Late Wednesday evening, concurring with ACLU, one of the nation's leading human rights activists David Swanson has released a 3-step guide for the public to take following the official announcement that President Barack Obama will sign the National Defense Authorization Bill 2012 to enact martial law, action by the president that human rights defenders says is definitely on the wrong side of history.
In an email with the subject heading, 'Bill of Rights (1791-2011) R.I.P.?,' Swanson says, "Well, 220 years is a pretty good run, eh?
Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch said, "By signing this defense spending bill, President Obama will go down in history as the president who enshrined indefinite detention without trial in U.S. law."
"In the past, Obama has lauded the importance of being on the right side of history, but today he is definitely on the wrong side."
Wednesday evening, in an email, Swanson wrote to his followers, "Just in time for Thursday's Bill of Rights Day, Congress has included in a massive war and weapons funding bill an authorization of presidents and the military to imprison you or anyone else forever without a trial."
Swanson lists the following two steps to ensure everything has been done to prevent Martial Law:
Step One: Call your representative and your two senators and demand that they vote No on final passage of the "Defense Authorization Act." 202-224-3121
Get the staffer you speak with to tell you why their boss would even consider voting yes on imprisonment with no trial. Post what they tell you at http://warisacrime.org/nomohabeas
Step Two: Tell the president to veto.
"The conference committee made changes to the bill to answer President Obama's concerns, not ours," Swanson explains.
"The bill now leaves the president free to imprison or kill individuals without handing them over even to a military tribunal.
"The White House calls this 'flexibility.' The authors of the Bill of Rights called it tyranny," Swanson asserts.
Read: House And Senate Negotiators Agree On Bill Hoping To Avoid Obama Veto
Watch: Daily Show: Arrested Development
Step Three: Take part in an event on Bill of Rights Day Thursday, a day that people nationwide will mourn in funeral marches and demonstrate against the tyranny of U.S. leadership. The day has been spearheaded by the Bill of Rights Defense Committee : http://bordc.org/ndaa
CBS reported Wednesday evening that Laura Murphy, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office said, "If President Obama signs this bill, it will damage both his legacy and American's reputation for upholding the rule of law."
"The last time Congress passed indefinite detention legislation was during the McCarthy era, and President Truman had the courage to veto that bill."
Retweeted over one hundred times in less than an hour Wednesday evening is a message from ACLU reinforcing Swanson's steps to take: "Tell your member of Congress you to vote NO on indefinite detention. #FixNDAA #NDAA www.aclu.org/fixNDAA"
Two hours earlier, ACLU Tweeted, "House passes #NDAA 283 - 136. Contact Congress before the Senate votes #fixNDAA bit.ly/nzuuLM."
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