The Death Of Americanism / The Day The Constitution Died
Tim White
--- In undergroundpatriot@yahoogroups.com, "Ed" I also add that I have done extensive research on John Ashcroft. This included reading the textbook written by he and his wife and the biography 'On My Honor'. Americanism is defined as People with inherent, inalienable Rights, Privileges and Immunities. Government, and government agents and actors, burdened with Duties, Obligations, and Responsibilities. Ashcrofts' definition, as was again made clear by his Contempt of Congress, is the opposite. His world view is that only those with a Title in Government have Rights, Privileges and Immunites. 'We the People' are burdened with Duties, Obligations, and Responsibilities set by the Nobles employed, by election, selection, appointment, or hire into positions of government Title. [See Article I, sections 9 & 10, of our Constitution of our United States of America and read the Federalist Papers regarding 'Titles of Nobility'] 'America Redefined' in the 'Age of Terrorism', as the media continues to tell us. How very convenient for those who want to usurp all power from God, the people, and their country, with grant of license, to their selves, to be 'God'. I now understand why the words 'God is Great' was immediatly removed from the Iraq flag. There can be only one God - George W. Bush. ----- Original Message ----- From: Ed Cc: Ed44@Y... Sent: Friday, June 11, 2004 9:45 AM Subject: [ed44] The Death of Americanism - Re: The Day the Constitution Died In recognition and honor to "The Day the Constitution Died" by the Honorable Molly Ivins The Death of Americanism, and therefore our Constitution, and our Nation, known as America The 'process' began with the Nixon Whitehouse and the Asst. Attorneys, in the Attorney Generals Office, under that Administration. One of these, by the name of Rehnquist, was 'rewarded' for his participation, with a job in our United States Supreme Courthouse. It was then that the Department of Justice was ordered, and eagerly complied, with a request very similar to that which John Ashcroft acted in Contempt of Congress to conceal. The objective was to place Nixon, and all others in the Executive Branch of Government, 'Above the Law', with an argument of 'Official Immunity'. For the past 35 years 'America' has been systematically, quietly, 'redefined'. They did not succeed but some of the same people involved in this were then given positions where they could implement this as 'Law' through dicta from our judicial Branch. The 'redefinition' abolished our most important Constitutional protection. The 'Prohibition of Titles of Nobility', established in Article I, sections 9 & 10. The 'immunity' doctrine grants 'Nobility status to ALL who are employed, and collectively make up, our government(s). The most recent excuse for this 'redefinition' came on September 11, 2001. People have short memories but I remember, with horror, the frequent reference to 'America Redefined'. One network even adopted this as the Title of their News Program for the year following. The result is an Administration, and government, that acts with impunity. 'They' are not 'under Law'. They, in their minds, ARE 'the law'. Few Americans today know the definition of America. It is found in our Constitution but ONLY if one realizes our Constitution was established to 'Secure the Blessings of Liberty' that blood was shed to secure. The definition of 'Liberty', and therefore what became the United States of America, is what I call 'Americanism' or, in other words, the definition of America as a Nation of People. It is the common characteristic that defines us as a Nation. It is what established our Government as a Government under the Rule of Law and clearly makes a distinction between our Government and our Nation. They are NOT one-in-the-same. Becoming aware of this distinction there is, then, no doubt that the Government under our current administration is a ROGUE government. The definition of Americanism, and America as a Nation of People known as the United States, or by the nick names of 'Americans' in the Land known as America, is found in our Declaration of Law more commonly known as the Unanimous Declaration of Independence of the United States of America; We hold these Truths to be self-evident (meaning they must be taken as Fact in this Land) 1 - All men (Human Beings) are created equal. (this includes ALL of humanity, along with those who live, or may be found, in Iraq or Afghanistan) 2 - Endowed (entitled) by their Creator, to certain inalienable (inherent) Rights, (Human Rights as well as the Civil found in Constitutions and International Law) 3 - That among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness ('among these' means 'not limited to'. Purpose of Government and Law is to find, and make more 'certain' other Rights of the Individual Human Being) 4 - TO SECURE THESE RIGHTS, governments are instituted among men by consent of the governed. NOTE: Number 4 is what separates 'We the People' from our Government and makes our Government Accountable to our Constitution by which LIMITED powers are delegated. A Government that is NOT 'the Law' but 'subject to' the Law. It is now called the 'Age of Terrorism', as a replacement for the 'America Redefined' phrase, is just the final nail in the coffin of a death that began with the quiet, subtle, reversal of the glorious Civil Rights movement of the 1960's with a Judiciary intent on overthrowing our government 'of the people, by the people, and for the people', with the aid of Attorneys who play word games to exempt a few from any accountability to any law of God or of Man. 'We the People' are now the 'enemy combatant', by their definition. 'We the People' are the 'threat of terrorism' that justifies any and all 'pre-emptive' strike, with a license to invade our privacy, our homes, and even torture us. No 'nationality', including those of us who are of American nationality, is protected. This is why it is so extremely distressing to me to hear some of my fellow Americans dismiss, or attempt to justify, the torture of Iraqis or any other Individual Human Being of any Nationality or caught outside the borders of their homeland. 'We the People' in and of America, are just as much at risk, and maybe more at risk, of being subjected to the same treatment inflicted on those held in Guantanamo or Abu Ghrab, as our Government has turned against ALL of us who are not part of It. Those that give up essential Liberties for the mere appearance of safety, will lose both Liberty and Safety. It is a MYTH that Liberty and Security are Mutually Exclusive. In fact; you cannot have one without the other. I speak from real world experience as one who has attempted to hold criminals and terrorists, hiding in our government in positions of public trust, accountable to the law. Our 'protectors', the Attorney General and his Office for the State of Texas, and the Department of Justice, will stop at nothing to protect them with free legal services at the expense of our Nation's Treasury. Even after attaining several judgments on the Law and on the Facts, by some judicial Officials, acknowledging the acts were criminal and terroristic, (committed while Bush was Governor here) they continue to Obstruct Justice for those they consider 'Nobles' by title of employment by election, selection, or appointment to a position in government. By Ed44, with all rights, privileges, and immunities of copyright reserved. www.informed.org http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ed44/ Join our Experiment in OpenLaw The Day the Constitution Died http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=18919 IVINS: By Molly Ivins, AlterNet June 10, 2004 AUSTIN, Texas - When, in the future, you find yourself wondering, "Whatever happened to the Constitution?" you will want to go back and look at June 8, 2004. That was the day the attorney general of the United States - a.k.a. "the nation's top law enforcement officer" - refused to provide the Senate Judiciary Committee with his department's memos concerning torture. In order to justify torture, these memos declare that the president is bound by neither U.S. law nor international treaties. We have put ourselves on the same moral level as Saddam Hussein, the only difference being quantity. Quite literally, the president may as well wear a crown - forget that "no man is above the law" jazz. We used to talk about "the imperial presidency" under Nixon, but this is the real thing. The Pentagon's legal staff concurred in this incredible conclusion. In a report printed by The Wall Street Journal, "Bush administration lawyers contended last year that the president wasn't bound by laws prohibiting torture and that government agents who might torture prisoners at his direction couldn't be prosecuted by the Justice Department. ... "The report outlined U.S. laws and international treaties forbidding torture, and why those restrictions might be overcome by national security considerations or legal technicalities." The report was complied by a group appointed by Department of Defense General Counsel William J. Haynes II, who has since been nominated by Bush for the federal appellate bench. "Air Force General Counsel Mary Walker headed the group, which comprised top civilian and uniformed lawyers from each military branch and consulted with the Justice Department, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Defense Intelligence Agency and other intelligence agencies. It isn't known if President Bush has ever seen the report." When members of the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Ashcroft about his department's input, he simply refused to provide the memos, without offering any legal rationale. He said President Bush had "made no order that would require or direct the violation" of laws or treaties. His explanation was that the United States is at war. "You know I condemn torture," he told Sen. Joe Biden. "I don't think it's productive, let alone justified." But another memo written by former Assistant Attorney General Jay S. Bybee, now a federal appeals court judge in California, establishes a basis for the use of torture for senior Al Qaeda operatives in custody of the CIA. I am not one to leap to conclusions, but it seems quite clear how whatever perverted standards allowed at Guantanamo Bay jumped across the water to Abu Ghraib prison. Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, commander at Gitmo, was dispatched last August to Abu Ghraib to give advice about how to get information out of prisoners. "Miller's recommendations prompted a shift in the interrogation and detention procedures there. Military intelligence officers were given greater authority in the prison, and military police guards were asked to help gather information about the detainees," according to The New York Times. Among the legal memos that circulated within the administration in 2002, one is by White House counsel Alberto Gonzalez, famously declaring the Geneva Convention "quaint," and another from the CIA asked for an explicit understanding that the administration's public pledge to abide by the spirit of the Geneva Convention did not apply to its operatives. The only department consistently opposing these legal "arguments" was State. In April 2002, Secretary Rumsfeld sent a memo to Gen. James T. Hill outlining 24 permitted interrogation techniques, four of which were considered so stressful as to require Rumsfeld's explicit approval before they were used. It has been apparent for some time that the abuses at Abu Ghraib were not isolated instances - torture from Afghanistan to Gitmo to Iraq has so far resulted in 25 deaths now under investigation. As the late Jacabo Timmermann, the Argentine journalist who was tortured during "the dirty war," said, "When you are being tortured, it doesn't really matter to you if your torturers are authoritarian or totalitarian." I doubt it helps any if they're supposed to be bringing democracy, either. And as Ashcroft said, it isn't productive. The damage is incalculable. When America puts out its annual report on human rights abuses, we will be a laughingstock. I suggest a special commission headed by Sen. John McCain to dig out everyone responsible, root and branch. If the lawyers don't cooperate, perhaps we should try stripping them, anally raping them and dunking their heads under water until they think they're drowning, and see if that helps. And I think it is time for citizens to take some responsibility, as well. Is this what we have come to? Is this what we want our government to do for us? Oh and by way, to my fellow political reporters who keep repeating that Bush is having a wonderful week: Why don't you think about what you stand for? Molly Ivins writes for Texas Oberserver. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------