Some Twitterers are all atwitter, heh, and claiming some breaking news with the claim of Peacetime Martial Law signed by Obama.
BREAKING NEWS: Obama Executive Order: Peacetime Martial Law Signed ow.ly/9IUFA #MT!
— Jonathan Stein (@JonathanStein4) March 18, 2012
Time to step away from the cookie jar folks, very very slowly, take a deep breathe, exhale and look at the order, the history, the situation in the Middle East, etc...
I was doing searches fast and furiously, then checked Memeorandum and lo and behold, one side of the argument is already clearly explained far more eloquently than what I was writing, by Ed Morrissey over at Hot Air, who reminds everyone that the executive order that Barack Obama signed, the National Defense Resources Preparedness, updates "another EO (12919) that had been in place since June 1994, and amended several times since." Morrissey also provides the wording of the original EO and the subsequent updates throughout recent history.
Also found over at Memeorandum is Professor Jacobson's reminder that Obama does enough to earn justified criticism that no one needs to freak out over this just yet:
There is enough that Obama actually does wrong without creating claims which do not hold up to scrutiny.I’m not ruling out the possibility that this is more than it seems, but unless and until someone does more than merely state that martial law is coming, I’ll consider this to be routine.
Another factor in the timing of the EO, the Examiner reminds readers, could be the situation in the Middle East:
The economy of the United States is based on the free flow of resources, energy, and the rights of consumers to buy and sell as they see fit. Any interference in this economic process quickly leads to shortages, rising prices, and civil unrest. The purpose of President Obama signing this new Executive Order is yet unclear, however, it may coincide with information coming out of Israel yesterday that plans for a tactical or strategic strike on Iran are accelerating. Oil prices in Europe rose over $3 a barrel for Brent crude after the Israeli actions, and US oil prices rose $2 for WTI.
The Obama administration appears to be preparing for a long drawn out war in the Middle East, or at the very least, an expected crisis that will require the need to override Constitutional authority and claim dominion over all resources in the United States under the guise of national defense. With the rise in Disaster Preparedness growing for both individuals and states leading up to yesterday's Executive Order, the mood of the nation points strongly towards some event or disaster that will require massive preparations on a national as well as local scale.
Pamela Gellar points to portion, which is worrisome.
I am taking the below quote directly from the wording provided in the EO on the White House website:
Sec. 502. Consultants. The head of each agency otherwise delegated functions under this order is delegated the authority of the President under sections 710(b) and (c) of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2160(b), (c), to employ persons of outstanding experience and ability without compensation and to employ experts, consultants, or organizations. The authority delegated by this section may not be redelegated.
It is anyone's guess as to why Obama did this now, what it means and whether he will abuse the powers inherent in the EO and admittedly Obama has been known to grab power, evidenced in his recess appointments when Congress was not officially in recess, his individual mandate as part of Obamacare which is being challenged as unconstitutional in the Supreme Court as just two examples, but on this issue there is precedent for updating this EO and no evidence of an abuse of this particular power as of yet.
So, calls and headlines blaring martial law has been declared are premature at best.
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