The Justice Department And Drones

So lets see if I have this straight; the Justice Department has released, after much stalling, a 16 page memo justifying the killing of American citizens overseas with drones under some ridiculous premise that it would be to hard to extract them from the place that they are at so therefore killing them is a better idea? This with almost no real evidence that they are going to do us any harm? Really? The wording in this so called “justification” is so loosely written that just about any American, who might have any kind of over seas connections could be targeted with only the slightest amount of evidence.

Has everyone lost there minds? Its bad enough that we are killing innocent civilians in Pakistan and elsewhere with drones but now we are going to justify killing Americans as well?

In case any one has forgotten we have this thing called the 5^th Amendment ( both the 4^th and 6^th apply but in this case the 5^th is better) that is supposed to protect us from this kind of thing, it reads thus:

“No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

The key to this, and what really applies in this case, is “ nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” This is not a debate on whether or not Anwar al- Awlaki was guilty of anything, it is a debate of just how far we can allow the government to go in killing Americans with out any kind of due process.

Consider for a moment; whats to stop them from doing it right here in the United States or maybe even Canada? The government is in the process of putting a fleet of 30,000 drones into the sky right here in the good old USA so whats to stop them from doing the same here? With the NDAA declaring that the US is a battle ground and that you can be detained indefinitely, with no real evidence, what is to stop them from using the excuse that its easier to kill you rather than arrest you and bring you to trial? Think about it; you have someone living up on a mountain that needs to be arrested or brought in for some reason,legitimate or otherwise, so rather then sending police to arrest them, because it might be dangerous, they decide that it would be easier to take them out completely with a drone. If they are willing to do it in Yemen, amongst other places, they will , at some point, do it here with the same kind of “justification.”

My other thought on this though is where are all the protestors? When Bush was in office there was a steady stream of protests going on for his war policies and the Patriot act amongst other things and yet now, with Obama being Bush on steroids, there isn't a peep. Where is Code Pink? Where is the ACLU? Where are all the posters and pictures of Mr. Obama with a Hitler mustache and catchy phrases? Where are all the Liberal / Democrats? That one I can answer, your hiding because you only have guts to speak up when its not your guy in charge, when it is your guy he gets a pass on everything. Do I sound angry?I am. I protested against Bush and I sure as hell am not going to be quiet while our Constitution is destroyed piece by piece by someone just because he is a liberal democrat.

From time to time I have had to deal with people who are critical of my political views. I have supported the Tea party on occasion, until they sold out to the republicans, and I have stated that I am a Libertarian and a Constitutionalist. I have heard it said that we, those of us who think this way, are not realists and our thoughts and ideas are not practical or possible or even good for the country. Well let me ask you this then? How are these kinds of policies, apparently embraced by both major parties,beneficial to us? Indefinite detention, killing of Americans with no due process, free speech, gun rights, and freedom of religion all under attack and there is almost no one holding the governments feet to the fire. This is wrong.

I don't know what you want the history books to remember about us, but I hate to think that it is going to see us as people who were willing to let the government destroy the things that once made us great under the guise of national security,that was willing to let its own citizens be killed for the sake of convenience, never mind killing people in other countries that aren't any threat to us, rather than go though the proper process as described in the 4^th, 5^th and 6^th amendments. I don't want to be remembered as the generation that let it all go simply for comfort or convenience but that’s exactly where we are headed.

Just my Simple Minded Opinion.