Touch me. Touch me like you didn't touch me last night.

"No court, justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider any claim or cause of action whatsoever, including any action pending on or filed after the date of the enactment of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, relating to the prosecution, trial, or judgment of a military commission under this chapter, including challenges to the lawfulness of procedures of military commissions under this chapter."

That's a section of the "Torture Bill" that the United States Congress passed.

That's the President--with the permission of our "representatives"--blatantly violating the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

That's them pissing on you.

You've got one month to tell those friends of yours--you know the ones--that this isn't "protecting our freedom" or "fighting terrorism."

This is fascism, and if you don't try to convince that person you hear at work, on the bus, at the store, that this isn't just illegal, it's wrong...

Well, if you don't speak up, then you aren't doing your job.

Your job is not bitching to people who already believe the same things that you do, it's talking to those who aren't sure.
Don't rail against the people who aren't going to change their minds. That's a waste of time. The person wearing a shirt with Osama Bin Laden in crosshairs is not a concern.

And you'd better get on it NOW. Why do you think this Rep. Mark Foley scandal broke right now? This scandal that the Republican party has known about for over a year?  Why do you think a videotape of laughing hijackers mysteriously appeared one month before the election?

Because it gets everybody in the right place, not looking at what the bastards are doing.

"Anyone anywhere in the world at any time may be summarily classified an "unlawful enemy combatant" by the executive branch, seized and detained indefinitely in military prisons. As Bruce Ackerman points out in the LA Times, the definition of "unlawful enemy combatant" includes those who "purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States" by say, writing a check to a Middle East charity) and may extend to US citizens.)" -- The Nation

So what they're doing, if you read through the entirety of that fucking bill, means that the simple act of writing this stupid LiveJournal post gives the President the right to put me in prison without trial.

I'm not an idiot, and I know that's not going to happen. BUT THAT PROVISION IS THERE, not for pissants like me, but for people who actually have a nationwide scope, for real journalists, for real activists.

They can put you in prison, now, and literally erase your ability to invoke anything in the Bill of Rights, or anything in the entire fucking Constitution.

Yes, posting this on your precious blog will help, but you'd better have the same courage to your convictions when you're not anonymous behind a glowing computer screen.

I'm calling people out on this bullshit.
I'm refusing to listen to people say "I don't like it either, but..."
I'm no longer "not talking politics."

Look now and you'll see that the rules are different. Up until now we could all say "I'm one person, and to the government I don't matter."

Because now that's not true. You don't matter as long as you don't open your mouth.

Do Not Shut The Fuck Up.

BUT STOP THINKING THAT THE ONLY PLACE YOU SHOULD BE SCREAMING IS FROM BEHIND YOUR COMPUTER.

---------

Benjamin Lee Stone