U.S. To Hand Sovereignty Over To U.N.

I sat here for a long time this morning trying to decide what I was going to say about the International Criminal Court treaty (ICCt). Reading about it and researching has made it even more clear to me how utterly WRONG this treaty is. I looked back to why we originally pulled out of the treaty in 2002 and I have to say that I’m glad that the administration at the time had the wherewithal to see how bad this treaty really was and still is. Now, Hillary Clinton is negotiating our return to the ICCt. Here is the list of reasons why we originally pulled out of the treaty:

“Here’s what America believes in:

We believe in justice and the promotion of the rule of law.

We believe those who commit the most serious crimes of concern to the international community should be punished.

We believe that states, not international institutions are primarily responsible for ensuring justice in the international system.

We believe that the best way to combat these serious offenses is to build domestic judicial systems, strengthen political will and promote human freedom.

We have concluded that the International Criminal Court does not advance these principles. Here is why:

We believe the ICC undermines the role of the United Nations Security Council in maintaining international peace and security.

We believe in checks and balances. The Rome Statute creates a prosecutorial system that is an unchecked power.

We believe that in order to be bound by a treaty, a state must be party to that treaty. The ICC asserts jurisdiction over citizens of states that have not ratified the treaty. This threatens US sovereignty.

We believe that the ICC is built on a flawed foundation. These flaws leave it open for exploitation and politically motivated prosecutions.” –Marc Grossman, Under Secretary for Political Affairs
Remarks to the Center for Strategic and International Studies
Washington, DC
May 6, 2002

In no way should the United States EVER turn over it’s power to ANY international body. Rejoining this treaty would not only allow Americans to be prosecuted in this international court despite their constitutional rights or whether they had already been tried, but it would also keep the United States from being able to declare war without the U.N.’s approval! That in and of itself is handing over our Sovereignty, or basically dissolving it. If you value your rights and the ability to defend ourselves at will, then I encourage you to call your Congress members and your Senators and demand that they not ratify this treaty as it would usurp the powers of Congress and dissolve the sovereignty of our nation.
To see more on our withdrawal from the ICCt in May of 2002, go here: US Withdrawal From ICC As of 2010, the U.S. has been sitting in on the ICC as an interested party. Many believe that we should join again now that the Bush administrations is over, but I don’t believe they are looking at the fact that it violates the constitution. As much as I know that Bush did many things wrong, in this one decision, he was right to withdraw. He made at least ONE good decision and actually protected our constitution. Do I think there may have been ulterior motives for that…more than likely, but the end result is the same. We CANNOT ratify a treaty that violates our constitution!

It is very important to know about this treaty and there are several others, as well. For those of you that are not familiar with how a treaty works, it is signed by our President, then sent to the senate to be looked over. Here they will exercise the power of advice and consent. They must have a 2/3rds vote in favor of the treaty to ratify it. Once it is ratified, it is the same as constitutional law…except in this case, we will not have a way to fight it. The only way to combat this is RIGHT NOW by calling your congress member and senators and telling them you will absolutely not stand for dissolution of U.S. sovereignty.

Some other treaties that you need to be aware of are L.O.S.T, Small-Arms control, Outer Space Code of Conduct, and Rights of the Child. Each of these treaties whittles away at our nation’s sovereignty or usurps it altogether. Please make yourself aware of what is in each these treaties. For a brief overview, check out Dick Morris’s site: Obama’s Sneaky Treaties All Americans Should Know About

Please don’t sit back and allow these treaties to be ratified! CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN AND SENATORS NOW!

SOPA & PIPA Dead…Or Are They?

A loud cheer arose from the internet community when news broke that SOPA and PIPA had been shelved.  No sooner than that cheer arose, TX-21 Rep Lamar Smith was at it again with a new bill.  That’s right, we’re looking at a new bill on internet censorship.  There is also a treaty that has been signed by several countries, including the United States that allows for internet censorship and continual monitoring of your personal activities.  These pieces of legislation are the ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) and PCIPA (Protect Children from Internet Pornography Act) also known as H.R. 1981.  As with all bills, the titles sound harmless enough, but the devil is in the details.  So, let’s dive in and see what our government is REALLY up to.

ACTA-   This treaty (yes, you read that right) is an agreement between the Australia, Canada, the European Union (EU), represented by the European Commission and the EU Presidency and the EU Member States, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States of America.  This agreement is supposedly to protect intellectual property rights.  Although that sounds good, there are issues with the actual details in the treaty.  Here is a little video to better help you understand what this treaty would mean for all people involved.

Now that you’ve had a minor run through of the ACTA treaty, here is the actual text to read.  If you are like me, you want to know EXACTLY what this piece of legislation says so you can better combat its existence.   It’s 25 pages long and may be a difficult read if you aren’t used to legalese.

This treaty is a big deal.  All of the monitoring it takes to bring this agreement into fruition is a direct violation of our 4th amendment.  This is allowing them to constantly search our homes, computer, etc. without a warrant.  I don’t know about you, but I’m not willing to give up my right to privacy in my own home just so Hollywood’s elite can save a few bucks from people pirating their stuff.  Do I think the piracy is wrong…yes.  This, however, is NOT the way to go about fighting that.  You cannot give up your rights just so a few can have security.  It won’t work.  There needs to be mass opposition to the signing of this treaty!  The treaty was signed in May 2011, but is open until May 2013.  Anyone may withdraw from this treaty with written notice to the WTO (World Trade Organization).  Within 180 days of receipt of that written notice the participation of the country wishing to withdraw will be withdrawn.  We need to be calling the USTR (United States Trade Representative) and telling them that we DO NOT want to participate in this treaty as it is unconstitutional.  You can contact the USTR here under Intellectual Property & Innovation.  I hope that everyone that reads this will do just that!  Lets fight to keep our 1st and 4th amendments intact!!

PCIPA (H.R. 1981)-  Who would dare to go against something that will protect our children from pornography?  That’s just what TX-21 Rep Lamar Smith is counting on people saying.  If it protects the children it MUST be good, right?  Not always.  I DO NOT condone child pornography in ANY CONTEXT.  I believe it is up to the parents, though to monitor their child’s internet activity.  I think parents should sit with their children while they are on the internet just to keep them from falling into the pitfalls that run so rampant on the internet, but most are too involved in their own things to take time out of their busy schedules to properly police their child’s internet browsing.  This, however, does NOT give the government the right to pass bills that infringe upon our rights.  This bill, once again, just like SOPA and PIPA allows for the government to have the ability to monitor our usage of the internet without a warrant.  Again, I am not for giving up ANY of my rights to feel a little more secure because it DOESN’T work!  We have to take responsibility for our own actions and our family’s actions.  We DO NOT need government to tell us what we can and cannot do in our own homes or to monitor us so we don’t “step out of line”.  That is not their job.  It clearly states in the 4th amendment that the government may only search our property if they have a warrant to do so.  This warrant doesn’t give them a blanket approval so they can come in at any time off one warrant.  Each instance requires a new warrant.  This bill provides for ALL ISPs (internet service providers) to keep records of all usage by their customers for up to 18 months and to provide this freely to the government.  The government HAS TO, by law, get a warrant for that kind of information.  PERIOD.  For this purpose, alone, I disagree with this bill.  It is unconstitutional.  Here is the text of the PCIPA and the text of Title 18 that it is amending.  Again, I ask that everyone that reads this article should contact their Senators and Congress members and ask that this bill be stopped or amended so that it does not infringe upon our 4th amendment right.  We must be vigilant in watching over our rights as the government is so apt to step on them at every turn.  Here is a link to the petition to stop the PCIPA.  Please sign and share the petition with others!

I ask that everyone reading this, please, do your own research and confirm the things that I have found to be true for myself.  If you find something that I have missed, please feel free to let me know and I will immediately look into what you have found.  Again, I repeat, that I am not advocating child internet pornography or any aspect of that.  I AM, however, advocating the upholding of our 1st and 4th amendment rights as well as all rights granted to us by our Creator and guaranteed us in the Constitution.  Go research, fight the good fight, and most of all stay true to our Constitution!  Together, our voices can be heard as witnessed in the fight against SOPA & PIPA.  Lets get the word out and stop these as well!

28% of Americans Have Read the Entire U.S. Constitution?!?

I encourage all my readers to go read this article.  I also encourage you ALL to take the challenge presented.

 

28% of Americans Have Read the Entire U.S. Constitution?!?.