Conservative Political Commentary

...usually with an attempt at historical and economic context

Friday, June 7, 2013

Abused Organization Leaders Speak at Hearing on IRS Scandal; Rep. McDermott Not Impressed



On June 4, several leaders of organizations that were unfairly targeted by the Internal Revenue Service testified before the House Ways and Means Committee. They told of the abusive treatment they received, invasive and illegal questions, and long delays in processing their organizations’ applications for tax-exempt status.

Video of the session is available on C-SPAN’s website. Oral statements of the organization leaders start at about 00:15:40, including an emotional and compelling statement by Becky Gerritson, president of the Wetumpka, Alabama Tea Party at 00:47:00. Note that these people represent hundreds of groups who were unfairly targeted by the IRS as they requested tax-exempt status.

Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, one of the committees investigating the IRS scandal. In case you missed it, he spoke at the June 4 hearing, responding to the members of these conservative groups. After these quite moving and no doubt sincere statement, McDermott made rather startling and odd remarks that included some misstatements of fact as well as seeming to expect the group members to tell him what questions the IRS should have asked them, instead of the obviously inappropriate, and in some cases criminal, questions and demands that the groups received.

While saying that the IRS made a mistake in targeting conservative groups, he as much as blamed the groups themselves for their troubles because they requested tax-exempt status.
 

I’m not terribly familiar with Mr. McDermott’s work, but here he sounds more like a McDoofus. A few observations about his statement:

1. Tax exemption is not a government subsidy.
2. Organizations with 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status are allowed to engage in political activity, provided it is not their main activity.
3. Determining the proper level of scrutiny of organizations seeking tax-exempt status is not the responsibility of the organization, but the Congress and the IRS. The IRS has standard means of determining such status, and the questions and demands made to the organizations targeted far exceeded the established norms, which properly should be applied to all organizations seeking this status, whether conservative, liberal, or whatever.
4. The IRS scandal is serious enough that “fixing the problem” must include a thorough investigation to find out precisely what happened, who ordered what, and who up the chain of authority knew about it and when.
5. What the IRS did was beyond “mistakes,” and resulted in material harm to hundreds of groups and individuals, for which the agency must be held accountable.
6. The groups represented by the witnesses did nothing wrong in applying for tax-exempt status.
7. Contrary to some excuse makers, there were not more such applications than usual during the time frame represented by this scandal.

McDermott appeared June 5 on Fox News’ “America Live with Megan Kelly,” and rudely accused Kelly of “putting words in my mouth; stop it!” when she had merely asked him about his remarks.

After McDermott’s remarks at the hearing, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), 2012 GOP Vice-Presidential nominee, used his time to respond to McDermott’s ill-advised remarks instead of asking his planned questions:


As the many scandals of the Obama Administration continue to develop, McDermott has done nothing to help the crisis of trust in the government, and seems to exemplify the fortress mentality of Obama and his defenders. In their wisdom, America’s founding fathers warned that government cannot be trusted on the basis of good intentions, but must be restrained. Therefore, they gave us the Constitution, which, if followed, will do the job. But a determined, lawless administration will find ways to, at least temporarily, get around its wise restrictions.

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Friday, May 24, 2013

“O, What a Tangled Web We Weave…!”



IRS and Press Scandals
With the Obama Administration’s changing stories, trying to deal with past lies and cover-ups in the major scandals which now plague the Executive Branch, one must wonder what the final story will be. For Benghazi, the IRS, the AP fiasco, and the James Rosen incident, there seems to always be more depth and higher-up involvement day by day. I guess you can’t get any higher than the president where this is concerned, and it defies common sense to believe that Mr. Obama knew so little and Mr. Holder knew so little.

In 2008, Barack Obama the campaigner sounded like the man with the magical solutions to the major problems. He was going to straighten out the economy, make our enemies our friends, and generally inspire everyone, while running a very transparent administration. It wasn’t long before he claimed that the economy was in far worse shape than he’d thought, and everything he tried failed to make it better. In fact, things got worse. Between Obama and Congress, the national debt has exploded. And forget about transparency.The Middle East is in turmoil, helped along by Obama’s policies, the “Islam” part of radical Islam is never mentioned, and now the “global war on terror” is a forbidden phrase.

The Newspeak Dictionary keeps being revised, each time removing more words and phrases.

Now, instead of the man with the answers, President Obama is portraying himself as simply out of the loop, with no clue what’s going on in his own White House in regard to these scandals. Plausible deniability? He’s “outraged” by the IRS scandal “if” such things happened, things which he found out about when he read about them in the paper.

Obama, Carney, Holder, Shulman, etc. – these people are beginning to sound like Secret Agent 86, Maxwell Smart with his “Would you believe...?” routine. Trying to pass themselves off as know-nothings, but having to change their tune as facts come out to “Oh, yeah, I signed off on that,” (for example the Rosen search warrant). If Obama and Holder knew as little as they let on, what do they do all day? Sit in the office with the door closed and the phone turned off? No, I know the president goes out campaigning, golfing, and raising funds.  We’re told he wasn’t consulting with his White House counsel in real time as the IRS scandal came to light, but he may have to consult with some lawyer in his own defense as more things develop.

Holder’s situation seems more precarious, and the Attorney General in whom Obama has expressed full confidence may find himself resigning before Obama’s second term is over. Such an episode as Eric Holder saying he’d never participated in anything like going after Fox News Channel’s James Rosen, then later remembering he’d signed the search warrant naming Rosen as a possible co-conspirator in a leak from one of his sources, and then proceeded to obtain Rosen’s business and personal emails, and those of his parents. Your tax dollars at work.

Jonah Goldberg at National Review Online, writes, concerning the scandals,

The best defenses of his administration require undermining the rationale for his presidency.

“We’re portrayed by Republicans as either being lying or idiots. It’s actually closer to us being idiots.” So far, this is the administration’s best defense.
Or, as Ben Stein at The American Spectator writes,

Well, we are supposed to believe that a massive assault by the IRS on a popular uprising called the Tea Party was known to the higher ups at the IRS, at the Justice Department, and at the White House.

But Mr. Obama, much too pure and innocent to be told about mistakes in his administration, was too busy bathing the feet of the poor and tending to lepers to be told that his administration was engaged in an Orwellian attack on free speech.
Concerning the attacks on reporters, the mainstream media finally have something negative to say about the Obama Administration, since the Feds have come after them. The Associated Press and Fox News may not be the only subjects of secret search warrants and phone record seizures. Oddly, the president thinks more laws are needed to “shield journalists,” i.e., stop him and Holder from doing further such threatening things.

Of course, we should remember Obama’s attempts to discredit the Tea Party, Romney donors, and Fox News. Could there be a connection when the IRS goes after his political opponents and Obama’s own Justice Department goes after news outlets?

Lie upon Lie: Benghazi Scandal
Press Secretary Jay Carney says that the Benghazi attack happened “a long time ago,” (wow, eight months). No, the War of 1812 happened a long time ago, as things like this are measured. Benghazi is too recent to be anything but current events in this kind of context. But Hillary said, “What difference does it make?” Thus the Administration, having no effective response to the attack, wished to file it with forgotten events and lost causes, despite promises to bring the perpetrators to justice. When do you suppose that will happen? Probably at the Last Judgment, if left to the powers that be.

As for Benghazi, the State Department and the White House took the CIA’s talking points and took them through a dozen editions (as reported by the Weekly Standard, then by ABC News, after which the mainstreamers noticed it), finally changing the truth into a lie. And sticking with that lie long after everyone knew it was a lie.

Mark Steyn commented,

As Mr. [Gregory] Hicks testified, his superiors in Washington knew early that night that a well-executed terrorist attack with the possible participation of al-Qaeda elements was under way. Instead of responding, the most powerful figures in the government decided that an unseen YouTube video better served their political needs. And, in the most revealing glimpse of the administration’s depravity, the president and secretary of state peddled the lie even in their mawkish eulogies to their buddy “Chris” and three other dead Americans. They lied to the victims’ coffins and then strolled over to lie to the bereaved, Hillary telling the Woods family that “we’re going to have that person arrested and prosecuted that did the video.” And she did. The government dispatched more firepower to arrest Nakoula Basseley Nakoula in Los Angeles than it did to protect its mission in Benghazi. It was such a great act of misdirection Hillary should have worn spangled tights and sawn Stevens’s casket in half.
To follow that, they silenced survivors of the attack, and punished Gregory Hicks, the Tripoli second-in-command (who became first upon the death of Ambassador Stevens). After his dramatic testimony in Congress, he was placed in a lower level desk job. Meanwhile, Victoria Nuland, who strongly influenced the editing of the talking points, has been nominated to be Assistant Secretary of State. The Administration's attitude was expressed by Hillary Clinton to Congress: “At this point, what difference does it make?”

Roger L. Simon at PJ Media reported that new whistleblowers were to come forward with shocking (if true) information about the reason Ambassador Stevens was in Benghazi on 9/11. According to them, he was there to buy back Stinger missiles provided to “insurgents” by the State Department. I recommend reading the entire article. It’s quite interesting.

There’s a lot more to this story, apparently, than the government has been telling.

The Benghazi episode ought to put a stop to Hillary Clinton’s political career, but like Ted Kennedy, she may come back from a serious scandal to run for office again.

Conclusion
These scandals are not going away any time soon, and should be investigated until all the relevant facts are known and reported. Other scandals currently going on are the Fast and Furious ATF gun-running operation, and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’s solicitation of money for Obamacare from firms she regulates. Stay tuned.


 Photo: President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Usahitman.com via Yahoo images, source not given. Fair use, no copyright infringement intended.
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Saturday, May 4, 2013

Not Ready for Prime News Coverage? Gosnell’s Drug and Death Center



Obama’s beloved policy, abortion on demand, is getting some (but amazingly little up to now) bad press in the wake of the trial of Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, which a substantial percentage of Americans haven’t even yet heard of. If Dr. Gosnell’s lawyer is to be believed, Gosnell operated only a typical neighborhood clinic, and if you walk into an abortion clinic, abortion being the messy business that it is, you should expect to see blood on the walls, urine, etc. on the floor, fetal remains in the fridge, bodies of babies killed by “snipping” their spinal cords, and jars of severed fetal body parts in jars, not to mention heavily drugged women, many bleeding, some possibly dying. Gosnell’s alleged practice of using dirty instruments from one woman to the next, without cleaning, then, would seem to be a typical abortion-clinic matter. Gosnell claims that the prosecutors are trying to hold his clinic to a Mayo Clinic standard, when it is merely a neighborhood clinic. Of course, that’s because the prosecutors are, in his view, elitist and racist.
Here's one report by a Fox News affiliate (with added comments by the uploader of the video):
 



 
The charges and history of Gosnell’s gruesome but profitable butcher shop was surveyed in Fox News Channel's documentary “See No Evil,” hosted by Bret Baier, which details accounts of murders of viable babies by severing of their spinal cords, babies which exhibited the normal signs of being born alive, according to former Gosnell staffers. Some of those Gosnell employees pleaded guilty to murder and other charges. Based on Fox’s presentation and the Grand Jury report, it would appear that everything connected with the Gosnell establishment was tainted by murder, illegal abortions, illegal drug trafficking, filth, and generally, a horror show of blood.

If the Grand Jury report is to be believed, Gosnell is the worst mass killer or serial killer in American history. But he claims he is not guilty of anything illegal, just maybe a mistake here and there. It appears that in later times, Gosnell specialized in illegal late-term abortions (anesthesia optional at extra cost), which allegedly sometimes ended up in the murder of viable babies after their birth, and sometimes infection and death of the mother due to ill treatment in unsanitary conditions by unqualified staff members.

Not as bad as the crimes Gosnell is charged with, but, I believe, highly offensive and worthy of serious attention, are (1) the fact that Pennsylvania state authorities completely failed to investigate the clinic for decades, apparently due to political reasons, despite numerous complaints and lots of word-of-mouth evidence, patient deaths, etc., and (2) the mainstream media’s ridiculous lack of coverage, which, Fox reports, a poll found that people believe is mainly due to media bias. But of course, we don’t have media bias, right? It’s beyond bias, to the point of willful manipulation. What we have is a lapdog media that instead of “speaking truth to power,” instead distorts, neglects, and hides the truth on behalf of the powerful. Any way you look at it, it’s disgraceful. Of the major national news media outlets, it looks like only Fox News was willing to give the story anything like the coverage it warranted (see video below).


   

Like it or not, this episode is a serious test of America’s character, and highlights the political manipulation of law enforcement and media reporting. And it is a condemning indictment of public apathy and acquiescence to the unconscionable reality of the money-hungry, decency-be-damned death culture of the abortion industry. Gosnell’s shop is simply one of the most horrifying examples.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

The American Royals’ Lavish Lifestyle




As Mel Brooks says in one of his movies, “It’s good to be the king!”

His Royal Majesty Barack Obama for all his “concern” for the poor and demonization of the rich believes himself entitled to every privilege of royalty. Even though he himself is rich, it is pointed out that even he couldn’t afford the luxuries he enjoys. But with the help of the American taxpayers and the printing press, he can. Michele Bachmann (interviewed at CPAC) summarizes his extravagance:


I’m not sure every statement is 100 per cent mathematically accurate, but it illustrates quite correctly the level of personal service the Obamas feel they should, and routinely do, receive, including frequent and very expensive vacations.

Meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden has enjoyed some similar luxuries, his hotel tabs for one night each in London and Paris in February, for himself and a very substantial entourage, totaling over a million dollars.

As reported by the Daily Mail U.K., (citing prices reported by The Weekly Standard)


Paris may be known as the City of Light, but that title certainly doesn’t mean that visitors are light on spending as Vice President Joe Biden’s one day trip cost taxpayers more than half a million dollars.

When Mr Biden and his hefty entourage stayed in Paris for an evening in early February and it cost $585,000.50 for that single night.

The Vice President likely rented out more than 100 rooms in the Hotel Intercontinental Paris Le Grand, though they must not have gotten a group discount rate.…

For some reason, the pound must be at a better level than the euro as his hotel bill for one night at the Hyatt Regency in London was only $459,388.65, more than $100,000 less than his night in Paris.

The article reports that the VP and his group used 136 rooms in London and a similar number in Paris. (See photos at the Mail website). Five-star accommodations, of course.

Seems he narrowly beat the sequester, or might have needed to cut this expense by 10 per cent!


[Biden story via Liberty Crier]

 Photo: President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden look toward the guests in the First Lady's box at the State of the Union address in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., Feb. 12, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza). (No. 14 in gallery).
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Saturday, March 16, 2013

It’s Too Late; Now We’re Past the Point of No Return, Mark Steyn Says. Problem Is, He May Be Right.



The ongoing saga of ridiculous panic responses to “gun-shaped” things in kindergartens and elementary schools is very ably targeted by Mark Steyn, a commentator of high caliber, on the Rush Limbaugh Show:


I saw this YouTube item on the Daley Gator blog, where it was posted on March 11.

Some further analysis of what the episode of the pop-tart bitten into a gun-like shape signifies can be found here. Jon Rappoport has some interesting insights on how this is more important than it may appear. The article is well worth reading.

People must wake up, or we soon could become a society gone and forgotten.  
You try to be optimistic …
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Sunday, March 10, 2013

Rand Paul and His GOP Critics: Who Are the Real “Wacko Birds”?



Senator Rand Paul (official portrait)
Rand Paul’s heroic filibuster against the nomination of  John Brennan as CIA Director, and the objections voiced by Senators McCain and Graham have done much to illustrate the problems of the Republican Party. 

The New York Times reported,

But [Senator Rand Paul] was assailed by two of his party’s most prominent national security hawks, Senators John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. They took to the floor on Thursday to defend President Obama’s aggressive use of drones against Al Qaeda and its affiliates and to suggest that Mr. Paul and his backers had engaged in scaremongering.

“We’ve done, I think, a disservice to a lot of Americans by making them think that somehow they’re in danger from their government,” Mr. McCain said. “They’re not. But we are in danger from a dedicated, longstanding, easily replaceable-leadership enemy that is hellbent on our destruction.”

Mr. Paul won particular support from two other Tea Party-backed Republicans, Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah. The three spelled one another during the filibuster on Wednesday afternoon and evening, drawing in part from a huge positive response on Twitter to their efforts.

 The establishment (RINO) wing of the party will always be content to remain in the minority and offer only token opposition (if any at all) to the Marxist/Fascist administration now in Washington. Only upon receiving significant pressure from conservative colleagues and constituents are they likely to behave in anything close to a conservative manner.

Usually, this passivity seems to be because the establishment Republicans in Congress currently, and for some decades, have been of the mindset that what the GOP must do the win elections and serve the public good is to strive for common ground with Democrats, demonstrate bipartisanship, and avoid rocking the boat. So this is not so much an issue of character or intentions as it is of inertia.

Election results have shown that “moderate” Republicans do not usually win national elections (e.g., Dole, McCain, Romney), the exceptions being the Bush family. G. H. W. Bush rode the coattails of Reagan, and G. W. Bush beat inferior candidates Al Gore and John Kerry. Although he barely squeezed out a victory over Al Gore (Gore has since been shown to be an example of real political weirdness), his victory over the radical Kerry was more decisive. But when actual conservatives and libertarians come along and talk about reducing the size and scope of government, it sounds like a foreign language to the entrenched establishment of both parties.

While GOP accommodation of Obamaism is somewhat understandable, if not acceptable, sometimes it’s downright offensive. Case in point: Senators McCain and Graham’s harsh criticism of Rand Paul’s filibuster, with McCain even calling Paul, and Senators Cruz “Wacko Birds.” Not funny, Senator. Apparently, neither McCain nor Graham would have the courage to actually criticize the Obama Administration in any such dramatic way. Paul’s filibuster forced the Attorney General Eric Holder to declare that the president indeed does not have the authority to order drone strikes on Americans in America, who are not at the time engaged in battle against America. This is what it took to get such an admission in answer to a very simple and appropriate question.

While establishment GOP members of Congress seem ready to be swayed by Obama’s wining and dining them, it is offensive that McCain and Graham would criticize Rand as they did while just having partaken of Obama’s “charm offensive.” The real question, as I see it, is whether the RINOs can comprehend the threat to civil liberties posed by the issue of drone strikes on Americans in this country. It runs absolutely counter to the Constitutional due process protections (as does the claimed ability to detain American citizens indefinitely without trial or the right of habeas corpus).  

It’s not difficult to see that Rand Paul connected with many people, even of differing political views. He addressed an issue of the basic right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and stood against an arrogant, stubborn, and lawless administration that otherwise would have never said that Obama didn’t have the right to put on his kill list anyone he pleased and act on it at any time, and anywhere. For those not familiar with civics or the Constitution, these things violate the most basic protections citizens are supposed to have, and they smack of tyranny, which is very much a part of what the Obama Administration is all about.

An interesting read is the transcript of Senator Paul’s conversation with Rush Limbaugh, when he called in to Limbaugh’s show on March 7.  Besides the concern over drone strikes in the U.S., Paul also expressed concern over the administration’s general attitude of suspicion of American citizens.


PAUL: Well, the Bureau of Justice has come forward with some criterion for people you need to report on if you know these people. These are people with missing fingers, stains on their clothes, people who like to pay in cash, people who have weatherized ammunition, and more than seven days of food. These are people who are potential terrorists. And if that's the list, I know a lot of people on that list. I'm a little concerned that they ought to get a trial before they get a drone strike ordered.

          RUSH: I'm on that list! ….

And, concerning Senators McCain and Graham’s response:

PAUL:  You know, I think we've struck a nerve, and there is a little bit of a difference within the Republican caucus and a growing sort of division on some of these issues.  Their side believes that the battlefield is everywhere.  And this is what John Brennan believes here.  He says there's no geographic limitation to the battlefield.  And that means that if the battlefield is America also, then the people, you know, like Senator McCain and Graham, they believe that the laws of war apply.  The problem is that the laws of war don't involve due process.  And I understand when you're in war, you don't get due process.  So in the battlefield you don't ask your opponent, you know, for Miranda rights, you don't present them with warrants.  You shoot your opponent.

I strongly recommend reading the entire transcript, where he elaborates on the reasoning behind his actions. Overall, Senator Paul keeps a courteous and civil tone, states that his filibuster is not about individuals but issues, and gives a reasoned and convincing explanation for what he did.

I am happy to see it demonstrated thus that it’s possible to criticize the policies of the Obama Administration and even to see some results. Unless there is effective pressure on them, we will continue to see an unabated effort to marginalize civil liberties and to threaten Americans who disagree.

The delaying of the Administration’s answer to Senator Paul’s question suggests that they are not far from being OK with murdering American citizens on American soil, without trial, whom they deem to be somehow affiliated with terrorists. As noted previously, they would act as policeman, judge, jury and executioner, operating in secret. Chilling, and worth attention.

Further Reading:


“A Word or Three on John McCain and Lindsey Graham,” Ooobie on Everything, 03/09/2013. An excellent article on one of the very best blogs out there.

Gary North, “Dumb and Dumber: McCain and Graham Attack Rand Paul’s Filibuster,” 03/08/2013.

“McCain Calls Rand, Cruz, Amash, etc. ‘Wacko Birds,’ The republican Mother, 03/08/2013.
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Thursday, February 14, 2013

Lawlessness in High Places



Dreamstime.com

President Obama has many times shown his disdain for the United States Constitution. One example is his defiance of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which held that his “recess” appointments of National Labor Relations Board members were unconstitutional. These appointees have participated in many decisions since their appointments including several since the court decision. Obama has now officially nominated them for these positions, but has them still in place making decisions. The court decision has been ignored by the president

If the Administration followed the rule of law, these appointees would have been relieved of their duties until a final decision comes from the Supreme Court, or, if the Supreme Court chose not to handle this case, the Appeals Court ruling would be regarded as final. Or so I think as a non-lawyer. So far, the Administration has not appealed the decision.

This kind of blatant disregard of law is only too common in the Obama Administration. Many of the violations of the rule of law and the principle of checks and balances have been chronicled, ranging from “czars” who wield cabinet-level-type authority but have had no Senate confirmation, to crony capitalist deals that have resulted in business failures following multi-million-dollar government payouts (with executives getting large bonuses).

Now we’re told that the Executive Branch has given itself the “authority” to kill American citizens who are not engaged in warfare against the U.S. at the time, but are believed by high-level bureaucrats to be associated with al-Qaida or some affiliated group. They’ve already killed three American citizens without so much as offering them an opportunity to surrender and without an attempt to capture them. They have interpreted the Constitution to mean little to nothing and therefore, they’re free to act as not only policeman, but judge, jury, and executioner. Due process? Forget it. This, of course, is in line with the government’s recently asserted position of being authorized to detain American citizens indefinitely.

As Andrew Napolitano describes it,

President Obama willingly admits he dispatched CIA agents to kill an American and his teenage son and the son's American friend while they were in a desert in Yemen in 2011. He says he did so because the adult had encouraged folks to wage war on the United States and the children were just “collateral damage.” He says further that he'll do this again when he is convinced that killing Americans will keep America safe. He says he knows the adult encouraged evil, and his encouragement caused the deaths of innocents. The adult was never charged with a crime or indicted by a grand jury; he was just targeted for death by the president himself and executed by a CIA drone.
[Emphasis added]

The president and his advisors are fond of invoking some supposedly higher principle to justify their lawlessness, like “keeping people safe” to justify drone killings of citizens, trying to deny Second Amendment rights, rogue regulators, and TSA groping and nude scanners; “intellectual property protection” to go after people who have done nothing wrong just on the basis of someone’s complaint, and subjecting people to criminal charges for what should be a civil matter. And so on.

The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, in part, states the following:

…nor shall any person be subject for the same offence be to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law…     [Emphasis added]
Article. III., Section 3 of the Constitution states as follows:

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

The Congress shall have the Power to declare the Punishment of Treaon, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.

Corruption of blood is defined as follows:


(Law) taint or impurity of blood, in consequence of an act of attainder of treason or felony, by which a person is disabled from inheriting any estate or from transmitting it to others.
As Napolitano points out, there is no thought given to due process in drone killings. Now we are going to have drones patrolling our own country. How long until armed drones start taking out people the Administration finds objectionable, due to some perceived future threat? Of course, there might be “collateral damage,” but c’est la vie. What a tool to go after people who didn’t pay their taxes, or who spoke out against the abuses of government in some way that was politically uncomfortable. As far-fetched as it seems (and I wish it truly were), these things are not all that far from where we are now.

Beyond the question of a formal declaration of war, the constitutional rights abuse inherent in this and other Obama policies should be thoroughly investigated by Congress, a body whose authority Obama habitually usurps. So far, little has been done to try to stop this trend.

The possibility of establishing a secret court to authorize these killings is “unthinkable” according to Napolitano, and to do so would do nothing to make these things constitutional.

This is how dictatorships get started.

Pat Buchanan has written,

As killing a U.S. citizen is a graver deed than waterboarding a terrorist plotter to get information to save lives, Obama, who bewailed Bush’s detention, rendition and interrogation policies, appears guilty of manifest hypocrisy.

But with 3,000 to 4,500 now killed by drones in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen over 10 years, and an estimated 200 children and other civilians among the “collateral damage,” it is past time for a debate on where we are going in this “war on terror.”

Beyond the killing of Americans, which is manifestly unconstitutional, the overall question of drone killing needs to be examined.

Bill Wilson at Americans for Limited Government’s NetRightDaily website writes,

Where this ends is anyone’s guess.

For example, it is hard to see where geography would come into play under the type of precedent that is being created. Would the authorization to use military force against U.S. citizens also apply to U.S. soil?

The answer is, if this Administration, or any administration, merely took a broader view of what Congress has authorized it to do, geography would be no limitation whatsoever to the exercise of war powers here.

While the memo may not have been intended to address “what might be required to render a lethal operation against a U.S. citizen lawful in other circumstances,” it did not need to. It would essentially be the same argument.

The very serious concerns about spy drones and surveillance drones on American soil pale in comparison to the possible domestic use of armed drones to kill Americans. This Administration believes it can justify practically anything, so don’t be too shocked if this is the next step. What should shock us is that so little is apparently being done to stop it or even strongly question it. Judge Napolitano, Senator Rand Paul, and a few others are very concerned, but the Administration will likely just label them as “libertarian extremists” and go further on their merry way in this new incarnation of Stalinism.
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