Rewrite the Constitution? Here's how a convention could do it

Washington (CNN)The increasing dominance of Republicans inside statehouses across the nation has spurred talk that a constitutional convention -- the very meeting that crafted the US Constitution -- could be more than just a Hail Mary thrown to conservatives.

Conservative groups and Republican lawmakers have been planning for the possibility for years, although it picked up steam three years ago after a group of state lawmakers met at George Washington's Mount Vernon estate, just outside Washington.

The issue found a bit of light in the Republican primaries, after Sen. Marco Rubio said he would support a convention and has even won the support of some liberals, like Harvard professor Lawrence Lessig, who wants to use a convention to undo the Citizens United ruling.

The requirement that 34 state legislatures approve of any convention has long seemed too high a hurdle. But a series of surprise wins for Republicans in statehouses across the country on Election Night -- including taking control of both legislative chambers in 32 states -- has put the possibility within reach...

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/22/politics/constitutional-convention-explainer/index.html

‘Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death’: The Loss of Our Freedoms in the Wake of 9/11

By John W. Whitehead
September 08, 2015

“Since mankind’s dawn, a handful of oppressors have accepted the responsibility over our lives that we should have accepted for ourselves. By doing so, they took our power. By doing nothing, we gave it away. We’ve seen where their way leads, through camps and wars, towards the slaughterhouse.” ― Alan Moore, V for Vendetta

What began with the passage of the USA Patriot Act in October 2001 has snowballed into the eradication of every vital safeguard against government overreach, corruption and abuse. Since then, we have been terrorized, traumatized, and acclimated to life in the American Surveillance State.

The bogeyman’s names and faces change over time, but the end result remains the same: our unquestioning acquiescence to anything the government wants to do in exchange for the phantom promise of safety and security has transitioned us to life in a society where government agents routinely practice violence on the citizens while, in conjunction with the Corporate State, spying on the most intimate details of our personal lives.

Ironically, the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks occurs just days before the 228th anniversary of the ratification of our Constitution. Yet while there is much to mourn about the loss of our freedoms in the years since 9/11, there is virtually nothing to celebrate...

http://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/give_me_liberty_or_give_me_death_the_loss_of_our_freedoms_in_the_wake_

The Black Budget Report: An Investigation into the CIA’s ‘Black Budget’ and the Second Manhattan Project

This report examines the existence of a CIA ‘black budget’ and an extensive network of ‘deep black projects’ that it funds. The report identifies the legal framework established by the US Congress for the creation of a CIA ‘black budget’ from the appropriations earmarked for other federal agencies that are siphoned through the CIA as the sole conduit of black budget funds. 

The report investigates the legal challenges to the constitutionality of the CIA’s black budget; how the CIA uses its legal authority to extract appropriations from government agencies such as HUD; how the CIA launders non-appropriated money through other federal agencies; and the efforts the CIA goes to prevent these financial transfers from being exposed.  Using as a case study the legal difficulties faced by an innovative mortgage finance company, Hamilton Securities, the report will argue that the CIA’s covert role in Hamilton’s demise is compelling evidence that the CIA was involved in funding irregularities in HUD. 

It will be finally argued that the size of black budget, the secrecy surrounding it, the extent senior officials in Federal agencies go to targeting individuals and companies that threaten to reveal where congressional appropriations are ultimately going, suggest a vast number of ‘deep black projects’ that collectively form a highly classified second Manhattan Project whose existence, goals and budget are kept secret....

http://www1.american.edu/salla/Articles/BB-CIA.htm