05-22-2007, 01:06 AM
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#4 (permalink)
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Banned
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by archetypal fool
....None of this is helped by an administration which values corporate incentives over individual liberties. I've never felt such discontent for a group of politicians. I try very hard not to hate anybody, but these crooks are destroying this fine country, and turning it into a neo-Nazi state.
Fascism, here we come!
p.s. from where did you get your signature? It's making my blood boil...
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The link to it....it's from last week's "presser", in the "Rose Garden", sharing the "stage" with Tony Blair, is available in this post:
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showpos...6&postcount=19
....and to follow up my last post here....to his credit, as the governors did, Sen. Patrick Leahy protested, last September:
Quote:
http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200609/092906b.html
Remarks Of Sen. Patrick Leahy
National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2007
Conference Report
Congressional Record
September 29, 2006
Mr. President, I rise to express my grave reservations about certain provisions of the Fiscal Year 2007 Defense Authorization Bill Conference Report. This legislation poorly handles key provisions related to the National Guard, which — as the events since September 11th have highlighted — is critical to our Nations’ defense. The final conference report drops the reforms known as the National Guard Empowerment Act, a bill that would have given the National Guard more bureaucratic muscle inside the Pentagon. It would have cleared away some of these administrative cobwebs and given the Guard the seat at the decision-making table that it needs and deserves. It also should concern us all that the Conference agreement includes language that subverts solid, longstanding posse comitatus statutes that limit the military’s involvement in law enforcement, thereby making it easier for the President to declare martial law. <b>There is good reason for the constructive friction in existing law when it comes to martial law declarations. .....
The Defense Authorization Conference:
Outcome, Argument Against, And Explanation</b>.....
....Not only does this Conference Report unfortunately drop the Empowerment amendment entirely, it adopts some incredible changes to the Insurrection Act, which would give the President more authority to declare martial law. Let me repeat: The National Guard Empowerment Act, which is designed to make it more likely for the National Guard to remain in State control, is dropped from this conference report in favor of provisions making it easier to usurp the Governors control and making it more likely that the President will take control of the Guard and the active military operating in the States.
The changes to the Insurrection Act will allow the President to use the military, including the National Guard, to carry out law enforcement activities without the consent of a governor. When the Insurrection Act is invoked posse comitatus does not apply. Using the military for law enforcement goes against one of the founding tenets of our democracy, and it is for that reason that the Insurrection Act has only been invoked on three — three — in recent history. The implications of changing the Act are enormous, but this change was just slipped in the defense bill as a rider with little study. Other congressional committees with jurisdiction over these matters had no chance to comment, let alone hold hearings on, these proposals.
While the Conference made hasty changes to the Insurrection Act, the Guard Empowerment Bill was kicked over for study to the Commission on the National Guard and Reserve, which was established only a year ago and whose recommendations have no real force of law. I would have never supported the creation of this panel — and I suspect my colleagues would agree with me — if I thought we would have to wait for the panel to finish its work before we passed new laws on the Guard and Reserve. In fact, we would get nothing done in Congress if we were to wait for every commission, study group, and research panel to finish its work. I have been around here over 30 years, and almost every Senator here knows the National Guard as well as any commission member. We don’t need to wait, and we don’t need to study the question of enhancing the Guard further. This is a terrible blow against rational defense policy-making and against the fabric of our democracy.....
.......Also, it seems <b>the changes to the Insurrection Act have survived the Conference because the Pentagon and the White House want it.</b> It is easy to see the attempts of the President and his advisors to avoid the debacle involving the National Guard after Hurricane Katrina, when Governor Blanco of Louisiana would not give control of the National Guard over to President and the federal chain of command. Governor Blanco rightfully insisted that she be closely consulted and remain largely in control of the military forces operating in the State during that emergency. This infuriated the White House, and now they are looking for some automatic triggers — natural disasters, terrorist attacks, or a disease epidemic — to avoid having to consult with the governors.
A Final Summary
And there you have it -- we are getting two horrible policy decisions out of this Conference because we are not willing to use our Constitutional powers to overcome leadership that ranges from the poor to the intemperate in the Pentagon and the White House. We cannot recognize the diverse ways that the Guard supports the Country, because the Department of Defense does not like it — simply does not like it.
Because of this rubberstamp Congress, these provisions of this conference report add up to the worst of all worlds. We fail the National Guard, which expects great things from us as much as we expect great things from them. And we fail our Constitution, neglecting the rights of the States, when we make it easier for the President to declare martial law and trample on local and state sovereignty.
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