RE: Posse Comitatus Act in critical condition and fading fast!
----------------- Bulletin Message -----------------
From: Aaron Russo's America: Freedom To Fascism
Date: Apr 23, 2007 11:46 AM
Call your congressmen!!! Demand that they support Posse Comitatus and prevent the United States from being a military state ruled by martial law!!!
You can reach them at:
800-828-0498
800-459-1887
800-614-2803.
ARTICLE BELOW
Posse Comitatus Act in critical condition and fading fast!
In October of 2006, The Bush administration secretly slipped yet another unconstitutional provision into his massive budget legislation. The US Congress ran it through the legislative process with little to no scrutiny. The provision that the President signed into law weakens two immensely important protections available to the American people.
The first is Posse Comitatus, which prevents the military and the National Guard under federal control, from engaging in law enforcement activities inside the United States. This doctrinal provision draws a distinct line between Civil governance and and the military, thereby rendering military rule in American society, an illegality.
The Insurrection Act of 1807, delineates exemptions to posse comitatus and serves to limit the president's use of the military to enforce the laws. It bars the president from suppressing the people's right to stand up to abuses by a state that is violating federal law or depriving people of constitutional rights, even if it results in lawlessness, insurrection and rebellion.
The new law gives the president the power to use the military as a domestic law enforcement body, essentially turning them into a well armed police force. The danger of this is that soldiers are trained to fight wars, where killing is a means to achieving an objective. Domestic law enforcement is trained very differently. Killing for police forces is theoretically to be used only as a last result in self defense incidnts or in preventing the killing of innocents.
The parameters now established by the new law, allows the president not only to use the military in response to pandemic outbreaks, natural disasters, or terrorist attacks, but for so called "other conditions" that are not defined by the legislation. Historically, this translates to: "Whatever the president deems the use of the military to enforce laws under any circumstance to be appropriate is therefore appropriate."
In a televised address on September 15, 2005, President Bush said, when speaking about hurricane Katrina, "It is now clear that a challenge on this scale requires greater federal authority and a broader role for the armed forces--the institution of our government most capable of massive logistical operations on a moment's notice." (Emphasis added).
Senator John Warner (R-Va.), chair of the Armed Services Committee, using hurricane Katrina as a justification Katrina, suggested that the weakening Posse Comitatus should be pursued, thereby allowing the use of the military as a police force. The Pentagon joined in and stated through its spokesman Lawrence Di that Posse Comitatus is a "very archaic" law that interferes with the president's ability to respond to a crisis.
When you combine these developments with the legislation passed immediately after 911 under the name "Patriot Act," allowing the president to identify any individuals as "enemy combatants," the scenario is:
The president may arbitrarily declare a state of emergency justified by the occurrence of undefined "other conditions."
The president may deploy the U.S. military to "enforce laws" and arrest citizens through the use of military force.
The president may then conduct secretive military tribunals to try the "enemy combatants" (a term also left undefined in the legislation) in which evidence may be presented "on the honor of the Fed. Government's word that the evidence is good."
(Note: the evidence may be kept secret if it is determined that reveling it threatens national security.)
When President Bush signed this into law, he made no mention of its existence. No public hearings were held in the, at the time, Republican controlled Congress, nor were any of the state's governors informed or consulted as to how this would affect the law enforcement efforts within their borders.
As I stated in earlier blogs, the erosion of civil liberties and the rise of tyranny never happen over night. They occur slowly and secretly. By the time the public figures it out, it's usually too late.
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From: Aaron Russo's America: Freedom To Fascism
Date: Apr 23, 2007 11:46 AM
Call your congressmen!!! Demand that they support Posse Comitatus and prevent the United States from being a military state ruled by martial law!!!
You can reach them at:
800-828-0498
800-459-1887
800-614-2803.
ARTICLE BELOW
Posse Comitatus Act in critical condition and fading fast!
In October of 2006, The Bush administration secretly slipped yet another unconstitutional provision into his massive budget legislation. The US Congress ran it through the legislative process with little to no scrutiny. The provision that the President signed into law weakens two immensely important protections available to the American people.
The first is Posse Comitatus, which prevents the military and the National Guard under federal control, from engaging in law enforcement activities inside the United States. This doctrinal provision draws a distinct line between Civil governance and and the military, thereby rendering military rule in American society, an illegality.
The Insurrection Act of 1807, delineates exemptions to posse comitatus and serves to limit the president's use of the military to enforce the laws. It bars the president from suppressing the people's right to stand up to abuses by a state that is violating federal law or depriving people of constitutional rights, even if it results in lawlessness, insurrection and rebellion.
The new law gives the president the power to use the military as a domestic law enforcement body, essentially turning them into a well armed police force. The danger of this is that soldiers are trained to fight wars, where killing is a means to achieving an objective. Domestic law enforcement is trained very differently. Killing for police forces is theoretically to be used only as a last result in self defense incidnts or in preventing the killing of innocents.
The parameters now established by the new law, allows the president not only to use the military in response to pandemic outbreaks, natural disasters, or terrorist attacks, but for so called "other conditions" that are not defined by the legislation. Historically, this translates to: "Whatever the president deems the use of the military to enforce laws under any circumstance to be appropriate is therefore appropriate."
In a televised address on September 15, 2005, President Bush said, when speaking about hurricane Katrina, "It is now clear that a challenge on this scale requires greater federal authority and a broader role for the armed forces--the institution of our government most capable of massive logistical operations on a moment's notice." (Emphasis added).
Senator John Warner (R-Va.), chair of the Armed Services Committee, using hurricane Katrina as a justification Katrina, suggested that the weakening Posse Comitatus should be pursued, thereby allowing the use of the military as a police force. The Pentagon joined in and stated through its spokesman Lawrence Di that Posse Comitatus is a "very archaic" law that interferes with the president's ability to respond to a crisis.
When you combine these developments with the legislation passed immediately after 911 under the name "Patriot Act," allowing the president to identify any individuals as "enemy combatants," the scenario is:
The president may arbitrarily declare a state of emergency justified by the occurrence of undefined "other conditions."
The president may deploy the U.S. military to "enforce laws" and arrest citizens through the use of military force.
The president may then conduct secretive military tribunals to try the "enemy combatants" (a term also left undefined in the legislation) in which evidence may be presented "on the honor of the Fed. Government's word that the evidence is good."
(Note: the evidence may be kept secret if it is determined that reveling it threatens national security.)
When President Bush signed this into law, he made no mention of its existence. No public hearings were held in the, at the time, Republican controlled Congress, nor were any of the state's governors informed or consulted as to how this would affect the law enforcement efforts within their borders.
As I stated in earlier blogs, the erosion of civil liberties and the rise of tyranny never happen over night. They occur slowly and secretly. By the time the public figures it out, it's usually too late.
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posted by Gandolfo at 4/23/2007
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