Dying Freedoms Alert: We Just Repealed Posse Comitatus!
We’ve got a lot of work to do in rolling back the clock on some heinous, anti-American bills passed recently. Most likely the new Democratic majority won’t be up to the task so We the People must hold their feet to the fire. The John W. Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2006 is one of the latest to kill some freedom, it’s victim the 128-year-old Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the use of military forces for domestic law enforcement. Congressional Quarterly:
Signed by President Bush on Oct. 17, the law (PL 109-364) has a provocative provision called “Use of the Armed Forces in Major Public Emergencies.”
The thrust of it seems to be about giving the federal government a far stronger hand in coordinating responses to Katrina-like disasters.
But on closer inspection, its language also alters the two-centuries-old Insurrection Act, which Congress passed in 1807 to limit the president’s power to deploy troops within the United States.
That law has long allowed the president to mobilize troops only “to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy.”
But the amended law takes the cuffs off.
Specifically, the new language adds “natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident” to the list of conditions permitting the President to take over local authority — particularly “if domestic violence has occurred to such an extent that the constituted authorities of the State or possession are incapable of maintaining public order.”
Since the administration broadened what constitutes “conspiracy” in its definition of enemy combatants — anyone who “has purposely and materially supported hostilities against the United States,” in the language of the Military Commissions Act (PL 109-366) — critics say it’s a formula for executive branch mischief.
Yet despite such a radical turn, the new law garnered little dissent, or even attention, on the Hill.
One of the few to complain, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., warned that the measure virtually invites the White House to declare federal martial law.
[...] coordinated mass immigrant raids, big brother spy blimps, expanded detention centers, repeal of the Posse Comitatus Act, and suspension of habeas corpus have all been recently implemented and are ready to use against [...]
» The Immigration Human Zoo - By ¡Para Justicia y Libertad!
June 5, 2007 at 12:36 pm
we need repealed the posse comitatus law,but with certain provisions left in place we need our military on U.S soil and not in an unwinable middleastern war.WE need to help Israel as we promiced to do.now what good is our country if we can’t protect our borders?legal immigration yes,illegal NO.One only has to look at our court dockets,prison populations and the number of foreign gangs to see we need help and besides why can’t they stay in their on country and try to make it better?fact the number of U.S citizens killed by foreign nationals in the U.S far out numbers the number of U.S military personal killed in Iraq and Afganistan during the same period of time. now find that unfo in your liberal press or T.V stations. Enough Said?
Joseph
April 13, 2008 at 4:06 pm
[...] A misplaced, bi-partisan barn-door-after-horse-has-fled, butt-covering political overreaction to that dire warning: the effective repeal of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, the intent of which seems perfectly clear (no use of military for domestic law enforcement), though that hasn’t made the act immune from self-serving, lawyerly theories, twisted by a behemoth federal bureaucracy whose very existence stands as testament to another misdirected reaction to another warning to America (9-11). [...]
The Regrettable Domino-Legacy of Hurricane Katrina « New Wineskins
July 31, 2009 at 3:42 am
eh. thank you.
Las Vagas Squirt
August 4, 2009 at 7:13 am
We have three major events converging in September. H1N1 virus, 912 Protest, and the already repealed Posse Comitatus act.
Big Brother
August 19, 2009 at 6:37 pm
[...] Deal claims that he has voted to allow military to control borders. He also claims that the Posse Comitatus act will not allow military to enforce civilian law; however if he had of read PL – 109-364, he would know that the Congress and President Bush rep… [...]
Nathan Deal Tele-Townhall « Left on Lanier
August 24, 2009 at 8:35 pm