Civil liberties.

Aloha All,

 "Per Ted Hong, ALL liberties (and he chose that word deliberately as more technically specific than "freedoms", my initial choice) currently enjoyed are allowed unless specifically prohibited. They do not need to be stipulated." 

From Findlaw:   "Civil liberties" typically include basic rights and freedoms that are guaranteed by law -- either explicitly identified in laws and constitutions, or interpreted through the years by courts and lawmakers.

Our civil liberties derive exclusively from the Bill of Rights (Amendments one through ten) of the Constitution of the United States and, in Hawaii, the state Constitution.  Civil Rights and Civil Liberties are not the same thing.  Neither exists without having been specifically granted or found to be lawful. There was no Civil Rights Act on the books until 1965, before which, the thirteenth and fourteenth Amendments were not enforced in many states - just as the Second Amendment is being ignored now in many states even though it is specifically enumerated in the Constitution.  "They do not need to be stipulated" means, in effect, they do not exist.

Natural rights are completely different than civil rights or civil liberties.  They are essentially philosophical rights which have been argued through the ages to no one's satisfaction.  http://www.answers.com/topic/inalienable-rights

I also wish to address the power of a Mayor in a self-declared emergency.  In 2005 after hurricane Katrina, Mayor Ray Nagin declared Martial law in New Orleans. He unlawfully acted beyond his authority, decreed that civil rights were suspended and preemptively ordered private firearms to be confiscated.  That wasn't resolved until 2008.  http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Read.aspx?id=4205

My point is, that occurred in 2005.  The constitution went right out the window; either because no one knew what it said, or because the people believed that government ruled them rather than served them.   As recently as yesterday Walter told me emphatically that the county mayor could suspend an individual's Constitutional rights in an emergency he declared. 

A local state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend certain normal functions of government, alert citizens to alter their normal behaviors, or order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. That is the extent of a mayor's power.  If the mayor convinces you that he has the power to do something, then he does....because you let him.  So the next time he will do it again....and if you let him develop a precedent by allowing it, the courts will eventually concede him that right. 

In order for civil rights to be affected, the Governor or President must declare Martial Law and be prepared to enforce it.  (Hawaii was held under martial law from December 7, 1941 to October 24, 1944.)

The martial law concept in the U.S. is closely tied with the right of  habeas corpus, which is in essence the right to a hearing on lawful imprisonment, or more broadly, the supervision of law enforcement by the judiciary. The ability to suspend habeas corpus is often equated with martial law. Article 1, Section 9 of the US Constitution states, "The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it."

In US law, martial law is limited by several court decisions that were handed down between the Civil War and WWII. In 1878, Congressss passed the Posse Comitatus Act, which forbids military involvement in domestic law enforcement without congressional approval. On October 1, 2002 the US Northern Command was established ostensibly to provide command and control of Department of Defense homeland defense efforts and to coordinate defense support of civil authorities, but practically, to enable the President to use US troops on US soil against US citizens.  That is exactly the reason private militias have begun to spring up and the citizens are arming themselves.

Norman Olson gave this testimony to the US Senate in 1995:  "Since the Constitution is the limiting document upon the government, the government cannot become greater than the granting power.  that is, the servant cannot become greater than it's master.  Therefore, should the chief executive or the other branch of government or all branches together act to suspend the Constitution under a rule of martial law, all power of the government would be canceled and deferred back to the granting power.  That is the people.  Martial law shall NOT be possible in this country as long as the people recognize the bill of rights as inalienable."

President Bush and his Constitutional lawyers explored every possible avenue of evading his oath and circumventing the Constitution.  He was abetted by a Republican Congress which simply did nothing while Nero fiddled with signing statements which effectively put him above the Constitution.     

a hui hou
T

"The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedients, and by parts... the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." -~Edmund Burke

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