Obama's Trampling Of Rights and Freedom Continues, Orwell Style

We have been very critical of the Obama administration over the past three years for many reasons:

• His fiscal policies have created unbelievable national debt levels for the American economy and taxpayers.
• His economic programs, including his $800 billion failure of a stimulus program, Cash For Clunkers, Cash For Appliances, and other programs, have failed miserably at great cost.
• He has ignored the rule of law and the Constitution at his whim such as selectively deciding what laws to enforce or  not enforce, involving us in an illegal military conflict in Libya, and bypassing the Constitutional responsibility of Congress to review and approve appointments to high level government positions.
• His foreign policy has allowed Iran and North Korea to get three years closer to becoming nuclear weapon armed nations and his State Department failed miserably in foreseeing the Arab Spring's threats and opportunities.
• His administration has failed to develop and lead the effort to address and resolve the major issues of our times including our failing public schools, our lost war on drugs, our illegal immigration/leaky borders problem, our outrageously ineffective tax code, and a government bureaucracy that wastes over $500 billions a year through inefficiencies and outright criminal fraud.
• Rather than lead and unite, he has stood passively by as his political allies have slandered and demeaned ordinary Americans who have a difference of opinion by calling them a variety of names including racists, un-American, terrorists, barbarians, a__h____s, gerbils, and Neanderthals.
• His health care reform law will likely result in tens of millions of Americans losing their current employer health care insurance coverage, will add hundreds of billions of dollars to the national debt in the first ten years, will impose almost 2,000 new government restrictions and mandates on Americans' freedom of choice, and will not work in fixing the root causes of problem of escalating health care costs in this country.

Really nasty stuff. But the above transgressions and failures are fairly obvious to anyone who looks at the results and numbers objectively. More devious, more insidious than these failures is the more subtle erosion of our rights and liberty by the many policies of this administration that short circuit our right to privacy, our right to a trial by our peers, and the right of being assumed innocent until proven guilty.

Consider the following instances in this area that may or may not have been reported by the main stream press:

- An article by Jacob Sullum in the March, 2012 issue of Reason Magazine was entitled: "Indefinite Detention - Does the President have the power to imprison anyone he says is a terrorist?" He reports on the passage of a bill that President Obama signed last December called the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). According to Mr. Sullum, this legislation gives the President the authority to keep terrorism suspects in custody for as long as the Federal government deems necessary, with or without a trial, "the NDAA explicitly affirms the legality of military detention without trial."

Now, one would have hoped that this draconian law would only apply to the foreign terrorist fighters that are not American citizens and who are fighting in the caves of Afghanistan or elsewhere around the world. Unfortunately, according to Senator Lindsey Graham, a leading supporter of the bill, it also applies to American citizens living within the United States: "The statement of authority to detain (without trial)...does apply to American citizens and it designates the world as the battlefield, including the homeland."

Very scary stuff with the potential for abuse sky high. It is not inconceivable, using Orwell''s "1984" as a blueprint, that the Federal government and those that operate it could very well use this law not only to indefinitely lock up real terrorists without trial but also to lock up political opponents indefinitely without trial under the false guise of protecting homeland security.

Mubarak in Egypt did the same thing for thirty years, other dictators around the world do the same thing every day. The U.S. Congress and the President of the United States just made the same thing possible in this country.

- Don't think the previously scenario could play out in this country? Something worst has already occurred when President Obama approved the assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen and a leading terrorist leader in Yemen in 2011. This assassination of an American citizen was carried out without any due process of law, any trial, any defense of al-Awlaki actions and intentions. For the first time ever, our government crossed a very dangerous line and officially sanctioned an assassination of an American citizen.

There is no doubt that al-Awlaki was a very bad dude that he wanted to kill as many Americans as possible. However, was it right to kill him without a trial, a right that has existed in this country since its creation? Is it right that the Obama administration has established an official "assassination panel" (Reason magazine - http://reason.com/blog/2011/10/06/a-secret-panel-put-anwar-al-aw) that will review other Americans and non-Americans for assassination in the future, trampling on the right of other citizens to have a fair trial for their alleged transgressions?

Once a line is crossed, it becomes easier to cross that same line in the future. If your government has no problem killing another American without a trial, and has established a process to do so, it will have little problem keeping any American in detention indefinitely under the NDAA provisions.

- But the Federal government does not have to hold you indefinitely or assassinate you to trample on your rights. Consider the findings in a Wall Street Journal article from October 10, 2011. The article went into detail how this administration had obtained a secret court order to force Google and another small ISP provider, Sonic.net, Inc., to turn over information from the email accounts of Wikileaks volunteer, Jacob Appelbaum.

Nowhere in the article is there any evidence that Mr.Appelbaum broke any laws. He apparently did not plot to bomb anyone or anyplace in the world. He apparently did not plot to support anyone or any organization who planned to bomb anyone or any place. He apparently was not involved in illegal drugs or illegal gun running (unlike what the Obama administration did in its Fast and Furious operation). He was a volunteer working for a non-terrorist company/operation. Nevertheless, the Obama administration through its Justice Department felt the need to go after his email records via a secret court order by a secret court.

Google and Sonic.Net both fought for two principles in this case: 1) they wanted to tell their customer, Mr. Appelbaum, that his email records had been turned over to the Feds and 2) did not want to turn over the records without a regular search warrant. Apparently, they failed on both counts, the records were turned over without Mr. Appelbaum's knowledge.

The article goes on to educate us that it is currently far easier for the Federal government to get access to our email records than our regular postal system mail since the 1986 legislation, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), was passed prior to the advent of the Web. Politicians and judges alike have identified this problem:

• An actual sponsor of the ECPA, Senator Patrick Leahy said the original law is "significantly outdated and outpaced by rapid changes in technology." He is trying to get a bill passed that would restrict unfettered access to a citizen's email activity.
• Judge Danny Boggs ruled in Federal court in 2011 that the government violated the Fourth Amendment when it seized 27,000 emails without a search warrant: "The police may not storm the post office and intercept a letter, and they are likewise forbidden from using the phone system to make a clandestine recording of a telephone call unless they get a warrant. It only stands to reason that, if government agents compel an ISP to surrender the contents of a subscriber's emails, those agents have hereby conducted a Fourth Amendment search."

Kudos to the Judge and Senator for looking out for our Fourth Amendment rights and freedoms. However, the same cannot be said of the Obama administration. A high ranking Justice department official, Associate Deputy Attorney General James Baker warned Congress "that raising the standard for obtaining information under ECPA may substantially slow criminal and national security investigations."

In other words, this administration is perfectly happy to conduct searches in violation of a citizen's Fourth Amendment rights based on very little justification and grounds. Mr. Appelbaum's harassment and violation of his rights is the perfect example of what could happen to any of us.

- Several months ago it was reported by the Associated Press that the CIA, a Federal government entity that is precluded by law from operating domestically, was actively helping the New York Police Department to set up programs to track, monitor and spy on Muslims within the jurisdiction of the NYPD. This is obviously a violation of U.S. law and thus, a violation of Constitutional and privacy rights.

Any facet of government should not be allowed to spy on and track citizen's movements and communications without probable cause. Just because you are of the Muslim faith does not mean you are a terrorist. Just because you are of the Muslim faith does not mean you give up your right to privacy as a U.S. citizen. Freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom to gather, freedom to privacy, so many violations by a government organizations that should not even be acting within our shores.

Fortunately, according to a February 26, 2012 Associated Press report, "NYPD Surveillance Of Students Called Disgusting," people may be waking up to this gross violation of Constitutional rights. According to the article:

• NYPD is not just restricting their tracking and monitoring of Muslims to New York City but is extending their surveillance to dozens of colleges both within and outside the boundaries of New York City.
• Official police documents show that the NYPD is using undercover officers and informants to infiltrate Muslim student groups.
• In one example uncovered by the Associated Press, an undercover police officer went whitewater rafting with students and reported on how many times they prayed and what they discussed.
• Police also scan college websites and blogs, compiling reports on the activities of Muslim students and academics.
• The NYPD has also built databases of where Muslims lived, worked, prayed, and where they watched sports.

Unbelievable. If this does not sound like McCarthyism, nothing does. Nowhere in the article is it stated, avowed or proven that any of these Muslim citizens had committed criminal or even suspicious activity that warranted such tracking and monitoring. The only NYPD defense reviewed in the article was that in the past, a dozen or so convicted or accused radicals had been associated with Muslim groups. However, it does not appear that this massive invasion of privacy was based on any of these dozen, or other, suspected terrorists.

Unfortunately, the local government in NYC is unlikely to stop these actions any time soon.The police commissioner is quoted as saying these types of activities will continue. And Mayor Bloomberg is even more direct in defending these freedom atrocities: "Mayor Michael Bloomberg said his police department's monitoring of Muslims — even outside the city at colleges in Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and upstate New York — was "legal," ''appropriate" and "Constitutional."

- One has to assume by the Obama administration's silence and tacit approval of allowing the CIA to help develop and establish this surveillance process that they too are comfortable with this new McCarthyism and explicit violation of many rights and liberties.

But maybe the administration is not so silent or tacit. According to an Associated Press article from February 27, 2012 reported that some of the Muslim tracking funding came directly out of the White House. Details of their complicity include the following:

• The money was used to pay for the cars that plainclothes NYPD officers used to conduct surveillance on Muslim neighborhoods.
• The funding also paid for computers that store even innocuous information about Muslim college students, mosque sermons, and social events.
• The amount of funding from the White House has been kept secret.
• When NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly was filled in on these surveillance efforts, his briefings were prepared on computers funded by the White house for the surveillance of Muslims neighborhoods.
• The Obama administration, however, has explicitly refused to endorse or repudiate the NYPD programs it helps pay for.
• The White House last week declined to comment on its grant payments.
• John Brennan, Obama's top counter terrorism adviser, last year called the NYPD's efforts "heroic" but would not elaborate.
• Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, whose department also has given funding to the NYPD, has refused in recent months to discuss the police tactics.
• Tom Perez, the Justice Department's top civil rights lawyer, has repeatedly refused to answer questions about the Muslim tracking program.

Disgraceful, Orwell and his Big Brother character from "Big Brother" would be so proud.

Martin Luther King, Jr. once said: "An injustice anywhere threatens justice everywhere." It could be over-the-top Muslim surveillance today but over-the-top Jewish surveillance tomorrow. It could be Mr. Appelbaum having his email records seized today for no valid reason but your email records being seized tomorrow for no valid reason. While it could be a national security enemy assassinated today but it could be a political enemy assassinated tomorrow.

And just to be sure, all of this is happening on Obama's watch. It is not something he can blame on Bush. He has signed the NDAA legislation that allows for unlimited detention of American citizens without a trial or hearing, he signed off on the al-Awlaki assassination. his Justice Department is seizing email records with due cause, and he has sat back while citizens are extensively tracked for no reason except their choice of religion, using funding that he controls. Despicable, disgusting, and certainly not the American way of freedom.


“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein

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http://www.unitedstatesofpurple.com/

The United States of Purple is a new grass roots approach to filling the office of President of The United States by focusing on the restoration of freedom in the United States, focusing on problem solving skills and results vs. personal political enrichment, and imposing term limits on all future Federal politicians. No more red states, no more blue states, just one United States Of America under the banner of Purple.

The United States Of Purple's website also provides you the formal opportunity to sign a petition to begin the process of implementing a Constitutional amendment to impose fixed term limits on all Federally elected politicians. Only by turning out the existing political class can we have a chance of addressing and finally resolving the major issues of or times.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment/