NSPD 51
The politics category haven’t had much use lately. Let’s talk politics. No, I’m not going to go on a rant again and start with Orwellian parallels again. All conspiracy theories aside, the NSPD 51 is worrisome to say the least. Go skim through that thing - it is intentionally verbose and vague.
The way I understand it, it gives the president overreaching power over the house and the senate in case of a national emergency to “ensure constitutional government”. In other words - when the shit goes down, president can claim dictatorial powers - you know, to preserve freedom.
I doubt anyone in their right mind would use this directive to seize power or overturn government but leaving such a thing uncontested in the body of our laws seems unwise. Is that directive even constitutional? But how do we contest this? Who do we write?
Related Posts:
May 24th, 2007 at 10:06 am (4572) [Quote]
“Anyone is singular”. If you think it is fine to write “I doubt anyone in THEIR right mind” is acceptable because millions make the same blunder, you are as much a threat to civilization as George Shrub.
Posted usingMay 24th, 2007 at 10:50 am (4573) [Quote]
Oh noes! Grammar police is here! Quick, someone hide the all the contraband “aint not’s” and that big irregardless standing in that the corner!
Please accept my apology. Mine ghrämar and spielen-machen ist not very gut!
Posted usingMay 24th, 2007 at 12:16 pm (4574) [Quote]
You are certainly blessed to have someone with such a high regard for the niceties of grammar, insuring that the Rules are not Broken. I suppose he’s off now to the next hundred or so blogs to look for disagreements in number, gender, and case.
On the other hand, I take it as a great compliment to you to be considered as much a “threat to civilization” as the President. Unfortunately, the compliment wears thin when we realize that only an unfortunate fellow suffering from BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome) would consider the President a greater threat to civilization than Saddam, Kim Jong-Il, Ahminedinejad, or Khamenei. That does take some of the gloss off the compliment.
Posted usingMay 24th, 2007 at 3:08 pm (4576) [Quote]
I think Bush is a bigger thread than Saddam at this point, because Saddam is dead.
Again, I don’t think that Bush and his palls will do anything crazy with this newly legislated power. It just annoys me that they are continuously chipping away our constitutional freedoms, walking all over our most beloved values and the public at large doesn’t really care.
Posted usingMay 25th, 2007 at 6:19 am (4587) [Quote]
Guys, NSPD-51……what comes to mind?
NSDAP (Nazi Party Germany) + Area 51 - Hollywood ./. by FOX = chills for the chillas
Greez.
Posted usingFred Up
May 25th, 2007 at 9:38 am (4589) [Quote]
Oh man! Scarry!
LOL!
Posted usingJune 6th, 2007 at 2:22 am (4696) [Quote]
aside from all the implications..
i find it even more odd that NSPD 51 is not even
listed in the executive orders he’s signed to date.
i spent over an hour searching whitehouse.gov.
-the only place its listed is in the news release area..
i searched 14 other exec. orders at random, -they all came up multiple times in the search while NSPD 51 only gets 1.
-things that make you go hmmmm….
-s
Posted usingJune 10th, 2007 at 3:48 am (4744) [Quote]
yep
Posted usingI just googled to see if anyone had the same feelings as me regarding NSPD 51, if anyone else was even aware, or comprehended the implications. And yeah, reading the damn thing is definately a project. I had to keep reffering to the definitions! So that if anyone even notices, most will not understand, or take the time to figure it out.
June 10th, 2007 at 3:53 am (4745) [Quote]
oh yeah, and I heard there were NO press releases about this.
Posted usingThat’s even MORE suspitious.
mannnnnnnnnnnnn
June 20th, 2007 at 10:46 pm (4908) [Quote]
Can you think of anyone better than Bush with whom to entrust the dictatorial powers enumerated in NSPD-51? And its such a relief to know he declared in NSPD-51 that he alone will decide when he must accept this burden, though surely only upon the advice and consent of his personal Savior.
My guess would be early Spring of ‘08, when he is forced to use nuclear weapons against Iran and it then fails to cooperate, attacking our fleets in the Gulf and Mediterranean instead of accepting our compassionate offers of assistance.
Besides how could anyone resist the perfectly Orwellian logic of declaring a dictatorship to insure “Constitutional Continuity” for the homeland, while setting aside the actual Constitution of the United States. But in case a few dead-enders do object or the usual suspects might think to object, KBR is hard at work building detention centers around the nation to accommodate those incompatible with Constitutional Continuity.
Congress, demonstrating its usual wisdom and courage, will no doubt express concern about the pace of the summary executions and outrage at being locked out of their capital offices due to a classified biological threat of undetermined duration.
To demonstrate our determination to carry on, we should select the proper anthem for this new world order. I’m hoping for something stirring, with the right spiritual uplift, along the lines of “Deutschland Uber Allis,” except with a touch of Texas twang as in “Dallas Uber Allis.” However, since this is such an important decision, our new anthem, as well as the national prayer and corporate logo, should be selected by national referendum, putting those voting machines to work in November ‘08 after all.
Posted usingJune 20th, 2007 at 11:12 pm (4909) [Quote]
William, we can’t leave such an important decision as choosing an anthem in the hands of the populous. It should be chosen personally by The Decider himself. ;P
Posted usingJune 21st, 2007 at 6:59 pm (4917) [Quote]
I would bet that some of you who are so disdainful of good grammar eat the bits and pieces of the corpses of animals. What entitles you to think this is okay if it is not command of language? Good thought needs good language. Good language - not the mangling of it - is what may set us apart from those we indifferently slaughter. History reports that Socrates said “The unexamined life is not worth living.” I think this is the most mangled misquote ever. Socrates really said, “The ungrammatical life is not worth living”. He was right.
Posted usingJune 21st, 2007 at 7:09 pm (4918) [Quote]
Gr4mm4r is t0tally 4w3sUm!
Posted usingJune 21st, 2007 at 9:30 pm (4919) [Quote]
NSPD 51 is the most frightening thing I have ever read. I’ve sent letters to relevant senators and congress people yet never hear a word. It is like no one knows it exists. Then, today, we have Cheney indicating that he isn’t part of the exeuctive branch of the government and he doesn’t have to let anyone inspect the classified materials in his office. I am really beginning to thinking there is a plot to overthrow the government. Either that, of everyone in the administration is losing their minds (like they ever had any!) Any body have any ideas about how we can make enough noise about this thing that someone might pay attention?
Posted usingJuly 5th, 2007 at 10:25 am (5087) [Quote]
Ha ha ha ha ha! Inbred Americans.
400 Million flesh-turds watching Paris Hilton while Bush and Dick prepare for martial law.
YOU ARE GETTING WHAT YOU DESERVE!
Posted usingJuly 5th, 2007 at 10:54 am (5089) [Quote]
So you are going to tell me that there are no dumb Canadians who would prefer to follow the Paris Hillton bullshit rather than politics and international current events?
And I wouldn’t laugh so hard. If they really overthrow the government, and the 2008 election never happens, then we are in for hell of a shitstorm over here. And you guys are going to feel it - economically, politically and otherwise.
Posted usingJuly 13th, 2007 at 8:29 pm (5210) [Quote]
I love how this web site posts under the anti-American insult from HonkyDonky:
Posted using Internet Explorer 6.0 on Windows XP
Last time I checked, those were both technologies conceived and developed entirely by those AMERICAN flesh-turds that HonkyDonky can think of no good use for…
Posted usingJuly 13th, 2007 at 11:50 pm (5215) [Quote]
LOL! Good observation. Then again, we can’t really blame him. Microsoft totally pwnt the global OS market, and they have everyone by their balls. I would love to see more governments adopt open source solutions to distance themselves from US influence, but MS is so far up everyone’s ass few even consider it.
Posted usingJuly 15th, 2007 at 3:23 pm (5239) [Quote]
Congress.org
Posted usingHouse.gov
August 21st, 2007 at 2:15 am (5848) [Quote]
Okay, y’all. I’ve been reading Luke’s blog for the past few hours, and have found it to be enlightening, entertaining, humorous and irreverent. Lovin’ it.
Then (horror), I choose to read “activism” and “politics”, and I find a hotbed of liberalism! Not that that’s so bad, and I applaud you all for voicing your beliefs. At least you’re doing something.
But let me give you another perspective.
I’ve spent most of my life in the military, both active and reserve. I did two tours in Desert Storm, several years workng drug interdiction (WAY south of here), a tour in Bosnia, a tour in Iraq, a tour at Gitmo, and another tour in Iraq. I was an intel analyst, an interrogator/translator, and a military police officer. If you do the math, you can probably figure out about how long I spent in service to my country.
Yep, I said it - in service to my country. Now, before you start to think that I’m some ravening conservative, I want you to know why I left.
I got out of the military after this last deployment because I didn’t trust my government or my country to do right by me, my family, and all the other men and women who agreed to serve. Not the Republicans, not the Democrats - all of them.
The Bush administration tried to fight a war on the cheap, and sent us into Iraq understaffed and under-equipped. Granted, they were trying not to bankrupt the country, but they should have planned better before committing us.
The Democrats further endangered our lives with their “non-binding resolutions” (fodder for the jihadi propaganda machine), their refusal to cooperate in approving a budget (keeping us from getting the ammunition, armor, and vehicles we needed to complete the mission and stay alive), and their penchant for finding fault with everything we attempt to do over there.
I’m pissed at my Congress, for attempting to run a war by committe and for attempting to usurp powers reserved for the Commander in Chief. For placing ridiculous rules of engagement on us - rules that got my friends killed and ensured our defeat.
I’m disgusted with our media, for reporting the “news” like a bunch of ambulance chasers. The only time we ever saw a reporter was when a crew was leaving their hotel in the Green Zone (the safest place in Baghdad - safety that the MNF provided) to chase after an explosion. They never reported anything about the Iraqis - regular people like you and me - who lined up for miles to volunteer to be police officers and soldiers. Those guys have a life expectancy of about two minutes and they know it - but they keep coming anyway. They never reported anything about the over 80% voter turn-out for each election. Do you know what our voter turn-out rate is? Less than 30%. They castigate KBR, Honeywell, and other contractors for war profiteering, but I don’t see any of them moving supplies, building roads, schools, and hospitals, building telecomm, electrical, and water infrastructure.
You never hear anyone discuss the history of Iraq. The Brits came in in 1915 and redrew the country’s boundaries based on geography - not cultural or tribal ties. They forced people to live together who had a strong hatred of each other, a hatred that was a thousand years old. In 1941, when the Brits finally threw up their hands and left, the people of Iraq built themselves a parlaiment. Hell, they even had a welfare system. Things weren’t great (as a matter of fact, the whole country was at war), but they enjoyed a brief, bt very bright, period of success in the 1970s. Saddam Hussein found his muse in Hitler and communism, and came to power in 1979. From then until we - the US - put him on the run, he literally raped, pillaged, and committed mass murder all across Iraq. He allowed the critical infrastructure of his country to decay to the point where he was stealing electricity and water from the rest of the country to fuel the needs of the capital. Rebuilding that infrastructure has fallen to us, and it’s a lesson in frustration.
You can argue all day long that our motivation for going into Iraq was oil, and on some level you may be right. However, we don’t get any of their oil - we buy it on the market. Have you seen how much a barrel of crude costs? It hasn’t gone down. Iraq still belongs to OPEC. Our greatest need is for gasoline, and Iraq does not have any refineries. All the refineries are in Kuwait, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.
We are in the midst of the greatest challenge of our generation and it has but one name - jihad. This jihad has a new twist, however. Whereas Muslim expansionism in the past has recognized Christianity and Judaism as religions whose believers worship God, it no longer does. We are all unclean, and must be wiped from the earth. Heaven help you if you happen to follow the tenets of Buddhism or Hinduism, mcuh less wicca or anything else. If you aren’t Muslim, you will be killed.
This jihad has been long in the making, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise to any of us. If you teach a group of people to hate another group for long enough, the time will come when the students need to act upon their teachings. And these people are tough and resourceful. They have trained in the most harsh environment on the planet, they are very intelligent, and their memories are long. The Brits will be the ones who feel the full bite first, then the rest of Euorpe, and then us. Israel has been fighting this war since 1948. And they aren’t winning.
If you pull back a little further and try to get a much more global perspective, look to China. The Chinese are on the cusp of astonishing expansion, and that expnsion will be fueled by petroleum, as well. They don’t have the oil reserves to sustain themselves. They don’t currently have the refining technology they need to support further growth. Where do you think they’ll get it? Russia is right next door, and the mid-east isn’t too far. Don’t forget Africa, either. The Russians have nukes, but they don’t know where all of them are. A bunch of their arsenal was sold to the highest bidder, and we can’t figure out who their weapons were sold to. Pakistan and India have been fighting with each other for decades, and they have nukes, too.
We are facing a latin diaspora from all over South America. Our borders are woefully unprotected, and that leaves us incredibly vulnerable. We have no idea who is here illegally, where they came from, or what their goals are. All of our airport security measures are a joke - they give the illusion of security, but in reality they do no more than piss everyone off and add to a burgeoning cycle of fear.
And then we come to the mechanisms by which our President has attempted to plan for our protection should the untinkable happen. The Patriot Act and the FISA courts are, at this point, necessay evils. I hate them, because I’m of the opinion that everyone should just keep their dirty hands off of my liberty. Trading freedom for security is an insidious process, and left unchecked, we will indeed be answering to Big Brother.
NSPD-51 is, in itself, nothing new. Every President since Eisenhauer has drafted something similar. This is the contingency plan for running the country when the unthinkable happens. When we have no coherent lines of communication. When our key cities have been either destroyed or so badly battered that they become unrescuable. I’m going to venture even further into la-la land and mention Battlefield Earth and Starship Troopers. Not those cheesy-ass movies, but the books on which they were based. Now, I don’t think we’re in danger of being invaded by ETs anytime soon, but that’s the type of complete breakdown NSPD-51 was drafted to prevent. Or control - whichever you prefer.
When you look at the bigger picture, maybe you can see that this isn’t some grasp for ultimate power, but yet another necessary evil. Hateful - yes. But, unfortunately, necessary. I hope like hell we never have to use it.
I know - I sound like one of those crazies who lives back in the hills and has too many guns. Really, I’m just a soccer mom from Kentucky who knows a little too much about how the world works. Don’t take my word for it, though. Educate yourselves. Check out some of these sites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Iraq
http://www.iaea.org/
For you Democrats:
http://www.rense.com/general32/americ.htm
And read as much as you can - about everything. Know every side of an argument, not just the side you happen to agree with.
The only thing I can tell y’all about Iraq with any certainty is this - don’t mess with the peshmerga. They don’t play, and they will f@#k you up. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peshmerga
Posted usingAugust 21st, 2007 at 1:00 pm (5858) [Quote]
Hey, I hope you don’t get scared off by my liberal views here.
Ever since I realized that I have rather diverse readership here who come for the technology chitchat and the usual craziness I try to avoid the political stuff. Not that I don’t like a good debate, but people sometimes get touchy about these topics. 
So I hope you will continue reading even after you found out that I’m a dirty liberal. LOL
Oh, and btw, let me just say that I have nothing but outmost respect for all the men and women serving in armed forces.
Great comment. You bring up some really good points here. I agree that Iraq is an incredibly complex issue and our politicians on both sides of the isle were fucking up the job so far. The war is a mess, and no matter what we do it will continue being a mess.
Will the country stabilize and become an idyllic peaceful democratic republic anytime soon? It’s unlikely. Especially since the neighborhood is anything but stable. This war may really drag forever with no end in sight. As you said, the radical Islam is not going anywhere anytime soon. The tension between different ethnic groups that inhabit the area will always be there. And the worst part is that Islam comes with a built in political system and ideology. Koran not only dictates how you are supposed to live, but also gives you tips on nation building and statecraft. So this is another issue there - we are trying to spoon-feed democracy to people who don’t really find it to be such a hot idea to begin with. Will this ever work? I have no clue. I guess it’s worth a try but at this point it is just a question of how many losses are we willing to sustain, and how much money are we willing to spend on this task.
I know the concern is that if we pull out the region will become a gigantic clusterfuck with Iraq collapsing as a nation, and the quarreling enthnic groups fighting amongst eachother wile neighbors wait to swoop in for a land grab. Question is, will that situation ever change? Are we making any progress? How long will it take us till the nation is stable enough?
I think that just like “the war on terror” can never be “won” the middle east can never be truly “stabilized”. Sooner or later we will have to make a decision to cut our losses and get out. The question is when. In 5 years? 10? 20? I’m just being practical here.
I really think that Patriot Act and all this Orwellian legislation didn’t really make us safer. And I completely fail to see how secret courts, indefinite detainment without conviction, and death of habeas corpus are helping to protect us from terrorist threats in any way. Giving up liberty for security is IMHO not a necessary evil - it is unnecessary evil. Especially since it is not really helping to solve the problem. I mean look at the airports - like you said, all this airport security is just a farce.
I can see where you are coming from, and I agree with a lot of what you said. I just think that with popper management of resources, and the right domestic and foreign policies in place, and founding the right programs and initiatives we can be both safe and free. We don’t have to give one up to gain the other.
And the fact that former presidents had their own funky directives doesn’t make this one any better. I scanned through several of the old directives from previous administrations, but NSPD-51 seemed to be the most bold, and overreaching from all of them.
All I’m saying there that leaving all this “necessary evil” as you call it legislation in our legal system is unwise and dangerous. Bush essentially laid a foundation for overthrowing democracy and installing a fascist regime in the US. Was this done consciously? Probably not. Is anyone planning to exploit these laws anytime soon? I doubt it. But the stuff is there. You call it necessary evil, I call it “police state backdoor”.
It’s kinda like having that Sony DRM rootkit on your system. It was created in good intentions (copyright protection) and no one really intended to use it for anything bad. But you don’t want it on your system because it can be easily exploited by someone at some point in the future.
Anyway, I hope we can agree to disagree and you will continue visiting this little “liberal hotbed”
We are all really nice here when we don’t talk about politics.
Posted usingAugust 23rd, 2007 at 11:02 pm (5912) [Quote]
Hey, y’all are hilarious!! And I enjoy a good debate.
Didn’t mean to sound so touchy, though. Sorry if I left bite marks (ha!)!!
I agree that we need to find a way to end this. I don’t want my kids or my grandkids fighting this war. My oldest is 14, so it’s a distinct possibility.
Our military can only do so much. We are basically the sword arm of our government, and if the politicians suck, then we will never be successful.
Like I said before, the exchange of liberty for security is never a good idea. The exchange of liberty for the appearance of security is an abomination. I’m all for slashing the federal government in favor of a resurgence of states’ rights. Let each state manage it’s own affairs, and the feds can quit babysitting us. The “nanny state” sucks!
If our federal government concentrated more on statecraft and diplomacy, and our states could return to managing their own affairs, we’d all be a lot better off.
ANYWAY - gonna go look at some more of your blog. Later!
- krf
Posted usingAugust 23rd, 2007 at 11:21 pm (5913) [Quote]
karen said:
Totally agree. Let’s cut the spending, get rid of the big government and give the power back to the states. It’s funny but these were republican ideas. You know that the administration is fucking it up when the democrats start to make less spending, and decentralization of power part of their platform.
Posted usingSeptember 9th, 2007 at 2:00 pm (6127) [Quote]
Hey check this out
http://www.bidstrup.com/exile.htm
Its time to consider moving.
Posted usingSeptember 11th, 2007 at 1:40 am (6159) [Quote]
Grammar policeman Sid:
The Modern Language Association has long endorsed the use of “they” and “their” as an ungendered singular pronoun when the person in question is unknown or generic.
In short, our author is on solid grammatical ground. Get over it.
Posted using