Report: Cartel Infiltration of Mexican Government Widespread

The New American
March 16, 2012

While the presidential candidates of both major American political parties are spending far less time on the troubled relationship between the United States and Mexico in this year’s election cycle than they did in 2008, a report from Proceso magazine indicates that the descent of America’s southern neighbor into utter chaos cannot be ignored forever. The Proceso exposé details the success of the “Los Zetas” cartel in infiltrating various levels of Mexico’s military, law enforcement, and other elements of the nation’s government, and it casts the future of that nation as a struggle between various cartels.

News of the Proceso exposé was offered in translation for an English-speaking audience byBorderlandBeat.com, and the details of the report are, if accurate, a chilling indication of the degree to which “Los Zetas” has infiltrated the various levels of the state in Mexico. In the fifth year of Mexican President Calderon’s "war on drugs," more than 50,000 lives have been lost, yet the government can offer little to demonstrate it is making significant inroads against the cartels. According to the Proceso article:

According to the preliminary investigation ... made just last February 8, soldiers of the Sixth Military Zone killed citizens who were denouncing criminals and their bodies disappeared, in addition they would hide from PGR [the Attorney General's Office], shipments of drugs.

The investigation adds that so did the PF [federal police] agents, who also identified, confronted adversaries of "Los Zetas", they placed checkpoints where they guarded shipments. Also, they implemented the payroll of the Federal Support Forces (FFA) that sends the government temporarily to fight the narco.

Meanwhile, other members of the PGR and AFI, with bribes at all levels, were responsible for fining the members of "Los Zetas" with very weak penalties, freeing those who were detained, and reporting to the Zeta leaders all types of denunciations, including anonymous complaints.

As reported by The New American in April 2011, even the Calderon government admits that any victory over the cartels is many years in the future. At that time, Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna praised the “substantial” progress that had been made in the war against the cartels since December 2006, but he also admitted, “In about seven years we will begin a downward trend in violence.” In a world in which relatively simple matters such as fuel prices and weather trends are hard to forecast even a few days out with any accuracy, the Secretary’s profound powers of prognostication regarding events near the end of this decade strained credulity at the time. Since that time, the Mexican government has witnessed the arrest of an entire police department — the 32 officers and commanders of the department in the municipality of Ahome — for their connection to the cartels. Now, however, the Proceso exposé would appear to indicate that the alleged corruption in Ahome was far from an isolated circumstance. According to the article, knowledge of the cartel-associated corruption reaches to the highest levels of the Calderon government:

In Coahuila, Lieutenant Colonel Manuel de Jesús Cicero Salazar, who served as head of the Operational State Police and protected "Los Zetas" was recommended by the Secretary of Defense, Guillermo Galván Galván.

The Corruption in the States Attorney General (FGE), which accounts for the previous Attorney General's Office and the Ministry of Public Security Coahuila was known for years by Felipe Calderon, whose government did not act until the second half of February.

The morning of the 15th of that month, on the premises of the FGE feds arrested the commander ministerial Sergio Tobias Salas Tobogán, and the state police Julio César Ruiz Esquivel, "Chicho", who were also responsible for executions and disappearing people.

Hours later, Claudia González López, the sub-delegate of the PGR fell in Saltillo, and was taken to Mexico City. All three, like Cicero, are accused of collaborating with "Los Zetas" and Thursday, [February] 23 were issued formal arrests.

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DHS and ICE Order 450 Million Rounds of .40 Caliber Ammo

PRNewswire
March 15, 2012

ANOKA, Minn., March 12, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — ATK ATK -0.01% announced that it is being awarded an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) agreement from the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (DHS, ICE) for .40 caliber ammunition. This contract features a base of 12 months, includes four option years, and will have a maximum volume of 450 million rounds.

ATK was the incumbent and won the contract with its HST bullet, which has proven itself in the field. The special hollow point effectively passes through a variety of barriers and holds its jacket in the toughest conditions. HST is engineered for 100-percent weight retention, limits collateral damage, and avoids over-penetration.

“We are proud to extend our track record as the prime supplier of .40 caliber duty ammunition for DHS, ICE,” said Ron Johnson, President of ATK’s Security and Sporting group. “The HST is a proven design that will continue to serve those who keep our borders safe.”

ATK will produce the ammunition at the Federal Cartridge Company facility in Anoka, Minn. Deliveries are expected to begin in June.

ATK is an aerospace, defense, and commercial products company with operations in 22 states, Puerto Rico, and internationally. News and information can be found on the Internet at www.atk.com .

Certain information discussed in this press release constitutes forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Although ATK believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that its expectations will be achieved. Forward-looking information is subject to certain risks, trends, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Among those factors are: changes in governmental spending, budgetary policies and product sourcing strategies; the company’s competitive environment; the terms and timing of awards and contracts; economic conditions; the supply, availability and costs of raw materials and components; or reliance on a key supplier. ATK undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. For further information on factors that could impact ATK, and statements contained herein, please refer to ATK’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and its subsequent quarterly report on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K filed with the SEC.

CBO says Obama's latest budget would add $3.5 trillion in deficits through 2022

The Hill
March 16, 2012

President Obama’s 2013 budget would add $3.5 trillion to annual deficits through 2022, according to a new estimate from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

It also would raise the deficit next year by $365 billion, according to the nonpartisan office.

The CBO estimate is in sharp contrast to White House claims last month that the Obama budget would reduce deficits by $3.2 trillion over the next decade.


The differences between the estimates from CBO and the White House budget office are attributable to different baselines and economic assumptions, and a big reason CBO expects the deficit to spike sharply under Obama's budget is that CBO's baseline assumes all the Bush-era tax rates will expire at the end of 2012. 

Obama wants to continue the middle-class tax cuts, something reflected in his budget. 

CBO also compares Obama's budget to a different baseline in which the budget office assumes Congress and the administration decides to avoid big tax increases and deep spending cuts, something both branches have repeatedly done in the past. 

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CIA Head: We Will Spy On Americans Through Electrical Appliances

Global information surveillance grid being constructed; willing Americans embrace gadgets used to spy on them

Steve Watson
Infowars.com
March 16, 2012

CIA director David Petraeus has said that the rise of new “smart” gadgets means that Americans are effectively bugging their own homes, saving US spy agencies a job when it identifies any “persons of interest”.

Speaking at a summit for In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s technology investment operation, Petraeus made the comments when discussing new technologies which aim to add processors and web connections to previously ‘dumb’ home appliances such as fridges, ovens and lighting systems.

Wired reports the details via its Danger Room Blog:

“‘Transformational’ is an overused word, but I do believe it properly applies to these technologies,” Petraeus enthused, “particularly to their effect on clandestine tradecraft.”

“Items of interest will be located, identified, monitored, and remotely controlled through technologies such as radio-frequency identification, sensor networks, tiny embedded servers, and energy harvesters — all connected to the next-generation internet using abundant, low-cost, and high-power computing,” Petraeus said.

“the latter now going to cloud computing, in many areas greater and greater supercomputing, and, ultimately, heading to quantum computing.” the CIA head added.

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Neotame: 13,000 Times Sweeter Than Sugar And More Toxic Than Aspartame

Marco Torres
Disease Prevention
March 16, 2012

In the event that the public becomes too informed and savvy about toxic additives in our food supply, what’s a multi-billion dollar industry to do? The first step is to create another more toxic version of the additive. The second step is to collude with regulatory authorities such as the FDA to convince the public that the new, more toxic additive is safe. The third and final step is to prevent the toxic additive from being listed on any ingredient labels. From the folks that brought us Aspartame, meet Neotame, a deadly sweetener that you’ll never see on a label because…well that’s just the way the FDA wants it.

Neotame is officially marketed as an inexpensive artificial sweetener made by NutraSweet, which is a former division of Monsanto and original manufacturer of aspartame.

Eighty percent of all Food and Drug Administration (FDA) complaints pertain to aspartame’s adverse reactions. These reports include: grand mal seizures, brain tumors, blindness and other health-related problems, including deaths. Monsanto’s Nick Rosa stated in 1998, that Neotame is “based on the aspartame formula.”

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Netanyahu says Israel won’t need U.S. OK to hit Iran

Washington Times
March 16, 2012

JERUSALEM — Israeli aircraft and Gaza rocket squads traded strikes across the border on Thursday as the Israeli prime minister blamed Iranfor the violence from the Palestinian territory.

Benjamin Netanyahu, going a step further in his warnings to Iran, hinted that Israel didn’t need Washington’s blessing to go ahead and attackIran’s suspect nuclear program.

Thursday’s cross-border violence tested a shaky truce Israel and Gaza militants reached this week to halt a four-day flare-up in fighting. Since then, sporadic rocket fire and Israeli airstrikes have persisted.

Israeli aircraft struck two militant sites in Gaza before dawn Thursday in response to rocket fire a day earlier. Gaza gunmen retaliated by launching two rockets at Israel by midday, police said.

No injuries were reported on either side.

In a speech to parliament on Wednesday, Mr. Netanyahu accused Iranof arming, financing and training Gaza militants, and giving them their marching orders. “Gaza is Iran,” he declared.

Israel considers Iran to be its most fearsome enemy, in large part because it is convinced Tehran is developing atomic weapons technology, despite its claims its nuclear program is peaceful.

In the U.S. last week, where he met with President Obama, Mr. Netanyahu was markedly more vocal about Israel’s willingness to attackIran’s program, alone if necessary, though he said no decision had been made on whether to strike.

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Consumer Prices in U.S. Rose in February as Gasoline Jumped

Bloomberg
March 16, 2012


The cost of living in the U.S. rose in February by the most in 10 months, reflecting a jump in gasoline that failed to spread to other goods and services. Read more

Vets angry over American flag featuring Obama

wftv.com
March 14, 2012


Editor's Note: I am one of those veterans as well!!!

LAKE COUNTY, Fla. —

Tempers are flaring over a version of the American flag flying in Lake County. A veterans group says the flag is an outrage.

The flag, which features a picture of President Obama, was taken down Tuesday afternoon.

Korean war veteran Don Van Beck said his blood was boiling.

"I can't describe how upset was because you just don't do that to the American flag," Van Beck said.

Van Beck found it flying outside Lake County Democratic headquarters under the stars and stripes. Marine Corps vet John Masterjohn was seeing red.

"Joseph Stalin, pictures of Mao, pictures of Adolph Hitler. The pomp, the ceremony -- the flags like that," Masterjohn said.

Nearly a dozen veterans went to the door and aimed to take it down.

"No. This is private property. This is private property. You're not allowed to touch anything. I'll call the police," Democratic Party chairwoman Nancy Hulbert said. "Just went online. Just went online and looked up the flag code. There is no higher-up in Lake County. I'm responsible. I take responsibility."

"If you've been a veteran and fought -- a

nd some died for this flag -- you don't want to see it desecrated. That's how simple it is," Van Beck said.

 )

A group of veterans went to the Democratic headquarters in Lake County to demand the flag be removed. (03/13/12)

Soldiers asked to disarm during Leon Panetta speech

A large security detail surrounds Leon Panetta during his visit to Afghanistan. Nato's forces have been seeking to step up the vetting of the thousands of Afghans who work on military bases Photo: GETTY 

Telegraph
March 14, 2012

Less than a week after a US staff sergeant allegedly massacred 16 civilians in Kandahar, American soldiers were banned from bringing guns into a talk by Mr Panetta at a base in Helmand province.

Around 200 troops who had gathered in a tent at Camp Leatherneck were told "something had come to light" and asked abruptly to file outside and lay down their automatic rifles and 9mm pistols.

"Somebody got itchy, that's all I've got to say. Somebody got itchy – we just adjust," said the sergeant who was told to clear the hall of weapons.

Major General Mark Gurganus later said he gave the order because Afghan troops attending the talk were unarmed and he wanted the policy to be consistent for all.

"You've got one of the most important people in the world in the room," he told the New York Times, insisting that the decision was unrelated to Sunday's killings. "This is not a big deal."

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Australian ‘special forces gathering intelligence in Africa’

The Telegraph
March 14, 2012

The Sydney Morning Herald said 4 Squadron of the elite Special Air Service (SAS) had mounted dozens of clandestine operations in places such as Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Kenya in a role normally carried out by spies.

Citing a government source, it said the missions by the previously unknown squadron were believed to involve terrorism intelligence gathering amid concerns about the threat posed by the Islamist al-Shebab militia.

They are also aimed at developing rescue strategies for evacuating trapped Australian civilians while assessing African border controls and exploring landing sites for possible military interventions.

Read more

Ocean County, New Jersey, Blasts UN Agenda 21 in Resolution

The New American

March 14, 2012

In yet another victory for liberty-minded activists, local lawmakers in Ocean County, New Jersey, approved a stinging resolution last month blasting the United Nations’ highly controversial Agenda 21, a radical plan to foist so-called “sustainable development” on Americans by stealth.

Communities across America are fighting back against the international program and its tentacles in ever-increasing numbers. And in January, even the Republican National Committee adopted a resolution strongly condemning Agenda 21 and vowing to fight it. 

Similarly, the Ocean County legislators — known in New Jersey as the “Board of Chosen Freeholders” — recognized that the nature of the UN plan is “destructive and insidious,” using much of the language from the RNC statement. The county resolution also noted that approval or implementation of Agenda 21 “would ultimately destroy the sovereignty of the United States of America.”

“This United Nations Agenda 21 plan of radical so-called 'sustainable development' views the American way of life of private property ownership, single family homes, private car ownership and individual travel choices, and privately owned farms; all as destructive to the environment," the resolution states, echoing the RNC measure.

And it is insidious in several ways, county officials said in the document. “According to Agenda 21 policy, social justice is described as the right and opportunity of all people to benefit equally from the resources afforded us by society and the environment which would be accomplished by socialist/communist redistribution of wealth,” the resolution explains.

As such, local officials in Ocean County voted to urge the U.S. Senate — which must ratify all international treaties — to abandon any potential consideration of the UN Agenda 21 scheme. While noting that no level of government in the U.S. was legally bound by the treaty because it had not been ratified, the resolution also urged officials across the nation to be well informed about its harmful implications.

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CBO: Obamacare to cost $1.76 trillion over 10 yrs

Washington Examiner

March 14, 2012

President Obama's national health care law will cost $1.76 trillion over a decade, according to a new projection released today by the Congressional Budget Office, rather than the $940 billion forecast when it was signed into law.

Democrats employed many accounting tricks when they were pushing through the national health care legislation, the most egregious of which was to delay full implementation of the law until 2014, so it would appear cheaper under the CBO's standard ten-year budget window and, at least on paper, meet Obama's pledge that the legislation would cost "around $900 billion over 10 years." When the final CBO score came out before passage, critics noted that the true 10 year cost would be far higher than advertised once projections accounted for full implementation.

Today, the CBO released new projections from 2013 extending through 2022, and the results are as critics expected: the ten-year cost of the law's core provisions to expand health insurance coverage has now ballooned to $1.76 trillion. That's because we now have estimates for Obamacare's first nine years of full implementation, rather than the mere six when it was signed into law. Only next year will we get a true ten-year cost estimate, if the law isn't overturned by the Supreme Court or repealed by then. Given that in 2022, the last year available, the gross cost of the coverage expansions are $265 billion, we're likely looking at about $2 trillion over the first decade, or more than double what Obama advertised.

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AFRICA: The Legacy of Cecil Rhodes’ Anglo-American Empire

Dan Gordon
Global Research
March 13, 2012

“Click this Button or African children will die”: How the “Kony 2012” video drafted a Facebook army to support the militarization of Africa

In 1877 the British Empire was at the height of its glory, the Spanish Empire would soon collapse, and a young Oxford student named Cecil Rhodes was gripped by a sudden religious vision. Rhodes scrawled out a manifesto. In it, he called for an “Anglo-American Empire” that would begin in the heart of Africa and spread out to conquer the known world.

“Africa is still lying ready for us,” he wrote. “It is our duty to take it. It is our duty to seize every opportunity of acquiring more territory and we should keep this one idea steadily before our eyes-that more territory simply means more of the Anglo-Saxon race; more of the best, the most human, most honorable race the world possesses.”

Rhodes went on to found the DeBeers diamond cartel and devote his company’s vast wealth to the colonial project in Africa. He couldn’t have known that, just over a century later, a new invention called the Internet would be tweaking his message, smoothing out his more inflammatory language, and sending his ideas around the globe through YouTube and Facebook. Nor would he ever had imagined that the first black president of the United States would be the one to carry his vision to its ultimate conclusion, under the guise of “humanitarian intervention.”

Fast-forward to March of 2012, when the non-profit “TRI” launched an online video called “Kony 2012.” Filled with lightning cuts, footage of battle-scarred African children, and tearful appeals to emotion, the movie rallies its viewers around a single goal: stopping the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and its leader Joseph Kony. With the help of the U.S. military, of course. And Oprah Winfrey.

At first glance, that’s not such a bad idea. After all, the Lord’s Resistance Army has kidnapped perhaps thousands of Ugandan children and forced them into their militia in their bid to topple the Ugandan government. The fact that the movie ignores, however, is that Uganda’s government, and its U.S.-backed leader, Yoweri Museveni, doesn’t appear to have a much better record when it comes to human rights.

After all, Museveni was recruiting child soldiers to serve in the Ugandan military before the LRA unleashed its guerrilla war against the government. His success is probably what inspired Koney to take up the same tactics. So why does “Kony 2012” try to pin the blame squarely on the LRA for a war in neither side seems to be a friend of the Ugandan people?

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Businessman asked to remove American flag

SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS!!!
Mark Matheny
March 14, 2012


Tom Geiryic, a small business owner in Georgia, has flown a U.S. flag in front of his place of business and in the same spot for around 30 years. He is now being told that it is a code violation and must be removed.

The city is claiming (after 30 years mind you) that the flag is in violation because it is positioned in the right of way, along the roadside.

Tom stated that the flag is on his private property, and that he has a problem with the government telling him where he can fly a U.S. flag on his own privately owned property.

No fine has been posed as of yet, but a warning has been issued stating that the flag must be removed from the right of way. Future violations could possibly result in a thousand dollar fine per day, and 60 days in jail per each day that the flag remains.

For now, Tom stated that he will not move the flag, but instead stick with his ground and feels he should not move the flag simply because it poses no threat to the community.

Encyclopaedia Britannica to end print editions

Editor's Note: With a paper book you don't need a power source or computer to read it. It is probably a good idea to secure a set in book form before they are gone. Older editions will have less redaction.


Fox News
March 14, 2012

CHICAGO –  Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc. said Tuesday that it will stop publishing print editions of its flagship encyclopedia for the first time since the sets were originally published more than 200 years ago.

The book-form of Encyclopaedia Britannica has been in print since it was first published in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1768. It will stop being available when the current stock runs out, the company said. The Chicago-based company will continue to offer digital versions of the encyclopedia.

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Why Are Millions Of Americans Preparing For Doomsday?

The Economic Collapse
Wednesday, March 14, 2012

All over America, there are millions of Americans that are quietly preparing for doomsday.  They are turning spare rooms into long-term food storage pantries, they are planting survival gardens, they are converting their homes over to alternative sources of energy, they are taking self-defense courses and they are stocking up on just about anything you can imagine.

They are called “preppers”, and their numbers have absolutely exploded in recent years.  In fact, you might be living next door to one and never even realize it.  According to a recent Daily Mail article, there are approximately 3 million preppers in the United States today.  Others believe that the true number is significantly higher than that.  This movement has become so popular that there are now even television shows being done about preppers.  The most popular is probably “Doomsday Preppers” on the National Geographic Channel.  This movement is still growing and is not going to go away any time soon.  In fact, as the world continues to become even more unstable it is likely that a lot more Americans will find themselves becoming preppers in the years ahead.

So what exactly are all these people so concerned about?  Exactly why are there millions of Americans that are feverishly preparing for doomsday?

Well, the truth is that you will never find two preppers that are exactly alike.  Some are deeply concerned about the potential for natural disasters and believe that we are now entering into a time when there will be catastrophic earth changes.  Other preppers believe that terrorism is the most significant threat to our way of life.  Killer pandemics, an EMP attack, World War III, martial law, solar megastorms, asteroid strikes and societal chaos are some of the other things that some preppers are worried about.

Of course an economic collapse is one of the biggest concerns for preppers, and without a doubt the U.S. economy is deeply troubled.  A collapse of the financial system would change all of our lives permanently.

But it isn’t just preppers that are concerned about these things.

A recent survey conducted by National Geographic asked Americans the following question….

“Which of the following, if any, do you think might happen in the United States in the next 25 years? Please choose all that apply.”

These were the results….

Significant Earthquake 64%
Significant Hurricane 63%
Terrorist Attack 55%
Financial Collapse 51%
Significant Blackout 37%
Pandemic, Such as From a Super-Virus 29%
Nuclear Fallout 14%
None of These 13%

Obviously there are a whole lot of people out there that feel as though we are heading for some really bad stuff.

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Maine Election Fraud and the Effort to Silence Ron Paul

Daily Paul
March 13, 2012


Editor's Note: This is a travesty of justice.... we have no real vote in America. Looks Like the 
New World Order is here already.

http://www.youtube.com/wa...

A Big eye opener for America!!

This Is The Fed's Worst-Case Doom Scenario For The US Economy

BusinessInsider
March 13, 2012


The Fed just announced that the latest round of bank stress tests will come out Thursday at 4:30 PM ET.

As a reminder, this is the doom scenario banks will be stress tested against:

The supervisory stress scenario for CCAR 2012, which was designed in November 2011, depicts a severe recession in the United States, including a peak unemployment rate of 13 percent, a 50 percent drop in equity prices, and a 21 percent decline in housing prices. The supervisory stress scenario is not the Federal Reserve's forecast for the economy, but was designed to represent an outcome that, while unlikely, may occur if the U.S economy were to experience a deep recession at the same time that economic activity in other major economies contracted significantly.

More from the Fed announcement:

The Federal Reserve evaluates institutions' capital plans across a range of criteria, including a stress test that examines whether a firm could make all the capital distributions included in its plan--such as dividends and stock repurchases--while still maintaining capital above the Federal Reserve's standards in a hypothetical supervisory stress scenario. Other considerations for capital distributions include an evaluation of the firms' capital planning processes and plans to meet international capital agreements as new requirements are phased in beginning in 2013. The stress-test results, including projected capital ratios, revenues, and losses in the supervisory stress scenario, will be disclosed for the 19 large bank holding companies that participated.

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An Administration Gone Rogue

Ron PaulInfowars.com
Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Have certain parts of the Constitution become irrelevant, as a former Republican leader once told me at a Foreign Affairs Committee hearing? At the time, I was told that demanding a Congressional declaration of war before invading Iraq, as Article I Section 8 of the Constitution requires, was unnecessary and anachronistic. Congress and the president then proceeded without a Constitutional declaration and the disastrous Iraq invasion was the result.

Last week, Obama administration officials made it clear that even the fig leaf of Congressional participation provided by the 2003 “authorization” to use force in Iraq was to be ignored as well.  In a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta stated clearly and repeatedly that the administration felt it was legally justified to use military force against Syria solely with “international permission”. Such “international permission” could come by way of the United Nations, NATO, or some other international body. Secretary Panetta then told Senator Sessions that depending on the situation, the administration would consider informing Congress of its decision and might even seek authorization after the fact.

While Senator Sessions expressed surprise at the casual audacity of Panetta in making this statement, in reality his was just a bluntly stated explanation of what has been, de facto, the case for many years. When President Obama committed the US military to a pre-emptive war against Libya last year, for example, Congress was kept completely out of the process. Likewise, military action in Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, and so on, proceed without a Congressional declaration. In fact, we haven’t had a proper, constitutional declaration of war since 1942, yet the US military has been engaged in Korea, Lebanon, Iraq, Bosnia, Liberia, Haiti, and Libya with only UN resolutions as the authority. Congress’s only role has been authorizing funds, which it always does without question, because one must “support the troops”.

Of course we should reserve our harshest criticism for Congress rather than the Administration. If the people’s branch of government abrogates its Constitutional authority to the Executive branch, who is to blame? Who is to blame that Congress as a body will not stand up and demand that the president treat the Constitution as more than an anachronistic piece of paper, or merely a set of aspirations and guidelines? The Constitution is the law of the land and for Congress to allow it to be flouted speaks as badly about Congress as it does about a president who seeks to do the flouting.

Just last week the administration announced that it would begin providing material support to the rebels who seek to overthrow the Syrian government. Was Congress involved in this decision to take sides in what may develop into a full-fledged civil war? And what of reports that US special forces may already be operating inside Syria? Still, Congress sits silently as its authority is undermined. Does anybody really wonder why approval numbers for Congress are so low?

Many of my colleagues who stood by as then-President Bush used the military as a kind of king’s army are now calling for Congress to act against this president for openly admitting that is his intent. I agree it is time for Congressional action in response to these attacks on our Constitution, but the solution is simple and Constitutional. The solution is simply voting to withhold funds, since Congress has the power of the purse. No money for undeclared wars!