Criticizing the President During a Time of War By Devvy Kidd
January 11, 2002
NewsWithViews.comI received a love letter the other day informing me the sender was going to press the Department of Justice to charge me with sedition for criticizing the President of the united States during a time of war.' Lock me up and throw away the key!
Sedition or a matter of law?
Is one guilty of sedition for criticizing the President, who also acts as Commander-in-Chief during a time of war?
First one must deal with the question: Did Congress fulfill its constitutional responsibility to make an official declaration of war against Iraq as mandated under Art. 1, Sec. 8 of the supreme law of the land? No, why should they? With the exception of Ron Paul and a few grandstanding Democrats, the rest of that bunch have no interest in the Constitution.
However, that does not negate the fact that Mr. Bush's soon-to-be war for oil is about to be waged without any genuine legal authority. Mr. Bush has made it very clear through his actions since 9-11 that he has no need of the U.S. Constitution or Congress. I would imagine he felt he could get away with the same shenanigans as his predecessor:
LA Times, July 4, 1998: Clinton to Bypass Congress in Blitz of Executive Orders
"Washington - Frustrated by a GOP-controlled Congress that lately has rebuffed him on almost every front, President Clinton plans a blitz of executive orders during the next few weeks, part of a White House strategy to make progress on Clinton's domestic agenda with or without congressional help."
A virtual dictatorship launched on "Independence Day."
In return, Congress has made it clear they have no need of the Constitution either. Last October during Congressional hearings on going to war against Iraq, CFR point dog in the House, Rep. Henry Hyde, [R-Il] stated that declaring war is anachronistic, it isn't done anymore...'
A darling of the deaf, dumb and blind socialists [liberals], Ranking Minority Member Tom Lantos, [D-Ca] called the declaration of war frivolous and mischievous.'
On January 7, 1999, former Clinton Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich said, "...when the president decides to go to war, he no longer needs a declaration of war from Congress."
Quite frankly, Congress really should simply resign in mass and go back to the gutter they crawled out from. If this were the time of Thom Jefferson or Andy Jackson, these good old boys in Congress would most likely have found themselves hanging from the nearest oak tree.
They have abrogated their constitutional duties via treaties like NAFTA and have completely surrendered our sovereignty via GATT. America is now subservient to the WTO. Federal judges have become nothing more than rubber stamps for political agendas in Washington, DC and spend a great deal of time legislating from the bench with zero oversight from Congress.
In the case of Iraq, Mr. Bush has simply skirted the Constitution by hiding behind a "former resolution passed by the UN" when his father was President. The united States of America does not enter into treaties with private organizations. The UN is a private organization promoting a one world nightmare government. We the People are under no obligation to fund any activities by the UN, nor is Congress under any obligation to ask permission of the UN for any undertaking.
Now to Sedition
My e-mailer thinks I should be charged with sedition for criticizing a sitting President during a time of war. We've already discharged the notion that America is about to engage in a legal war, so my criticism of Mr. Bush isn't being done "during a time of war."
I was reminded by this e-mail of a remarkable event that began in 1942, and became known as The Great Sedition Trial of 1944. Forty-two people and one newspaper were indicted, with the first of three indictments handed down on July 21, 1942. Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the Justice Department investigation, but it was a political animal from the moment the plan was hatched behind closed doors.
There were some level heads back then who found this assault on free speech a dangerous path to tread, even if some of that speech criticized FDR and his actions during a time of declared war. On August 17, 1942, Sen. Robert A. Taft vocalized his objection to the indictments when he said,
"I am deeply alarmed by the growing tendency to smear loyal citizens who are critical of the national administration and of the conduct of the war . . .
"Something very close to fanaticism exists in certain circles. I cannot understand it cannot grasp it. But I am sure of this: Freedom of speech itself is at stake, unless the general methods pursued by the Department of Justice are changed."
After five years of harassment against the defendants, the charges were dismissed with the presiding judge declaring that to allow the case to continue would constitute a "travesty on justice." Naturally, the feds weren't going to take that lying down. They appealed and lost.
A matter of patriotism
While my gutless e-mailer thinks it's seditious to criticize a sitting President who has made clear his intentions to wage an unconstitutional war no matter what "evidence" is or isn't available, putting our precious freedom fighters in harms way, I feel it is my obligation to speak out against such actions. Teddy Roosevelt was also a believer in this principle:
"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does NOT mean to stand by the President or any other public official save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country."
America belongs to her people. Not to the President. Not to the Congress. Not to the international banking cartel robbing US blind or the military-industrial complex that reaps the spoils of more spilled American blood on foreign soil.
Liberty and freedom is our responsibility and it's our sacred duty to hold our elected servant government accountable for their actions whether it be the President or a desk jockey at HUD. They all work for the People. As was the case with WWI and WWII, most Americans don't want this war with Iraq. We the people are being dragged into it to further the agenda of the Masters of the Game.
Below are some words for high paid Bush apologists like Shawn Hannity, who will forgive Mr. Bush anything because he's a Republican:
"The world has never in this decade been so close as now to the brink of nuclear war." Former Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, May 28, 1999
"As for the United States, for a relatively long time it will be absolutely necessary that we quietly nurse our sense of vengeance. We must conceal our abilities and bide our time." 1996, Lt. General Mi Zhenyu, Vice Commander, Academy of Military Sciences, Beijing, China.
Horrors of 21st Century Totalitarianism
"In the name of fighting terrorism,' the communitarian Clinton/Bush Administrations have created strategic relationships with Russia and Red China - murderous totalitarian police states, the chief sponsors of international terrorism, and the advocates of Marxism-Leninism- Stalinism. Using the volatile blend of utopian promises and the specter of mass terror, they have worked to effect the criminal transformation of the world, including the U.S.
"Saturating the nation with Communist environmental and communitarian (Communist community-building) propaganda, the Sino-Soviet-US ruling elite's are carrying forward to the terrifying conclusion the 1928 "Program of the Communist International," the Program for global communist conquest.
"Broadcasting the Communist moral code, they have made a deliberate attempt to achieve full collectivization of the masses; to create an enemy; to make Americans fear and hate that enemy; to redirect that hatred toward those who stand outside the collective, i.e. property owners, principled individualists, free enterprise capitalists, Christians, constitutionalists, etc; to create distrust amongst the people and build a system of universal spying; to create countless citizen corps and mobilize myriad "armies" to fight multiple wars and to achieve the construction of world Communism.
"Joseph Stalin said, "Remember, Avel, he who is not with me is against me!
"On April 9, 2002, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, President Bush stated:, "You know, I said early on, I said to the people you're either with us or you're against us...There is no middle ground." Stalin also held that there was "no middle ground."
The quotes above were written by the author of a frightening book titled Time Bomb: The Criminal Conspiracy to Create Chaos, to Sovietize America, and to Unleash the Horrors of 21st Century Totalitarianism. This work is so powerful, the meticulous researcher who authored it, is afraid to put her name on the cover. It is cutting edge in understanding the real George Bush, Jr.
How about this quote from Dr. Peter Vincent Pry, former CIA spook:
"On October 4, 1993, I was making a desperate phone call from the headquarters of North American Air Defense and Space Command near Colorado Springs to my wife in Washington, DC. I told her to take our kids out of school and head for the hills, because the Russians might launch a nuclear attack. This was no joke." Introduction page from Dr. Pry's book, War Scare (1999).
I attacked Mr. Clinton and his policies because they were flat out treason. As someone who loves my country and values the lives of our active and reserve military, I will continue to criticize President Bush when I feel he's not acting in the best interests of this Republic. If Mr. Ashcroft wants to send his dragoons to charge me with sedition, they know my address.
© 2003 Devvy Kidd - All Rights Reserved
Devvy Kidd is the founder and Director of POWER (Project on Winning Economic Reform). Has been a guest on more than 1500 radio shows, given hundreds of speeches and has run for Congress twice. Sales of her little booklets, "Why A Bankrupt America" and "Blind Loyalty" sold close to 2,000,000 copies. Devvy's web site is: www.devvy.com [email protected]