Badger52
04-27-2012, 10:45
OK, that was my take anyway. Up for discussion is this AM's piece in the WaPo. It's amusing how many times it's mentioned all the money that's been paid. (This goes for those notorious "fusion cells" - training of locals, alot of .PPT, and then give 'em a title as "Threat Liaison Officer"... more potential hits cranked into the database. They (Fed) do get their money's worth because the fusion cells have been (lately) simply parroting the admin's press releases about what great initiatives are in the wind. So your tax-dollars at work for the PR mechanism. Election-193 has nothing to do with that.
But I wonder how much of the consternation is over the detention piece (with the example cited) vs. states' growing concerns regarding Fed $$ spent on collecting intel on US citizens and illegal detention of same. I find it disingenuous that someone who could so actively challenge Obamacare seems to wholesale discount the obvious concern these days by states regarding domestic intel gathering. Which un-Constitutional thing is more so than the other? Making someone buy something, or making the state assist the military taking its citizens into custody?
LINK (http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/virginia-detainee-law-is-dangerously-unconstitutional/2012/04/26/gIQANb8zjT_story.html) and some extracts below.
Washington Post
April 27, 2012
Pg. 15
The Danger In Virginia's Detainee Law
By David B. Rivkin Jr. and Charles D. Stimson
The United States has just lost a key ally in the fight against al-Qaeda terrorists: the residents of Virginia, and state employees in particular.
Virginia’s legislature recently passed a bill that forbids state employees, including police and members of the National Guard, from participating in the investigation, surveillance, detention or arrest of any suspected member of al-Qaeda or its affiliates, if that suspect is a U.S. citizen.
The basis of this legislation in Virginia and 11 other states (Arizona, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Washington and West Virginia) ...
Some members of the tea party and the Tenth Amendment Center, a conservative group devoted to states’ rights, have joined with the American Civil Liberties Union to monger fear over federal detention authority.
Despite these facts, some continue to fight what they see as a federal leviathan that acts extra-constitutionally all the time.
Rest of the article at the link at the top of the post.
The actual EXSUM of the bill (http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?ses=121&typ=bil&val=HB1160&Submit2=Go) says:
Unlawful detention of United States citizens. Provides that no agency of the Commonwealth, political subdivision of the Commonwealth, employee of either acting in his official capacity, or member of the Virginia National Guard or Virginia Defense Force, when such member is serving in the Virginia National Guard or the Virginia Defense Force on official state duty, shall knowingly aid an agency of the armed forces of the United States in the detention of any citizen pursuant to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 if such aid would knowingly place any state agency, political subdivision, employee of such state agency or political subdivision, or member of the Virginia National Guard or the Virginia Defense Force in violation of the United States Constitution, the Constitution of Virginia, any provision of the Code of Virginia, any act of the General Assembly, or any regulation of the Virginia Administrative Code. The act does not apply to participation by state or local law enforcement or Virginia National Guard or Virginia Defense Force in joint task forces, partnerships, or other similar cooperative agreements with federal law enforcement as long as they are not for the purpose of participating in such detentions.
There go those pesky states again...
:rolleyes:
But I wonder how much of the consternation is over the detention piece (with the example cited) vs. states' growing concerns regarding Fed $$ spent on collecting intel on US citizens and illegal detention of same. I find it disingenuous that someone who could so actively challenge Obamacare seems to wholesale discount the obvious concern these days by states regarding domestic intel gathering. Which un-Constitutional thing is more so than the other? Making someone buy something, or making the state assist the military taking its citizens into custody?
LINK (http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/virginia-detainee-law-is-dangerously-unconstitutional/2012/04/26/gIQANb8zjT_story.html) and some extracts below.
Washington Post
April 27, 2012
Pg. 15
The Danger In Virginia's Detainee Law
By David B. Rivkin Jr. and Charles D. Stimson
The United States has just lost a key ally in the fight against al-Qaeda terrorists: the residents of Virginia, and state employees in particular.
Virginia’s legislature recently passed a bill that forbids state employees, including police and members of the National Guard, from participating in the investigation, surveillance, detention or arrest of any suspected member of al-Qaeda or its affiliates, if that suspect is a U.S. citizen.
The basis of this legislation in Virginia and 11 other states (Arizona, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Washington and West Virginia) ...
Some members of the tea party and the Tenth Amendment Center, a conservative group devoted to states’ rights, have joined with the American Civil Liberties Union to monger fear over federal detention authority.
Despite these facts, some continue to fight what they see as a federal leviathan that acts extra-constitutionally all the time.
Rest of the article at the link at the top of the post.
The actual EXSUM of the bill (http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?ses=121&typ=bil&val=HB1160&Submit2=Go) says:
Unlawful detention of United States citizens. Provides that no agency of the Commonwealth, political subdivision of the Commonwealth, employee of either acting in his official capacity, or member of the Virginia National Guard or Virginia Defense Force, when such member is serving in the Virginia National Guard or the Virginia Defense Force on official state duty, shall knowingly aid an agency of the armed forces of the United States in the detention of any citizen pursuant to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 if such aid would knowingly place any state agency, political subdivision, employee of such state agency or political subdivision, or member of the Virginia National Guard or the Virginia Defense Force in violation of the United States Constitution, the Constitution of Virginia, any provision of the Code of Virginia, any act of the General Assembly, or any regulation of the Virginia Administrative Code. The act does not apply to participation by state or local law enforcement or Virginia National Guard or Virginia Defense Force in joint task forces, partnerships, or other similar cooperative agreements with federal law enforcement as long as they are not for the purpose of participating in such detentions.
There go those pesky states again...
:rolleyes: