a path of an increasing disregard for human rights, free speech, free expression and political dissent in this country.

The Obama admin should be applauded for threatening to veto the bill in its current state, but the Obama admin itself has been lax on issues of political liberty and human rights. We still have Guantanamo, still the admin pursues a policy of assassination of enemies abroad (though truthfully, I doubt anyone misses Awlacki or Bin Laden), and the admin is notably silent on issues of violent suppression of political dissent in the recent OWS protests.

Equally troubling, though less discussed, is the exemption covering only US citizens and permanent residents. This potentially could leave the door wide open for miltary arrests and arbitrary detention of undocumented immigrants, for example, or persons the political establishment does not care for, who happen to be here on temporary work visas or holiday. However unsurprising, the measure could even make the Supreme Court’s docket (though I’m no expert on Constitutional law), as a clear affront to Constitutional protections of due process for all in the United States, citizen, legal resident or no.

To those I have mislead, please accept my apology. Below is the text of the controversial sections as they were before the removal of the exemptions:

Update: I’ve been informed that this is the new version of the text that does not include the exemption mentioned above.

Subtitle D–Detainee Matters

SEC. 1031. AFFIRMATION OF AUTHORITY OF THE ARMED FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES TO DETAIN COVERED PERSONS PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF MILITARY FORCE.

(a) Custody Pending Disposition Under Law of War-
(1) IN GENERAL- Except as provided in paragraph (4), the Armed Forces of the United States shall hold a person described in paragraph (2) who is captured in the course of hostilities authorized by the Authorization for Use of Military Force (Public Law 107-40) in military custody pending disposition under the law of war.
(2) COVERED PERSONS- The requirement in paragraph (1) shall apply to any person whose detention is authorized under section 1031 who is determined–
(A) to be a member of, or part of, al-Qaeda or an associated force that acts in coordination with or pursuant to the direction of al-Qaeda; and
(B) to have participated in the course of planning or carrying out an attack or attempted attack against the United States or its coalition partners.
(3) DISPOSITION UNDER LAW OF WAR- For purposes of this subsection, the disposition of a person under the law of war has the meaning given in section 1031(c), except that no transfer otherwise described in paragraph (4) of that section shall be made unless consistent with the requirements of section 1033.
(4) WAIVER FOR NATIONAL SECURITY- The Secretary of Defense may, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Director of National Intelligence, waive the requirement of paragraph (1) if the Secretary submits to Congress a certification in writing that such a waiver is in the national security interests of the United States.
(b) Applicability to United States Citizens and Lawful Resident Aliens-
(1) UNITED STATES CITIZENS- The requirement to detain a person in military custody under this section does not extend to citizens of the United States.
(2) LAWFUL RESIDENT ALIENS- The requirement to detain a person in military custody under this section does not extend to a lawful resident alien of the United States on the basis of conduct taking place within the United States, except to the extent permitted by the Constitution of the United States.
(c) Implementation Procedures-
(1) IN GENERAL- Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall issue, and submit to Congress, procedures for implementing this section.
(2) ELEMENTS- The procedures for implementing this section shall include, but not be limited to, procedures as follows:
(A) Procedures designating the persons authorized to make determinations under subsection (a)(2) and the process by which such determinations are to be made.
(B) Procedures providing that the requirement for military custody under subsection (a)(1) does not require the interruption of ongoing surveillance or intelligence gathering with regard to persons not already in the custody or control of the United States.
(C) Procedures providing that a determination under subsection (a)(2) is not required to be implemented until after the conclusion of an interrogation session which is ongoing at the time the determination is made and does not require the interruption of any such ongoing session.
(D) Procedures providing that the requirement for military custody under subsection (a)(1) does not apply when intelligence, law enforcement, or other government officials of the United States are granted access to an individual who remains in the custody of a third country.
(E) Procedures providing that a certification of national security interests under subsection (a)(4) may be granted for the purpose of transferring a covered person from a third country if such a transfer is in the interest of the United States and could not otherwise be accomplished.
(d) Effective Date- This section shall take effect on the date that is 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and shall apply with respect to persons described in subsection (a)(2) who are taken into the custody or brought under the control of the United States on or after that effective date.

We’ve had several weeks of jaw-dropping news of jackbooted police brutality around the country. A young veteran in shot in the head with a rubber bullet and hospitalized with brain injuries. An 84 year old woman and a pregnant girl are pepper sprayed in Seattle. A NYC Councilman is beaten and arrested in a violent crackdown on OWS protests in Zucotti Park. Journalists are arrested and beaten the same night, and a free press is curtailed through official order.

Honestly, the United States seem more like second tier countries like Egypt, Syria, Sudan, and China every day. Telling is the lack of substantive comment from elected officials. Regardless of one’s political affiliation, the events of the past month should be cause for outrage.

But yet… nothing.

Last night, NYU students protesting tuition hikes and the ballooning influence of private money on University administration clashed with police as they tried to burst in to a trustees meeting. Police used batons to push the students out of the building and to beat them into submission. 15 people were arrested and a police officer was hospitalized for chest pains.

If NYU is any indication, the escalating military style violence of police is hardening citizen protesters and emboldening people to speak out.

A series of articles appeared right after the event at UC Davis, most decrying the saddening trend of police militarization around the United States. UC Davis faculty member Bob Osterberg wrote an on-the-ground criticism of the UC Davis police and on the disturbing technological and organization upgrade of police power at all levels of law enforcement. Even former Seattle police check Norm Stamper, who was in charge during the famous Seattle WTO protests which involved tens of thousands, has spoken out against this frightening trend in law-enforcement.

The Academy has long taken note of this trend, from this paper in 1998 (before the war on terror), to this list of a number of papers on the militaristic incursion of law enforcement into poor and minority communities. Here is an excellent article outlining the evolution of the gradual organizational upgrade of US police, specifically pointing to an important 1994 bill which authorized the US military to donate old equipment to local law enforcement:

The main culprit was a 1994 law authorizing the Pentagon to donate surplus military equipment to local police departments. In the 17 years since, literally millions of pieces of equipment designed for use on a foreign battlefield have been handed over for use on U.S. streets, against U.S. citizens. Another law passed in 1997 further streamlined the process. As National Journal reported in 2000, in the first three years after the 1994 law alone, the Pentagon distributed 3,800 M-16s, 2,185 M-14s, 73 grenade launchers, and 112 armored personnel carriers to civilian police agencies across America. Domestic police agencies also got bayonets, tanks, helicopters and even airplanes.

The CATO Institute produced a frightening 2006 whitepaper on the move from traditional law-enforcement models to strategies which differ little from those of militaries fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan. Libertarians espouse the need for then entire American populace to be armed, though if this paper is any indication, that strategy is futile. Police, in response to wide availability of guns and mass advances in popular gun technology, simply respond by upgrading their own. It is no surprise, then, that a heavily reactionary and organized police force will use heavy handed means to suppress any perceived threat to security.

Personally, I find disturbing the combination of state control, advances in weapons technology and military strategy (defense and weapons industry), a culture of surveillance, and the perceived need to suppress “dangerous elements” (drug dealers, terrorists and poor people) and the dehumanization and willingness to do violence against members of these groups (torture, “enhanced” interrogation) to be a self-sustaining, escalating cycle. Note, the important role of technology and training in maintaining South African apartheid, for example, or the important role of new crowd suppression technologies being implemented in Egypt, for example.

Regardless of one’s political bent, the increasing power of federal, state and local governments to suppress political dissent and protect private interests should give one pause to consider what kind of future we create for ourselves. Fortunately, though, the populace appears unfazed, as the brave level of restraint by UC Davis protesters shows. It is debatable, however, how long this restraint will last.

Update: The pregnant woman who was pepper sprayed in Seattle appears to have miscarried.

We’re not there yet, but we’re on our way.

Yesterday, I wrote a post on the decay of democracy in the US through the mass handing over of official powers to unelected bodies. Today, reading the reports of the thousands of people that turned out in NYC and the list of demonstrations in more than 15 major cities, I’m given pause to not be so pessimistic.

It’s wonderful to see people this politically involved though disappointing to see the press and our elected officials summarily ignore it. The President himself, has chosen to only hint at the events, which, arguably, have generated more steam than any of the Tea Party demonstrations. In contrast, though, the Tea Party, though co-opted by Republican candidates that differed little form their predecessors, influenced an entire election.

Looking at the broader picture, though, I’m amazed at the level of citizen involvement that has emerged in the past few years. It was a vast citizen turn out that put President Obama in office. Citizen involvement created the Tea Party, however misguided and narrow their goals were (are?).

Now, citizen involvement is creating the mass demonstrations that make up OWS. People of all types willingly risk being the victim of violence at the hands of state thugs, arrest, detention, fines and legal fees, all for the sake of expressing their political opinions and motivating for change. The Tea Party were never so bold, but I don’t think that OWS could exist without the precedent the Tea Party set. I hate to say that, but it’s true.

As a loosely linked aside (which will likely make as little sense as the rest of this blog), I was attending this week’s meeting of NWEAG (New World Ecology and Agriculture Group), a loosely link international group of pinko commies concerned with issues of agricultural policy. Last night, my good friend Gerald Smith presented a short history of agricultural policy in the United States, from Jefferson’s ideas of the “Citizen Farmer” to modern day food stamp policy.

The subject of the possible turn of US agriculture away from large agri-business and back toward smaller, local, family run farming operations. In short, we were speaking of the re-democratization of food. Food policy in the US, heavy on subsidies that reward and encourage big agri-business and corporate farming, encourage the commodification and dumbing down of what we eat. We eat what we are told to, and few questions are asked.

Local farm markets, however, allow consumers to be directly involved in food production, the types and manner of food production, and inevitable, the nature of the market itself. Moving toward small farming operations not only empowers farmers, but citizens alike. Local farming ends the need for subsidies that not only serve to depress food prices, reward big fast food industries and snack makers, and, ultimately, prevent developing countries from being competitive in the world agricultural market.

Big agri-business will not go away, just as Wall Street will never go away. The reestablishment of the citizen voice and the re-democratization of America, whether in the form of OWS protests or local farm markets or CFAs, will, however, move American politics away from the divided extremes that we see today, and ultimately create a more tolerable world.

Or, perhaps, I’m just being overly optimistic.

I’m reading a piece on the recent establishment of the technocratic leadership in financially troubled Greece and Italy this morning and considering the parallels to our own state of Michigan. Specifically, I’m hearing echoes of Michigan’s Emergency Financial Manager system.

If (mostly unelected) officials in the State Government deem a locality to be in a financial crisis, they have the power, after following several formalized steps, to oust the local government and appoint an unelected Emergency Financial Manger. He or she has the power to suspend pay for all government employees and terminate all collective bargaining agreements by civil employees.

Step Ten: Upon being placed in receivership, the governing body and chief administrative officer of the unit of local government are prohibited from exercising any of their powers of offices without written approval of the Emergency Manager, and their compensation and benefits are eliminated.

Step Eleven: Within 45 days of appointment, an Emergency Manager must develop a written financial and operating plan.
In addition to other powers, an Emergency Manager may reject, modify, or terminate collective bargaining agreements, recommend consolidation or dissolution of units of local government, and recommend bankruptcy proceedings.

In short, he or she is a dictator, an ostensibly regulated dictator, but a dictator nonetheless. That the present Republican led state government would support such a move has long been a mystery to me. The EMF system is big government at it’s worst. So much for Republican respect for local governments.

In Greece and Italy, what we are seeing is vastly similar. Democratically elected leaders, when they cannot satisfy the economic demands of the market, the IMF and the European Commission, and the United States through proxy of two of those groups, are to be sacked and replaced by unelected officials more amenable to the goals of the aforementioned bodies.

Granted, Europe’s economic troubles merit swift action, though putting the responsibility of fixing it into the hands of the very people that supported the conditions which led to the world economic crisis of 2008 makes little sense. At least under a system which allows the democractic selection of leaders and officials, there is some chance that the political landscape will include at least a few individuals that aren’t rich old white guys.

More perplexing is the sudden willingness of the people of Europe and the less sudden Michigan to enthusiastically move to a system more like Communist China than Jefferson’s vision of a Republic that operates through the will of the people (assuming that European Democracies aspire to the American model).

Governance by unelected and uninvested bodies is bad for democracy everywhere. When the democratic world follows this path, we abandon the art of compromise, patience and problem solving through discussion. Democracies are slow creatures, and fraught with practical problems. The opposite (China) , though, is a more frightening alternative.

Yesterday morning, police in New York City effectively shut down the OWS movement. They used force and violence, though this isn’t how they won. They successfully cleared the park, restoring it to the condition it was in before the OWS protests began two months ago. This has done little to change the resolve of the protesters. They have already returned, and apparently in greater numbers. I suspect that the nature of the movement will change, though the spirit and message will remain the same.

The NYC Police and government won through the exclusion of the press on the ground, from the air and the stifling of citizen efforts to document the forced eviction. As of 9 am yesterday, there was little on any of the major news outlets aside from the passing mention that the park had been cleared. Believe me, I searched. I was skeptical that OWS protesters had been cooperative enough to allow “cleaning” of the park, though, lacking any accounts to dispute that assumption stuck with it for a while.

My friend Mark, wrote me and told me that a city council member had been beating and arrested, that the press were forced into a “Press Pen” before the eviction, and that the city government even went to the extra trouble to close the airspace over the park to prevent press helicopters from recording the event. Press members were beaten, corralled and harassed.

I was stunned. Stunned not at the actions of the NYPD and the NYC Government, but stunned at my own gullibility. I really should know better at this point.

The coordinated efforts of the NYC leadership and the mass media led to an effective writing off of the OWS movement in the popular mind. Images of council members being beaten, or police violently suppressing kids and protesters of all demographics would only solidify citizens that sympathize with the loose goals of the OWS. They would harden even those who may not agree, but are concerned with the right of protest and free political speech. This was the case in the escalation of protests in Seattle in 1999.

One doesn’t have to agree with anything the OWS protesters say. I think we can all agree that the stifling of the press on any subject is a bad thing for the US and a bad thing for democracy around the world. This isn’t what we’re supposed to be, though it is certainly what we are. The events yesterday are actually more represetative of oppressive Latin American countries, China, and worse yet, backward and despotic countries such as Yemen. The only difference (or similarity in the case of China) is the vast and insidious nature of American technological and strategic sophistication.

What happens from here out is anyone’s guess. My feeling is that the storyline will become too complex for America to handle. A collection of freaks in a NYC park make easy television interviews and good fodder for rightist smears. The vast suppression of a populist political movement by police and government bodies adds far too many loose ends to the narrative for the sound bite to handle and unfortunatley, I think that OWS will be marginalized to only occupy an active fringe on the internet. That’s the pessimist in me speaking but let’s hope this doesn’t happen.

Fortunately though, some of the major liberal news outlets have attempted to keep up, though I feel that the timing is far too slow.

My friend Mark wrote a great piece on this subject this morning. Please go and check it out. All 10 of you.

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Here’s what the park looked like last night. Despite the characterization from the right of OWS as a movement of unemployed, grimy hippies, I see a wide variety of people here.