Occupy Wall Street - Not a Big Deal

As a Champion of the First Amendment, U Elite Members know full well that I will never support silencing any voices raised up in the public square. On free speech rights, I'm squarely with former US Supreme Court Justice Black - an Absolutetist. That said, however, I do not believe every demand to be heard demands an answer from those opposed to the shouted message. Clearly, some trees falling in the forrest are not worthy of vibrating an inner ear drum, or eliciting lips moving in a sharp retort to such sounds of silence.

As the Bible tells us - "Jesus loves us all", ... every boy and girl, even. "And the Poor will always be with us, too". As will the disaffected, the disgruntled and those just plain clueless.

For several decades now, these anarchists have turned out by the thousands to seek to disrupt meeting of the G-18, World Bank or some such international, high finance concave, while shouting about the evils of capitalism. Recently, I recall that an inadequate police presence allowed these hoodlums to take control of the central business district of Seattle, Washington, and thereby burn cars, smash business front windows and generally trash all of downtown.

So what. After the meeting ended, their message of rebellion was forgotten before the many dignitaries airplanes returned them to their homes. This new tactic of hanging out for weeks, saying nothing of import, other than - the rich are evil, so give me their money - will have even less lasting influence on the American citizenry once the first frost hits lower Manhattan, and these non-local yokems will then be gone with the wind and cold. Correct - FreezePruf plant frost protectant can not be sprayed on protesters. Well, on reflection, it can, but to no good insulating effect of which I currently know.

Accordingly, the only lasting impact of these Occupy protests will be the further loss of credibility of the non-sensical Pols who clamor to the microphone to endorse them as some new grassroots uprising of hard working middle class Americans outraged by the unprosecuted crimes of the high rollers on Wall Street. Sorry Nancy, but most of these disaffected "voters" were bused in from your SF District where they have been sucking on the public teet ever since you first gained elective office and started giving away real working folks earnings.

Why Answar al-Awlaki still Matters, finally

Yes, he's now dead, and the world is a better place for his unnatural passing. Nonetheless, Mr. al-Awlaki was an American citizen, who the Executive Branch had declared to be an "Enemy Combatant" - an enemy of the state, if U will. Accordingly, Mr. al-Awlaki was targeted for termination with extreme prejudice. He was then killed in the wilds of ungoverned Yemen by the CIA operated drone hit team, working with the super secret Navy Seals to locate him and put the radar cross-hairs on his head, literally. This execution (thru war making powers) of a person making war on America is legally, ethically or morally justified in my judgment.

In a war, the Executive uses appropriately all the assets available to "kill the enemy and seize enemy held territory" as my drill instructor yelled at me at Ft. Bragg in 1970. It's the process of targeting Awlaki that gives me pause. The Justice Department has reportedly given the President a legal opinion that concludes that this homicide is legal under the law of war. Fine, but on what basis in our Constitutional Republic is such critical "life and death" document stamped "top secret" and hidden from the public. Secret law is anathema to a free society, so I want to know what are the limiting principles of a President's legal authority to kill without charges, trial or any due process protections those persons that the executive branch deems to be enemies of the state. We definitely got it right on this first American citizen's homicide by Presidential Fiat. I want to make sure that the next dozen or tens of dozen of such kills are legal, ethical and morally justified as well.

Remember, every federal government activity starts with all good intentions, decades later, however, many of these programs have no boundaries or limits on their reach or scope of application. When it comes to summary executions, that exercise of absolute power has got to be perfect every time - something government has never done well.