Invasions and the National Defense Authorization Act

Hey everybody,

I wanted to pass on a few articles that talk about a piece of legislation moving through Congress. The National Defense Authorization Act bill is a piece of legislation that allocates funding to the Department of Defense, each fiscal year. It's been enacted for the past 48 years and it is being voted on in Congress this week. But there is a problem with a new provision in the bill being voted on today and tomorrow -- the Detention Provision. This provision is essentially an expansion of the Patriot Act, giving the federal government the ability to use Law Enforcement and the U.S. armed forces the ability to indefinitely detain any and all U.S. citizens and non-citizens as terror suspects. The difference is that this provision, authored by Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich) and John McCain (R-Ariz), specifically defines the U.S. homeland (that is, the very soil we live and walk on) as a "battlefield" and provides the President and the rest of the federal government the authority to use U.S. troops on American soil for the purpose of indefinitely detaining American citizens.

SOTT.net U.S. Senate to Vote on Legislation That Allows U.S. Military to Detain Americans Without Charge or Trial

Salon.com National Defense Authorization Act

ACLU.org Senators Demand Military Lock Up American Citizens in a "Battlefield" They Define As Right Outside Your Window

The problems with this provision are, but not limited to:

(a) The First Amendment provides that all American citizens possess the natural rights to religion, press and expression. You and I can think, feel, do and say anything we want, anywhere we want, at any time. The only restrictions on those rights are that you and I can not deny another citizens of their rights or their life. The First Amendment was to protect your and my rights to individual thought, feeling, expression, protest and activism. This provision, as well as the Patriot Act, designates you as a possible terrorist and enemy combatant for expressing your opinions.

(b) The Fourth Amendment provides that without a warrant signed by a federal judge that no governing body can enter or claim your property. Said warrant can only be requested and signed with a proof of probable cause. Your expression and individuality is now that probable cause and your property rights are subject to seizure by the government.

(c) The Fifth Amendment provides that you cannot be held to answer for any crimes unless you have been indicted, or proven in a court of law by a Grand Jury, that you are guilty of a crime; protects your right against double jeopardy; protects your right to refrain from proving your own guilt in crime, or depriving you of your "life, liberty or property" without due process; and protects your right to not have your property seized by the government without just compensation. Your expression is now that indictment, that warrant, that proof of guilt, is is the convicting jury and the act which denies you your rights to property and process. And, of course, without due process who cares about double jeopardy?

(d) The Sixth Amendment provides your rights to a fair trial in a court of law, a jury of American citizens, and right to legal counsel. This provision entirely denies that right to all American citizens seized, by indefinitely imprisoning citizens without legal counsel, due process or warrants for arrest because this is a matter of national defense, thus marking it "off the books."

(e) The Eighth Amendment provides your protection against "excessive bail, excessive fines, nor cruel and unusual punishments." Again, this act entirely negates your rights to due process, thus there is no bail, nor are their fines to pay to police departments. I think that cruel and unusual punishments would be defined as torture, enhanced interrogation, and arrest without regard for your First, Fourth, Fifth, or Sixth Amendment rights. Terror suspects in Iraq were forced to sit handcuffed, with bags over their heads, in the same position for days on end. Literally, they sat in their own feces, hands behind their backs, with minimal food and water. That sounds cruel and unusual for not having proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

(f) The 1878 Posse Comitatus Act prevents the deployment of the U.S. military onto American soil. This was for two purposes: to protect American citizens and to prevent military coups. The deployment of troops onto U.S. soil is a violation of this act, though there have been several instances in which the military has been deployed on U.S. soil and they have almost all been for the use of stemming social discourse and free speech, and some ended with American citizens dying. Of course, why deploy the military when the National Guards, federal and local law enforcement agencies have the same tools as the military and are already beating and killing citizens?


Regardless of your affiliation, our government was meant to be a Constitutional one. It is a government that was supposed to have rules to abide by for the protection of and preservation for the American citizens and the rights they possess, as declared by our Constitution. Your natural and Constitutionally-recognized rights to Life, Liberty and Property (ultimately, the Pursuit of Happiness) are being blatantly ignored and infringed. What you say, what you do and what you express is subject to scrutiny and suspect behavior by the U.S. federal government. When will we say "enough is enough" and put our government back in its place? A place where it recognizes our rights to individuality and expression. The very purpose of government - to govern, to rule, to regulate, to pass laws of dictation and restriction - is a purpose of oppression and limitations on the human potential. It's very nature is tyrannical. Ours is not supposed to be so, but it is. Day by day it gets worse. We must put a stop to it. We must do what we feel is in the best interests of liberty, of the Constitution, of prosperity, of peace -- of ALL Americans.

Today, you can make a difference and tell your Senators NOT to vote for the passage of this bill. We can all agree that at times our Congress and our larger government does not adhere to the Constitution or to the will of the people they represent. Today must not be one of those days. CALL YOUR SENATORS TODAY

CALL YOUR SENATORS TODAY
CALL YOUR SENATORS TODAY
CALL YOUR SENATORS TODAY

If you think that I may be over-reacting about this, I wouldn't blame you. I used to staunchly support the Patriot Act. After all, our government's two objectives are to protect our rights and protect us from our enemies. Most of us don't want to hurt Americans or see America fail, so why would our government indefinitely detain any peaceful U.S. citizen without just cause? Well, this is why...

Department of Justice "Investigating Terrorism and Criminal Extremism: Terms and Concepts"

This is an article I've had for a year or so now. It is a PDF file of a pamphlet that the U.S. Department of Justice issued out to all federal law enforcement agencies, agencies like the FBI, ICE, Border Patrol and Customs, Marshals Service, etc. "Investigating Terrorism and Criminal Extremism: Terms and Concepts." Read this list and you might get surprised at what terms, philosophies, ideologies and concepts are defined as "terrorist" or "Criminally Extreme."

Pass this e-mail around to everybody on your lists, send it out through your social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, paste it to your blogs. We must make as many people as aware as possible.


Have a nice day.
Remember, Big Brother is watching and you are a suspect.

-- Cody M. Buckmann 2011 NOV 29

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