July 13, 2012

July 13, 2012. Washington. Exactly one week ago, President Obama signed yet another Executive Order, again giving the federal government unlimited imperial power in the case of a national emergency. What is rarely reported is that the US has been under a continuous state of emergency since 2001. So does that mean the American Empire has just taken over the World Wide Web? Unfortunately, thanks to previous Bush and Obama EO’s, it’s against the law to tell you.

Quote of the Decade

Whiteout Press has published the below quote numerous times over the past year. Since it ties into this article and President Obama’s most recent Executive Order, we’ll repeat it once again. From a joint letter sent to Attorney General Eric Holder by US Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and US. Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) on March 15, 2012:

“While the executive branch has worked hard to keep the government’s official interpretation of the Patriot Act secret from the American public it has, to its credit, provided this information in documents submitted to Congress. However, these documents are so highly classified that most members of Congress do not have any staff who are cleared to read them. As a result, we can state with confidence that most of our colleagues in the House and Senate are unfamiliar with these documents, and that many of them would be surprised and angry to learn how the Patriot Act has been interpreted in secret.”

Read the Whiteout Press article, ‘Senators warn Americans about Secret Government Policies’.

More Martial Law Executive Orders

On June 20, Whiteout Press reported on President Obama’s just-signed ‘National Defense Resources Preparedness’ Executive Order. Again, in a state of national emergency, the EO authorizes the White House to take full control of every aspect of both the private and public sectors. From food, to wealth, to forced labor – Americans would be literal slaves to their representatives in Washington.

Read ‘Obama Martial Law EO moves power from FEMA to President’ for details.

Nationalizing the Internet

Dated July 6, 2012, but published without an Executive Order number, President Obama released the EO titled, ‘Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions’.

Read the Executive Order here.

One of the first cries of warning were shouted by Josh Peterson, Tech Editor for The Daily Caller. Peterson describes this latest power-grab by the White House saying, “The executive order, signed on Friday, once again expands the powers of the Department of Homeland Security – this time to include the handling of communications during a national security event or natural disaster.”

The main part of the EO that gives critics reason for concern is the Order’s words, ‘through the use of commercial, government, and privately owned communications resources, when appropriate’. The Order also reorganizes the hierarchy of power over national communications in the event of a national emergency. Among the federal departments and agencies that would fall under the authority of the Dept. of Homeland Security and the Dept. of Defense are; the White House office of Science & Technology Policy, State Department, Commerce Department, Dept. of Justice, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the General Services Administration and the FCC.

Free & Equal speaks out

The next major citizen watchdog to speak out was the organization Free & Equal. Christina Tobin, the group’s founder and Chair, released a statement concerning the President’s just-signed Executive Order. ‘The order gives the executive branch control over the nation’s communications, including the Internet. The vested powers in the bill go beyond that of a terrorist attack or national emergency. The order has been criticized by civil liberties advocates as being an overreach of power’.

Tobin went on to criticize Democrats and Republicans equally. “Democrats and Republicans often argue over minor details while the party leadership themselves have sold out to corporate and special interests,” Tobin said, “Our Constitution never mentions political parties or executive orders and a lack of transparency continues to keep independent ideas from being discussed.”

VVV PR adds their criticism

Only hours after Free & Equal’s public warning, VVV Public Relations joined the fight. They issued a statement that countered the ‘don’t panic’ talking points being circulated by many in national corporate media.

VVV PR began their announcement with the urgent warning, “Last Friday, 6 July 2012, the global fascist elite that controls both of our major political parties and through them our government had their current Imperial White House figurehead issue the following order – raising his cumulative number of dictatorial decrees (that we can know about) to somewhere around 130.”

The ‘black PR’ agency went on to challenge the backers of President Obama and the bipartisan power-grab who published supportive news reports on the most-recent Executive Order. They argue, “One does not need a Harvard Law degree to discern that EPCF Section 5.2 in general and paragraph 5.2(e) in particular is a cart blanche for fascist puppet president Bushbamney and his brown-shirt stooges at DHS to take complete control of the World Wide Web, the Internet, and all of our private telecommunications systems, resources and entities pretty much at will.”

The scathing appeal by VVV PR goes on to quote the Electronic Privacy Information Center which warns, “The Executive Order grants new powers to the Department of Homeland Security, including the ability to collect certain public communications information. Under the Executive Order, the White House has also granted the Department the authority to seize private facilities when necessary, effectively shutting down or limiting civilian communications.”

For more information, visit Free & Equal and VVV PR.

“The news shouldn’t be left wing or right wing, conservative or liberal. It should be the news. It should be independent” – Mark Wachtler, Whiteout Press founder