Welcome to Martial Law

I rather like the definition of Martial Law offered at Wikipedia.
Each of the two houses of Congress have passed their version of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012. For the House, it was HR 1540, and in the Senate it was S 1867. Since they are not identical, there will be a conference between committees from each house to negotiate until they agree to the letter. Then each house will be required to vote on the amended version. Then it goes to the President for signature into law.
The House has passed their committee version as of yesterday, and the Senate is expected to do the same today.
Despite all the rhetoric reported in the mainstream press, it is highly likely the president will sign it. What he claims was a hindrance was not the existence of the provision allowing the military to arrest any human on the planet; the White House wrote that provision. Rather, the President is in a huff because the current versions both require the military to arrest folks for certain things, rather than giving the President, as Commander in Chief of the US military forces, the discretion to decide if he wants to make that arrest.
But the point is the military having arrest powers regardless of location or any other limiting factors. This is the definition of Martial Law. I’m willing to bet this new power won’t be used right away, at least not on any large scale. It’s meant to be there, hanging over our heads as a threat. But at some point, it most certainly will be used.
Nobody who’s been paying attention is surprised, only that it took this long to become the law of the land. They’ve been conducting such arrests for quite some time one a small scale. All it takes is the declaration some person is an enemy, an illegal combatant. Seeing they actually rather enjoy torturing people, they’ve refrained from using the label “traitor,” which would virtually require quick execution. Now they have full authorization to use troops for any combative purpose, anytime, against even their fellow citizens.
It’s here.
Update: As expected, the Senate passed their version on the day this was posted. It remains yet for the President to sign. Please note there is no complaint about codifying military authority to arrest civilians and detain them indefinitely without charge, trial or counsel. What the House and Senate agreed to do was allow the President to waive the requirement for detaining US civilians, and allow him to choose. That was his only complaint.