Until Further Titling – Week 2; Covenantal Love
In a long succession, the office of the POTUS sought to increase its dominion over men and the judicial and legislative branches. This trend has grown markedly steeper over the last few presidents, as evinced by executive orders; limelight commentary on every small issue that faces the country, society, or government; and the expansion of the administrative branch far beyond Constitutional recognition. To those that are paying attention, something is different this time around. Policies being put in place today are unprecedented and indicate a panic on behalf of the government to maintain control at any cost. The NDAA, ACTA/CISPA/SOPA/PIPA, PATRIOT Act, extraordinary rendition, the covert sales of guns to Mexican drug cartels for the purpose of turning the public toward enacting gun control measures, extrajudicial execution of American citizens (and non-citizens) without due process of law, selective application of habeus corpus, prosecution of whistleblowers and those who expose governmental misdeeds, NSA surveillance centers, media puppetry by all levels of government, the militarization of the police, drone use at home and abroad, and censorship of soldiers returning from wars all over the world indicate a movement toward larger government that will dictate how and when dissent by the citizenry is appropriate. Speech that resists any of the above policies, the empire of the U.S., or even banal domestic policy can lead to the speaker being labeled a terrorist, terrorist sympathizer, or traitor to the Cause. This mindset is so deeply embedded in the populous now that being a narc or shouting down disagreement is commonplace – and I experience it commonly. There are two classes of people in our New Reality – those that make the laws, which according to the new foundational views of Legal Positivism supersede morality; and those that follow the laws, whose morality does not apply to the lawmakers (See also Nietzsche’s slave and master moralities). This paradigm is so deep in the consciousness of your average Republican/Democrat that the slave ideologues defend the actions of the masters – even if the masters’ actions are normally evil given the slaves’ personal morality. But I digress. Let’s move back from the tangent, and back into the discussion of new executive powers. Many of these seeds were planted many years ago and many by Bush – but none have come to fruition as completely thus far but under Obama (There is no doubt to me that the open – and oft-praised – actions of Bush are far more evil than Obama’s, but the plots that surface from Obama’s silent usurpations are frighteningly telling.) Conspiracies aside, let’s look at some of the precedents that Obama has, without congressional approval or Constitutional authority, signed into law. I have taken out much of the commentary and just left the precedent. You can derive your own conclusions…
President . . . Obama has offered over [135] Executive Orders (EO), and he is not even through his first term. He is creating a wonderland of government controls covering everything imaginable, including a list of “Emergency Powers” and martial law EOs . . . Is it now time to start connecting the dots? Obama signed EO 13603 on March 22, 2012. Then he signed EO 13617 on June 25, 2012, declaring a national emergency. Then he signed EO 13618 on July 6, 2012.
In EO 13603, entitled, “National Defense Resources Preparedness,” Obama says (among other things) that [we must]:
be prepared, in the event of a potential threat to the security of the United States, to take actions necessary to ensure the availability of adequate resources and production capability, including services and critical technology, for national defense requirements;
Obama has the power, through this EO, to “nationalize” (not seize) private assets in order to protect national interests. Further, the EO effectively states that he can:
1. “identify” requirements for emergencies
2. “assess” the capability of the country’s industrial and technological base
3. “be prepared” to ensure the availability of critical resources in time of national threat
4. “improve the efficiency” of the industrial base to support national defense
5. “foster cooperation” between commercial and defense sectors
There are pundits that suggest that by signing EO 13603, Obama has given himself power to declare martial law and suspend elections.
The main problem with EO 13603 is that the words/phrases in quotes can be interpreted in many ways, including ways that favor [presidential power].
. . .
In EO 13617, entitled “Blocking Property of the Government of the Russian Federation Relating to the Disposition of Highly Enriched Uranium Extracted From Nuclear Weapons,” Obama says (among other things) that”
the risk of nuclear proliferation created by the accumulation of a large volume of weapons-usable fissile material in the territory of the Russian Federation continues to constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, and hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat.
Obama, by signing this EO, actually declared a national emergency . . . [Meaning] that Obama can now “justify” any action he wants to take [under EO 13603] by citing EO 13617 since it declares a national emergency.
. . .
Want more examples of what Obama is doing?
- EO 10990 allows the Government to take over all modes of transportation and control of highways and seaports.
- EO 10997 allows the government to take over all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels, and minerals.
- EO 11000 allows the government to mobilize civilians into work brigades under government supervision
- EO 11002 designates the Postmaster General to operate a national registration of all persons.
- EO 11003 allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft.
- EO 11004 allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate and establish new locations for populations.
- EO 11005 allows the government to take over railroads, inland waterways, and public storage facilities.
. . .
North Carolina governor Beverly Perdue (Democrat), on September 28, 2011, suggested that perhaps elections should be suspended for two years by canceling, until the economy recovers, the 2012 elections. After that remark got the reception it deserved, Pardue’s staff tried to pass it off as a joke.
The mobilization itself is worrying. One not need to extrapolate to crazy conspiracy theories as to what it could mean that this power is being sought. The seeking itself is indication of mal-intent. WHy does the president need the power to control all transportation, including highways, airports, seaports, and railroads, and all modes of communication, storage facilities, electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels, and minerals? At the behest of the Executive, there are other plans being hatched that might make a citizen worry:
“Whom Does the Government Intend to Shoot?” That’s the question recently posed by retired Major General Jerry Curry in the Daily Caller, in light of horrifying reports that the Social Security Administration is buying 174,000 rounds of hollow-point bullets for distribution to 41 locations in the U.S. According to Major General Curry, Social Security’s ammo spree follows the purchase by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of 46,000 rounds of hollow-point ammunition . . . Major General Curry [also] reports that the Department of Homeland Security ordered 750 million rounds of hollow-point ammunition in March, then subsequently ordered an additional 750 million rounds, including bullets capable of penetrating walls.
The DHS then redacted all of these purchases from official documents, citing “national security concerns.” Why would the organization need so many bullets? Was this a stimulus program for bullet manufacturers or do they plan to actually use that many bullets? There is more…
A recent issue of the well-respected Small Wars Journal featured an article titled “Full Spectrum Operations in the Homeland: A ‘Vision’ of the Future.” Written by retired Army Col. Kevin Benson of the Army’s University of Foreign Military and Jennifer Weber, a Civil War expert, the article helpfully game-played, in full operational detail, how the Army would destroy a local Tea Party insurrection.
The authors claim that should Tea Party rebels take over a City Hall, “Americans will expect the military to execute without pause and as professionally as if it were acting overseas”; therefore, “the Army cannot disappoint the American people, especially in such a moment.”
The brazenness of this scheme for the U.S. military to kill Americans created a small, temporary stir. The Washington Times editorialized, “This is a dark, pessimistic and wrongheaded view of what military leaders should spend their time studying.” The Washington Times also noted:
A professor at the Joint Forces Staff College was relieved of duty in June for uttering the heresy that the United States is at war with Islam. The Obama administration contended the professor had to be relieved because what he was teaching was not U.S. policy. Because there is no disclaimer attached to the Small Wars piece, it is fair to ask, at least in Col. Benson’s case, whether his views reflect official policy regarding the use of U.S. military force against American citizens.
Doesn’t it make you wonder when military journals begin to publish contingencies about the armed forces fighting Americans on American soil?
I have a feeling things are going to get very ugly in the coming years – not because of any of the above, but because our economy is on an unsustainable course. Unless major technological advances are made very soon (which is entirely possible, but not something I would bet on…) and a new industrial revolution occurs, the economy is likely to implode within a few years. Maybe Obama knows it, and that is why he is preparing. Maybe he is hoping we reach that cliff faster. Either way, you should prepare too. And say your prayers that these powers (and bullets) are never used…