I can only begin with one question: What is wrong with out national leaders? It seems as if they are systematically trying to dismantle our constitutionally protected rights one by one. I wrote a couple of months ago about the murder of Anwar al-Awlaki by one of our drones (I do not intent to re-hash out a previous argument). However, it seems as if our country is taking the first steps down a dangerous road; a road from which there is no return.
First: Please check the post A Precedent Set, A Line Crossed, and a Nation Unknowingly, Irrevocably Changed... for a complete picture of how someone in our Executive branch (no one knows exactly who gave the order but this has been defended by the President and his deputies) gave the order to murder a US citizen in Yemen with no due process (which is a constitutional right). I cannot believe that this is has largely gone unchallenged in the press. Some have tried to push it but it is mostly written off as left-wing crack jobs (one of which I am not) trying to play the "peace" card. Please check this post out for more detail.
Second: Directly related to this is the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act. This is essentially the yearly spending bill for the Department of Defense and is normally be considered regular business. However, included in this bill is a provision that would allow the military (which normally has limited jurisdiction inside most of the US) to detain US citizens indefinitely by officially declaring the mainland and territories of the United States a battleground in the War on Terror(!). Now I know this needs no explanation as to why this is absolutely insane but I just wanted to make a few statements. This bill (no matter what they tell us) essentially takes away the responsibility of the FBI and US Marshalls, both of which are under the control of the Department of Justice, to investigate, enforce, and detain offenders of federal law in the mainland and territories. The military is under the Department of Defense which is a completely separate department of the Executive Branch. In addition, the only time the military can have the control that is given in the bill is when martial law is declared by the President. Yes readers, this is what OUR government is working on instead of making our nation financially solvent... I know, it makes perfect sense -- right? NO! All I can say is Google it, and write your Representatives and Senators in the pipe dream that they will actually listen to us.
Third: Continuing in the vein of our insane congress, SOPA (Stop Online Privacy Act - House) and the Protect IP Act (Senate) are both being constructed to basically destroy the freedom of the internet. Both are being pushed in their respective branches as a way to protect the IP of content providers from copyright infringement. The problem is that this is the equivalent of using a shotgun to kill a mouse in a room full of bunnies. It will work but will destroy or at the very least endanger the ability of legitimate content providers from being able to easily distribute their owned content using torrents, YouTube, or other sites. I am not going to get into some long explanation of all implications (check out this site: http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57329001-281/how-sopa-would-affect-you-faq/ for more). One little tidbit of information about these bills; both employ methods of internet censorship found in such freely elected societies as: China, North Korea and Iran... Yes, this sounds like a great idea!
I write all of this because I am concerned for the future of our republic. Is it a coincidence that in the same year that the Arab Spring and Occupy Movements erupted (love them or hate them) that bills our introduced that can very easily be used to censor the internet, of which both movements would not have happened without? I think not. At a time when Americans are becoming less and less engaged because of constant gridlock in Congress, our freedoms are under attack. I consider myself conservative even libertarian at times but am generally all over the place in practice. These topics and their implications should be a concern of all fair minded Americans that love this country. In closing, a friend shared a video with me that, at least in my mind, shows what the implementation of all of these wayward policies could mean for the near future (check it out below). It at least illustrates how close we are to losing all control over our government. We MUST not use the tools of our enemies to fight them; when we do this we become the very enemy we are seeking to eliminate. Please spread the word to all that you know to email or call you congressmen to help stop the slow but impending advancement of totalitarian policies. We have a crop of Democrats that are hell bent on implementing far reaching Socialist policies and a group of Republicans that are hell bent on implementing Fascist policies. Both are different sides of the same coin, totalitarianism... Communism (the inevitable result of widespread Socialist policies) and Fascism make better bed fellows that most realize...
First: Please check the post A Precedent Set, A Line Crossed, and a Nation Unknowingly, Irrevocably Changed... for a complete picture of how someone in our Executive branch (no one knows exactly who gave the order but this has been defended by the President and his deputies) gave the order to murder a US citizen in Yemen with no due process (which is a constitutional right). I cannot believe that this is has largely gone unchallenged in the press. Some have tried to push it but it is mostly written off as left-wing crack jobs (one of which I am not) trying to play the "peace" card. Please check this post out for more detail.
Second: Directly related to this is the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act. This is essentially the yearly spending bill for the Department of Defense and is normally be considered regular business. However, included in this bill is a provision that would allow the military (which normally has limited jurisdiction inside most of the US) to detain US citizens indefinitely by officially declaring the mainland and territories of the United States a battleground in the War on Terror(!). Now I know this needs no explanation as to why this is absolutely insane but I just wanted to make a few statements. This bill (no matter what they tell us) essentially takes away the responsibility of the FBI and US Marshalls, both of which are under the control of the Department of Justice, to investigate, enforce, and detain offenders of federal law in the mainland and territories. The military is under the Department of Defense which is a completely separate department of the Executive Branch. In addition, the only time the military can have the control that is given in the bill is when martial law is declared by the President. Yes readers, this is what OUR government is working on instead of making our nation financially solvent... I know, it makes perfect sense -- right? NO! All I can say is Google it, and write your Representatives and Senators in the pipe dream that they will actually listen to us.
Third: Continuing in the vein of our insane congress, SOPA (Stop Online Privacy Act - House) and the Protect IP Act (Senate) are both being constructed to basically destroy the freedom of the internet. Both are being pushed in their respective branches as a way to protect the IP of content providers from copyright infringement. The problem is that this is the equivalent of using a shotgun to kill a mouse in a room full of bunnies. It will work but will destroy or at the very least endanger the ability of legitimate content providers from being able to easily distribute their owned content using torrents, YouTube, or other sites. I am not going to get into some long explanation of all implications (check out this site: http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57329001-281/how-sopa-would-affect-you-faq/ for more). One little tidbit of information about these bills; both employ methods of internet censorship found in such freely elected societies as: China, North Korea and Iran... Yes, this sounds like a great idea!
I write all of this because I am concerned for the future of our republic. Is it a coincidence that in the same year that the Arab Spring and Occupy Movements erupted (love them or hate them) that bills our introduced that can very easily be used to censor the internet, of which both movements would not have happened without? I think not. At a time when Americans are becoming less and less engaged because of constant gridlock in Congress, our freedoms are under attack. I consider myself conservative even libertarian at times but am generally all over the place in practice. These topics and their implications should be a concern of all fair minded Americans that love this country. In closing, a friend shared a video with me that, at least in my mind, shows what the implementation of all of these wayward policies could mean for the near future (check it out below). It at least illustrates how close we are to losing all control over our government. We MUST not use the tools of our enemies to fight them; when we do this we become the very enemy we are seeking to eliminate. Please spread the word to all that you know to email or call you congressmen to help stop the slow but impending advancement of totalitarian policies. We have a crop of Democrats that are hell bent on implementing far reaching Socialist policies and a group of Republicans that are hell bent on implementing Fascist policies. Both are different sides of the same coin, totalitarianism... Communism (the inevitable result of widespread Socialist policies) and Fascism make better bed fellows that most realize...
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