Rule by fear or rule by law?
Lewis Seiler, Dan Hamburg
Monday, February 4, 2008

"The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgment of his peers, is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government whether Nazi or Communist."
- Winston Churchill, Nov. 21, 1943

Since 9/11, and seemingly without the notice of most Americans, the federal government has assumed the authority to institute martial law, arrest a wide swath of dissidents (citizen and noncitizen alike), and detain people without legal or constitutional recourse in the event of "an emergency influx of immigrants in the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs."

Beginning in 1999, the government has entered into a series of single-bid contracts with Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) to build detention camps at undisclosed locations within the United States. The government has also contracted with several companies to build thousands of railcars, some reportedly equipped with shackles, ostensibly to transport detainees.

According to diplomat and author Peter Dale Scott, the KBR contract is part of a Homeland Security plan titled ENDGAME, which sets as its goal the removal of "all removable aliens" and "potential terrorists."

Fraud-busters such as Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, have complained about these contracts, saying that more taxpayer dollars should not go to taxpayer-gouging Halliburton. But the real question is: What kind of "new programs" require the construction and refurbishment of detention facilities in nearly every state of the union with the capacity to house perhaps millions of people?

Sect. 1042 of the 2007 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), "Use of the Armed Forces in Major Public Emergencies," gives the executive the power to invoke martial law. For the first time in more than a century, the president is now authorized to use the military in response to "a natural disaster, a disease outbreak, a terrorist attack or any other condition in which the President determines that domestic violence has occurred to the extent that state officials cannot maintain public order."

The Military Commissions Act of 2006, rammed through Congress just before the 2006 midterm elections, allows for the indefinite imprisonment of anyone who donates money to a charity that turns up on a list of "terrorist" organizations, or who speaks out against the government's policies. The law calls for secret trials for citizens and noncitizens alike.

Also in 2007, the White House quietly issued National Security Presidential Directive 51 (NSPD-51), to ensure "continuity of government" in the event of what the document vaguely calls a "catastrophic emergency." Should the president determine that such an emergency has occurred, he and he alone is empowered to do whatever he deems necessary to ensure "continuity of government." This could include everything from canceling elections to suspending the Constitution to launching a nuclear attack. Congress has yet to hold a single hearing on NSPD-51.

U.S. Rep. Jane Harman, D-Venice (Los Angeles County) has come up with a new way to expand the domestic "war on terror." Her Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 (HR1955), which passed the House by the lopsided vote of 404-6, would set up a commission to "examine and report upon the facts and causes" of so-called violent radicalism and extremist ideology, then make legislative recommendations on combatting it.

According to commentary in the Baltimore Sun, Rep. Harman and her colleagues from both sides of the aisle believe the country faces a native brand of terrorism, and needs a commission with sweeping investigative power to combat it.

A clue as to where Harman's commission might be aiming is the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, a law that labels those who "engage in sit-ins, civil disobedience, trespass, or any other crime in the name of animal rights" as terrorists. Other groups in the crosshairs could be anti-abortion protesters, anti-tax agitators, immigration activists, environmentalists, peace demonstrators, Second Amendment rights supporters ... the list goes on and on. According to author Naomi Wolf, the National Counterterrorism Center holds the names of roughly 775,000 "terror suspects" with the number increasing by 20,000 per month.

What could the government be contemplating that leads it to make contingency plans to detain without recourse millions of its own citizens?

The Constitution does not allow the executive to have unchecked power under any circumstances. The people must not allow the president to use the war on terrorism to rule by fear instead of by law.

Lewis Seiler is the president of Voice of the Environment, Inc. Dan Hamburg, a former congressman, is executive director.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/04/ED5OUPQJ7.DTL

AMERICAN CONCENTRATION CAMPS
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/camps.htm

http://www.billboardliberation.com/

It is definitely fascism when it happens to you

Wayne Madsen
Online Journal
Wednesday, May 14, 2008

In Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff’s world of an “Israelized” America, the terms SPOT (Screening Passengers by Observation Technique) and BDO (Behavior Detection Officer) are the new acronyms of Stasi-like control of the American citizenry by a government that treats anyone as a suspicious person in the same manner that Israel mistreats its own Arab citizens and Palestinians.

Sunday, this editor and his colleague faced the Chertoffian menace at Washington’s Reagan National Airport while heading to the gate to board a flight to Houston.

It is now clear from a review of the events that unfolded that I was pre-selected for an intensive search and battery of questions even before arriving in line for the security screening. A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screener was overheard saying, “the guy with the beard.” Since I was the only person in line who also had a beard, it was evident that a red flag had earlier been raised.

What followed, was worse than anything I had previously encountered while leaving Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, itself a revolting display of ingratitude to citizens of the country that bankrolls Israel, or the Israeli-run screening process at Amsterdam’s Schipol Airport.

First, I was instructed to enter a glass isolation chamber and point out my belongings that were exiting the X-ray machine. Anyone with claustrophobia would really enjoy being placed in such a chamber and have to speak to the screener through small holes in the glass.

I was then led to an area where all my carry-on bags were emptied. I was also forced to empty my pockets of everything. A bevy of screeners then proceeded to go through my wallet examining everything: cash, credit cards, VA medical benefits card, National Press Club card, voter’s registration card, and driver’s license. Then came an examination of my press credentials and related IDs: Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) card, Society of Professional Journalists card, National Archives research card, Library of Congress card, three press credentials, and membership card in Association for Intelligence Officers (AFIO).

In a blatant violation of the First and Fourth Amendments, my reporter’s notebooks, containing names of contacts in Houston and around the world were paged through by the screeners. Another screener asked if I minded being probed in “certain private areas.” He then asked if I’d like the examination to be conducted in private. I replied, “No, let everyone see this.” He then proceeded to examine my groin area.

Then came the battery of questions.

1. Are you feeling okay?

2. Where are you going today?

3. How long will you be there?

4. Why are you going there?

5. What story are you covering/

6. Who do you write for?

7. When did you move to Washington?

8. Where did you live before that?

9. What did you do for a living before?

10. Who was the most famous person you ever met?

11. What was the most famous event you ever covered?

12. What type of things do you write about?

13. What type of politics do you cover?

14. What is your place of birth?

My colleague, who had successfully passed through screening and was waiting for me, was then asked to step into the holding area so she “could see and hear what was going on.” It was a ruse. She was also subjected to a full carry-on bag examination, frisking, and a series of personal questions:

1, Are you with him?

2. Where are you going?

3. What is the purpose of your visit?

4. What story are you investigating?

5. How long were you in the US Air Force?

6. Where were you stationed overseas?

7. Why were you not overseas in the military?

8. When are you returning?

9. Who do you work for?

10. What is an independent journalist?

11. How long have you been working with him?

12. Do you find your job fulfilling?

13. What is your place of birth?

After this Gestapo-like of questioning, I was told that a TSA screener was writing details in a notebook for the “paperwork.” My colleague was told TSA was going to file an “incident report.”

The nature of WMR’s coverage is that our sources are our lifeblood and anything done to compromise them is a direct attack on the freedom of the press and our rights as journalists. The notion of press freedom does not exist in Chertoff’s worldview of police state tactics and total surveillance but his worldview is a distinctly un-American one, something that is more properly relegated to the history books of his ancestral Czarist Russia.

When our investigations take us beyond the Washington Beltway, it is not within Chertoff’s purview to find out details about the purpose of the trip, even though it may shed an unwelcome light on his network of Mossad operatives and Russian-Israeli gangsters and scam artists who are now running rampant in these United States of America.

The antics at Washington Reagan National are not unique. Foreign journalists have been subjected to similar invasive screening either at US embassies when applying for the required journalist visas to visit the United States or at immigration screening at US entry points.

The corporate media will not report on these cases as they are part of the problem in allowing Chertoff and his American Gestapo to continue to turn the United States into one big West Bank-style checkpoint.

One other note. This editor visited the USSR and draconian nations such as Paul Kagame’s Rwanda, Yoweri Museveni’s Uganda, Hun Sen’s Cambodia, the former military junta’s Thailand, surveillance society Singapore, and Muslim monarchy Brunei Darussalam. Nothing compares to what occurred at Washington National Airport. It is yet another sign of the fact that the United States has entered a phase of fascist control. There’s only one question that remains: Is the slide reversible?
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_3287.shtml

'Science fiction like' weapons on tap for political conventions
David Edwards and Stephen C. Webster
Monday July 7, 2008



The political parties are arming themselves, in preparation for their respective conventions.

Congress has approved $100 million to pay for security expenses at this summer's presidential nominating conventions, with $50 million dedicated to each party.

CNN's Ed Lavendera reports that Denver and St. Paul officials have said that the types of weapons being purchased are "top secret."

Apart from the traditional pepper spray and rubber bullets employed by police for controlling large protests, Denver, Colorado and St. Paul, Minnesota officials may be spending large sums on weapons CNN calls 'science fiction sounding'.

Weapons such as the sonic ray gun, which emits a head-splitting frequency and deafens large groups of people. Also rumored for the conventions is the goo gun -- which shoots a gel that can coat and wrap people whole, or stop a moving vehicle in its path -- and a microwave pulse emitter -- a radio frequency device that makes one's skin feel it is on fire, previously deployed in the streets of Baghdad, Iraq.

The ACLU is suing both cities to disclose how security money is being spent, with hopes as to determine what specific weapons may be deployed against Americans. However, officials say it is important they be secretive about the technologies employed by their security forces, lest the crowds which will inevitably surround the conventions gain the upper hand.
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/CNN_Top_secret_weapons_to_be_0707.html

Black Op group formed to disrupt Denver Activities?
http://www.blackopforum.info/index.php/topic,194.0.html

The Fourth Circuit’s Ominous Decision
by Jacob G. Hornberger
July 16, 2008
(excerpt)

Led by conservative judges, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has just affirmed the Bush administration’s “enemy combatant” doctrine, a doctrine that allows President Bush and his military forces to designate anyone anywhere in the world as an “enemy combatant” in the so-called war on terrorism and treat him accordingly. While the case that the Court was deciding involved a foreigner, Ali al-Marri, the Court’s reasoning applies to American citizens as well.

Al-Marri is a citizen of Qatar. He was under federal court indictment for terrorist-related charges and actually preparing for trial under the principles of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the U.S. federal court system. Before the trial was permitted to begin, U.S. officials yanked Al-Marri out of the federal court system and sent him into the clutches of the U.S. military. The government took the position that ever since 9/11 it had the power to treat suspected terrorists in one of two alternative ways — as a federal court defendant or as an “enemy combatant.” While they initially chose the first route with al-Marri, they ended up employing the second route.

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has now upheld the government’s position and the government’s actions. That means that the president and the Pentagon now wield the same power wielded by totalitarian and authoritarian regimes around the world: the power to sweep into neighborhoods across the land and arbitrarily take citizens into custody as “enemy combatants.” After all, don’t forget the government’s argument, an argument that has now been upheld by a federal court of appeals: In the global war on terror, the entire United States is part of the battlefield.

After 9/11, the president unilaterally adopted a new order of things here in the United States, without even the semblance of a constitutional amendment. From that point on, the president and the Pentagon would have the option of treating suspected terrorists, including Americans, as “enemy combatants” and treating them accordingly. Soon afterward, they established their torture and sex abuse camp for suspected terrorists in Cuba and later took an American citizen, Jose Padilla, into military custody as an “enemy combatant.”

Will Americans be concerned about the al-Marri decision? Not likely. Most of them will continue their sheep-like or ostrich-like way of life. The reason is that since the president and the military aren’t arresting Americans en masse and carting them into concentration centers, the standard attitude is, “Why worry?”

But if there is another big terrorist attack, then it is a virtual certainty that Americans will get to witness the full exercise of the power that has now been sustained by the Fourth Circuit. Orders for round-ups will be issued, and the troops will loyally and obediently follow those orders. In the midst of the fear and panic generated by such an attack, American sheep, both male and female, will not object to the round-ups of hundreds or thousands of American “terrorists” and “terrorist sympathizers.” For the sheep, the fear of being among those rounded up will be worse than the fear of “the terrorists.”

http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-07-16.asp

"You protesters don't know how good you got it here in the 'ol US of A. If you hate this country so damn much, maybe you oughta move to some place like Red China!" ;-)

Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Beijing to set up Olympic protest zones

BEIJING (AP) — Beijing will set up specially designated zones for protesters during next month's Olympics, a security official said Wednesday, in a sign China's authoritarian government may allow some demonstrations during the games.

"This will allow people to protest without disrupting the Olympics," said Ni Jianping, director of the Shanghai Institute of American Studies, who lobbied Chinese leaders to set up the protest zones.

Vehicle checkpoints ring Beijing. Visa rules have been tightened to keep out foreign activists. Police have swept Beijing neighborhoods to remove Chinese who have come to the capital to complain about local government misdeeds, and known political critics and underground Christians have been told to leave.

But Liu Shaowu, director for security for the Beijing Olympic organizing committee, said Wednesday that areas in at least three public parks near outlying sporting venues have been set aside for use by demonstrators. "We will invite demonstrators to hold their demonstrations in designated places,'' Liu told a news conference.

Liu also reiterated that Chinese regulations require that all protesters apply and receive permission in advance, though he sidestepped questions about whether that included the special zones. Ni, the Shanghai scholar, said that Chinese protesters may be allowed only in the rather far World Park, not in the other venues.

"Designating unilaterally 'protest zones' for demonstrators does not equate to respecting the right to demonstrate because in this situation control comes first and the right second," said Nicholas Bequelin, a researcher with New York-based Human Rights Watch's Asia Division.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=5430745

Free speech zones (also known as First Amendment Zones, Free speech cages, and Protest zones) are areas set aside in public places for political activists to exercise their "right of free speech" in the United States.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_speech_zones

The "First Amendment zone" at the 2004 Democratic National Convention

Ohio woman completely stripped while handcuffed by seven or more cops, including two males, after calling 9-11 for help. Assaulted, battered, and left naked in her cell for six hours.

"Torture is totally legal in America. The only thing is, you must be beaten out by a cop, have them file false criminal charges against you, and let the justice system cover up for their misconduct and assault. It's a bigger problem than in Ohio. It's a pandemic that is nationwide..."

Ohio's Finest Make Me Sick
http://blog.simplejustice.us/2008/02/06/ohios-finest-make-me-sick-thanks-to-gideon.aspx#comment-1150492



Video of the police assault:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=353_1202062436

Followup: Is there video the Sheriff doesn't want you to see?
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b00_1202065210

Four more women come forward with similar stories
http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=84243&provider=gnews

RNC Raids Have Been Targeting Video Activists
By Liliana Segura, AlterNet. Posted September 1, 2008.

In the run-up to the Republican convention, Minnesota police launched a series of preemptive raids to intimidate protesters and quash dissent.



"St. Paul is a free country!" cried a resident of Iglehart Avenue, a neighborhood street in St. Paul, Minn., as she watched her next-door neighbor's house being overtaken by police officers on Saturday afternoon. Just one in a series of house raids over a 24-hour period the weekend before the Republican National Convention, St. Paul police surrounded the private home with weapons drawn, detaining people in the backyard, while journalists, activists and neighbors -- including several children -- looked on.

Their crime? None whatsoever. No one was trespassing or engaging in acts of civil disobedience. Instead, members of I-Witness Video, http://iwitnessvideo.info/ a New York-based media watchdog group that records police activity in order to protect civil liberties, were holding an organizing meeting at 949 Iglehart, the home of St. Paul resident Mike Whalen, when armed police officers arrived in the early afternoon and ordered their surrender.

Among them was Eileen Clancy, founder of I-Witness Video, as well as a producer with Democracy Now! DN! host Amy Goodman and her staff had just arrived at Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport when they received word that producer Elizabeth Press was in the house and being threatened with arrest.

As Press would later explain, a pair of police officers had actually shown up at the house earlier that day, at 11 in the morning, asking about the owner of the house. One of them identified himself as being with the FBI. "I think that was them just checking out the scene at the house," said Press, who videotaped the officers coming to the door. They claimed to want to question a former resident about an action that had occurred a few months earlier. "We're not here from the convention," one officer said. Nervous I-Witness members didn't know what to make of it -- "We were like, this is f-d up let's get out of here," recalled Press -- but they chose to finish their meeting anyway. It was only when they were getting ready to leave that the police showed up, some 20 officers this time, with guns drawn.

Sara Coffey of the National Lawyers Guild had just left the house and was immediately handcuffed. But, as described in Clancy's alert, Press and the rest of the people in the duplex refused to let the police in because they did not have a warrant. However, at around 3:00 p.m., a warrant materialized for the adjacent space, apartment 951. "They entered through 951, detained everyone in that apartment, including the owner," recalled Press, "… and then broke into 949 through the attic." The police entered with their guns drawn, ordered everyone's hands up and handcuffed them.

Their belongings were confiscated and searched, and the group was assembled in the backyard. But soon after the crowd gathered with video cameras and legal observers, including an attorney for Mike Whalen -- and after Amy Goodman jumped the fence to interview people and ask the cops why they were holding nonviolent people who had done nothing wrong -- they were released.

Preemptive Strikes

Unlike the preceding raids, including one targeting the convergence space of the RNC Welcoming Committee -- an anarchist group dubiously described by Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher as "a criminal enterprise … intent on committing criminal acts" -- the raid on the I-Witness house was specifically designed to target media activists whose mission is to hold police officers responsible for abusing their authority. I-Witness Video was instrumental in documenting police abuse during the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York, during which some 1,800 people were arrested. Working in cooperation with the National Lawyers Guild, I-Witness Video led to the dismissal of charges or the acquittal of some 400 protesters. This summer, New York City authorities subpoenaed I-Witness Video for tapes from the protests. In an interview with Democracy Now! on Aug. 1, Clancy discussed the group's plans for the political conventions.

"We're going to bring a crew to both presidential conventions. It's pretty exciting. I mean, one of the reasons we're very interested in covering the conventions is (not) because we want … bad things to happen, but because the focus of the federal government, the law enforcement agencies and all that is very keenly directed at demonstrators. And when you cover these events completely, you're able to see the patterns. The patterns emerge."  http://www.democracynow.org/2008/8/1/i_witness_video_nypd_officer_caught

"I-Witness definitely does document things like police brutality and policing in general during situations of conflict," I-Witness member Emily Foreman, one of three members who managed to leave the house only to be followed by police and pulled over on their bikes, told a reporter with The Uptake after the raid, noting that that could make the group a target, "not because of anything illegal but because of our interest in upholding the law."

Nevertheless, the list of items police were looking for would suggest the activists were nothing short of terror suspects. "Packages and contents, firearms and ammunition, holsters, cleaning equipment for firearms, (and) weapons devices" were included in the warrant read by Whalen, who spoke to reporters shortly after his handcuffs were removed. Asked what connection he had to the I-Witness Video activists, he replied, "no connection," adding, "People needed a place to stay, and I support the work they do."

Series of Raids

All told, six raids took place in St. Paul in 24 hours, resulting in six arrests. On Sunday, the Minnesota Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild sent out a press release announcing that it is "seeking prompt judicial review" of the "preventative detentions" of the six people arrested, all of whom remain on "probable cause holds" in the Ramsey County Jail. According to the press release: "In Minnesota, a probable cause hold can be ordered by a police officer without a prosecutor or a judge reviewing a criminal complaint. Due to the arrest occurring on a weekend holiday, all six citizens can be held until Wednesday, September 3, 2008, without the filing of a formal charge."

The extent of the federal involvement in the raids is not entirely clear. Although they were reportedly spearheaded by the Ramsey County Sheriff's office, St. Paul Police coordinated them with the FBI. Furthermore, according to the Star Tribune, the raids were "aided by informants planted in protest groups." Indeed, as Glenn Greenwald reminded readers on Sunday, the Minneapolis Joint Terrorist Task Force spent months recruiting people to spy on activist groups planning to protest the RNC. On May 21, the Minneapolis City Pages ran a bizarre but chilling story titled "Moles Wanted," about the recruitment efforts by the task force -- specifically, attempts to enlist people to "attend 'vegan potlucks' throughout the Twin Cities and rub shoulders with RNC protesters" in a mission to "investigate terrorist acts carried out by groups or organizations which fall within the definition of terrorist groups as set forth in the current United States Attorney General Guidelines."

"This is all part of a larger government effort to quell political dissent," attorney Jordan Kushner, told the City Pages at the time. "The Joint Terrorism Task Force is another example of using the buzzword 'terrorism' as a basis to clamp down on people's freedoms and push forward a more authoritarian government."

With most of the subjects of the raids eventually released, the consensus among activists at the RNC in the wake of the raids is that the police actions are mainly meant to stop protests, lawful or not, before they start. "I think what they're doing is trying to intimidate people," said Press. But even as the GOP plans to scale back its convention activities in the face of Hurricane Gustav, with multiple protests scheduled for the week, the actions of the police do not seem to be doing much to dissuade people from going forward with their plans.

The next day, a group of peaceful marchers organized by Veterans for Peace headed downtown. With armed police officers far outnumbering protesters, several marchers were discussing the raids. "It's intimidation, absolutely," VFP member Leah Bolger said. "People are harassed to no end." Although veterans groups were not among the targeted organizations, word of the raids had spread quickly among the demonstrators. "I started this work as part of the peace movement," said Bolger, a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Navy. "But more and more it's about civil rights. … When I hear about the raids, it's just really upsetting and frightening," she said. But not necessarily surprising. In this era of the supposed "war on terror," she said, Americans have become used to trading civil rights for a perceived safety. "They're willing to throw away their civil liberties."  http://www.alternet.org/rights/97110/?page=entire

Army Unit to Deploy in October for Domestic Operations
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.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/9/22/headlines#10

"I'm just a Dog Face Soldier, with a rifle on my shoulder."


"They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control..."

"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."  http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/army_homeland_090708w/

Militarized Cops
Lew Rockwell interviews William Grigg
http://www.lewrockwell.com/podcast/?p=episode&name=2008-09-21_030_militarized_cops.mp3

Democracy Now!
October 01, 2008
GAO: Satellite Spy Program Fails to Meet Privacy Concerns

...new questions are being raised about the Bush administration’s controversial satellite surveillance program, known as the National Applications Office. The Department of Homeland Security says it will proceed with the first phase of the program despite objections it doesn’t comply with privacy laws. The satellite program is designed to provide federal, state and local officials with extensive access to spy satellite imagery to assist with emergency response and other domestic security needs. But critics say the Bush administration hasn’t created legal safeguards to ensure the program won’t be used for domestic spying. According to the Wall Street Journal, a new report from the Government Accountability Office says the Homeland Security Department has failed to address the privacy and civil liberties concerns.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/10/1/headlines#10

SURVEILLANCE
Administration Set to Use New Spy Program in U.S.
Congressional Critics Want More Assurances of Legality
Washington Post, April 12, 2008

The Bush administration said yesterday that it plans to start using the nation's most advanced spy technology for domestic purposes soon, rebuffing challenges by House Democrats over the idea's legal authority. 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/11/AR2008041103655.html

Obama, McCain both vote “Yes” on Senate bailout bill
http://www.youdecide2008.com/2008/10/01/obama-mccain-both-vote-yes-on-senate-bailout-bill/

Betrayed by the Bailout: The Death of Democracy
On this date, October 3, 2008, the American people were betrayed by those whom they had elected to represent them. The members of Congress who voted for the Wall Street “bailout” violated their oath of office to “support and defend the Constitution” …

It is widely reported that calls and emails to Congress from constituents were running as high as 300 to one against the bailout. Mike Whitney reports one analyst saying that “the calls to Congress are 50 percent ‘No’ and 50 percent ‘Hell, No’.”

An AP poll only identified 30 percent of the public in favor of the bailout, and a CNN Money opinion poll found 77 percent of the people believing the bailout would benefit those most responsible for the economic downturn.

The real estate bubble that has been driving the United States economy has now popped, and there is no replacement engine to transport America’s consumer society down the highway to happiness. Americans are facing the mother of all depressions; it will be hard and it will last a long time. What are all of these homeless, hopeless, and hungry people going to do?

Many have already exercised their First Amendment right to petition their government for the redress of grievances. A majority of the members of Congress, the two presidential candidates, and the President paid no attention to the economic experts and the thousands and thousands of voters who protested the bailout and who begged them to rescue the people rather than the rich and powerful.

The people can always take to the streets in protest, and they probably will do so in growing numbers as the economic circumstances become more harsh.

The U.S. government is already planning for the eventuality – not with the helping hand of supplemental legislation to help with mortgages, jobs, shelter or food, but with the mailed fist of military suppression.  
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10433

US Readies 20,000 Troops Against Homeland Threats
After years of planning, the military will have 20,000 troops stationed inside the US ready to handle domestic crises such as nuclear terrorism by 2011, the Washington Post reports. That’s almost seven times the number of domestic-response troops 5 years ago—a move that would have been “unbelievable” before 9/11, says a defense official. Critics worry that the assignment signals an executive-power expansion and undermines a 130-year-old law restricting domestic military deployment.  
http://www.newser.com/story/44065/us-readies-20000-troops-against-homeland-threats.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/30/AR2008113002217_pf.html

[quote author=PurpleHaze link=topic=143.msg2467#msg2467 date=1273775793][/quote]