Is the National Defense Authorization Act aimed at Occupy Wall Street? by gimleteye

Americans can be detained indefinitely, according to the Senate vote yesterday on the massive military funding bill. An amendment by Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) to kill the provision was defeated. Barring a presidential veto, the military will soon be able to detain terrorism suspects on U.S. soil and hold them indefinitely without trial.

Who gets to define, a "terrorist"? I am sure that there are plenty who consider the Occupy Wall Street'ers to be terrorists. I have been called, in public forum, an "environmental terrorist". That was before 9/11 but I will never forget that the public official who called me that had lots of support in Florida's political community. At the time, if he had the legal ability to push the point, there is no doubt he would have. We know from hard experience that democratic freedoms are only as strong as the laws that protect citizens. This over-reaching by Congress will not end well.

I wonder, if this bill passes into law, what happens if the OWS'ers who are being kicked out of city and private parks around the country, get it in their heads that violence is the only outlet? If that happens and they get arrested, who is to say their activities aren't terrorism? If that is how they are identified by government prosecutors, the case will be made that they should be held indefinitely, perhaps without trial. 

And what if citizens rise up and protest the manipulation of Florida's water supply to accommodate more rampant and unsustainable growth-- a feature of the speculative culture that wraps up Wall Street financiers with local builders, lobbyists and the Chamber of Commerce? Are they terrorists, then, too? Just asking.