Are you next? When will the drone-carried hellfire missile rip into your home? Oh, you say you didn't get the memo? Remember, the census taker got your GPS coordinates... by creator
(libertarian)
Saturday, October 1, 2011
I don't watch the news much any more - I get all the news I need from the internet, without the questionable benefit of the talking heads. Consequently, It wasn't until this morning that I was alerted to the fact that the US government is now openly in the boastful business of executing American citizens by executive branch edict. There is actually a hit-list of American citizens upon whom it is now "open season" for their killing, according to articles referenced by Glenn Greenwald in his article titled "The due-process-free assassination of U.S. citizens is now reality." I wonder, could you be on that list? How would you know?
"The Justice Department wrote a secret memorandum authorizing the lethal targeting of Anwar al-Aulaqi, the American-born radical cleric who was killed by a U.S. drone strike Friday, according to administration officials." - Peter Finn reporting in The Washington Post
Apparently, your American right to Due Process has now been reduced to issuing a memo - a secret one, at that - "Take him out." says Emperor Obama. Military drones, both human and mechanical, mindlessly comply. According to an Associated Press report, "Experts say issuing English-language sermons on jihad on the Internet from his hideouts in Yemen's mountains is what made Anwar al-Awlaki's group the most dangerous threat to the United States.
Secret memos? Speech on the internet? Fellow American, are you beginning to be afraid of the regime in Washington yet?
In browsing the news this morning, I have been continuously and utterly appalled - first by this murderous act itself, but then even more so by the reaction of many Americans who applaud the utterly lawless action. Here are a couple of choice samples posted under a CBS News article:
"I would authorize it myself cuz all he was was a terorist and rather he was a US citizen is beside the point." (sic)
"The only good things that Barry has done is to expand and strengthen the drone program, and to authorize the UBL mission. Kill them all or our children will be dealing with in in fifty years." (sic)
I would assert that it is arguably a vanishingly small step from targeting an American citizen in a foreign country with a remote drone to sending a similar mechanical golem after any outspoken dissident here within our national borders. In fact, it would probably be both "legally" and procedurally easier to do here. Watch for it!
Nevertheless, I draw some small encouragement to see that not all Americans are so ignorant and bloodthirsty. One commenter quoted the following interchange from the dialogue of the famous historical play, "A Man for All Seasons."
William Roper: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law! Sir Thomas More: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil? William Roper: Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that! Sir Thomas More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!
If you still cling to any fig-leaf of imagination that the federal government respects the Rule of Law, this blatant event should thoroughly shred it. And so, I felt simply compelled to write this short article today to express my shock and horror over the ever-growing beast on the Potomac, and the ever-diminishing sensibility and conscience of the American populace. What do you think? May God have mercy on us all!
Copyright (c) 2011 by Dann McCreary (aka creator) - Permission to copy with attribution granted.
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I don't watch the news much any more - I get all the news I need from the internet, without the questionable benefit of the talking heads. Consequently, It wasn't until this morning that I was alerted to the fact that the US government is now openly in the boastful business of executing American citizens by executive branch edict. There is actually a hit-list of American citizens upon whom it is now "open season" for their killing, according to articles referenced by Glenn Greenwald in his article titled "
