.gov authorizing military detention of US citizens on US soil

Patriot Act provisions will eventually bite you, once you become part of the opposition to the .gov: 

In a time of austerity, and with the planned drawdown of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and Iraq, you might expect congressional proposals to reduce the military’s footprint around the world. You’d be wrong.

Instead, the defense spending bill passed by the Senate Armed Services Committee and now heading for a vote in the full Senate would dramatically expand the U.S. military’s role in counterterrorism — potentially inciting more attacks on U.S. interests.

this defense authorization bill marks the first time since the McCarthy era that Congress has sought to create a system of military detention without charge or trial — including U.S. citizens arrested on U.S. soil.

Well, isn't that special?

Now it may be al-Qaida and Taliban American citizens, but that means any American citizen can be instantly stripped of habeas corpus by Executive will.  This is one of the elements of Empire; arbitrary absolute power in the hands of an executive, in our case, the President.


So if a left wing President is elected, the right might be arbitrarily imprisoned, and vice versa. I am not thinking of this occurring 2 weeks or 2 years from now. I am saying that a precedent is set, and future administrations may turn authoritarian/absolutist and use the precedent against internal political opposition.  Of course, it would be legal...just not Constitutional, American, decent, or compatible with a free society.  Think gulag, lager, detention camp. No difference whatsoever, except for the accent of the thug guarding the detainee.


This is why federal powers were to be limited and enumerated by the Constitution. This is what the Founders feared.


link to Politico


H/T to iiipercent.blogspot.com

Mr. Schiff goes to Washington, and schools Congressmen on the economy

Peter Schiff, president of EuroPacific Capital, adherent to the Austrian School of Economics, son of Irwin Schiff, imprisoned for federal income tax protest (refusal to pay on political/constitutional grounds), friend and contributor to LewRockwell.com, testifies before the House Subcommittee on Government Reform and Stimulus Oversight.


Watch his comments and answers, and compare with those of the female commentator, who is a liberal/keynesian. Worth the 22 minutes.

Threat to the eagle: even the little guy can do it.

from pictures of the day on telegraph.co.uk

CBS reporter Sheryl Atkisson under White House fire for Gunwalker scandal reports

The era of  "transparent" government under Obama/Holder continues apace:

Link to The Weekly Standard

The Fast and Furious scandal, in which the Justice Department knowingly gave Mexican criminal gangs thousands of guns, just keeps escalating. The latest development centers around whether or not Attorney General Eric Holder lied to Congress about having knowledge of the controversial gun trafficking operation. Recently released documents say Holder was briefed about the operation long before he told the Judiciary Committee he was first aware of what was going on. (Holder now claims he misunderstood the question was being asked.)


What's more, CBS News investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson -- who's been covering the scandal from the beginning -- says in an interview on the Laura Ingraham Show today that the White House and Justice Department have taken to screaming at her for reporting on the story. You can listen to the full interview below...:



Finally, Attkisson notes that the White House is claiming that a thorough investigation of the scandal is unwarranted:


[The White House and Justice Department] will tell you that I'm the only reporter--as they told me--that is not reasonable. They say the Washington Post is reasonable, the LA Times is reasonable, the New York Times is reasonable, I'm the only one who thinks this is a story, and they think I'm unfair and biased by pursuing it.

Translation: Here "reasonable" means either "shill" or "willing to play ball".

Occupy Wall Street protestor: End the Fed, bring back gold and States' Rights!

Wish I could shake this guy's hand. I hope there are a lot more like him out there.


Good job.


Keep in mind: that is a NY accent. If a Yankee can speak like this, that is a reason for hope in my mind.


The cause of States' Rights and the Free Market will be vidicated. :-)


via dailypaul.com

Homer Simpson: Gun Shop

Oh, I don't need anything like that...yet...
:-)

History of the modern Israeli-Arab conflict in 11 min.

H/T to FreeNorthCarolina.blogspot.com




Well done video, historically accurate as far as my reading of the conflict, although very unfavorable to the Pals. Poor and oppressed as they may be, they lie in a bed they and their leaders made for themselves.


Esau hates Jacob...struggle began in the womb.

Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.--Golda Meir

"Don't tread on me" in Hebrew

Legend of Confederate submarine commander's gold coin is true

THE LEGEND: For over a century, an oral tradition-a legend-was passed down involving Lt. George Dixon, who commanded the 

The front side of Dixon's gold coin.

Hunley on its final assignment, which turned out to be one of the most important missions in naval history. According to the legend, Dixon was in love with a beautiful young woman from Mobile, Alabama, named Queenie Bennett.


To keep her sweetheart safe from harm, Queenie gave George Dixon a gold coin, as a good luck charm. Again, according to the legend, George kept the coin with him always, in his pocket, rubbing it with his thumb while he dreamed of the day when he and Queenie would be reunited.
During the Battle of Shiloh, George was shot point blank. A bullet ripped into the pocket of his trousers and struck the center of the gold coin. The impact was said to have left the gold piece bent, with the bullet embedded in it. Queenie's good luck gift had saved his life.

- Archaeologist Maria Jacobsen holding Dixon's gold coin. This photograph was taken only minutes after the coin's discovery.

Many such legends were created during the war. Was this one true? For 137 years, no one knew whether the story was true or merely a romantic tale from long ago.
During the excavation of the H.L. Hunley, the gold coin was discovered next to the remains of Lt. George Dixon. It was deeply indented from the impact of a bullet and traces of lead were discovered on the coin. The coin, a $20 dollar gold piece, was minted in 1860. One side bears an image of Lady Liberty. The other side, which has a federal shield-and-eagle symbol, had been sanded and inscribed by hand. It clearly bears four lines of cursive script with the following words:
Shiloh
April 6, 1862
My life Preserver
G. E. D.

The reverse side ofDixon's gold coin.

Maria Jacobsen, Senior Archaeologist on the Hunley project and the one who actually first found the coin, said shortly after her amazing discovery, "Some people may think this is a stroke of luck, but perhaps it's something else. They tell me that Lt. Dixon was a lady's man, perhaps he winked at us yesterday to remind us that he still is."

link


via Rebellion Blog.

Petition of Virginia's challenge to Obamacare's individual mandate goes to Supreme Court

The state of Virginia, seeking to revive its constitutional challenge to a key part of the new federal health care law, asked the Supreme Court on Friday to rule that the state has a right to be in court.   This is the fifth of the petitions seeking review of the new law’s mandate that virtually all Americans must have health insurance by the year 2014.  Virginia is the only challenger now at the Court to have been denied ”standing” in lower courts.  Its petition, with a lengthy appendix, is here 

Virginia’s challenge to the insurance mandate, unlike that of others who have appealed, is tied to a state law that declared that no resident of the state could be compelled to obtain a health care policy, as required by the federal law.  The legislature passed it in anticipation of Congress’s enactment of the health care law, and, relying upon its statute, Virginia was the first to file a federal court case against the mandate.  The Fourth Circuit Court, however, ruled last month that Virginia had no basis for challenging the mandate,; it found that the  provision imposed no burden at all on the state.


The Circuit Court said that the mandate is imposed on individuals, not on states.  It also found that the Virginia law seeking to head off the mandate actually had no enforcement mechanism, so the law did not clash with the federal mandate.  The Circuit Court also ruled that a state has no power as a sovereign to nullify a federal law which acts durectly upon a state”s citizens, who are citizens of the federal system, too.


Link to SCOTUS blog

Breast Cancer patient molested by TSA retards at JFK

Verbatim post:

At what point does the need for security eclipse human dignity and compassion?

Yesterday I went through the imaging scanner at JFK Terminal 4 for my Virgin America flight to San Francisco.  Evidently they found something, because after the scan, I was asked to step aside to have my breast area examined.  I explained to the agent that I was a breast cancer patient and had a bilateral mastectomy in April and had tissue expanders put in to make way for reconstruction at a later date.  

TSA jerks wouldn't let her retrieve this medical device card...

I told her that I was not comfortable with having my breasts touched and that I had a card in my wallet that explains the type of expanders, serial numbers and my doctor’s information (pictured) and asked to retrieve it.  This request was denied.  Instead, she called over a female supervisor who told me the exam had to take place.  I was again told that I could not retrieve the card and needed to submit to a physical exam in order to be cleared.  She then said, “And if we don’t clear you, you don’t fly” loud enough for other passengers to hear.  And they did.  And they stared at the bald woman being yelled at by a TSA Supervisor. 

To my further dismay, my belongings, including my computer, were completely out of sight. I had no choice but to allow an agent to touch my breasts in front of other passengers.  

I just didn’t understand why these agents were so insensitive to the situation. I would have been happy to show her which bag was mine and have her retrieve the card, but she did not allow even that. I have been through emotional and physical hell this past year due to breast cancer.  The way I was treated by these TSA agents added a shitload of insult to injury and caused me a great deal of humiliation.

I understand the need for safety when flying, but there is also a need for those responsible to be compassionate and sensitive to each situation.  These agents were neither.

I can only comfort myself with the fact that Karma is always circular.

link to her blog. Story via Drudge

America is no longer free

The Judge uses irony to get the point across:



H/T to Michael at Southernnationalist.com/blog