Shanghaied by Forked Tongue

My friend Ed (author of the "Sparrowhawk" series on the American Revolution) makes the excellent point in his latest editorial Fork-Tongue in Shanghai that when Obama said he was a fan of "non-censorship" while visiting China recently, what he really meant was that he was not a fan of freedom of speech. No slip of the forked tongue. As Ed observes,

The satire is that in Shanghai, Obama was subjected to the same censorship that he wishes to impose on America. It was the professional totalitarians showing the ropes to an amateur.

An amateur with grand ambitions to be a pro, I might add.

Ed also makes the cogent point that terms like "providers" are concocted by Leftists to imply a sacrificial obligation (and thereby seize the moral high ground) by businesses to provide free services to everyone else, without rights to control the means of providing. To ensure that, government must therefore have the authority to force businesses to comply. You may note that what is really implied is the destruction of the concept of property rights as such. That is always the real goal of such agendas. To quote Ellsworth Toohey, the arch-Marxist par excellance from "The Fountainhead" (quoted in my own editorial on Toohey vs Obama, "Good Night America", 6/28/09),

"Don't bother to examine a folly--ask yourself only what it accomplishes.

See Ed's column at http://ruleofreason.blogspot.com/2009/11/fork-tongued-in-shanghai.htm

Rodents of Unusual Size

Or a large man-eating rat by any other name, from The Princess Bride.

A friend sent me an article that makes the point that the Health Care Bill is a sort of Ponzi scheme to make us all dependent on government in matters of health care, but in my opinion, this falls far short of the truth and the nature of the pure evil behind it. Why were 40 Democrats sacrificed to pass the health care bill (they will lose in the next election for voting for this), and why do the people behind this want a "dominant role of government in health care"?

The short form answer is, as I said in a previous post, that I think the guys orchestrating health care "reform" want much more than just that. Their goal is a Chavez-like incremental communism with an end-game of the Cuban model. That's why I often say Obama is a Castroite, and why I'll now append that title to Nancy Pelosi. It was Pelosi's sacrifice of so many members of her own party to her agenda that finally convinced me she is a committed communist and not just a socialist.

She would only do this, by the way, if there was some Plan B, not yet revealed, that would make her and her ilk (including Obama) unconcerned about the next election. Stay tuned.

As I said previously in "The Real Meaning of Health Care Reform" (9/4/09), the primary goal of this "reform" is the enactment of the legal basis for totalitarianism. I do not think the bill was a simple product of the "Far Left", but was concocted as part of a broader plan by committed communists whose ultimate goal is the destruction of capitalism and the United States. The health care bill (like Obama) is a stepping stone to that end.

I make a big distinction between socialists and communists. The latter are active conspirators, whereas socialists are simply "me-too-ers" who aren't part of any conspiracy but just really, really excited to promote their agenda out in the open. (And rank and file average Democrats are simply ballast to them.) Communists have a goal and a plan, and actively work together in secret to implement it.

If you'll pardon the speculation, their plan (and it is a loose conspiracy, I think, that includes a great number of people around the world) is to put their people in all top positions of our government. The Presidency of the United States was the "holy grail" they've sought for 60 years -- access to every single top secret of the U.S. government, and the highest influence of all domestic and foreign policy. Obama's "appearance" on the stage was not accidental. A black man was groomed for this role for a reason -- to get out a large base of normally uninvolved voters, to cash in on all the latent guilt fostered in public schools for decades over the legacy of slavery, and to insulate him from a lot of criticism as just motivated by "racism".

In my opinion the timing of the economic collapse only weeks before the election was also not an accident. It was an essential part of the Plan. The preconditions of the collapse had been building (created and encouraged) for several decades. I think the seizing-up of the credit markets was pushed as far ahead as 2-4 years before the election. These people knew that a bad economy and widespread fear and panic would gain them substantial points in the election.

I think Hank Paulsen (former Secretary of the Treasury) was probably part of the plan because of his central role in bringing the "crisis" to Bush for immediate action only weeks before the election, but it's possible the strings were pulled from below to manipulate him to that situation. When it was evident that Obama had even a small chance of losing (his margin was shrinking rapidly), they had Paulsen pull the trigger on the boldest and most desperate move of all -- Paulsen would take a catastrophic meltdown crisis to Bush (the dumbest shrub on the planet) with the immediate need for a trillion dollars. The point wasn't the state of the economy itself, which was admittedly bad. It was to precipitate a catastrophic crisis, by goading Bush into asking Congress for an emergency authorization of a trillion dollars -- a few weeks before the election. They knew this would scare the living hell out of everyone in the country and get Obama and the Democrats all the swing votes necessary to ensure victory.

The evidence for Paulsen (a Democrat) being more than a dupe and probably a closet communist is that his job as Secretary of the Treasury was carefully orchestrated in my opinion. Paulsen's motivation for wanting the job was simple: at Goldman, he was the one who put the entire company at risk by promoting the mortgage backed securities market (MBSs). Goldman for a time made a lot of money on this, and Paulsen was sitting on $500M worth of stock options as a result of the "success" of that strategy. But his options were going to be worthless soon -- when the MBS house of cards collapsed or when the trigger was pulled on the economy to make it collapse.

As Secretary of the Treasury, Paulsen would be in an ideal situation to not only pull that trigger, but by law required to divest himself of a "conflict of interest" before he had to pull it -- to liquidate his options at Goldman. A key company officer dumping such a large number of options on the market would normally devastate the price of a stock, but everyone knows that stock divestment was a legal requirement for anyone to take the Treasury top job. Paulsen was smart enough to know the MBSs he promoted at Goldman were a ticking time bomb. So it was perfect for him -- he made out like a bandit before chickens came home to roost. Then he had no reluctance at all to go to Bush with an outrageous call for a trillion dollar "bailout" of the banking industry.

Look a step further at how perfectly this all came together for the communist conspiricists. Requesting a trillion dollars not only ensured Obama the election, it got them the authority to seize control of the entire banking industry. And then the auto industry. And then carte blanche to demand more regulation of every other industry.

Seriously, if you were a committed communist, and your goal was the destruction of capitalism and the nationalization of private industry, what could be more perfect?

Most people are very reluctant to openly suggest there are communist conspiracies or that particular people are communists, even in the face of glaring evidence. (Eg, Van Jones making explicit public statements such as "I AM A COMMUNIST", and Obama spending his entire life consorting with communists, including his parents and mentors and preachers and fellow intellectuals.) People think (rightly) that it makes them look wild-eyed and un-credible -- and I would agree in many forums or circles, you just can't do it. Labels are usually a diversion from underlying intellectual issues.

But there are cases where a label is appropriate: when the issue isn't simply intellectual. If a country, for instance, was planning to attack the United States with atomic weapons, you wouldn't mock anyone who used the label of "The Soviets". You would use that label to more precisely identify the nature of the threat and the plans the Soviets were making. Well, the Soviets may be gone (at least in Russia), but their ilk live on and plan and work towards their goal. That is the value of the label "communist".

Belittling of labels was one of the goals of the post-McCarthy era, for that reason. Even if McCarthy and HUAC were temporary (and minor) setbacks, the communists brilliantly spun those hearings to demonize anyone as lunatics for seeing communists under every table.

And communism didn't go away after McCarthy -- it flourished in the twilight for decades, especially after the government and teachers unions cemented control of the school system post-Kennedy. The "black-listing" was an ideal cover, for this -- it made the communists much more cautious about revealing their affiliations. (Van Jones is, relatively speaking, just a loud mouthed moron in those circles.)

So, even if you can't produce "smoking gun" evidence in the form of CPUSA cards for these people (though you could for Jones and for Obama's father, and for Frank Davis, Obama's mentor), that doesn't mean communists and a broad conspiracy aren't out there, but you do have to be willing to risk being called a conspiracy nut to see it. The signs are everywhere, if you know what to look for.

What are the signs? To see them accurately, the key is to not get suckered into thinking all Leftists are communists; most aren't (communists are a very small minority). While Leftists and communists share the appeal of altruism as a moral ideal, communists are not interested in fostering a "greater good" (however flawed that concept may be for Leftists in general).

What differentiates communists in particular are two defining mental traits: first, a sort of megalomaniacal belief in their own superior intelligence (observe Obama's nomination and inauguration), and second, an unbridled power lust (look what he's done and who he has surrounded himself with). The second breeds their over-arching hatred of individualism and capitalism (how can you be superior to everyone if you can't control them?), and the combination leads communists to concoct conspiracies. Altruism is what gives them the means to that end, and conspiracies are their modus operandi. The psychology of a communist is ultimately that of a pathological liar and killer. For more on this, see my post "Good Night, America" (6/28/09).

This reasoning may sound like a self-licking ice cream cone -- "their love of conspiracies is why you have to believe my conspirializing about their conspiracies"-- but I'm not a big fan of chance. As Auric Goldfinger said, "Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action." Labels can occasionally be useful, and a communist by any other name is a large Rodent of Unusual Size in Grandma's clothes, waiting to devour little Red White and Blue Riding Hood.

The First Horseman of the Apocalypse

A friend recently remarked with regard to media bias in support of the Obama agenda (ABC/NBC/CBS/MSNBC/CNBC/CNN/NYTIMES/WASHINGTONPOST and 99% of the newspapers in this country),

Reading an essay on the dissemination of ideas in the Revolution, it was depressing (for our situation) to read that the Founders' ideas were also held by almost totally all the printers in the colonies. The printers were very much in sympathy with overthrowing the Brits. That made disseminating of the ideas much easier. Unlike our own situation.

That is, the ideas of individual rights and liberty. I can't help but note that there's a lot more depressing differences besides lack of "media" support.

1.) The Colonists had the enormous advantage of a great distance -- they could organize in large numbers and build an army over several years with little fear of being stopped. In our country today you couldn't organize 10 people for a few months without FBI SWAT teams arresting everyone.

2.) The Colonists hadn't even a millionth of the surveillance that we have today. A few spies. We have the entire internet and telephone networks and U.S. mails monitered, our cell phones and GPS units and automobiles (with features like "On-Star") and wireless toll passes all report the exact locations of large numbers of most people 24/7. RFID chips in our credit cards track everything we buy and even where we go. The Feds have 100% access to any record, including medical and purchases. Throw in low-cost traffic surveillance cameras on a growing number of streets (soon we'll be like Britain -- they'll be on every street), security cameras inside every business, and god knows what else. (One British town even put cameras inside recycling bins to make sure people aren't mixing the bottles with the baby diapers.) A video camera with a microphone and a transmitter can be smaller than a shirt button (less batteries) and literally put anywhere (ever see the movie "Truman"?), and post 9/11 there are virtually no legal obstacles.

3.) The public education system has a death grip on the minds of most people in this country, brainwashing them from almost birth with dogma, ignorance of their birthright, and a psychology of dependency. Very hard to overcome.

4.) A much higher percentage of the population today supports encroachments on freedom than the Colonists ever did or ever would, including the Tories. Even those who oppose what is being done to enslave us are of such mixed premises that they can easily be manipulated, as the health care vote demonstrated, when Obama handed out "favors"--that is, the removal from the health care bill of threats to destroy them--to the AMA, AARP, and the drug and insurance companies. (see http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/healthcare/66717-obamacare-endorsements-what-the-bribe-was)

For now. In the name of such pragmatism are we being enslaved. Who says philosophy doesn't rule the course of history? Read Atlas Shrugged if you need to understand this more clearly. Wait a few years if you need to grasp it more palpably.

Should true dictatorship come to this country in the near future (or any future), all four of these points, and more, make it impossible that we will ever be able to use the Hollywood approach to save us (aka, Star Wars). I'm afraid that there is very little historical precedent for overthrowing dictators with brave bands of rebels led by a charismatic leader and moral superiority. The United States was utterly unique in the annals of time.

There are three kinds of people in the world at any epoch of time: those who want to be free, those who want to be enslaved, and those who want to enslave free people. A much higher percentage of people today want to be in those last two categories than ever have in the history of this country. Marxism and public education breeds slaves and enslavers very efficiently. They are "Borg".

There's much more one could say to dissuade potential "Revolutionaries". Anyone in this country who might be thinking of organizing opposition to the "Crown" in Washington in the manner of America's Founders will find it is an impossibility in this day and age--so long as the government has the money to pay people wedded to being slaves or enslavers to do their bidding. If I ever met a wannabe "Revolutionary", my advice would be: never fight a battle you're going to lose. Far better to grit your teeth and bide your time.

If there is to be any way out of this mess, in the long run it is only going to be by spreading the right ideas to a much larger number of people, and in the short run by rallying the great mass of outraged citizens around single issues like health care or voting bad politicians out of office.

That said, right now I'm very pessimistic. Despite the galvanizing effect he has had in building an opposition, with Obama in office I think our odds are poor. He is smart and evil in a degree that's never been seen in this country, in that office. I thoroughly expected what happened with the passage of the health care bill--feign weakness and pass in the dead of night. Watch for more of the same in the Senate. And the same for Cap and Trade. This is why I was so opposed to Obama's election. He is too slick and too good at manipulating people and the system, and he's got way too many behind-the-scenes advisors and puppetmasters. (There's a reason he uses those teleprompters so slavishly.)

Right now my thinking is that if nationalized health care passes, Cap and Trade will soon follow and we will enter a free fall towards dictatorship within the next 5 years. We can debate what "dictatorship" means, but I submit that when everyone is forced to buy a $15,000 government-mandated insurance policy as a condition of citizenship or face large fines and 5 years in prison, then the Bill of Rights, the Constitution and any restraints on government power have been thrown out with the bathwater, the swimming pool and even the Atlantic Ocean. We are at the waters edge and the rip-tide is strong and the bottom deep.

If it can happen fast enough, I think a general uprising in the country could stop it. We aren't Europe. Yet. A bald-faced attempt to seize real dictatorial powers (read those "Executive Orders" in my previous post ) would be a good thing: I do not think the military and police and intelligence agencies and others in government would go along with it. I think the majority take their oaths seriously and believe they are the good guys, like super-agent Sidney Bristow from the TV show Alias -- they would be aghast to find themselves working for "SD-6", an organization of murder, larceny and terrorism, the very people they thought they were working against.

Most people will scream bloody murder if the danger is thrust on them wholesale before their spirit is broken with the Chinese water torture of incrementalism. But if the result isn't Obama's impeachment, the end of the sudden dictatorship scenario is potentially bloodshed, possible civil war, and the very good chance of replacing one dictatorship with another. We must avoid that at all costs.

It is far better to find ways to do the most effective job we can to disseminate the right ideas--the legacy and meaning of individual rights and the mantle of reason--and teach more people in this country what it stands for and why it's worth fighting for now, with pen and voice and marches and phone calls and ballots, rather than post-poning till it's too late. We must teach them what they were never taught in the government-run schools which teach dogma, obedience and servility.

But unless we get a lot better at this and a lot better organized--and more creative--in how to reach and persuade large numbers of people of the extreme danger we are facing in the very near future, I think the odds are low that any kind of uprising (peaceful or not) against a real dictatorship can succeed. For more on this, read the history of Rome.

In the short run the best possible chance to stop Obama would be court cases. At least gum up the system temporarily and get injunctions to halt the implementation of the health care bill and Cap-and-Trade and any number of other things Obama is ramming through. Even if these cases eventually lost in the Supreme Court, they can be dragged through the appellate system for awhile, hopefully till there is a big turnover in Congress--one year!--and then we can get those bills rescinded.

What frustrates me is that I don't see anyone filing or speaking of filing court cases! Surely there's someone in this country who has noticed that there is no authority in the Constitution for Congress to force Americans to buy something (such as health care insurance) as a condition of citizenship. Surely there is someone who has noticed that national health care enslaves the entire medical profession. Surely someone has noticed that the government is seizing our right to the most basic decisions about our lives and thereby destroying the concept of rights. Surely someone has noticed that Congress and Obama are making a mockery of the Constitution (Nancy Pelosi's "Are you serious? Are you serious?" when her power was questioned even momentarily the other week.)

There are so many legitimate grounds to challenge these laws that it astounds me there isn't a single lawyer in the country who isn't contemplating a legal challenge. At least, I haven't heard them speak out. (They didn't when Obama took over the auto and banking industries.) I haven't read of any briefs being filed. Why? Are they that afraid? Are they that indoctrinated? Are they so poor they can't band with others to raise the money for the cases? Are they so impoverished of spirit that they don't even care?

For anyone willing to file the case, I'd like to suggest one ground that I've never heard before, and attempt to get it established as precedent: I would like to see charges brought against any Federal official and Representatives and other officers of the government who are guilty of willful and knowing violation of the Constitution of the United States in supporting the passage of legislation that is egregiously unconstitutional. Obama and Pelosi and every member of Congress have taken an oath to "preserve and defend the Constitution". We can debate whether honest mistakes are made for routine legislation, but I submit that an abomination such as the health care takeover constitutes such an egregiously "willful and knowing" breach of fiduciary duty to their oath that it is treason to the people of the United States. I would like to see them prosecuted as such. Legislators and officers of the government should not have carte blanche "see if they can get away with" whatever they want. As representatives of our government, they should be held to the highest standard possible, or no standards are possible.

Moreover, I would like to test a second principle: If any act of legislation is found to be unconstitutional, members of Congress and the President of the United States should be personally liable for any damages that are incurred to the citizens of the country and subject to civil and criminal suits. I can't think of a better brake on unbridled power.

At the very least, breach of trust in the execution of the oath is grounds for immediate removal from office. Can the Supreme Court, or at least the Chief Justice who administered the oath to the President, make that call? I don't know. But it would make an interesting case.

Another, less likely way to obstruct Obama's agenda, though not out of the realm of possibility, would be to make enough people in police and intelligence agencies (and career prosecutors) realize the danger of what Obama is doing (a communist, bent on communist rule with foreign assistance, in my opinion), and start bringing down the people around him on corruption and espionage charges, starting with people like Rahm Emmanuel and Obama's inner circle. Congress at present won't support impeachment, but you can weaken Obama tremendously by taking down his lieutenants and shock troops.

There will be tremendous battles if this was started. Obama and his cohorts will do everything in their power to stop investigations, and fire and punish investigators who are attempting to frustrate a plan--the takeover of the Presidency--that has been dreamed of by the Left since Roosevelt.

I would not be surprised to see even worse happen. These people play for keeps. The evidence, which I'm sure exists, would be best acquired covertly to protect the investigators. You'd need a "Fifth Column" of people in the government to do this in secret, but it could probably be done legally as long as it stayed secret. I have no idea how you get this done, but it would save the Republic--in the short run.

The First Horseman of the Apocalypse was "Conquest". I say, find a way to throw the rider off his mount before he leads his charge against us.

The Future Through the Past

http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ari_ayn_rand_the_nature_of_government

I was reading this Ayn Rand essay from 1963 and struck by how relevant it is today:

...Consider the extent of the moral and political inversion in today’s prevalent view of government. Instead of being a protector of man’s rights, the government is becoming their most dangerous violator; instead of guarding freedom, the government is establishing slavery; instead of protecting men from the initiators of physical force, the government is initiating physical force and coercion in any manner and issue it pleases; instead of serving as the instrument of objectivity in human relationships, the government is creating a deadly, subterranean reign of uncertainty and fear, by means of nonobjective laws whose interpretation is left to the arbitrary decisions of random bureaucrats; instead of protecting men from injury by whim, the government is arrogating to itself the power of unlimited whim—so that we are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force.

Think of the power of Obama's "Czars". Think of House leader Pelosi's recent response, when asked if the Congress had the authority to enact Health Care legislation ("Are you serious? Are you serious?"). Think of the doctors and insurance companies and automobile manufacturers and dealerships and banks and business executives or ordinary Americans who are being enslaved in uncertainty and fear to what the arbitrary and unbridled power of Washington will do next.

For two centuries, the United States was the last hope for the anyone in this world who wished to escape despotism in their own land. No more. The despots and thugs have now reached our shores. Unless limits are soon put on what Washington is doing, this planet will soon be entering the darkest period of human history.

The Unbridled Authority of Presidential "Executive Orders"

A friend passed me a link to an article (http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/16142 ) that is interesting though it struck me as somewhat conspiratorial in its assertions about the insidious nature of Presidential "Executive Orders". I don't know who author "Marion Valentine" is, but on further examination, I think he is correct in his narrow point that a "medical emergency" could be the route to martial law. What buttresses that point is actually reading the Executive Orders he lists in his article. The situation is much, much worse than I imagined.

I checked the source -- the actual text of the Executive Orders -- and found that for the most part, the assertions about their content are accurate, though the vast majority of the Orders he listed had long since been revoked or superceded. Nonetheless, there is value in reading them to understand how they evolved into the key orders now in effect today: EO's 11921 (Under Ford), 12148 (Under Carter) and 12656 (Under Reagan).

I didn't try to look at more current EOs than were listed in the article, but it is clear that their evolution started from a rationale based on a legitimate concern -- nuclear attack -- that was driven by the goal of circumventing Supreme Court restrictions on the imposition of martial law, as well as the 1878 Posse Comitatus law against using Federal military personnel as law enforcement on non-Federal property without Congressional authority. By such means has federal authority morphed to undermine the Constitution.

Several things jumped out at me from reading the actual Executive Orders. Most importantly, they all rest on the failure to define an "emergency". Had an emergency been defined as an attack on the soil of the United States, these orders would be much less threatening, and possibly fully Constitutional. Often they make no such claim, and even when they reference the possibility of an attack on our soil, it's only "included" as one type of emergency while leaving other types undefined. That makes it clear the people writing these orders knew what they were doing.

The intent was to sidestep the Supreme Court's prohibition of "casual" implementation of "martial law" in the United States:

On September 15, 1863, President Lincoln imposed Congressionally-authorized martial law. The authorizing act allowed the President to suspend habeas corpus throughout the entire United States. Lincoln imposed the suspension on "prisoners of war, spies, or aiders and abettors of the enemy," as well as on other classes of people, such as draft dodgers. The President's proclamation was challenged in Ex parte Milligan, 71 US 2 [1866]). The Supreme Court ruled that Lincoln's imposition of martial law (by way of suspension of habeas corpus) was unconstitutional. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_law)

Were I a lawyer mounting a challenge to TARP or other unconstitutional actions, this would be a key angle I would pursue. Many of the origins of these Orders came after WWII, as a response to the possibility of nuclear attack. The lack of definition of an "emergency" now allows the government to de facto implementation of martial law for almost any circumstance. Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution states,

"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."

This is the primary Constitutional definition of an emergency. Rebellion or Invasion. Period. It implies authority for martial law only for these two cases and no other. It doesn't give authority to impose martial law for economic emergencies, environmental emergencies, medical emergencies or any other.

The Constitution doesn't make clear who can impose an "emergency" in case of rebellion or invasion -- the President or Congress. Lincoln obtained Congressional authority for martial law during the Civil War, but that was later overruled by the Supreme Court:

On September 15, 1863, Lincoln imposed Congressionally-authorized martial law. The authorizing act allowed the President to suspend habeas corpus throughout the entire United States. Lincoln imposed the suspension on "prisoners of war, spies, or aiders and abettors of the enemy," as well as on other classes of people, such as draft dodgers. The President's proclamation was challenged in ex parte Milligan (71 US 2 [1866]). The Supreme Court ruled that Lincoln's imposition of martial law (by way of suspension of habeas corpus) was unconstitutional. (http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_mlaw.html)

The answer that came back was a firm limitation on the authority of either the President or Congress to impose martial law:

"Martial law ... destroys every guarantee of the Constitution. Civil liberty and this kind of martial law cannot endure together; the antagonism is irreconcilable; and, in the conflict, one or the other must perish."

The Court didn't say martial law could never be imposed -- they said Congress and the President did not have the authority in this case.

"If, in foreign invasion or civil war, the courts are actually closed, and it is impossible to administer criminal justice according to law, then, on the theatre of active military operations, where war really prevails, there is a necessity to furnish a substitute for the civil authority, thus overthrown, to preserve the safety of the army and society; and as no power is left but the military, it is allowed to govern by martial rule until the laws can have their free course. As necessity creates the rule, so it limits its duration; for, if this government is continued after the courts are reinstated, it is a gross usurpation of power. Martial rule can never exist where the courts are open, and in the proper and unobstructed exercise of their jurisdiction. It is also confined to the locality of actual war."

This is a clear limitation on Presidential and Congressional authority to declare "emergencies". It has been ignored for the last 70 years: only when and where there is an actual breakdown of order with no functioning police and courts can martial law be imposed.

What we're witnessing today is the extension of that authority by the means of "emergencies" that claim the same status as "Rebellion or Invasion", but without regard to a breakdown of law and order. The most recent and ludicrous is Obama's "swine flu emergency".

Another interesting insight gleaned from reading the Presidential EOs is the origins of the many "advisory" functions they create. These are the central mechanism subverting Congressional oversight of the Executive branch.

Here's how it works: in the EOs, delegation power is "reserved" to the President, who gives "guidance authority" to "advisors" made up out of thin air. The President appoints these "adviCzars" and then takes their "guidance" as orders he passes on to his Cabinet offices. Actual cabinet Secretaries become puppets, implementing the Czar policies, while the Czars (as Obama claims) have no obligation to report to Congress. The President thus circumvents Congressional approval of cabinet posts and oversight of Cabinet policy. This is why Obama is creating so many "Czars" as a complete shadow Cabinet. BiCzar.

Much of the "authority" in these EOs rests on bizarre interpretations of words like "guidance" and "planning", which are given no definition and a much broader meaning than most people would assume. Everything else is defined in these Orders, but not the words that really matter. Again, Obama's "advisors" provide "guidance" to the President for "planning", and he then delegates authority to "implement" those plans back to his Cabinet. In this manner the strings of the puppet master are pulled. For example, Van Jones, Special Advisor to the President for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Green Jobs Czar. How else do you get an avowed communist running parts of the country? (At least for awhile.)

Many of these EOs have arbitrary "claimancy" clauses as well. These assign the President unrestricted authority to seize anything for any reason whatsoever during an emergency. Whatever the emergency is. These clauses are just stuck in there, with no legal basis provided whatsoever. No one has ever challenged them that I know. Now we have 60 years of "tradition" behind them, if not a single basis in the Constitution.

Authority for TARP is buried in these Orders, too, such as sub-clause (j) of Order 10997 under Kennedy. For a long time I've wondered why TARP hasn't been challenged in Court. The EOs explain it. A long tradition of Executive Orders, nothing more. What disturbs me is the possibility that so many victims could have been convinced they would lose in court because of Presidential Executive Orders, not actual Congressional law. Or that the courts would give Executive Orders the same status as actual statutes. Give me a break.

Again, in case of an actual attack on U.S. soil, especially a nuclear one, where there is literally chaos everywhere and no law enforcement and invading hordes of Chicomms,Russkis and replicating bureaucrats from D.C. or whatever, I wouldn't have a problem with many of these Orders. A genuine emergency. The problem principally rests on the definition of an "emergency" (and secondarily on the unquestioned authority to "claimancy"). This is how it should be attacked in Court.

This is what happens when citizens don't file cases against unconstitutional laws, and when the courts have been so philosophically corrupted that they don't declare unconstitutional laws and regulations and Orders unconstitutional. Thus is a free nation fascized and socialized.

Robb

Side note: A great many of the egregious EOs were in anticipation of a nuclear attack and ordered by John F. Kennedy on one day -- February 16, 1962, fully 8 months before the Cuban Missile Crisis, well before any missiles had been discovered in Cuba -- as reported in the history books. This makes it almost certain that the books are wrong and that Russian nuclear missiles were in Cuba well before the time reported in the history books -- September, 1962. The Big Lie strikes again.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/executive_orders.php?year=1962&Submit=DISPLAY

http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/numeric-executive-orders.html

Here are the EO's listed in Valentine's article, with my indented annotations:

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10990 allows the government to take over all modes of transportation and control of highways and seaports.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=58928 Under Kennedy. Valentines interpretation is wrong, or at least a huge stretch. It establishes a "safety council", and I couldn't find any authority to actually do something. Maybe I'm too generous in how they manipulate words. In any case, Superseded by EO 11612.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10995 allows the government to seize and control the communication media.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=58933 Agree with the assessment, but Revoked by EO 11556.

SEC. 3. The authority to assign radio frequencies to Government agencies, vested in the President by section 305 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (47 U.S.C. 305), including all functions heretofore vested in the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee, is hereby delegated to the Director of the Office of Emergency Planning, who may redelegate such authority to the Director of Telecommunications Management. Such authority shall include the power to amend, modify, or revoke frequency assignments.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10997 allows the government to take over all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels and minerals.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=58935 Agree with the assessment. Unbridled authority to seize and control. Add authority for price controls, rationing, etc. Note sub-clause (j) -- there is part of the TARP authority. But superceded by EO 11490 under Nixon. Key excerpts:

SECTION 1. Scope. The Secretary of the Interior (hereinafter referred to as the Secretary) shall prepare national emergency plans and develop preparedness programs covering (1) electric power; (2) petroleum and gas; (3) solid fuels; and (4) minerals. These plans and programs shall be designed to provide a state of readiness in these resource areas with respect to all conditions of national emergency, including attack upon the United States.

SEC. 3. Resource Functions. With respect to the resources defined above, the Secretary shall:

(a) Priorities and allocations. Develop systems for the emergency application of priorities and allocations to the production and distribution of assigned resources.

(d) Claimancy. Prepare plans to claim materials, manpower, equipment, supplies and services needed in support of assigned responsibilities and other essential functions of the Department before the appropriate agency, and work with such agencies in developing programs to insure availability of such resources in an emergency.

(i) (Economic Stabilization. Cooperate with the Office of Emergency Planning in the development of economic stabilization policies as they might affect the power, fuels and assigned minerals supply, production, and marketing programs, and the conservation of essential commodities in an emergency, including rationing of power and fuel.

( j ) Financial aid. Develop plans and procedures for financial and credit assistance to producers, processors, and distributors who might need such assistance in various mobilization conditions.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10998 allows the government to take over all food resources and farms.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=58936 Agree with the assessment. See Section 5, which essentially gives the President carte blanche authority to do whatever the hell he wants. Revoked and superceded by EO 11490. Key excerpts:

SECTION 1. Scope. The Secretary of Agriculture (hereinafter referred to as the Secretary) shall prepare national emergency plans and develop preparedness programs covering: Food resources, farm equipment, fertilizer, and food resource facilities, as defined below; rural fire control; defense against biological warfare, chemical warfare, and radiological fallout pertaining to agricultural activities; and rural defense information and education. These plans and programs shall be designed to develop a state of readiness in these areas with respect to all conditions of national emergency, including attack upon the United States.

SEC. 3. Food Function. With respect to food resources, food resource facilities, farm equipment, and fertilizer the Secretary shall:

(a) Resources. Periodically assess assigned resources available from all sources in order to estimate availability under an emergency situation, analyze resource estimates in relation to estimated requirements in order to identify problem areas, and develop appropriate recommendations and programs including those necessary for the maintenance of an adequate mobilization base. Provide data and assistance before and after attack for national resource evaluation purposes of the Office of Emergency Planning.

(c) Priorities and allocations. Develop priorities, allocations and distribution control systems and related plans to insure that available food resources are properly apportioned among and distributed to civilian, military and foreign claimants in an emergency and develop priorities, allocations and distribution control systems and related plans for the domestic distribution of farm equipment and fertilizer.

(f) Economic stabilization. Cooperate with the Office of Emergency Planning in the development of stabilization policies as they might affect agricultural production, processing, distribution, and storage, and in tile development of policies for consumer rationing of food resources.

SEC. 4. Cooperation with Department of Defense. In consonance with national civil defense plans, programs and operations of the Department of Defense, under Executive Order No. 10952, the Secretary shall:

(c) Biological, chemical, and radiological warfare defense functions. Develop plans for a national program, direct Federal activities, and furnish technical guidance to State and local authorities concerning (1) diagnosis and strengthening of defensive barriers and control or eradication of diseases, pests, or chemicals introduced as agents of biological or chemical warfare against animals, crops or products thereof; (2) protective measures, treatment and handling of livestock, including poultry, agricultural commodities on farms or ranches, agricultural lands, forest lands, and water for agricultural purposes, any of which have been exposed to or affected by radiation. Plans shall be developed for a national program and direction of Federal activities to assure the safety and wholesomeness and to minimize losses from biological and chemical warfare radiological effects, and other emergency hazards of livestock, meat and meat products, poultry and poultry products in establishments under the continuous inspection of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and agricultural commodities and products owned by the Commodity Credit Corporation or by the Secretary.

SEC. 5. Claimancy. The Secretary shall prepare plans to claim materials, manpower, equipment, supplies and services which would be needed to carry out assigned responsibilities and other essential functions of the Department from the appropriate agency and work with such agencies in developing programs to insure availability of such resources Ill an emergency.

(c) Emergency planning. Emergency plans and programs, and emergency organization structure required thereby, shall be developed as an integral part of the continuing activities of the Department of the Interior on the basis that it will have the responsibility for carrying out such programs during an emergency. The Secretary shall be prepared to implement all appropriate plans developed under this order. Modifications, and temporary organizational changes, based on emergency conditions, will be in accordance with policy determination by the President.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11000 allows the government to mobilize civilians into work brigades under government supervision.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=58938 Agreed. Mass civilian conscription is authorized. Also add "Wage and Price Controls", and "power to expropriate anything they need from anyone for any reason whatsoever". Revoked and superceded by EO 11490.

SECTION 1. Scope. The Secretary of Labor (hereinafter referred to as the Secretary) shall prepare national emergency plans and develop preparedness programs covering civilian manpower mobilization, more effective utilization of limited manpower resources including specialized personnel, wage and salary stabilization, worker incentives and protection, manpower resources and requirements, skill development and training, research, labor-management relations, and critical occupations. These plans and programs shall be designed to develop a state of readiness in these areas with respect to all conditions of national emergency, including attack upon the United States.

(f) Claimancy. Prepare plans to claim materials, equipment, supplies and services needed in support of assigned responsibilities and other essential functions of the Department from appropriate agencies and work with such agencies in developing programs to insure the availability of such resources in an emergency.

This order, issued February 16, 1962, is an extremely comprehensive statement of government authority in a national emergency such as a nuclear war. You should read the entire thing. But what's really interesting -- it came out 8 months before the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. The history is that the missiles weren't put in Cuba till September 1962 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis). That says to me they knew a crisis was brewing long before.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11001 allows the government to take over all health, education and welfare functions.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=58940. Agreed. Add unbridled authority to impose a massive welfare state. Revoked and superceded by EO 11490.

SECTION 1. Scope. The Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (hereinafter referred to as the Secretary) shall prepare national emergency plans and develop preparedness programs covering health services, civilian health manpower, health resources, welfare services, and educational programs as defined below. These plans and programs shall be designed to develop a state of readiness in these areas with respect to all conditions of national emergency including attack upon the United States.

SEC. 3. Health Functions. With respect to emergency health services, as defined above, and in consonance with national civil defense plans, programs and operations of the Department of Defense under Executive Order No. 10952, the Secretary shall:

(f) Food, drugs, and biologicals. Plan and direct national programs for the maintenance of purity and safety in the manufacture and distribution of food, drugs, and biologicals in an emergency.

There is also this ominous and peculiar Section 7:

SEC. 7. Resources. The Secretary shall periodically assess assigned resources available from all sources in order to estimate availability under an emergency situation, analyze resource estimates in relation to estimated requirements in order to identify problem areas and develop appropriate recommendations and programs. Provide data and assistance before and after attack for national resource evaluation purposes of the Office of Emergency Planning.

It is strangely vague and doesn't refer to "health resources" in any way. What "resources" is it referring to? For what purpose?

This EO is the equivalent of Directive 10-289 from Atlas Shrugged:

SEC. 8. Relative Urgencies. The Secretary shall develop standards and relative urgencies for emergency health and welfare services for guidance of Federal agencies, States, and communities in providing maximum protection to survivors, and for the purpose of conserving, improving availability, and allocating such resources.

SEC. 10. Claimancy. The Secretary shall prepare plans to claim materials, manpower, equipment, supplies and services needed to carry out assigned responsibilities and other essential functions of the Department, from the appropriate agency and work with such agencies in developing programs to insure availability of such resources in an emergency.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11002 designates the Postmaster General to operate a national registration of all persons.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=58941 True, though allegedly it's for "welfare" and "re-uniting families" after an attack. Revoked and superceded by EO 11490.

SECTION 1. Scope. The Postmaster General shall assist in the development of a national emergency registration system. These plans and programs shall be designed to develop a state of readiness in this area with respect to all conditions of national emergency including attack upon the United States.

SEC. 2. Cooperation with Department of Defense. In consonance with national civil defense plans, programs, and operations of the Department of Defense under Executive Order No. 10952, the Postmaster General shall:

(a) Registration system. Assist in planning a national program and developing technical guidance for States, and directing Post Office activities concerned with registering persons and families for the purpose of receiving and answering welfare inquiries, and reuniting families in civil defense emergencies.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11003 allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=58942 True. But revoked and superceded by EO 11490

SECTION 1. Scope. The Administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency (hereinafter referred to as the Administrator) shall prepare national emergency plans and develop preparedness programs covering the emergency management of the Nation's civil airports, civil aviation operating facilities, civil aviation services, and civil aircraft other than air carrier aircraft. These plans and programs shall be designed to develop a state of readiness in these areas with respect to all conditions of national emergency, including attack upon the United States.

(f) Claimancy. Prepare plans to claim materials, manpower, equipment, supplies, and services needed to carry out assigned responsibilities and other essential functions of the agency from the appropriate agencies and work with such agencies in developing programs to insure availability of such resources in an emergency.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11004 allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate communities, build new housing with public funds, designate areas to be abandoned, and establish new locations for populations.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=58943 Yep. But revoked and superceded by EO 11490

SECTION 1. Scope. The Housing and Home Finance Administrator (hereinafter referred to as the Administrator) shall prepare national emergency plans and develop preparedness programs covering all aspects of lodging or housing and community facilities related thereto.

(f) Claimancy. Prepare plans to claim materials, manpower, equipment, supplies, and services needed in support of assigned responsibilities and other essential functions of the agency from appropriate agencies, and work with such agencies in developing programs to insure availability of such resources in an emergency.

(b) Temporary housing. Develop plans for the emergency repair and restoration to use of damaged housing, for the construction and management of emergency housing units and the community facilities related thereto, and for the emergency conversion to dwelling use of non-residential structures with public funds through direct Federal action or through financial or credit assistance.

(c) Population movement. Participate in the preparation of plans for determining which areas are to be restored and in the development and coordination of plans for the movement of people on a temporary basis from areas to be abandoned to areas where housing is available or can be made available.

(e) Vulnerability. Participate in promoting the dispersal of new or expanding communities and government installations in conformance to national vulnerability reduction policy.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11005 allows the government to take over railroads, inland waterways and public storage facilities.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=58944. Yep. Revoked and superceded by EO 11490.

SECTION 1. Scope. The Interstate Commerce Commission (hereinafter referred to as the Commission shall prepare national emergency plans and develop preparedness programs covering railroad utilization, reduction of vulnerability, maintenance, restoration, and operation in an emergency; motor carrier utilization, reduction of vulnerability, and operation in an emergency; inland waterway mutilization of equipment and shipping, reduction of vulnerability, and operation in an emergency, excepting the St. Lawrence Seaway; and also provide guidance and consultation to domestic surface transportation and storage industries, as defined below, regarding emergency preparedness measures, and to States regarding development of their transportation plans in assigned areas. These plans and programs will be designed to develop a state of readiness in these areas with respect to all conditions of national emergency, including attack upon the United States.

(c) Claimancy. Prepare plans to claim material, equipment, manpower, supplies, and services needed to carry out assigned responsibilities and other essential functions of the Commission before the appropriate agency, and work with such agencies in developing programs to insure availability of such resources in an emergency.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11051 specifies the responsibility of the Office of Emergency Planning and gives authorization to put all Executive Orders into effect in times of increased international tensions and economic or financial crisis.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=58990 I think so, but didn't read closely enough to be sure. If you thought the Health Care Bill was bad, read this one carefully. I think this is a real smoking gun. It is very long and replaces the Director of the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization" with "the Director of the Office of Emergency Planning. But revoked by EO 12148.

SECTION 101. Resume of responsibilities. The Director of the Office of Emergency Planning (hereinafter referred to as the Director) shall:

(a) Advise and assist the President in the coordination of and in the determination of policy for the emergency plans and preparedness assignments of the Federal departments and agencies (hereinafter referred to as Federal agencies) designed to make possible at Federal, State and local levels the mobilization of the human, natural and industrial resources of the nation to meet all conditions of national emergency, including attack on the United States.

(b) Under the direction of the President, be responsible for the preparation of nonmilitary plans and preparedness programs with respect to organization and functioning of the Federal Government under emergency conditions and with respect to specific areas of Federal activity necessary in time of war which are neither performed in the normal operations of the regular departments and agencies nor assigned thereto by or under the authority of the President.

(c) Perform such other functions as are vested in him by law or are by this order, or by orders referred to in this order, delegated or otherwise assigned to him.

(d) Perform such additional functions as the President may from time to time direct.

You got all that? This Order amends or supercedes many other prior Executive Orders to expand their scope, but you can't get the full gist unless you dig out those older Orders. I didn't have time to wade through all that, but I believe the thrust is an expansion of the meaning of "emergency" in prior Orders, that extends an emergency to non-civil defense matters.

Here's another of those insidiously vague clauses:

(e) Executive Order No. 10582 of December 17, 1954, is hereby amended by striking from Section 3 (d) thereof the words "from any officer of the Government designated by the President to furnish such advice" and by inserting in lieu of the stricken words the following: "from the Director of the Office of Emergency Planning. In providing this advice the Director shall be governed by the principle that exceptions under this section shall be made only upon a clear showing that the payment of a greater differential than the procedures of this section generally prescribe is justified by consideration of national security".

If you can find any meaning in that other than a claim of arbitrary authority to do whatever the hell they want, you're better than me.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11310 grants authority to the Department of Justice to enforce the plans set out in Executive Orders, to institute industrial support, to establish judicial and legislative liaison, to control all aliens, to operate penal and correctional institutions, and to advise and assist the President.

Translation: they are the enforcers. This one wasn't listed, by the way, so I can't quote from it.

EO 11310 was ordered by Johnson, and then revoked by EO 11490 under Nixon. (http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/executive-orders-18.html) Shortly thereafter. Then 11490 was then revoked by EO 12656 under... guess who? Ronald Reagan (http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/executive-order/12656.html). See below.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11490 assigns emergency preparedness function to federal departments and agencies, consolidating 21 operative Executive Orders issued over a fifteen year period.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=60479 Under Richard Nixon. Revoked and superceded by EO 12656. Valentine misnumbered this one as "11049" because he copied his list from everyone else on the web. It at least claims some genuine Congressional authority:

WHEREAS the Congress has directed the development of such national emergency preparedness plans and has provided funds for the accomplishment thereof; and

WHEREAS this national emergency preparedness planning activity has been an established program of the United States Government for more than twenty years:

And then goes on forever. It is the LONGEST of the EOs.

SECTION 101 Purpose.
This order consolidates the assignment of emergency preparedness functions to various departments and agencies heretofore contained in the 21 Executive orders and 2 Defense Mobilization orders listed in Section 3015 of this order. Assignments have been adjusted to conform to changes in organization which have occurred subsequent to the issuance of those Executive orders and Defense Mobilization orders.

And then proceeds to explictly broaden the definition of an emergency without bound:

(b) The departments and agencies of the Federal Government are hereby severally charged with the duty of assuring the continuity of the Federal Government in any national emergency type situation that might confront the nation.

This thing is almost as long as the Health Care Bill. I barely skimmed. But it's as bad as you might expect. It is a massive umbrella EO that just consolidates everything before it and piles on. But... it was Revoked and superceded by EO 12656...

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11921 allows the Federal Emergency Preparedness Agency to develop plans to establish control over the mechanisms of production and distribution, of energy sources, wages, salaries, credit and the flow of money in U.S. financial institution in any undefined national emergency. It also provides that when a state of emergency is declared by the President, Congress cannot review the action for six months.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=59356 Gerald Ford. Amends EO 11490. Supersedes EO's 11522, 11746. STILL IN EFFECT. Note the broadening of the definition of "emergency".

SEC. 2. The phrase 'the Office of Emergency Preparedness' is deleted wherever it occurs, and in its place is inserted the phrase 'the Federal Preparedness Agency (GSA)'.

And just selecting examples at random, here's more farm policy stuff (remember EO 10998 back in 1962?):

'(2) Nuclear, biological, and chemical hazards protection for agriculture. Develop, in consonance with overall planning of the Environmental Protection Agency, plans for a national program, direct Federal activities, and furnish technical guidance to State and local authorities concerning (a) diagnosis and strengthening of defensive barriers and control or eradication of diseases, pests, or chemicals introduced as agents of biological or chemical warfare against animals, crops or products thereof; (b) protective measures, treatment and handling of livestock, including poultry or products thereof, which have been exposed to or affected by radiation; and, (c) use of crops, agricultural commodities on farms and ranches, agricultural lands, forest lands, and water for agricultural purposes, any of which have been exposed to or affected by radiation. Develop plans for a national program and direction of Federal activities to assure the safety and wholesomeness and to minimize losses from hazardous agents (nuclear, biological and chemical) and other emergency hazards of livestock, meat and meat products, poultry and poultry products in establishments under the continuous inspection of the Department of Agriculture, and agricultural commodities and products owned by the Commodity Credit Corporation or by the Department of Agriculture.'.

and Health stuff:

'(1) 'Emergency health services' means medical and dental care for the civilian population in all of the specialties and adjunct therapeutic fields, and the planning, provision, and operation of first aid stations, hospitals, and clinics; preventive health services, including detection, identification, and control of communicable diseases, their vectors, and other public health hazards, inspection and control of purity and safety of food, drugs, and biologicals; vital statistics services, rehabilitation and related services for disabled survivors; preventive and curative care related to human exposure to hazardous agents (nuclear, biological and chemical); sanitary aspects of disposal of the dead; and food and milk sanitation.

and Aviation stuff:

'(2) Emergency resource management of the National Aviation System, which is the physical complex of civil airmen, aircraft (including air carrier and general aviation aircraft) airports, airspace, airways and facilities and services, regulations, plans, standards, procedures and practices associated with the complex, for emergency management of the National Airspace System, and for control of civil and military air traffic, except as provided in Part 15 herein. In the performance of these responsibilities:

and Environmental stuff:

'PART 15A--ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

'Section 1550. Resume of responsibilities. The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for diagnosis of quality problems and hazards in the environment which would impede the survival and recovery efforts of the nation and for developing coordinated Federal plans and fostering State and local plans designed to prevent or minimize the long-term ecological impact of hazardous agents introduced into the environment in an emergency situation, and to assist and coordinate with all primary resource agencies regarding plans to preserve the quality of a resource needed in an emergency.

And on and on and on. This EO is a massive expansion of previous EOs with amendments ad infinitum. Under a Republican Administration.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 12148 created the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that is to interface with the Department of Defense for civil defense planning and funding. An “emergency czar” was appointed. FEMA has only spent about 6 percent of its budget on national emergencies, the bulk of their funding has been used for the construction of secret underground facilities to assure continuity of government in case of a major emergency, foreign or domestic.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=32625 Under Jimmy Carter. Codified at Chapter 44 (http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/chapter-44.html). Amended by EO's 12155, 12156, 12319, 12356, 12379, 12381, 12673.

3-101. There is hereby established the Emergency Management Council.

3-202. The Council shall provide guidance to the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the performance of functions vested in him.

I didn't read this. Very long, very boring and full of a zillion amendments or revocations of prior EOs that make it almost impossible to read anyway. Who knows what could be lurking there. Wear hip waders over body armor.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 12656 appointed the National Security Council as the principal body that should consider emergency powers. This allows the government to increase domestic intelligence and surveillance of U.S. citizens and would restrict the freedom of movement within the United States and granted the government the right to isolate large groups of civilians. The National Guard could be federalized to seal all borders and take control of U.S. air space and all ports of entry. Many of the figures in the Iran-Contra scandal were part of this emergency contingent, including Marine Colonel Oliver North.

(http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=35183): Ronald Reagan. Another Republican. Codified at Chapter 44 (http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/chapter-44.html). For the first time an "emergency" is defined. Not that it's any help. It now just officially means whatever the hell they want it to mean.

Section 101. National Security Emergency Preparedness Policy.

(a) The policy of the United States is to have sufficient capabilities at all levels of government to meet essential defense and civilian needs during any national security emergency. A national security emergency is any occurrence, including natural disaster, military attack, technological emergency, or other emergency, that seriously degrades or seriously threatens the national security of the United States. Policy for national security emergency preparedness shall be established by the President. Pursuant to the President's direction, the National Security Council shall be responsible for developing and administering such policy. All national security emergency preparedness activities shall be consistent with the Constitution and laws of the United States and with preservation of the constitutional government of the United States.

You can therefore thank Reagan for giving Obama more authority to do what he's doing. However, in his defense, the Order says:

(b) This Order does not apply to those natural disasters, technological emergencies, or other emergencies, the alleviation of which is normally the responsibility of individuals, the private sector, volunteer organizations, State and local governments, and Federal departments and agencies unless such situations also constitute a national security emergency.

(b) This Order does not constitute authority to implement the plans prepared pursuant to this Order. Plans so developed may be executed only in the event that authority for such execution is authorized by law.

So some burden is on Congress. This is an EXTREMELY long EO, and I only skimmed a few paragraphs.

The Valentine article doesn't list more recent events, like Bush's attempt to circumvent the Posse Comitatus statute, but here's an interesting teaser for more digging.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_law

Public Law 109-364, or the "John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007" (H.R.5122), was signed by President Bush on October 17, 2006, and allowed the President to declare a "public emergency" and station troops anywhere in America and take control of state-based National Guard units without the consent of the governor or local authorities. Title V, Subtitle B, Part II, Section 525(a) of the JWDAA of 2007 reads "The [military] Secretary [of the Army, Navy or Air Force] concerned may order a member of a reserve component under the Secretary's jurisdiction to active duty...The training or duty ordered to be performed...may include...support of operations or missions undertaken by the member's unit at the request of the President or Secretary of Defense." ^[10] The President signed the Defense Authorization Act of 2008 on January 13, 2008. However, Section 1068 in the enacted 2008 defense authorization bill (H.R. 4986: "National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008") repealed this section of PL 109-364.^[11]

The Thugs is A-comin'

Reading the story at bottom, you will see pure, unabashed thuggery in action, as the Senate make a bald-faced threat to the insurance industry: oppose us at your peril. I'm reminded of

"...when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

...He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.... [think: "czars"]

...taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments...

What's happening in the Senate merely proves Jefferson's other point:

A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.

Which led me to some other Jefferson quotes:

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.

The earth belongs to the living, not to the dead.

Experience hath shown, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.

I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive.

It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.

And for those taking action to stop this, he says:

Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.

Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.

Don't talk about what you have done or what you are going to do.

Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.

One man with courage is a majority.

Several friends put good quotes at the bottom of every email as a means of spreading ideas and inspiring, a tactic I like very much. It strikes me that it would be useful to spread more quotes in more ways, from every good source (Founders, Ayn Rand, etc) . Would the pithiness of tweets make them a good vehicle for this? I'm not a tweeter, I'm more of a woofer, so I pose the question. Is this practical?

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/10/21/us/politics/AP-US-Health-Care-Overhaul.html

House Committee Votes Against Antitrust Protection

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 21, 2009

Filed at 12:09 p.m. ET

The latest on President Obama, the new administration and other news from Washington and around the nation.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A House committee has voted to strip the health insurance industry of its exemption from federal antitrust laws as senators announced plans to take the same step.

The moves Wednesday signaled a growing determination by Democrats to punish the insurance industry for its criticism of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul agenda. The House Judiciary Committee voted 20 to 9 to repeal a 1940s law that exempted the health insurance industry from federal controls over certain antitrust violations including price-fixing.

Lawmakers said they wanted to include the legislation in a larger health care overhaul bill taking shape in the House. In the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid announced plans to repeal the antitrust exemption as part of its health care legislation.

To Hell with Saul Alinsky

George Patton had his flaws, but also some great quotes, which I'm reminded of now and then, and taken metaphorically and in the right context, can provide inspiration, motivation, guidance for anyone fighting to preserve or achieve something in their life, politically, personally, intellectually, professionally.

If anyone has great quotes of their own in this vein from other sources, I'd enjoy hearing them.

Patton:

There are three reasons why we are fighting this war. The first is because we are determined to preserve our traditional liberties. Some crazy German bastards decided they were supermen and that it was their holy mission to rule the world. They've been pushing people around all over the world, looting, killing, and abusing millions of innocent men, women, and children. They were getting set to do the same thing to us. We had to fight to prevent being subjugated. [substitute "New Left" for "Germans" ...but they aren't so different, are they?]

Tin soldier politicians in Washington have allowed us to kick the Hell out of one bastard [let's say, Bush] and at the same time forced us to help establish a second one as evil or more evil than the first [let's say, Obama, working in league with various foreign enemies of the United States] ...This time we'll need almighty God's constant help if we're to live in the same world with Stalin and his murdering cutthroats. [at least, Ayn Rand's help, because the only way this war to save our freedom will be won is intellectually]

After being told by Omar Bradley that the Russians were going to be allowed to occupy Prague in order to avoid "complications", Patton said, "For God's sake Brad, it seems to me that a great nation like America should let others worry about the complications."

Courage:

Better to fight for something than live for nothing.

Moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men.

No sane man is unafraid in battle, but discipline produces in him a form of vicarious courage.

Brave men will breed brave men.

Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory.

In war, it takes more than the desire to fight to win. You've got to have more than guts to lick the enemy. You must also have brains.

Untutored courage is useless in the face of educated bullets.

There is a time to take counsel of your fears, and there is a time to never listen to any fear.

If we take the generally accepted definition of bravery as a quality which knows no fear, I have never seen a brave man. All men are frightened. The more intelligent they are, the more they are frightened.

Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.

The time to take counsel of your fears is before you make an important battle decision. That's the time to listen to every fear you can imagine! When you have collected all the facts and fears and made your decision, turn off all your fears and go ahead!

It’s the unconquerable soul of man, not the nature of the weapon he uses, that insures victory.

Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory.

You’re never beaten until you admit it.

If man does his best what else is there?

Strategy:

War is simple, direct, and ruthless.

A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.

An incessant change of means to attain unalterable ends is always going on; we must take care not to let these sundry means acquire undue eminence in the perspective of our minds; for, since the beginning, there has been an unending cycle of them, and for each its advocates have claimed adoption as the sole solution of successful war.

You shouldn't underestimate an enemy, but it is just as fatal to overestimate him.

Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory.

Many, who should know better, think that wars can be decided by soulless machines, rather than by the blood and anguish of brave men. [computers aren't always the solution...]

You want to know why this outfit got the hell kicked out of it? A blind man could spot it. They don't act like soldiers; they don't look like soldiers; why should they be expected to fight like soldiers?

Prepare for the unknown by studying how others in the past have coped with the unforeseeable and the unpredictable.
In case of doubt, attack.

Good tactics can save even the worst strategy. Bad tactics will destroy even the best strategy.

In war the only sure defense is offense, and the efficiency of the offense depends on the warlike souls of those conducting it.

Now there's another thing I want you to remember. I don't want to get any messages saying that we are holding our position. We're not holding anything. We'll let the Hun do that. We are advancing constantly, and we're not interested in holding onto anything except the enemy. We're going to hold onto him by the nose, and we're going to kick him in the ass. We're going to kick the hell out of him all the time, and we're going to go through him like crap through a goose.

Nobody ever defended anything successfully, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.

Fixed fortifications are monuments to man's stupidity. [let's say, Conservatism...]

Many soldiers are led to faulty ideas of war by knowing too much about too little.

To conquer, we must destroy our enemies. We must not only die gallantly; we must kill devastatingly. The faster and more effectively you kill, the longer you will live to enjoy the priceless fame of conquerors.

There are no practice games in life. It's eat or be eaten, kill or be killed. I want my bunch to be in there first, to be the 'fustest with the mostest'. They won't do it if I ask them nicely.

I always believe in being prepared, even when I'm dressed in white tie and tails. [mentally prepared ... like Francisco d'Anconia]

Attack rapidly, ruthlessly, viciously, without rest, however tired and hungry you may be, the enemy will be more tired, more hungry. Keep punching.

Never let the enemy pick the battle site. [My addendum: Given the choice, never fight a battle you are sure to lose -- if you want to win the war.]

We have got by due to persistance and on the ability to make plans fit circumstances. The other armies try to make circumstances fit plans.

I do not fear failure. I only fear the "slowing up" of the engine inside of me which is pounding, saying, "Keep going, someone must be on top, why not you?"

Surrender is as ignoble as it is foolish. Above all else, remember that we as attackers have the initiative, we know exactly what we are going to do, while the enemy is ignorant of our intentions and can only parry our blows. We must retain this tremendous advantage by always attacking rapidly, ruthlessly, viciously, and without rest.

May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't.

Leadership:

Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.

If you tell people where to go, but not how to get there, you'll be amazed at the results.

Be willing to make decisions. That's the most important quality in a good leader.

Do your damnedest in an ostentatious manner all the time.

The leader must be an actor.

All very successful commanders are prima donnas and must be so treated.

Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.

Always do everything you ask of those you command.

We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people. Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.

No good decision was ever made in a swivel chair.

Say what you mean and mean what you say.

A piece of spaghetti or a military unit can only be led from the front end.

There is only one sort of discipline, perfect discipline. [let's say... a disciplined mind.]

Philosophy:

A man must know his destiny. If he does not recognize it, then he is lost. By this I mean, once, twice, or at the very most, three times, fate will reach out and tap a man on the shoulder. if he has the imagination, he will turn around and fate will point out to him what fork in the road he should take, if he has the guts, he will take it. [not fate perhaps, but the knowledge of what he must do have integrity towards his values...]

If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking. [Fill in the blanks on that one... ]

Do more than is required of you.

An active mind cannot exist in an inactive body.

By perseverance, study, and eternal desire, any man can become great.

If a man does his best, what else is there?

A pint of sweat saves a gallon of blood.

Prepare for the unknown by studying how others in the past have coped with the unforeseeable and the unpredictable.

Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often discover what they lack.

I don't measure a man's success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom.

You need to overcome the tug of people against you as you reach for high goals.

War:

Americans love to fight. All real Americans love the sting of battle.

War is the supreme test of man in which he rises to heights never approached in any other activity.

Americans play to win at all times. I wouldn't give a hoot and hell for a man who lost and laughed.

My men don't surrender. I don't want to hear of any soldier under my command being captured unless he is hit. Even if you are hit, you can still fight. That's not just bullshit, either. The kind of man I want under me is like the lieutenant in Libya, who, with a Lugar against his chest, jerked off his helmet, swept the gun aside with one hand and busted hell out of the Boche with the helmet. Then he jumped on the gun and went out and killed another German: All this with a bullet through his lung. That's a man for you.

No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.

It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.

There's one thing that you men will be able to say when you get back home, and you may thank God for it. Thirty years from now when you're sitting around your fireside with your grandson on your knee, and he asks you, "What did you do in the great World War II?" -- you won't have to say, "Well, I shoveled shit in Louisiana."