A Liberal's Perspective: Defending The Boundary of American Ideals

After reading this article, I felt strongly about sharing it with the Esteemed Fix America Readers.


"A new American army is growing on American soil. They are prepared.

By John PND  /   May 14, 2014  /  

In hushed tones during conversations across the breadth of the heartland of America there are whispers. Quiet talk. About an army. Of Americans? 
An army prepared to defend an increasingly oppressed population craving reprieve from their government’s increasingly draconian methods. This army, they say, is growing.

After firm handshakes all around, Dan T. and Gene R., who I had good reason to believe were both retired military, settled into our task at hand. I was in their company for the day on business. During the one-day meeting Dan and Gene revealed that they were indeed career military. Dan, Army. Gene, retired Navy. I attempted to politely avoid political discussion in the interest of decorum.

So at the first comment on politics from my hosts I took a long deep breath. My opinions, despite being armed with facts, don’t go-over well in conservative America. Much less with ex-military. No doubt, patience would be needed.

Two hours later we clashed the mugs of our third round of beers together in a boisterous toast.

“This country is going to hell!,” I offered just a bit too loudly in the confines of the cramped bar.

“Damn right it is,” agreed Dan. At 6’4”, and a stout 280 pounds, Dan would make a fine nose tackle. “Quite frankly, I’m in favor of ringing America with an expanded Navy to protect us. It’s time our Military went back to protecting our Nation. Leave the world alone. But… the real question right now in America is…,” and he lowered his voice, giving me a direct stare, “are you prepared?”
Indeed America is going to hell. A sleeping America has no idea of the depth of the plot against them. Those few who are paying attention have good reason to fear the direction of their country and their Government. 

The savvy American knows about the FEMA incarceration camps. These camps are intended for them. This is confirmed by a leaked two-hundred- fifty-four page US Army manual showing the designs of the camps, defining who is to be culled from the population, and who is to be put to death.

These same Americans also know that their America has recently purchased 1.5 Billion rounds of hollow point ammunition and 800 million rounds of double-aught shotgun shells. This ammo is designed for one purpose; killing… people. While police and National Guard are having trouble getting their own ammo, this massive arsenal is being distributed via the Dept. of Homeland Security to points unknown.

They also know that the FBI formally requested in writing to assassinate with a high powered rifle the leaders of the Houston Occupy camp. 

Now, on Tuesday April 29, 2014 the US Supreme Court approved this behavior and a myriad of other authoritarian controls straight from the manuals of Dachau, Auschwitz, or the Gulag.

The informed American should be terrified.
I had heard and read rumblings of a ground-swell movement within the American military. This quiet, passionately pro-American, pro-Constitution, pro-democracy, army is rapidly growing. It has already faced down the US empire twice. Their mission: to save Americans from their Government. They call themselves, “Oath Keepers.”

“I Do Solemnly Swear (Or Affirm) That I Will Uphold the Constitution of the United States of America, Against All Enemies, Foreign and Domestic…Pledging My Life, My Fortune, and My Sacred Honor. So Help Me God.” – US Military Oath of Service.

Oath Keepers are the predictable historical reaction by populations to endemic political, financial, and corporate corruption and the destruction of their society. With a puppet president, malicious congress, and constitutionally irrational court system, to more and more Americans Oath Keepers is becoming the only effective counter weight to a tyrannical empire.

There are approximately 21.5 million military veterans of all ages and ethnic backgrounds in America. Estimates put Oath Keepers membership in excess of 200,000. Within this growing army are every military rank from all four branches of the US military. From Gunny Sergeant to Admiral, from Army Chaplain to Naval Captain, Marine Corp. General to PFC, America’s veteran military corp. remains full of a vast wealth of very expensive and thoroughly trained military. 

Oath Keepers include many active duty service men and women who keep their membership very private. Their numbers are reportedly also swelling.
All these men and women were trained to fight. They remember their training. They remember that they are first and foremost American’s, sworn to protect the constitution and the American people. That never changed. These real American patriots have not for gotten the Oath of Service they swore to so many years before.     
          
Few thought the day would come when, rather than providing protection from foreign adversaries, they would actually heed the currently two most important words, “…and Domestic.”

By all current reports Americans hold over 320 million non-military fire arms of all makes, models, and calibers. That figure is only the guns that are accounted for. Actual numbers are higher. With the recent gun buying surge across America, this number is ever rising. Many of these people are buying these weapons whether they are aware of Oath Keepers or not, and hold very similar views on our Government’s authoritarian intentions. 

Combine all these weapons with the millions of American veterans and you have a highly trained and well- armed militia ready, willing, and waiting to protect Americans from their own government. Was this not the original wisdom of the inclusion of the American Constitution’s very controversial Second Amendment?

Freedom loving Americans have only two distinct choices. Either use their First Amendment right to assembly and free speech to produce a massive showing of outrage that retrieves the remains of true democracy… 
Or… it will be the Second Amendment. Guns.
I asked Dan and Gene to comment.

Dan slams his glass down in agreement, since it is empty, looking intently out from under a beat-up, bleached out, somewhat reddish baseball cap. 
“That’s a good way to put it,” he says while eyeing me carefully over the foam atop a freshly poured beer. “The question really is,” he says again quietly, “are you prepared?”

In America’s desperate condition being prepared runs the gambit from eliminating one’s personal debt, eliminating unnecessary possessions, putting assets into gold or silver, and stocking a sensible amount of supplies and provisions away just in case. It means having the presence of forethought to realize the dire reality of America’s real social and political condition.
It also implies being prepared to protect and defend those possessions, and freedoms, from a growing government tyranny.

A whole lot of well trained, well-armed, Americans have seen this day coming. 
The Oath Keeper motto is, “Not On Our Watch!” Their own pro-American, pro-constitutional oath has been sworn by all Oath Keepers whether active military, veterans, police officers, national guardsmen, TSA officials, firemen, or peace officers. The Oath is defined clearly in ten separate guarantees: 

Oath Keepers will NOT obey any order to:

1. Disarm the American people.
2. Conduct warrant-less searches of the American people, 
3. Detain American citizens as “unlawful enemy combatants” 
4. Impose martial law or a “state of emergency” on a state.
5. Invade and subjugate any state that asserts its sovereignty. 
6. Blockade American cities, turning them into giant concentration camps.
7. Force American citizens into any form of detention camps.
8. Assist or support the use of any foreign troops on U.S. soil.
9. Confiscate the property of the American people.
10. Infringe on the right of the people to free speech, to peaceably assemble, and to petition their government for a redress of grievances. 

Only two Days ago the US Supreme Court of the United States formally gave approval for US Government goons to reap all these horrors on all Americans. 

On Tuesday, the court in Hedges v. Obama, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 13-758, refused to review the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeal’s (traditionally the president’s pocket court) decision to overturn a lower court decision that did, temporarily, protect Americans from these unconstitutional war crimes of Sect. 1021 of the Obama inspired of the National Defense Authorization Act. All ten horrors are, right now, legal across America.

Foolishly I had mistakenly interpreted the Oath of the Oath Keepers to mean that those who take the oath would lay down their weapons under such extreme circumstances. 

“Wrong!” said Paul immediately, inching forward and giving me a penetrating glance while setting down his beer. “We’re not laying down our weapons for anyone!” 

Gene was also eyeing me keenly. Quickly forgiving my small indiscretion, he offered support saying, “Yeah. You’re absolutely right about the Oath. But if you don’t have your weapons you’re not going to fight back. That’s what the huge recent increase in gun sales is all about.”

Gene’s a retired Navy aircraft carrier pilot, one of the Navy’s most highly trained servicemen. Of a Bantam weight’s build, and just as feisty, at sixty Gene is looking as youthful as his days in the cockpit. He is just as assured and straight talking. 

I told them about the FBI study that concluded that American citizens and their massive private, and growing, arsenal could never defeat the US military, should the populous finally fight back.

Gene smiled slyly, then laughed. “They've got that one wrong,” Gene is quite likely correct. Quantifying the totality of a potential armed push back by an armed American public, truly shows the dire consequences about to befall America. It is no wonder that Gene is smiling.

Sadly, that result will be bloodier than the Civil War, just as apocalyptic, and spell the darkest days in the history of America, should it remain a nation when the sands of time have finally cleared the wreckage.

The American Empire has been keeping any news of Oath Keepers out of the media. The regime does not want an example of courage and successful opposition getting to the minds of its subjugated and fearful people. The regime fears the Oath Keepers for a very good reason; this army has already beaten the devil back-down below.
Twice.

When the sequestration cuts agreed to by a criminal congress took effect in late 2013, the Obama administration decided to punish Americans for his failure as president. He proceeded to close the ocean to recreational fishing and boating, and close access to lakes and national parks. His dark minions in the Forest Service went so far as to ring the famous geyser, “Old Faithful,” a US tourist attraction, with a twelve foot high solid plastic fence. This made sure that no-one could see and enjoy it. Tourists who went to the third floor of an adjacent hotel to sneak a peek, were arrested.

Then the puppet went too far.

American veterans come from across America to remember their friends and loved ones at the Vietnam and World War Two war memorials. When Obama closed these, it was a call to action for the Oath Keepers.
  
Wearing side arms, some in uniform, Oath Keepers showed up en-mass. They proceeded to escort arriving visitors past the equally armed Capitol Police and then protected them during their visit. To everyone privy to this successful operation, the Oath Keepers were heroes.

Two weeks ago a corrupt US Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) tried to use his equally corrupt connections at the Bureau of Land Management to then order US Marshal’s Service to seize Clive Bundy’s Nevada ranch so he could sell it to the Chinese. Two thousand people showed up to defend the ranch, but the siege was turning ugly. Marshall’s were tazering peaceful protesters, and slamming women to the ground. Things were getting bad.

Then the Oath Keepers road in.

Armed and ready, several dozen Oath Keepers took up positions and began patrols on Clive Bundy’s property. Many publicly stated that if they were fired on they would return fire.

So, two hundred plus Federal Marshals went home.
The cheers were world-wide.

Our conversation had been enlightening, optimistic, supportive, but at the same time terrifying. To discover that so many American active and retired military are of like mind to just as many passionate pro-American progressives holding radical viewpoints was heartening.

Knowing that former members of America’s military had already sworn an oath to protect me, and other Americans, from the very real threat of being shot, or incarcerated without a warrant, by our own government was reassuring.
Assuredly the Oath Keepers will be called to order again soon.

That is terrifying.
- See more at: http://www.patriotnetdaily.com/a-new-american-army-is-growing-on-american-soil-they-are-prepared/#!prettyPhoto"

A Safe America - Part 1

It seems to me that It is very important to remember that before the founding of this nation very independent thinking men became dissatisfied with rulers and struck out for a foreign shore. Since the founding of this country, it was imaginative individuals as entrepreneurs working, always with risk, toward a common goal through voluntary cooperation in both concept and spirit. Team work had very little importance in the founding of this nation. It was individual freemen that made this nation the strongest in the world: it was the concepts of individual strengths and the spirit of freedom that made an American who he was. To be sure there were communities which had various common functions; blacksmith, butcher, baker, candle stick maker, reverend, and often a bookbinder or printer of news. They all had weapons of one sort or another and when aggression occurred defended their family and home. On the occasion of threat to their community they band together as a militia to defend their communities.

Because of the type of mandatory education today, people have been trained to rely on government, not themselves for defense. Today there is more and more reliance on the government for almost everything including permissions. Americans in general have been trained to be various kinds of workers or soldiers. Thinking along this path leads to socialism. This kind of society requires group thinking, standardized actions, and regulated activities. Team work is only important in highly structured social undertakings; the minuet, Virginia reel, football, soccer are some of the things that come to mind. Lock-step thinking and behavior becomes most important in successful social civilizations; colonies of ants, colonies of termites, colonies of bees, are successful due to the queens ability to produce an almost unlimited number of kinds of workers and soldiers controlled by chemical entrainment. Who wishes to strive to be an ant, termite, or a bee?

The various human attempts at hard core socialism have historically failed. These societies failed because they, by necessity, are controlled by the few who spend some amount of time on remaining in control and this inevitably leads to the people feeling disenfranchised in regard to the exercise of control over their own lives. These types of societies leave little or no place for individual imagination and improvement in their station of life. This inequitable and imbalanced condition becomes a generalized dissatisfaction with their station in life and a seeming paradox occurs. The people rely on government for solutions.

The situation in America, relying on government, for direction and safety when perceived threats are seemingly detected has become psychologically epidemic and endemic in the way Americans think. Americans have in one way or another allowed fewer freedoms, liberties, and rights to insure their safety from an ill defined aggressor. How safe are we... really?

The Great New Hampshire Debate-For Educational Purposes Only

by a concerned reader

The New Hampshire Debate has accomplished little to define either the candidates intentions, ideas, or beliefs or a coherent account of their records. This was due to the moderators questions which steered around all the major problems facing this country focusing on issues not pertinent to the governance of this nation and the moderators inability to curtail frivolous issues which ended with pastime pursuits!

I would have cared to listen to the candidates response to questions like:

As president, how would you:

1. Restore and protect citizens' rights as enumerated in the U.S. Constitution?

Signing the National Defense Authorization Act on New Year’s Eve, President Barry (Barack Hussein Obama?) Soetoro said that he had his reservations over the controversial legislation that will allow for the indefinite detention of Americans; but, signed it anyway.

Now, some of the president’s advisers are expressing their concern with Obama’s action and say that the commander-in-chief should have thought harder before signing away the civil liberties of Americans. Under the bill, which approves all defense spending for the 2012 fiscal year, certain provisions allow for the military detainment and torture of US citizens, indefinitely, essentially allowing for Guantanamo Bay-style prisons to be a real possibility for every American.  As the act floated around Congress, an underground outrage erupted and activists attempted to keep the bill from leaving the House and the Senate, although a lack of media coverage largely left the matter hidden from the public. Despite this campaign, the legislation made it out of the Capitol Building and into the Oval Office last month, prompting advocates against the act to petition for the president to veto it. But, Barry (Barack Hussein Obama?) Soetoro signed it anyway.

2. Repair the damage that has been done to several of the amendments to the U.S. Constitution?

Violation of the U.S. Constitution by deliberate omission of the original 13th Amendment:

"If any citizen of the United States shall accept, claim, receive, or retain any title of nobility or honour, or shall without the consent of Congress, accept and retain any present, pension, office, or emolument of any kind whatever, from any Emperor, King, Prince, or foreign Power, such person shall cease to be a citizen of the United States, and shall be incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under them, or either of them."

The Real Thirteenth Amendment, shown above, was ratified March 12, 1819 with the vote of the Virginia General Assembly to publish the Revised Code of the Laws of Virginia with this article of amendment included in the Constitution of the United States, and thus it became an integral part of the Constitution for the United States of America. This amendment added a heavy penalty, not included in the original exclusion of Titles of Nobility provided in Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution, upon any person holding or accepting a Title of Nobility or Honour, or receiving any emolument, other than their legitimate earnings, under any guise from external sources, by making that person "cease to be a citizen of the United States" and "incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under the them, or either of them." This amendment was proposed, properly ratified, and was a matter of record in the several States archives until 1876, by which time it was quietly, and fraudulently "disappeared", never repealed, during the period of Reconstruction after the Civil War and the presently acknowledged Thirteenth Amendment was substituted.

Article 1, Section 8: perversion of the monetary system; ... To coin money, (responsibly?) regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures; the federal Congress has unconstitutionally turned over the coining of Money, the regulation of the value thereof, and of foreign coin to the Treasury, in contradiction to Article 1, Section 8, Clause 5 and Article 1, Section 10, Clause 1; the federal Congress has failed to provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current coin of the United States in contradiction to Article 1, Section 8, Clause 6, by implementing the Federal Reserve Bank in 1913; HJR 192 – Federal Reserve Notes are NOT lawful money – “payment is declared to be against public policy” (Act of 28 October 1977, Pub. L. 95-147, § 4(c), 91 Stat. 1227, 1229, now codified in 31 U.S.C. § 5118(d)(2)).

Violation of Article 1, Section 9:

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. ; ... the Department Of Justice, in contradiction to Article 1, Section 9, Clause 3, has allowed ex post facto laws to be passed (i.e., retroactive taxation), and, in contradiction to Posse Commitatus, has allowed the military to be used against citizens in the united States of America, resulting in the deaths of minor children and adults;

Violation of Article 3, Section 1:

The federal Judiciary, in contradiction to Article 3, Section 1, has held Office during bad behavior by not complying with the following: The supreme Court has the power of “judicial review,”  (i.e., the power to declare laws passed by the U.S. Congress to be null and void if such a law or laws was/is in violation of the Constitution for the united States of America.)  They have failed by omission to declare as unconstitutional both the public and secret edicts of President(s) (i.e. Executive Orders.)

(To protect states against invasion); borders are wide open; the federal President has become a “domestic enemy” by implementing Bankruptcy (1930-32) and “War and Emergency Powers” (March 9, 1933 and subsequently) and “International Emergency and War Powers” (1977) in contradiction to Article 4, Section 4; “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion (from all enemies foreign and domestic); and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence.”

Also, under Title 8, Section 1325 of the U.S. Code, “Improper Entry by Alien,” any citizen of any country other than the United States who:

Enters or attempts to enter the United States at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers; or Eludes examination or inspection by immigration officers; or Attempts to enter or obtains entry to the United States by a willfully false or misleading representation or the willful concealment of a material fact;... has committed a federal crime. Violations are punishable by criminal fines and imprisonment for up to six months. Repeat offenses can bring up to two years in prison. Additional civil fines may be imposed at the discretion of immigration judges, but civil fines do not negate the criminal sanctions or nature of the offense.

Violation of Article 5 of the U.S. Constitution:

By all 535 members of Congress (see FOAVC.ORG and Walker vs. Members of Congress);

Violation of Article 6 of the U.S. Constitution:

Flagrant violations of oath of office;  the federal President has failed to live up to his oath of office in contradiction to Article 2, Section 1, Clause 8, to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution for the united States of America (original intent); NOT: “of the United States” – limited jurisdiction (legal entity).

The Congress has flagrantly violated their oath of office to uphold the U.S. Constitution (i.e., Article 5 is one obvious example)

The violation of the 1st Amendment:  Passage of laws providing federal tax revenues to be provided to faith based organizations; Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances; also, by violating Article 5, the Congress has violated the 1st Amendment (and vice-versa)clause: “and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

Violation of the 2nd Amendment:

The right to bear arms;  only recently did the Supreme Court finally uphold the 2nd Amendment by rejecting Washington D.C.’s ban on hand gun ownership for the past 32 years.

Violation of the 4th Amendment:

(search and seizure without a warrant); Too many examples to justify use of space.

Violation of the 5th Amendment:

Flagrant legal plunder via eminent domain abuses (Supreme Court upholds abuse of eminent domain abuse); 6.8 new cases per day;

For the violation of the following: the 5th Amendment: right not to be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury (Statutory Jurisdiction notwithstanding the 6th Amendment: right in all criminal prosecutions to enjoy a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of Counsel for his defense. the 7th Amendment: right to trial by jury; as opposed to trial WITH jury; the 9th Amendment: the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people; the 10th Amendment: the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people; 16th Amendment: Also, many people are claiming that the 16th Amendment was never ratified by three-fourths of the states? 17th Amendment: Was the 17th Amendment really ratified by three-fourths of the states?  The violation of U.S. law and international treaty (Geneva Convention): torture at Guantanamo Bay, water-boarding (which is stated in clear legal language that it is illegal in the Army Field Manual);

3. Correct the American economy and monetary system?

4. Restore the Posse Comitatus Act, and would you redefine military service branches, (i.e., Departments), to insure military force not be used against U.S. Citizens on U.S. soil?

5. Dissolve unconstitutional departments and agencies, or re-mandate and re-task them?

Federal agencies that are not constitutional, specifically the Department of Education, the Department of Energy and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

The Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution states that the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

Those who claim the Department of Education is Constitutional say that it promotes the general welfare of the United States, however, this phrase, appearing in the preamble of the Constitution does not grant or prohibit power to Congress, is not its purpose. The preamble simply describes the Constitution and what the document itself was designed to do, and is not actually a binding decree of the Constitution.

The Department of Education was founded using the preamble as the basis for its Constitutionality, but due to what’s stated above, it is clear that it is not. Thomas Jefferson considered the federal government’s involvement in education to be unconstitutional. In 1862, James Buchanan warned that giving education to Congress would create a vast and irresponsible authority. Both he and Jefferson were right.

President Obama requested a $48.8 billion budget for the Department of Education, and an additional $28.6 billion for Pell Grants (both increases from previous years) in his first 2012 budget. Despite all the spending for education, test scores do not improve. Because of this failure of the department, and its inherent unconstitutionality, it should be devolved back to the states.

The Department of Energy should suffer the same fate. Nowhere in the Constitution does the federal government have the right to control a specific industry. The elimination of this department was something Ronald Reagan greatly desired, but was unable to do with Democrats controlling Congress. The department was created from components of existing agencies in 1977. By 1982, the agency’s budget had doubled. President Obama’s 2011 budget request for the department was $28.4 billion, a 6.8% increase from 2010. Please remember, the Department of Energy is responsible for the crony loan program which gave taxpayer dollars to companies like Solyndra, Beacon, Evergreen Solar and many more which have all bankrupted after loans were granted or received. This department, which has been using taxpayer funds to invest in highly risky companies (I thought risky investments were the reason the Occupiers hate Wall Street?) based solely on political reasons is clear grounds for elimination.

The NLRB… where to begin. This agency has been trying to bolster union support since its inception. Union membership actually only totals about 9% of the national workforce, yet this agency would prefer that to be 100%. We’ve seen that with their lawsuit against Boeing. They want Boeing to shut down a plant that employs over 1000 people just because it’s not unionized. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) even agreed that the government force the plant to shut down, but she would prefer it simply become union.

Is this kind of government overreach Constitutional? Remember, these are only some of the agencies that are not authorized by the Constitution, and are just a small example of departments in our federal government that should not exist.

6. Prevent world-wide preemptive U.S. Military action and stop unrequested and invasive military action (i.e., unilateral warfare)?

The long war provoked by the treasonous acts of Sept. 11 is over. The congressional resolutions authorizing combat in Afghanistan and Iraq no longer justify military operations in either country -- or anywhere else. U.S. President Barack Obama gained office by denouncing his predecessor’s assertion of unilateral power to commit the nation to an endless war against terror (the cause of which is now plain to see for anyone willing to look at the real evidence). Yet, despite the absence of legislative authorization, Obama is moving down George W. Bush’s path to unilateral warfare. This is the real existential threat to American democracy.

7. Guarantee the right to privacy for U.S. Citizens from all Departments, Agencies, and Bureaus?

From The Washington Post, Posted at 2:35 PM ET, 01/31/2011

FBI in hundreds of privacy violations, report finds By Jeff Stein

The Federal Bureau of Investigation reported nearly 800 violations of privacy laws and regulations to the President’s Intelligence Oversight Board from 2001 to 2008, according to records obtained by a watchdog group.

The San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) said it had also uncovered “indications that the FBI may have committed upwards of 40,000 possible intelligence violations in the 9 years since 9/11.” It said it could find no records of whether anyone was disciplined for the infractions.

The group drew its findings from about 2,500 documents it obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

The reports of serious misconduct by FBI agents included "lying in declarations to courts, using improper evidence to obtain grand jury subpoenas, and accessing password-protected files without a warrant," the EFF said.

Valerie Caproni, the FBI's general counsel, said that the violations were mostly technical or procedural.

The number of substantive violations of someone's rights is very small and we take them very seriously," she told the Los Angeles Times, which first reported the findings on Sunday.

These guidelines were put in place to prevent civil rights abuses," responded Mark Rumold, the EFF lawyer who obtained the documents. "And when the FBI is glibly treating violations as technical mistakes, it's indicative of a broader problem — the FBI's attitude toward dedicated, effective oversight.”

Caproni told the Times that she was “confident that, by and large, 99.9 percent of the time our agents are acting in compliance with the Constitution, the statutes, executive orders (which now have effectively negated all civil liberties and the Constitution itself, a concerned reader states) and FBI and DOJ policies on civil liberties.

The disclosure comes as Congress grapples with renewing the USA Patriot Act, passed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which loosened restrictions on U.S. intelligence agencies to obtain personal information on American citizens. It expires in February.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D-Vt.), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has proposed putting restrictions on domestic intelligence-gathering (now negated by practices of Fusion Centers all over the country, a concerned reader states). His office said he would have no comment on the EFF report until he had had a chance to read it.

But on Jan. 26, when he introduced his USA PATRIOT Act Sunset Extension Act, Leahy said the legislation would "increase judicial oversight of government surveillance powers that capture information on Americans."
By Jeff Stein | January 31, 2011; 2:35 PM ET

These are just seven of the more than thirty critically important questions I was hoping to hear answers to from each candidate.

Instead of these, the moderators allowed and encouraged responses regarding personal religious beliefs or customs (the constitution prohibits any law regarding religion),  arguments involving the truth of numbers of jobs generated (figures no one has actually counted, calculated or confirmed), issues voted on (a matter of record not open to debate), mud slinging, and the penultimate question of the evening "if you weren't doing this what would you be doing?" Only one candidate had any response I thought was reasonable considering just one of the problems facing the state of our nation. It wasn't regarding football or basketball!

If I were in charge of the network who staged this circus, I would tell Stephanopoulos and the dizzy blond to pack their bags and look for work elsewhere!

Is Breakfast Ready?

When are Americans going to realize both the Republican Party and Democratic Party are owned and controlled by the same group of criminals that have raped our country and are about to take complete control of our nation? They have stripped us of our constitutional rights and are about to get rid of the U. S. Constitution altogether. Is the average citizen so dumbed down and poorly educated that he/she doesn't recognize his freedom to choose has all but vanished and their liberty is disappearing quickly. It maybe the average citizen has completely fallen for the mind control persuasion programs dished out by this group.

Borrow more money! Go further into debt! You can get out, around, or through this;  if you will just do the right thing! Sell what you own so you can feed your family. Don't vote for the one presidential candidate that knows how to correct these problems! Vote for Romney, Santorum, Gingrich, Perry, Bachmann, Cain, Or anyone but that other guy...what's his name! He's too radical, revolutionary, isolationist! Short, thin, whatever may sway or frighten the people to vote for our puppets.

Citizens must vote for someone who believes in the United States of America, who has followed the United States Constitution and will continue to uphold it's principles by action. Someone who understands that borrowing money, instead of limiting spending, is a disaster just waiting to happen. Someone who understands that our government is bloated and needs to be trimmed. Someone who understands our government is taking control from the people. Someone who understands that the government is too domestically invasive.

The GOP has already said anyone is okay, except Dr. Paul. why would they say that? It might just be that they have no control over him and are very afraid that the government gravy train they run and upon which they have been riding is about to be derailed by someone who will uphold the U. S. Constitution and repair the damage that has already been done.

It is easy to understand that if anyone else is okay: they already know the ones they want are already under control or can be persuaded, unlike Dr. Paul. Is it time for Americans to stop voting for the favorite with the most hair, or the youngest favorite, or any favorite who tells listeners exactly what they want to hear? Wake UP! Smell the oncoming meals served at more than eight hundred FEMA detention camps and concentration centers ALL OVER THE COUNTRY!

Google it and become involved: Before it is too late!