Oklahoma to feds: Don't tread on me

State House defends its sovereignty from D.C. intrusion

June 16, 2008


© 2008 WorldNetDaily

Steamed over a perceived increase in federal usurping of states' rights, Oklahoma's House of Representatives told Washington, D.C., to back off.

Joint House Resolution 1089, passed by an overwhelming 92-3 margin, reasserts Oklahoma's sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and, according to the resolution's own language, is "serving notice to the federal government to cease and desist certain mandates."

The Tenth Amendment states, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people."

Traditionally, this language has meant that the federal government is limited in its scope and cannot usurp the sovereign powers of states. In recent decades, however, as the size and reach of the federal government has expanded, many have come to question whether Washington has stepped on states' rights and gotten too big for its breeches.

Charles Key, the Republican state representative who authored the resolution, told WND that he introduced it because he believes the federal government's overstepping of its bounds has put our constitutional form of government in danger.

"The more we stand by and watch the federal government get involved in areas where it has no legal authority, we kill the Constitution a little at a time," he said. "The last few decades, the Constitution has been hanging by a thread."

Specifically, Resolution 1089 says the following:

"The State of Oklahoma hereby claims sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States."

The resolution resolves that Oklahoma will "serve as notice and demand to the federal government, as our agent, to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers."

It also instructs that "a copy of this resolution be distributed to the president of the United States, the president of the United States Senate, the speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the speaker of the House and the president of the Senate of each state's legislature of the United States of America, and each member of the Oklahoma congressional delegation."

The resolution does not, as some have speculated, amount to secession, but it does send a warning signal to Washington: Oklahoma does not intend to be bullied by big brother government.

The Sooner State became a hotbed of federal vs. state authority clashes earlier this month when a federal judge blocked a portion of Oklahoma's tough immigration laws, ruling that plaintiffs would likely establish that the state mandates preempted federal immigration laws.

Oklahoma's immigration statute, known as the Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007, originated as House Bill 1804 (co-authored, incidentally, by Key). It has been characterized by USA Today as "arguably the nation's toughest state law targeting illegal immigration."

The statute prohibits illegal immigrants from receiving tax-supported services and makes it a state crime to transport or harbor illegal immigrants. It also mandates that businesses take measures to verify the work eligibility of employees and independent contractors.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and individual chambers of commerce in Oklahoma challenged the latter mandates, set to go into effect July 1, in court.

On June 4th, U.S. District Judge Robin J. Cauthron issued an injunction against enforcing the July 1 mandates.

"We've just had a federal judge say that our immigration law's employer provisions are unconstitutional, claiming it as federal government territory," said Key in response. "That goes right to the issue of (Resolution 1089). The federal government doesn't have the right to have sole domain over that issue or many of the issues it has spilled over into."

Though House Joint Resolution 1089 received great support in Oklahoma's House of Representatives, it has now hit a roadblock. In the state's Senate, where the seats are split, 24-24, between Republicans and Democrats, the resolution was sent to the Senate's rules committee, where it languished without action until the legislature adjourned.

According to Key, the Senate has worked out agreements on how to manage the political tie, including power given to the Democratic senators to not hear certain bills. Those senators, says Key, refuse to even hear Resolution 1089.

In the House, where Republicans enjoy a 57-44 majority, Resolution 1089 received a hearing and was supported overwhelmingly on both sides of the aisle.

"I was on the Democratic side of the floor," said Key, "and one member went off talking about how far we've gotten, how bad (federal overreaches of power) are getting – it's the kind of thing you hear in coffee shops."

Key said his bill "is making a difference" in the way legislators in Oklahoma are talking and thinking about state's rights. "I think it will make even more of a difference," he said, "when I bring it up again." He vows to put the pressure on Oklahoma's Senate to pass a resolution like 1089, and he plans to begin communicating the cause with legislators around the country, urging them to bring up the issue in their states.

Key passed a similar resolution in 1994, when he was serving a previous tenure in the legislature. But that attempt was only a House resolution. He authored 1089 as a joint resolution because, he said, he wanted to increase its exposure. "As people who believe in this constitutional form of government," he said, "we need to bring this issue to a national level and debate."

Agent: FBI Can't Protect United States From Terror

Note: The article below really understates the problems...read Triple Cross by Peter Lance. My notes from the book: Book is RE: Ali Mohamed, Ramzi Yousef, others. US knew of 9/11 plot by 1995 via Yousefs laptop captured by phillipines govt. PDB's prior to 9/11 also shows they knew (not exact day). some of perps (the 20 hijackers, and other planners) were in custody multiple times. All released. Mohamed's Commanding Officer at Ft Bragg re: Afghan trip. Release of AliM per hapless FBI agent in CA from Canadian prison. the CA agent was AliM handler and was embrioled in 6 year triple homicide w/ personal links? tie to OKC (terry Nichols-Phill.). tie to TWA 800. 1994 wet test on PAL434. NYC Fire dept accountant secured all blueprints for key NYC buildings including WTC, this was known prior to 9/11. fbi and govt lies to preserve Scarpa investigation and charges against many mafioso. at what point does it cross to criminal negligence or worse? the number of warnings by low and mid level agents numbered hundreds. "wall memo" created after many of these warnings as a convenient hindsight excuse. very key agents, etc. who stopped imp warnings from being heard at imp junctures were promoted with bonus and/or increased salary after 9/11 commission's stonewalling was success. over 1/2 of 9/11 commission from staff of govt agencies being investigated (wolf/hen house). data mine project(Able Danger) prior to 9/11 in 2000 ylds 2.5 TB of data including a link chart with nearly all known conspirators, yet no action even then. on 9/11 there were at least 3 mock war exercises ongoing that day. at least one involved fighters and another involved SATS. including long island planes scrambled instead of OH. Systemic problem to FBI/CIA or worse? admission in private by key FBI figure to author: we are good at criminal, but terrible in defending against terrorism, predictive analysis.



By JUSTIN ROOD and VIC WALTER
May 21, 2008

The FBI is unable to protect the United States from another major attack by al Qaeda or other Middle Eastern extremists, an FBI counterterrorism official says.

FBI whistle-blower Bassem Youssef, right, addresses the American Library Association meeting in Philadelphia on Jan. 12, 2008. Youssef, a decorated FBI supervisor who was born in Egypt and speaks fluent Arabic, said that jealousy, discrimination and flawed directives hinder the agency's attempts to fight terrorism.
One key problem: In the FBI section dedicated to tracking international terrorists like al Qaeda, close to four out of every 10 supervisory positions are vacant, according to prepared testimony from Bassem Youssef, unit chief for the bureau's Communications Analysis Unit.

As a result, the FBI has recruited managers who have "no experience in counterterrorism and who did not even want to work in these positions," Youssef alleges in material prepared in advance of a congressional hearing this afternoon.

An FBI spokesman Wednesday morning declined to answer questions about Youssef's prepared testimony, noting the bureau was preparing a statement to respond to issues expected to be raised at the hearing.

The bureau's well-publicized troubles hiring and promoting talented foreign language speakers has also crippled its counterterrorism efforts, Youssef warned. FBI managers "rely exclusively on translation services" to understand communications from Middle Eastern terrorist operations, and FBI personnel "continue to make major mistakes" because they lack expertise in Arabic, he said.

As one consequence of these shortcomings, the bureau has "irresponsibl[y]" misidentified threats, Youssef said, adding that he was prepared to testify on the topic.

As another, Youssef said, it has come to depend too heavily on technological solutions, including aggressive electronic surveillance, which has "the potential of undermining American civil liberties."

The bureau said in January it had 46 agents and 285 language analysts who speak at least conversational Arabic.

"We have enough language qualified personnel to do our job, but that doesn't mean we don't want more, and we are continuing our recruiting efforts in this area," spokesman Richard Kolko said then.

Youssef, the FBI's highest-ranking Arab-American agent, is suing the bureau for discrimination, claiming he was passed over for promotions despite his successes and awards, including infiltrating a radical Islamic group whose leader masterminded the 1993 World Trace Center bombing. The FBI has denied his allegations.