What in the world is Alcee thinking?
February 2, 2009
Procrustes
One has to wonder what Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) had in mind when he introduced H.R. 645 in the House of Representatives on January 22, 2009. To date, the bill does not have any co-sponsors.
The bill, the National Emergency Centers Establishment Act, is purposed “To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish national emergency centers on military installations.”
Purpose of National Emergency Centers - The purpose of a national emergency center shall be to use existing infrastructure:
to provide temporary housing, medical, and humanitarian assistance to individuals and families dislocated due to an emergency or major disaster;
to provide centralized locations for the purposes of training and ensuring the coordination of Federal, State, and local first responders;
to provide centralized locations to improve the coordination of preparedness, response, and recovery efforts of government, private, and not-for-profit entities and faith-based organizations; and
to meet other appropriate needs, as determined by the Secretary of Homeland Security.
Note the language. It is a directive. Preference, Hastings stipulated, should be given to closed military installations.
As The Final Hour blog points out:
If Congress passes this bill, the Department of Homeland Security will be REQUIRED to establish national emergency centers (FEMA camps) on closed military bases.
What old military base would Hastings suggest using in his district?
Hastings’ Florida District 23 (left) is located inland, tracking to the west of the Treasure Coast. The only proximate military installation is at Homestead, located in the 18th District, which belongs to Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (D-Fla.). Now the Homestead Air Reserve Base, formerly Homestead Air Force Base, which was almost completely destroyed August 1992 in Hurricane Andrew, it stations the Air Force Reserve Command which is one of ten Major Commands (MAJCOMS) in the U.S. Air Force. A breakdown of available or currently leased surplus federal property at Homestead has not been located although there are a number of articles online discussing disposal.
Again, The Final Hour blog writes:
Please note that the law REQUIRES that at least one of these FEMA camps be established in [six] specific FEMA regions.
Which FEMA region do YOU live in?
If the Secretaries of Homeland Security and Defense jointly determine that there is not a sufficient number of closed military installations that meet the requirements of subsections (b) and (c), the Secretaries shall jointly designate portions of existing military installations other than closed military installations as national emergency centers.
This part of the bill actually requires the use of an active military base for a FEMA camp if there are not enough closed military bases to do the job.
The Final Hour post concludes:
Where do you think the FEMA camp closest to your house will be established?
Are you ready to go to a “national emergency center” when the government declares martial law?
What will your response be if they come to put you on a train that will take you and your family to one of these camps?
But you know what one of the saddest things is?
The machinery of martial law is being put into place, and the American people are hardly uttering a peep in protest.
The breadth of the American people’s ignorance on this subject, including The Final Hour blog, can be demonstrated by the fact there are already a plethora of acts and executive orders to institute and carry out martial law which far exceed this new bill’s purpose.
For example, the subject of American concentration camps is not a new one.
In October 2006, KBR was constructing “a huge facility at an undisclosed location to hold tens of thousands of Bush’s ‘unlawful enemy combatants,’” Marjorie Cohn wrote in AlterNet. “Americans are certain to be among them,” she said.
Additionally, the Military Commissions Act of 2006 — which may or may not be suspended — was passed September 29, 2006. It “provides the basis for the President to round-up both aliens and U.S. citizens he determines have given material support to terrorists,” Cohn wrote.
Marjorie Cohn’s name may be familiar to regular RBO readers. She is the president of the National Lawyers Guild, the group for which unrepentant Communist terrorist Bernardine Dohrn worked in the late 1960s while at the same time she agitated on campuses for anti-war demonstrations.
Prior to that, however, beginning in April 2005, the “aptly-christened” Operation FALCON — the acronym for “Federal and Local Cops Organized Nationally” — was the “massive roundup of 10,000 American citizens” in a “massive clandestine dragnet that involved hundreds of state, federal and local law-enforcement agencies. The brainchild of then Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, it was the largest criminal-sweep in the nation’s history. Only 10% of these individuals have been identified, leaving the fate of the remaining 9,000 unknown — were they processed or released?
There have been a number of these raids, some large and some quite small.
It is obvious that the government’s power already exists to declare martial law, as well as round up and control American citizens for a variety of reasons. This brings us back full circle to Rep. Hastings’ legislation.
Why? What or who is behind it?
Some folks are extremely alarmed about this, as they should be. Turn down the volume a bit to quiet the over-the-top music. But don’t ignore the message.
FEMA CAMPS ARE HERE!! DEFINITIVE PROOF
H.R. 645 The Time Has Come
FEMA takeover it is in the works!!!!
Note: The video for the alleged Beech Grove, Indiana “FEMA camp” cannot be verified. Information suggests that discussion about it has been circulating since the 1990s.
The proof of what The Unpres has at his disposal is already written in the law. This most recent piece of legislation may or may not go anywhere other than to molder on the shelf of one more overtaxed Congressional committee. There are no co-sponsors — yet. This bill has a long way to go.
What the bill does accomplish is to drag these dirty little secrets out into the light — where they belong.
Lastly, as we do not know why Rep. Hastings has submitted this bill, RBO suggests that you contact him here and ask. Please let us know what you find out. Thanks.