SPELLCHEK – If a word in the dictionary were misspelled, how would we know? – Steven Wright

Obama signs National Defense Resources Preparedness Executive Order permitting peacetime martial law, a draft, and the procurement of private property

President Obama has signed an Executive Order (EO) which is unprecedented. It exceeds the recent admission from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta dismissing the role of Congress in military actions. It exceeds the revelation in the National Defense Authorization Act which declares the U.S. homeland as part of the battlefield allowing American citizens to be indefinitely detained absent any charges being filed.  Why is this EO so heinous? Read it here for yourself.

It doesn’t even require the declaration of an emergency. It’s based upon national defense readiness, both in peacetime and during an emergency. It extends the powers of martial law at anytime the President sees fit. Martial law normally requires a breakdown of law and order. This President has determined he has the authority right now, today, to implement any measures he deems necessary to prepare the troops.

Sec. 102.  Policy.  The United States must have an industrial and technological base capable of meeting national defense requirements and capable of contributing to the technological superiority of its national defense equipment in peacetime and in times of national emergency.  The domestic industrial and technological base is the foundation for national defense preparedness.  The authorities provided in the Act shall be used to strengthen this base and to ensure it is capable of responding to the national defense needs of the United States.

He goes on further to declare that his Agency Heads have the authority to guarantee loans by private institutions (Sec. 301), and even to make the terms of the contracts (Sec. 301(b)). If that’s not enough, he has given the Agency Heads the authority to issue loans (Sec. 302). They are also authorized to stockpile materials in excess of requirements (Sec. 303(b)) and to issue subsidy payments for high cost items (Sec. 304).

Section 308 is outrageous.

Sec. 308.  Government-Owned Equipment.  The head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense is delegated the authority of the President under section 303(e) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2093(e), to:

(a)  procure and install additional equipment, facilities, processes, or improvements to plants, factories, and other industrial facilities owned by the Federal Government and to procure and install Government owned equipment in plants, factories, or other industrial facilities owned by private persons;

(b)  provide for the modification or expansion of privately owned facilities, including the modification or improvement of production processes, when taking actions under sections 301, 302, or 303 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2091, 2092, 2093; and

(c)  sell or otherwise transfer equipment owned by the Federal Government and installed under section 303(e) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2093(e), to the owners of such plants, factories, or other industrial facilities.

The Federal Government has the authority to procure, install or modify private property. In peacetime. Who needs Martial Law?

Obama is also creating advisory boards such as the Defense Production Act Committee (DPAC) and the National Defense Executive Reserve (NDER). Not exciting enough for you yet? How about Section 601.

Sec. 601.  Secretary of Labor.  (a)  The Secretary of Labor, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense and the heads of other agencies, as deemed appropriate by the Secretary of Labor, shall:

(1)  collect and maintain data necessary to make a continuing appraisal of the Nation’s workforce needs for purposes of national defense;

(2)  upon request by the Director of Selective Service, and in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, assist the Director of Selective Service in development of policies regulating the induction and deferment of persons for duty in the armed services;

(3)  upon request from the head of an agency with authority under this order, consult with that agency with respect to:  (i) the effect of contemplated actions on labor demand and utilization; (ii) the relation of labor demand to materials and facilities requirements; and (iii) such other matters as will assist in making the exercise of priority and allocations functions consistent with effective utilization and distribution of labor;

(4)  upon request from the head of an agency with authority under this order:  (i) formulate plans, programs, and policies for meeting the labor requirements of actions to be taken for national defense purposes; and (ii) estimate training needs to help address national defense requirements and promote necessary and appropriate training programs; and

(5)  develop and implement an effective labor management relations policy to support the activities and programs under this order, with the cooperation of other agencies as deemed appropriate by the Secretary of Labor, including the National Labor Relations Board, the Federal Labor Relations Authority, the National Mediation Board, and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.

Did you read part 2 concerning the induction of persons for duty in the Armed Forces? That’s called a draft as far as I know. No, this doesn’t mean Obama has instituted a draft, but it says he can anytime he wants.

More importantly, this Executive Order establishes that the President doesn’t need Congress to declare war, or even for an emergency situation to be declared, in order to appropriate funding for national defense initiatives. He can work through the Treasury to fund any of it he determines necessary. Just as Panetta stated, Congress is irrelevant. The Constitution is irrelevant. And just who do you think is going to do anything about it to stop him?

Any of these provisions can be executed in peacetime. Our Constitution and the rule of law are dead.

You’ll see numerous stories coming out in the next days concerning this EO as being nothing more than an update and no reason for concern. How this makes an illegal power grab any more correct, I don’t know. Simply because it hasn’t been exercised doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be concerned it even exists.

UPDATE – Just want to thank all the commenters calling for my execution merely for posting about a public document. Sorry you got lost in the spam filter. Remember, nobody held a gun to Obama’s head to update the EO. The reasoning that everybody else is doing it works for school children. The DHS has been around for years now if that’s your logic. Forget the left/right argument as well. Bush was a complete disaster on our liberty. How about Obama showing some real leadership and issuing an EO on how he will move to restore our liberty? Martial law EO’s can stay in his desk until such time as one becomes necessary when the Federal Government will take any and all steps it deems necessary anyway.

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45 responses to “Obama signs National Defense Resources Preparedness Executive Order permitting peacetime martial law, a draft, and the procurement of private property”

  2. “The National Emergencies Act (Pub.L. 94-412, 90 Stat. 1255, enacted September 14, 1976, codified at 50 U.S.C. § 1601-1651) is a United States federal law passed to stop open-ended states of national emergency and formalize the power of Congress to provide certain checks and balances on the emergency powers of the President. The act sets a limit of two years on states of national emergency. It also imposes certain “procedural formalities” on the President when invoking such powers.”

    From Wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Emergencies_Act

    What checks and balances???

    The article also points out that we have been in a perpetual “State of Emergency” since Bush declared it on September 1, 2001. Obama has apparently extended it one year at a time.

    By extending the idea of emergency powers to being “prepared” for an emergency, Obama has given himself and all future presidents dictatorial power. Who could not invent a story that we are not prepared for some type of emergency.

    This is an effective coup d’etat by the Executive Branch.

  3. It is another grab for power by the executive branch that is completely unconstitutional. Once again we need to fall back to the constitution and reestablish it as the law of the land. We need to do something to start advancing this narrative in the conservative arena. We need to put not only our candidates on the record as to where they stand with the unconstitutional actions by this administration but also our elected representatives who are supposed to be representing our views and supporting and defending the constitution. This is why I have made an effort to call them out whenever something like this happens. Any elected official who doesn’t stand against this does not deserve to be reelected back into office. It’s that simple. Our founders believe the only way to ensure our liberties would be secure was to vote virtuous people into office. People who think about securing our liberties when legislation is crafted. Until we start throwing these bums out and calling them out when something like this is enacted we will continue to slide towards tyranny.

  4. The liberal press is spinning this as an “update” of an order from you-know-who (Bush). Sure, that is why the great Obama sent it out on late Friday afternoon. So, is it just a power grab, gas prices, strategic materials, or is something happening we do not know about.

  6. why leave anything at all?if it is over it is over, the fools won , i guess , so, do you think they will burry our heads with our bodies or just burn us

  7. Reminds me of this . . .

    I caught that “induction” thing straight away, which is followed by interesting talk like this: “develop and implement an effective labor management relations policy to support . . . programs under this order, with the cooperation of other agencies as deemed appropriate by the Secretary of Labor, including the National Labor Relations Board . . . ”

    Add in the fact that this order delegates authority to “procure and install Government owned equipment in plants, factories, or other industrial facilities owned by private persons,” then you can envision a scheme in which tax-dollar funded equipment, or gov’t guaranteed loans, are given to corporations who then return the favor by supporting the draft of a portion of their workers for “defense purposes.”

    I went over and skimmed the whole order, and yeah. Loans provided by private entities can be guaranteed, and subsidies can be paid, by the President’s agencies under this Order, “after consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Director of OMB.” So I’m assuming this is their way around Congress’ purse strings.

    Are we on the same page on this? I wonder what the purpose of that 1950 Act (which they are relying on for all this authority) was.

  9. Jim, you called it:

    By extending the idea of emergency powers to being “prepared” for an emergency, Obama has given himself and all future presidents dictatorial power.

  11. Okay, well, a quick search leads to another train of thought, that this order does not introduce any new powers:

    http://hotair.com/archives/2012/03/18/national-defense-resources-preparedness-executive-order-power-grab-or-update/

    “Again, this is nothing new or outside of existing statutory authority — and the EO makes that clear by explicitly citing that authority. All this does is delegate the authority for these actions to the Cabinet officials,” says Ed Morrissey, and he says Prof. Jacobson and Ace of Spades agrees.

    So we’ve got that going for us. I’ll be clicking over to Legal Insurrection to get his take. Of course, even old law can still be bad law, and they still may attempt to apply it in new ways.

    cheers! Linda

  12. even old law can still be bad law

    That’s my take as well. These open-ended power grabs aren’t at all new, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t call them out on it.

  14. The whole “preparedness” qualifier literally leaves any option open. And why shouldn’t Panetta call Congress irrelevant, they are just standing down with little more than a few rhetoric soundbites.

  17. What we have seen in this new law is not new at all. Hitler did it. And so have all of the other heinous tyrants and dictators throughout history. We are seeing the manifestation of Socialism in our country. In fact I would say that we are seeing the rise of Fascism in the United States. The President has a private army, the right to declare martial law without any national emergency, and the right to arrest and detain American citizens without due process of any type. This President has taken our rights as free citizens, and we are going to pay the price for our foolishness of allowing this man into office. All he has to do is to declare a national emergency, place us under martial law, and refuse to vacate the office of the President because we are in a state of war inside our borders (at least according to him). And there is nothing any of us can do about it. Congress and the Oval Office have committed the worst type of Treason ever perpetrated against the United States, and there is nothing we can hope to do. Judging from his actions thus far. it appears as though he is not going to willingly relinquish power, and the will of the people is of little consequence to him or our congressional leaders. We are seeing the rise of a dictatorship in our country, and he will pass all the right laws to even make it legal. With just four years in office, he has single-handedly destroyed most of our freedoms. How long before we begin to see people arrested for their anti-Obama views? How long before his private goons march into churches and begin arresting those that are of a different religious belief system? He has set the stage and now all that is left for him to do is to play it out. Lord God, we need your intervention in this situation. Forgive us for our foolishness, Lord. Please rescue this nation from its leaders and stop this rise of Fascism. Lord, rescue us from the rise of this fascist liberal regime.

  18. Is this in response to the Occupy Movement? Perhaps May 1? I need more info, AND, I am suspicious. “Just saying”………..WTF over?

  19. Why the update? If one takes a look at EO 12919, the big change is in the Cabinet itself. In 1994, we didn’t have a Department of Homeland Security, for instance, and some of these functions would naturally fall to DHS. In EO 12919, the FEMA director had those responsibilities, and the biggest change between the two is the removal of several references to FEMA (ten in all). Otherwise, there aren’t a lot of changes between the two EOs, which looks mainly like boilerplate.

    In fact, that’s almost entirely what it is. The original EO dealing with national defense resources preparedness was issued in 1939 (EO 8248) according to the National Archives. It has been superseded a number of times, starting in 1951 by nearly every President through Bill Clinton, and amended twice by George W. Bush.

  20. You Neo-con alarmist crybabies can stand down. This Executive Order has been updated by every President since Eisenhower, including the idiot Bush.

    What a bunch of conservative cowards on this thread. *sheesh* I thought Republicans had more sense.

  21. Glad someone saw the other side of the story. Of course, these peopel never had a problem with the Patriot Act that Bush crammed down our throats. Took away more rights than any other single law ever passed.

  22. Isn’t something weird here? I have to assume the entire Congress didn’t happen to hear about this “EO”. None of them want to pass a law forbidding it?
    No one want to make a campaign issue of it?
    That means that ALL of them are complicit in this as well does it not?

  23. OK. This is ruling by decree, no different than Stalin, Mao, Hitler or any other Dictator/King/Emperor. The problem faced will be the implementation of it. People are just about fed up with their lot in life these days…when it appears that there is nothing left to lose, then we sall see.

  24. I had a conversation with one of our conservative friends at dinner, maybe in 2006 or 07. We told him that the power of the Presidential Executive Orders were all well and good when your guy is in office but how are you going to feel when say Hillary or some other progressive is in office and gets that same EO power? Once the EO is written not one President is ever going to voluntarily give any of those powers up.

  25. Both Abraham Lincoln and Woodrow Wilson invoked the same order! So even though it’s not a good sign it really isn’t “unprecedented” …. I think Obama is just getting ready to back up Israel and go to war with Iran…. Very unfortunate since both Bush and and Obama had the chance to eleviate the problem using diplomacy!

  29. More likely, James, is that this law/update is nothing new and nobody inside politics gives it any more thought, because it doesn’t mean anything. I hope nobody really believes that this would ever be abused. Reagan didn’t abuse it and take over the country, nor did Clinton. Why should Bush or Obama want to? Conspiracy theories are also nothing new.

  30. You really think this has anything to do with who your president is? They are all bought and owned tools. Anyone worthy of the position or just plain honest will never get a chance. Whether it be a fixed election or assassination, take your pick… Your vote doesn’t count anymore.

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  34. Apparently Obama never had any problem with the USA PATRIOT Act either.

    I despised Bush as much as I despise Obama. They are both cold blooded killers and the only limitations on the power of either is the extent of the political muscle they can bring to bear in a given situation.

    Somebody once said that voters get the government they deserve. Those who lick the boots of power, either from the left or the right, will get what they have coming to them–and they will get it hard.

  35. Sorry folks–you have all missed the point. Executive Orders by ANY President are illegal and unconstitutional. The Constitution-our Supreme law-clearly states that we are to maintain a balance of power through the three branches of our government. ALL Executive Orders have no power under the Constitution. Presidents should not be allowed to make EO’s. Period.
    Congress is too busy robbing Social Security and Medicare funds so they can BUY votes to keep there worthless hides in those high paying, high perk public jobs because, let’s face it, they are pretty much unqualified to do anything useful. And the biggest thugs in our National Government are the nine Supreme Court Justices who refuse to defend the Constitution and instead sit around deciding which illegal, unconstitutional and immoral laws they are going to refuse to rule on because it might be too controversial.

    Check out the ‘War in Athens’ from Tennessee, 1949. We are about to repeat history.

  36. If EO were illegal, they wouldn’t exist. Bush created the Dept. of Homeland Security, racial discrimination in federally funded housing was eliminated, and the right for federal workers to bargain collectively came into being by EO. Mostly they are used for “office decisions” (policy), but occasionally they are used questionably (japanese-american internment camps in WW2). The Vestiture Clause in the U.S. Constitution has been often seen as granting EO power to the President. “… the Vestiture Clause, which states, “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America” (art. II, § 1, cl. 1)”. The problem isn’t the actual EO’s, but that the chasm between the politically parties, which is growing wider by the second, and causes an enormous reaction to EVERYTHING a President does. We disagree without even looking. It happened to Bush and now Obama. Don’t be surprised or whine, if it happens to Romney too. We are digging our own grave.

  38. OBAMA, WHO ALREADY IS QUESTIONABLE IN BEING AN AMERICAN IN THESE UNITED STATES, SEEMS FOCUSED ON BEING THE DICTATOR OF HIS OWN CREATED MUSLIM NATIONS AND BOWING AND BENDING OVER BACKWARDS TO THE WRONG PARTIES. AN INSULT TO AMERICANS BY APOLOGIZING ABOUT US, AND THE WRONG THINGS SAID TO OUR ALLIES. IF YOUR EYES WERE OPEN IT WAS OBVIOUS THAT HE WASN’T A SUPPORTER OF THE TROOPS AND UNDERSTOOD THAT THERE WAS ONLY FORCED RESPECT FOR HIS STATION. AFTER YEARS OF BEING IN THE WHITE HOUSE AND NOW (HOPEFULLY) HIS LAST YEAR TRYING TO MAKE UP FOR HIS SHORT COMINGS AND LOOK INTO SOME THINGS HE SHOULD HAVE DONE PRIOR. WAKE UP AMERICA, LET’S GET OUR NATION BACK.

  39. very well spoken.

    it;s a sad day in our history.

    i would not be surprised to see Obama refuse (or at least attempt to) to step down if defeated in this coming election. he then could scream “Racism” and invoke the EO.

  40. Racial discrimination was “eliminated” by EO? Really? Ask some minorities in federally funded housing if that is so…bet you’ll be surprised! That is, or course, assuming they don’t cap your honkey butt before you can get your question out! LOL!!! Racism runs both ways, my dear friend! It should be obvious to any rational person that the good ‘ole government is incapable of doing anything about racism and hate. Communities either propogate hate, or love….does love abound in your neighborhood? Or, like mine, do you have a neighborhood “Nazi” who chases every person of color through the streets to make sure they aren’t “up to no good”? Is anyone seeing the path out of this mess yet? If not, try inviting a homeless person over for a shower and a meal. What if every person in your town did that for one person, one day a week? The symptoms of homelessness would immediately be abated, and you may just give some of them the hope they need ot find renewed efforts to support thier community, in turn. However, this picture will not be complete until income inequality is fixed, then these people will actually be able to afford a small structure on a bit of land (why does a small house cost over $100,000, and how many of these people can afford that when others are losing thier jobs and homes daily?) so that they can have the secure footing needed to move forward? You say drug and alcohol abuse is the problem? Well, I say: Let’s reappropriate (most of) our prisons to Mental Health Hospitals, let’s train those guards (well, the good ones, anyway) to be counselors and actually fix the problem by offering them (homeless) homes, food, and education instead of locking them up! Whoa! I might be making sense here, so I’ll stop now before someone calls me a communist (which really describes sharing in a society, and is always confused with totalitarianism or facism).

  41. Funny enough… I have given a shower and food to a homeless person at my home, and not just once. I worked at a soup kitchen in San Francisco and knew many of the people that came through there. If there was some help to give, I tried to when I could.

    I didn’t say (or mean) that racism was eliminated by Bush or his programs, but that racial discrimination in the application process was. Everyone has an equal shot at housing. Not only that, but my point was that EO’s aren’t evil, but are policy makers – mostly a way to avoid the senate for the good of all.

    As for the neighborhood nazi thing…. again, funny that you mention that… I live in Berlin, Germany. The city has it’s share of Nazis. One of the biggest tools of the Nazi party (national socialists) during that time was getting neighbors to report each other using fear to encourage the behavior. In the older generation here, it is still prevalent. Not prevalent enough to make one paranoid, but it is there. The interesting thing is that Love abounds here, where I live. I have a black wife and she not only is a cause of suspicion for some, but is herself acutely aware of quirky neighbors. Being German herself, she is also aware how to win people over. I am an Ausländer (outsider; Non-German) and can also feel the heated stares. Still we have won many people over,including the type of neighbor that you mentioned, and enjoy doing what we can to create harmony and yes, Love.

    I agree with you that people need help of all kinds. Where we differ is how. Locking up drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, coffee, etc. is impossible, and yes, I exaggerate, but where would it stop? Do we help everyone to help themselves? Should the government control our access to everything that possibly makes up dependent? No. It isn’t working for drugs. Why should we believe it would work for anything else. Not only that, but when we reappropriate the prisons, what do we do with all the prisoners. You cannot convince me that they can all be rehabilitated with money and a job. And wages will never be equal, but they were never supposed to be. Equal rights doesn’t mean everyone is the same. It means everyone has the same chance. We aren’t there yet, and won’t get there by sticking the same wage in everyone’s bank account and dressing the same. I can’t imagine a worse lifestyle and frankly, history bears out that communism didn’t work. If not the system itself, then the people running it will fail. Idealism doesn’t equal success. Reality has to succeed. We have a fantastic system that is sliding out of control (alot like communism just after it’s heyday), because of corruption and greed. It has become Darwinian in nature – “kill or be killed” “every man for himself”. I find it sad that what religion, morality, and the higher brain all attempt to do, namely lift us up beyond the thought of “self”, can be so easily destroyed by a few. Geese do it better than us. Animals in general do it better than we do.

  43. Obama makes Bush look like Mr. Green Jeans growing tomatoes…forced draft, training a political army of brain washed youth…total unionization of the workforce…subjective control of goods and materials, control of all engery……we become robotic cattle to a European socialist aystem of one world government…George Washington you have my permission to cry…if that is the outcome of planed thought….

  44. The manufacturing of gun powder under this will be revamped to have an exspiration date built into it for nom military applications….with this order the stage is set….one does not have to be intellegent and stupid at the same time….you usually find trees in a forest…..