TO FORM A MORE PERFECT UNION

On September 17, 1787, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention came together for the last time to sign the document they helped create and craft. Constitution Day is an opportunity to show our love for the United State of America and the blessings of liberty our Founding Fathers helped secure for us.

The law establishing the present holiday was created in 2004 with the passage of an amendment by Senator Robert Byrd to the Omnibus spending bill of 2004. Before this law was enacted, the holiday was known as "Citizenship Day". In addition to renaming the holiday "Constitution Day and Citizenship Day," the act mandates that all publicly funded educational institutions, and all federal agencies, provide educational programming on the history of the American Constitution on that day. In May 2005, the United States Department of Education announced the enactment of this law and that it would apply to any school receiving federal funds of any kind. (wiki)

Another half-assed war without an exit strategy.

ISIS is a evil band of thugs. If we're going to fight them, I hope we win. But even a best case scenario will have costs. Operation Desert Storm looked like a quick easy victory for those of us who watched from our living rooms. But it also gave us Osama Bin Laden and Timothy McVeigh.

ISIS already has a lot of enemies and no allies. They are doomed by their own rigid ideology. They will never be more than a nuisance, but our President is now making them our nuisance. Now that US forces are involved, ISIS has a non-Islamic enemy to use in recruitment propaganda and is that much more likely to carry out attacks against Americans.

The most wreckless aspect of this mess is the President's promise to attack targets in Syria. Since our military will not be coordinating with Assad, there is the possibility that pro-Assad forces will be killed by US airstrikes. If something like that happens, the State Department will have one hell of a time convincing Assad or anyone else that it was an accident. My prediction is that the US will be at war with the Syrian government within 12 months.

The Citizens United case: Don't bother with a Constitutional amendment.

There is a push to restore some of the laws that were affected by the Citizens United decision. You are very naive if you think any piece of US legislation will keep corporations from attempting to influence elections. They will deal with it the same way they deal with our tax code: through the use of foreign shell companies. If you tell a billionaire who wants to spend $4 million to help a candidate that he can only spend $500,000, then he is going to start eight companies or NGO's in whatever country suits him and have them do his donating for him.

If you ban corporations from contributing to campaigns, they will hand out bonuses to trusted executives, who will then write personal checks to the candidates who will help their company succeed. Money finds a way.

What you should be worried about is how this will affect labor unions and grass roots organizations that can't relocate. When the little guy can't find the loophole, that makes the playing field even more lopsided than it was before.

GIVE THE WEAPONS OF WAR TO THE SHERIFF ALONE!! Civilian Elected Authority over Military Actions is one of the Hallmarks of our Legal System and True Justice would require the resources to be accountable to We The People first.

credit: 18 August 2014 The Miami Herald

I am going to argue for something that I really didnt want to have to defend; however, because I am aware of certain strategic and National Security issues, I must advocate for at least the Allen County Sheriff, as the Chief Constitutionally Elected Executive Public Safety Officer, to be in command and control of any surplus Military equipment distributed from the Pentagon to LEO or Local Law Enforcement Organizations.

Contrary to everyone's memory apparently is that Fort Wayne - Allen County, Indiana is unique in this Country's Civil Defense and National Defense strategy.
1. We have not one, but three active Military bases within our Metro area.
2. We have one of the few airports that can land Air Force One (1982) that also has both a Air National Guard Battalion and recently announced an additional Active Air Force presence on the base, therefore it is now a Joint Operations Base.
3. As evidenced from the fall out from 9/11 (2001) we also hosted the primary back up to the White House switchboard in Downtown Fort Wayne.
4. We are one of the primary logistics hubs for Military Intelligence and also Public Health and Safety. Why do you think Parkview is now a ten mile campus on the north side of town on the other side of the interchange with its own Service Road access pointe to all Interstate and State Highway connections within a stones throw distance.
5. The GM Plant can be converted overnight into supplying military grade hardware as full time production. Steel Dynamics is just down the road in Whitley County, that is not a coincidence.
6. We hold a "currently defunct" Missile Silo System, and we are holding "Military Grade Chemical Waste" for safe keeping or in case of an emergency.



Oh I could continue, the list is pretty extensive; keeping in mind I despise Conspiracy Theories as much as I do not like the Militarization of Law Enforcement any more than the next person; however I do think that having a Civil Defense force trained by the Sheriff and under his direct and Joint Command with the National Guard would be a positive use of surplus goods from the Pentagon, but they shouldnt be used in everyday Police Work and they shouldnt be left to anyone except someone voted into office by We The People as a Civilian Authority over said Military activities, keep your checks and balances and give the Sheriff his proper due and the People our proper respect.

Brave New Films presents a History of the violations of Posse Comitatus (1878) and there is a an update on pending Legislative Review by Congress included via The Huffington Post which said in part:

.... The White House said it would examine the program, and Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) sent a letter to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel noting that the adoption “by local police departments of military-style tactics and the use of military equipment have provoked concern across the nation for a number of years.”
Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) is set to chair a congressional hearing on “police militarization” on Tuesday.
Efforts to curb the programs could spark opposition from police departments and lobbyists. “You never know when domestic terrorism or a mass shooting event will hit Smalltown, USA,” Mark Lomax, executive director of the SWAT lobbying group National Tactical Officers Association, told Politico recently......