Save me from myself
What a week for fans of freedom and a person's right to decide what is good for him/herself.
First we had the infamous "Torture Bill" pass through the Senate. The bill states that the government has the right to use physical persuasion (i.e. torture people) that are suspected of being involved in terrorist activities.
That's all fine and good but the real issue is that this bill completely suspends Habeas Corpus, the basic foundation of our judicial system, at the whim of the President. He can indefinitely detain anyone who is considered an "enemy combatant" (a definition which has been upgraded to "anyone suspected of aiding and abetting a known terrorist") without charges or evidence. Presumably as long as he wants and no formal statement of why the person is considered an "enemy combatant" needs to be issued. Basically, the person just....disappears.
I'm pretty confidant that the Supreme Court will shoot this bill down but the implications are frightening. In a perfect world, we'd expect our government to use something like this in only the most extreme and dire circumstances but unfortunately, we've seen throughout history that the definition of dire circumstances loosens considerably when absolute power corrupts absolutely.
On a note a little closer to home for me, they snuck in a bill trying to ban online gaming. As an avid poker player I find this ludicrous. It's waiting to get signed by the President to become law and once in place, domestic banks and credit cards will not be allowed to deposit directly to gaming sites. What this means for third party companies (which is what I use) is uncertain.
I put this in the same category as people who want to take everything "offensive" out of entertainment. If you don't want to play Hold Em online, then don't. No one is making you. If your husband, wife, son or daughter are using your credit cards to play poker online then you have other problems than just the poker. It infuriates me.
OK, I'm going to go get a few hands in and cash out before my assets get frozen and I'm indefinitely detained for possession of a full house.
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