U.S. ARMY TO BE DEPLOYED AGAINST U.S. CITIZENS
A direct quote from Democracy Now! (emphasis mine):
Army Unit to Deploy in October for Domestic Operations
Beginning in October, the Army plans to station an active unit inside the United States for the first time to serve as an on-call federal response in times of emergency. The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent thirty-five of the last sixty months in Iraq, but now the unit is training for domestic operations. The unit will soon be under the day-to-day control of US Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command. The Army Times reports this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to Northern Command. The paper says the Army unit may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control. The soldiers are learning to use so-called nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals and crowds.
THE ARMY. DEPLOYED IN THE UNITED STATES. TO SUBDUE DANGEROUS INDIVIDUALS AND CROWDS. SO MUCH WRONG IN SO MANY WAYS IN SO FEW WORDS.
I'm having trouble even figuring out where to start my rant, not least because I am simultaneously frothing at the mouth and pissing my pants. (Yes, I know, there are ointments for that nowadays. Sheesh!) So I'm just going to dive right in.
The U.S. Army being deployed against the citizens it is sworn to protect. Right in time for the November elections. THIS SCARES ME. I could start ranting about how this is ILLEGAL according to both the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 and the Insurrection Act of 1807 -- but both of those had the teeth taken out of them in 2007 with the signing of the 2007 Defense Authorization Bill. I could start pointing out the simple absurdity of the regular Army being deployed at home while the real, actual National Guard is stationed in Iraq -- but that would mean pointing out that the real, actual function of the National Guard is to form the first-line national defense OF U.S. citizens and to form a response team to disaster and emergency, whether natural or human-caused. NOT TO POLICE AND INTIMIDATE THE CITIZENRY IT IS SWORN TO PROTECT. So in a way, this deployment is taking the gloves off and saying right out loud: we're not doing this to protect you the citizens, we're doing this to protect the government FROM you. We're training to use the rubber bullets and the gas and the hoses ON YOU, THE CITIZENS. In case of "civil unrest" by "unruly or dangerous individuals and crowds." JUST IN TIME FOR THE ELECTIONS.
We are facing the greatest economic crisis in this country since 1929. We are in the midst of a historic Presidential election where one of the candidates has shown nothing but disrespect for the Constitution and nothing but contempt for the people who are going to be voting. One of the parties has already shown its willingness to lie, cheat and defraud the population to remain in power. One of the parties is willing to impoverish and indenture the population of this country for generations to come in order to line the pockets of the very people who have driven this country and its citizens to the brink of ruin. One of the parties has consistently, boldly lied to the people of this country and played on irrational fears and ignorance to convince us to abandon our civil liberties. THIS IS THE PARTY IN POWER. I have no illusions about what these people will do to remain in power.
(((Digression: Yes, we the people (I mean the population of the country as a whole) are partly to blame. Yes, we've become complaisant. We're not accustomed to being vigilant about the people we place in government. We can't be arsed to seek our own information and make up our own minds, because that would be too much hard work. We'd rather hear happy lies than hard truths. And not only are we a nation of butt-ignorant lazy yahoos, we're PROUD that we're butt-ignorant lazy yahoos. And, it seems, a large fraction of the citizens are perfectly willing to vote dishonest, incompetent, unfit and unethical people into power as long as these candidates are willing to tell us happy lies about how great it is to be a butt-ignorant lazy yahoo.
Personally, I blame No Child Left Behind for a lot of that -- it's a program designed to prevent (not just discourage but PREVENT) kids from learning critical thinking and a sense of history. We've become a country of people for whom 20 years, a single generation, is ancient history. And ancient history is seen to be irrelevant. This was done to us on purpose, because stupid people are easier to govern. Full stop. I could go on about this subject, but it'll just take me off my point. End of digression.)))
The Republican candidate wants to "postpone" a debate and "suspend" his campaign to concentrate on the economic crisis. Yah, right. For one thing, that "suspension" is a canny campaign move: it makes him look willing to "rise above partisanship"; if the other candidate disagrees, that makes him the "partisan cutthroat bad guy", but if he agrees, he loses the momentum of his campaign at the precise moment in time when it matters most, while the Republican candidate has the full machine of the party in power behind him. Also, and this is what scares me, if the debates can be "postponed", why not the election? After all, it's a time of national crisis! We need to concentrate on saving the economy (by handing out cash we don't have to people who don't need it at the expense of people who can't afford it)! We can't have the upheaval of an election when we all have to "pull together" and "overcome partisanship"!
The implications of this action will reverberate through our entire society and will shape the future of our nation. This election will tell us exactly the kind of country we want the U.S. to become. I have no respect whatsoever for anyone who neglects to vote in the upcoming election. I don't want to hear you whine, "My vote doesn't matter." It certainly won't matter UNLESS YOU USE IT. I don't want to hear you bitch, "None of the candidates are perfect." I understand, gods, how I understand. But remember, people in other countries fight and die for the right of franchise. I don't care who you are -- your parents, grandparents and ancestors all the way back fought and died for the right to vote. You don't want to disrespect your grandparents, do you?
Spread the word. Voice your opinion. Use your vote. Vote your conscience.
Army Unit to Deploy in October for Domestic Operations
Beginning in October, the Army plans to station an active unit inside the United States for the first time to serve as an on-call federal response in times of emergency. The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent thirty-five of the last sixty months in Iraq, but now the unit is training for domestic operations. The unit will soon be under the day-to-day control of US Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command. The Army Times reports this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to Northern Command. The paper says the Army unit may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control. The soldiers are learning to use so-called nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals and crowds.
THE ARMY. DEPLOYED IN THE UNITED STATES. TO SUBDUE DANGEROUS INDIVIDUALS AND CROWDS. SO MUCH WRONG IN SO MANY WAYS IN SO FEW WORDS.
I'm having trouble even figuring out where to start my rant, not least because I am simultaneously frothing at the mouth and pissing my pants. (Yes, I know, there are ointments for that nowadays. Sheesh!) So I'm just going to dive right in.
The U.S. Army being deployed against the citizens it is sworn to protect. Right in time for the November elections. THIS SCARES ME. I could start ranting about how this is ILLEGAL according to both the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 and the Insurrection Act of 1807 -- but both of those had the teeth taken out of them in 2007 with the signing of the 2007 Defense Authorization Bill. I could start pointing out the simple absurdity of the regular Army being deployed at home while the real, actual National Guard is stationed in Iraq -- but that would mean pointing out that the real, actual function of the National Guard is to form the first-line national defense OF U.S. citizens and to form a response team to disaster and emergency, whether natural or human-caused. NOT TO POLICE AND INTIMIDATE THE CITIZENRY IT IS SWORN TO PROTECT. So in a way, this deployment is taking the gloves off and saying right out loud: we're not doing this to protect you the citizens, we're doing this to protect the government FROM you. We're training to use the rubber bullets and the gas and the hoses ON YOU, THE CITIZENS. In case of "civil unrest" by "unruly or dangerous individuals and crowds." JUST IN TIME FOR THE ELECTIONS.
We are facing the greatest economic crisis in this country since 1929. We are in the midst of a historic Presidential election where one of the candidates has shown nothing but disrespect for the Constitution and nothing but contempt for the people who are going to be voting. One of the parties has already shown its willingness to lie, cheat and defraud the population to remain in power. One of the parties is willing to impoverish and indenture the population of this country for generations to come in order to line the pockets of the very people who have driven this country and its citizens to the brink of ruin. One of the parties has consistently, boldly lied to the people of this country and played on irrational fears and ignorance to convince us to abandon our civil liberties. THIS IS THE PARTY IN POWER. I have no illusions about what these people will do to remain in power.
(((Digression: Yes, we the people (I mean the population of the country as a whole) are partly to blame. Yes, we've become complaisant. We're not accustomed to being vigilant about the people we place in government. We can't be arsed to seek our own information and make up our own minds, because that would be too much hard work. We'd rather hear happy lies than hard truths. And not only are we a nation of butt-ignorant lazy yahoos, we're PROUD that we're butt-ignorant lazy yahoos. And, it seems, a large fraction of the citizens are perfectly willing to vote dishonest, incompetent, unfit and unethical people into power as long as these candidates are willing to tell us happy lies about how great it is to be a butt-ignorant lazy yahoo.
Personally, I blame No Child Left Behind for a lot of that -- it's a program designed to prevent (not just discourage but PREVENT) kids from learning critical thinking and a sense of history. We've become a country of people for whom 20 years, a single generation, is ancient history. And ancient history is seen to be irrelevant. This was done to us on purpose, because stupid people are easier to govern. Full stop. I could go on about this subject, but it'll just take me off my point. End of digression.)))
The Republican candidate wants to "postpone" a debate and "suspend" his campaign to concentrate on the economic crisis. Yah, right. For one thing, that "suspension" is a canny campaign move: it makes him look willing to "rise above partisanship"; if the other candidate disagrees, that makes him the "partisan cutthroat bad guy", but if he agrees, he loses the momentum of his campaign at the precise moment in time when it matters most, while the Republican candidate has the full machine of the party in power behind him. Also, and this is what scares me, if the debates can be "postponed", why not the election? After all, it's a time of national crisis! We need to concentrate on saving the economy (by handing out cash we don't have to people who don't need it at the expense of people who can't afford it)! We can't have the upheaval of an election when we all have to "pull together" and "overcome partisanship"!
The implications of this action will reverberate through our entire society and will shape the future of our nation. This election will tell us exactly the kind of country we want the U.S. to become. I have no respect whatsoever for anyone who neglects to vote in the upcoming election. I don't want to hear you whine, "My vote doesn't matter." It certainly won't matter UNLESS YOU USE IT. I don't want to hear you bitch, "None of the candidates are perfect." I understand, gods, how I understand. But remember, people in other countries fight and die for the right of franchise. I don't care who you are -- your parents, grandparents and ancestors all the way back fought and died for the right to vote. You don't want to disrespect your grandparents, do you?
Spread the word. Voice your opinion. Use your vote. Vote your conscience.