Slamland 2

1Gonzolo Lira awakened me to this one. Before his post I was blissfully unaware of the NDAA¹ .

Those who read me already know how I feel about the various renditions of the Patriot Acts. The NDAA passes those so far that you can’t even see them in the rear-view mirror. Embedded into this POS² is a little something called Indefinite Detention AKA the Levin/McCain detention bill. It is a part and parcel of the NDAA. Last December, Glenn Greenwald, writing for Salon, did a detailed analysis of this bill and the three critical points incorporated within it.

1. The Bill codifies Indefinite Detentions: Basically, it suspends Article 1, section 9, of the US Constitution in its entirety and indefinitely. It even removes the requirement for a trial. Anyone may be detained simply on suspicion and no proof is required whatsoever. Of course, without the requirement of a trial, due process becomes a dim historical artifact. It might be noted that Roman tyrants gained permanent ascendency over the triumvirate, ending the Roman Republic, by the simple expedient of declaring a permanent state of war (This may mark the historical end of the Republic of the United States) .
2. It expands the scope of the War on Terror to the point that it can never be won. It becomes a war that does not end and therefore supports the first point (above).
3. US citizens are not exempt from this bill³ . It leaves open the possibility of subjecting American citizens to military detention and trial by a military court to include indefinite detention of anyone suspected of being a member of Al Qaeda or an amorphous group of “associated forces” that could cover just about anyone arrested anywhere in the world.
4. A fourth point that many analysts miss is that these are military detentions of non-military subjects and thus violates the Posse Comitatus Act. Although the Posse Comitatus is not a part of the US Constitution, it is motivated by said document and expands on it.

Not to put too fine a point on it, the NDAA shits all over the US Constitution and the US Bill of Rights.

1. National Defense Authorization Act of 2012  More links can be found on Google. [↩]
2. POS=Piece Of Shit [↩]
3. Surprisingly, this was done at Obama’s insistence. [↩]

Mirrored from The Slamlander.

This video got my attention

About the Republic of the USA

It is also extremely worrisome. In the various forums, it is amazing how many people do not know that the US is a Republic and guaranteed to remain so by the US Constitution. The majority of them are Democrats.

Mirrored from The Slamlander.

In the US there is no true difference between a Conservative and a Liberal. In the US, a la Webster’s, a conservative is simply one who resists change. Do NOT apply this equally to political and moral conservatism. The are NOT the same, however much the Religious Right likes to conflate the two.

A political conservative is someone, like myself, that seeks to resist changes to the US Constitution, which is still the single most liberal political document ever written and enacted.

The Religious Right seeks to change the US Constitution, or it’s interpretation, to suit Puritan moral values. That makes them radicals, by definition. Radical is not Conservatism. To a true Constitutional Conservative, the Radical Social-Religious Right is anti-Liberty and therefore anathema. We must defend our holy document from such heresy as DOMA and Prohibition¹ . The War on Drugs is a tool of the Puritanical Religious Right.

I am Constitutionally an extreme conservative but socially, I am also a bit of a Liberal because the US Constitution is. Puritan moral values and social mores are incompatible with the US Constitution. In short, you cannot be both an American and a religious moralist.

Too many call themselves conservative when they are actually religious moralists. We cannot fight the enemy as long as our terms are confused. Allowing the Religious Right to also call themselves the Political Right is conceding the war to the enemy, let alone the battle. It’s allowing wolves to call themselves sheep dogs. This is what has been happening to the GOP for years now. Palin and the Tea Party would like nothing more than to shred a document that they do not understand and do not even want to read, the US Constitution.

Remember during this election that the Political Right is NOT the same as the Moral or Religious Right and they will be trying to confuse us all by conflating the two.

1. Note precisely that, there is no mention of banning substances or even controlling them in the US Constitution and before the amendments on alcohol, such were even considered unconstitutional. Most US Founding Fathers would today be in jail as drug users and abusers. [↩]

Mirrored from The Slamlander.

1. Second round of Quantitative Easing will cease on schedule.¹

Amid increasing political pressure and turbulent financial conditions in the world economy, the Federal Reserve is letting its massive bond-buying stimulus program expire in the next few days without a new initiative to prop up the weak American recovery.

Why we can’t afford more war.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday the "explosive path" of the nation’s public debt would exceed 100% of GDP by 2021, even with expected policy changes.

On the Tea Party’s move towards austerity

On the U.S. budget, Bernanke said he didn’t think that sharp, immediate cuts in the deficit would create more jobs, as some Republican and other advocates for belt-tightening have argued.

"In the very short run," he said, "the fiscal tightening is … at best neutral, but probably somewhat negative for job creation."

So, that’s one hit.

2. US risks default on its debt!²

Neither side reported an alignment in positions about raising the nation’s debt ceiling, an unsettled issue that could force the government to default on its obligations by early August.

This is Repugnicans and Demorats playing chicken with our lives and economy. Strangely, neither side is pointing out that it was GW Bush’s policies that got us here. However, it is the ignorant yokels from the Tea Party that is keeping the rest of the GOP from helping to find the brakes. Some of them are even considering letting the US default for 30 days or so, as a tactical play. What fools we elect to congress these days!

Some Republican lawmakers have said a brief default, which would be inevitable in August if lawmakers fail to raise the nation’s $14.3-trillion debt ceiling, might be acceptable if it forces the White House to deal with large budget deficits.

The problem with that plan is that it isn’t Obama that sets the budget. According to the US Constitution, the budget is set in the US House of Representative and nowhere else. The US House is in Republican hands at the moment.

In 2003, when I came here to Switzerland, it cost about 1.20 CHF to buy a dollar. That same dollar now only costs 84 centimes, or 0.842CHF! The mighty are falling as I write this.

1. This round of quantitative easing expires at the end of June. [↩]
2. The debt ceiling must be raised by early August or the US goes into default. [↩]

Mirrored from The Slamlander.

Rather extreme.

Will it ever get to this?

The US Feral¹ Government is getting a little out of hand, you think? But if they can get away with ignoring the US Constitution the way that they have been since 2001 then they will keep right on doing it.

I had hopes for Obama, they are fading. The Tea Party has it wrong but I’ll bet that they now wish that they had never heard of Sarah Palin. The thing is that the economy doesn’t matter if you lose your freedom in the process. Safety and security don’t matter if you lose your freedoms getting them.

CALEA, Patriot Acts I and II, and a whole raft of other things all contribute to the loss of freedom and civil rights. Yes, Handgun Control Inc. is against your freedom. Watch this video and realize why the 2^nd Amendment is your sole protection. It is the last barricade against the Totalitarian State of Amerika and even then, it has already been dangerously eroded.

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.  – Article I, section 9, US Constitution

Already, Americans cannot fly without giving up their 4^th and 5^th Amendment rights. Arrested, you do not have the right of Habeas Corpus, a constitutionally guaranteed right. They will simply ignore it. You can be arrested without Probable Cause, you can be searched without Probable Cause, you can have all of your money and possessions confiscated without a trial or even Probable Cause²  , that is the Land of the Free?

GW Bush began all of this and Obama has not even begun to try to reverse these things. In fact, he is exacerbating some of them.

1. Not a typo. This is a term that I’ve used for the US Federal Gov for a long time. It indicates a rogue government that does not feel that it is contrained from commiting any act that it desires by the will, or lack thereof, of the people. [↩]
2. All they have to claim is that they suspect you of trafficking drugs, verbally, no proof required, or even any truth. Even if you get exonerated in a trial, they won’t give any of it back because they don’t have to. That’s the way the law is written. [↩]

Mirrored from The Slamlander.