Is Martial Law Coming? (By Matthew Rothschild for The Progressive)

[marmar]

Is Martial Law Coming?

May 29, 2007 By Matthew Rothschild

A note of caution since I wrote about Bush’s plans to anoint himself the insurer of constitutional government in the event of emergency.

I decided to see what the American Civil Liberties Union thought of the May 9 release of the National Security Presidential Directive, and to my surprise, the ACLU did not seem that concerned about it.

“These presidential directives on the continuity of government have existed for a long time,” says Mike German, ACLU policy counsel. “All it does is establish that they should have a policy and coordinate that policy with legislative and judiciary. It doesn’t change the order of succession, or anything like that.”

Plus, he praised the Bush Administration for making the document public, since previous ones have remained classified.

“I’m glad they made it public,” he says. “The fact that this was done in an open and transparent manner should be applauded.”

As to the substance of the document: “It’s impossible to know whether this is an attempt to usurp some authority that had otherwise not been contemplated by law,” German says.

It certainly is curious as to why the Bush Administration released the document. The last paragraph is entitled “Security,” and it states: “This directive and the information contained herein shall be protected form unauthorized disclosure, provided that, except for Annex A, the Annex’s attached to this directive are classified.”

But whatever the reason for the disclosure, the document is not reassuring, especially given Bush’s demonstrated disdain for the Constitution. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.progressive.org/mag_wx0529b07

[no_hypocrisy]

1. A little trip down Memory Lane: The Enabling Act of 1933 in Germany

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enabling_Act_of_1933

"Under the existing Weimar constitution, under Article 48, the President could rule by decree in times of emergency. The unprecedented element of the Enabling Act was that the Chancellor himself possessed these powers. The Enabling Act was only supposed to be used in times of extreme emergency . . . "

[northzax]

2. wow, this sounds remarkably like

the rule by directive status currently in place in Venezuela! and everyone says that's a good thing, so how can this be bad?

[NoPasaran]

3. Funny thing about rule by decree

It all boils down to who is doing the decreeing.

[northzax]

5. not really

absolute power is absolute power and dictatorships are dictatorships.

[NoPasaran]

8. Yeah, but

Some folks who wouldn't like it here find if perfectly acceptable (or even applaud it) over there.

[northzax]

9. indeed

if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and looks like a duck, it's going to get shot during duck season.

[peacetalksforall]

4. For the first time the ACLU has let me down. If you combine the

extra wording, the arrogance and madness of President Cheney, and the statement that came out of the WH a couple of years ago - I think we can expect the worst if they do attempt anything.

They said that they were working on a progression succession sequence that replaces the existing and substitutes Cabinet members instead of the Constitution. Forget Pelosi.

[Demeter]

6. With What Army?

The armed forces are down for the count. The National Guard is exhausted. Even if either of them could, they wouldn't. They are not that stupid and they don't get paid to shoot their own.

Local police? Doubtful, if you eliminate LA.

Blackwater? Well, they can try, but I doubt there are that many bloodthirsty psychopaths in the US... and even they have families and neighbors.

The only way it happens is we LET it happen. I don't think this nation will.

[RaleighNCDUer]

7. Well, lets see.

There's all the State Police forces. There's all the County Sheriff's departments. There's all the city and town cops. Martial Law would federalize them all. There's INS, ATF, Coast Guard. Any federal agency that has an enforcement branch. Then there are all the private security forces - Blackwater is not the only one, by a long shot.

And DHS, to gather them all together under its umbrella.

[Demeter]

10. And AllThese Hotshots Are Gonna Shoot The Rest Of US?

I don't think so. Only certain people are that stupid, and they reside in Washington.