Saturday, July 10, 2010

NY National Guard and local police are running military checkpoints, supposedly searching for drugs and guns.


New York National Guard Units Scan Vehicles For Gun Confiscations

[Increasingly, the country is under martial law without it being declared. The Constitution forbids the use of federal military for local police action. Soldiers are supposed to defend the nation, not subdue it.]

New “war on drugs” program another alarming sign that America is under martial law
Paul Joseph WatsonPrison Planet.com [1]Wednesday, July 7, 2010
The New York National Guard is working with local law enforcement authorities to perform sophisticated scans of vehicles entering the New York area looking for guns and drugs in the latest alarming example of how America is under a state of de facto martial law.
Under the umbrella of the “war on drugs” and in complete violation of Posse Comitatus, National Guard units in New York are engaged in a “domestic fight” targeting American citizens with new ionization swabbing technology that enables them to “find drugs or weapons” via undervehicle inspections of cars based on the flimsiest of pretexts.
“The New York National Guard’s counter-drug task force (is) providing not only the people but the equipment law enforcement may need to make drug arrests and seizures,” reports Fox News 23 [2]. Such “seizures” includes the seizure of “weapons,” as Guard units, who are now working with foreign troops in exercises [3]targeting American “terrorists,” are primed to engage in gun confiscation programs.
A video demonstration filmed by Fox 23 shows a typical checkpoint-style set up with a sign that states “slow – under vehicle inspection” as a swab of a car is performed. Although the report states that a warrant is needed to perform an inspection, an example cited of where the technology was used was apparently prompted by a police officer claiming to smell marijuana coming from a vehicle. The vehicle was swabbed but no drugs were found.
National Guard helicopters are also aiding the police “with observation, tracking, and finding illegal growing operations,” another complete violation of the Posse Comitatus Act and the Insurrection Act, which substantially limit the powers of the federal government to use the military for law enforcement unless under precise and extreme circumstances.
Under the John Warner Defense Authorization Act, signed by President Bush on October 17, 2006, the law was changed to state, “The President may employ the armed forces to restore public order in any State of the United States the President determines hinders the execution of laws or deprives people of a right, privilege, immunity, or protection named in the Constitution and secured by law or opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws.”
However, these changes were repealed in their entirety by HR 4986: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 [4], reverting back to the original state of the Insurrection Act of 1807 [5].
The original text of the Insurrection Act severely limits the power of the President to deploy troops within the United States.
For troops to be deployed, a condition has to exist that, “(1) So hinders the execution of the laws of that State, and of the United States within the State, that any part or class of its people is deprived of a right, privilege, immunity, or protection named in the Constitution and secured by law, and the constituted authorities of that State are unable, fail, or refuse to protect that right, privilege, or immunity, or to give that protection; or (2) opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws. In any situation covered by clause (1), the State shall be considered to have denied the equal protection of the laws secured by the Constitution.”

[6]
As one respondent to the story points out, while cops and National Guard are busy harassing citizens and subjecting them to vehicle scans if an officer smells pot, real criminals and killers are still on the loose.
“Don’t the Schenectady police have better things to do than investing a year investigating someone who’s a cop claimed smelled like pot? There was shooting on Hamilton Hill where an 11 year old boy was shot in the head along with his brother. Well, that shooter is still on the loose while the SPD is preoccupied with borrowing gadgets from the national guards to track down drug users. The scarce resources of police departments should be devoted to catching criminals who harm the public by murdering, mugging and stealing. The police shouldn’t wasting their resources on people who are committing consensual crimes. And the war on drugs is really a war on people,” writes the respondent.
Under the pretext of “helping” local communities short of police in difficult economic times, U.S. troops are now occupying America as the country sinks into a state of de facto martial law.
The military are now being called upon to undertake roles normally designated to police as Americans are incrementally acclimated to accept the presence of troops on the streets as an everyday occurrence. National Guard units are now being deployed for things like traffic control in places like Kingman Arizona [7], and providing security at sports events like the Kentucky Derby [8].
As we reported in 2008 [9], U.S. troops returning from Iraq are now occupying America, running checkpoints and training to deal with “civil unrest and crowd control” under the auspices of a Northcom program that by 2011 will have no less than 20,000 active duty troops deployed inside America to “help” state and local officials during times of emergency.
We have documented numerous instances of troops and National Guard personnel being used to perform law enforcement duties which are transparently outside the purview of the Guard’s supposed role to respond to national emergencies and therefore completely illegal.
In January 2009, soldiers from the Lynchburg-based 1st Battalion, 116th Brigade Combat Team, were used to conduct personal searches at checkpoints [10] in Washington DC for the inauguration of Barack Obama.
In March of that same year, we reported on U.S. Army troops dispatched to patrol the streets of Samson, Alabama, after a murder spree [11].
On April 6, we reported on a DHS, federal, state, Air Force, and local law enforcement checkpoint in Tennessee [12]. On April 3, Infowars [13] was instrumental in the cancellation of a seatbelt checkpoint that was to be conducted in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security and the 251st Military Police in Bolivar, Tennessee.
In December 2008, we reported on the Marine Corps Air and Ground Combat Center dispatching troops to work with police on checkpoints in in San Bernardino County, California [14].
On April 22 2009, we reported [15] the deployment of 400 National Guard Combat Support Battalion troops to “maintain public order” at the Boston Marathon.
In June 2008, Infowars posted an article by D. H. Williams [16] of the Daily Newscaster reporting the deployment of 2,300 Marines in the city of Indianapolis under the direction of FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.
We also reported a story on April 22 2009 covering the assault of a local television [17]news team by an irate police officer in El Paso, Texas. A video taken by the news videographer shows uniformed soldiers working with police officers at the scene of a car accident.
The routine use of military and Guard units in dealing with mundane law enforcement duties is part of an acclimation program to make Americans accept the sight of armed men in military fatigues patrolling the streets as America sinks further into a Communist-style police state and a state of de facto martial law.

What Kind Of Depression Is This?


Not your 1930s DepressionExclusive: Patrice Lewis explains why next collapse will be much harder to survive

The news headlines have been screaming lately:
Market forecaster sees Dow plunge to 1000
Dow repeats Great Depression pattern
7.9 million jobs lost, many never to return

If you're self-employed like we are, headlines like these make us nervous. So we've gotten caught up in the "preparedness" movement purely out of anxiety.
You see, if our country is heading toward a 1930s-style depression or worse, I fear it won't be "just" an economic depression. We are missing some key elements that were present during the 1930s that will make that decade-long economic disaster a relative walk in the park compared to today.
Those key factors are a work ethic, independence, civility and a religious foundation.
Remember the old stories of how someone would knock at your grandmother's back door and offer to split some firewood in exchange for a meal? Does anyone honestly think hungry people will do this any more? We're so used to entitlements that the idea of lowering ourselves to exchange labor for food is outrageous. No, today a person who is hard up on their luck and not getting a government handout is much more likely to kick in the back door, tie grandma up, pistol whip her (or worse) and clean the house of any usable items before departing for the next victim. In their minds this is because grandma has no "right" to have food when they don't.

The elders in our society often recall with fondness some of the good elements that came out of the horrible Great Depression. They remember the sense of community that sprang up, born of common hardships. They remember how hard the indigent would work to maintain their dignity and not sink to accepting charitable handouts without offering something else in exchange (such as splitting firewood).
But no more.
After decades of government entitlements, many people no longer have a work ethic. My concern is if we encounter the economic depression analysts predict, it will result in societal turmoil – because far too many people haven't the slightest clue how to work, how to exchange labor for food, or how to restrain their most vicious and animalistic desires in order to keep civilization civil.
If it weren't so tragic, it would be laughable to hear people spouting on and on about their "rights." Criminey, folks, most people wouldn't recognize a real "right" if it bit them on the butt. Rights are a gift from God. They do NOT come from the government. All those entitlements – subsidized housing, food stamps, free medical care – are not "rights."
We have the right to life. We have the right to liberty. And we have the right to the pursuit (not the achievement) of happiness. These rights derive from our Creator, not from the fools in Washington.
You do NOT have the "right" to food. It's up to you to get that for yourself or, if you can't, to look to private individuals or organizations to voluntarily provide it. You do NOT have the right to housing, medical care, transportation, unemployment checks, or anything else people bleat about when they want something but don't want to work for it.
Only when we struggle to be as independent as possible are the chains of slavery seen so clearly.
Because we have been so caught up with false "rights" for the last 50 years, we've gotten to the point where we are helpless and dependent and no longer able or willing to achieve anything on our own. And only someone pathetically caught up in a liberal mentality can argue that entitlements help people achieve independence.
This mentality has set the stage for a modern collapse to be worse than any throughout the annals of history.
Right now there are economic forces at work that are beyond our control. We can go from homeowner to homeless in the blink of an eye. It can happen to anyone, no matter how prepared or unprepared they believe themselves to be.
But a work ethic, an independent spirit and a moral foundation are entirely within our control and can be acquired just as quickly. To their ultimate loss, most people choose not to acquire them.
So if we're heading for a depression in this country, we need to brace ourselves for much, much more than financial hardship. We need to brace ourselves against millions of lawless people demanding "entitlements" they have not earned and for which they have no intention of offering anything in exchange.
What does the future hold for America? There are two possibilities – a loss of freedom, or a return of freedom. Sadly, most people don't like freedom. They want someone to rescue them if things go wrong, which means they only like the "freedom" of an extra-long chain.
(Column continues below)
We have allowed independence to slip into dependence. We have allowed a work ethic to descend into an entitlement mentality.
Our country can survive an economic depression. We've done it before and we can do it again. It won't be easy, but we can do it.
But I fear we cannot survive an economic depression when it's coupled with an unwillingness to embrace a work ethic, independence, civility and religious foundation. Once the artificial props of government entitlements are removed, it will be every man for himself. The results may be anarchy and chaos. And it will give the government a clear opportunity to take advantage of the "crisis" and put in place a government such as we could never imagine.
It was Thomas Jefferson who said, "I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."
Freedom is hard work, and it isn't free. But too many of our fellow citizens are unwilling to pay the price. Since they get what they pay for, freedom will not be in their future.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Nicely Said...................

Excess generally causes reaction, and produces a change in the opposite direction, whether it be in the seasons, or in individuals, or in governments. – Plato

Monday, July 5, 2010

Hey SOC Readers!


Dear readers:

Yeah, SOC has been sparse of late. Good intentions going to hell in a handbasket. We'll try harder in the coming months and really ramp up for the mid-term elections. Hope you all enjoyed your 4th of July celebrations. America is great, and can maintain greatness as we move forward.....with a lot of work!

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

SANTELLI TO GOVERNMENT: STOP SPENDING! STOP SPENDING! STOP SPENDING! 6-...

Rick Santelli. A man of priciple and voice; we need more like him!