Published on: Friday, December 02, 2011

By Brian J. Karem

I want everyone, no, I beg everyone to wake up. Right now.

Look around. If you’re twittering about Lady GaGa or the Kardashians, or sports, or anything else that doesn’t have to do with your rights in the United States, then just stop.

You no longer live in the United States as governed by the Bill of Rights.

Wake up!

The first amendment guarantees the right to free speech, peaceable assembly and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Sub chapter one: unless you’re an “Occupy” movement. Then all bets are off.

The second amendment guarantees the right to bear arms.

Sub chapter one: unless the government doesn’t want you to do so.

The third amendment is still intact because it guarantees that no soldier in a time of peace shall be quartered in anyone’s home. With all the money the government steals from you in taxes, this is no longer a problem today. We have plenty of government funded military bases where all of God’s little soldiers can live peaceably – or we subsidize them enough they can afford their own home.

Now that the first two amendments have effectively been eliminated, there is a great deal of concentration on vaporizing the fourth, fifth and sixth amendments.

Don’t worry. Our elected members of congress are on the case.

They’re destroying your rights even as I write this.

The Senate voted this week to keep a controversial provision to let the military detain terrorism suspects on U.S. soil and hold them indefinitely without trial.

I couldn’t stand the Patriot Act. This is far worse. The measure is part of the massive National Defense Authorization Act and desperately needs to be dismantled.

The measure is not limited to foreign nationals or illegal aliens, but gives the government the authority to send American citizens to Guantanamo Bay if they are merely suspected of terrorism.

Let’s see . . . hmmm I’m of Lebanese descent. That makes me a second-generation Arab. I think our government is full of it. I think those in congress are a danger to the ideas and ideals that founded this country. I actively support getting rid of them by voting every single one of them out of office.

Do you want to now accuse me of being a terrorist? I want you gone. Get out.

Well the fourth and fifth amendments guarantee me several rights pertinent to any accusations against me. You cannot illegally search me. Really, well okay that one is shot too. Police routinely circumvent this right on a daily basis as they profile certain members of the population and create probable cause that doesn’t exist in order to search and detain them – whether they search a car, a home, or even a suspect’s own body parts.

So, whoops, I’m already done in there.

The Fifth Amendment guarantees me the right to not testify against myself, but once the police illegally obtain evidence, they can DNA test it and deny me that right. Cell phone companies secretly record everything you ever text or say and the government can in turn subpoena or otherwise obtain that information and further circumvent this amendment. The accused no longer have rights. Read the reports in the media. Once accused then you’re guilty. It’s not that you’re even presumed guilty. You’re done.

The sixth amendment guarantees me a trial by jury and due process. Forget that.

This week Congress effectively put a fork in this amendment and cleaned up any doubt that the fourth and fifth amendments still work. They don’t exist. They don’t work and you’re done.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), according to previously published reports, spelled it out for those merely accused of being terrorists.

“They should not be read their Miranda Rights. They should not be given a lawyer,” he said.

Yep, welcome to the United States of America.

The terrorists have won here. They’ve destroyed the fabric of our constitutional rights with the consent and active lobbying of those who represent us.

All that’s needed now is a little yellow star or insignia to pin on an “accused” terrorist. We can round them all up in cattle cars and ship them out to Miami where they can then board a garbage scow to Guantanamo and our transformation will be complete.

Anyone else want to gag?

Oh, I forgot, most of us are too busy on twitter or Facebook telling everyone else what they had for breakfast, what underwear we bought, or posting inspirational messages about things that really don’t matter.

Wake up!