In the news: Bringing 2012 In With A Bang

2012 begins with a bang prophetically. There are a number of interesting stories today:

Obama Signs NDAA Into Law: Dismantles Bill Of Rights

According to the ACLU, President Barack Obama just signed one of the most controversial bills into law since the Patriot Act.

In case you haven't heard, H.R. 1540: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 or NDAA, is not your typical defense spending bill. It gives authority to the president (or perhaps it'd be more fitting to call him king or ruler at this point) to order the military to indefinitely detain U.S. citizens without official charge or trial on the mere suspicion of being a terrorist or linked to a terrorist organization.

The paragraph below captures the essence of this bill:

But as our government slips further and further from the rule of law and the founding principles of our nation that once made us great, tyranny inevitably creeps in to take its place. And when tyranny reigns, the line between who is a terrorist and who isn't becomes easily blurred. A "terrorist" could simply mean a political enemy of the state.

National Defense Authorization Act "Slip Into Tyranny"

You can say what you want about Ron Paul, but he has it right on this issue:

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is an unprecedented, unconstitutional, and unchecked grant of dictatorial power to the President in the name of protecting the security of “the homeland.” Ron Paul described the bill (soon to be signed into law by the President) as a “slip into tyranny,” one that will almost certainly accelerate “our descent into totalitarianism.”

This liberty-extinguishing legislation converts America into a war zone and turns Americans into potential suspected terrorists, complete with the full roster of rights typically afforded to terrorists — none.

A key component of this reconciled bill mandates a frightening grant of immense and unconstitutional power to the executive branch. Under the provisions of Section 1021, the President is afforded the absolute power to arrest and detain citizens of the United States without their being informed of any criminal charges, without a trial on the merits of those charges, and without a scintilla of the due process safeguards protected by the Constitution of the United States.

Also see:

Obama Signs Act To Allow Detention Of U.S. Citizens

Back to the Epicenter where we see a few pertinent stories:

Islamism: 21st Century Communism

One paragraph says it all:

Think about this: By the end of 2012 the overwhelming majority of Muslims in the Middle East – in Egypt, the Gaza Strip, Iran, Lebanon, Libya, Tunisia and Turkey, about a quarter-billion people in all – will be governed by radical Islamist regimes that believe in waging jihad on Israel and America, wiping Israel off the map, suppressing Christians, reducing the status of women to even lower than it is now, and in their right as the true interpreters of God’s will to govern as dictators.

Muslim Brotherhood Vows Not To Recognize Israel

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood will not recognize Israel "under any circumstance," the party's deputy leader Dr Rashad Bayoumi told Arabic daily al-Hayat in an interview publish Sunday.

In recent Egyptian elections the party list led by the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) won 36.3 percent of the list vote, while the ultra-conservative Salafi al-Nour Party took 28.8%.

When asked whether it is a requirement for the government in Egypt to recognize Israel, Bayoumi responded by saying: "This is not an option, whatever the circumstances, we do not recognize Israel at all. Its [Israel] an occupying criminal enemy."

The deputy leader stressed during the interview that no Muslim Brotherhood members would ever meet with Israelis for negotiations. "I will not allow myself to sit down with criminals."

Muslim Brotherhood Plans To Cancel Peace Pact With Israel

Haniyeh In Sudan: Hamas Will Never Recognize Israel

Hamas’ Prime Minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, reiterated on Saturday that his organization will never recognize Israel and will never give up on Jerusalem, Channel 10 News reported.

He also called for the establishment of a “Jerusalem Army,” an army of Arab nations who will conquer Jerusalem from the Jews, the report said.

Haniyeh’s remarks were reportedly made in a forum entitled “The Jerusalem Forum” being held in Khartoum. Channel 10 reported that during the discussions, Haniyeh’s men met with senior members of the extremist Muslim Brotherhood movement. According to the report, the purpose of the meetings was to look into the possibility of having Hamas join the Muslim Brotherhood.

Iran Claims It Has Produced Nuclear Fuel Rod

Iran claims it has produced its first nuclear fuel bar, an accomplishment that Western experts estimated it could not achieve.

The semi-officials Fars News Agency stated, “The fuel rod with 1,500 mw/h of radioactivity has passed neutron and non-leakage tests successfully and is now under study for longer duration of radioactivity. The achievement came while the Western states refrained from supplying nuclear fuel to the research reactor in a violation of their NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) undertakings.

Gaza Terrorists Continue 11-Year War, Fire Two Mortar Shells

Gaza terrorists resumed 11 years of aerial attacks on Israel late Sunday morning, firing two mortars shells on the western Negev.

The IDF reported on Twitter, “2 rockets fired from #Gaza just landed in Eshkol Regional Council, home to 11,000 Israelis.”

If the past policy continues, the IDF will launch a counterterrorist strike within the next 24 hours on terrorist rocket launching squads, weapons manufacturing factories and warehouses or tunnels used by terrorists to smuggle weapons and to infiltrate into Gaza Belt communities.

And last, the following article is most definitely worth reading:

The Sprectre of 1932: How A Loss Of Faith In Politicians And Democracy Could Make 2012 The Most Frightening Year In Living Memory

As commentators often remark, the world picture has not been grimmer since the dark days of the mid-Seventies, when the OPEC oil shock, the rise of stagflation and the surge of nationalist terrorism cast a heavy shadow over the Western world.

For the most chilling parallel, though, we should look back exactly 80 years, to the cold wintry days when 1931 gave way to 1932.

And in the last days of 1932, after the technocrats and generals had failed to restore order, President Paul von Hindenburg began to contemplate the unthinkable — the prospect of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany.

We all know what happened next. Indeed, by the end of 1932 the world was about to slide towards a new dark age, an age of barbarism and bloodshed on a scale that history had never known.

Eighty years on, it would be easy to sit back and reassure ourselves that the worst could never happen again. But that, of course, was what people told each other in 1932, too.

Our world is poised on the edge of perhaps the most important 12 months for more than half a century. If our leaders provide the right leadership, then we may, perhaps, muddle through towards slow growth and gradual recovery.

But if the European elite continue to inflict needless hardship on their people; if the markets continue to erode faith in the euro; and if Western politicians waste their time in petty bickering, then we could easily slip further towards discontent and disaster.

The experience of 1932 provides a desperately valuable lesson. As a result of the decisions taken in those 12 short months, millions of people later lost their lives.

Today, on the brink of a new year that could well prove the most frightening in living memory, we can only pray that our history takes a very different path.