Saturday, February 24, 2007

THE CAMPS ARE HERE

Yep--you read it right. The US Government is keeping undocumented immigrants in detention centers. You may have read [http://thepete.com/26000-undocumented-immigrants-held-in-us/|my blog entry] from February 20, 2007 about it. However, Democracy Now has done more reporting on it so I thought I'd do some more blogging on it. The funny thing about all of this is that last week in [http://thepete.com/big-brother-week-and-the-oscar-goes-to-big-brother/|the final Big Brother Week post] I made the below comment in relation to how we're socially not allowed to compare the Bush administration to Nazis:
Sure, the comparison is a lazy choice, but the main reason for that is because it's incredibly appropriate. After all, [http://thepete.com/theblog/go.php?http://thepete.com/halliburton-to-build-us-detention-centers/|Halliburton got the contracts to build detention centers almost a year ago], should we wait until history calls them concentration camps before we act?
It looks like the USG hasn't waited for Halliburton to get their act together. They're already keeping people in concentration-camp-like conditions already. It seems that people are being kept in holding centers--one of which is made up of a large number of circus tents in a camp in Texas. The others are former prisons, that authorities claim have been de-prisonified, but with a prison-cell-style door and a toilet in the center of your 8-foot-square "apartment" it's hard to imagine people not feeling like they're in prison. Then, there's the whole "not being allowed to leave" thing. Then there are issues where the "detainees" aren't given enough food and some of the food they are given is spoiled. Apparently people have gotten sick on spoiled milk. In the middle of Democracy Now's broadcast on Friday ([http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/23/1530247|transcript]) they had a call in from an Iranian man who had been stuck in one of these centers with his wife and child. The thing that is really crazy about this guy's case is that he wasn't even trying to get into America. He and his family were flying to Canada--on a non-stop flight to Toronto, where they've lived off and on for years, when a man on their flight had a heart attack. They landed in Puerto Rico and everyone aboard was made to deplane. Then, according to him, authorities told him he had gotten into America without a visa, so they grabbed him and have been holding him for weeks. This is just one example--there are others. The point is, people are now being held in, what could be called, concentration centers. I'm not suggesting that gas chambers are next, but how is this helpful to America? Since when is trapping everyone who might be trying to get into America and holding them indefinitely going to solve anything? It's just going to make America more hated. If we don't want to let anyone in, then fine--let's lock down the borders and keep everyone out. But this bullshit middle-area we're dwelling in only serves to make things more difficult for everyone. Yes, the chief reason for these centers is to stop families from being broken apart. The thing is, that's the ONLY thing they're doing right. Process these people and either let them into the US or kick them out. Do it FAST. Hire more people to help the process move more quickly. Or just kick everyone out. I don't care--just stop imprisoning people. America is supposed to be the land of the free, not the land of the free-until-we-get-around-to-deciding-if-you're-a-terrorist-or-not. So, let's take a tally on just how fascist America has become: 1) Detention centers are being used to house tens of thousands of people who may or may not be trying to enter the United States, causing one to wonder how much longer it will be before the populace of said "centers" is expanded to allow other undesirables in. 2) Journalists are being imprisoned for not complying with governmental requests for information, harming the right to free speech. 3) Habeas Corpus is gone for non-Americans (so much for the "All Men Are Created Equal" thing) which means non-Americans (and those mistaken as non-Americans) can't challenge their detention in a court of law. 4) Posse Comitatus is gone--which means Bush can declare martial law when he feels like it, allowing the US military to enforce the law instead of trained law enforcement officers. 5) Secret prisons have been (and possibly still are) used to torture people whom the USG believes are terrorists (but, let's face it, probably aren't). 6) Our government insists on waging a war that has no real/clear enemy and has already failed to do what it was supposed to do. [http://thepete.com/13-strikes/|I could go on] but I won't. I'm sure your Monday is already depressing enough as it is...

Orignal From: THE CAMPS ARE HERE

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