|
by Sarah Meyer,
member of the
BRussells
Tribunal Advisory Committee
(21
August 2007) Sarah Meyer articles and researches published by the BRussells Tribunal |
This article updated 22.08.07
“Hurricane Dean is pictured moving west in the Caribbean Sea in this satellite photograph taken on August 18, 2007. REUTERS/National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration/Hand”
It doesn’t take much imagination to foresee
‘Blackwater-style’ martial law in all of America.
“Since the totalitarian ruler
conducts his policies on the assumption of an eventual world government, he
treats the victims of his aggression as though they were rebels, guilty of
high treason, and consequently prefers to rule occupied territories with
police, and not with military forces.”
1
Pre-emptive measures have now been proposed for
Hurricane Dean - which has not even happened yet. The above photo is
representative of what seems to be happening to the democratic process in
America.
Contempt for life
Contempt (OED). “The mental
attitude in which a thing is considered of little account, or as vile and
worthless. Law: Disobedience or open disrespect to the authority or the
lawful commands of the sovereign, the privileges of the `Houses of
Parliament or other legislative body; and esp. action of any kind that
interferes with the proper administration of justice by the various courts
of law; in this connection called Contempt of Court. 1621"
U.S. Contempt for life (“Stuff happens”) is rampant in
Iraq, and also in
Afghanistan.
Dave Lindorff (Counterpunch)
writes:“And let's be honest: this is
no matter of "collateral damage." It is a deliberate policy of terror.”
Contempt for law
Contempt of law is also a totalitarian by-product. In the U.S., this is
evident in the (continuing) presence of “Gitmo;” and in the recent
conviction of Jose Padilla: The
Huffington Post noted, “Clearly, too, the time has come to put the
entire infrastructure of an illegal, and ominous so-called war on terror on
trial, and show that those who maim, humiliate, kill, and psychologically
torture in the name of counterfeit, homogenized purity are the true
terrorists.”
‘Quite’, as we say here.
Presidential Signings
In April 2006,The
Boston Globe wrote that “President Bush has issued signing statements on
more than 750 new laws, declaring that he has the power to set aside the
laws when they conflict with his
legal interpretation of the Constitution.” You can read the full text of
these, and further signing statements and annotations
here
John Conyers and the Bush Dictatorship
06.06.07. blackagendareport. Without fanfare, or announcement of any kind,
the president recently signed a directive which states that in case of a
"catastrophic emergency" the "President shall lead the activities of the
Federal Government for ensuring constitutional government." What is a
catastrophic emergency? Well, it is anything that Bush says it is.
The "Use of the Armed Forces" in America under a National Emergency
27.06.07. Prof. Michel Chossudovsky,global research.ca. Unrestricted &
Arbitrary Powers conferred to the President & Vice President.
Subpoenas ignored. There are 529,000 ‘web results’ pages on this
subject.
U.S. ‘Prime Suspect’ for contempt
Official: Cheney Urged Wiretaps
07.06.07. D. Eggen, Washington Post. Stand-In for Ashcroft Alleges
Interference
Dick Cheney's Song of America
By David Armstrong, Harper's Magazine, 0017789X, Oct 2002, Vol. 305, Issue
1829 / ICH.
The Plan is for the United States to rule the world. The overt theme is
unilateralism, but it is ultimately a story of domination. It calls for the
United States to maintain its overwhelming military superiority and prevent
new rivals from rising up to challenge it on the world stage. It calls for
dominion over friends and enemies alike. It says not that the United States
must be more powerful, or most powerful, but that it must be absolutely
powerful.
Gelman and Becker wrote a series on Mr. Cheney,
Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency,for the Washington Post. And we also
have the now the
infamous video.
“Can’t recall” has become a U.S. mantra. Dr. Estes nails her man:
Dick Cheney on the Couch: Factitious Disorder and Career Criminality
Five US Reps Support Cheney Impeachment
06.06.07. Atlanta progressive. US Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY) has become the
fifth total co-sponsor of US Rep. Dennis Kucinich's (D-OH) bill to impeach
Vice President of the United States Dick Cheney, Atlanta Progressive News
has learned. In addition to Kucinich, the additional three Members of
Congress who have signed on to H. Res 333 are US Rep. Janice Schakowsky
(D-IL), William Lacy Clay (D-MO), and Albert Wynn (D-MD).
Don’t Misunderestimate Dick Cheney
30.06.07. John Dean, Find Law.
Cheney Told GOP-Led Congress They Couldn't Issue Subpoenas
21.08.07. Amanda Terkel, Think Progress / Alternet. Sen. Leahy says, "Not
quite sure that's my understanding of the separation of power
Where will this pathological contempt lead the U.S.?
Martial Law
Google ‘martial law’ on
Information Clearing House .There are about 185 entries.
Signs for the Times
Global Eye -- Dark Passage
20.02.02.Chris Floyd, Moscow Times, (republished at
Information Clearing House) The Bush Regime's foreign policy is also
being carried out according to a strict blueprint. Not since Mein Kampf has
a geopolitical punch been so blatantly telegraphed.
Jay Bookman’s article
The president’s real goal in Iraq (29.10.02) has excellent resource
material.
The Thirteen Stars and Stripes: An Expatriate's Alarm
05.05.07. ICH. Emanuel E. Garcia. ‘A quartet of laws has been signed that
lays the complete legal foundation for the takeover of our constitutional
democracy. They are the (so-called) Patriot Act of 2001 (extended in 2005);
the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (which allows for the suspension of
habeas corpus and the practice of torture and rendition); the John Warner
Defense Authorization Act of 2007, which facilitates the declaration of
martial law and nullifies posse comitatus by allowing the President to
station troops anywhere in the country and to commandeer the National Guard
without the consent of local authorities; and, finally, the National
Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive, signed on May 9,
2007, which in the event of a catastrophe would place all governmental
authority in the hands of the President.’
The CIA -- a Terrorist Organization
11.05.07. C. Nelson, oh my news. ‘Most definitions of terrorism include only
those acts which are intended to create fear or "terror," are perpetrated
for an ideological goal (as opposed to an attack by a "madman"), and
deliberately target "non-combatants." According to the United States Federal
Criminal Code, Chapter 113B of Part I of Title 18, terrorism is defined as
“activities that involve violent ... or life-threatening acts ... that are a
violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State and ...
appear to be intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
(ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or
(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction,
assassination, or kidnapping; and ... (C) occur primarily within the
territorial jurisdiction of the United States ... [or] ... (C) occur
primarily outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United States." … In
reality, the CIA does not only gather information but consistently targets
and engages in covert operations, psychological operations, and acts of
terrorism both domestically and internationally.’ Discusses past/present
operations of CIA and concludes: “It seems to me you cannot claim to fight
terrorism or claim to be the beacon of democracy with an organization like
the CIA in your ranks.”
Habeas Corpus Evaporating
14.05.07. Aziz Huq, Tom Paine. Six months after Congress enacted the
Military Commissions Act of 2006 with its eyes firmly on the polls,
there have been many promises and proposals from legislators about how to
remedy the damage done to civil liberties by that law—but little action.
Despite the powerful advocacy of former military officials, religious
figures, and law enforcement officials, Congress has as of yet failed to fix
a single one of the MCA’s many flaws. … In particular, Congress made it
easier to hold individuals without an adequate or lawful process to
determine what they have in fact done to merit detention. It established a
category of “Unlawful enemy combatant,” which is presently limited in
function, but which may create an open-ended detention authority.
America's biggest threat comes from within
19.05.07. dmregister / ICH. “Paul Craig Roberts is a Republican who served
as undersecretary of the treasury under Ronald Reagan and associate editor
of the Wall Street Journal's editorial page, so he's no kook or Commie. He
warns, "Unless Congress immediately impeaches Bush and Cheney, a year from
now the United States could be a dictatorial police state at war with Iran."
Roberts warns us that Bush has put into place all the necessary measures for
dictatorship in the form of executive orders that are triggered whenever
Bush declares a national emergency.”
Al Gore | Drive for Global Domination Puts Us in Greater Danger
24.05.07. Guardian / Truthout. Al Gore writes, "Moral authority, which is
our greatest source of strength, has been recklessly put at risk by this
willful president."
Not for Freedom
06.06.07. Charley Reese Lew Rockwell, ICH. The "global war on terror" is
just a bad metaphor that doesn't have any connection to reality. How long
are the American people going to allow liars to lull them into sacrificing
the most precious treasure the country has - its youth - in a futile,
lie-ridden, corruption-pocked war?
Imperialism and Fascism are on the Rise in the USA
09.07.07. Prof. Rodrigue Tremblay, globalresearch.ca.
Tales of Angst, Alienation and Martial Law: Roasting Marshmallows on the
American Reichstag Fire to Come
26.07.07. Phil Rockstroh, uruknet. ‘those who have been paying attention are
aware that the outward mechanisms of martial law are in place. We shudder
knowing that Bush has issued an executive decree that grants him dictatorial
power in the event of some nebulously defined national emergency. In
addition, the knowledge nettles us that a vast network of internment camps
bristle across the length of the U.S., standing at wait for those who might
raise objections to the fascistic fury unloosed by the American empire's
version of the Reichstag fire. … After the catastrophes spawned by the rise
of European fascism in the 1930s, a number of brilliant, original thinkers
(including Hannah Arendt, Roberto Freire, Wilhelm Reich, and R. D. Laing)
set out to study the phenomenon in order to learn how future calamities
might be prevented.’
The Threat Of Martial Law Is Real
27.07.07. Dave Lindorff, ICH. The looming collapse of the US military in
Iraq, of which a number of generals and former generals, including former
Chief of Staff Colin Powell, have warned, is happening none too soon, as it
my be the best hope for preventing military rule here at home.
Economic Collapse As Precursor To Open Plan For Martial Law?
16.08.07. PJ Watson, Prison Planet. Many fear recession, bank run, strike on
Iran or terror attack could signal green light for state of emergency. With
Video
Fear to Create Fear
“Propaganda is indeed part and parcel
of “psychological warfare”; but terror is more. Terror continues to be used
by totalitarian regimes even when its psychological aims are achieved; its
real horror is that it reigns over a completely subdued population."2
Nations Use Fear to Distract From Rights Abuses, Group Says
24.05.07.Washington Post / ICH. "The politics of fear is fueling a downward
spiral of human rights abuse in which no right is sacrosanct and no person
is safe," said Irene Khan, secretary general of the human rights watchdog.
Governments are undermining the rule of law and human rights with
"short-sighted fear-mongering and divisive policies." See Amnesty
International Report 2007
here.
and a further Amnesty report:
Amnesty International Regional Report on the United States of America
Facts and comments on detainees; Military Commissions Act; Renditions and
secret detention; Guantánamo; Detentions in Afghanistan and Iraq; Unlawful
killings by US forces outside the USA; Detention of 'enemy combatants' in
the USA; Torture and other ill-treatment; Ill-treatment in jails and police
custody; 'Supermax' prisons; Women in prison; Prisoners of conscience; Death
penalty; Other concerns; UN Committee against Torture and UN Human Rights
Committee ; AI country reports/visits.
This is a good, cynical example of the 'Fear Factor" :
White House: Iraq Progress Report Could Be Sept. 11 (20.08.07, Reuters).
The Fungus Grows
Identity
National ID card a disaster in the making
03.05.07. news.com / ICH. Six years into the "new normal" of terror alerts,
identification checks, electronic surveillance, and increasing levels of
secrecy-based security, the prospect of a national identification card needs
serious public debate. … Real ID was buried in a 2005 "must-pass" military
spending bill and enacted into law without public debate or congressional
hearings. But
REAL ID Revolt Spreads to 33 States (09.05)
National ID: Biometrics Pinned to Social Security Cards
15.05.07. R. Singel, wired. "This is an exact example of why IDs are so
ludicrous as a form of security," American Civil Liberties Union legislative
counsel Tim Sparapani said. "Do we really think the migrant workers are
going to show up at the pickle farm and the farmer is going to demand ID and
have a laptop in the field to check their ID?" … A recent report by the
Social Security Administration's inspector general backs up Moran's
criticism with findings that 17.8 million records in the government's
employment databases contained inaccuracies that could initially and
erroneously flag individuals as ineligible for employment.
Face recognition next in terror fight
11.05.07. USA Today. Homeland Security leaders are exploring futuristic and
possibly privacy-invading technology aimed at finding terrorists and
criminals by using digital surveillance photos that analyze facial
characteristics. [Remember the racial
profiling by the Nazis?]
Official Identity Theft
22.05.07. Frances Madesen, Tom Paine. “There is in existence an electronic
database with over a half-billion records, containing information collected
via extrajudicial requests made in National Security Letters, the majority
of which pertain to U.S. citizens. Your banking and credit activities,
telephone and internet usage records, insurance policies, post office box
rental, car, boat and home ownership records could already be in the FBI’s
Investigative Data Warehouse. If so, no one need inform you. If the
information is incorrect, there’s no way to fix it. It is shared among
10,000 government employees at multiple agencies, and is stored for 20 years
even if you have no connection whatsoever to a crime. In fact, only 65
convictions correlated to information obtained by the FBI from over 143,000
NSL demands made during 2003-2005.”
Critical Care Without Consent
27.05.07. R. Stein, Washington Post. The federal government is undertaking
the most ambitious set of studies ever mounted under a controversial
arrangement that allows researchers to conduct some kinds of medical
experiments without first getting patients' permission. The $50 million,
five-year 'project,' which will involve more than 20,000 patients in 11
sites in the United States and Canada, is designed to improve treatment [the
profit margin for the corpora-terrorists] after car accidents, shootings,
cardiac arrest and other emergencies... George J. Annas, a Boston University
bioethicist, said "I don't think we should use people like this." Annas was
particularly disturbed that children as young as 15 might be included in the
research. [note from legitgov.org:
Bush's mentors, the Nazis, carried out such experiments on prisoners in
concentration camps! Notice that this news tidbit broke in the middle of a
holiday weekend, when no one was paying attention.]
Censorship
Censorship 'changes face of net'
05.05.07. BBC. Amnesty International has warned that the internet "could
change beyond all recognition" unless action is taken against the erosion of
online freedoms.
State-mandated Internet censorship on the rise: report
18.05.07. The Jurist. A study released Friday by the OpenNet Initiative
(ONI) [advocacy website] has found a "substantial growth in the scale, scope
and sophistication" of Internet censorship [JURIST news archive] worldwide.
The study, focusing on state-mandated censorship, found evidence of content
filtering in 25 of 41 countries tested.
Google is watching you
24.05.07. Independent. 'Big Brother' row over plans for personal database.
Google, the world's biggest search engine, is setting out to create the most
comprehensive database of personal information ever assembled, one with the
ability to tell people how to run their lives. In a mission statement that
raises the spectre of an internet Big Brother to rival Orwellian visions of
the state, Google has revealed details of how it intends to organise and
control the world's information.
The Pentagon has recently censored soldiers from blogging; many reporters
have been murdered; newspaper offices bombed. The only war news allowed is
from controlled 'embedded' reporters, or news manufactured by the defence
department.
Criminalising the public
Air Marshals Flooding German, British Flights
14.05.07. ABC. * Also See:
EU: Armed sky marshals by the back-door?
Then there are the numerous innocent citizens wrongly stopped because of the
'terrorist' list at airport 'security' - includng very young children. See,
eg.,
Seven-year-old Muslim boy stopped in US three times on suspicion of being a
terrorist (20.08.07. JAYA NARAIN, Daily Mail). [More
racism? ]
FBI Terror List Out of control
13.06.07. J. Rood, ABC. A terrorist watch list compiled by the FBI has
apparently swelled to include more than half a million names.
Secret trials for terrorists, says US judge
28.06.07. David Nason, The Australian / ICH. A TOP-RANKING US judge has
stunned a conference of Australian judges and barristers in Chicago by
advocating secret trials for terrorists, more surveillance of Muslim
populations across North America and an end to counter-terrorism efforts
being "hog-tied" by the US constitution.
Nightmare on Main Street: More on Bush's Anti-Dissent Order
02.08.07. Chris Floyd, Empire Burlesque/URUKNET. … In other words, Bush now
claims the power to strip you of your assets if you oppose American policy
in Iraq.
Executive Order: Blocking Property of Certain Persons who Threaten Efforts
in Iraq
17.07.07. The White House
Bush Executive Order: Criminalizing the Antiwar Movement
20.07.07. Michel Chossudovsky Global Research.
“Totalitarianism in power uses the
state administration for its long-range goal of world conquest; … it
establishes secret police as the executors and guardians of its domestic
experiment in constantly transforming reality into fiction; and it finally
erects concentration camps as special laboratories to carry through its
experiment in total domination.”
3
Construction set to begin on delayed maximum security prison
04.08.07. AP, 9NEWS.com - Denver,CO,USA. Construction on a 948-bed maximum
security prison will begin in November, more than four years after lawmakers
approved funding to build it./ The Colorado State Penitentiary II, being
built next to the Centennial correctional facility, is expected to open in
early 2010. [ Another Halliburton
contract?]
US House passes intelligence surveillance bill
05.08.07. The Jurist. The bill can be read
here.
Globalising US Troops
The Militarization of North America
18.08.07. Michel Chossudovsky, globalresearch.ca. Canadian jurisdiction over
its Northern territories was redefined, following an April 2002 military
agreement between Ottawa and Washington. This agreement allows for the
deployment of US troops anywhere in Canada, as well as the stationing of US
warships in Canada's territorial waters.
Outsourcing
“It is true, ascendancy of the secret
police over the military apparatus is the hallmark of many tyrannies, and
not only the totalitarian.”4
The corporate takeover of U.S. intelligence
01.06.07. T. Shorrock, Salon.com. The U.S. government now outsources a vast
portion of its spying operations to private firms -- with zero public
accountability. ‘the U.S. government revealed for the first time how much of
its classified intelligence budget is spent on private contracts: a whopping
70 percent. Based on this year’s estimated budget of at least $48 billion,
that would come to at least $34 billion in contracts. … "Those numbers are
startling," said Steven Aftergood, the director of the Project on Government
Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists and an expert on the U.S.
intelligence budget. "They represent a transformation of the Cold War
intelligence bureaucracy into something new and different that is literally
dominated by contractor interests."
“The emphasis on the police as the
sole organ of power, and the corresponding neglect of the seemingly greater
power arsenal of the army, which is characteristic of all totalitarian
regimes, can still be partially explained by the totalitarian aspiration to
world rule and its conscious abolition of the distinction between a foreign
country and a home country, between foreign and domestic affairs. The
military forces, trained to fight a foreign aggressor, have always been a
dubious instrument for civil-war purposes; even under totalitarian
conditions they find it difficult to regard their own people with the eyes
of a foreign conqueror.”
5
Blackwater Down, Jeremy Scahill (Photo from Google Images; original source unknown)
What if our mercenaries turn on us?
03.06.07. Chris Hedges, Philly.com, anti-war.com. Armed units from the
private security firm Blackwater USA opened fire in Baghdad streets twice in
two days last week. It triggered a standoff between the security contractors
and Iraqi forces, a reminder that the war in Iraq may be remembered mostly
in our history books for empowering and building America's first modern
mercenary army. … Mercenary units are a vital instrument in the hands of
despotic movements. Communist and fascist movements during the last century
each built rogue paramilitary forces. And the appearance of Blackwater
fighters, heavily armed and wearing their trademark black uniforms,
patrolling the streets of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,
may be a grim taste of the future. In New Orleans Blackwater charged the
government $240,000 a day. … And the thugs with automatic weapons, black
uniforms and wraparound sunglasses who appeared on the streets in New
Orleans could appear on our streets.
Defense Agency Proposes Outsourcing More Spying
19.08.07. W. Pincus, Washington Post. Contracts Worth $1 Billion Would Set
Record. The Defense Intelligence Agency is preparing to pay private
contractors up to $1 billion to conduct core intelligence tasks of analysis
and collection over the next five years, an amount that would set a record
in the outsourcing of such functions by the Pentagon's top spying agency.
U.S. ‘War of Terror’
"Only when terror is intended to
coerce not merely from without but, as it were, from within, when the
political regime wants more than power, is terror in need of propaganda.
“Propaganda and violence are never
contradictions. Use of violence can be part of the progaganda.”6
NATIONAL EMERGENCIES ACT (2002)
‘War on terror’
05.07. Amnesty International Report. In its international campaign against
abuses in the “war on terror”, AI exposed and denounced hundreds of cases of
torture and other grave violations of human rights claimed by states to be a
necessary response to security threats. AI also strongly condemned
deliberate attacks on civilians and indiscriminate attacks by armed groups.
National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive
10.05.07. The White House. Also see article about this directive:
Bush Anoints Himself as the Insurer of Constitutional Government in
Emergency
Contingencies for nuclear terrorist attack
12.05.07.J. Sterngold, Sfgate/ - markings by legitgov.org. Government
working up plan to prevent chaos in wake of bombing of major city. As
concerns grow that terrorists [the Bush regime] might attack a major
American city with a nuclear bomb, a high-level group of government and
military officials has been quietly preparing an emergency survival program
that would include the building of bomb shelters, steps to prevent panicked
evacuations and the possible suspension of some civil liberties...
Fred Ikle said that the government should plan how it could restrict
civil liberties and enforce a sort of martial law in the aftermath of a
nuclear attack, but also have guidelines for how those liberties could be
restored later.
see also
Bush orders contingency plans for attack on U.S. (Washington Post/LA
Times): President Bush issued a formal national security directive Wednesday
ordering agencies to prepare contingency plans for a
surprise, "decapitating"
attack on the federal government, and assigned responsibility for
coordinating such plans to the White House.
? "surprise"", as in
'Pearl Harbour attack', mentioned in PNAC document?
Street Lockdowns Proposed for Baltimore
17.05.07. AP, Guardian. Councilman Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr., a mayoral
hopeful, said Curran's idea was an interesting concept but it raised
questions about civil liberties. “We have to make sure we're not declaring
martial law,'' he said.
Portland to Host Terrorism Drill “NOBLE RESOLVE 07-2” Aug. 20 to 24
13.08.07. Oregon Truth Alliance / legitgov.org. This is an urgent advisory
notice from concerned citizens of Oregon and Washington about an upcoming
U.S. Joint Forces Command emergency management exercise known as NOBLE
RESOLVE 07-2 that will simulate terrorism or disaster scenarios in the Lower
Columbia River Basin between Aug. 20th and Aug 24th, 2007. / NOBLE RESOLVE
07-2 was designed and will be directed by U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM)
and the Department of Homeland Security. We are aware of no public notice
concerning this exercise, but preliminary investigation has revealed that
Oregon National Guard officials and federal officials will conduct the
drill. Details from official sources are minimal.
Homeland Security Enlists Clergy to Quell Public Unrest if Martial Law Ever
Declared
16.08.07. ksla. Could martial law ever become a reality in America? Some
fear any nuclear, biological or chemical attack on U.S. soil might trigger
just that.
Who is listening?
Who is planning the next 9/11?
“UNFREE FREEDOM”
“and once again you're tumbled from
your private concerns into a dreadful realization of where history has taken
you: into a strange hybrid world of unfree freedom, where you can say what
you want, do what you want – unless those in power arbitrarily decide that
you can't.”
Chris Floyd.
Democracy Dreaming
23.03.07. (& reposted) Joel S. Hirschhorn, ICH. We have arrived at a
delusional democracy. Delusional because Americans overwhelmingly cannot
admit the painful truth that their limited democracy no longer works for the
good of most citizens. Instead, through corruption and dishonesty, our
representative democracy has morphed into a plutocracy that serves the
wealthy, power elites and corporate masters that control the political
system and through that the economic system.
Freedom or Totalitarianism, The Choice Is Yours
08.06.07. Sgt. Kevin Benderman, ICH. The apathetic American public needs to
pull their heads out of the comfortable little hole in the sand where it has
been for far too long and do something about the way our country is being
stolen from us by an administration that has its well-being and only its
well-being in mind.
Postscript: A Bit of Opposition?
In an article no longer available on the internet, The Washington Times
reported (23.05.07): "Baltimore council nixes 'martial law'. '‘Baltimore
lawmakers have rejected a proposal to allow the mayor to lock down streets
and close businesses in high-crime zones, the most recent attempt to curb
violence in the city. The proposal, which was introduced by City Council
member Robert W. Curran (D) also would have granted police extended search
powers. "While I do agree that desperate times call for desperate measures,
I do not agree that trampling on citizens' civil liberties is the answer,"
said council member Keifer J. Mitchell Jr., a Democrat running for mayor.
"This bill gives the mayor tremendous power, tantamount to declaring martial
law, and I have grave reservations about that."
I liked Carolyn Baker’s article,
The End of the World as We Know It: Hope Vs. Mindset (17.08.07,
Dissident Voice)
For those pathologically sick people who are trying to destroy our world –
may they experience ‘blowback’. Soon.
“They fail to understand that their
own conspiracy may eventually provoke the whole world into uniting against
them.7
+
Videos
George Bush's Power Grab: Authorizes Martial Law Provisions
Mind Control : America's Secret War
The Century of the Self. (How politicians and business learned to create
and manipulate mass-consumer society.)
"The War On Terror Is Bogus"
Just in the Name of Democracy
Gore Vidal: Understanding America's Terrorist Crisis: What Should Be Done?
+
"Terror becomes total when it becomes
independent of all opposition; it rules supreme when nobody any longer
stands in its way. If lawfulness is the essence of non-tyrannical government
and lawlessness is the essence of tyranny, then terror is the essence of
totalitarian domination.8
+
References
Totalitarianism and Obedience (13.02.07. S. Meyer, Index Research.
Updated to 30.04.07)
Project for the New American Century
PNAC: Rebuilding America's Defenses - A Biopsy on Imperialism; Part I:
Blueprint for Imperialism (18.02.06. S. Meyer, Index Research)
PNAC: Rebuilding America's Defenses - A Biopsy on Imperialism; Part II:
"Special Interests" - The Persian Gulf (29.03.06. S, Meyer, Index
Research. Updated.)
Iraq: Security Companies and Training Camps (24.05.06. S. Meyer, Index
Research, updated frequently)
I have quoted from Hannah Arendt’s Origins of Totalitarianism. Also
recommend
Hannah Arendt, Personal Responsibility under Dictatorship , The Hannah
Arendt Papers at the Library of Congress. This essay is also in Arendt’s
book,
Responsibility and Judgment, Schocken; Reprint edition (August 9, 2005)
+
Footnotes
[1] Arendt, Hannah,
The Origins of Totalitarianism, Schocken Books, 2004, pp. 543-4. More on
p. 401.
[2] Arendt Ibid, p. 453.
[3] Arendt, Ibid, p. 511
[4] Arendt, Ibid, p. 401
[5] Arendt, Ibid, p. 543
[6] Arendt, Ibid, p. 450, footnote
[7] Arendt, Ibid, p. 506
[8] Arendt, Ibid, p. 599
+
Sarah Meyer
is a researcher living in the UK
(The UK is also having its share of oppression. Google ‘The Observer’: Henry
Porter – he’s terrific - and angry.)
This Timeline article is dedicated to a visiting Washington, D.C. lawyer
friend, who ticked me off - shaking a finger at me - four years ago, for
saying that the U.S. was becoming fascist. I apologised, but I haven’t
changed my mind; worse than I feared.
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The url to U.S. Martial Law Timeline
http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/08/us-martial-law-timeline.html
Shorter url:
http://tinyurl.com/362zcd
UPDATES
AUGUST 2007
NATIONAL ID? WHAT ABOUT A GLOBAL ID?
10.08.07. computerworld.com. The cultural gap with the public in general is
still too wide," said Dr. Mike Mestrovich, president of FiXs. "I think there
would have to be a public consensus to move us in that direction and I don't
see that happening until at least 2009 or beyond."
ACLU Calls On Congress to Hold Administration in Contempt, Calls Latest
Missed Spy Deadline Outrageous
20.08.07. ACLU. Today, after the White House missed its second deadline to
respond to congressional subpoenas for information on the National Security
Agency’s warrantless wiretapping program, the American Civil Liberties Union
called on Congress to hold the Bush administration accountable.
NYPD's Homegrown Hysteria
20.08.07. N. Parry, Consortium. An influential report by two New York Police
Department counterterrorism analysts crosses a dangerous threshold in
recasting the “war on terror” as primarily a struggle that requires
increased domestic surveillance and pre-emptive action against American
Muslims who might become “homegrown terrorists” by visiting Internet sites.
Report can be seen
here . See also
NYPD Report Brands "Citizens who Quietly Band Together" as Terrorists
Pentagon to Close Terrorism Database
Wall St. Journal. The Defense Department said it will shut down an
antiterror database that has been criticized for improperly storing
information on peace activists and others whose actions posed no threat. It
will be closed Sept. 17, and information collected subsequently will be sent
to an Federal Bureau of Investigation database, according to Army Col. Gary
Keck, a Pentagon spokesman. He said the database is shutting down because
"the analytical value had declined," not because of public criticism of its
use. Eventually the Pentagon hopes to create a new system to "streamline
such threat reporting," according to a statement. The program, known as
Talon, was was designed to maintain a base of information on reported
potential threats to military facilities and personnel. In December 2005, it
was disclosed that the system included data on antimilitary protests and
other peaceful demonstrations. Pentagon officials have said the program had
detected international terrorist interest in specific military bases, but it
also acknowledged some officials may not have used the system properly.
Cheney's Office Says It Has Wiretap Documents
21.08.07. WASHINGTON POST. Vice President Cheney's office acknowledged for
the first time yesterday that it has dozens of documents related to the
administration's warrantless surveillance program, but it signaled that it
will resist efforts by congressional Democrats to obtain them. / The
disclosure by Cheney's counsel, Shannen W. Coffin, came on the day that the
Senate Judiciary Committee had set as a deadline for the Bush administration
to turn over documents related to the wiretapping program, which allowed the
National Security Agency to monitor communications between the United States
and overseas without warrants.
The REAL Purpose Of The REAL ID And The SPP
22.08.07. Channeling Reality. (Good Resource Siteon ID)To have a combined
data base requires compatibility of the numbering system and information
captured (EDI compliant). That's the real reason behind the Real ID. No
doubt the driver's license number will include country code and
state-province code. Even though the card stock might look different
depending upon the issuing agency, the data will be designed to reside in a
single database for all three countries. (See Washington State license
below)
White House Manual Details How to Deal With Protesters
22.08.07. P. Baker, Washington Post. Not that they're worried or anything.
But the White House evidently leaves little to chance when it comes to
protests within eyesight of the president. As in, it doesn't want any.
PROTECT AMERICA ACT OF 2007
See also
the Fact (sic)
Sheet (TheWhite House).
VIDEOS
What We Chose To Ignore brief summary of presidential directives,
executive orders, and congressionally approved bills that where signed into
law over the last 40 years or so.
See articles of Sarah Meyer published by the BRussells Tribunal website: http://www.brusselstribunal.org/Meyer.htm
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Sarah Meyer
is a researcher living in the UK