John Brennan sworn in on first draft of constitution – without the bill of rights

UK Guardian 

Early version of the constitution used to swear-in new CIA director lacks the part about due process before the law. Oops

CIA director John Brennan swore the oath of office Friday on an original copy of the constitution, the White House announced, which at first sounds pretty cool.

Better than a Bible – everybody does the Bible. The copy is from 1787, and it apparently has George Washington's personal handwriting and annotations on it and everything. They keep it in a protective manila folder, visible in an official photo of the moment.

So far, so charming – except for one detail:

The founders were quick about the Bill of Rights, ratifying them in 1791. But the constitution was passed without them. A pre-ratification draft of the constitution certainly would not have included them. The fifth amendment's guarantee of due process before the law? Brennan's wife's not holding it and Brennan ain't swearing on it.-[Full Article]

Obama signs NDAA into law, dismantles Bill of Rights

Examiner

Rumors have been floating around the internet for the past week or so that Obama signed NDAA into law before Christmas. Well, he didn't. But that doesn't really matter now, because today he did.

According to the ACLU, President Barack Obama just signed one of the most controversial bills into law since the Patriot Act. The sad part is that neither the House nor the Senate nor Obama seemed to think it was all that controversial, as it passed overwhelmingly in both the House and the Senate, and the president just signed it (even though he had at one time threatened to veto).

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...[Full Article]