Educate Congress About Agency Power Abuse

Recently Congress, proving that bipartisanship reigns, at least where the power the the bureaucracy is at stake, has considered a series of bills to increase agency powers both in domestic and in foreign affairs. Often these laws increase criminal penalties, expand civil forfeitures ("Administrative Detention") or even proport to permit "extraordinary" (read: unconstitutional) executive power over individuals. Coupled with an unprecedented tsunami of new government regulations by rogue agencies like the FDA, and White House enabling Executive Orders, Americans find themselves ever more hampered and burdened by governments that cannot deliver what they promise...

Action Item Here.

Examples abound. Here are seven...

[0] ACTA - Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement - "Opponents have argued that the treaty will restrict fundamental civil and digital rights, including the freedom of expression and communication privacy. "The bulk of the WTO's 153 members" have raised concerns that treaty could distort trade and goes beyond the existing Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. Opponents also criticize ACTA's removal of "legal safeguards that protect Internet Service Providers from liability for the actions of their subscribers" in effect giving ISPs no option but to comply with privacy invasions. According to an analysis by the Free Software Foundation, ACTA would require that existing ISPs no longer host free software that can access copyrighted media, and DRM-protected media would not be legally playable with free or open source software."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement

[1] The new FDA "New Dietary Ingredient" guideline is just one example of how government hampers innovation. The separate action item about that issue is here: http://tinyurl.com/FDApowerabuse. FDA policy outlawing raw milk interstate commerce is another example. The separate action item about that issue is here: http://tinyurl.com/rawmilkfreedom.

[2] The failed criminal penalty companion bill to the 2010 Food Control Law has been reintroduced in the current Congress as S.216. The bill has been reworded slightly, but still criminalizes speech involving "food safety" failings that are only after-the-fact ("ex post facto") declared illegal by uncontrolled FDA criminal power.

[3] In foreign affairs, also here in the "homeland", the National Defense Authorization Act (S.1867) would legalize rendition and other mistreatment of "combatants" (very broadly defined!) which had been previously considered war crimes. This bill pretends to exclude US citizens from its purview, but a careful comparison of Section 1031 and Section 1032 shows that it only excludes citizens from being held by the US Military (which would thus prevent Oath Keeper members of the Military from obeying their Constitutional Oath to defend the Constitutional order). It requires the Military to turn-over citizens apprehended "in battle" (very broadly defined!) as provided in the law, which pretends to legalize procedures that violate the Bill of Rights' guarantees in criminal cases. You can read the clauses in question here: http://www.downsizedc.org/blog/the-rushed-detainee-provisions-of-ndaa -- but we caution, they are written to obscure what is being done!

Action Item Here

[4] In addition to the "NDI "Guideline" the FDA also seeks to mandate, per FDA Docket 2011-N-0197 greater power to seize foods through "Administrative Detention" procedures ( http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=FDA-2011-N-0197-0001 ). Under the prior law, to administratively detain food, FDA needed “credible evidence” that a food presents “serious adverse health consequences or death to humans and animals.” The new rule grants the FDA enhanced authority to detain any food or supplement when the agency has “reason to believe” it be “adulterated” or “misbranded.”

Agencies love vague terms like “misbranded” and “adulterated” as a standard!. This sort of bureau-speak gives the FDA discretionary power to use against small food companies and dietary supplements and allows the agency to detain food and supplements for even minor alleged violations. Under this “adulterated” or “misbranded” standard, small farm paperwork mistakes could be used to destroy local food autonomy.

[5] SOPA - the so-called "Stop Online Piracy Act"is, in our view, an outrageous power-grab by bureaucracy. Says the Washington Post:

OPPOSE H.R. 3261 "Stop Online Piracy Act" (SOPA) and S. 968 "Protect IP Act" (PIPA). We strongly oppose giving any govt agency any additional power over our Internet communications. We oppose granting any sort of "immunity" to private companies that choose to cooperate with "homeland security" agencies.

[6] Oppose S.1698 / HR. 3166 - "On the heels of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), otherwise known as the “Indefinite Detention Act,” comes another draconian bill designed to give the federal government the power to turn American citizens into enemies of the state for virtually any reason it deems necessary. Congress is considering HR 3166 and S. 1698 also known as The Enemy Expatriation Act, sponsored by Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Charles Dent (R-PA).  This bill would give the US government the power to strip Americans of their citizenship without being convicted of being ‘hostile’ against the United States." http://thefederalist-gary.blogspot.com/2012/01/look-out-enemy-expatriation-act.html

[7] Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (H.R. 3523) - CISPA - the vague Cybersecurity bill from Congressman Rogers will authorize private companies to ignore privacy rights and interfere with, or censor, expressive association. See more about this bill here: http://breakthematrix.com/internet/worse-sopa-cispa-cybersecurity-bill-censor-internet/#comment-64890  and here: http://www.bangstyle.com/2012/04/cispa-cyber-bill/ -- this bill has 100 members of Congress supporting it!

Action Item Here

[8] White House Exec Order Sets the Stage for Total Govt Control -- read the National Defense Resource Preparedness Order of March 16, 2012 here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/03/16/executive-order-national-defense-resources-preparedness

Subsequent to the March 16th Order, the White House issued additional executive orders in early July 2012, Executive Orders 12472 and 13618 --Assignment of national security and emergency preparedness telecommunications functions appear to be attempts to implement the prior order with reference to telecommunications. See: http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/eo/eo-12472.htm and http://cryptome.org/2012/07/eo13618.htm