Master Plan:The Rise of the Commander-in-Chief State

Here's a good piece, from the Empire Burlesque blog. I always like reading commentary like this because it reminds me I'm not alone in seeing where we're all heading. For some, it's all too obvious, and for others, well, they're either in denial hoping it'll all turn out ok, or they're just living in the bliss of ignorance. I don't really care about those people anyway, since they remind me of the quote by Ben Franklin;

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

The only reason I can think of for their complacency, can be found in this quote by James Madison;

"I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations."

I guess they expect the only way to lose freedoms is by "violent and sudden usurpations", instead of the reality of the little-by-little, for-your-own-good method.

Now, an excerpt from the article;

"George W. Bush has granted himself the power to declare anyone on earth – including any American citizen – an "enemy combatant," for any reason he sees fit. He can render them up to torture, he can imprison them for life, he can even have them killed, all without charges, with no burden of proof, no standards of evidence, no legislative oversight, no appeal, no judicial process whatsoever except those that he himself deigns to construct, with whatever limitations he cares to impose. Nor can he ever be prosecuted for any order he issues, however criminal; in the new American system laid out by Bush's legal minions, the Commander is sacrosanct, beyond the reach of any law or constitution."