Just when we thought it couldn’t get more surreal

September 24th, 2008

Note to subscribers: this is Wednesdays post. A little bug’s been messing with the posts, so this one … and the next … are catch-up.  All better now. Mea culpa!

John McCain … newly behind Obama by 9 points, in direct fire from a furious press that he’s rubbed the wrong way, and reeling from the news that despite Mac’s assurances that his Campaign Manager’s firm hadn’t received anything from Freddie Mac since 2005, he was actually paid through last month … has decided to SUSPEND his campaign for a few days, proposing to cancel Friday night’s debate; he does this so he can address the financial emergency in the Senate [Messiah-figure that he is. With the actual POTUS enjoying only 19% approval now, I guess a gen-u-ine War Hero is needed, eh?]

What a grandstanding, temperamental and desperate [as evidenced here and here] little crank he’s turned out to be! If the last week has proven anything, it’s exactly what a President McCain would give us.

There are other provocative wisps of news floating around that have created alternate realities, as well. An entire battalion of Iraq-fresh soldiers have come home to train in handling domestic uprising; I don’t know about you, but that pushes a whole lot of buttons on my board, especially after the news of aggressive police brutality in the convention cities.

Greenwald picked that up today, which takes it out of the “tin-foil hat” topic matter and thrusts it into the arena of legitimate speculation. The article by Naomi Wolf, last, is a Must Read; and it echoes my own thoughts after weeks of research on the Stepford woman named Palin, combined with the almost-comical ineptitude of John McCain. Pfffft!

Do you remember Dennis Kucinich refusing to attend a super-secret meeting in the House of Representatives last March? I posted on it, as it was configured to address supposedly sensitive information about the FISA Bill; attendee’s were sworn to secrecy. Leaks shortly after whispered quite a different agenda, which predicted a financial meltdown in September, a US government implosion in February and a resulting civil war in this nation, including the pro-active round up of “trouble makers.” While this remains unproven, it certainly adds a bit of weight to what we’re seeing happen around us.

I have no idea what’s true and what isn’t — but I do know that forewarned is forearmed. Add this information to your bag of tricks, mull it for awhile. Nothing is written in stone; especially when the actual ability to pull things off as planned seems almost impossible, these days.

I also know that paranoia is described as unrealistic fear … so tin-foil, or not, it isn’t paranoia I’m feeling. It’s hyper-vigilance!

My best advice? Keep your heads down — the crap’s flying.

Jude

McCain seeks to delay Friday’s debate
Candidate plans to return to Washington Thursday to deal with credit crisis
Sept. 24
[open for video]

NEW YORK - Republican John McCain said Wednesday he is directing his staff to work with Democrat Barack Obama’s campaign and the presidential debate commission to delay Friday’s debate because of the economic crisis.

Obama’s campaign says he is inclined to go ahead with Friday’s presidential debate, even though his rival is calling for a delay.

In a statement, McCain said he will stop campaigning after addressing former President Clinton’s Global Initiative session on Thursday and return to Washington to focus on the nation’s financial problems.

Meanwhile, the University of Mississippi, which is slated to host Friday’s debate, issued a statement saying they are going forward with preparation.

“We expect the debate to occur as planned,” university officials said.

The Republican presidential hopeful called Obama before he made the statement and told him he was going to suspend his campaign, according to a McCain senior adviser.

According to the source, McCain wants to create a “political free zone” until a deal is reached on legislation for a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry.

McCain said he wants President Bush to convene a leadership meeting in Washington that would include him and Obama.

“It has become clear that no consensus has developed to support the administration’s proposal,” McCain said. “I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands, and we are running out of time.”

McCain said if Congress does not pass legislation to address the crisis, credit will dry up, people will no longer be able to buy homes, life savings will be at stake and businesses will not have enough money.

“If we do not act, every corner of our country will be impacted,” McCain said. “We cannot allow this to happen.”

McCain also canceled his planned appearance Wednesday on CBS’ “Late Show With David Letterman” program.

McCain said he has spoken to Obama about his plans and asked the Democratic presidential nominee to join him.

The Obama campaign said the Illinois senator had called McCain around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday to propose that they issue a joint statement in support of a package to help fix the economy as soon as possible. McCain called back six hours later and agreed to the idea of the statement, the Obama campaign said. McCain’s statement about postponing his campaign was issued to the media a few minutes later.

“We must meet as Americans, not as Democrats or Republicans, and we must meet until this crisis is resolved,” McCain said. “I am confident that before the markets open on Monday we can achieve consensus on legislation that will stabilize our financial markets, protect taxpayers and homeowners, and earn the confidence of the American people. All we must do to achieve this is temporarily set politics aside, and I am committed to doing so.”

McCain advisers said they are also reaching out to the Obama campaign to discuss pulling political television advertisements from airing, as well.

McCain’s statement was an effort to show leadership on an issue that has spread economic fears across the country and overshadowed the presidential campaign just six weeks from Election Day.

The economy has not been McCain’s strongest suit, and his move was an attempt to turn it into an opportunity to show he’s the candidate of bipartisanship and action. Recent polls showed Obama with an advantage with voters in handling the economy.

The move put Obama in a bind. Rejecting the idea would allow McCain alone to appear above politics, but agreeing to suspend campaigning and the debate could make Obama look like he’s following McCain’s lead. Advisers also say that McCain still wants to participate in all three presidential debates, but that the schedule is up in the air.

“We welcome Sen. McCain’s announcement,” said White House press secretary Dana Perino, adding, “Bipartisan support from Senators McCain and Obama would be helpful in driving to a conclusion.”

The schedule for the three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate was agreed upon on November 19, 2007. ++

NBC’s Chuck Todd, Kelly O’Donnell and Andrea Mitchell contributed to this report.

McCain Wants A Time Out — But Why?
HuffPo
September 24, 2008 03:30 PM

Why does John McCain suddenly want to suspend his presidential campaign and postpone Friday’s debate? His campaign surrogates are saying it’s a typical “maverick” move, that McCain is simply “putting country first.” Let’s look at the evidence:

1) As Ben Smith notes, McCain’s move “is a mark, most of all, that he doesn’t like the way this campaign is going. … The only thing that’s changed in the last 48 hours is the public polling.”

2) The idea of uniting the campaigns to find a bipartisan solution to the Wall Street crisis wasn’t even McCain’s idea. A few minutes ago, Obama spokesman Bill Burton emailed to reporters:

“At 8:30 this morning, Senator Obama called Senator McCain to ask him if he would join in issuing a joint statement outlining their shared principles and conditions for the Treasury proposal and urging Congress and the White House to act in a bipartisan manner to pass such a proposal. At 2:30 this afternoon, Senator McCain returned Senator Obama’s call and agreed to join him in issuing such a statement. The two campaigns are currently working together on the details.”

3) John McCain has skipped more votes during this session than any member of the Senate except for Tim Johnson, who had major brain surgery. He has cast a single vote in five months, since April 9. All of a sudden, McCain is demanding that the presidential race shut down so he can return to Washington?

4) A reminder: President Bush was able to debate John Kerry while he was president. For all of his sudden urgency, McCain acknowledged just yesterday that he had not even read the administration’s three-page bailout proposal.

5) It’s not clear at all that having McCain and Obama back in DC will actually help. “What does seem apparent, though, is that putting the two candidates in the negotiating room is far more likely to distract–and derail–negotiations than having them out on the hustings,” Jonathan Cohn writes at the New Republic.

It’s impossible to know why McCain chose this course, but it sure seems like more of a political stunt than a maverick moment. ++

The Drama Queen’s Big Gamble
HuffPo
September 24, 2008 03:46 PM

What we are witnessing right now is what a McCain presidency would be like — herky jerky, bouncing from crisis to crisis, overreacting at every step.

It’s taken him exactly ten days to go from the economy is strong to we’re heading into the Great Depression and must stop the campaign.

But nothing has changed other than the polls, and that’s why it’s impossible to take this gamble seriously.

McCain can see that he cannot win the presidency unless the campaign narrative changes dramatically, so he’s decided to roll the dice.

After all his talk of bipartisanship, John McCain has decided to make an intensely political move. He does not have a plan, but he’s willing to drag the country through his personal drama, no matter the cost, just so that he might win the presidency.

McCain wants to demonstrate his leadership skills, but instead he’s demonstrating beyond any doubt that he is temperamentally unfit to be president. ++

McCain’s Economic Plan: Blurt Out Random Crap
Bob Cesca, HuffPo
September 24, 2008 | 03:48 PM (EST)

There are several reasons why Senator Obama is enjoying a double-digit lead in “honesty and trustworthiness” (47 percent to 36 percent according the new ABC News/Washington Post poll). First, Senator Obama doesn’t, you know, lie to the American people every damn day. Second, Senator Obama didn’t vote with the dishonest, corrupt Bush administration 90 percent of the time.

But one of the main reasons why the nation appears to be lining up against Senator McCain’s insanely obvious lack of integrity could be because his very serious and mavericky campaign strategy can be described in four simple words:

Blurt Out Random Crap.

“Crap,” in this context, is defined as everything from lies to weasel-words to inexplicably weird nonsense. And it seems like Senator McCain does this a lot. So much so that we can only conclude that it’s intentional.

The goal: Get McCain on record saying something no matter how ridiculous. This way, he can hit the stump later and boast that he said something with regards to scary stuff in the news. I said something [that didn't make any sense and was probably a lie] and Senator Obama didn’t say anything [also a lie]! And whenever he’s accused of routinely blurting out random crap, Senator McCain trucks out the old punishment theorem: If Senator Obama had only agreed to the town halls, I wouldn’t be selling-out the last shreds of my honor or integrity just to get elected. Can’t you see? Senator Obama turned me into a hack, dammit!

First thing that pops into his head. Is it truthful? Doesn’t matter. Sex education for kindergarteners, for instance. “Palin sold her jet on eBay,” for instance. Does it even make sense or is it just a bunch of words strung together to form a sentence? Who cares. “President Putin of Germany,” for instance. “Delivering bottled hot water to dehydrated babies,” for instance.

I’ll admit that the latter category is more fun to document. However, the lying is especially infuriating — and maybe that’s the idea — piss off the liberals. But it can’t be helping with independents and undecideds who are discovering quite rapidly that the mythology of “John McCain” doesn’t match the real-life John McCain. The Real McCain is rapidly coming into focus for those in the middle.

McRage. McLiar. McPanderer. McIncompetent. McBush. And the Obama campaign only needs to tweak these frames. After all, the McCain campaign is doing all of the heavy lifting by itself.

And as we witnessed with the Zapatero episode, as soon as Senator McCain blurts out random crap, his staff scrambles onto the stage with pronouncements and excuses so as to make it seem as if McCain meant to say what he said — a routine which only serves to compound the farcical nature of it all.

So it comes as no surprise that the McCain-Palin strategy on the economic crisis is to — that’s right! — blurt out random crap.

All along and without regard to the actual status of the economy, Senator McCain has blurted out the well-known talking point “the fundamentals of the economy are strong.” Why? Because that’s the Bush Republican position. Those exact words.

And shortly after President Paulson announced his bailout plan when it appeared as if we were on the verge of a complete meltdown, Senator McCain, in the most Pavlovian sense, couldn’t help himself and — WHOOPS! — he said it again. Why? Because that’s what he always says about the economy.

When he was immediately and appropriately called out for being a doof, he blurted out that everyone in the world misunderstood him. The “fundamentals,” he claimed, meant “the workers.” In other words, American workers are strong. What the hell does that have to do with the status of the economy? Does it mean the workforce can lift heavy things — like factory equipment that’s being shipped to China? How does one quantify worker “strength” as an economic indicator? Even if a crazy economist somewhere includes the morale of the workforce as a fundamental of the economy, the McCain campaign clearly overlooked the reality that we’ve lost 1.75 million jobs this year and unemployment spiked to 6.1 percent two days after Sarah Palin’s overrated acceptance speech. Not strong, McCain. Bad! But, then again, he really didn’t mean “the workers” in the first place anyway.

When this failed, he blurted out something about averting the impending economic meltdown by convening a government commission, ostensibly to study the urgent crisis and perhaps issue a recommendation sometime in the future. Decisive!

When that didn’t work, he called for the firing of the head of the SEC, Chris Cox, even though Phil Gramm, the author of McCain’s economic plan (pre-crisis), is also responsible for the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 — a piece of legislation which, along with Reaganomics and Alan Greenspan’s love of all things bubble-shaped, is directly responsible for this present mess. Phil Gramm. A man who said that the economic crisis is mostly a figment of our whiny imagination. A man who could be our next Treasury Secretary and steward of the economy. Hire him, but fire the other guy. Because that’ll somehow help. Oh, Magoo.

It’s worth noting that while that idea was failing, Senator McCain inexplicably called for the firing of the head of the Federal Elections Commission, Donald F. McGahn II. Poor McGahn II. Minding his own business, and suddenly McCain’s on television calling him out for screwing the economic pooch.

When that failed, Senator McCain rolled out one of his most egregious lies to date, claiming that Senator Obama, of all people, has been directly responsibility for the crisis. Why? Because the former CEO of Fannie Mae, Franklin Raines, once talked on the phone with someone associated with the Obama campaign. Like 16 months ago. And that somehow makes Raines a close economic advisor. Never mind that Rick Davis, McCain’s campaign manager, was on the Freddie Mac payroll as recently as a couple of weeks ago.

Which leads us to Senator McCain blurting out that no-one on his staff is associated in any way with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

What’s next, McCain campaign? A Mogwai ate a sandwich after midnight; morphed into a Gremlin; then caused the economic crisis? Or will it be Marty McFly’s sports almanac screwing up the space-time continuum? Or will it be Reverend Wright putting a curse on the banks? Whatever is next is bound to be crazier than what’s already been said.

And now — wait. What’s this? As I wrap this up, it’s being reported that Senator McCain wants to delay the debates so he can focus on the economic crisis. Oh, and now he wants to suspend campaigning. What’s next, McCain? Suspending the election?

So what will a McCain administration economic policy look like? From the lack of foresight and leadership we’ve witnessed so far, we can assume that McCain might choose a new economic policy totally at random, depending on how saucy he feels from minute to minute. “I’ll have a muffin with my Egg Beaters, and replace Bernanke with that hooplehead who weedwacks the knoll.” Two minutes later… “Hey Phil, we don’t need the Nasdaq anymore. Kill it.” Two minutes later… “My God! What have I done! Quickly — nationalize the paintball industry! Go!”

One thing is for sure. Expecting a workable solution to this economic meltdown from a man as knee-jerk, dishonest and incomprehensible as John McCain would be an exercise in national self-destruction. He doesn’t have anything real to say, and what he does say, he can’t sell. He simply can’t do the gig. A vote for McCain-Palin is absolutely a vote for the end of America as we know it. ++

What Else Would President McCain Postpone in a Crisis?
Seth Grahame-Smith, HuffPo
September 24, 2008 | 03:54 PM (EST)

(UPDATE: So now we know that it was Obama who first called McCain and suggested a joint statement on the crisis this morning, which McCain agreed to, before pulling a fast one and going on TV with his “suspend” surprise. What a cynical, political, desperate man he’s become. I can only pray that the rest of America sees this for the gimmick it is.)

So now John McCain wants to suspend his campaign and postpone Friday’s debate so he can go to Washington and work on the financial crisis — as if his vast economic expertise is what’s missing in all of this.

After years of being a champion of deregulation, and an admitted economic lightweight, John McCain suddenly wants to pretend he’s our knight in shining armor? But wait — wasn’t it McCain’s own party and policies that created this crisis? Wasn’t it his own economic advisor, Phil Gramm, who called Americans “whiners” in a “mental recession?” Didn’t McCain recently praise the strength of our economy and call himself a “fundamentally a deregulator?”

Come to think of it, the last thing America needs is for John McCain to go back to Washington. Because that’s exactly where he and his cronies created this financial mess.

Clearly, Steve Schmidt thinks he’s being clever. You can just picture the staff meeting: “We’ll look like heroes! We’ll put Obama in a corner, and force him into looking like he doesn’t care about the crisis! We’re geniuses!”

Just one problem, Steve-O…you’re going after independents. And independents are smarter than you think they are. I’m guessing that most of them will see this for what it is: a stunt. A distraction from the fact that John McCain’s core beliefs and record are at the very heart of this crisis.

And as for postponing the debate? Real leaders don’t have the luxury of taking time outs, Senator McCain. They’re supposed to be able to deal with a wide array of problems, all at once. Especially when they’re President. That’s why it’s called “the hardest job in the world.”

Lincoln ran for office during the Civil War. Reagan ran at the height of the Cold War. Bush ran with two wars raging in Afghanistan and Iraq. But McCain can’t run during a crisis on Wall Street?

Kind’ve makes you wonder what his multitasking threshold is, and what else he’d “suspend” or “postpone” when the going got tough.

Maybe he’d just hand it all over to Sarah Palin. ++

bonus

Congress Secret Session March 13, 2008 about the collapse of the USA?
19/07/2008
[thanks, Christine]

Word has begun leaking from march 13 special, closed-door session of the United States House of Representatives. Members of Congress were FORBIDDEN to reveal what was discussed. Several are so furious and concerned about the future of the contry, they have begun leaking info.

Not only did members discuss new surveillance provisions as was the publicly stated reason for the closed door session, they also discussed:

The imminent collapse of the U.S. economy to occur by September 2008,

The imminent collapse of US federal government finances by February 2009,

The possibility of Civil War inside the USA as a result of the collapse,

advance round-ups of “insurgent U.S. citizens” likely to move against the government,

The detention of those rounded-up at “REX 84? camps constructed throughout the USA,

The location of “safe facilities” for members of Congress and their families to reside during expected massive civil unrest

The necessary and unavoidable merger of the United States with Canada (for its natural resources) and with Mexico (for its cheap labor pool),

The issuance of a new currency - THE AMERO - for all three nations as the proposed solution to the coming economic armageddon.

[Open for series of YouTubes] ++

Army Unit to Deploy in October for Domestic Operations
Democracy NOW

Beginning in October, the Army plans to station an active unit inside the United States for the first time to serve as an on-call federal response in times of emergency. The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent thirty-five of the last sixty months in Iraq, but now the unit is training for domestic operations. The unit will soon be under the day-to-day control of US Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command.

The Army Times reports this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to Northern Command. The paper says the Army unit may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control. The soldiers are learning to use so-called nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals and crowds. ++

Why is a U.S. Army brigade being assigned to the “Homeland”?
Glenn Greenwald, Salon
Wednesday Sept. 24, 2008
(updated below - Update II)

Several bloggers today have pointed to this obviously disturbing article from Army Times, which announces that “beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the [1st Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division] will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North” — “the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities.” The article details:

They’ll learn new skills, use some of the ones they acquired in the war zone and more than likely will not be shot at while doing any of it.

They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack. . . .

The 1st BCT’s soldiers also will learn how to use “the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded,” 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them.

“It’s a new modular package of nonlethal capabilities that they’re fielding. They’ve been using pieces of it in Iraq, but this is the first time that these modules were consolidated and this package fielded, and because of this mission we’re undertaking we were the first to get it.”

The package includes equipment to stand up a hasty road block; spike strips for slowing, stopping or controlling traffic; shields and batons; and, beanbag bullets.

“I was the first guy in the brigade to get Tasered,” said Cloutier, describing the experience as “your worst muscle cramp ever — times 10 throughout your whole body”. . . .

The brigade will not change its name, but the force will be known for the next year as a CBRNE Consequence Management Response Force, or CCMRF (pronounced “sea-smurf”).

For more than 100 years — since the end of the Civil War — deployment of the U.S. military inside the U.S. has been prohibited under The Posse Comitatus Act (the only exceptions being that the National Guard and Coast Guard are exempted, and use of the military on an emergency ad hoc basis is permitted, such as what happened after Hurricane Katrina). Though there have been some erosions of this prohibition over the last several decades (most perniciously to allow the use of the military to work with law enforcement agencies in the “War on Drugs”), the bright line ban on using the U.S. military as a standing law enforcement force inside the U.S. has been more or less honored — until now. And as the Army Times notes, once this particular brigade completes its one-year assignment, “expectations are that another, as yet unnamed, active-duty brigade will take over and that the mission will be a permanent one.”

After Hurricane Katrina, the Bush administration began openly agitating for what would be, in essence, a complete elimination of the key prohibitions of the Posse Comitatus Act in order to allow the President to deploy U.S. military forces inside the U.S. basically at will — and, as usual, they were successful as a result of rapid bipartisan compliance with the Leader’s demand (the same kind of compliance that is about to foist a bailout package on the nation). This April, 2007 article by James Bovard in The American Conservative detailed the now-familiar mechanics that led to the destruction of this particular long-standing democratic safeguard:

The Defense Authorization Act of 2006, passed on Sept. 30, empowers President George W. Bush to impose martial law in the event of a terrorist “incident,” if he or other federal officials perceive a shortfall of “public order,” or even in response to antiwar protests that get unruly as a result of government provocations. . . .

It only took a few paragraphs in a $500 billion, 591-page bill to raze one of the most important limits on federal power. Congress passed the Insurrection Act in 1807 to severely restrict the president’s ability to deploy the military within the United States. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 tightened these restrictions, imposing a two-year prison sentence on anyone who used the military within the U.S. without the express permission of Congress. But there is a loophole: Posse Comitatus is waived if the president invokes the Insurrection Act.

Section 1076 of the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 changed the name of the key provision in the statute book from “Insurrection Act” to “Enforcement of the Laws to Restore Public Order Act.” The Insurrection Act of 1807 stated that the president could deploy troops within the United States only “to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy.” The new law expands the list to include “natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition” — and such “condition” is not defined or limited. . . .

The story of how Section 1076 became law vivifies how expanding government power is almost always the correct answer in Washington. Some people have claimed the provision was slipped into the bill in the middle of the night. In reality, the administration clearly signaled its intent and almost no one in the media or Congress tried to stop it . . . .

Section 1076 was supported by both conservatives and liberals. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the ranking Democratic member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, co-wrote the provision along with committee chairman Sen. John Warner (R-Va.). Sen. Ted Kennedy openly endorsed it, and Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), then-chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, was an avid proponent. . . .

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, warned on Sept. 19 that “we certainly do not need to make it easier for Presidents to declare martial law,” but his alarm got no response. Ten days later, he commented in the Congressional Record: “Using the military for law enforcement goes against one of the founding tenets of our democracy.” Leahy further condemned the process, declaring that it “was just slipped in the defense bill as a rider with little study. Other congressional committees with jurisdiction over these matters had no chance to comment, let alone hold hearings on, these proposals.”

As is typical, very few members of the media even mentioned any of this, let alone discussed it (and I failed to give this the attention it deserved at the time), but Congressional Quarterly’s Jeff Stein wrote an excellent article at the time detailing the process and noted that “despite such a radical turn, the new law garnered little dissent, or even attention, on the Hill.” Stein also noted that while “the blogosphere, of course, was all over it . . . a search of The Washington Post and New York Times archives, using the terms ‘Insurrection Act,’ ‘martial law’ and ‘Congress,’ came up empty.”

Bovard and Stein both noted that every Governor — including Republicans — joined in Leahy’s objections, as they perceived it as a threat from the Federal Government to what has long been the role of the National Guard. But those concerns were easily brushed aside by the bipartisan majorities in Congress, eager — as always — to grant the President this radical new power.

The decision this month to permanently deploy a U.S. Army brigade inside the U.S. for purely domestic law enforcement purposes is the fruit of the Congressional elimination of the long-standing prohibitions in Posse Comitatus (although there are credible signs that even before Congress acted, the Bush administration secretly decided it possessed the inherent power to violate the Act). It shouldn’t take any efforts to explain why the permanent deployment of the U.S. military inside American cities, acting as the President’s police force, is so disturbing. Bovard:

“Martial law” is a euphemism for military dictatorship. When foreign democracies are overthrown and a junta establishes martial law, Americans usually recognize that a fundamental change has occurred. . . . Section 1076 is Enabling Act-type legislation—something that purports to preserve law-and-order while formally empowering the president to rule by decree.

The historic importance of the Posse Comitatus prohibition was also well-analyzed here.

As the recent militarization of St. Paul during the GOP Convention made abundantly clear, our actual police forces are already quite militarized. Still, what possible rationale is there for permanently deploying the U.S. Army inside the United States — under the command of the President — for any purpose, let alone things such as “crowd control,” other traditional law enforcement functions, and a seemingly unlimited array of other uses at the President’s sole discretion? And where are all of the stalwart right-wing “small government conservatives” who spent the 1990s so vocally opposing every aspect of the growing federal police force? And would it be possible to get some explanation from the Government about what the rationale is for this unprecedented domestic military deployment (at least unprecedented since the Civil War), and why it is being undertaken now?

UPDATE: As this commenter notes, the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act somewhat limited the scope of the powers granted by the 2007 Act detailed above (mostly to address constitutional concerns by limiting the President’s powers to deploy the military to suppress disorder that threatens constitutional rights), but President Bush, when signing that 2008 Act into law, issued a signing statement which, though vague, seems to declare that he does not recognize those new limitations.

UPDATE II: There’s no need to start manufacturing all sorts of scare scenarios about Bush canceling elections or the imminent declaration of martial law or anything of that sort. None of that is going to happen with a single brigade and it’s unlikely in the extreme that they’d be announcing these deployments if they had activated any such plans. The point is that the deployment is a very dangerous precedent, quite possibly illegal, and a radical abandonment of an important democratic safeguard. As always with first steps of this sort, the danger lies in how the power can be abused in the future. ++

No, You’re Not Crazy
Power of Narrative blog
September 22, 2008

You’re not crazy, that is, if you’ve begun to have waking nightmares about what might be coming as the economy worsens and signs of “normalcy” (of what?) begin to vanish from our lives. Many more people without jobs and homeless, tent cities springing up here and there, perhaps regular power outages and growing shortages of goods that had once been plentiful…the list goes on and on.

And what, you might wonder, is our beneficent, all-caring government doing to prepare for this multitude of possibilities? After all, some of those poor, jobless, homeless, starving people might get unruly.

The government of the United States is a wondrous creation and, naturally, it only wants to “help” you:

The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply convoys.

Now they’re training for the same mission - with a twist - at home.

Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.

It is not the first time an active-duty unit has been tapped to help at home. In August 2005, for example, when Hurricane Katrina unleashed hell in Mississippi and Louisiana, several active-duty units were pulled from various posts and mobilized to those areas.

But this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities.

After 1st BCT finishes its dwell-time mission, expectations are that another, as yet unnamed, active-duty brigade will take over and that the mission will be a permanent one.

“Right now, the response force requirement will be an enduring mission. How the [Defense Department] chooses to source that and whether or not they continue to assign them to NorthCom, that could change in the future,” said Army Col. Louis Vogler, chief of NorthCom future operations. “Now, the plan is to assign a force every year.”

They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack.
…

The 1st BCT’s soldiers also will learn how to use “the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded,” 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them.

“It’s a new modular package of nonlethal capabilities that they’re fielding. They’ve been using pieces of it in Iraq, but this is the first time that these modules were consolidated and this package fielded, and because of this mission we’re undertaking we were the first to get it.”

The package includes equipment to stand up a hasty road block; spike strips for slowing, stopping or controlling traffic; shields and batons; and, beanbag bullets.

“I was the first guy in the brigade to get Tasered,” said Cloutier, describing the experience as “your worst muscle cramp ever - times 10 throughout your whole body.

“I’m not a small guy, I weigh 230 pounds … it put me on my knees in seconds.”

“Nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them…” Frequently, it doesn’t work out that way: “Obey or Die.”

But you were being unruly. You might be dangerous, at least dangerous to those who rule us. And honestly, the fact that you may be homeless, starving and desperate is no reason to be rude or uncooperative.

This comes at the very end of the story, offered by the division operations officer:

“I don’t know what America’s overall plan is - I just know that 24 hours a day, seven days a week, there are soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines that are standing by to come and help if they’re called,” Cloutier said. “It makes me feel good as an American to know that my country has dedicated a force to come in and help the people at home.”

I’m sure there are people in the military who believe this, or at least think they believe it. But if and when the order comes to fire on American citizens, what happens then? I don’t think we want to find out. Many of these individuals are overly familiar with killing innocent people — as indeed, our criminal war in Iraq is nothing but an operation dedicated to killing innocent people in ungraspably huge numbers — so a new kind of target probably won’t deter them for long, if at all.

Add in all the private mercenary forces now available to the government, and, well…

No, you’re not crazy. The reasons for my argument will become clearer in the second and concluding part of this new essay of mine, “The State and Full Spectrum Dominance, Abroad and At Home” — but this gives you an idea of why I chose the phrase “Full Spectrum Dominance,” a phrase that usually refers to U.S. military capabilities in particular, and why I included “At Home.” But I am concerned with “Full Spectrum Dominance” in a still broader sense, as I will soon explain.

Pleasant dreams, dear reader. ++

Has Sarah Palin Been Picked as the Titular Head of the Coming Police State?
Palin will help to establish a true and irreversible ‘fear society’ in this once free once proud nation.
Naomi Wolf, Huffington Post via Alternet
September 24, 2008

Please understand what you are looking at when you look at Sarah “Evita” Palin. You are looking at the designated muse of the coming American police state.

You have to understand how things work in a closing society in order to understand “Palin Power.” A gang or cabal seizes power, usually with an affable, weak figurehead at the fore. Then they will hold elections — but they will make sure that the election will be corrupted and that the next affable, weak figurehead is entirely in their control. Remember, Russia has Presidents; Russia holds elections. Dictators and gangs of thugs all over the world hold elections. It means nothing. When a cabal has seized power you can have elections and even presidents, but you don’t have freedom.

I realized early on with horror what I was seeing in Governor Palin: the continuation of the Rove-Cheney cabal, but this time without restraints. I heard her echo Bush 2000 soundbites (”the heart of America is on display”) and realized Bush’s speechwriters were writing her — not McCain’s — speeches. I heard her tell George Bush’s lies — not McCain’s — to the American people, linking 9/11 to Iraq. I heard her make fun of Barack Obama for wanting to prevent the torture of prisoners — this is Rove-Cheney’s enthusiastic S and M, not McCain’s, who, though he shamefully colluded in the 2006 Military Tribunals Act, is also a former prisoner of war and wrote an eloquent Newsweek piece in 2005 opposing torture. I saw that she was even styled by the same skillful stylist (neutral lipstick, matte makeup, dark colors) who turned Katharine Harris from a mall rat into a stateswoman and who styles all the women in the Bush orbit — but who does not bother to style Cindy McCain.

Then I saw and heard more. Palin is embracing lawlessness in defying Alaskan Legislature subpoenas — this is what Rove-Cheney, and not McCain, believe in doing. She uses mafia tactics against critics, like the police commissioner who was railroaded for opposing handguns in Alaskan battered women’s shelters — Rove’s style, not McCain’s. I realized what I was seeing.

Reports confirmed my suspicions: Palin, not McCain, is the FrankenBarbie of the Rove-Cheney cabal. The strategy became clear. Time magazine reported that Rove is “dialed in” to the McCain campaign. Rove’s protege Steve Schmidt is now campaign manager. And Politico reported that Rove was heavily involved in McCain’s vice presidential selection. Finally a new report shows that there are dozens of Bush and Rove operatives surrounding Sarah Palin and orchestrating her every move.

What’s the plan? It is this. McCain doesn’t matter. Reputable dermatologists are discussing the fact that in simply actuarial terms, John McCain has a virulent and life-threatening form of skin cancer. It is the elephant in the room, but we must discuss the health of the candidates: doctors put survival rates for someone his age at two to four years. I believe the Rove-Cheney cabal is using Sarah Palin as a stalking horse, an Evita figure, to put a popular, populist face on the coming police state and be the talk show hostess for the end of elections as we know them. If McCain-Palin get in, this will be the last true American election. She will be working for Halliburton, KBR, Rove and Cheney into the foreseeable future — for a decade perhaps — a puppet “president” for the same people who have plundered our treasure, are now holding the US economy hostage and who murdered four thousand brave young men and women in a way of choice and lies.

How, you may ask, can I assert this? How can I argue, as I now do, that there is actually a war being ramped up against US citizens and our democracy and that Sarah Palin is the figurehead and muse for that war?

Look at the RNC. This is supposed to be McCain’s America. But you see the unmistakable theatre of Rove’s S and M imagery — and you see stages eight, nine and ten of the steps to a dictatorship as I outlined them in The End of America.

Preemptive arrest? Abusive arrest? “Newly released footage, which was buried to avoid confiscation, shows riot cops arresting and abusing a giant group of people for nothing.”

Journalists were arrested — for reporting. Amy Goodman and ABC producers were arrested. Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake and others were forced to lie face down as armed agents tied their hands behind their backs. The riot police wore the black S&M gear of the Rovian fantasy life and carried the four foot batons cops carry in North Korea. All this is not John McCain’s imagery or strategy: it is Karl Rove’s.

In McCain-Palin’s America, citizens who are protesting are being charged as terrorists. This means that a violent war had been declared on American citizens. A well known reporter leaked to me on background that St Paul police had dressed as protesters and, dressed in Black — shades of the Blackshirts of 1920 — infiltrated protest groups. There were also phalanxes of men in black wearing balaclavas, linking arms and behaving menacingly — alleged “anarchists.” Let me tell you, I have been on the left for thirty years and you can’t get three lefties to wear the same t-shirt to a rally, let alone link arms and wear identical face masks: these are not our guys. Agent Provocateurs framing protesters and calling protest “terrorism” constitutes step ten of a police state:

“In what appears to be the first use of criminal charges under the 2002 Minnesota version of the Federal Patriot Act, Ramsey County Prosecutors have formally charged 8 alleged leaders of the RNC Welcoming Committee with Conspiracy to Riot in Furtherance of Terrorism… [they] 7 1/2 years in prison under the terrorism enhancement charge which allows for a 50% increase in the maximum penalty.”

“Paid, confidential informants… infiltrated the RNCWC on behalf of law enforcement. They allege that members of the group sought to kidnap delegates to the RNC, assault police officers with firebombs and explosives, and sabotage airports in St. Paul. Evidence released to date does not corroborate these allegations with physical evidence or provide any other evidence for these allegations than the claims of the informants. Based on past abuses of such informants by law enforcement, the National Lawyers Guild is concerned that such police informants have incentives to lie and exaggerate threats of violence and to also act as provocateurs in raising and urging support for acts of violence.”

Under the Palin-Rove police state, you will see escalating infringements on your access to a free internet:

“Sarah Palin was baptized at Wasilla Assembly of God…Last Sunday our research team released a video, a ten-minute mini-documentary, focusing on the Wasilla Assemblies of God and the video seemed on the verge of a massive “viral” breakthrough when YouTube pulled it down, citing ‘inappropriate content’. At the point the video was censored by YouTube it had been viewed by almost 160,000 people. The short of it is that YouTube has censored a video documentary that appeared to be close to having an effect on a hard fought and contentious American presidential election…”

Under the coming Palin-Rove police state, you will witness the plans now underway to bring Iraqi troops to patrol the streets of our nation. This is not McCain’s fantasy: it is Rove’s and Cheney’s.

Under the Palin-Rove police state, there will be no further true elections. Mark Crispin Miller has done sensational and under-reported investigating t o establish that — as I warned — indeed the GOP staffers on the US Senate Judiciary Committee have been .

The evidence is also buried on the Website of the Majority House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

WASHINGTON — Republican staff members of the US Senate Judiciary Commitee infiltrated opposition computer files for a year, monitoring secret strategy memos and periodically passing on copies to the media, Senate officials told The Globe. >From the spring of 2002 until at least April 2003, members of the GOP committee staff exploited a computer glitch that allowed them to access restricted Democratic communications witho ut a password. Trolling through hundreds of memos, they were able to read talking points and accounts of private meetings discussing which judicial nominees Democrats would fight — and with what tactics.

“Senate panel’s GOP staff spied on Democrats” By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff | January 22, 2004

Do you think that spying like this will ever end under a Palin-Rove regime? Dream on. If she and McCain are elected, then every single strategy memo and speech and debate prep note from every opposition candidate from now and on into forever will be read by the regime in power while it is still in the computers of the challengers.

Under the Palin-Rove police state, citizens will be targeted with state cyberterrorism. Bruce Fein of the American Freedom Agenda, a former Reagan official, warned me three years ago that the Bush team went after a Republican who had crossed them through cyberstalking: they messed with his email, messed with his phones and I believe messed with his bank account — he became a cyber-pariah, unemployable and haunted. With modern technology, there really is less place to hide from the state than there was in East Germany in the Cold War era. I remember feeling a chill: of course. That is the wave of the future once we breach the protections around citizens of FISA and the fourth amendment. That way lies the abyss for us all.

Am I trying to scare you? I am. I am trying to scare you to death and ask you to scare your Republican and independent friends most of all. How do you know when it is war on citizens? When there are mass arrests, journalists are jailed, the opposition is infiltrated, rights are stripped and leaders start to ignore the rule of law.

Almost everyone I work with on projects related to this campaign for liberty has been experiencing computer harassment: emails are stripped, messages disappear. That’s not all: people’s bank accounts are being tampered with: wire transfers to banks vanish in midair. I personally keep opening bank accounts that are quickly corrupted by fraud. Money vanishes. Coworkers of mine have to keep opening new email accounts as old ones become infected. And most disturbingly to me personally is the mail tampering I have both heard of and experienced firsthand.

My tax returns vanished from my mailbox. All my larger envelopes arrive ripped straight open apparently by hand. When I show the postman, he says “That’s impossible.” Horrifyingly to me is the impact on my family. My childrens’ report cards are returned again and again though perfectly addressed; their invitations are turned back; and my daughters many letters from camp? Vanished. All of them. Not one arrived. Try explaining that to a smart thirteen year old. Try explaining it in a way that still makes her feel secure and comfortable.

I am not telling you this because it’s about my life. I am telling you this because it is about your life — whoever you are, Conservative or Liberal, independent or evangelical. Your politics will not protect you in a police state. History shows that nothing protects you in a police state. This is not about my fear and anxiety: it is about what awaits you and everyone you love unless you see this for what it is:

Scharansky divided nations into “fear societies” and “free societies.” Make no mistake: Sarah “Evita” Palin is Rove and Cheney’s cosmetic rebranding of their fascist push: she will help to establish a true and irreversible “fear society” in this once free once proud nation. For God’s sake, do not let her; do not let them. ++

“So keep fightin’ for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don’t you forget to have fun doin’ it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin’ ass and celebratin’ the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.”
~ Molly Ivins, 1944 - 2007

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Entry Filed under: Political Waves