Don's Review: Law, Politics, Science, Philosophy

Oct. 11, 2009

Global warming, nuclear proliferation, and bioterrorism are a few ways our world as we know it could face apocalypse within decades. Jared Diamond’s book "Collapse" addresses why societies have failed in the past, and, by inference, how the U.S. or the entire world, for that matter, could make the same mistakes.

I tried emailing Mr. Diamond, but got no response. However, I still greatly admire his book and believe it should be required reading from grades K-12 and in college, grad and professional schools.

Mr. Diamond cites Joseph Tainter’s reasoning that complex societies are not likely to allow themselves to collapse through failure to manage their environmental resources. Yet, Mr. Diamond says, it is clear from all the cases in "Collapse," including Easter Island and Henderson Island and the Norse Vikings on Iceland that precisely such a failure has happened repeatedly. How did so many societies make such bad mistakes?

The overall reason seems to be a failure of group decision-making, with some additional factors entering therein, such as conflicts of interest and group dynamics.

Mr. Diamond proposes a "road map" of factors, divided "fuzzily into a sequence of four categories.

A group may fail to anticipate a problem when the problem does arrive, the group may not perceive it. Then, after they perceive it, they may fail even to try to solve it. They may try to solve it, but may not succeed.

Going to No. 1: The people may have had no prior experience of such problems. An example, is the mess the British colonists created when they introduced foxes and rabbits into Australia. People tend to forget things amazingly rapidly. In the U.S., for a year or two after the 1973 Gulf oil crisis, Americans bought cars that regularly got 30-40 mpg or ran on diesel fuel. Then we forgot, and the SUV craze took over. Another situation is reasoning by false analogy, as when the French thought World War II would be the same as World War I and spent millions and millions on the Maginot Line, which the motorized Germans simply sped around in 1940-41. Things had changed. No more trench warfare.

No. 2: Failing to perceive. The origins are literally imperceptible as when nutrients were assumed in the lush grasses of the U.S. Southwest, but they were not the right nutrients for food crops distant managers. Not being on the scene in Montana, the Seattle-based owners may not perceive they have a weed problem on their forest properties.

The origin is a slow trend, concealed by wide up-and-down fluctuations. Such is the case with the earth’s temperatures. In my home state of Minnesota, the 1960s brought each winter a two-week period when the HIGH for the day was BELOW zero. That seemed to drop off in the 1970s and 80s, but seemed to return, somewhat since 2000. Overall, however, the temps had been, on average, rising.in a jagged line.

Diamond says this is called "creeping normalcy." Another similar term is "landscape anmesia." Diamond: "I suspect that landscape amnesia provided part of the answer to my students’ question: ‘What did the Easter Islander who cut down the last palm tree say as he was doing it?’ We unconsciously imagine a sudden change. More likely the changes in forest cover from year to year would be nearly undetectable; yes, we cut down a few trees, but saplings are starting to grow back. Only the oldest islanders would remember how lush Easter Island had once been.

No. 3: Societies often fail even to attempt to solve a problem once it has been perceived. The reasons are called "rational behavior" but in the context of clashes of interest between peoples. It is called "rational" even though it may be morally reprehensible, in scientist terminology.

As in today’s Wall Street bailouts and the preceding Enron and savings and loan debacles, the perpetrators feel safe because they are concentrated and highly motivated by rich rewards, while the losses are spread over large numbers of individuals. That gives us little people little motivation to go to the hassle of fighting back, because each person would receive only a small, distant profit. Another frequent type of rational bad behavior is simply being selfish: It’s good for me. You solve the problem. You are not my worry. It’s not in my yard."

No. 4: Irrational behavior, that is, behavior that is harmful for EVERYONE. This could be "wooden-headedness" "mental stagnation" or "sunk-cost effect" as "we feel reluctant to abandon a policy in which we have already invested heavily" (this could have been LBJ’s situation in his not wanting to be the first president to lose a war).

Religious values are a BIG factor here because they are deeply held. For example, Diamond writes, the deforestation of Easter Island had a religious motivation, to make giant statues that were admired. Another: The Greenland Norse, who would not give up their Christian, conservative lifestyle and would not accept innovations and drastic lifestyle changes that would have enabled them to use the Inuit technology to catch fish and other game.

As Diamond says so well: "It is painfully difficult to decide whether to abandon one’s core values when they become incompatible with survival. At what point do individuals prefer to DIE than to compromise and live?… All such decisions involve gambles, because one can’t be certain that clinging to core values will be fatal or that abandoning them will ensure survival. The Norse quite apparently decided consciously that they would die as Christian farmers rather than live as Inuit.

That is the crux of the problem facing the whole world today: to know which core values to hold on to and which to discard. Given the news since the Reagan years of Americans’ undeniable selfishness and greed, it seems unlikely that even a gifted speaker, who has the bully pulpit, Barack Obama, can ask them to give up their cars and utensils that shake the water out of salad lettuce so you can "save" your delicate skin! Yes. There is such a product!

With the unrelenting news each week of climate change, ongoing resource battles, and the likelihood of more and more used-to-be middle class people becoming unemployed, it seems more and more—to me—that the elites, who have most of the wealth are willing to let millions, likely billions, of poor people in the Third World die in the coming typhoons and droughts.

But will these elites then have enough to re-create society in a reasonable form? After a nuclear war? Or a disease plague that can hit rich and poor alike? Do they have another planet they can fly to with their little Einsteins and Miley Cyruses to create another Earth. One that allows them to use and keep their—in their minds—greater talents and, thus, greater worth.

The rest of the used-to-be middle- and lower-class average Joes can just try to survive in a  “Mad Max,” "The Road" (Cormac McCarthy) world.

Before joining Senator John Glenn's Washington staff in 1985, Caroline Arnold csarnold@neo.rr.com) was a teacher and served three terms on the Kent (OH) Board of Education.  She now serves on the Kent Sustainability Commission.  

Sept. 9, 2009

Isn’t it odd that whenever a fierce little skirmish takes place in a small, contested area, suddenly civilians are hit by white phosphorous or some other atrocious weapon? We immediately blame terrorists, insurgents, Al Qaeda, Taliban, Israel, Iran, Hamas, bin Laden, Muslims, or some other (usually swarthy) bad guys. They in turn blame the U.S, Bush, Obama, the CIA, Blackwater, the media, infidels, Christians, Israel, Iran, etc. Everyone gets madder and buys more weapons to kill more enemies.

But what if these cruel weapons were being deployed by an independent arms entrepreneur intent only on selling its products and expanding its markets? In terms of costs for advertising and marketing, it’s pretty cheap to hire a handful of malcontents, give them a minimum of equipment to go anywhere US forces and terrorists/insurgents are already killing each other and attack civilians in such a way that both sides would assume the other guys were doing it. Sales of their products would be enhanced, and if their hired terrorists got killed, so much the better.

We don’t know if that is happening, but of course we wouldn’t. When whatever anyone can imagine can now be blogged or photoshopped to whatever specifications someone is willing to pay for, how can we know which accounts reflect reality? Today’s commercialized media and communications, with large payoffs and few risks, are no longer reliable.

Over the last eight years We-the-People, besotted by TV and popular fictions about what’s out there in the real world, and befuddled about the reliability of information we get, have believed that we are in great danger that can only be removed by killing bad guys; that torture will make us safe, and if we torture someone it’s because they are already guilty, and therefore torture, (as well as killing by remote control and using high-tech weapons against unarmed civilians) is moral as long as it saves American lives.

Iraq was no threat to the US. Saddam Hussein was an arrogant, cruel dictator, but he wasn’t dumb enough to think he could successfully attack a nation with nuclear warheads and delivery systems reaching all over the world. Saddam and Iraq were, however, an enormous opportunity for the ideology of free-market capitalism as well as for the bottom line of KBR, Blackwater, Lockheed, Raytheon, and the rest of the military industrial complex.

President Bush had an infantile fantasy of being the most powerful man on earth, agent of God’s Wrath, commanding everything from nuclear weapons to how people have sex. Dick Cheney played on this illusion, and We-the-People gave them the money and power to make it a reality.

First we were dumb enough to think that an episode of made-for-TV "Shock & Awe" on Iraq would fix everything. Later we were dumber, believing that an international conspiracy of terrorism would be revealed and defeated through "enhanced interrogation" of kidnapped suspects, and by making old ladies take off their shoes before boarding airliners.

But recognizing that we have been gullible fools doesn’t reinforce our notion of ourselves as competent, moral people, so we set about explaining that killing villagers and torturing Muslims proves that we are more moral than they are because we are promoting democracy, saving our soldiers’ lives, and making our homeland more secure.

I draw a different moral: Peace doesn’t pay; war, killing, torture and terror are enormously profitable to those who make and broker the instruments, technologies and attitudes thereof. Security, surveillance and deterrence pay well. Fences, checkpoints, roadblocks, surveillance cameras and robotic weapons are profitable for the rich, at the expense of the poor.

The Taliban, the Israelis and al Qaeda justify attacks on civilians on the grounds that the civilians are sheltering the enemy, or are sympathetic to them. The Israelis declare that Palestinians "deserve" attacks with high-tech weapons because they voted for Hamas. Terrorists act for political, ideological or religious reasons, or out of rage or hopelessness – but not for profit. The terrorist mentality is "They deserved to what they got. We should have killed more of them." (... Oh, wait ... we still hear that around Kent, Ohio, every May 4.)

War has never made peace. Today, killing poor people with high-tech – and highly profitable – weaponry and unmanned drones just generates suicidal efforts to resist.

We have a similar dilemma over health care. Rationing medical care by ability to pay is enormously profitable to private insurance and big pharmaceutical companies. Gambling on the cost of medical care is especially profitable when the insurers get to decide what they will pay to losers.

The debate on health care reform has degenerated into an argument between those who believe that we must protect profits and those who believe we should protect people.

Who, then, will stop the profitability of war? The military industrial complex to whom we pay billions for death-dealing equipment? The media who profit from stirring up fear and confusion? The righteous who use sacred texts to justify cruelty and violence?

And who will make sure every human being gets medical care for a healthy life? With the MIC sucking up our tax dollars for profits on weapons and warfare, and the insurance industry siphoning off family income and denying medical care, just how are we more moral than the rest of the world?

Copyright Record Publishing Co, LLC. 1995-2009

Oct. 31, 2009

The U.S. Army recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of its so-called “Army Experience Center”—“ a one-of-a-kind, 14,500-square-foot virtual educational facility at the Franklin Mills Mall near Philadelphia.

According the Army’s press material, the AEC, central to the Army Experience Pilot Program, offers visitors the opportunity to virtually experience many aspects of Army life, while evaluating new marketing strategies.

Located near a popular entertainment facility and an indoor skate park, the AEC features a number of interactive simulations and online educational opportunities. It is “manned by more than 20 Soldiers [notice how the sexist ‘manned’ is used robustly along with the capitalized ‘Soldier’ as though he or she is someone who is to be honored and respected] who are available to share their stories with visitors and answer questions they may have about the Army. “Although the Soldiers who run the center are trained recruiters, the AEC is not a recruiting center,” according to Ryan Hansen of Ignited Corp., who partnered with the Army on the project. [Well, they sure as heck ain’t just stocking the shelves or sweeping the floors, are they?]

"The center is an attraction tool. There is no recruiting mission here," Hansen said. "Here it is more about changing perceptions." [How do you change the perception that the Army is a trillion-dollar killing machine into one saying that it’s an “opportunity” or an “education” and has nothing to do with exacerbating the world’s ongoing wars and the maiming of children? But, then, there are people who read the Fawning Corporate Media and fought each other to buy the last Buzz Lightyear doll a few Christmases ago.]

[More baloney from the capitalists seeking to make money off of kids with nothing else to do after high school or with their Saturday afternoons.] “The Soldiers at the AEC don't have quotas. They don't wear traditional Army uniforms, but rather black Army polo shirts and khaki pants. They are from diverse backgrounds and have unique stories to tell. At first glance they seem more like tour guides than Army recruiters, and in a sense, they are. They guide center visitors through their tour of the facility.” [Sort of like the Yellowstone National Park guides.]

"They are the Army," Hansen said. And as the center's slogan states, "The Army is more than you think it is." [What? It’s guys in golf-style polo shirts dodging the question of whether cluster bombs are U.S. weapons of terrorism in Pakistan, like Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did on Friday? What? The Army is a way to improve your golf score while getting that college degree mom and dad always knew you deserved?]

Through market research, and proven outreach tools like the "America's Army" game and the mobile "Virtual Army Experience," Hansen said the Army learned that the best way for people to become acquainted with their Army was for them to be able to touch, feel and see the Army in a non-threatening environment. [Does the Army Experience include a viewing of Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan,” in which young, financially desperate men got their heads and arms blown off at Omaha Beach?] By incorporating the lessons learned from and technologies of those outreach tools, officials believe the Army Experience Center will make the Army accessible to visitors. [Do the visitors get to dodge bullets like the boys on Omaha Beach?]

"What we are doing here is reaching out to Americans, giving them the opportunity to understand their Army," said Maj. Gen. Thomas P. Bostick, head of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command. "Oftentimes people have a negative perception of the Army, but the negatives are a very small part. Our Soldiers are well-trained, well-equipped and serving a great mission."

[And that mission would be—what? Protecting the American way of warfare? Protecting the American Empire against the brown-skinned people living on top of OUR oil? Building better Predator airships to send bombs on surgical strikes during which eight out of 10 people killed are “collateral damage”? How about having the Army Experience include a simulator that shows how the wounded are put on ventilation machines and into medically induced comas during which they dream they are driving trucks loaded with food over icy roads to starving people in Iowa? (because of the opioids that dull the pain but do not eliminate ALL consciousness; the soldier knows he or she is in a hospital room, but can’t control anything, including his or her dreams, thoughts, or bowel movements.)]

The Army Experience Center, Bostick added, will help dispel many of the myths that exist about the Army. [Great! Then it will dispel the myth that it is NOT using you, poor boy or girl desperate for an education, as cannon fodder for some idiot like George W.]

Transparency was one of the main focuses in the design of the center, said Maj. Larry Dillard, AEC program manager. The outside is made of glass, as are the fronts of every enclosed space within the center, with the exceptions of the simulator areas, which require low light to operate.

"Everything's transparent. We don't want to fuel the misconception that once our Soldiers tell their great Army stories, we drag kids behind a 'black curtain' and they come out enlisted," Dillard said. "We have nothing to hide. If someone wants to know more about the Army, great. If not, at the very least we will have changed their perception of the Army. The Army is a great deal and people just don't understand that." [A better deal may be to turn mercenary. The pay is better as is the medical treatment when they ship you back to the States.]

The idea of the center, which cost $12 million to design and construct, was first conceived in December 2007, said Ed Walters, chief marketing officer and principal deputy secretary of the Army. "Visitors to the center will have a better idea of the training and career opportunities afforded our Soldiers, and the high-tech nature of our institution." [Like that usesd in surgical strikes intended to kill the leaders of Al-Qaeda, but mistakenly obliterating whole wedding parties?]

Upon entering the AEC, visitors provide a minimal amount of information to register -- name, date of birth, address and education level. They have the option to receive additional information about the Army, but are not obligated to do so. People of all ages are welcome to visit the center, but gaming activities are limited to people 13 and older, as the Entertainment Software Rating Board rates many of the gaming activities T for teens. [But if you’re under 18, you still can’t vote to oust corporate pawns like W., but you’re old enough to be brainwashed by the excitement and glitz and music of the center into thinking the Army is just like being Sylvester Stallone in “Rambo.”]

Following registration, visitors are then issued an identification card, which is swiped at each station within the center. All activities are free to participants. [And the information on that ID card will NOT result in countless phone calls to your home at 7 a.m. or 10 p.m. when your little sister or brother is still sleeping. Nor will your email box look like the Green Zone in Baghdad.]

"Everything in the center showcases a piece of the Army," said Dillard.

The Global Base Locator highlights Army installations throughout the United States and abroad. The Career Exploration Area lets visitors use its touch-screen technology to learn about 179 different Army career fields. The simulator area houses three simulators, including an Apache helicopter with pilot and co-pilot experiences, Black Hawk helicopter with four door gunner positions, and an armored Humvee with driver and gunner positions.

[But this is NOT a recruiting tool!! Just like the increase in the number of military-related TV commercials since W. took office are NOT meant to lure listless, drifting young men and women into the macho, make-something-of-your-life scenario.]

The gaming area lets visitors play America's Army, the Army's official computer game, as well as other games. There are a number of Xbox 360s plus networked PCs for video games.

The Tactical Operations Center highlights Army career opportunities in communications, command and control, military intelligence and technology. The area can also be used for group presentations and online education, Dillard said.

A large lounge area fills the middle of the AEC, and there is a small retail area that offers Army-branded merchandise and snacks for sale (the Army does not receive profits from sales). [Thank, god. That could be construed as RECRUITMENT. But, here, buy this and take it home to little Timmy. Let him play with it in his bed before he falls asleep. But he WON’T be influenced by his big brother condoning the Army toy.]

The Army has said it would run the Army Experience Center as a pilot program for up to two years.

"We will be analyzing results of the various areas throughout that time, and determine if any of the innovations can be used as separate entities at other locations." [You betcha! If I may quote the leading GOP presidential hopeful in 2012.]

There are no plans to replicate the center in other markets at this time, Walters said. [No, the Army doesn’t work via plans. Strictly seat of the pants.]

"The Army is not all about boots and guns [and intestines hanging through a hole in your side or brains visible where your skull cracked open]," Dillard said. "We want to give people the opportunity to experience the Army for themselves, so they have an understanding of what Soldiers do, and they can be proud of their service."

The Army Experience Center is located inside the Franklin Mills Mall, 15-miles northeast of Philadelphia’s City Center, just off I-95, at the intersection of Woodhaven (PA63) and Knight's Road.

Franklin Mills is also accessible by US 1 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

The AEC is across from Dave & Buster's, near the mall's "Red Entrance."

[You could take the kids there in your bright yellow 2009 Humvee!! Ahh, suburban life!]

July 21, 2009

So many hurts are committed in the name of god by ignorant or intelligent people, both deluded by scribblings from the Iron Age or by their fear of death.

In the name of god, we spank or humiliate our children, when they merely behave impulsively (a biological matter) or accidentally let the U.S. flag drag on the floor during a Cub Scout meeting. When I was seven, I thought god would condemn me if my teeth touched the round piece of tasteless bread on my tongue during Roman Catholic communions.

In the name of god, we accuse our children of "choosing" to get a math problem wrong or of getting it wrong because they "chose" not to study versus a competing interest. The guilt-o-meter gets pinned—stuck—on "I am bad" for a lifetime. Kids believe the baloney that god 2,009 years ago to be tortured so we can live.

The thought process (another biological matter) entombs us. If an applicant to a law firm is a perfect candidate, but misspells one word on her resume, she is not hired. Such silliness!

Is that pigheadedness, stupidity, or arrogance at the root of the class warfare now brewing—or, really, already boiling over—in the U.S. and the rest of the world?

If humanity is progressing towards some unknown greater good and IF humans are progressing beyond the public torturing-by-roasting-to-death, burning at the stake, drawing and quarterings so common in Europe only 300 years ago, then perhaps we can move past religious wars and miscues to our kids, past the ongoing resource wars, and the torture happily reinstated in the most advanced nation in the world this decade by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.

Capitalism is an economic and social system in which most trade and industry are privately controlled for profit rather than by the state. The means of production (also known as capital), are owned, operated, and traded for the purpose of generating profits by private individuals, either singly or jointly.

In a capitalist system, investments, distribution, income, production, pricing and supply of goods, commodities and services are determined by voluntary private decisions. A distinguishing feature of capitalism is that each person owns his or her own labor, and is therefore allowed to sell the use of it to employers. In a capitalist state, private rights and property relations are protected by the rule of law of a limited regulatory framework. In a capitalist state, legislative action is confined to defining and enforcing the basic rules of the market, although the government may provide some public goods and infrastructure.

The central axiom of capitalism is that the best allocation of resources is achieved through consumers having free choice, and producers responding accordingly to meet consumer demand.

Can we move past that to a more equitable economy that includes partial socialism? Can we implement FDR’s famous Four Freedoms?

The Four Freedoms are goals famously articulated by United States PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt, urged by wife Eleanor Roosevelt and friend Jon Run, on Jan. 6, 1941. In an address also known as the Four Freedoms speech, FDR proposed four points as fundamental freedoms humans "everywhere in the world" ought to enjoy:

Freedom of speech and expression

Freedom of religion

Freedom from want

Freedom from fear

His inclusion of the latter two freedoms went beyond the traditional American Constitutional values protected by the First Amendment, and endorsed a right to economic security and an internationalist view of foreign policy that have come to be central tenets of modern American liberalism. They also anticipated what would become known decades later as the "human security" paradigm in social science and economic development.

Can we actually implement Eleanor Roosevelt’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights?

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (December 1948 in Paris).

In the preamble, governments commit themselves and their peoples to measures to secure the universal and effective recognition and observance of the human rights set out in the Declaration. Eleanor Roosevelt supported the adoption the UDHR as a declaration, rather than as a treaty, because she believed that it would have the same kind of influence on global society as the United States Declaration of Independence had within the United States. In this she proved to be correct. Even though not formally legally binding, the Declaration has been adopted in or influenced most national constitutions since 1948. It also serves as the foundation for a growing number of international treaties and national laws and international, regional, national and sub-national institutions protecting and promoting human rights.

The following reproduces the articles of the Declaration which set out the specific human rights that are recognized in the Declaration.

Article 1

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Article 4

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 5

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 6

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 8

Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

Article 9

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 10

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Article 11

Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.

No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

Article 12

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 13

Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.

Everyone has the right to leave any country, including their own, and to return to their country.

Article 14

Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.

This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 15

Everyone has the right to a nationality.

No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

Article 16

Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.

Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.

The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

Article 17

Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.

No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Article 18

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20

Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 21

Everyone has the right to take part in the government of their country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in their country.

The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Article 22

Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

Article 23

Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.

Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 24

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Article 25

Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Article 26

Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Article 27

Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Article 28

Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

Article 29

Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.

In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.

These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 30

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

Sad to say, but given our greed-is-good—unless an apocalyptic crisis indicates otherwise—mentality, all the ideals above will remain on paper until millions die and the elite are physically threatened, either by the elements or by revolution.

In today’s Great Depression II—what else can you call it when about 600,000 people per month STILL lose their jobs 10 months after the financial meltdown of 2008? When good men and women with families to support can’t even find minimum-wage jobs after five months of unemployment?

Given all of the above, can we say that the "right to a decent job is a principal civil right"? as queried by Robyn Blumner in the April St. Petersburg Times (Fla.)?

Even for those people with so-called disabilities, such as speech delays, obesity, or—like my father—only an 8^th grade education?

Blumner wrote that "I Am a Man" was the slogan of 1,300 striking black sanitation workers in Memphis in 1968. Chief among the grievances was that their wages were so meager they lived below the poverty line.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.was America's greatest civil rights leader, but also a "towering labor leader" as well, she writes. He connected the dots between the immorality of racial inequality and the economic injustices inflicted on working men and women of all colors. It was the same struggle: to demand through collective action one's individual worth and dignity.

He said that in response to the "organized misery" of sweatshops and the notion that capital may "act without restraints and without conscience," the worker unionized and by doing so had "constructed the means by which a fairer sharing of the fruits of his toil had to be given to him."

She writes, "How sad that in the intervening years King's message to workers has been lost. Worker solidarity has given way to an every-man-for-himself ethic that has helped to strip labor of the influence it once had."

When she suggested that one way to raise wages would be to require that anyone who labors 40 hours a week for an employer should be paid enough to afford basic food, shelter, health care and transportation, the chamber of commerce leader "blanched."

A mandatory "living wage" is anathema to the chamber and to the elite and to capitalists. People like my dad, whose parents could only put him through 8^th grade are LOSERS as the kids on today’s playgrounds so sharkishly put it.

Oct. 24, 2009

In September, President Barack Obama retained may powers the Bush-Cheney regime had installed during its eight, paradigm-shattering years. He retained the presidential powers that arise during a “state of emergency,” saying that the United States is still at war with terrorists. War being the justification for presidential powers to abandon the writ of habeus corpus and ignore consultations with Congress before acting. It also means that the Posse Comitatus Act, designed after the Civil War to prevent U.S. military from use on American soil, no longer holds sway.

Bush-Cheney in 2002 established the U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM, or informally just NORTHCOM) is a Unified Combatant Command of the United States military. Created on October 1, 2002 in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, its mission is to protect the United States homeland and support local, state, and federal authorities. The support that USNORTHCOM provides to civil authorities is limited by the Posse Comitatus Act which limits the role of the U.S. military in civil law enforcement.

After eight years of the Bush-Cheney paradigm-busting regime and nine months of Obama’s two-faced baloney, who believes the president won’t use Northcom in Smalltown, Minn.?

USNORTHCOM’s Area of Responsibility (AOR) includes air, land and sea approaches and encompasses the United States, and its territories, Canada, and the surrounding water out to approximately 500 nautical miles (930 km). It also includes the Gulf of Mexico and the Straits of Florida. The commander of USNORTHCOM is responsible for theater security cooperation with Canada and Mexico.

USNORTHCOM is composed of several standing Joint Task Forces (JTFs) previously assigned to United States Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM): Joint Force Headquarters National Capital Region, Joint Task Force Alaska, and Joint Task Force North. USNORTHCOM service components include U.S. Fifth Army/ARNORTH, First Air Force/AFNORTH, MARFORNORTH, and United States Fleet Forces Command.

USNORTHCOM headquarters has approximately 1,200 uniformed and civilian members, and few permanent forces. Forces from all branches of the U.S. military may be assigned to the Command as needed to complete its mission.

Commander, U.S. Northern Command is concurrently Commander of the U.S.-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). The two are co-located at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado. General Ralph Eberhart was the first CDRUSNORTHCOM.

The current commander of the U.S. Northern Command is General Victor E. Renuart Jr., USAF.

The Military Commissions Act of 2006 lifted many restrictions placed on the military to support civilian administration by the Posse Comitatus Act, however the US Supreme Court ruled in June 2008 that significant portions of the MCA were unconstitutional. The "John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007" H.R. 5122 (2006) effectively nullified the limits of the Insurrection Act when it was passed; however, the bill was amended in 2008.

On Oct. 1, 2008, the 3rd Infantry Division (United States)’s 1st Brigade Combat Team was assigned to U.S. Northern Command, marking the first time an active unit had been given a dedicated assignment to Northern Command. The force will be known for the first year as a CBRNE (Consequence Management Response Force)[Will the acronyms never stop?!], and will serve as an on-call federal response force for terrorist attacks and other natural or manmade emergencies and disasters.

The National Defense Authorization Act of 2008 stipulates that at least one deputy commander of USNORTHCOM be a National Guard general officer unless the commander is already such an officer.

USNORTHCOM’s specific mission:

USNORTHCOM anticipates and conducts Homeland Defense and Civil Support operations within the assigned area of responsibility to defend, protect, and secure the United States and its interests

USNORTHCOM consolidates under a single unified command existing missions that were previously executed by other DOD organizations. This provides unity of command, which is critical to mission accomplishment.

USNORTHCOM plans, organizes and executes homeland defense and civil support missions, but has few permanently assigned forces. The command is assigned forces whenever necessary to execute missions, as ordered by the president or secretary of defense.

Civil service employees and uniformed members representing all service branches work at USNORTHCOM’s headquarters located at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The commander of USNORTHCOM also commands the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), a bi-national command responsible for aerospace warning, aerospace control, and maritime warning for Canada, Alaska and the continental United States.

USNORTHCOM’s civil support mission includes domestic disaster relief operations that occur during fires, hurricanes, floods and earthquakes. Support also includes counter-drug operations and managing the consequences of a terrorist event employing a weapon of mass destruction. The command provides assistance to a Primary Agency when tasked by DOD. Per the Posse Comitatus Act, military forces can provide civil support, but cannot become directly involved in law enforcement.

In providing civil support, USNORTHCOM generally operates through established Joint Task Forces subordinate to the command. An emergency must exceed the capabilities of local, state and federal agencies before USNORTHCOM becomes involved. In most cases, support will be limited, localized and specific. When the scope of the disaster is reduced to the point that the Primary Agency can again assume full control and management without military assistance, USNORTHCOM will exit, leaving the on-scene experts to finish the job.

Joint Force Headquarters National Capital Region (JFHQ-NCR), based at Fort McNair,Washington, D.C. is responsible for land-based homeland defense, defense support of civil authorities (DSCA), and incident management in the National Capital Region.

JFHQ-NCR is responsible for protecting the District of Columbia and neighboring counties and cities of Maryland and Virginia, including Loudon, Fairfax and Prince William Counties in Virginia. JFHQ-NCR draws together the existing resources of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and NORAD into a single point headquarters for planning, coordination and execution of the mission in the National Capital Region.

The National Capital Region is the political and military center of gravity of the U.S. with an infrastructure vital to the global interests of the nation. Many federal, state and local agencies are located here, in addition to a large number of foreign embassies and other international organizations toward which the U.S. has security responsibilities. JFHQNCR supports U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) in the timely execution of its mission by coordinating all operational military service elements at the seat of government.

The organization is prepared to respond cooperatively with other federal agencies or civilian authorities should they be called on for homeland defense or civil support needs.

During incidents of national significance, JFHQ-NCR transitions to Joint Task Force National Capital Region (JTFNCR). JTF-NCR brings appropriate levels of military support to bear in the National Capital Region when authorized by proper authorities or as immediately required to save lives, prevent human suffering or mitigate great property damage. Such support, primarily land-based, will be under the command and control of the joint force commander. Support may be in response to planned events, such as security support during a presidential inauguration, or in response to natural disasters or terrorist attack. After the response, JTF-NCR stands down and redeploys response assets.

Now, doesn’t that give some leeway. Why insert “a presidential inauguration” into the list when the Fawning Corporate Media have emphasized the “natural disasters or terrorist attack” aspects? And wasn’t the National Guard created to assist during things like natural disasters or terroist attacks? The Posse Comitatus Act has no bearing on the National Guard. Oh, that’s right. They’re in Iraq and Afghanistan with private contractors getting post-traumatic stress disorders and maining little girls and then coming home and maiming U.S. little girls, even ones in their own families. But then, how many members of Congress or people in the street know just how bad PSTD can be? Not many. That’s the gamble Bush and now Obama took and are winning.

Operating through JFHQ-NCR, USNORTHCOM coordinates support efforts, as well as the air, land and maritime defense of the National Capital Region, under the command and control of the joint force commander. USNORTHCOM is the combatant command established in 2002 to provide command and control of Department of Defense (DOD) homeland defense efforts and to coordinate defense support of civil authorities.

JFHQ-NCR operates within the scope of the law. It will not engage in direct law enforcement activities, but when requested by civil authorities and approved by the civilian leadership of DOD, it supports civil authorities in their public safety missions. Existence of a JFHQ enables better planning by all parties, to the benefi t of the public.

“When requested,” “to the benefit of the public.” When did I ever think that my being at a protest against a war or at a presidential inauguration would be a cause for fear on my part or that of my family? I do now. With face-recognition technology and the possibility of the U.S. military storming my neighborhood to raid my apartment in themiddle of the night, am I EVER going to protest as they did in the 1960s against the Vietnam War? No. I think not. I think I’m becoming more and more a “good German.” I likely will stay in my home and say nothing. I have no desire to be taken from my family and—at best—be out of communication with them or an attorney or judge for months or years. At worst? Well, we all have read the definition of waterboarding more than we ever thought we would.

Joint Task Force Alaska

Joint Task Force Alaska (JTF-AK), headquartered at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, is a subordinate command of U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM). It is comprised of Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Department of Defense (DOD) civilian specialists. JTF-AK’s mission is to, in coordination with other government agencies, deter, detect, prevent and defeat threats within the Alaska Joint Operations Area (AK JOA) in order to protect U.S. territory, citizens, and interests, and as directed, conduct Civil Support.

USNORTHCOM is the combatant command established in 2002 to provide command and control of DOD homeland defense efforts and to coordinate defense support of civil authorities.

Within its JOA, JTF-AK plans and, if directed, integrates the full spectrum of DOD homeland defense efforts and provides defense support to a primary agency, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Prevention, crisis response and consequence management are capabilities included within the spectrum of support.

In coordination with other federal, state and local agencies, JTF-AK evaluates events and locations throughout the state of Alaska for their potential vulnerability as targets for aggression and terrorism. JTF-AK provides situational awareness to military commands and civilian agencies throughout the state of Alaska and the continental U.S. to aid in homeland security awareness and planning.

JTF-AK’s civil support mission includes domestic disaster relief operations that occur in response to natural or man-made disasters. Support also includes managing the consequences of a terrorist attack employing a weapon of mass destruction. The task force provides assistance to a Primary Agency when approved by the Secretary of Defense and as directed by the commander of USNORTHCOM. Military forces may provide civil support to save lives, prevent injuries and provide temporary critical life support, but, in accordance with the Posse Comitatus Act, do not become directly involved in law enforcement.

The mission of supporting civil authorities is not a new one for DOD. The U.S. military has a long history of providing assistance to civil authorities during emergencies. An emergency must exceed the capabilities of local, state and federal agencies before JTF-AK becomes involved. In most cases, support will be limited, localized and specifi c. When the scope of the disaster is reduced to the point that the Primary Agency can again assume full control and management without military
assistance, JTF-AK will exit, leaving the on-scene experts to finish the job.

Joint Task Force Civil Support

Joint Task Force Civil Support (JTF-CS), headquartered at Fort Monroe in Hampton, Va., began operations Oct. 1, 1999. Originally formed as a standing joint task force under U.S. Joint Forces Command, JTF-CS was transferred to U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) when USNORTHCOM was established Oct. 1, 2002. USNORTHCOM is the combatant command established to provide command and control of Department of Defense (DOD) homeland defense efforts and to coordinate defense support of civil authorities.

The task force consists of active, Guard and Reserve military members drawn from all service branches, as well as civilian personnel, who are commanded by a federalized (Title X) National Guard general officer.

JTF-CS plans and integrates DOD support to the designated Primary Agency for domestic chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or high-yield explosive (CBRNE) consequence management operations. When approved by the secretary of defense and directed by the commander of USNORTHCOM, JTF-CS deploys to the incident site and executes timely and effective command and control of designated DOD forces, providing support to civil authorities to save lives, prevent injury and provide temporary critical life support.

Does the military know how to be concise? Or how to NOT repeat itself, especially those meaningless phrases discussed above?

JTF-CS focuses on responding to the effects of a CBRNE incident after civilian resources have been utilized first and fully. Some typical JTF-CS tasks include incident site support, casualty medical assistance and treatment, displaced populace support, mortuary affairs support, logistics support, and air operations.

The mission of supporting civil authorities is not a new one for DOD. The U.S. military has a long history of providing assistance to civil authorities during emergencies. U.S. military forces have assisted federal, state and local agencies during natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes. The role of JTF-CS in providing assistance to the Primary Agency after a CBRNE incident is in keeping with this long and proud tradition.

JTF-CS accomplishes its consequence management mission in strict adherence to existing federal law, which carefully balances the support capabilities within the U.S. military with the needs of civil authorities during emergencies. In most instances, JTF-CS and its designated forces are deployed only after a state or territorial governor requests federal assistance from the president. In any domestic setting, JTF-CS remains in support of the Primary Agency throughout the CBRNE consequence management operation.

Joint Task Force North

Joint Task Force North (JTF North), based at Biggs Army Airfield, Fort Bliss, Texas, is the Department of Defense (DOD) organization tasked to support our nation’s federal law enforcement agencies in the interdiction of suspected transnational threats within and along the approaches to the continental United States. Transnational threats are those activities conducted by individuals or groups that involve international terrorism, narco-trafficking, alien smuggling, weapons of mass destruction, and the delivery systems for such weapons that threaten the national security of the United States.

As directed, JTF North employs military capabilities to support law enforcement agencies and supports interagency synchronization within the U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) area of responsibility to deter and prevent transnational threats to the homeland. This mission aligns JTF North closely with USNORTHCOM, its higher headquarters. USNORTHCOM is the combatant command established in 2002 to provide command and control of DOD homeland defense efforts and to coordinate defense support of civil authorities.

JTF North was originally established in 1989 as Joint Task Force Six (JTF-6), in response to President George H. W. Bush’s declaration of the “War on Drugs.” On Sept. 28, 2004, JTF-6 was renamed JTF North and its mission was expanded to include providing support to the nation’s federal law enforcement agencies.

JTF North is a joint service command made up of active duty and reserve component Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Department of Defense (DOD) civilian specialists. Their dedication to the security of our homeland is best summed up by JTF North’s motto, “Service to the Nation.”

Standing Joint Force Headquarters

U.S. Northern Command Standing Joint Force Headquarters’ mission is to provide Commander, USNORTHCOM with the scalable capability to form the core of a Joint Task Force or to augment multiple organizations in order to anticipate and conduct Homeland Defense and Civil Support missions anywhere in the USNORTHCOM Area of Responsibility during planned or crisis operations.

NC/SJFHQ (formerly known as Standing Joint Force Headquarters – North) is a staff directorate composed of military and civilian air, land, and maritime domain operational planners, command and control specialists, intelligence analysts, human resource managers, logistics professionals, knowledge management, and communications specialists. 

Resident within NC/SJFHQ are subject matter experts in Defense Support to Civilian Authorities; Search and Rescue; Consequence Management planning; Interagency planning and coordination; Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive response; Title 10/32 legal authorities and dual status operations; and  integration of medical planning and operations at local, state, and federal levels.  This expertise enables SJFHQ to rapidly and effectively begin coordination and integration with local, state, and federal agencies before and during incident and disaster response.

When directed, NC/SJFHQ can rapidly deploy trained and tailored force packages to multiple locations within six hours.  Highly flexible, NC/SJFHQ can provide the core element of a stand-alone JTF or augment an existing JTF within the AOR.  NC/SJFHQ provides component support and subject matter expert support to USNORTHCOM’s subordinate units.  During large incidents and disasters, NC/SJFHQ can augment a regional Defense Coordinating Officer when they provide DSCA support to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
NC/SJFHQ provides USNORTHCOM with a trained team that, upon deployment, is immediately able to leverage its cohesion, common “business” processes, established relationships with interagency partners, and expertise to provide critical support and begin deliberate and contingency planning for real-world incidents, National Special Security Events, and exercises.

NC/SJFHQ is organized into three cross-functional divisions: Division 1 (Joint Force Headquarters - National Capital Region focus), Division 2 (Joint Task Force - Alaska focus), and Support Division. Upon deployment, an NC/SJFHQ team operates within the collaborative information environment that provides cross-functional collaboration between the teams, the rest of the USNORTHCOM staff, components and other external military and civilian agencies.

Recent NC/SJFHQ deployments include the 2009 Presidential Inauguration, the 2008 Democratic and Republican National Conventions, Exercise Vigilant Shield, Exercise Golden Guardian, 2008 Wildfires, Hurricanes Gustav, Hanna and Ike, the 2008 State of the Union Address, Search and Rescue SME support for space shuttle launches, and the President Gerald R. Ford State Funeral.

Army North

U.S. Army North (ARNORTH) is the Army component of U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), the combatant command established Oct. 1, 2002 to provide command and control of Department of Defense (DOD) homeland defense efforts and to coordinate defense support of civil authorities.

Isn’t this where we fall asleep because ARNORTH sounds and is defined quite a bit like USNORTHCOM—unless you’re a military man through and through and are itchin’ for some action.

Located at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, ARNORTH’s mission is to conduct homeland defense, civil support operations and theater security cooperation activities. On order, U.S. Army North commands and controls deployed forces as a Joint Task Force or Joint Force Land Component Command.

ARNORTH’s 10 Defense Coordinating Elements (DCE), each led by a Defense Coordinating Offi cer (DCO), work daily within the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) regions to plan for and conduct civil support operations. In 2007, DCO’s and DCE’s deployed in support of the Department of Transportation to assist with recovery efforts at the I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis. DCO/DCE teams also deployed to Southern California and to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise to support wildland fi refi ghting operations in southern California.

ARNORTH is responsible for developing and unifying the military response capability for chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high-yield explosives (CBRNE) incidents. In addition, the Civil Support Readiness Directorate trains National Guard Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Teams, which are state fi rst responders for chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive incidents.

ARNORTH developed and is responsible for conducting Northern Command’s strategic-level Defense Support of Civil Authorities course, which serves military and civilian consequence managers across the United States. Its three phases include a distance learning course, a one-week classroom course focusing on intergovernmental and interagency response,
and an alumni phase that provides regular updates on policy, strategy and doctrine developments in homeland defense, homeland security and emergency preparedness.

Air Force North

Headquartered at Tyndall Air Force Base, near Panama City, Fla., 1st Air Force is assigned to Air Combat Command. It has the responsibility of ensuring the air sovereignty and air defense of the continental United States. As the CONUS geographical component of the binational North American Aerospace Defense Command, it provides airspace surveillance and control and directs all air sovereignty activities for the continental United States.

U.S. Fleet Forces Command

U.S. Fleet Forces Command (USFF) is the Navy component of U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), the combatant command established Oct. 1, 2002 to provide command and control of Department of Defense (DOD) homeland defense efforts and to coordinate defense support of civil authorities.

Located at Norfolk, Virginia, USFF's mission is to provide maritime forces prepared to conduct homeland defense, civil support operations and theater security cooperation activities when directed by USNORTHCOM.

Additionally, USFF has responsibilities to generate ready Navy forces for assignment to global Regional Combatant Commanders, execute the Fleet Response Plan (FRP) using the Fleet Training Continuum, articulate to the Chief of Naval Operations the integrated Fleet warfighting requirements as coordinated with all Navy Component Commanders, and provide operational planning support to Commander, U.S. Joint Forces Command, and United States Strategic Command.

As Paul Joseph Watson wrote in “Prison Planet” on Oct. 2, 2008:

Following the alarming admission that active duty U.S. Army would be on call to deal with “civil unrest” inside the United States from October 1st, the US Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) has publicly denied that troops will engage in law enforcement duties, but concedes that forces will be armed with both non-lethal and lethal weapons as well as having access to tanks.

As we highlighted last week, a September 8 Army Times report stated that active duty troops from the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team returning from Iraq would be on call as a “federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks,” for a period of 12 months from October 1st.

The purpose of the unit’s patrols, according to the article, includes helping “with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack.”

However, a NorthCom official, presumably responding to reports featured on this website and others, publicly denies that troops will be used to police Americans.

 “This response force will not be called upon to help with law enforcement, civil disturbance or crowd control, but will be used to support lead agencies involved in saving lives, relieving suffering and meeting the needs of communities affected by weapons of mass destruction attacks, accidents or even natural disasters,” Army Col. Michael Boatner, USNORTHCOM future operations division chief, told Homeland Security Today.

We also learn that the troops will be under the operational control of USNORTHCOM’s Joint Force Land Component Command under US Army North, headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. The operational headquarters of the response force is at Fort Monroe, Virginia.

The original Army Times report also stated that the use of non-lethal weapons against Americans would be a possibility, but a retraction has now been issued stating that the forces would not use nonlethal weaponry domestically.

However, Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman was told by Air Force Lt. Col. Jamie Goodpaster, a public affairs officer for Northern Command, that “Military forces would have weapons on-site, “containerized,” she said — that is, stored in containers — including both lethal and so-called nonlethal weapons. They would have mostly wheeled vehicles, but would also, she said, have access to tanks. She said that use of weapons would be made at a higher level, perhaps at the secretary of defense level.”

As Goodman writes in an editorial for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “Talk of trouble on U.S. streets is omnipresent now, with the juxtaposition of Wall Street and Main Street. The financial crisis we face remains obscure to most people; titans of business and government officials assure us that the financial system is “on the brink,” that a massive bailout is necessary, immediately, to prevent a disaster. Conservative and progressive members of Congress, at the insistence of constituents, blocked the initial plan. If the economy does collapse, if people can’t go down to the bank to withdraw their savings, or get cash from an ATM, there may be serious “civil unrest,” and the “sea-smurfs” may be called upon sooner than we imagine to assist with “crowd control.”

The use of U.S. troops in law enforcment duties is a complete violation of the Posse Comitatus Act and the Insurrection Act, which substantially limit the powers of the federal government to use the military for law enforcement unless under precise and extreme circumstances.

Section 1385 of the Posse Comitatus Act states, “Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.”

Under the John Warner Defense Authorization Act, signed by President Bush on October 17, 2006, the law was changed to state, “The President may employ the armed forces to restore public order in any State of the United States the President determines hinders the execution of laws or deprives people of a right, privilege, immunity, or protection named in the Constitution and secured by law or opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws.”

However, these changes were repealed in their entirety by HR 4986: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, reverting back to the original state of the Insurrection Act of 1807. Despite this repeal, President Bush attached a signing statement saying that he did not feel bound by the repeal.

The original text of the Insurrection Act severely limits the power of the President to deploy troops within the United States.

For troops to be deployed, a condition has to exist that, “(1) So hinders the execution of the laws of that State, and of the United States within the State, that any part or class of its people is deprived of a right, privilege, immunity, or protection named in the Constitution and secured by law, and the constituted authorities of that State are unable, fail, or refuse to protect that right, privilege, or immunity, or to give that protection; or (2) opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws. In any situation covered by clause (1), the State shall be considered to have denied the equal protection of the laws secured by the Constitution.” 

And, by Lee Rogers - Intel Strike Contributing Writer:

The United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) has just announced plans for an anti-terrorism exercise called Vigilant Shield 08. The exercise which is slated to run from October 15th to October 20th is described as a way to prepare, prevent and respond to any number of national crises.

The exercise is simply a test case scenario for the implementation of martial law. Although the description of the exercise is disturbing, USNORTHCOM also announced that they are more prepared for a natural disaster and a terrorist attack after they used their response to Hurricane Katrina as a test laboratory. During Hurricane Katrina, authorities violated the constitutional rights of citizens by stealing people’s firearms and even relocating people against their will. These announcements are incredibly disturbing on a number of levels as the nature of Vigilant Shield 08 and the admission that Hurricane Katrina was used as a test laboratory shows that the government is actively preparing the military and government institutions for martial law.

Below is the full press release from USNORTHCOM describing Vigilant Shield 08:

North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command along with U.S. Pacific Command, the Department of Homeland Security as well as local, state and other federal responders will exercise their response abilities against a variety of potential threats during Exercise Vigilant Shield 08, a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff-designated, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM)-sponsored, and U.S. Joint Forces Command-supported Department of Defense exercise for homeland defense and defense support of civil authorities missions.

VS-08 will be conducted concurrent with Top Officials 4 (TOPOFF 4), the nation’s premier exercise of terrorism preparedness sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security, and several other linked exercises as part of the National Level Exercise 1-08. These linked exercises will take place Ocober 15-20 and are being conducted throughout the United States and in conjunction with several partner nations including Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, as well as the Territory of Guam.

VS-08 and National Level Exercise 1-08 will provide local, state, tribal, interagency, Department of Defense, and non-governmental organizations and agencies involved in homeland security and homeland defense the opportunity to participate in a full range of exercise scenarios that will better prepare participants to prevent and respond to national crises. The participating organizations will conduct a multi-layered, civilian-led response to a national crisis.

USNORTHCOM’s primary exercise venues for VS-08 include locations in Oregon, Arizona and a cooperative venue with USPACOM in the Territory of Guam. NORAD’s aerospace detection and defense events will take place across all the exercise venues, to exercise the ability to mobilize resources for aerospace defense, aerospace control, maritime warning, and coordination of air operations in a disaster area.

This exercise in 2008 was clearly a way to prepare government to respond to a national crisis with martial law. This announcement also follows a number of other news stories that indicate the government is becoming more actively prepared for the implementation of martial law.

There is no question that Vigilant Shield 08 was either government preparation for the implementation of martial law or a way for criminal elements within the government to distract emergency responders in order to conduct a false flag terror attack as a pretext to actually implement martial law and engage in foreign war. On September 11th, 2001 there were drills run by NORAD including Vigilant Guardian which served as a way to ensure that there was no adequate military response to the hi-jacked planes. A similar scenario unfolding with Vigilant Shield is not out of the question.

March 3, 2009

When I was 7, I thought that if my teeth touched the flat circle of bread in my mouth at Roman Catholic communion, I’d physically hurt Jesus Christ.

When I was 33 in 1987, I flew to Moscow and Kiev with friends and saw beautiful couples walking their new babies around a park and sharing ice cream cones. I said to myself, "THESE are the people we want to obliterate with nuclear weapons? THESE people belong to the (Reagan-termed) ‘Evil Empire.’?"

When I was 49 and was recovering from a month-long medically induced coma, I thought I could see Jesus inbetween my hospital room and my neighbor’s—in a sort-of different universe only visible at that time to me.

When my mother died of myelofibrosis no doctor or nurse told her she had only one month to live. When the doctors stopped coming to see her as often, she buttonholed one and asked "Am I dying?" He said, "Get your affairs in order." She said, "Thank you!" She preferred the stark truth to a cover-up.

My father died two years later of a massive stroke, paralyzing him so he could only move his left arm and curl up the left side of his mouth. He couldn’t speak. No one told him that the tubes plunged into his skin contained only saline and sugar solutions—that he would starve to death in less than 10 days. One of his children had to tell him. His eyes blurred with tears, but he relaxed with the truth. I’m sure he began to pray more then.

Lately, President Barack Obama has refused to release photos of torture afflicted on non-Americans in worthless attempts to gain terrorism information or because of just-plain sadism. Todd wants to not prosecute the brutes who re-introduced torture to the world and to the U.S. Torture that most thought had ended with the Salem witch trials.

The Nazis knew how to lie to people. The sign above Auschwitz’s gate was "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work Sets You Free). Prisoners marching underneath that sign into the camp STILL believed that it was just a "work camp" even as they walked past a bonfire into which Nazis were throwing screaming, flailing babies and toddlers.

The truth is tough, but leads to breakthroughs. But evolution has given us incredible defense mechanisms, such as denial and delusions and hallucinations. We differ from the mammals just below us on the evolutionary ladder mostly because our brains allow us to "read other humans’ minds." To read intent. Our brains--even though we are not in the fire, remember matches we’ve touched or stoves we’ve gotten too close to--and re-enact that pain with representations that send weak signals to our muscles, so that we actually flinch when we see someone else getting burned, even though it may just be in a movie.

Still, though, there is NOT enough empathy. It’s so hard to empathize with others or see their point of view, even though we CAN read intent or "read minds." Just ask any husband or wife, no matter how long they’ve been married.

It seems that 99 percent of people lack enough empathy. Ninety-nine percent of conflicts, such as the Israelis’ imprisonment and starvation of citizens confined to the Gaza Strip this summer or the deluded terrorist pilots of the airliners on 9/11 had no realization that babies and the ill were laying for days slowly starving or bleeding to death or that nearly 3,000 unsuspecting people would be burned alive, crushed, or forced to jump 100 stories to their deaths.

When I was 17, a 15-year-old fellow high school mate of mine was paralyzed from the neck down for life while making a tackle in a football game. At that time, I "sure felt bad" for him and his family. But try as I might, I couldn’t imagine the horror he must have felt when full realization of his dilemma kicked in.

It took that month-long medically induced coma when I was 49 for me to understand that high school mate’s experience. My muscles had atrophied and I could neither move nor speak for nearly six weeks. Only then could I empathize with that 15-year-old football player.

Our lack of skill with our empathy, I suppose, is an evolutionary trait that helps people survive the horrors of this world—and to commit some of the horrors of this world.

Empathy—humanity’s greatest aid in taking over the planet from other animals remains in its infancy. Only a rare person has too much empathy, such as Alexander Hamilton’s daughter who went insane when she learned her brother had been killed in a duel (still popular only 200 years ago).

If we could place ourselves in the other persons’ shoes, disputes would be settled more quickly, in the Middle East, between sex partners, or about nuclear arsenals.

Perhaps Big Pharma should take its gigantic profits and do more R&D on a drug to induce empathy, to speed its evolution. Surely, hiding the truth that someone is dying is immoral. Hiding our recent dirty, torturous deeds as a nation also is immoral. Not prosecuting the brutes who brought back torture is immoral. The truth hurts, but would lead to breakthroughs in the evolution of our arrogant species.

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