NDAA 2012: Cornerstone of Totalitarianism--"First they came for the [Islamists]..."

HOW TYRANNY IS ESTABLISHED:  
IT COMES PIECE BY PIECE UNDER THE PLEA OF "NECESSITY".

"Necessity, the tyrant's plea." --  John Milton

          "Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.  Necessity is the plea of tyrants, the creed of slaves".  -- William Pitt

Beware of politicians making use of alarmist and inflammatory rhetoric when they propose the "necessity" of new laws "to secure the Homeland".  Here's why, with a familiar quote:

First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak out because I was Protestant.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me

                     -- Pastor Martin Niemoller, 1946

First they came for the Islamists.  Now they are coming for Americans.

Now during the Obama Administration there has been significant talk about "home grown terrorists"--i.e. Americans, instead of just "radical Islamists" coming in from the outside.  It was the Obama Administration's Janet Napolitano (or Napolean-tano) that sent out watch bulletins like these just a few years ago which proves the danger of government assessments about "home grown terrorism".

Ever since 9/11 (that false-flag event done to change America completely as well as its global foreign policy) this blog has pointed out the dangers of America's post-9/11 government and its new unconstitutional superstructure, especially of the new Department of Homeland Tyranny (aka Security; a very fascist, anti-Constitutional Dept. that blends domestic, federal policing, usurping the States, with the Dept. of Defense), the so-called USA PATRIOT ACT (which violates 4th and 5th amendments toward totalitarian surveillance and arrest powers, and destroys personal privacy and makes ID theft easier), and the REAL ID Act (which coerces states to turn drivers licenses into National ID cards with biometrics) to name just three major changes.  All this was done by tricks in legislation and often with "must-pass" defense authorization bills and funding.  Whenever you hear about a "must-pass" piece of legislation in Congress be very worried and read the fine print. 

Well now President Obama signed what he knew was controversial very secretly this last New Year's Eve (while Americans were very distracted) after Congress passed it as "necessary to protect us against terrorism".  Buried in the fine print of the National Defense Appropriations Act of 2012, passed by our totally untrustworthy bipartisan Congress before the end of last year, was the most dangerous and unconstitutional provision that permits the arbitrary and absolute detention of any American citizen based upon the very fallible, and sometimes politically or sinisterly motivated, designation by someone in authority within the Federal government that said individual is a terrorism threat or "material supporter of" such--without grand jury, trial, or even a judge-signed warrant for their arrest.  The purpose of the Constitution is to keep Americans safe from the Government while this dangerous legislation permits the Feds to take any American citizen, by-passing all Constitutional provisions in the Bill of Rights that keeps Americans free. 

The Founding Fathers warned us about governments that do this which is why the wrote a Constitution to prevent it!  This is just another column and support of the creeping totalitarianism being erected in America under the exaggerated threat of "terrorism" (while many more Americans, including West Virginians, are reported in the newspapers to be killing each other daily) since that infamous (and conveniently date-labelled) 9/11 "catalyzing event".  How long will Americans continue to let this happen, while waving flags, by Presidents and Congressmen who have sworn to "defend and uphold (the supreme law of) the Constitution of the United States"?  The truth is that Americans are no longer "free" but like the proverbial gradually-boiling-frog-in-the-pot of a Totalitarian stew.

WHAT REPUBLICAN REPRESENTATIVE SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO SAID ABOUT IT

 When a letter was sent to republican Representative Shelley Moore Capito against this bill in December, this is the letter we received back, fully supporting what President Obama signed on Dec. 31st:

       

But contrary to Rep. Capito's letter, and writing in bold that "American citizens will NOT be detained  under this bill", while she boasted it passed the committee "with my support", the following will prove that this is not the understanding of many from both left and right politically the way this law was written!  Intentions aside, many claim that the law actually gives broad arbitrary powers to any Presidential administration or federal authority to hold any American at will contrary to their Constitutional rights under the 5th amendment.  Let us call witnesses from the right and left and let's also call Fox's Judge Napolitano (3rd video) to give their view to the reader.

BOTH LEFT AND RIGHT ARE AWAKENING TO THE TYRANNY NDAA 2012 REPRESENTS

We will now prove that this article is neither hyperbole nor partisan whatsoever but is concerned with the real freedom of all Americans under the Constitution by evidence showing growing alarms from both left and right about this tyrannical and sinister legislation.

EXHIBIT A--From the Right:  Surprisingly, but more likely because Obama is in office instead of Bush, even Rush Limbaugh gets it:




EXHIBIT B--From the Left.  Article from Counterpunch:

Why the NDAA is Unconstitutional

by BRIAN J. TRAUTMAN

Each year, Congress authorizes the budget of the Department of Defense through a National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The NDAA of 2012, however, is unlike any previous ones. This year’s legislation contains highly controversial provisions that empower the Armed Forces to engage in civilian law enforcement and to selectively suspend due process and habeas corpus, as well as other rights guaranteed by the 5th and 6th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, for terror suspects apprehended on U.S. soil. The final version of the bill passed the House on December 14, the Senate the following day (ironically, the 220th birthday of the Bill of Rights). It was signed into law by President Obama on New Year’s Eve. With his signature, for the first time since the Internal Security Act of 1950 and the dark days of the McCarthy era that followed, our government has codified the power of indefinite detention into law.
This pernicious law poses one of the greatest threats to civil liberties in our nation’s history.

All Americans, therefore, should be concerned, yet the U.S. Media has been strangely silent about it.

Bush introduced Preventive War (not truly pre-emptive war upon imminent threat)--a dangerous foreign policy (offensive instead of defensive wars) while now Obama has signed into law Preventive Detention--a dangerous domestic policy.

Senator Rand Paul Teaches PATRIOT ACT 101 to Congress, and Americans

Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.     

--Benjamin Franklin

The controversy over the USA PATRIOT ACT is not about whether to stop terrorists.  It is about how much power, arbitrary and unregulated power, the Government should have, and the legal limits the Constitution places on the government as the supreme law of the land in the 4th amendment.  Senator Paul makes the argument that Americans ought to be as free in the hunt for terrorists as we are (or should be) in the hunt for criminals, where the 4th amendment regularly restrains with mostly understanding approval from the public.  It is really not "terrorists" that are being put under surveillance, being screened, searched, and even seized at airports, and having their personal information data-mined on an ongoing basis by the Leviathan called the Dept. of Homeland Security as well as local and state governments since Sept. 11th.  It is "free Americans" in their daily lives.  Ironic, is it not?

So it's about time that someone taught a lesson on the PATRIOT ACT, and on the occasion of its coming up for renewal Senator Paul took it up.  It is not just the Congress that is ignorant on just how bad the so-called USA PATRIOT ACT is.  It is the ignorant, easily manipulated, flag-waving electorate that sent them there.  It's time for a hard look at this dangerous legislation to dispel the inexcusable ignorance that is leading to the killing of our freedoms while claiming to "defend" them from terrorists.  Senator Paul's arguments in this are clear and convincing.  Unless you believe that the U.S. government should have unlimited totalitarian powers, contrary to the Constitution, you should reconsider your view about the PATRIOT ACT and just how "necessary" it is, and what its ramifications are to freedom in America.  This is not a partisan issue.  It is a Constitutional and 4th amendment issue.  This is also why the late Senator Byrd changed his votes and withdrew his support on it, whenever provisional renewals came up. 

But since Congress stupidly voted to extend it, everything said will explain the freedom from government intrusion (and identity thieves) that you lost with that vote, under phony pretense of its patriotic sir-name!  Americans are foolishly encaging themselves to a rogue government that has grabbed the most unprecedented powers for itself, since the one we opposed in 1776, which Senator Paul alludes to also.  (Well, on second thought, the greatest power seized since Lincoln in 1861, which most Americans today are just as ignorant of, and ignorance is not bliss).

FOX: Two Eye-Witnesses of "Christmas Bomber" Claim Gov't Agents Enabled Event

Ever since the "Underwear Christmas Bomber" story broke numerous questions came up about just how this very odd individual could have boarded the plane without a passport, how such an innocuous "bomb" could possibly have been successfully detonated, and who really was behind it when this young man is very apparently unintelligent and inept.  But since then Michael Chertoff (former head of Homeland Tyranny, aka Security) has profited much by pushing his company's new and controversial airport body scanners into use by TSA while the very unconstitutional Dept of Homeland Security has continued to expand and the PATRIOT ACT (which violates the 4th amendment for every American) has been extended, and the "war on terrorism" (i.e. Operation "Regime Change" in the Middle East with Israel) has continued under President Obama. 

A local FOX news Detroit station has been following the story closely and especially that two eye-witnesses, Kurt and Lori Haskell (married), and both attorneys, saw the man, and insist that he was given special assistance, and an impotent bomb device, deliberately, by U.S. intelligence agents (perhaps as a drill) that ended up being used for propaganda!  The FBI has no comment.

Attempted Plane Attack: Trial Date Set for Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab: MyFoxDETROIT.com

Arizona State Senator (R): 9/11 Involved Controlled Demolition--Calls for Real Independent Investigation

A republican Senator in Arizona is convinced that controlled demolition was used on 9/11 in the supposed "collapse" of the WTC towers. More and more reasonable persons, scientists, government officials, airline pilots, and architects and engineers are claiming the same thing, appealing to the evidence while the media consistently supports the official story which appeals to nothing but blind faith in what government officials have stated, and an admittedly corrupted 911 Commission Report.

It can no longer be resisted as a mere "conspiracy theory". It is more of a "theory", unsustainable by evidence, that the WTC towers could have collapsed--symmetrically, vertically, and in total pulverization, at almost free fall speed--without controlled demolition, which indeed justifies claims of cover-up and conspiracy.

East Valley/ Scottsdale Tribune
May 2, 2008

Backing my claims about 9/11 questions

By Karen Johnson
Commentary

A recent letter to the editor asked for evidence of my claims regarding the tragedy of 9/11. Below I present some points that are presently known. I won't be able to convince anyone who doesn't want to be convinced, but for those who are willing to deal with factual evidence, consider the following:

• 37 different people reported explosions in the basement of the World Trade Center Towers before the first plane hit, and seismic equipment recorded both the explosions and the impacts. In addition, people were injured by the explosions in the basement, providing well-documented evidence. Yet this evidence is ignored.

•The media and government have promoted the "pancake theory" as the cause of the collapse of the Twin Towers — that is, fire weakened the steel support beams, causing the upper floors to collapse. Then the weight of the collapsing floors above caused the floors below to collapse. This theory is not consistent with scientific principles or the facts. Frank Legge, who has a doctorate in chemistry, and Tony Szamboti, a mechanical engineer, reported in December in the Journal of 9/11 Studies: "It appears therefore that the official concept of a free-fall collapse of the upper portion through the initiation story, due to heat effects from fire, is a fantasy. If the temperature did become high enough for collapse to occur" — and everyone agrees that it did not — "it could not have happened in the observed manner. In particular it could not have been sudden and thus could not have produced the velocity, and hence the momentum and kinetic energy, upon which the official story depends for the second stage of collapse."

• The theory that the buildings collapsed due to controlled-demolition explosives, however, is consistent with scientific principles and the facts. The "demolition" theory, in fact, is the only one which scientists have been able to corroborate. That is, "… all observations are in accord with the use of explosives in a time sequence." (Legge and Szamboti, December, Journal of 9/11 Studies.)

• Peer-reviewed reports indicate that the masses of dust particles created by the disaster contained tiny pieces of metal that had been exposed to both extreme temperatures (higher than could have been produced by a burning office or burning airplane fuel) and extreme pressure (such as an explosion) that would fragment material into minute particles. Official reports ignore this.

• In December, physicist Steven Jones announced the discovery of thermite chips in World Trade Center dust samples. The chemical composition of these chips are an exact match to known thermite samples used in controlled demolitions--— further corroboration that explosive devices were involved.

• Steel support beams recovered from the site of the World Trade Center exhibit cut edges that are characteristic of thermite used to slice steel support beams in building demolitions but are not characteristic of steel beams that have been burned in a fire.

When the 9/11 Commission Report was finally released, it was woefully inadequate. It never even addressed the collapse of Building 7, for example. Former FBI Director Louis Freeh has stated that there are inaccuracies in the report and unanswered questions. Even the two chairmen of the 9/11 Commission — Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton — have accused the CIA of "obstructing" the commission, and one commissioner, U.S. Sen. Max Cleland, resigned, stating that the commission was "compromised."

Private individuals with specialized knowledge — scientists, engineers, architects, demolitions experts, and the firefighters and police officers who were on the scene on Sept. 11, 2001, have tested theories, constructed models, provided testimony, and dug for the truth about what really happened on 9/11. They have been ignored by media and the government.

The mainstream media parrot the less-than-credible conclusions of the 9/11 Commission without giving any thought to the many omissions and inconsistencies. In a truly free country, the press would ask hard questions and do real investigating, but this is not happening. Only the alternative media, such as Internet news sites, have done any solid investigating.

The events of 9/11 led immediately to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and passage of the Patriot Act (what double-speak), both of which deprive us of Constitutional rights and have brought us to the brink of becoming a police state. Homeland Security is currently trying to force a national ID card down our throats, although some governors have politely (or not so politely) told Secretary Michael Chertoff where he can go.

If we're going to sacrifice our freedom, there ought to be a very good reason, and we have a right to know what that is. It isn't enough for government to say, "Trust me." It's way past time for Congress to authorize an independent investigation of 9/11 that will consider the mass of new evidence that has been gathered in the past seven years. The longer they stall, the more suspicions grow.

Sen. Karen S. Johnson, R-Mesa, represents District 18.
Freedom Communications / Arizona

Push Congress on Enumerated Powers Act to Restrain Federal Power

Restrain the government within the Constitution! This powerful proposed law would require Congress to explain (i.e. enumerate) where in the Constitution the proposed legislation is authorized. Consider their inability to justify REAL ID, PATRIOT ACT, Military Commissions Act, domestic spying, and even War with Iraq (without a declaration of war)! This law has the power to REFORM THE CORRUPTED LEGISLATIVE PROCESS TO FORCE CONSIDERATION OF THE CONSTITUTION AS SUPREME LAW.

"A legislative act, contrary to the Constitution, is not law".

-- Chief Justice John Marshall

The "plea of necessity" is the tyrant's plea (as the West Virginia Constitution warns of as well--see excerpt at top of blog), as the founders and early Americans noted well, which has been employed liberally with the Bush administration (as well as many before it).

"The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation and foreign commerce."
-- James Madison, Federalist No. 4

TELL REP. SHELLY MOORE CAPITO (or Rahall or Mollahan) TO CO-SPONSOR AND SUPPORT THIS IMPORTANT LEGISLATION, TO REFORM THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS OF CONGRESS, TO "DEFEND AND PROTECT THE CONSTITUTION", AND RESTRAIN FEDERAL POWERS.
(Link below provides means of doing so).

clipped from action.downsizedc.org Bring John Shadegg's 'Enumerated Powers Act' to a Vote The specific, "enumerated" powers of Congress are spelled out in Article of I Section 8 the Constitution. There are twenty of them, and you can read the list for yourself on our Background page. Because these powers are delegated from the people, they are the only powers Congress has. But our Founding Fathers went further -- trying hard to make enumerated powers so obvious that even a politician couldn't miss the point. They passed the Ninth and Tenth Amendments to shut the door to claims of additional power . . . Representative John Shadegg (R-AZ) has introduced The Enumerated Powers Act (EPA) - HR 1359 [You can read the entire bill on our Background page]. EPA would require Congress to reference the specific clause(s) of the U.S. Constitution that grant them the power to enact laws and take other congressional actions. "The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined.

FBI Admits Spying on Innocent Americans--Citizens Now Under Surveillance

This was all done using "national intelligence" letters from the so-called USA PATRIOT ACT. You are no longer a free citizen protected by the Constitution, but a criminal or terrorist suspect.

Note how credit reports...phone records...internet traffic are among things admitted to. Your credit report has your entire financial and life history on it.

This is why REAL ID must be resisted entirely, as well as the extra-constitutional Gestapo-patterned Office of Homeland Security.

The founders always warned that necessity is the tyrant's plea, justification for breaking constitutional restraints on government.

clipped from apnews.myway.com More FBI Privacy Violations Confirmed WASHINGTON (AP) - The FBI acknowledged Wednesday it improperly accessed Americans' telephone records, credit reports and Internet traffic in 2006, the fourth straight year of privacy abuses resulting from investigations aimed at tracking terrorists and spies. The breach occurred before the FBI enacted broad new reforms in March 2007 to prevent future lapses, FBI Director Robert Mueller said. And it was caused, in part, by banks, telecommunication companies and other private businesses giving the FBI more personal client data than was requested. An audit by the inspector general last year found the FBI demanded personal records without official authorization or otherwise collected more data than allowed in dozens of cases between 2003 and 2005. Additionally, last year's audit found that the FBI had underreported to Congress how many national security letters were requested by more than 4,600. National security letters, as outlined in the USA Patriot Act

OVERBLOWN: The U.S. Over-Reaction to 9/11, and Why It Must Stop

It's time to put fear in its proper position and events in more rational light. Over the last six years in America there have been no terrorist attacks despite the fact that we were told there are "sleeper cells" and that everyone should be "on guard" yet "go about their daily lives". The media, and particularly talk radio and editorial columnists, have constantly told us of the "very real threat" of "jihadists that want to kill us every day". But if we are to believe their propaganda we must conclude that the "Islamo fascists" are either waning in zeal or are not very determined after all to wage "terrorism on the West". Any group of high schoolers could have created more terrorism than the pretended "sleeper cells" from the "radical one percent" of Muslims living in the U.S. (this is the mantra from the "terrorism experts"). There has not been so much as a firecracker in a mall. What there has been, however, is random shooting in schools, bridges collapsing, the usual high amount of traffic deaths, and of course crimes throughout the U.S.. While seeking to strain for the gnat we have swallowed the proverbial camel.

In West Virginia there have been no acts of terrorism. Last year there was another airport profile scare, the arrest of an innocent Muslim woman who had over packed her toiletries at Tri-State Airport, one of which set off a detector, a gross and flagrant crime in the new Amerika. (The FBI handled this quietly. We are unsure whether this was a test drill for security or simply a mistake). Then there was the very "danger" of some men purchasing large quantities of cell phones--very openly and conspicuously, as if real terrorists would draw attention to themselves. (These always occur at key political moments too). Meanwhile in the fanaticism and propaganda after 9/11, West Virginia joined with other states to lobby for the new loot of a newly created Homeland Security bureaucracy, established a state office of the same as Emergency Services, and obtained two Homeland Security boats. (Why not get new toys from this terrorism business?). The security merchandisers, making the most of 9/11, lobbied and won massive government contracts to implement new security measures, training exercises for state police, "counter terrorism" operations, and surveillance cameras have become the new obsession in government budgets. (Just ask Danny Jones). The merchandisers for REAL ID cards also lobbied and gained new contracts from the DMV, before even receiving any state government approval. (We also wonder how many have financial conflicts of interest within government who expect their portfolios to increase with these new security company contracts).

Yet for all this there have been no acts of terrorism in West Virginia. What there has been is many "crimes of passion", both husbands and wives (like the impenitent Morgantown nurse who smiled upon her sentence) murdering each other (largely for treasonous infidelity which the State winks at, and a previous governor and senator paraded openly without shame or apology) as reported in newspapers, crimes and shootings of various sorts, traffic deaths on ATVs and automobiles, hunting accidents, and some deaths due to medical malpractice, treatment with heart stints, or from taking pharmaceuticals that caused heart failure. There was one "bomb" that killed several in the state, but it was an exploding propane tank in Ghent, improperly maintenanced.

The truth is that West Virginians have more to fear, statistically and rationally, from each other--i.e. from domestic acts of treachery, local crime and traffic accidents than from the pretended "jihadists that want to kill us every day", that Shelly Moore Capito parroted from 58 Live "newspeak" when voting for another surge of troops. You have more chance of being killed by motorists who drive like terrorists, or by a deer on the highway than from the mythical "Islamo Fascists". Given that terrorism has been the dominant and primarily Republican (neoconservative) message, it must be stated for what it really is, a message that is irrational and paranoid in the light of plain evidence and facts. It is a wild over-reaction that is also killing our freedoms and inflames fanaticism, the irrational and psychopathic fuel of unjust wars. (Over one million Iraqis have been killed, through sanctions or war, that never attacked the U.S.).

At some point we must stop listening to the boy who cried wolf, and those who cry out with him, and who do so for their own agenda. And if another incident does occur it should be investigated and judged on hard and solid evidence rather than from mere allegation and repetitious propaganda (contrary to the evidence), or from anthrax notes from New Jersey that say "Allah is great" on them, as if planted evidence is uncommon in crimes to shift the authorities attention away from the real perpetrators.


Enter now a new book released earlier this year to speak truth and reason in the face of fanaticism. You remember about the boy and the Emporer's New Clothes? Well the professor who wrote this book dares to stop the irrational over-reaction and insane wars and put the "terrorist threat" into statistical perspective that no one can refute. Multitudes more people die in traffic accidents in a year and you have (statistically) more chance of being killed by local criminal acts than from "Islamic jihadists that want to kill us every day".

Every federal and state official, governor, congressman, and the American public should read this book. It demonstrates with more definitive data that Americans are being manipulated through propaganda-induced fear that could be called paranoia into an agenda of complete fanaticism, i.e. irrational behavior toward unjust wars and a growing Security State that is overthrowing common sense and particularly Constitutional rule of law, the very "freedoms" that "terrorists hate us for". It is an irrational course, that is still being pushed upon us through particularly the republican establishment and 2008 candidates (with the exception of Ron Paul) and the neocon "terrorism experts" constantly interviewed by the sycophant media.


This book refutes the fear-mongering and propaganda, and is the rational basis for repealing the anti-constitutional and tyrannical laws that have been coerced through Congress by the mantra that "911 changed everything". No, it only changed what the government told us, which is full of lies. This book also is the basis for refuting most of the agenda proclaimed by the 2008 Presidential candidates (except Ron Paul) who want to continue down the road from freedom to fascism and their global Democratic Jihad for "regime changes".


Read the reviews here from Amazon for yourself, and note the book can be purchased from our Bookstore at bottom of the blog:




Overblown: How Politicians and the Terrorism Industry Inflate National Security Threats, and Why We Believe Them (Hardcover)
by John Mueller (Author)

Editorial Reviews
From Booklist

Among possible U.S. terrorist targets listed by the Department of Homeland Security are a petting zoo in Alabama and a roadside water park in Florida. By listing such unlikely targets, the administration has heightened fear and the cost of protecting citizens, according to Mueller, a political science professor and national security consultant. He examines how terrorism hypervigilance is threatening civil liberties, the economy, and lives. Mueller explores three themes: terrorist threats are overblown; we can learn from the lessons of previous international threats that they are often exaggerated; and by applying these lessons, we can create policy that reduces fear and the cost of overreaction. Among other observations, Mueller notes that despite fears of chemical attacks, most such weapons are "incapable of perpetrating mass destruction," and our counterterrorism tactics tend to be expensive "self-flagellation" that bolsters the image of the terrorists. If the objective is to keep Americans frightened and willing to spend money and relinquish freedom, then the terrorists are winning, Mueller maintains. Interesting reading on a subject that will continue to hold great political sway. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Description
Why have there been no terrorist attacks in the United States since 9/11? It is ridiculously easy for a single person with a bomb-filled backpack, or a single explosives-laden automobile, to launch an attack. So why hasn't it happened? The answer is surely not the Department of Homeland Security, which cannot stop terrorists from entering the country, legally or otherwise. It is surely not the Iraq war, which has stoked the hatred of Muslim extremists around the world and wasted many thousands of lives. Terrorist attacks have been regular events for many years -- usually killing handfuls of people, occasionally more than that.

Is it possible that there is a simple explanation for the peaceful American homefront? Is it possible that there are no al-Qaeda terrorists here? Is it possible that the war on terror has been a radical overreaction to a rare event? Consider: 80,000 Arab and Muslim immigrants have been subjected to fingerprinting and registration, and more than 5,000 foreign nationals have been imprisoned -- yet there has not been a single conviction for a terrorist crime in America. A handful of plots -- some deadly, some intercepted -- have plagued Europe and elsewhere, and even so, the death toll has been modest.

We have gone to war in two countries and killed tens of thousands of people. We have launched a massive domestic wiretapping program and created vast databases of information once considered private. Politicians and pundits have berated us about national security and patriotic duty, while encroaching our freedoms and sending thousands of young men off to die.

It is time to consider the hypothesis that dare not speak its name: we have wildly overreacted. Terrorism has been used by murderous groups for many decades, yet even including 9/11, the odds of an American being killed by international terrorism are microscopic. In general, international terrorism doesn't do much damage when considered in almost any reasonable context.

The capacity of al-Qaeda or of any similar group to do damage in the United States pales in comparison to the capacity other dedicated enemies, particularly international Communism, have possessed in the past. Lashing out at the terrorist threat is frequently an exercise in self-flagellation because it is usually more expensive than the terrorist attack itself and because it gives the terrorists exactly what they are looking for. Much, probably most, of the money and effort expended on counterterrorism since 2001 (and before, for that matter) has been wasted.

The terrorism industry and its allies in the White House and Congress have preyed on our fears and caused enormous damage. It is time to rethink the entire enterprise and spend much smaller amounts on only those things that do matter: intelligence, law enforcement, and disruption of radical groups overseas. Above all, it is time to stop playing into the terrorists' hands, by fear-mongering and helping spread terror itself.

Will the Supreme Court Uphold the Right to Bear Arms?

The case in particular revolves around a Washington DC (unconstitutional) ordinance that bans handguns, or requires their disassembly. But upholding what a federal judge has ruled, that such an ordinance is unconstitutional, the principle of course (though plain to all) has ramifications on all gun measures that states and the federal government have (unconstitutionally) passed--i.e. mandatory registration, IDs, concealed carry, transportation between states, etc. The current gun laws would have been immediately decried by the founders which included this in the Bill of Rights.

As Thomas Jefferson and others stated, and even as former Attorney General John Ashcroft repeated, "the purpose of the 2nd amendment is for the people, as a last resort, to defend against tyrannical government". To which Ted Kennedy replied during his confirmation: "Our government--tyrannical?" Interestingly Giuliani in particular who wants bans on so-called "assault weapons" (but has tried to distance himself from his previous statements and actions), but also including Mitt Romney and John McCain have acted against this, while Fred Thompson and Mike Huckabee seem to hold the Kennedy view--i.e. U.S. government, nor the states, could ever be considered tyrannical, particularly after 9/11 when neo-republican rule has acted to introduce a Security State moving toward laws consistent with fascism. Ron Paul is the only presidential candidate who consistently has and continually demands a return to full 2nd Amendment freedoms, as his record shows.

This case also has everything to do with the very nature and principles behind the new anti-constitutional office of Homeland Security, the USA PATRIOT ACT (which latter measures also require gun-tracking and arbitrary labeling of "terrorist suspects"), etc., all of which trample the Bill of Rights and have designs for tyrannical government. American are now being treated and put under surveillance as "terrorist" suspects, and are being told through the media and government that this is "necessary" and "for your own good".

James Madison heralded the following position to be the purpose of the 2nd amendment.

"As civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly before them, may attempt to tyrannize, and as the military forces which must be occasionally raised to defend our country, might pervert their power to the injury of their fellow citizens, the people are confirmed by the next article in their right to keep and bear their private arms."

--Tenche Cox, 1789 on the 2nd Amendment

clipped from www.iht.com U.S. justices could decide constitutionality of gun ownership WASHINGTON: Both sides in a closely watched legal battle over the District of Columbia's strict gun-control law are urging the Supreme Court to hear the case. If the justices agree - a step they may announce as early as Tuesday - the Roberts court is very likely to find itself back on the front lines of the culture wars with an intensity unmatched even by the cases on abortion and race that defined the court's last term. The question is whether the Second Amendment to the Constitution protects an individual right to "keep and bear arms." If the answer is yes, as a federal appeals court held in March, the justices must decide what such an interpretation means for a statute that bars all possession of handguns and that requires any other guns in the home to be disassembled or secured by trigger locks. the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

Irony: WhiteHouse tells Pakistan not to restrict rights in name of "terror"

White House tells Pervez Musharraf to “never restrict constitutional freedoms in the name of fighting terrorism.”


Would be nice if the hypocritical neo-republican President and his loyalist party, along with stupid democrats, would advocate the same thing for America!

CONSTITUTION DAY PART II: USA PATRIOT ACT--Constitution makes Legislation Null and Void

"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -- lest it come to dominate our lives and interests."
-- Patrick Henry

"A legislative act, contrary to the Constitution, is not law".

- Chief Supreme Court Justice John Marshall

This story broke a week ago, but received little news coverage. We must again highly recommend CATO Institutes email news and daily podcasts for good info like this. Everyone should subscribe and use the information to educate their family, friends, and especially their local newspaper and radio talk shows, and highlight CATO links or feeds on their blogs.

The Constitution is the silver bullet that can put an end to the growing tyranny--everything this neocon-controlled administration has rammed thru Congress on the pretext of 9/11.

The fact this Federal judge struck down these provisions is proof that your Congressmen (including and especially Shelly Moore Capito), both House and Senate, passed legislation that is in fact "null and void" in that it violates the Constitution of the United States. THERE SHOULD BE OUTRAGE TO YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPS WHO VOTED FOR THE USA PATRIOT ACT WITHOUT CONSIDERING (AS USUAL) THE CONSTITUTION. Be sure and right your Congressmen and tell them to "read the bills" (as DownsizeDC.org pushes) before passing ANY legislation, and that they should rescind the PATRIOT ACT, as well as REAL ID.

Judge Invalidates Patriot Act Provisions

"A federal judge struck down controversial portions of the USA Patriot Act in a ruling that declared them unconstitutional yesterday, ordering the FBI to stop its wide use of a warrantless tactic for obtaining e-mail and telephone data from private companies for counterterrorism investigations," reports The Washington Post.

"The ruling by U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in New York said the FBI's use of secret 'national security letters' to demand such data violates the First Amendment and constitutional provisions on the separation of powers, because the FBI can impose indefinite gag orders on the companies and the courts have little opportunity to review the letters."

In the Cato briefing paper "Doublespeak and the War on Terrorism," Timothy Lynch, director of Cato's Project on Criminal Justice, writes: "The warrant application process is the primary check on the power of the executive branch to intrude into people's homes and to seize property. The Bush administration has tried to bypass this constitutional framework by championing the use of national security letters."

412 STATE AND LOCAL RESOLUTIONS AGAINST PATRIOT ACT.

Mostly unreported, the STATES have also moved (including particularly Huntington, West Virginia) to make null and void the USA PATRIOT ACT because (despite its fraudulent name) of its blatant attempt to overthrow the restraints of the federal government embedded firmly in the Constitution. The source here is the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, which solely sprung up to resist PATRIOT ACT powers.

Across the Country:

412 Resolutions Upholding Civil Liberties and Rights

Community
resolutions: 404

State resolutions: 8

Total population
protected: 85,177,895

In West Virginia this included Charleston, Lewisburg, Monroe County, and Huntington.

Huntington, West Virginia Made USA PATRIOT ACT Illegal for Feds

Huntington, West Virginia

City/Town: Huntington
County: Cabell, Wayne
State: West Virginia
Congressional District: (click to contact Rep.)

Population (2000 Census): 51,475
Date Passed: 10/13/03

An Ordinance of the Council Amending, Modifying, and Re-enacting Article 99 of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Huntington, as Revised, Concerning People's Bill of Rights.

Approved by: Huntington City Council

WHEREAS, the devastating attacks of 9-11-01 in the United States and the continued national outcry for patriotism causes a need for reaffirmation of the American way of life; and

WHEREAS, the restriction of civil liberties by the United States actually constitutes a defeat of its founding principles as well as a victory for the perpetrators of 9-11; and

WHEREAS, this Council wishes to limit government intrusion upon the personal lives of the people of Huntington; and

WHEREAS, the people of Huntington have a right to be free from profiling, discrimination and general searches; and

WHEREAS, the people of Huntington should not be subject to searches without probable cause and due process of law; and

WHEREAS, the constitution of the State of West Virginia, Article 1-3. (Continuity of constitutional operation), asserts that

“The provisions of the constitution of the United States, and of this state, are operative alike in a period of war as in time of peace, and any departure therefore, or violation thereof, under the plea of necessity, or any other plea, is subversive of good government, and tends to anarchy and despotism.”

WHEREAS, this Council recognizes the people within its jurisdiction as the sovereign of the City of Huntington, Cabell and Wayne Counties, West Virginia,

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF HUNTINGTON, CABELL AND WAYNE COUNTIES, WEST VIRGINIA, that Article 99 of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Huntington, as revised, is hereby AMENDED, MODIFIED and RE-ENACTED to read as follows:

ARTICLE 99
PEOPLE’S BILL OF RIGHTS

99.01 PREAMBLE.

The people have inalienable rights that exceed the needs of the City of Huntington and are granted through the individual’s ability to reason, right to be free, to question the governors of the City of Huntington and to act as sovereign have, by declaration, rights recognized by Council as the basis of American Democracy and our chosen way of life. The essence of American Freedom is founded upon individual liberties, not granted by government, but retained by the sovereign. And therefore, the following actions affect the City of Huntington, Council, Mayor and its subordinate agencies, boards, and committees.

99.02 THE RIGHT OF FREE SPEECH.

The people shall have the right to express their opinion and the City of Huntington shall not attempt to regulate content of speech. The City of Huntington, Council, Mayor and its subordinate agencies, boards, and committees may regulate time, place and manner of speech, but not content.

99.03 RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS.

The people shall have the right to keep and bear arms within the City of Huntington under the laws of the United States of America and the State of West Virginia.

99.04 RIGHT TO DUE PROCESS.

a. No one shall be compelled to testify against himself or spouse / herself or spouse nor be denied rights of due process under the laws of the United States of America and the State of West Virginia.

b. No person shall be held by the City of Huntington greater than twenty-four (24) hours without charges being proffered.

c. An individual has a right to be secure in his person from unreasonable searches and seizures and no warrants shall be issued without probable cause supported by oath or affirmation and particularly describing the persons or items to be seized and the places to be searched.

d. No stops, searches or inquiry can be made of any person based upon their race, religion, sex, age or ethnic origin.

99.05 RIGHT OF PRIVACY.

a. No government agency shall invade the privacy of a person located within the City of Huntington by electronic eavesdropping, intercepting Internet transmissions, or by opening correspondence transmitted electronically, lest he be an officer of the law who has obtained a specific warrant for such searches.

b. No law enforcement agency shall seek to invade any telephone, computer transmission or personal correspondence that is private between the sender and receiver without a warrant.

c. Each invasion shall constitute a separate act and the individual perpetrating the act and those directing the invasion shall be equally subject to the penalty as stated in Section 99.99.
99.99 PENALTY.

Any violation of Article 99 shall be subject to a fine of up to Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) and/or thirty (30) days in jail.

BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that all other articles, sections and sub-sections of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Huntington, as revised, shall remain in full force and effect until further Ordinance of this Council.

BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that Article 99 shall become effective upon its adoption by council and approval by the Mayor

"I see the Constitution as being written precisely for one purpose -- to restrain the power of government; never to restrain the people."

-- Congressman and Republican Presidential Candidate Ron Paul in Seattle