Last night President Obama signed an executive order titled “National Defense Resources Preparedness.” Odd that he took time away from his many fundraisers to put this out there on a Friday night. It was first brought to my attention by a tweet from USA Carry. I looked it over and wasn’t sure what to make of it, I’ve had a busy day so I thought I’d look into it more later.

I still haven’t had time to thoroughly digest it, but I did find this post at Before It’s News.

In a nutshell, it’s the blueprint for Peacetime Martial Law and it gives the president the power to take just about anything deemed necessary for “National Defense”, whatever they decide that is.    It’s peacetime, because as the title of the order says, it’s for “Preparedness”.  A copy of the entire order follows the end of this story.

Under this order the heads of these cabinet level positions; Agriculture, Energy, Health and Human Services, Transportation, Defense and Commerce can take food, livestock, fertilizer, farm equipment, all forms of energy, water resources, all forms of civil transporation (meaning any vehicles, boats, planes),  and any other materials, including construction materials from wherever they are available.  This is probably why the government has been visiting farms with GPS devices, so they know exactly where to go when they turn this one on.

Specifically, the government is allowed to allocate materials, services, and facilities as deemed necessary or appropriate.  They decide what necessary or appropriate means.

What happens if the government decides it needs all these things to be prepared, even if there is no war?   You likely won’t be able to walk into a store to purchase virtually anything because it will all be requisitioned, “rationed” and controlled by the government.  Construction materials, food like meat, butter and sugar, anything imported, parts, tires and fuel for vehicles, clothing, etc. will likely become unobtainable, or at least very scarce.  How many things are even made here in the USA any more?

Read the whole thing. It’s just one take on it, and again, I’m still not quite sure what to make of this. Is this just a form of good government, ie: being prepared in the event of something like another Hurricane Katrina, or a surprise attack from foreign enemies?  I just thought I’d get it out there and you can make up your own mind.

Update: Ed Morrissey makes the case that this is just standard, boilerplate language and nothing to be concerned about. If that’s the case, did team Obama release this on a Friday night knowing people would be concerned, to make us all look like a bunch of loons? Who knows.

Update 2: The Pirate’s Cove has more.

Update 3: Linked by Lady Liberty and Conservative Hideout- thanks!