The post of yesterday, concerning the application of the War Powers Joint Resolution to US involvement in the Libyan civil war was wiped out by "maintenance issues" at Google {"War Powers Resolution"}. As most of US Person's readers already know our First Amendment liberties are in the process of being curtailed as the security apparatus struggles to find ways to impose censorship on the only relatively uncensored medium of communication in existence: the Internet. Rather than increase government transparency the current administration is making efforts in court to further restrict the release of information from the government. For example, in the trial of Thomas A. Drake, a security executive accused of leaking documents to the press, Obama & Folks, Inc. has filed a brief with the court saying it has the right to censor even unclassified government information, a position totally unprecedented. It argues that both the Classified Information Procedures Act and the National Security Agency Act of 1959 allow courts to redact unclassified information in the context of a criminal case. You do not have to be a "pinko terrorist symph" to be concerned, even frightened, by the federal government's increasing tendencies toward secrecy, domestic espionage, curtailment of civil liberties, and even assassination* as a legitimate tool of national policy. Apologies to readers of this humble blog for the "technical difficulties".
*an American citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki is a radical Muslim cleric believed to be in Yemen. He was added to the CIA's 'kill list'. The Pentagon confirmed it attempted to kill him with a drone attack on May 5th. The previous policy of no political assassinations instituted by President Gerald Ford in Executive Order 11905 is now a dead letter. There has not been such a concerted effort to kill enemy leadership cadre since the infamous "Phoenix Program" of the Vietnam War. The Executive Order 11905 issued by Ford was in part a reaction to the revelation of CIA programs to terminate leftist foreign political leaders with "extreme prejudice" Thanks for the smear Alex!