America is a "battleground," says South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham.
The US government has been slowly eradicating the Posse Commitatus Act of 1878. That act banned the US government from using the US military in domestic law enforcement. Over the past few decades the US government has repeatedly violated the act. However, many Republicans have insisted that the Posse Comitatus Act needs to be respected to protect the rights of American Citizens.
South Carolina's left-wing Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, however, is supporting provisions to eradicate Posse Comitatus and dramatically expand the powers of the Federal government.
The US Senate Armed Forces Committee, led by Carl Levin (D-MI) and John McCain (R-AZ), held a secret closed door session to insert ominous new Federal powers into the Defense Authorization Bill. This is the annual bill to fund the US military. These new powers were requested by the Obama administration.
The provisions would give the Federal government the power to insert the military into domestic law enforce and detain suspects indefinitely. While they claim that it will help "fight terrorism," there is no limits to how the new powers could be abused. Critics call it an explicit creation of a police state.
American citizens would be denied all constitutional protections and there would be no oversight to prevent abuse. This is the same Federal government that intervened on behalf of the "underwear bomber" to get him on a plane to the US, even after his own father warned that he was a terrorist. This is the same US government that shadowed two of the 911 highjackers all the way from Malaysia, yet did nothing to stop them. We would be trusting the same people to decide who's constitutional rights to suspend.
Several Democrats and Republicans have come out against the provisions. Republicans neo-cons like Lindsey Graham and John McCain have sided with the Obama administration and support the new powers.
Lindsey Graham, however, is enthusiastically supporting it. He wants to give Obama dramatic new powers to detain US citizens indefinitely with no oversight. Lindsey Graham stated that our "homeland is part of the battlefield." He confirmed that American citizens could be detained indefinitely.
Obama has already declared his intentions to use US troops in domestic law enforcement. Do you have faith that neither Obama nor any future US president will not abuse this power?
The new powers are included in sections 1031 and 1032 of the Defense Authorization bill. It will be voted on next week.
Mark Udall (D-CO) has proposed an amendment to strip the provisions out of the Defense Authorization bill. It is Amendment 1107. Americans who oppose these provisions should immediately contact the Senate switchboard and tell your Senators to vote yes on Amendment 1107 of S. 1867
United States Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121. This number will connect you to any Senators switchboard.
Comment:
This should worry any freedom loving American. And for those of you who would sacrifice your freedom to be protected from real, or non-existant terrorists, then you are nothing but lilly-livered cowards.
Yeah, you read right. I'm calling every American who's willing to give up their Constitutional rights a bunch of wusses. And unfortunately, that describes the majority these days. Our Founding Fathers must be spinning in their graves.
If we don't stand up to these would-be Kommisars in the government, then we'll get exactly what we deserve - our freedoms continually being whittled away bit by bit.
For example, take the police. They USED to dress like police. Now they look more like commandos. It started with the Special Weapons And Tactics squad, which was understandable, but now most cops look more like soldiers than police. That alone makes a big statement. The cops say these new uniforms are more efficient and intimidating to criminals. Sure they are, but they are also intimidating to the average citizen as well, which is EXACTLY what they had in mind.
If we don't resist the government's efforts to make this even more of a police state that it is now, then we deserve to lose our freedom.
Also, I resent the constant use of the word "homeland" by police and government officials. Until the time of Emperor Bush II, I rarely heard the United States referred to as our "homeland". Until then, it was called our "country". ZOG uses the word "homeland" hoping to inspire people's patriotism so they will accept our gradual loss of freedom "for the good of our homeland."
For those who insist that the law abiding people are as free as they always have been, and it's only criminals and malcontents that cry "police state", I say you're only as free as the leash you're on. You tug on it too much, and they'll hang you by it.
Although it does make unfair and unjust parallels to Adolf Hitler, and a hero out of a half Jewish character, anyone who doubts what is happening in America today is leading to a dictatorship, I suggest you read Lewis Sinclair's novel, "It Can't Happen Here."
Here's a brief synopsis from Wikipedia:
Plot
Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip, a charismatic and power-hungry politician, is elected President of the United States on a populist platform, promising to restore the country to prosperity and greatness, and promising each citizen $5,000 a year (approximately $80,000, adjusted for inflation[1]). Once in power, however, he becomes a dictator: he outlaws dissent, puts his political enemies in concentration camps, and creates a paramilitary force called the Minute Men who terrorize the citizens. One of his first acts as President is to make changes to theConstitution which give him sole power over the country, rendering Congress obsolete (in real life the President is not part of the Constitutional Amendment process at all). This is met by protest from the Congress as well as outraged citizens, but Windrip declares a state of martial law and, with the help of his Minute Men, throws the protesters in jail. As Windrip dismantles democracy, most Americans either support him and his Corpo Regime wholeheartedly or reassure themselves that fascism "can't happen" in America (hence the book's title).
The few who openly oppose Windrip's regime form a secret protest organization called The New Underground, establishing a secret propaganda periodical under the alias The Vermont Vigilance. Journalist Doremus Jessup, Windrip's loudest detractor, becomes a major contributor to these publications, writing editorials decrying the state's abuses of power. Shad Ledue, head of the state police and Jessup's former employee, terrorizes him, eventually putting him in a camp; he also goes after Jessup's family, attempting to seduce Jessup's daughter, Sissy. Eventually, however, Ledue falls out of favor with Windrip, and he is put in the same camp as Jessup, where he is murdered by the angry inmates he sent there. After Jessup's friend bribes a guard, Jessup escapes from the camp, rejoins his family, and goes to Canada to join a resistance movement.
Poster for the stage adaptation of
It Can't Happen Here, October 27, 1936 at the Lafayette Theater as part of the
DetroitFederal TheaterIn time, Windrip's hold on power begins to weaken; the economic prosperity he promised has not materialized, and more and more people (including his own Vice-President) are fleeing to Canada to escape his government's brutality. Windrip's lieutenants stage a coup; Windrip's right-hand man, Lee Sarason, becomes President and has his former boss exiled to France. In the ensuing power vacuum, Windrip's lieutenants fight among themselves for control, setting the stage for the regime's self-destruction. After another coup, ousting Sarason in favor of General Haik, the Corpo Regime's power slowly starts seeping away and the government desperately tries to find a way to keep the people content. They decide to stir up patriotic fervor by slandering Mexico in the state-run newspapers, with the idea that an all-out invasion of that country will rally the American people around the government. But the resulting draft of 5 million men for the invasion splits the country into factions: those pro-war and loyal to the Corpo government, and those anti-war who now see that they have been manipulated for years. A half-Jewish general, Emmanuel Coon, launches a civil war against the regime. The story ends with Jessup as a guerrilla in Minnesota, operating under Walt Trowbridge, the leader-in-exile of the opposition movement.
Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
An extra big thanks to Comrade Raymond Bxxxxxxx for sending me this story.
Dan 88!
