First I have to say I thought about this all night knowing the way I have been saying for years this is going to turn out.Yesterday what our friend Betmo was saying about the reality or our and the worlds situation made me think about it all night as there will be no necessary preparation for me as I am trained and have been prepared for years but Betmo is right and most do not have a clue and better start looking at the big picture and preparing. watching events around the world should tell anyone with any sense at all that the entire world is in turmoil as countries race to control the people in jockeying for position in the future. It seems the world's super powers us included are using the excuse of fighting terrorism for selfish gain and to rid themselves of old and future problems within their borders
China is of course doing this and watching the reaction to China holding the upcoming Olympics and the reaction to the Olympic torch being brought to them came to a head for me yesterday as it was absolutely degrading, insulting, and an absolute warning of the rampant unrest in the world today and the unavoidable horrendous word wide turmoil we will in fact be facing an the Chinese people are totally unaware as China is keeping them in the dark. I really have to wonder what is going to happen during these supposed celebrations because something will. Of course though it is the unavoidable big picture I want to highlight!
First let us just recap what has happened with the torch so far as this a mere snapshot of the future to come! I think it is another crock as China is using the excuse of fighting terrorism to stifle any internal opposition but China said Thursday it had uncovered a criminal ring planning to kidnap athletes and others at the Beijing Olympic Games. I mean come on! Thirty-five members of a ring based in the restive western Xinjiang region were arrested, Ministry of Public Security Spokesman Wu Heping told a news conference. "We face a real terrorist threat," Wu said. The arrests took place between March 26 and April 6, he said. I refuse to believe it!
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror hijackings, China has tried to portray the simmering separatist rebellion in Xinjiang as being fueled by terrorist organizations in Central Asia and the Middle East. But evidence made public has been scarce. Western embassies asked Beijing for more information after authorities said they broke up an attempt to hijack a plane in western China last month but so far no evidence has been provided, diplomats have said.
China is of course doing this and watching the reaction to China holding the upcoming Olympics and the reaction to the Olympic torch being brought to them came to a head for me yesterday as it was absolutely degrading, insulting, and an absolute warning of the rampant unrest in the world today and the unavoidable horrendous word wide turmoil we will in fact be facing an the Chinese people are totally unaware as China is keeping them in the dark. I really have to wonder what is going to happen during these supposed celebrations because something will. Of course though it is the unavoidable big picture I want to highlight!
First let us just recap what has happened with the torch so far as this a mere snapshot of the future to come! I think it is another crock as China is using the excuse of fighting terrorism to stifle any internal opposition but China said Thursday it had uncovered a criminal ring planning to kidnap athletes and others at the Beijing Olympic Games. I mean come on! Thirty-five members of a ring based in the restive western Xinjiang region were arrested, Ministry of Public Security Spokesman Wu Heping told a news conference. "We face a real terrorist threat," Wu said. The arrests took place between March 26 and April 6, he said. I refuse to believe it!
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror hijackings, China has tried to portray the simmering separatist rebellion in Xinjiang as being fueled by terrorist organizations in Central Asia and the Middle East. But evidence made public has been scarce. Western embassies asked Beijing for more information after authorities said they broke up an attempt to hijack a plane in western China last month but so far no evidence has been provided, diplomats have said.
Poor China! On Thursday, Wu said the ring was plotting to kidnap athletes, foreign journalists and other visitors to the August Games. He added that police had also confiscated almost 22 pounds of explosives and eight sticks of dynamite and "jihadist" literature in the latest raids in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. Wu also provided further details on a second group arrested in January, alleging they had been manufacturing explosives and were plotting to attack hotels, government offices and military targets in Shanghai, Beijing and other cities. Wu said the gang had been acting on orders from a radical Islamic Xinjiang independence group, East Turkestan Islamic Movement. Again no proof supplied! While the United States has labeled the East Turkestan Islamic Movement a terrorist organization, the State Department alleges widespread abuses of the legal and educational systems by the communist authorities to suppress Uighur culture and religion. China 'uncovers Olympic terror plot, prove it
As you know, it is hypocrisy for china to be holding the peace Olympics. The torch sparked mass protests since it started most notably London and Paris where it was doused 5 times. I paid a lot of attention to it in San Francisco and was sickened by what I was watching. It looked like fort Knox. They hid the torch, put it in a warehouse, moved it by boat, and the President has never seen this kind of security. I was appalled as this is just a glimpse of our future. While this was total chaos to me San Francisco after playing hide and seek is calling it a success and the IOC is glad it is behind them there.
The IOC had previously not ruled out the possibility of suspending or scrapping the rest of the international leg of the relay, but with San Francisco out of the way, officials vowed to push on. The torch is now headed to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and then to a dozen other countries. The relay also is expected to face demonstrations in New Delhi, India, and possibly elsewhere on its 21-stop, six-continent tour before arriving in mainland China on May 4. The Olympics begin Aug. 8. Rogge said the IOC has received assurances that Beijing organizers were taking "all the measures necessary to have a safe passage of the torch." He said "all options are open" on torch relays for future Olympics, including restricting the procession to inside the territory of the host country. Rogge said the IOC would address that issue later this year —"not in the heat of this week." IOC President Says Olympics in 'Crisis' Over Torch Relay Chaos
* what we have been seeing around the world with water wars, riots, protests, genocide, military rule, power grabs, Russia, South America, China, Myanmar, Africa, the entire world, not just the torch run is merely the beginning for what the world will be facing in the future. Many of the movies we watched in the 50s and 60s about world chaos etc are no longer science fiction. I hope people put what is happening in numerous countries around the world into context with what is happening with the Olympic torch run. They are all part of the whole. They are all just a snap shot of our future to come. Do not be fool enough to think this is the rant of a pessemist. I am a realist who has been trying to wake up the country for thirty years. Have fun but be prepared. The future will be here soon!
11 comments:
And as we march on to new wars, issues like the following, will go unaddressed.
US Water Pipelines Are Breaking
By COLLEEN LONG – 1 day ago
NEW YORK (AP) — Two hours north of New York City, a mile-long stream and a marsh the size of a football field have mysteriously formed along a country road. They are such a marvel that people come from miles around to drink the crystal-clear water, believing it is bubbling up from a hidden natural spring.
http://tinyurl.com/5sq96m
I haven't looked at the link yet our entire infrastructure is failing to the tune of $trillions while the idiot ignores that and all disasters for a reason. At the same time he borrows trillions and gives away multiple Billions. Soon he will have his reason to take total control or McCain will get in underhandedly and he will do it. The alternatives are even worse!
'As you know, it is hypocrisy for china to be holding the peace Olympics.'
no more so than america becoming incensed by human rights violations. we currently kidnap, hold without charging indefinitely, and torture people- many who are actually innocent. i am not saying we shouldn't hold china accountable but think about the timing. the time would have been when picking where to have the olympics. anything else is just political posturing.
oh- unrelated- got the seeds ordered and en route- now just have to get tilling :)
I know! I have had so many feelings about all this. It is as if Bush lets them do what they want if they let his perform his transgressions. I don't feel good about us or anything.
Watching the entire world having growth pains or whatever you call them and seeing the way this has been going with the chaos and weapons and everything to me is just a snap shot of the future Bush has set for us and the world.
I'm excited for your garden. As soon as you get them plant them or start them outdoors. Do you have a local greenhouse. Watching things grow and harvesting is so rewarding and exciting. Keep me in touch and have fun! It might be a tad early for tilling depending on how far north you are!
Here is one for you Jim:
Ike’s Warning on Military-Industrial Complex Ignored
William Hughes
“We have guided missiles and misguided men.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.
On April 6, 2008, I drove by the farm in Gettysburg, PA, that the late President Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower called home after he retired from public office. The old warrior, loved by the people, would easily recognized it today, since little has changed over the years. Something, however, he wouldn’t recognize in 2008, is the Military-Industrial Complex. In his prophetic “Farewell Address” of 1961, President Eisenhower warned the nation about the serious threat that its “unwarranted influence” posed to the Republic. (1) Nick Turse, in his book, “The Complex: How The Military Invades Our Everyday Lives,” describes the current situation: “Just like the fictional ‘Matrix,’ the Complex is nearly everywhere and involved in almost everything and very few people aren’t plugged into it in some way, shape or form. Above all...most people are hardly aware that this ‘REAL MATRIX’ even exist.”
Turse says that the Complex reaches “deeper into American lives...than Eisenhower could ever have imagined.” For example, in 1961, the Pentagon was spending about $23 billion per year on weapons “and other military goods. Today, that would equal about $200 billion in the budget. [But], in 2007, the Department of Defense’s stated budget was $439 billion. Counting the costs of its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the numbers jump to $600 billion. Factoring in all the many related activities carried out by other agencies, actual U.S. national security spending is NEARLY $1 TRILLION PER YEAR.”
In 1970, there were about 22,000 prime contractors doing business with the U.S. department of Defense (DoD). In 2008, Turse writes: “The number of prime contractors tops 47,000 with subcontractors reaching WELL OVER THE 100,000 MARK, making for ONE MASSIVE CONGLOMERATE touching nearly every sector of society.” The heavy hitters, in 1961, at the Pentagon-feeding trough are still at it, although some of their monikers have changed via mergers over the years. Names like: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamic, General Electric and United Technologies are regularly at the front of the mega billion dollars’ receiving line. (2) Also from 2000 to 2006, Lockheed Martin took in $135.4 billion from the Pentagon,” in addition to lucrative deals with other departments, like Homeland Security. One military expert, Peter Singer, suggests that huge outfits, like Lockheed Martin, aren’t really companies, they’re “QUASI AGENCIES!”
This is the same Lockheed Martin which also makes cluster bombs. OVER ONE MILLION of them were dropped on Lebanon by the Israeli Defense Forces, in the summer of 2006. (3) Israel was accused by Human Rights groups with “violating the laws of war” for its reckless use of such a horrible weapon. (4)
This brings me to the classic “Iron Triangle”--the Congress, the Pentagon and the big military contractors. Like the ultra defense contractors that I’ve mentioned above, there are many others, too, near the top of the rankings that have familiar names, such as Halliburton [think V.P. Dick Cheney], the Bechtel Corporation and Raytheon. The author says that all of these companies have formed “the essential core of the military-industrial complex. Some of the firms still reign supreme as the primary weapons-producing ‘merchants of death.’ But, huge arms dealers are now ‘only’ a portion of any Pentagon contractors.” Mr. Turse cited other industries, as varied as the sports world, food, security, oil, academia, high tech, mercenaries, surveillance, Hollywood, the media and computers, with now forming in differing degrees, “the bulk of the Complex, turning the iron triangle into a collection of iron myriagons--ten-thousand-sided polygons.”
On dealing with the U.S. Congress, Lockheed Martin, like the other big defense contractors, knows how to play that game, too. Turse reveals: “Lockheed spent more than $59 million on campaign contributions and lobbying between 2000 and 2006.” Mr. Turse listed “the ten senators who received the most moneys from defense contractors in the 2006 election.” Up at the top were, (no surprise here), “Hillary ‘Neocon-Lite’ Clinton of New York...and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who collected ‘60 percent of the $1.4 million’ the industry lavished on the top ten.” Both Clinton and “Turncoat Joe” Lieberman voted for the Iraq War, while the daffy Lieberman wants the U.S. to also attack Iran.
Incidentally, a news report just out, based on a study, shows that members of the Congress have “nearly $200 million invested in companies doing defense-related work.” Leading the pack is Sen. John Kerry (D-MA). He has $38.2 MILLION Invested! Sen. Lieberman’s slice of the investment pie is much smaller than Kerry’s. His stocks only added up to $51,000. Nevertheless, he is by far the most virulent War Hawk in the U.S. Congress. (5)
Then, there is that perpetual “revolving door” problem. At the end of the Eisenhower era, author Nick Turse explains: “726 former top ranking military officers were employed by the country’s 100 leading defense contractors.” Relying on a report from the “Project on Government Oversight,” Mr. Turse writes: “Between 1997 and May 2004, at least 224 senior government officials had taken top positions with the twenty largest military contractors. Lockheed headed the list with thirty-five lobbyists, sixteen executives, and six directors or board members--a total of fifty-seven former senior government officials who had crossed to the other side...V.P. Dick Cheney’s son-in-law, Philip J. Perry, was a registered Lockheed lobbyist; and CHENEY’S WIFE, LYNNE, had served, until 2001, on Lockheed Martin’s board of directors.”
When you wonder exactly how the Bush-Cheney Gang got the country involved in the immoral Iraq conflict and into this “War Without End,” then remember the enormous influence of the Complex. (6) Also, keep in mind that “over 40 percent of every income tax dollar” goes to the military, while education receives just “four percent.” (7) I submit that only when the people fully awaken from their long TV-induced slumber can they change this alarming situation and restore the Republic. To do the latter, however, they must become conscious of the fact that they are the spiritual heirs of Washington, Adams and Jefferson, and not soulless pawns of “the Complex.”
I leave the final words on the subject of the Military-Industrial Complex to the author Turse. I congratulate him on his tome and for his cogent writing style and excellent analytical skills. He concludes: “For most Americans...the Complex is a powerful engine that helps drive our world, a vast system of systems, a Matrix, hidden in plain sight. The Complex thrives on the very obliviousness of the civilian population to its existence in the world it has made so much its own. But, if you look closely, it can suddenly come into focus and be seen almost everywhere.”
The Law Jim:
The Martial Law Act of 2006
James Bovard
Martial law is perhaps the ultimate stomping of freedom. And yet, on September 30, 2006, Congress passed a provision in a 591-page bill that will make it easy for President Bush to impose martial law in response to a terrorist “incident.” It also empowers him to effectively declare martial law in response to what he or other federal officials label a shortfall of “public order” – whatever that means.
It took only 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 those restrictions, imposing a two-year prison sentence on anyone who used the military within the United States without the express permission of Congress. (This act was passed after the depredations of the U.S. military throughout the Southern states during Reconstruction.)
But there is a loophole: Posse Comitatus is waived if the president invokes the Insurrection Act.
The Insurrection Act and Posse Comitatus Act aim to deter dictatorship while permitting a narrow window for the president to temporarily use the military at home. But the 2006 reforms basically threw any concern about dictatorial abuses out the window.
Section 1076 of the Defense Authorization Act of 2006 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 of pretexts to include “natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition” – and such a “condition” is not defined or limited.
One might think that given the experience with the USA PATRIOT Act and many other abuses of power, Congress would be leery about giving this president his biggest blank check yet to suspend the Constitution. But that would be naïve.
The new law was put in place in response to the debacle of the federal response to Hurricane Katrina. There was no evidence that permitting a president far more power would avoid future debacles, but such a law provides a comfort blanket to politicians. The risk of tyranny is irrelevant compared with the reduction of risk of embarrassment to politicians. According to Washington, the correct response to Katrina is not to recognize the failure of relying on federal agencies a thousand miles away but rather to vastly increase the power of the president to dictate a solution, regardless of whether he knows what he is doing and regardless of whether local and state rights are trampled.
The new law also empowers the president to commandeer the National Guard of one state to send to another state for as many as 365 days. Bush could send the South Carolina National Guard to suppress anti-war protests in New Haven. Or the next president could send the Massachusetts National Guard to disarm the residents of Wyoming, if they resisted a federal law that prohibited private ownership of semi-automatic weapons. Governors’ control of the National Guard can be trumped with a simple presidential declaration.
Section 1076 had bipartisan support on Capitol Hill, including support from Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), and Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Since the law would give the feds more power, it was very popular inside the Beltway.
On the other hand, every governor in the country opposed the changes. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, warned on September 19, 2006, that “we certainly do not need to make it easier for presidents to declare martial law.” Leahy’s 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.”
A U.S. Enabling Act
The new law vastly increases the danger from the actions of government provocateurs. If there is an incident now like the first bombing of the World Trade Center in February 1993, it would be far easier for the president to declare martial law – even if, as then, it was an FBI informant who taught the culprits how to make the bomb. Even if the FBI masterminds a protest that turns violent, the president could invoke the “incident” to suspend the Constitution.
“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. Perhaps some conservatives believe that the only change when martial law is declared is that people are no longer read their Miranda rights before they are locked away. “Martial law” means: Obey soldiers’ commands or be shot. The abuses of military rule in Southern states during Reconstruction were legendary, but they have been swept under the historical rug.
Section 1076 is an Enabling Act-type legislation – something which purports to preserve law and order while formally empowering the president to rule by decree.
Bush can commandeer a state’s National Guard any time he declares a “state has refused to enforce applicable laws.” Does this refer to the laws as they are commonly understood – or to the “laws” after Bush “fixes” them with a signing statement? Unfortunately, it is not possible for Americans to commandeer the federal government even when Bush admits that he is breaking a law (such as the Anti-Torture Act).
Section 1076 is the type of “law” that would probably be denounced by the U.S. State Department’s Annual Report on Human Rights if enacted by a foreign government. But when the U.S. government does the same thing, it is merely another proof of benevolent foresight. The “comfort blanket” on Section 1076 is that the powers will not be abused because the president will show more concern with the Bill of Rights than Congress did when it rubberstamped this provision. This is the same “pass the buck on the Constitution” that worked so well with the PATRIOT Act, the McCain Feingold Campaign Reform Act, and the Military Commissions Act. As long as there is hypothetically some branch of the government that will object to oppression, no one has the right to fear losing his liberties.
The military on the homefront
Section 1076 is more ominous in light of the Bush administration’s long record of Posse Comitatus violations. Since 2001, the Bush administration has accelerated a trend of using the military as a tool in the nation’s domestic affairs. From its support of the Total Information Awareness surveillance vacuum cleaner, to its use of Pentagon spy planes during the Washington-area sniper shootings in 2002, to the Pentagon’s seizures of Americans’ financial and other private information without a warrant, the Bush administration has not hesitated to use military force and intimidation at home whenever convenient. And Americans may have little or no idea of how far the military has actually gone on the home front, given the Bush team’s obsessive secrecy.
The Pentagon has sent U.S. military intelligence agents on domestic fishing expeditions. In 2004, two U.S. Army intelligence agents descended on the University of Texas’s law school in Austin. They entered the office of the Journal of Women and the Law and demanded that the editors turn over a roster of the people who attended a recent conference on Islam and women. The editors denied having a list; the behavior of one agent was described as intimidating. The agents then demanded contact information for the student who organized the conference, Sahar Aziz. University of Texas law professor Douglas Laycock commented,
We certainly hope that the Army doesn’t believe that attending a conference on Islamic law or Islam and women is itself ground for investigation.
Military officials later declared that U.S. Army intelligence agents had overstepped their bounds. But this did not stop the Bush administration from having a provision inserted in a bill passed in secret session by the Senate Intelligence Committee that would allow military intelligence agents to conduct surveillance and recruit informants in the United States. Wired.com reported,
Pentagon officials say the exemption would not affect civil liberties and is needed so that its agents can obtain information from sources who may be afraid of government agents.
The provision would authorize military agents to go undercover and never inform their targets that they were dealing with a G-man. Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, denounced the provision:
This ... is giving them the authority to spy on Americans. And it’s all been done with no public discussion, in the dark of night.
The controversy over the amendment scuttled its enactment, though it is unclear whether that has deterred the military from expanding its domestic spying.
There is no Honesty-in-Absolute-Power mandate in the federal statute books. The more power government seizes, the more easily it can suppress the truth. There is nothing to prevent a president from declaring martial law on false pretexts – any more than there is to prevent him from launching a foreign war on false pretenses. And when the lies become exposed years later, it could be far too late to resurrect lost liberties
Larry
The Military-Industrial Complex: In his prophetic “Farewell Address” of 1961, President Eisenhower warned the nation about the serious threat that its “unwarranted influence” posed to the Republic. (1) Nick Turse, in his book, “The Complex: How The Military Invades Our Everyday Lives,” describes the current situation: “Just like the fictional ‘Matrix,’ the Complex is nearly everywhere and involved in almost everything and very few people aren’t plugged into it in some way, shape or form. Above all...most people are hardly aware that this ‘REAL MATRIX’ even exist.”
Turse says that the Complex reaches “deeper into American lives...than Eisenhower could ever have imagined.” For example, in 1961, the Pentagon was spending about $23 billion per year on weapons “and other military goods. Today, that would equal about $200 billion in the budget. [But], in 2007, the Department of Defense’s stated budget was $439 billion. Counting the costs of its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the numbers jump to $600 billion. Factoring in all the many related activities carried out by other agencies, actual U.S. national security spending is NEARLY $1 TRILLION PER YEAR.”
In 1970, there were about 22,000 prime contractors doing business with the U.S. department of Defense (DoD). In 2008, Turse writes: “The number of prime contractors tops 47,000 with subcontractors reaching WELL OVER THE 100,000 MARK, making for ONE MASSIVE CONGLOMERATE touching nearly every sector of society.”
It may be paranoia but I think they actually run the country at this point. More so than The big banks. Are they the hidden controllers?
larry
Martial law is perhaps the ultimate stomping of freedom. And yet, on September 30, 2006, Congress passed a provision in a 591-page bill that will make it easy for President Bush to impose martial law in response to a terrorist “incident.”
It also empowers him to effectively declare martial law in response to what he or other federal officials label a shortfall of “public order” – whatever that means.
Section 1076 is more ominous in light of the Bush administration’s long record of Posse Comitatus violations. Since 2001, the Bush administration has accelerated a trend of using the military as a tool in the nation’s domestic affairs.
From its support of the Total Information Awareness surveillance vacuum cleaner, to its use of Pentagon spy planes during the Washington-area sniper shootings in 2002, to the Pentagon’s seizures of Americans’ financial and other private information without a warrant, the Bush administration has not hesitated to use military force and intimidation at home whenever convenient.
And Americans may have little or no idea of how far the military has actually gone on the home front, given the Bush team’s obsessive secrecy.
As you know I am very concerned about Bush lifting Posse Comitatus and declaring martial law.
However I now firmly believe that Declaring martial law will not happen under Bush but it will under President McCain.
Yhep he is the next heir to the throne! The right has built the new phony American hero and he will get in somehow. Again, whoever tries to speak the truth about him will be labeled as anti military, unpatriotic, un-American, you name it.
He will get in and he will be a lot worse than Bush if you can imagine that. People talk about his temper but just watch how ruthless McCain can be!
It is my greatest hope that when Bush is gone, and assuming McBoomBoom doesn't steal the election, the absence greatest single cause of hatred and instability in the world will allow the world to take a few steps forward.
You're more optimistic than me that's for sure. I now see McCain as a given and he will finish what Bush started. It won't take long to find out if I'm right but I'll bet on it and other possible scenarios get even worse. This is pretty screwed up!
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