http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-03-09/cia-head-sworn-draft-constitution-without-bill-rights

( the symbolism of passing on the Bill of Rights should not be overlooked ! )

CIA Head Sworn In On Draft Constitution WITHOUT Bill of Rights

Submitted by George Washington on 03/09/2013 17:37 -0400

The government has absolutely shred the Bill of Rights in the last decade or so.

New CIA boss John Brennan endorses torture, assassination of unidentified strangers (including Americans) without due process, and spying on all Americans.

As such, it is fitting that Mr. Brennan specially requested that he be sworn in on a draft of the Constitution lacking the Bill of Rights.

A draft which doesn’t even begin with the famous preamble we all know and love:

We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence,promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and ourPosterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America ....

But rather starts with:

We the People of the States of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania , Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina and Georgia, do ordain, declare and establish the following Constitution for the Government of Ourselves and our Posterity….

That has a very different tone from the final version of the Constitution.

Here’s the actual version Brennan swore in on, courtesy of the National Archives (click any image for larger view):

The handwriting is that of George Washington.

Washington was a brave leader (but a terrible general). More importantly, he was one man … and the whole idea of the Bill of Rights is that the people have inalienable rights – e.g. no deprivation of life, liberty or property without due process of law – which cannot be taken away by any leader … including the president or the head of the CIA.

http://www.infowars.com/the-true-meaning-behind-holders-response-to-rand-paul/

The True Meaning Behind Holder’s Response to Rand Paul

“Engaged in combat” could mean being an associate of an associate of a terrorist

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
March 8, 2013

Although it was heralded as a clear signal that the Obama administration has been forced to acknowledge that it cannot drone strike Americans on U.S. soil, Eric Holder’s response to Rand Paul only serves to re-affirm the government’s existing position.

Eric Holder. Image: Wikimedia Commons

Responding to the Kentucky Senator’s near 13 hour filibuster, Attorney General Holder sent a letter to Paul’s office which stated, “It has come to my attention that you have now asked an additional question: `Does the President have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on American soil?’ The answer to that question is no.”

The key to this is the phrase “engaged in combat.” What does the administration consider to represent an act of “combat.”

In the case of American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki, killed by a targeted drone strike in 2011, being “engaged in combat” amounted to little more than creating propaganda videos in support of terrorists. Awlaki never committed an act of violent terrorism, he was merely accused of communicating with terrorists and giving lectures in support of Al-Qaeda. Awlaki’s guilt was never proven in court because he was never afforded a trial.

Given that the Department of Defense now considers the act of protest to be a form of “low-level terrorism,” how far removed is criticizing U.S. foreign policy and hegemonic domination from the views which Awlaki was summarily executed for advocating?

The federal government has defined a laundry list of banal behaviors and political activities as potential terrorism, from paying for a cup of coffee with cash to buying storable food in bulk. The definition of a potential terrorist – and remember the government only has to accuse someone of being a terrorist as a pre-cursor to killing them with a drone strike – has been watered down to such an extent that the Department of Homeland Security now considers Americans who are “suspicious of centralized federal authority,” and “reverent of individual liberty” as potential terrorists.

Awlaki’s son, 16-year-old Abdel al-Awlaki, an American citizen, was killed by a drone strike a few weeks after his father’s death as he traveled to a family barbeque in Yemen. Abdel’s act of “combat” against the United States amounted to little more than sharing the surname of his father. The U.S. government later erroneously claimed that Abdel’ was a “military-age male” in his 20′s in an attempt to justify his execution.

“What Holder is saying, in substantive terms, is that the President does have the supposed authority to use a drone to kill an American who is engaged in “combat,” whether here or abroad,” writes William Grigg.

“Combat” can consist of expressing support for Muslims mounting armed resistance against U.S. military aggression, which was the supposed crime committed by Anwar al-Awlaki, or sharing the surname and DNA of a known enemy of the state, which was the offense committed by Awlaki’s 16-year-old son, Abdel. Under the rules of engagement used by the Obama Regime in Pakistan, Yemen, and Afghanistan, any “military-age” male found within a targeted “kill zone” is likewise designated a “combatant,” albeit usually after the fact. This is a murderous application of the “Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy,” and it will be used when — not if — Obama or a successor starts conducting domestic drone-killing operations.”

Furthermore, as the Washington Post reported yesterday, the Obama administration is now preparing to extend the legal basis for its drone strikes to target people who have no direct connection to actual terrorists.

“Officials said legal advisers at the White House, the State Department, the Pentagon and intelligence agencies are now weighing whether the law can be stretched to cover what one former official called “associates of associates,” reports the Post.

This could mean that Americans who unknowingly communicate with somebody who communicates with somebody else the government accuses of being a terrorist could become a target for a drone strike.

The report quotes a “person who participated in the administration’s deliberations on the issue,” who warns that expanding the definition would be “a major interpretive leap” that could eliminate the need for a link between the targeted organization and core al-Qaeda.”

“You can’t end the war if you keep adding people to the enemy who are not actually part of the original enemy,” the individual added.

This again underscores how the term “engaged in combat,” used by Holder in his response to Rand Paul, has been broadened to such a degree that it could feasibly apply to huge numbers of Americans who have absolutely no connection to terrorism whatsoever.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-07/some-advice-americans-dont-be-engaged-combat-american-soil

( BTW , the letter doesn't rule out the CIA killing you with a pistol on American soil And just what does the term " engaged in combat " mean and who interprets this term , what about a drone alerting soldiers / spooks or police to where " domestic terrorists " are meeting / engaging in activities like peaceful demonstrations - and these agents do the killings ? Clear as mud to me.... )

Some Advice To Americans: Don't Be Engaged In Combat On American Soil

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/07/2013 14:57 -0500

It seems 13 hours of open discussion on the Constitutional rights of the President to be judge, jury, and executioner aroused further response from the Attorney General.

http://www.infowars.com/marine-corps-veteran-questions-dhs-on-huge-ammo-buys/

Marine Corps Veteran Questions DHS on Huge Ammo Buys

“We never trained with hollow points, why would the need all those ball rounds just for training?”

Steve Watson & Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Mar 7, 2013

A military veteran has questioned why the Department of Homeland Security is purchasing enormous amounts of ammunition, making it clear that he believes the bullets cannot possibly be for training purposes.

Commenting on the DHS’s procurement of roughly 2 billion hollow point bullets over the course of the last year, former Marine Richard Mason told reporters with WHPTV News in Pennsylvania that he has serious concerns.

“We never trained with hollow points, we didn’t even see hollow points my entire four and a half years in the Marine Corps,” Mason said.

When questioned recently, DHS official Peggy Dixon claimed the bullets were bought in bulk to save money and were for training purposes only. However, hollow point bullets, are very expensive in ammunition terms, and it is highly unusual to use such bullets for target practice.

“Why would they need all those hollow points,” former marine Mason asked “why would they need all those ball rounds just for training?”

Record federal government purchases have coincided with national shortages of ammunition in gun stores, leading some to believe that it is a deliberate tactic to deprive gun owners, or something much worse.

To put the DHS’ ammunition solicitations in perspective, during the height of active battle operations in Iraq, US soldiers used 5.5 million rounds of ammunition a month. Extrapolating the figures, the DHS has purchased enough bullets over the last year to wage a full scale war for almost 30 years.

Last September, the DHS also purchased no less than 7,000 fully automatic assault rifles, labeling them “Personal Defense Weapons.”

Purchases of large quantities of body armor by the DHS has also caused shortages. Last year, the agency also put out an urgent order for “riot gear” in anticipation of civil unrest. The agency has also ordered bullet-proof checkpoint booths and hired hundreds of new security guards to protect government buildings over the course of the last 12 months.

There is also strong evidence to suggest that the DHS has recently bought around 2,700 armored military style trucks. The agency has also cemented a $2 million dollar relationship with a contractor that recently had to apologize for producing shooting targets of pregnant women, children and elderly gun owners depicted in residential settings.

Coupled with continued and sustained secrecy surrounding these purchases and contracts, many Americans are convinced that the federal government is “stockpiling” in preparation for “civil unrest.”

The DHS’ primary concern is now centered around thwarting “homegrown terrorism,” but information produced and used by the DHS to train its personnel routinely equates conservative and libertarian political ideology with domestic extremism.

A study funded by the Department of Homeland Security that was leaked last year characterizes Americans who are “suspicious of centralized federal authority,” and “reverent of individual liberty” as “extreme right-wing” terrorists. Many other recent similar government and law enforcement publications, papers and studies have also pushed this notion.

As we explained in a recent article, generating mass social dislocation has been an admitted tool used by the World Bank and the IMF to create the necessary chaos to loot major economies.

As respected investigative reporter Greg Palast exposed in 2001, the World Bank and the IMF have honed a technique that has allowed them to asset-strip numerous other countries in the past – that technique has come to be known at the “IMF riot,” a process of scaring off investors and causing government bankruptcies by fostering unrest.

and....

http://zen-haven.com/darpa-scientists-want-to-create-database-of-all-conversations/

DARPA Scientists Want to Create Database of All Conversations

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Soren Dreier

Author: RT

Your digital footprint could be getting a whole lot bigger: Pentagon scientists are searching for a way to transcribe every real-world conversation that happens into computer-readable files.

Robert Beckhusen of Wired’s Danger Room says it wouldn’t be unlike a real-life Twitter feed or an “email archive for everyday speak.”

“Imagine living in a world where every errant utterance you make is preserved together,”Beckhusen writes in an article this week that explores a Defense Department project that’s been undertaken by its Darpa laboratories and is now in the hands of a University of Texas computer scientists named Matt Lease.

Least has received a few hundred thousand dollars from Darpa — the US military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency — to help find a way to take cell phone conversations, board room meetings and every miniscule real world back-and-forth and have them digitalized.

The project is being called “Blending Crowdsourcing with Automation for Fast, Cheap and Accurate Analysis of Spontaneous Speech,” and Lease will receive $300,000 in all from the government to work on it after winning a 2012 Young Faculty Award from Darpa last year.

Lease has previously worked with the Pentagon scientists on another project, Effective Affordable Reusable Speech-to-text, or EARS, which had him trying to find a better way to transcribe dialogue into text. Now after winning the respect of Darpa, he’s putting that research to work in hopes of finding a way to streamline all real world conversations into digital transcriptions. And by strategically crowd-sourcing the information, he thinks he might be able to do just that.

“Like other AI [artificial intelligence], it can only go so far, which is based on what the state-of-the-art methodology can do,” Lease tells Wired. “So what was exciting to me is thinking about going back to some of that work and now taking advantage of crowdsourcing and applying that into the mix.”

Lease says he saw both the “need and opportunity to really make conversational speech more accessible, more part of our permanent record instead of being so ephemeral, and really trying to imagine what this world would look like if we really could capture all these conversations and make use of them effectively going forward,” Lease adds.

and.....

http://www.infowars.com/senate-committee-prepares-fusillade-aimed-at-second-amendment/

Senate committee prepares final solution on Second Amendment

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
March 7, 2013

Dianne Feinstein’s effort to pass an assault weapon bill is almost certainly doomed to failure. Photo: David Lee.

The Senate Judiciary Committee plans today to markup and prepare for debate a number of bills attacking the Second Amendment and the right to own firearms.

The good news is that Dianne Feinstein’s effort to introduce a draconian so-called assault weapon bill outlawing a large number of semi-automatic firearms is almost certainly doomed to failure. Feinstein admitted her legislation would face “very tough” opposition on the Senate floor.

Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, chairman of Senate Judiciary Committee, plans to introduce three separate bills instead of one comprehensive piece of anti-Second legislation because a single bill with the assault weapon ban included would be rejected by the full Senate.

A bill introduced by New York Democrat Charles Schumer, a long-time arch enemy of the right to own firearms without government intervention, calls for universal background checks, in short universal firearms registration with the future prospect of confiscation. Registration schemes in Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have all resulted in confiscation and the wholesale disarmament of the public by government.

The Schumer bill initially included measures to strip the Second Amendment from veterans the federal government has declared mentally incompetent or disabled by PTSD. In February, we reported on an effort by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to nullify the Second Amendment rights of thousands of veterans.

Schumer’s legislation hinges on bipartisan efforts in the Senate. Senator Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican, has decided not to support Schumer, thus relegating the bill to failure as well unless it can be amended to appease Republicans next month.

A bill sponsored by Leahy proposes to combat illegal gun trafficking and a third piece of legislation introduced by California Democrat Barbara Boxer is focused on so-called gun safety, a euphemism used to make heavy-handed and unconstitutional gun control by government seem palatable and preferable to a literal reading of the Second Amendment.

Earlier today, the establishment media highlighted a study produced by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence purporting to show that states with the most restrictive gun laws have fewer people shot to death than states respecting and upholding the Constitution and the Second Amendment. The conclusion in favor of gun control efforts is based on 2007-10 statistics on gun-related homicides and suicides from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study was published online Wednesday in the medical journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

and.....

http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/04/17181948-damn-the-regulations-drones-plying-us-skies-without-waiting-for-faa-rules?lite

Damn the regulations! Drones plying US skies without waiting for FAA rules

Chris Francescani / Reuters

A Draganflyer X6, six-rotor remote controlled helicopter, which can fly up to 20 mph and travel a quarter mile, is pictured at the Grand Valley Model Airfield in Mesa County, Colo. The Draganflyer X6 is a property of Mesa County Sheriff's Department.

By Chris Francescani
Reuters

NEW YORK -- They hover over Hollywood film sets and professional sports events. They track wildfires in Colorado, survey Kansas farm crops and vineyards in California. They inspect miles of industrial pipeline and monitor wildlife, river temperatures and volcanic activity.

They also locate marijuana fields, reconstruct crime scenes and spot illegal immigrants breaching U.S. borders.

Tens of thousands of domestic drones are zipping through U.S. skies, often flouting tight federal restrictions on drone use that require even the police and the military to get special permits.

Armed with streaming video, swivel cameras and infrared sensors, a new breed of high-tech domestic drones is beginning to change the way Americans see the world -- and one another.

Advertise | AdChoices

Powered by the latest microtechnology and driven by billions in defense industry and commercial research dollars, domestic drones are poised for widespread expansion into U.S. airspace once regulation catches up with reality.

That is scheduled to begin in late 2015, when the U.S. government starts issuing commercial drone permits.

Veteran aerial photographer Mark Bateson, a consultant to the film and television industry and some police departments, said one reality show producer asked him last year whether his custom-made drone could hover over a desert and use its thermal imaging sensors to spot ghosts for a ghost-hunter reality series.

Bateson rejected that request. "But I heard they eventually found someone to do it," he said.

"Commercially, the culture already exists," said Ben Miller, a Mesa County, Colorado, sheriff's deputy who has been flying drones with special authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration since 2009.

"Turn on your TV and pay close attention to major sports events. You'll see that in many cases they are getting aerial shots using a UAS (unmanned aerial system). I would venture to say that if you've seen an action movie in the last five years, chances are that a UAS was used."

Open skies
Federal legislation enacted last year requires the FAA to prepare a plan to open U.S. skies in 2015 to widespread use of unmanned aircraft by public agencies and private industry.

Potential markets include agriculture, shipping, oil exploration, commercial fishing, major league sports, film and television production, environmental monitoring, meteorological studies, law enforcement and the news media.

Ten years of war have given robot developers a chance to refine and improve their bots. Now the robots are finding all sorts of new jobs on the homefront.

The aviation and aerospace industry research firm Teal Group estimated last year that global spending on unmanned aircraft will double over the next 10 years, to nearly $90 billion, with the U.S. accounting for 62 percent of research and development spending and 55 percent of procurement spending.

For decades, model airplane hobbyists have been allowed to fly small, remote-controlled aircraft up to 400 feet and at least a quarter mile from any airport. While public agencies can get permission to use unarmed drones, all commercial use remains banned.

"As a hobbyist - I can do whatever I want right now, within remote-control guidelines," said Bateson, the aerial photographer. "But as soon as you turn it into a business ... the FAA says you are violating the national airspace."

Bateson said that whether his drone shoots video for fun or for profit, "There is no greater danger to the national airspace."

Last year the National Football League petitioned the FAA to speed the licensing of commercial drones, joining Hollywood's Motion Picture Association of America, which has been lobbying the agency for several years, an MPAA spokesman told the drone news website UAS Vision.

The FAA has issued 1,428 drone permits to universities, law enforcement and other public agencies since 2007, when the agency formally banned commercial drone use. Of those, 327 permits remain active, said FAA spokesman Les Dorr.

Tough to enforce
Bateson flies a customized 48-inch-wide Styrofoam fixed-wing remote-controlled aircraft that cost about $20,000 - compared with up to $1 million for a helicopter. He said his aircraft has logged 1,800 miles and has recorded 60 hours of high-resolution video. He said he has never run into trouble with the FAA.

Advertise | AdChoices

Patrick Egan, an unmanned aircraft consultant to the U.S. military and editor of sUAS News, a drone news website, said the FAA's commercial ban on drones is unenforceable.

"How do you possibly enforce these regulations?" he said.

Earlier this year, Connecticut marketing firm ImageMark Strategy and Design launched a drone-powered aerial photo and video service to offer to its existing clients, which include universities, golf resorts and real estate firms.

Partner Scott Benton said his company invested about $20,000 in remote-controlled multi-rotor copters equipped to carry camcorders or SLR digital cameras with swivel tilts. Benton said he wasn't even aware of FAA restrictions on commercial drone use until after he purchased all the equipment.

He said his company plans to charge clients for editing and post-production work, not the drone flights.

Many commercial drone operators offer similar arguments. Some say they operate only on private land. Others say they are selling data, not drone flight time.

Still others say they will simply take their chances.

"Honestly?" said one commercial operator, who requested anonymity to protect his business. "My hope is that I'm far afield enough and small enough potatoes to the FAA that I can fly under the radar on this one."

Privacy concerns
In 2011, News Corp's tablet news site, the Daily, sent a Microdrone MD4-1000 into the skies over Alabama, Missouri and North Dakota to capture dramatic aerial footage of flood damage. A subsequent FAA investigation resulted in a warning, an FAA spokesman told Reuters. A News Corp spokesman declined to comment.

Last fall, a collective shudder rose up from Hollywood when false reports surfaced that the aggressive tabloid news website TMZ was seeking permission to fly its own drone.

The report was false, but it raised concerns.

"I'm less worried about the police getting a fleet of drones than I am about the news media," said Egan.

"Imagine what it will be like when the paparazzi can send a fleet of drones into the Hollywood hills."

The boom in drone use, both private and public, is also raising privacy concerns.

Civil liberties groups are urging federal and state legislators to place immediate restrictions on drone use by U.S. law enforcement agencies, which have historically been quick to capitalize on emerging technology like cell phone tracking.

At least 15 states have drafted legislation that would restrict drone use. In Seattle last month, a public outcry prompted the mayor to order the police chief to return the department's two new drones to their manufacturer.

Blacksheep drones
An even bigger concern for many is security. The activities of some drone operators are fueling fears about the potential for terrorism or that drones could interfere with manned air traffic and cause an accident.

A group of skilled drone operators using "first person view," or FPV, technology, has sent Ritewing Zephyr drones that capture high-quality video of visual thrill rides around some of the world's most famous landmarks.

The group, known as Team Blacksheep, has made a series of videos using drones circling the torch on New York City's Statue of Liberty and London's Big Ben clock tower. Team Blacksheep's FPV drones have darted through the arches of the Golden Gate Bridge and buzzed the peak of the Matterhorn.

The videos, captured at dizzying angles, are wildly popular online, but hobbyists and other drone enthusiasts worry that such videos give the industry a bad name.

Advertise | AdChoices

"Those are the people the FAA should be going after," Bateson said.

A Team Blacksheep founder did not respond to requests for comment on security concerns.

Would-be attackers have already tried to exploit drones. Last fall, a Massachusetts man was sentenced to 17 years in prison for plotting to attack Washington, D.C., with three remote-controlled airplanes carrying C-4 explosives.

http://beforeitsnews.com/economics-and-politics/2013/03/signs-of-collapse-martial-law-mark-dice-gives-his-take-on-dhss-purchase-of-2700-armored-vehicles-2450462.html