Related readings:
US duplicity in Internet freedom
From democracy and human rights to internet freedom
Commentary: Don't impose double standards on "Internet freedom"
China strongly opposes US charges on internet freedom
Showing posts with label Police State. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Police State. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Is Western press a pawn or truly free? - China Daily
Updated: 2010-02-10 07:49
The Green Police Are Coming to California
Written by on February 09, 2010, 12:54 PM
The Green Police Are Coming
CalWatchdog.com, 2/8/10
If you think the Super Bowl commercial depicting The Green Police was a joke, think again. Californias Cap and Trade law, AB 32 will allow fines, fees, and a law enforcement approach against green violators, all while attempting to reduce the states carbon emissions starting in 2012.
The jobless rate is 12.4% inCalifornia Californias
As reported by The Wall Street Journal, The law all but encourages outsourcing toNevada , Texas , China and India
Those real costs will be everything that uses energy from light bulbs, to plastic bags, our cars and pets even the size of a families carbon footprints (limit on number children families will be allowed to have). Trucking companies, utilities, manufacturers and most other businesses will be hit with hefty new taxes when the unrealistic caps on CO2 are imposed and inevitably violated.
Because AB 32 regulations require diesel engines to be retrofitted to cut greenhouse gas emissions, small and large business owners would be required to buy newer trucks and have no used truck market to sell their old ones. This would put independent truckers out of business.
The green police may have gotten laughs all over the country, but inCalifornia
CalWatchdog.com, 2/8/10
If you think the Super Bowl commercial depicting The Green Police was a joke, think again. Californias Cap and Trade law, AB 32 will allow fines, fees, and a law enforcement approach against green violators, all while attempting to reduce the states carbon emissions starting in 2012.
The jobless rate is 12.4% in
As reported by The Wall Street Journal, The law all but encourages outsourcing to
Those real costs will be everything that uses energy from light bulbs, to plastic bags, our cars and pets even the size of a families carbon footprints (limit on number children families will be allowed to have). Trucking companies, utilities, manufacturers and most other businesses will be hit with hefty new taxes when the unrealistic caps on CO2 are imposed and inevitably violated.
Because AB 32 regulations require diesel engines to be retrofitted to cut greenhouse gas emissions, small and large business owners would be required to buy newer trucks and have no used truck market to sell their old ones. This would put independent truckers out of business.
The green police may have gotten laughs all over the country, but in
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Red & Blue Lists confirmed to exist! Main Core is the code name of a database maintained since the 1980s by the federal government
Main Core is the code name of a database maintained since the 1980s by the federal government of the United States, which contains personal and financial data of millions of U.S. citizens believed to be threats to national security.[1] The data, which comes from the NSA, FBI, CIA, and other sources,[2] is collected and stored without warrants or court orders.[3] The database's name derives from the fact that it contains "copies of the 'main core' or essence of each item of intelligence information on Americans produced by the FBI and the other agencies of the U.S. intelligence community."[4]
The Main Core database is believed to have originated with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in 1982, following Ronald Reagan's Continuity of Operations plan outlined in the National Security Directive (NSD) 69 / National Security Decision Directive (NSDD) 55, entitled "Enduring National Leadership," implemented on September 14, 1982.[5]
As of 2008 there are reportedly eight million Americans listed in the database as possible threats,[6][not in citation given] often for trivial reasons,[7][not in citation given] whom the government may choose to track, question, or detain in a time of crisis.[8][not in citation given]
The existence of the database was first reported on in May 2008 by Christopher Ketcham and in July 2008 by Tim Shorrock.[9]
See also
- NSA warrantless surveillance controversy
- National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive
References
External links
- "Main Core: New Evidence Reveals Top Secret Government Database Used in Bush Spy Program", from Democracy Now!, July 25, 2008
- "Exposing Bush's historic abuse of power", by Tim Shorrock, from Salon.com, July 23, 2008
- Radar article by Christopher Ketcham, May/June 2008
- Electronic Frontier Foundation page
http://newworldorderreport.com/Default.aspx?tabid=266&ID=1343
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Big Brother: Obama Calls for the Integration of State and Federal Military Forces
Executive Order Seeks to “Synchronize and Integrate”
by Tom Burghardt
Global Research
January 17, 2010
In the wake of the Flight 253 provocation, over-hyped terrorism panics, and last year’s Big Pharma and media-engineered hysteria over the H1N1 flu pandemic, President Barack Obama signed Executive Order 13528 on January 11.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
All the Reich Moves - Fascism in our time
January 15th, 2010
William N. Grigg
FreedomInOurTime.com
We will not recognize [American Fascism] as it rises. It will wear no black shirts here. It will probably have no marching songs. It will rise out of a congealing of a group of elements that exist here and that are the essential components of Fascism….
It will be at first decorous, humane, glowing with homely American sentiment. But a dictatorship cannot remain benevolent. To continue, it must become ruthless. When this stage is reached we shall see that appeal by radio, movies, and government-controlled newspapers to all the worst instincts and emotions of our people. The rough, the violent, the lawless men will come to the surface and into power. This is the terrifying prospect as we move along our present course. –
John T. Flynn, American Mercury, February 1941
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
George Ure's UrbanSurvival.com | January 13, 2010 - HERE COMES THE SEED POLICE
Here Comes the Seed Police!
All the warnings here about getting your heritage seeds before the government moves on food supplies of just regular folks may have seemed alarmist and dire...a little "Too much tinfoil, George!". But if you think I'm BS'ing about the government seizing seeds purchased from places like eBay, try this email on for size:
"Mr. Ure,
Thank you for your insightful news articles/website, I enjoy reading them each morning. I wanted to share some information with you and your readers regarding a recent incident, involving the USDA. I'm still totally blown away by the fact that a USDA (SITC) Officer came to my home yesterday morning and left his business card and a brochure stating that I have allegedly purchase illegal (sweet corn) garden seeds from Ebay. I'm suppose to contact this SITC officer today and speak with him concerning this Ebay transaction. Our government has nothing better to do than travel to an individuals home and investigate a small amount of garden seeds? I've read and listened too some speculation that our government is trying to crack down on individuals rights to grow their own produce but I assumed that this was just hype. Maybe there is some legitimacy to this type of investigation but I just can't understand that's it justifiable with so many more important issues like smuggling illegal immigrants or narcotics.
Regards,
Friday, January 8, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
VIDEO: Drone for Spying on Americans Outed
Published on 01-04-2010Source: America's Journey
Watch as arrogant police hide from and lie to the public. Watch the one member of the secret police barely open his window - then close it as reporters came over.
Remember public funds are paying this arrogant secret police-person's salary and for the cruiser he's driving and the window he closed on the reporter in order to hide his face.
Notice how they made up stories about FAA flight restrictions.
Great reporting. Horrible police department because their actions demonstrate an US vs. THEM mentality with regards to the public. There's an old saying the police should remember - "don't bite the hand that feeds you."
Remember public funds are paying this arrogant secret police-person's salary and for the cruiser he's driving and the window he closed on the reporter in order to hide his face.
Notice how they made up stories about FAA flight restrictions.
Great reporting. Horrible police department because their actions demonstrate an US vs. THEM mentality with regards to the public. There's an old saying the police should remember - "don't bite the hand that feeds you."
-----------
Perhaps this video will show how serious the police really are about dictatorship-these are not police they are soldiers:
Reporter: "You mean shoot an American?" Nazi: "Yeah"
Reporter: "You mean shoot an American?" Nazi: "Yeah"
------------
But, you may say, they need to protect us and confiscating weapons from the public is necessary. Wrong. Check this report on the significant drop in crime following the recent gun store shelf-emptying that followed the Obama administrations election - it shows that an armed public reduces crime. So what are they taking weapons for?
But, you may say, they need to protect us and confiscating weapons from the public is necessary. Wrong. Check this report on the significant drop in crime following the recent gun store shelf-emptying that followed the Obama administrations election - it shows that an armed public reduces crime. So what are they taking weapons for?
Read more FBI Reports Huge Decrease In Murders As Firearm, Ammunition And “Large” Magazine Sales Soar Here's a snippet:
"Last week, the FBI issued its preliminary 2009 crime report, showing that the number of murders in the first half of 2009 decreased 10 percent compared to the first half of 2008. If the trend holds for the remainder of 2009, it will be the single greatest one-year decrease in the number of murders since at least 1960, the earliest year for which national data are available through the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Also, the per capita murder rate for 2009 will be 51 percent lower than the all-time high recorded in 1991, and it will be the lowest rate since 1963—a 46-year low."
---------
Conclusion: Anyone deceiving you with arguments that it is to your benefit, as a free citizen, to sacrifice your inalienable rights is your enemy.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Obama gives foreign cops new police powers in U.S. - Sovereignty apparently set aside as agency exempted from law
Posted: December 28, 2009
8:57 pm Eastern
8:57 pm Eastern
By Bob Unruh
2009 WorldNetDaily
A little-discussed executive order from President Obama giving foreign cops new police powers in the United States by exempting them from such drudgery as compliance with the Freedom of Information Act is raising alarm among commentators who say INTERPOL already had most of the same privileges as diplomats.
At David Horowitz's Newsreal, Michael van der Galien said the issue is Obama's expansion of President Ronald Reagan's order from 1983 that originally granted those diplomatic privileges.
Reagan's order carried certain exemptions requiring that INTERPOL operations be subject to several U.S. laws such as the Freedom of Information Act. Obama, however, removed those restrictions in his Dec. 16 amendment to Executive Order 12425.
That means, van der Galien wrote today, "this foreign law enforcementgovernment organization can operate free of an important safeguard against and abuse."
"'Property and assets,' including the organization's records, cannot be searched or seized. Their physical locations are now immune from U.S. legal or investigative authorities," he wrote.
Obama's order said he was removing the Reagan limitations on INTERPOL:
"AMENDING EXECUTIVE ORDER 12425 DESIGNATING INTERPOL AS A PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION ENTITLED TO ENJOY CERTAIN PRIVILEGES, EXEMPTIONS, AND IMMUNITIES
"By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 1 of the International Organizations Immunities Act (22 U.S.C. 288), and in order to extend the appropriate privileges, exemptions, and immunities to the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), it is hereby ordered that Executive Order 12425 of June 16, 1983, as amended, is further amended by deleting from the first sentence the words "except those provided by Section 2(c), Section 3, Section 4, Section 5, and Section 6 of that Act" and the semicolon that immediately precedes them," he wrote.
At the ThreatsWatch.org website, authors Steve Schippert and Clyde Middleton gave their interpretation of the result.
"In light of what we know and can observe, it is our logical conclusion that President Obama's Executive Order amending President Ronald Reagans' 1983 EO 12425 and placing INTERPOL above the United States Constitution and beyond the legal reach of our own top law enforcement is a precursor to more damaging moves," they wrote.
"When the paths on the road map converge – Iraq withdrawal, Guantánamo closure, perceived American image improved internationally, and an empowered INTERPOL in the United States – it is probable that President Barack Obama will once again make America a signatory to the International Criminal Court. It will be a move that surrenders American sovereignty to an international body whose INTERPOL enforcement arm has already been elevated above the Constitution and American domestic law enforcement," they said.
"For an added and disturbing wrinkle, INTERPOL's central operations office in the United States is within our own Justice Department offices. They are American law enforcement officers working under the aegis of INTERPOL within our own Justice Department. That they now operate with full diplomatic immunity and with 'inviolable archives' from within our own buildings should send red flags soaring into the clouds," they said.
"Ultimately, a detailed verbal explanation is due the American public from the President of the United States detailing why an international law enforcement arm assisting a court we are not a signatory to has been elevated above our Constitution upon our soil."
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=120363
Monday, December 28, 2009
NewsWithViews.com | CHRISTMAS TERROR ATTEMPT MAY OPEN DOOR FOR MILITARY ACTION IN U.S. CITIES
By NWV News writer Jim Kouri
Posted 1:00 AM Eastern
December 27, 2009
A passenger onboard a flight from the Netherlands to the United States allegedly attempted to blow up the aircraft as it was landing at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, according to a source with the FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Within minutes of the news breaking about the attempt, an NYPD detective told NewsWithViews.com that the suspect-passenger claimed to be acting on behalf of al-Qaeda in the attempted bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight #253 from Amsterdam-to-Detroit.
The suspect attempted to detonate a device as the plane landed at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, according to the official report. While the details are still sketchy, the NYPD detective said that when passengers observed the suspect attempting to detonate the explosive device, they subdued him and held him for law enforcement. Flight #253 was carrying 278 passengers and no one was seriously injured during the incident.
The White House immediately labeled the incident "an attempted terrorist act."
Some Obama critics believe the president may attempt this alleged attack as a rationale to increase his power and might within U.S. borders.
For example, when the Obama administration announced that enemy combatants and terrorists will be given Miranda Warnings when they are captured, many Americans wondered how that would improve war fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq or other terrorist havens. However, upon examining this latest directive by President Barack Obama, perhaps there is an ulterior motive for his directive.
Blurring the lines between law enforcement and the military appears to be the goal sought by Obama and the progressives. More federal control of local law enforcement while at the same time cross-training soldiers to perform the police function within the U.S appears to be Obama’s plan., according to the former intelligence officer and NYPD detective.
The decorated detective, Michael Snopes, believes Iraq and Afghanistan may be training for U.S. forces to bring their skills back to the United States.
“Obama won election partly because he promised to bring the American troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan. Now he’s sending more troops to Afghanistan and Iraq appears to go unnoticed by the news media,” said Snopes.
In a recent report released to the US Congress, analysts assessed what they termed “preparedness tests” between the U.S. military and government agencies at the federal, state and local levels.
U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) exercises to test preparedness to perform its homeland defense and civil support missions. The Government Accountability Office was asked to assess the extent to which NORTHCOM is consistent with Department of Defense guidelines for training and exercise requirement involving interagency partners and states in its exercises.
NORTHCOM’s exercise program is generally consistent with the requirements of DOD’s Joint Training System, but its exercise reporting is inconsistent. Since the command was established in 2002, NORTHCOM has conducted 13 large-scale exercises and generally completed exercise summary reports within the required time frame.
However, those reports did not consistently include certain information, such as areas needing improvement, because NORTHCOM lacks guidance that specifies exercise reports’ content and format, potentially impacting its ability to meet internal standards for planning and execution of joint exercises, and to compare and share exercise results over time with interagency partners and states.
“While the rationale for using the US military domestically had been debated for years, President Barack Obama appears intent on using our military at least until he can create his promised 'Civilian Security Force' which he said would be as big and powerful as the military,” said political strategist Mike Baker.“The fact that the military — in this instance NORTHCOM — is being trained to operate with our borders should be setting off alarms throughout this nation. But it’s being ignored even by those who profess to be conservatives,” he said.
Nineteen federal agencies and organizations and 17 states and the District of Columbia have participated in one or more of the seven large-scale exercises that NORTHCOM has conducted since September 2005. However, NORTHCOM faces challenges in involving states in the planning, conduct, and assessment of its exercises, such as adapting its exercise system and practices to involve other federal, state, local, and tribal agencies that do not have the same practices or level of planning resources.
Inconsistencies with how NORTHCOM involves states in exercises are occurring in part because NORTHCOM officials lack experience dealing with states and do not have a consistent process for including states in exercises. Without such a process, NORTHCOM increases the risk that its exercises will not provide benefits for all participants, impact the seamless exercise of all levels of government, and potentially affect NORTHCOM’s ability to provide civil support capabilities.
"It is up to the residents of individual states to tell their governors they do not want the federal government intruding on law enforcement and public safety issues," said former NYPD detective and Marine intelligence officer Sid Frances.
"This is especially true if their governors share the same political philosophy as the President and his minions in Washington," he added.
NORTHCOM has a systematic lessons learned and corrective action program to improve preparedness, but gaps remain with collecting and sharing lessons with agency and state partners and managing corrective actions.
Access to the system NORTHCOM uses for managing exercise observations is limited for non-DOD participants, and DOD believes that the Homeland Security Department's system is not adequately protected from unauthorized users. NORTHCOM’s mitigation steps have not resolved the issues. In addition, about 20 percent of the corrective actions tracked by NORTHCOM were being closed prematurely due to gaps in oversight. Closing issues prematurely increases the risk that issues will reoccur and limits the knowledge gained and value of the exercise.
The Government Accountability Office is making recommendations to DOD to direct NORTHCOM to consistently involve the states in planning, executing, and assessing exercises and improve oversight of corrective actions. READ MORE ....
http://www.newswithviews.com/NWV-News/news180.htm
Hey Travelers, You Won't Believe The Draconian Security Measures Coming Your Way
Yesterday's failed terrorist attack on board a flight into Detroit can only mean one thing: more intense security measures.What they will entail is not yet clear, but from the rumors going around, if you thought that eliminating little water bottles and taking off your shoes seemed excessive, then you ain't seen nothin' yet.
International flights, in particular, are going to be brutal.
Blogger Xeni Jardin is tweeting some of the new rules being announced on a Delta international flight.
Among them:
- No electronics in the last hour of the flight.
- No getting up in last hour of the flight (at all, not even to go to the bathroom).
- No helping kids or the elderly in adjacent rows during the last hour of the flight.
Basically this is going to suck. Watch the airline stocks Monday, and maybe think about upgrading your teleconferencing technology at the office.
http://www.businessinsider.com/hey-travelers-you-wont-believe-the-draconian-security-measures-coming-your-way-2009-12
RELATED:
New Flight Security Rules Now Official: No Standing Up, Working, Or Holding Things During Last Hour Of Flights
According to a notice on Air Canada's web site, as expected, the TSA has issued new rules to make it harder for people to blow up planes: New rules imposed by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration also limit on-board activities by customers and crew in U.S. airspace that may adversely impact on-board service.
Among other things, during the final hour of flight customers must remain seated, will not be allowed to access carry-on baggage, or have personal belongings or other items on their laps.
Nothing specific about "electronics" yet, though they presumably qualify as "personal belongings."
The new rules presumably mean that for flights of 90 minutes or less, you can't get up, move, or work.
We guess we're glad the TSA is getting serious about making it harder to blow up planes. But here's our question:
What's so special about the last hour of flight? If you're dead-set on blowing up a plane, can't you just do it earlier in the flight?
http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-new-flight-security-rules-now-official-no-standing-up-working-or-holding-things-during-last-hour-of-flights-2009-12
LewRockwell.com | Your Big Brother Has Now Become ‘Big Brother’
December 27, 2009
Your Big Brother Has Now Become ‘Big Brother’
RELATED:
Armchair deputies enlisted to patrol US-Mexico border
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8412603.stm
Your Big Brother Has Now Become ‘Big Brother’
The easiest way for the Masters on top to control us is to have us control ourselves. In the Nazi concentration camps, select prisoners were chosen to watch over the rest of the prison population.
In the latest move towards One World Government, it seems that the entire world has now become a “neighborhood watch”:
ARMCHAIR DEPUTIES ENLISTED TO PATROL US-MEXICO BORDER
When John Spears gets home from his sales job in New York, he sits down at his computer with a bottle of beer and starts patrolling the US border. And to do it, he does not need to stir from his sofa. He is one of tens of thousands of people around the world who are volunteering to patrol the 1250-mile long (2000 km) stretch between Texas and Mexico via the web.
The controversial $4m (£2.5m) Texas Virtual Border Watch Programme invites civilians to log on to Blueservo.net. There they can monitor live feeds 24/7 from 21 hidden surveillance cameras placed at intervals along the border. Supporters see the initiative as a step forward in US efforts to curb illegal immigration, drug smuggling and border violence. Critics say it is encouraging vigilantism and stoking anti-immigrant feeling.
Since the site went live in November 2008, it has received more than 50 million hits, and more than 130,000 people have registered to become ” virtual deputies”. They are located as far afield as Australia, Mexico, Colombia, Israel, New Zealand and the UK. So far, some 21 arrests have been made under the programme which is operated by the Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition (TBSC).
[Thanks to Mark Fee]
RELATED:
Armchair deputies enlisted to patrol US-Mexico border
Thursday, December 24, 2009
CONGRESS: ARE THEY STUPID OR CONSPIRING TO ENSLAVE US ALL
By Michael LeMieux
December 23, 2009
NewsWithViews.com
There have been many commentaries on the constitutional oaths taken by our political leaders. There have even been organizations created around constitutional oaths of which I am a proud member (Oath Keepers). To me, and to every other person sworn to protect and defend the Constitution, it is and should be a solemn duty to ensure that our actions live up to that oath. But is that what is actually happening or has the oath and by extension the Constitution been relegated to mere politics.
I would say that for the vast majority of the rank and file in the military it is a solemn vow. I have come to the conclusion that for the vast majority of politicians, regardless of party, it has become a mere ceremony of attaining office and nothing more. I have drawn this conclusion from the actions of those in political positions and not from their words.
So where in the Constitution does Congress derive its power to interject itself into every facet of our lives? For those that have read the Constitution it cannot be found in the words of the Constitution but only based on inference and conjecture and then only if you have not studied the writings of those who penned the document.
Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution enumerates the powers given to Congress upon which they may act. Within this section you will not find any mention of the power to regulate education, energy, parks and recreation, how much water your toilet can consume per flush, healthcare, or even firearm laws. So where do they get this power?
They extract, falsely, from section 8 which states: “…provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States…” and “…regulate commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States…”
From this they have derived the “interstate commerce” and welfare powers terminology upon which every infringement, by the federal government, has been made against the citizens of this land. But is the federal government, Congress in particular, following the true intent of the founders and are they maintaining the balance of powers that was so crucial in maintaining our freedom and liberty?
What did the founders mean when they coined the term “general welfare?” On March 3, 1817, President James Madison, one of our founding fathers, vetoed a bill for the appropriation of funds on a federal public works initiative, which deals with the general welfare clause. Excerpts from this letter are as follows:
" I am constrained by the insuperable difficulty I feel in reconciling the bill with the Constitution of the United States… The legislative powers vested in Congress are specified and enumerated… and … To refer the power in question to the clause "to provide for common defense and general welfare" would be contrary to the established and consistent rules of interpretation… Such a view of the Constitution would have the effect of giving to Congress a general power of legislation instead of the defined and limited one hitherto understood to belong to them. But seeing that such a power is not expressly given by the Constitution, and believing that it can not be deduced from any part of it without an inadmissible latitude of construction and reliance on insufficient precedents; believing also that the permanent success of the Constitution depends on a definite partition of powers between the General and the State Governments, and that no adequate landmarks would be left by the constructive extension of the powers of Congress as proposed in the bill, I have no option but to withhold my signature from it…”
President Madison, throughout this admonition to the House, refers to specified and enumerated powers of Congress. He went on to state that this was the established and consistent rule of interpretation for the powers of congress, and to give a broad interpretation would give Congress a general power of legislation, which it did not have. Within the context of “general welfare” the congress must stay within the enumerated boundaries set by the Constitution. He concluded by stating that if the Congress did not have these defined and limited powers they would be able to legislate anything using the common defense and general welfare clauses, and this was wrong. If it was wrong then, then it is wrong now. READ MORE
http://www.newswithviews.com/LeMieux/michael100.htm
Under the radar, Obama pushes for Patriot Act renewal
Richard Moore
Investigative Reporter
Obama told his colleagues he had been working in a bipartisan way to improve the law.
Nonetheless, in conference, the Congress had jettisoned the bill's safeguards, leaving him no choice but to oppose reauthorization, he said.
Obama said the legislation ignored American case law and fundamental principles.
Three years later, however, Obama was singing a different tune, voting to allow warrantless wiretaps of Americans' calls if they were communicating overseas with somebody the government believed was linked to terrorism.
He also supported immunizing the nation's telecommunication companies from lawsuits charging that they had participated in the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program.
http://www.lakelandtimes.com/main.asp?SectionID=9&subsectionID=9&articleID=10649
Investigative Reporter
With key sections of the U.S. Patriot Act set to expire Dec. 31, the Obama administration
- essentially tiptoeing through the corridors of Congress and using the raucous health care debate as cover -
has quietly maneuvered for renewal of the controversial provisions, which he opposed as a senator.
- essentially tiptoeing through the corridors of Congress and using the raucous health care debate as cover -
has quietly maneuvered for renewal of the controversial provisions, which he opposed as a senator.
How time flies
As an Illinois senator in 2005, Barack Obama opposed the core of these provisions when they were up for renewal then, saying he wanted to safeguard the country from terrorist attack but had concerns about seeking business records and the wiretapping language.
"But soon after the Patriot Act passed, a few years before I ever arrived in the Senate, I began hearing concerns from people of every background and political leaning that this law - the very purpose of which was to protect us - was also threatening to violate our rights and freedoms as Americans," Obama said in a Dec. 15, 2005, speech on the Senate floor. "That it didn't just provide law enforcement the powers it needed to keep us safe, but powers it didn't need to invade our privacy without cause or suspicion."
Obama told his colleagues he had been working in a bipartisan way to improve the law.
"That's why as it comes time to reauthorize this law, we've been working in a bipartisan way to do both - to show the American people that we can track down terrorists without trampling on our civil liberties," he said. "To show the American people that the federal government will only issue warrants and execute searches because it needs to, not because it can. What we have been trying to achieve, under the leadership of a bipartisan group of senators, is some accountability in this process - to get answers and see evidence where there is suspicion."
Nonetheless, in conference, the Congress had jettisoned the bill's safeguards, leaving him no choice but to oppose reauthorization, he said.
"This is legislation that puts our own Justice Department above the law," Obama said. "When National Security Letters are issued, they allow federal agents to conduct any search on any American, no matter how extensive or wide-ranging, without ever going before a judge to prove that the search is necessary. They simply need sign-off from a local FBI official. That's all."
Obama said the legislation ignored American case law and fundamental principles.
"And if someone wants to know why their own government has decided to go on a fishing expedition through every personal record or private document - through library books they've read and phone calls they've made - this legislation gives people no rights to appeal the need for such a search in a court of law," he said. "No judge will hear their plea, no jury will hear their case. This is just plain wrong."
Three years later, however, Obama was singing a different tune, voting to allow warrantless wiretaps of Americans' calls if they were communicating overseas with somebody the government believed was linked to terrorism.
He also supported immunizing the nation's telecommunication companies from lawsuits charging that they had participated in the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program.
http://www.lakelandtimes.com/main.asp?SectionID=9&subsectionID=9&articleID=10649
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
VIDEO: Sen. Whitehouse: Foes of health care bill are birthers, right-wing militias, aryan groups
(Scroll to about 1:07 Minutes into the video)Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) today took shots at those who are not supporting the health care legislation. During a floor speech, he excoriated Senate GOP members for holding up the pending health care bill and accused their supporters of being birthers and fanatics in right-wing militia and Aryan support groups. He started off by citing an editorial from the Manchester Journal Inquirer, which used the insult "lunatic fringe.".
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/ID/217151
Sunday, December 20, 2009
NakedCapitalism.com | Supreme Court Guts Due Process Protection
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Reader Walter passed along this distressing sighting from Chris Floyd’s blog. American civil liberties were gutted last week, and the media failed to take note of it.
The development? If the president or one of his subordinates declares someone to be an “enemy combatant” (the 21st century version of “enemy of the state”) he is denied any protection of the law. So any trouble-maker (which means anyone) can be whisked away, incarcerated, tortured, “disappeared,” you name it. Floyd’s commentary:
After hearing passionate arguments from the Obama Administration, the Supreme Court acquiesced to the president’s fervent request and, in a one-line ruling, let stand a lower court decision that declared torture an ordinary, expected consequence of military detention, while introducing a shocking new precedent for all future courts to follow: anyone who is arbitrarily declared a “suspected enemy combatant” by the president or his designated minions is no longer a “person.” They will simply cease to exist as a legal entity. They will have no inherent rights, no human rights, no legal standing whatsoever — save whatever modicum of process the government arbitrarily deigns to grant them from time to time, with its ever-shifting tribunals and show trials.
It is hard to overstate the significance of this horrid decision. The fact that the Supreme Court authorized this land grab says we no longer have an independent judiciary, that the Supreme Court itself is gutting the protections supposedly provided by the legal system. Per Floyd:
In fact, our most august defenders of the Constitution did not have to exert themselves in the slightest to eviscerate not merely 220 years of Constitutional jurisprudence but also centuries of agonizing effort to lift civilization a few inches out of the blood-soaked mire that is our common human legacy. They just had to write a single sentence.
Now Floyd saw this mainly as an issue of the treatment of enemy combatants and Obama hypocrisy about torture, which is bad enough:
The Constitution is clear: no person can be held without due process; no person can be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment. And the U.S. law on torture of any kind is crystal clear: it is forbidden, categorically, even in time of “national emergency.” And the instigation of torture is, under U.S. law, a capital crime. No person can be tortured, at any time, for any reason, and there are no immunities whatsoever for torture offered anywhere in the law.
And yet this is what Barack Obama — who, we are told incessantly, is a super-brilliant Constitutional lawyer — has been arguing in case after case since becoming president: Torturers are immune from prosecution; those who ordered torture are immune from prosecution….let’s be absolutely clear: Barack Obama has taken the freely chosen, public, formal stand — in court — that there is nothing wrong with any of these activities.
Yves here. The implications are FAR worse. Anyone can be stripped, with NO RECOURSE, of all their legal rights on a Presidential say so. Readers in the US no longer have any security under the law.
Roman citizens enjoyed a right to a trial, a right of appeal, and could not be tortured, whipped, or executed except if found guilty of treason, and anyone charged with treason could demand a trial in Rome. We have regressed more than 2000 years with this appalling ruling.
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/12/supreme-court-guts-due-process-protection.html
More on this topic (What's this?)
Obama's Big Sellout (All Allan, 12/3/09)
Fat Cat Bankers (Jutia Group, 12/19/09)
A Lot More than 19 (Financial Armageddon, 12/18/09)
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Stability Police Force (SPF) created in the U.S. Marshals Service and staffed by a 6,000 member “hybrid option”
Security requires a mix of military and police forces to deal with a range of threats from insurgents to criminal organizations. This research examines the creation of a high-end police force, which the authors call a Stability Police Force (SPF).The study considers what size force is necessary, how responsive it needs to be, where in the government it might be located, what capabilities it should have, how it could be staffed, and its cost.
This monograph also considers several options for locating this force within the U.S. government, including the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Secret Service, the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) in the Department of State, and the U.S. Army's Military Police.
The authors conclude that an SPF containing 6,000 people — created in the U.S. Marshals Service and staffed by a “hybrid option,” in which SPF members are federal police officers seconded to federal, state, and local police agencies when not deployed — would be the most effective of the options considered.
The Stability Police Force (SPF) would be able to deploy in 30 days. The cost for this option would be $637.3 million annually, in FY2007 dollars.
READ MORE:
http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG819/
RELATED:
The Waffen-SS (German for "Armed SS", literally "Weapons SS") was the combat arm of the Schutzstaffel ("Protective Squadron") or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party.The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside the Wehrmacht Heer regular army, but was never formally part of it. It was Adolf Hitler's will that the Waffen-SS never be integrated into the army: it was to remain the armed wing of the Party and to become an elite police force once the war was over. Operational control of units on the front line was given to the Army's High Command, but in all other respects it remained under the control of Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler's SS organization, through the SS Führungshauptamt, literally The SS Guidance Principal Office.
At first membership was open to "Aryans" only in accordance with the racial policies of the Nazi state, but in 1940 Hitler authorized the formation of units composed largely or solely of foreign volunteers and conscripts, and by the end of the war ethnic non-Germans made up approximately 60% of the Waffen-SS.
WeAreChange.org | Civilian youth Police caught roaming the streets during a Christmas parade in St. Petersburg, Florida
December 7, 2009
Scouts Train to Fight Terrorists, and More
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/us/…
President Obama Signs Landmark National Service Legislation
http://www.nationalservice.gov/about/…
http://WeAreChange.org/
Civilian youth Police caught roaming the streets during a Christmas parade in St. Petersburg, Florida. We are Change Tampa confront them with questions. When we ask them they are extremely secretive about their association with the local police department and try to hide their badges and jackets that clearly say POLICE on them.
http://www.meetup.com/We-are-Change-T… Scouts Train to Fight Terrorists, and More
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/us/…
President Obama Signs Landmark National Service Legislation
http://www.nationalservice.gov/about/…
The argument about whether hate speech is protected by the 1st Amendment has been postponed.SOURCE:
http://WeAreChange.org/
More than 1 in every 100 American Adults Are Incarcerated - Highest Rate in the World
Source: http://www.onlineeducation.net/incarceration_usa/
Cave Editor's Note: Follow the money - Multinational 'security industry' Corporations make the Big Bucks from taxpayers. What did Eisenhower say about the 'military-industrial complex'?
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