A Dangerous Precedent
| October 24, 2011 | Filled under 2012 Presidential Election, Barack Obama, Constitution, International Politics, Liberty, Ron Paul, War |
by Ron Paul
Congressman Ron Paul
According to the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution, Americans are never to be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. The Constitution is not some aspirational statement of values, allowing exceptions when convenient, but rather, it is the law of the land. It is the basis of our Republic and our principal bulwark against tyranny.
Last week’s assassination of two American citizens, Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan, is an outrage and a criminal act carried out by the President and his administration. If the law protecting us against government-sanctioned assassination can be voided when there is a “really bad American”, is there any meaning left to the rule of law in the United States? If, as we learned last week, a secret government committee, not subject to congressional oversight or judicial review, can now target certain Americans for assassination, under what moral authority do we presume to lecture the rest of the world about protecting human rights? Didn’t we just bomb Libya into oblivion under the auspices of protecting the civilians from being targeted by their government? Timothy McVeigh was certainly a threat, as were Nidal Hassan and Jared Lee Loughner. They killed people in front of many witnesses. They took up arms against their government in a literal way, yet were still afforded trials. These constitutional protections are in place because our Founders realized it is a very serious matter to deprive any individual of life or liberty. Our outrage against even the obviously guilty is not worth the sacrifice of the rule of law. Al-Awlaki has been outspoken against the United States and we are told he encouraged violence against Americans. We do not know that he actually committed any acts of violence. Ironically, he was once invited to the Pentagon as part of an outreach to moderate Muslims after 9/11. As the US attacks against Muslims in the Middle East and Central Asia expanded, it is said that he became more fervent and radical in his opposition to US foreign policy.
Many cheer this killing because they believe that in a time of war, due process is not necessary – not even for citizens, and especially not for those overseas. However, there has been no formal declaration of war and certainly not one against Yemen. The post-9/11 authorization for force would not have covered these two Americans because no one is claiming they had any connection to that attack. Al-Awlaki was on a kill list compiled by a secret panel within President Obama’s National Security Council and Justice Department. How many more Americans citizens are on that list? They won’t tell us. What are the criteria? They won’t tell us. Where is the evidence? They won’t tell us.
Al-Awlaki’s father tried desperately to get the administration to at least allow his son to have legal representation to challenge the “kill” order. He was denied. Rather than give him his day in court, the administration, behind closed doors, served as prosecutor, judge, jury, and executioner.The most worrisome aspect of this is that any new powers this administration accrues will serve as precedents for future administrations. Even those who completely trust this administration must understand that if this usurpation of power and denial of due process is allowed to stand, these powers will remain to be expanded on by the next administration and then the next. Will you trust them? History shows that once a population gives up its rights, they are not easily won back. Beware.
Decriminalize the Average Man
| October 20, 2011 | Filled under Wendy McElroy |
by Wendy McElroy
If you reside in America and it is dinnertime, you have almost certainly broken the law. In his book Three Felonies a Day, civil-liberties lawyer Harvey Silverglate estimates that the average person unknowingly breaks at least three federal criminal laws every day. This toll does not count an avalanche of other laws — for example misdemeanors or civil violations such as disobeying a civil contempt order — all of which confront average people at every turn.
An article in the Economist (July 22, 2010) entitled “Too many laws, too many prisoners” states,
Between 2.3m and 2.4m Americans are behind bars, roughly one in every 100 adults. If those on parole or probation are included, one adult in 31 is under “correctional” supervision. As a proportion of its total population, America incarcerates five times more people than Britain, nine times more than Germany and 12 times more than Japan.
By contrast, in 1970, less than one in 400 Americans was incarcerated. Why has the prison population more than quadrupled over a few decades? Why are you, as an average person and daily felon, more vulnerable to arrest than at any other time?
There is a simple answer but no single explanation as to how the situation arose or why it continues to accelerate out of control. The answer: a constant flood of new and broadly interpreted laws are criminalizing entire categories of daily life while, at the same time, the standards required for arrest and conviction have been severely diluted. The result is that far too many people are arrested and imprisoned for acts that should not be viewed as criminal at all or should receive minimal punishment.
In some cases, the violated laws are so obscure, vague, or complicated in language that even the police are ignorant of them. In other cases, outright innocence is not sufficient to escape the brutality of detention.
(more…)
The Obamas: A book with juicy details!
| January 12, 2012 | Filled under Barack Obama, John Blythe, Obama Administration, U.S. Politics |
By John Blythe
There is a new book that just came out called “The Obamas” by Jodi Kantor and it offers some very interesting inside stories into the Obama White House since 2009.
And what kind of book would it be, if it didn’t include rather juicy stories as well!
Kantor’s book describes the President and his family’s three years of freeloading thus far as historic. And how historic it has become. At the height of a troubled economy, President Obama, after campaigning relentlessly on “Hope and Change” bull-crap, thought it would be fun to throw a Halloween party in 2009 based on the theme of Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” which starred Johnny Depp. So much so that the White House actually invited both Burton and Depp to the party itself completed with Tim Burton’s usual style of weird and Gothic atmosphere. This particular Halloween party was kept on low-profile according to Kantor because the administration feared public backlash as tens of millions of Americans were struggling (and continue to struggle) with the burdens of the recession. Perhaps a more curious question that lingers is how much tax money was spent on this 2009 Halloween party?
But then again, President Obama has lived in an “Alice in Wonderland” environment since he took office.
Some of Kantor’s other scriptures provided in the book include one particular incident involving a rather tense and verbal argument between former White House Spokes-hole Robert Gibbs and Obama’s Senior White House Adviser Valerie Jarrett. According to Kantor’s description of events depicted in the book, this particular incident gave light into the rather hostile working environment at the White House, describing Gibbs as “going off” after Ms. Jarrett told him about how First Lady Michelle Obama was angry at Mr. Gibbs for apparently a statement he made as to how Mrs. Obama described living at the White House as “hell” and seemed to imply that Mrs. Obama was nothing more than an “angry black woman.”
According to the book, Gibbs began shouting profanities as Ms. Jarrett saying:
“F-this, that’s not right… where’s this coming from?” Gibbs continued, accusing Ms. Jarrett that she “didn’t know what the f-you’re talking about” and preceded to say of Mrs. Obama, “Then f-her, too!” and stormed out of the room.
Politico.com released an article today with Mr. Gibbs and Ms. Jarrett “pushing back” against Kantor’s book, implying that the story was exaggerated, but neither denied that the incident happened. Either way you look at it Mr. Gibbs was a pathetic Press Secretary.
There were also stories involving heated clashes between Michelle Obama and former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel who is now the Mafia chief of Chicago with Mrs. Obama holding reservations about Emanuel from the start and his tenure of trying to perhaps even “undermine” her husband’s job as President.
Kantor also paints a clear picture of President Obama and his thoughts on the pathetic do-nothing Congress, labeling them as a bunch of “self-interested dullards” while Mrs. Obama thinks voters don’t understand the magnitude of her husband’s many accomplishments.
Oh yeah, like we really need any more proof of the Obama’s accomplishments thus far. Nothing has worked and his policies have all proven to have become absolute complete failures.
Perhaps the most provoking answer of all came from Michelle Obama herself. While admitting that she has not read Kantor’s book, she told CBS News anchor Gayle King:
“I never read any of these books… I love this job. It has been a privilege from day one. I guess it’s just more interesting to imagine this conflicted situation here… A strong woman … That’s the kind of image … that I’m some kind of angry black woman.”
But she does love the job as First Lady? I’m sure she does. What First Lady doesn’t appreciate the fact that she and her husband get to abuse tens of millions of dollars of tax money while the average middle class American is struggling every day, so they can fly all over the world and vacation in Colorado during the winters, Hawaii during the summers, taking their friends to Spain and fly down to Africa for a Safari adventure and eat deep fried fat cakes?
Yes, the Obama White House has been filled with some juicy stories over the last three years. And hopefully this year, it will be there last!
Are we this pathetic?
by Mike Calpino President Obama has now tried to jump start negotiations over the debt ceiling by stating that he could not guarantee government checks for Social Security, veterans benefits, and military pay, to name a few, will go out on time in August if the debt ceiling is not raised. Obviously, this is a scare tactic to get all those government dependents across the land, a majority of us… more
Is George Soros funding Wall Street protests?
By John Blythe As the Wall Street protests continue to gain momentum throughout America, several people are wondering who may be the real “perpetrator” behind this movement. One name that continues to come up and always seems to come up in just about every revolution known to man kind in recent years, is 80 year old George Soros. The far left Hungarian-born stock investment billionaire, is one of the wealthiest… more
America’s breathtaking ignorance on our decline
By John Blythe The photograph above is one that I found on the internet and it is meant to be funny, although it certainly illustrates how ignorant America has become on just about everything, while we continue to experience increased decline at an accelerated basis. Newsflash: We’re not a superpower anymore and we’re not number 1 anymore! For the third year in a row, we have had an annual budget… more
Legalize Currency Competition
by Ron Paul Before the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Financial Services, Hearing on HR 1098: the Free Competition in Currency Act I. The Problem John Maynard Keynes once stated that “There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it… more
A Palestinian State?
by Ron Paul The Palestinian Authority’s recent announcement that it would seek UN recognition as an independent state dominated the news and the political debate in the United States last week, though in truth it should mean very little to us. Only a political class harboring the illusion it can run the world obsesses over the aspirations of a tiny population on a tiny piece of land thousands of… more
Audit Bernanke
by Ron Paul Before the US House of Representatives, Committee on Financial Services, Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology Hearing on: “Audit the Fed: Dodd-Frank, QE3, and Federal Reserve Transparency,” October 4th, 2011 In his 1974 Nobel Prize address, the late Austrian economist Friedrich von Hayek attacked the pretense of knowledge, the idea that policymakers have sufficient knowledge and power to shape society as they wish. Our political… more
The Fed Twists, the Market Shouts
by Ron Paul Last week the Federal Reserve began the second incarnation of “Operation Twist”, an attempt to drive down interest rates by purchasing long-term Treasury debt and selling short-term debt. This is just the latest instance of the central bank desperately flailing around doing something merely for the sake of doing something. Fed officials still do not understand – or admit – that the Fed itself caused the… more
How Iraq has been turned into a hell hole
By John Blythe The United States has been accustomed in the past several years to criticizing dictators that they had previously supported. Among them include Josip Tito in Yugoslavia, the Shah of Iran, Moammar Gaddafi in Libya and Saddam Hussein in Iraq. In all of these countries, the United States had developed a relationship with and then we tore them in half. However one of the important things to know… more
Iowa caucus puts Santorum, Romney tied; Paul in third
By John Blythe We can already assume that the people in Iowa are largely ignorant and are not going to vote for any real change come this November, 2012. Last night, the polls closed resulting in former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney tied for winning the state wide Iowa caucuses. Texas Congressman Ron Paul, who came in at number two in the Iowa straw poll… more
A look back at 2011… and what’s really in store for 2012?
By John Blythe One of my favorite B-Movies is an Australian science fiction film called “Dead End Drive-In”. The film tells the story of how the world was functioning in a post-global economic collapse. There was a nuclear accident out in the French Polynesian ocean, there were riots all over the world, rapid unemployment, inflation, crime was everywhere and there was a mass shortage of food and supplies. In an… more
U.S. economy continuing to die in 2012?
By John Blythe It didn’t really seem like Christmas this year did it? Perhaps this is because there are so many families struggling to make it during this horrible recession while rapid unemployment continues to rise and stores are closing by the thousands. So if families didn’t have a paycheck this holiday season, they obviously didn’t have the money to buy gifts for their loved ones. And things are not… more
Will we see a financial doomsday in 2012?
By John Blythe Most people have dubbed 2012 as “the year the world will end.” Will it actually end? Or will the world simply experience a severe financial meltdown that destroys the entire global economy as we know it? There have been many assertions from very well known economists, financial/investment analysts and trends forecasters over the recent months that have been predicting some kind of economic collapse that will take… more
Obama gives kudos to himself; ignorant of facts
By John Blythe Showing a horrible display of typical ignorance, President Obama gave himself special kudos in a recent CBS 60 Minutes broadcast. According to Obama… “I would put our legislative and foreign policy accomplishments in our first two years against any president — with the possible exceptions of Johnson, F.D.R., and Lincoln; just in terms of what we’ve gotten done in modern history. But, you know, but when it… more
Will North Korea revolt, following Kim Jong-il’s death?
By John Blythe The recent death of Kim Jong-il, the longtime Supreme Leader of North Korea will more than likely bring about a number of questions. Since the Korean War, North Korea has continuously harbored deep hatred towards the United States and for lending support to South Korea. For more than four decades, North Korea has been nothing more than a severely repressed nation under the Communist dictatorship of Kim… more
U.S. leaves Iraq and also leaves behind lives and lies…
By John Blythe Has anyone else in this country simply had it with lies our government spews out every single day? Well I am. And unlike most of Americans, I don’t sit around and listen to the constant rhetoric and continuing story over and over again as if I was some five year old kindergarten student. President Obama recently announced the end of the War in Iraq and troops will… more
Time for Eric Holder to get out of dodge?
By John Blythe As one of the most incompetent, treasonous and despicable Attorney Generals in our nation’s history, Eric Holder has managed to marginalize prior controversies such as the decision he made last year not to investigate voter intimidation by members of the Black Panther Party and also a decision he made to try and hold the trials of 9/11 conspirators in New York. But recently, Mr. Holder has been… more
Obama threatens veto on GOP payroll tax
By John Blythe Well isn’t it nice to see America continuing the same routine of BS politics over in the backed up sewage tank of Washington D.C. As President Obama continues to spew his speeches about the need for job growth in this country, he is now threatening to veto a bill that has passed the House of Representatives to extend the social security payroll tax cuts because this piece… more
China preparing military for warfare?
By John Blythe One of last week’s editions of Independent Word, involved Russia’s current status with expanding its economy and military. Another country that is rapidly expanding its own economy and military and is said to become the world’s new superpower within the matter of a year or so happens to be China. As the U.S. Government continues to worry about radical Islam in the Middle East and chase around… more
US becoming a police state
By John Blythe In an unbelievable shocking act of treason, the United States Senate voted on Friday to pass the controversial National Defense Authorization Act, which is enacted every year allocating the budget and expenditures for the Department of Defense. Why are more than half of the U.S. Senators treasonous? Because there is a provision in this new act that would give the military the right to detain U.S. citizens… more
Are we about to descend into World War III?
By John Blythe In just a few weeks, it will mark the twentieth anniversary of the official dissolution of the Soviet Union and an end to the Cold War. When the Soviet era ended, the United States was under the assumption that foreign policy with other countries would improve. Little did they know that terrorists were brewing behind the scenes. Since the September 11th terrorist attacks, the United States has… more
The Fed bailing out Europe?
By John Blythe So today was all cupcakes and lollipops on Wall Street. The Dow was up more than 490 points and stocks were soaring in Europe. Is this an indicator that everything is going to be fine and dandy and that all of the world’s financial problems are going to be solved? Absolutely not. The reason the stocks soared today is because of new steps being implemented by the… more
Violence of Black Friday… Merry Christmas everyone!
By John Blythe Every year the Friday after Thanksgiving, Americans take advantage on the special deals and discounts from many stores across the nation. We call it Black Friday… although nowadays, we should just call it Greedy Friday. As millions of Americans went out for the early Christmas shopping, we also saw an escalation in people attacking one another and it seems to happen more often every single year. Examples… more
Homeland Security warns of deep fried turkeys
By John Blythe The insanity of the Federal Government continues to grow every single day. While many holiday travelers undergo sexual molestation from TSA agents at airports nationwide this week, the Department of Homeland Security wanted to let everyone know the dangers of deep fried turkeys during Thanksgiving. Seriously? This is the same Department of Homeland Security that refused to investigate the suspected pipe bomber and al-Qaeda sympathizer in New… more
Why the Super Committee was a super waste of time!
By John Blythe So today was the deadline that the so-called Super Committee or “Super Congress” was supposed to reach a bipartisan agreement to come up with $1.2 trillion in deficit cuts over the next decade. Congratulations! Today, the twelve members of the Super Committee which consisted of six Democrats and six Republicans reached an agreement on solving absolutely nothing! What a surprise. Perhaps they can rename it as the… more
MF Global, Insider Trading, Wall Street and more!
[/caption By John Blythe Just when you think you had heard it all along comes something like this. The now bankrupt financial services company MF Global, headed by former Goldman Sacs chief and former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, has apparently decided to shore up its losses resulting from its bad bets on European debt, by taking their own clients money from private bank accounts. One client who is widely… more
Rick Perry and GOP has no chance at 2012….
By John Blythe Texas Governor and Republican Presidential candidate Rick Perry’s little brain freeze the other night during the CNBC debate may have become the final frosting on the cake, so to speak. When asked what specific government departments he would eliminate if he is elected as President of the United States, Perry said “the Commerce Department, the Education Department and ah, I can’t remember the third one…” You can’t… more
European debt crisis… they “knew”, but nothing “new”
By John Blythe As the European debt crisis continues and as the world expects both Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to leave their posts thank God, there is still nothing new from the European Union in finding a solution to the growing mess. But there never was a solution to begin with, right? The European Financial Stability Facility is cautious about bailing out Spain… more
Greece’s problems continue; focus now on Italy
By John Blythe As Greece continues to suffer the burden of a horrible debt crisis and is now likely to accept the European Union bailout package complete with austerity measures, the world stage has now focused its attention on another debt ridden EU nation, Italy. Like Greece, Italy is one of the “big five” EU nations that are suffering from mounting debt. The other three countries include Spain, Portugal and… more
Planning strikes on Iran
By John Blythe Well it looks like the United States’ foreign policy towards the Middle East is becoming stranger by the day. In March, the Obama Administration orders U.S.-led NATO airstrikes over Libya to dispose Moammar Gaddafi; then in July, the administration said it would keep 10,000 troops in Iraq indefinitely after the December withdrawal deadline. Then, a day after Gaddafi is killed, Obama announces that all U.S. troops will… more
Greece is nearly on the brink
By John Blythe Greece is teetering on the brink on collapse, despite the fake bailout package which was concocted at last week’s European Union summit courtesy of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The initial bailout plan, which called for a 50% haircut by European banks and bondholders, would have saved Greece in the interim, even though stocks in the United States were soaring. So today, Greek… more
The NATO war crimes in Libya
By John Blythe Today is Halloween and a majority of Americans are going to be celebrating the holiday tonight by dressing up in costumes and the scaring the hell out of one another. But there’s something far more horrifying on the other side of the world that a majority of Americans are probably oblivious about, and it is the fact that the US led NATO bombing on Libya, which resulted… more
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