I never did understand the Right Wing (note caps) paranoia about FEMA. Apparently, if there is an emergency, “they” have the right and privilege of suspending civil rights and implementing martial law until the emergency is over?
In other words, if a huge hurricane wreaks Florida, they can go in, sieze the state, start the FEMA Nation, create their own currency, and invite holed up Coloradians who’ve been trying to do the same for a decade to join them?
Am i close?
During Seattle’s infamous WTO “riots”, certain rights were suspended, and the police and officials claimed it was allowed during emergencies. So apparently this right does not ONLY apply to FEMA. Do these same Right Wingers (note caps) fear all police, elected officials and the National Guard as well?
It means at any arbitrary time at which a national emergency is declared, FEMA can come in and declare martial law.
There are no standards, of which I am aware, on what constitutes a national emergency worthy of declaring martial law. There is no limitation, of which I am aware, of any time limits on such a power.
So, this federal agency has the ability to declare martial law anywhere, for whatever arbitrary reason, for however long they want. During that time, the Constitution goes out the window, and they can fuck over the citizenry in any way they want.
Essentially, if ever any police state type tactics are needed, perhaps to quell domestic discontent, FEMA, among other agencies, would be the spearhead of any suppression.
Of course, this might sound like a raving lunatic talking. But I bet if you told turn of the 19th century German citizen the truth about Hitler, they’d laugh at you.
Any police, elected officials, or National Guard that are willing to suppress our Constitutionally protected rights at will, yes.
I’ve never seen a copy of the [url=“http://guide.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/constitution/”]Constitution
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that allowed any agency of the federal government to ever deny the rights granted in the Constitution. The phrase “martial law” doesn’t seem to be in there at all. I’d be rather interested in where you got this interpretation from.
I’d like to see some cites, too, for these five statements:
[quote] originally posted by SenorBeef:
[ul]
[li]It means at any arbitrary time at which a national emergency is declared, FEMA can come in and declare martial law.[/li][li]There are no standards, of which I am aware, on what constitutes a national emergency worthy of declaring martial law.[/li][li]There is no limitation, of which I am aware, of any time limits on such a power.[/li][li]…this federal agency has the ability to declare martial law anywhere, for whatever arbitrary reason, for however long they want.[/li][li]During that time, the Constitution goes out the window…[/ul][/li][/quote]
Is that what you were talking about, Buckner?
SenorBeef, I cordially invite you to go over to the FEMA library, explore, wander around, find some cites. I’ve been sitting here doing it myself for a while, and–life’s too short, you know? Give us some hard evidence to support your paranoia and maybe we’ll listen.
Yeah, DDG, I’d pretty much like cites for every single thing SenorBeef has said in this thread (well, except for “this might sound like a raving lunatic talking”–I don’t suppose we need any actual cites for that one).
[sub]I mean, we have got to find out where these leaks are coming from, so whoever is revealing this information can be eliminated![/sub]
To be perfectly honest, I read a decent bit about this, but it was a while back. And no, it wasn’t from JoeParanoidRedneck.com…
To be honest, I was just extrapilating what I could from memory. In actuality, I don’t think it was FEMA itself who had these powers - they were delegated to various federal authorities through various statutes - but I recall that FEMA was on forefront of the agencies that would do the actual enforcement and such of the martial law status.
Given that I’m only working from memory, and even then, hazy, disregard anything I said. I’m not interested enough in this thread to hunt down the info I read a while back.
In closing, feel free to assume that anyone that’s iffy about FEMA is a redneck right wing extremist.
I searched the US Code on Findlaw’s page and found no provision in the law giving anyone any authority to declare martial law, except for the governors of the US Virgin Islands and Guam. I haven’t found a searchable copy of the Code of Federal Regulations to check yet, though.
Well, now. What’s been asserted in this thread is not that some future politician or would-be dictator may seek to abuse the powers of his office. What has been asserted, here and in this thread, is that a specific federal agency already has the legal and physical infrastructure in place to round people up and put them in concentration camps. As a civil libertarian, I want to know all about it if an agency of the United States government is plotting to systematically violate the Constitution. Which is why my reaction to allegations of this sort is always going to be:
Damn codes. That’s