SF Chronicle re: KBR concentration camps, martial law & BushCo's ENDGAME

[99th_Monkey]

Holy Swastikas Batman, this looks dire!! This article appeared in SF Chronicle a week ago, yet it has received scant attention elsewhere in M$M, or any significant reaction from the public. In fact only a handful of "responses" to the article are posted on SF Chronicle's website (a grand total of 6 at this writing). I wouldn't have even noticed the SFChronicle article myself, were it not for an OpEd.com post here: http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_william__080210_san_francisco_chroni.htm

Granted, this information has been on the internets now for quite awhile, but limited mostly to "conspiracy" sites like Alex Jones' PrisonPlanet. The very fact that this has hit the M$M and yet is being casually dismissed or ignored by most Americans -- apparently believing that "It couldn't happen here, not to me" -- is quite disturbing to me.

I feel this information could not be more important at this time, with the airwaves flooded with National Primaries, Brittany Spears, and
the latest shooting by some gun nut who flips out and opens fire. Why do Bush/Cheney keep acting like they're going nowhere in Jan. 09?
Call me Chicken Little, but I am deeply concerned about this, so much so that I'd be leaving the country were it not for my family ties here in the states.

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

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

- Winston Churchill, Nov. 21, 1943

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lewis Seiler is the president of Voice of the Environment, Inc. Dan Hamburg, a former congressman, is executive director.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/04/ED5OUPQJ7.DTL&hw=endgame&sn=001&sc=1000

[Mojorabbit]

1. They are getting ready for something....n/t

[Dinger]

40. Indeed They Are

Probably in early November of 2008 is my guess.

[bear425]

45. I would guess "October Surprise" n/t

[Dinger]

59. That Could Be (nt)

[DJ13]

2. Hmmmmmmmmmm

"Beginning in 1999, the government has entered into a series of single-bid contracts with Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) to build detention camps at undisclosed locations within the United States."



Who was President when these contracts began........

I cant quite remember.......

[99th_Monkey]

3. Yet another reason I'm NOT wanting to continue the Bush/Clinton Dynasty with Hillary nt

[peacetalksforall]

19. Consider this ... some bases were closed. It could have been the military

that started rehabilitating them in '99, but with what money. Were their funding games and thest going on then. The Republicans conducted a secret sub-government during Reagan - a run-around Congress and against the law. The military (brass) is very Republican as we have found out. If the Iraq war was planned during the 90's including a letter to Clinton asking him to invade in 1998, then it would seem that they could have been setting up secret prisons.

But, in now looking back I regret the time I spent defending the Clintons all through the years of Republican character assassinations. I still believe my original decisions about what they were guilty of and what the Republicans made up. But, I have no idea what happened to the Clintons relative to Republicans during the 2000's. Something happened. They became very, very 'close enemies somewhare along the way. Too close for me. I feel betrayed.

But, this prison reconstruction/construction could have started parallel to the plans for the Iraq Invasion, Pillage, and Plunder - by Republicans.

I'm sorry to report that I believe the Republicans and others could be planning full stage martial law by the end of the year.

They have no regard for children.

We must take care of ourselves by exposing them. Congrats to the SF Chronicle. Spread it.

So what happened to the Blackberries today? Did they get the cut cables fixed in the Mediterraneans, through the straits, and to the Indian Sea?

[hootinholler]

64. Back in the day, Ollie North was working on similar plans...

IIRC it was called REX84.

-Hoot

[bluesmail]

86. I too regret my feelings for Bill Clinton

He had a lot of people fooled, thanks to DU for setting me straight. I feel betrayed.

[Baby Snooks]

26. Let me refresh your memory...

It was Bill Clinton!!!!!!!

[Kitty Herder]

80. Very good point. nt

[Blue State Bandit]

4. Just a thought. Notice the last sentence in this Frank Rich article.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4539833

What’s more, it offered a naked preview of how nastily the Clintons will fight, whatever the collateral damage to the Democratic Party, in the endgame to come.


What if the super "D"'s give it to Clinton and their is mass protests of the outcome by Obama supporters?

It's just an observation.

[99th_Monkey]

8. Yes, as DJ13 points out above, KBR contract was awarded in 1999

when you know who was Prez. The shadow gov't's public face is the Bush/Clinton Dynasty .. putting the nasty back in Dynasty.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

17. I believe the coup was all ready in place.

Without defending the Clintons' naivety continuing to this damn day, I will say with confidence that the coup was in place by '98.

The Clintons are NOT the malignancy.

The cancer is in the corporacrats taking up all oxygen of this former democracy.

I think it's vitally important to separate whenever possible the evil from the gullible or idealistic,...especially NOW.

[Virginia Dare]

49. What, in your opinion, is the next step?

another Clinton Presidency? I honestly don't see McCain as being any great friend to the corporatocracy. If they are truly controlling our election process, what is the endgame here?

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

95. Oh, please! *LOL* They were the 'naive' that fooled the powers-that-be.

Geez.

The Clintons weren't BORN into the "powers-that-be".

Shake off the right-wing shit-spewing stuff, if you choose.

I just,...do not know what else to say to those who are so gullible as to compare the Clintons to the BushCOs. I really don't.

BACK to the coup,...the next step is the complete majority this administration seeks (e.g. dictatorship) via another "Pearl Harbor" event. They have put all laws, as did Hitler, in their favor to control the populace and Congress and this country.

[smoogatz]

5. I find this terrifying.

I think it's in preparation for yet another stolen presidential election, frankly. We'll see.

[99th_Monkey]

10. Sadly, that is probably the best-case scenario, given what we now know ..

...the worst case being another false flag op and NO election whatsoever due to "national emergency"
triggering Bush's Prez. Directive 51 as referenced in the SFChronicle piece.

[warren pease]

18. Yup... false flag blamed on a cabal of Iranians and American "homegrown terrorists"...

... which provides the excuse to nuke Iran and bring the hammer down at home.

Thanks to seven years of Bush/Cheney getting every single piece of fascist underpinnings they wanted -- with the complicity and enthusiastic support of congress, no matter the majority party -- we now live in a country that has all the trappings of a national security state.

Taken together, and when placed in the context of a government completely in love with overwhelming power and dedicated to the support of its paymasters among the corporate elite, what else could it be?

As organizing principles, we now have an unprecedented litany of repressive legislation, executive orders and presidential directives; massive federal invasions of privacy regarding medical and http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/23/washington/23intel.html?ex=1308715200&en=168d69d26685c26c&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss">financial records; monitoring US citizens' electronic communications; re-targeting spy satellites for domestic surveillance; the TSA cavity search specialists (for attractive young women only; the rest are presumed to pose no threat to the state); no-fly and terrorist watch lists; Halliburton/KBR's detention camps; RFIDs in all new passports and in the new national ID cards scheduled to be issued this year; new TSA "behavior detection officers" to spot those who don't "look quite right;" all this wonderful new stuff from the DHS; private armies featuring mercenaries from companies like Blackwater and SAIC springing up like mushrooms after a light rain... All that and the Patriot Act, the http://www.aclu.org/safefree/detention/commissions.html">Military Commissions Act, http://www.aclu.org/safefree/extraordinaryrendition/22203res20051206.html">extraordinary rendition (whatever the hell that means) and torture, too. (Note: the torture link is graphic and disgusting.)

Also, see the blockquote in this post, which is a small part of H.R. 1585, the fiscal year 2008 National Defense Authorization Act. Note the orders to prepare to use regular troops -- as opposed to the Guard or Reserves -- to respond to "natural disasters and terrorist events." In other words, martial law.

About time some of this made its way into a quasi-reputable daily. I won't be holding my breath until it shows up on CNNFuxMSNBCNBCABCBSGENBC.


As they say, if it quacks like a duck... See you in the gulag.

wp

[99th_Monkey]

23. Wow. This needs to be top posted

amazing accumulation of links coherently anchoring key references in the text ... nicely done...

I just wish our subject matter weren't so dire and gloomy, but better dire and gloomy seeing the
ugly truth, than massively deluded into thinking everything's just hunky dory in the "good ol' USofA".

[warren pease]

39. It needs to be seen far and wide, and particularly by those who refuse to...

...accept the evidence -- circumstantial though it is -- that's been sitting right in front of their eyes and gathering momentum since about Sept. 12, 2001. You don't need to be a genius to connect the dots when they're as big as beach balls.

Instead of asking what does it all mean, the right question is: Why would any administration go to all this trouble, grab all this power for the executive branch, create an entire infrastructure devoted to population control, put all these systems in place at great expense, issue all those directives and orders, obsess about keeping the entire population under surveillance, weaken or eliminate most Constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms, advocate for further media consolidation, continue the saber-rattling over Iran despite that inconvenient NIE, build a multi-tentacled paramilitary infrastructure loyal only to their paymasters... Why would anyone do all this if they're just fucking around?

Obviously, they're not. Obviously, they've been careful to assemble the necessary pieces to turn a somewhat dysfunctional democratic republic into a lock-down national security state. Those pieces are now in place and ready to "go live" at the flip of a switch. They're just idling in the background now, but they could be the most important elements in all Americans' lives within days -- maybe a week at most.

Or maybe they never will go live. Maybe the implied threat is enough. But the Cheneys of the world don't strike me as the types to do stuff like this just for fun.

So anyway, I keep writing articles and posting on blogs and boring the shit out of anyone who'll listen to this stuff. Note the fantastic traction it's getting.

But I'm incapable of doing nothing. I can't just sit around and wait for the inevitable without at least trying to get people thinking about what's being done to them and taking preemptive action if they can.

I don't know; maybe it's useless. Maybe Americans are going to continue to get the government they deserve. And this time, because Americans' brains have been sucked right out of their skulls by the stupidest, most toxic form of mindless infotainment passing as news, and because they absolutely refuse to inform themselves about anything more complex than pop culture, they're deserving of that jackboot on their throats for a generation or two.

I have other plans.


wp

[bluesmail]

88. or they could use diebold voting machines

as an excuse. Wouldn't surprise me, they Win either way.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

6. I just finished "The End of America" by Wolf. All I see around me is,....

,...mindlessness or a persistent state of denial. I am terribly concerned the fascist track may be imminent given the mental state of America.

It's sad and far more scary than the distantly remote possibility I or anyone I know could be a victim of a 'terrorist' attack. I mean, what has happened and is happening in terms of a power grab with NO respect for constitutional protections or limitations let alone basic human rights is, in my mind, a far worse example of terrorist activity than any single act of violence.

If I were able to make an exit along with my family, I'd do it immediately because the mental state of America is so damn vulnerable, apparently, to this turn towards dictatorship.

I wish I didn't live to observe this happen/ing to a country I had believed in with my whole heart and soul.

I have given a recommendation and kick this up.

[99th_Monkey]

11. I share your heartbreak for our country

thanx for the rec.

[bvar22]

7. Why does this disturb you so much, Comrad?

If you are a good American, you have nothing to fear.

I'm going to ask your local Party Commisar to pay you a little visit.
Democratic or Republican doesn't matter....they have merged and now share the same office.
The merging of the two Party Headquartes have saved your government much money since they were merely duplicating each others efforts....much more efficient now.

Now, Citizen, in 2008, your benevolent government will give you 2 choices.
You may vote for:

1) a Pro-War, Pro "For Profit" HealthInsurance, Anti-LABOR Big Corpo Republican

OR

2) a Pro-War, Pro "For Profit" HealthInsurance, Anti-LABOR Big Corpo Democrat

[Individualist]

9. If ever there was time for an opposition party to provide opposition, this is it.

I don't see that happening. :(

[99th_Monkey]

12. The 3rd Party option has been tried before

and whether it helped get Bush into office can be debated forever, but what can't be debated IMO
is that America desperately needs a "V for Vendetta" moment-of-truth, and pronto.

[Individualist]

13. I wasn't arguing for a third party

What I want is a Democratic leadership that will stand up for the people rather than dancing to DLC's tune. The current leadership is providing more complicity than opposition.

[99th_Monkey]

16. Thanks for clarifying.

IMO since the Democratic leadership has all-but-defaulted any claim to being the "loyal opposition" party
to the Rethugs in the WH, I'm not sure where we go from here.

I feel like I'm being played for a fool by the DLC, like Charlie Brown with the football.

[Gonnuts]

56. Double-post removed

read following ...

[Gonnuts]

60. We have reached the end and it won't be pretty ...

And it's amazing how the majority of We the People have been fooled into willfully giving-up our power.

Case in point, yesterday listening to callers on C-SPAN a caller says, " ... I'm Independent, because I vote both Democratic and Republican ..." without ever realizing what she was saying. If you vote for either Democratic or Republican candidates you're not "independent".

So powers-that-be have basically made "Independent" voters disappear by only giving us Tweedledee or TweedleDum to choose from, but if the true number of Independents out here were to realize their power and vote such we'd have representation we could be happy with. That's why it's impossible to vote for either corrupted party and remain principled.

Not that any Green, Libertarian or any of the other 3rd parties could not be corrupted either, but it would take some time. But it's no mystery our current system is a joke. Most other democracies have more than just two major parties - it's a lot easier to buy-off two parties as opposed to twenty. And to think we have corporate networks, whose corporate pundits tell us who are the "winners" and "losers" are before we even get to cast a vote on machines that may erase it anyway as we run around the world proclaiming ourselves a "model of democracy" must somehow win an award somewhere for one of the all-time ironies in human history.

I have absolutely no doubt that we've reached the end of our experiment with democracy and will now enter a Hell on Earth. All these acts and powers weren't put into place for no reason. No one can convince me that those that wrote them, voted on them didn't know what they were doing or aren't going to implement them when the time comes - and that time is very close, closer than anyone thinks. When whatever catalyst occurs that will catapult us into tyranny it will happen so fast that before the shock wears off most of us that are aware of it will be imprisoned or dead. Just like in Nazi Germany when the Brown Shirts would kick-in doors and drag people away as neighbors stood in silence thinking but for the grace of God it wasn't them, but eventually is was them, so shall it be here. Count on it.

And for those that say "it can't happen here" - take a good look - it's happening. Test cases abound. From the start of the bush administration protesters were corralled into ironically call "Free Speech Zones" without one out-cry. And that was BEFORE 9/11. Since then it's only gotten much worse with still nothing coming from the cowered masses. New Orleans was a case study in what's going to happen in every major city. Military units will be going door to door confiscating guns, arresting those that don't comply or worse. Entering of homes without warrant or permission and detaining anyone with a hint of being disloyal to the regime will become the norm. Does anyone think that explosion of Tasers use by police is an accident? Or the continued rampant lawlessness by high government officials with absolutely no accountability isn't by design? Crowd control weapons such as Micro-wave and Sound-waves that can incapacitate thousands are ready to use. Does anyone doubt for a minute they invented these so as NOT to use them? Are you going to tell me that they weren't prepared for Katrina but all these camps that are fully staffed and ready for use are a sign of lessons learned?

I'm not even concerned about an election anymore. It's meaningless even if it does happen. There's a catastrophe coming down in the near future that will make all else pale in comparison no matter which one of the corporate owned candidates wins. And that's "if" we even have an election.

Keep your powder dry - you're going to need it.

[warren pease]

67. I'd settle for a second party at the moment...

The idea that Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner are mortal political enemies is so absurd that you'd have to try really hard to believe it. So first we need two distinct parties that actually represent different constituencies, rather than the rigged game we have now: a single party called the Business Party with two factions called Democrats and Republicans who, with very few notable exceptions, both work ceaselessly for the benefit of their corporate campaign "contributors" and to the constant detriment of anyone outside the hedge fund class.

Then we could work our way up to maybe a dozen or so parties -- one for the religiously insane, another for fans of pro wrestling, a third for ACLU supporters, and so on. All would come equipped with a well-defined agenda and present clear choices that are intelligible to an electorate weaned on the vacuous nonsense that passes for political discourse in this country.

Can you imagine a real debate in which the opinion on health care ranges from single-payer, universal-access to for-profit, corporate-controlled medicine like we now have? Rather than one that allows some half-wit news reader to ask Kucinich about his UFO experience or try to determine who's the biggest jesus freak?

But that just can't be allowed to happen because there's nothing more repugnant to the oligarchy than an informed electorate who's stopped believing all the corporate bullshit.


wp

[Disturbed]

15. Aren't these camps being used now for Illegal Immigrants?

Is this something to be scared about?

[mmonk]

37. It starts with "people at the margins".

In Germany, it was Jews, gypsys, "communists", whatever. In the US, it is Muslims, immigrants, animal rights activists, environmental activists. ...whatever. Later, it's opposition party leaders (Siegleman), bloggers (already one jailed), academics, etc.

[Karenina]

48. Yes.

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0233/solomon.php

The Gatekeeper: Watch on the INS
by Alisa Solomon
Detainees Equal Dollars
The Rise in Immigrant Incarcerations drives a prison boom
August 14 - 20, 2002

t was a shaky spring for the correctional workers of Hastings, Nebraska (pop. 24,064), as the stagnation in the nation's prison population and the increasingly high costs of incarceration jostled the sleepy town, some two hours' drive from Lincoln. On April 9, the 84 employees of the Hastings Correctional Center were told that the 186-bed facility would be closing at the end of June. State funds were scraping bottom, and the $2.5 million annual price tag for the prison was too big a burden to carry. "We really didn't know what we would do," says Jim Morgan, who had been working at HCC for 15 years and lives to this day in the house where he was born. "There aren't a lot of job opportunities out here, and most of us have homes and kids and couldn't even think about moving somewhere else." For two months, the workers scrambled, filling out applications at nearby meatpacking and cardboard-container plants and anticipating long hours in the unemployment office.

Then salvation came from, of all places, the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Days after HCC closed as a state prison in June, it reopened as an INS detention center.

"It's a win-win," says Morgan. The INS is desperate for more beds for its ever expanding detainee population. And the state of Nebraska, collecting $65 per detainee per day from the INS, rakes in more than $1 million a year over and above the cost of running the place.

County jailers have long known that housing INS detainees pumps easy income into the coffers. Nearly 900 facilities around the country provide beds for the INS, and in interviews over the years, several county sheriffs and wardens have described such detainees as a "cash crop."

[beezlebum]

51. dupe

[beezlebum]

52. yes and they are still

abhorrent. the hutto prison in texas, for example, houses approx 150 individuals, about half of which are CHILDREN. the aclu had to SUE to get proper health care for the children, as well as blankets and relief from other inhumane conditions. (kbr is not the only one)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._Don_Hutto_Residential_Center
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2007/08/privatizing-misery-deporting-and.html ("Privatizing misery, deporting and imprisoning migrants for profit")

i can not rest easily just because the people there aren't american citizens (yet). they are human beings being treated as though they were wild animals society needs protection from, only with less humanity.

and finally, if it's americans that are your concern, as the previous poster replied, it does start with the people in the margins. immigrants are being scapegoated, and once it's okay, eventually it will be okay to lock up americans who get in the way of US (corporate) policies, including environmentalists, for example. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-w-whitehead/are-you-a-homegrown-terro_b_82935.html

[rAVES]

68. Are you being Serious?

[Gonnuts]

69. "No" and "Yes"

"No" they are NOT currently being used to house illegal immigrants - that was just an excuse. And "yes" you should be very concerned. They didn't build these things for fun.

[Kitty Herder]

79. And that makes it okay?

Come on. Immigrants are people too.

And now that they have the camps and the rail cars in place, it's a small step for them to start using them for dissidents and other "undesirables," too.

Scary shit, I tell ya.

[blues90]

14. It is troubling , especially when many americans have been

Hit so hard by the economy and have no means to leave the country or even keep what they have .

It makes it easier to gather up the strays and identify them .

More troubling it these are real directives and yet they are never talked about or pushed aside as if people who do look at this are wearing tin foil hats .

If you look out the door or drive down any street life seems to go on unchanged , all seems somehow normal other than the foreclosure signs .

[Individualist]

20. K&R

[jaybeat]

21. It will be so easy...

A false flag attack (maybe not the first) takes out a major (i.e. Democratic) city. (Or more than one, if they really want to stick it to us.)

Elections are "postponed." (Wouldn't want it to seem as if the ruling Party would use a national tragedy for partisan advantage, now would we?)

"Enhanced surveillance" yields "startling" levels of internal "terrorist" threats. "State of Emergency" declared. "Subversives" and "supporters" rounded up in increasing numbers.

"Evidence" (secret, of course) points to Iran. US attacks; WWIII (officially) begins.

World-wide economic collapse.

KBR, Exxon/Mobil, GE, and other multi-nationals see their profits skyrocket (military and "security" spending replacing consumer spending as the primary driver of the world economy).

Millions die. Billions suffer. A handful profits.

Prescott Bush's dream of the 1930's is finally realized. A grandson completes the family legacy.

[wildbilln864]

22. Wow...

you've almost described a movie by alex jones I watched also called "Endgame". :tinfoilhat:

[jaybeat]

42. The TV show "Jericho" is also frighteningly plausible

A CIA operation to shut down a "terrorist" plot to detonate nukes in a dozen US cities is itself shut down at the last minute.

The bombs go off, including in DC during a Presidential address to a joint session of Congress. Poof. Government "decapitated."

An EMP over the US effectively wipes out the electrical grid, communications and almost all electronic devices.

In the post-attack chaos, FEMA runs camps for refugees, while military contractors "Ravenwood" (aka Blackwater) run amok taking whatever they want.

When a quasi-national government finally emerges, the shadowy figure leading it is, surprise, the same one who called off the mission to disrupt the attacks. At the end of last season, he was sending in the Army to find one of the agents who did not allow his bomb to go off, and who is one of the only people alive who can connect the dots as a false-flag inside job.

[kenfrequed]

77. hmm

As much as I will accept the plausibility of another neo con job and nuclear terrorism, Jericho would be going too far and would end up ultimately being unprofitable.

I wouldn't be surprised if a major D city gets the terror treatment. Hmm I live in Minnesota, which is a fairly blue state. Suddenly I am getting really, really nervous.

[jaybeat]

94. Perhaps. But it would be the ultimate in Disaster Capitalism.

Out with the old, in with the new, clean (actually dirty) slate.

Dick would do it (safe in his "undisclosed location") in a heartbeat, if he thought he could pull it off.

Think of the billions to be made "rebuilding." Think of the ethnic cleansing that could be "accomplished." (Hiroshima-sized bombs could take out inner cities but leave exurbs relatively intact.) A man-made Katrina, times 100.

At this point, I there isn't much I would put past them.

Looks like we have lots to look forward to!


:popcorn: :nuke:

[Virginia Dare]

50. We can't let ourselves be kidnapped by these thugs..

They pulled soldiers off the battlefield in the middle of a civil war to vote in a a Presidential election. We simply can't let them take our election from us, even under the guise of "postponement". Our Democracy is lost to us forever if we allow that to happen.

[Gonnuts]

71. another damn double-post

grr

[Gonnuts]

72. You sound like there's some left worth saving ...

Wish I had something positive to say but we're about at least 30 years too late in saving this country.

[beezlebum]

53. i'm not saying it's not so

but i stopped thinking this ended with "w" a long time ago. and i do not believe it is partisan either.

think about this: why would the powers that be turn to dictatorship when the democracy ruse is so successful? keep electing people from either party who will continue to enable a certain agenda (profit profit power profit) and keep the people afraid to do anything to stop it if they actually realize what is going on.

truthfully, i am not paranoid that we would start being disappeared- it could be just another fear tactic. but then again, with two possible/likely impending dooms, environment and economy, chaos could easily erupt. those prisons just might come in handy when people finally wake up and realize all them tree huggin libruhls were right all along. :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat:

[lunatica]

24. So, if this is true the next question is why and

To what end?

If you have millions of people in camps what happens then? Who feeds them and gives them medical attention? What use are they put to? If they're going to roundup large portions of the population who pays the taxes to care for them? Sure they'll be slave labor for corporations, but who's left to buy the Big Macs, much less sell them? That's a lot of consumers to neutralize for a country whose lifeblood is based on consumerism. Prisoners are a dead weight on any economy unless they fulfill a socially redeming function. We're already a prison nation which hasn't found a way of putting the prisoners we have now to practical use. Somehow I doubt that they've really thought this out, just like they didn't think out the Iraq invasion. They might soon find themselves in a prison camp quagmire.

On the other hand what better way to separate people out by religion, culture, nationality, or even sexual preference and do the final solution on them.

What comes after Martial Law and the suspension of the elections?

[Baby Snooks]

28. Is it true?

It seems to be more a matter of "urban legend" at least where KBR is concerned but may not be where Blackwater is concerned.

And it may be tied more into "immigration reform" which has now made criminals of illegal immigrants than anything else. "We" brought them here. "We" want to keep them here. On "our" terms. No labor law including minimum wage law. Once again, a slave labor force.

And how best to ensure it? Start rounding some of them up and throwing them into "deportation camps" to send a message to the rest of them.

Someone here illegally threatens to file a complaint over workplace conditions or workplace abuse? No problem. Call Blackwater and have them hauled off to a "deportation" camp. That will take care of the others before they get too uppity.

And the Democrats sit by and say nothing. As always. And if you don't think so, just remember Madame Speaker's "slip of the tongue" about homeless people in San Francisco. She is, in my opinion, nothing less than one of "Hitler's Women" at this point along with Hillary Clinton.

[Virginia Dare]

47. The American economy is on a dramatic downslide..

and it stands to reason that the jobs which were once very plentiful for these undocumented workers coming her by the millions won't be around much longer. What happens to them? Where do they go? Home? To what? Faced with starving here or starving at home, it will turn violent. I'm sure the corporate overlords have thought this thing through very thoroughly.

[Gonnuts]

82. BINGO!

"On the other hand what better way to separate people out by religion, culture, nationality, or even sexual preference and do the final solution on them."

It's not like we got rid of this mindset or people that would carry this out at the end of WWII. Not only do they exist, they persist - and run our so-called government. These forces have NO interest if we live or die, as a matter of fact the would prefer the latter and have been working 24/7 to make it so.

[tblue37]

25. K&R n/t

[go west young man]

27. Good to see articles like this climb the ladder at DU.

This type of edgy stuff is what I used to come to DU for. Nowadays the only thing going on at DU is mainstream political squabbling over two status quo candidates who aren't gonna change a damn thing. They aren't gonna impeach. They aren't gonna investigate war lies and crimes. They aren't gonna fix a corrupt system. They aren't gonna get rid of electronic voting. All the while the MSM and now DU chat about these two people the crimes of the Bush administration continue daily. DU has become a bit of a boring joke in the last year. It needs to get it's edge back and quit with the political love/hate fest. Both candidates are better than any republican. Yet both candidates suck. Now back to the news.

[truth2power]

58. You are correct. See my post below. n/t

[Baby Snooks]

29. Martial law?

How is Bush going to put martial law into effect? Most of our National Guard and our military is deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq and the Persian Gulf to protect the Bush interests.

Is he going to use local law enforcement? In states like Texas, he might have a big surprise. Not everyone supports him. Even in Texas.

[Ezlivin]

30. With private contractors

It's easy to think that our current leadership is merely incompetent, what with letting the military get ground down in Iraq. Despite repeated warnings this government seems content to let our military degrade.

Why? The answer is easy if you look at who would benefit. Companies like Blackwater would gladly step up to take the place of our military. With billions in lucrative government contracts already in hand and billions more to come, why wouldn't they jump at the chance to incarcerate Americans in the detention camps built by KBR?

You need look no further than the ceaseless expansion of privately run prisons and the concomitant rise in arrests to see the trajectory on which this country is headed.

[havocmom]

36. Private Contractors given 'shoot to kill' permission after NOLA Levy Break

was a trial run to see if America would sit still for such violations of law. America (and Congress) sat silent. The test was a success for cheney.

The American Republic is dead. We just haven't seen it all yet.

[indepat]

54. Dead as a doornail

[FourScore]

31. Wake up America!

Thanks for posting this. Rec.

[nashville_brook]

32. kick, etc...

[havocmom]

33. Read that former MT gov Marc Racicot built a lot of prisions with private concractors in MT.

His terms were before I returned to the state, so I really am ignorant, just read a bit that he spent a lot of $$ building prisons Montana didn't have the prison population to utilize. He went on to become RNC head for a time and ran bush/cheney 2004campaign. Now a well paid lobbyist.

Let me also state, we sure got a LOT of federal dollars the past 7 years, for roads that don't get much travel to places far off the beaten path.

Yep, something has been planned for a long time. I truly believe the deployment of the US Military, the Reserves and the Guards are all part of that plan. They are being wasted away to nothing, resources are GONE, there seems to be every indication that fighting troops will stay in Iraq until they die. I do believe cheney is ensuring there are no trained defenders to protect America from the domestic threat that resides in offices on the Beltway and K Street. I do believe cheney intends there be few, if any survivors of the Iraqi diversion to come home seeking care or offering a real defense of the homeland.

And wiretaps are NOT about terrorism suspects. The total survailence society only serves to protect those same enemies of the Republic in those offices on the Beltway and K Street.

When the knock comes at the door, we won't have time to say our good-byes. Let me say this: I love America. And I miss America. It isn't here anymore.

[FirstLight]

34. wow, let's kick this

Because the issue is no longer who is better, the issue is how do we mobilize without getting thrown in camps ourselves, eh?

I cringe thinking that there are plenty of us here who could be seen as "Enemies of the State" simply because of what articles we read, how we speak, and the stickers on our cars...

So, is there a place for American refugees to flee? Canada probably won't take us, and Mexico will surely be annexed anyway...
I used to think that because I live in a rural mountain town I am removed enough from the big cities to escape the big meltdown..

Now I wonder if being cut off will make it easier or harder? You know, it aint easy to grow food in the mountains!

Thank you for bringing this inormation to light. I am upalled at the complacency by the sheeple, and looking at the TV and it's joy in telling us to buy new clothes, take trips, new gadgits (which are another tracking system, eh?)I am not surprised.
So where do we go from here?
There is no hope to "pass legislation" to reverse this, it is done. we now must begin the contingency plans...
So, who's building the ark?

[Zodiak]

35. K&R

Some good grist for the mill amongst the din of self-appointed candidate operatives.

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

38. 775,000 "terror suspects"?

Doesn't this number mimic the No Fly List?

[juno jones]

62. Tuttle, Buttle, why quibble? n/t

[knitter4democracy]

41. Word is that Michigan's gulag is at the old army base in Grayling.

I remember reading that somewhere, and it makes sense. They'd have room at the base here in Battle Creek, too. That's where they put some of the Katrina survivors who were flown up here. At least they had groups making sure they had everything they needed and were allowed off-base to go to church and visit family. Some ended up getting jobs and housing here and stayed, though most found other options.

One of these days, there's going to be a knock at the door, I just know it. When they come for the peaceniks and the immigrants, who will speak up?

[bbgrunt]

43. k n r. WAKE UP SHEEPLE

[diamidue]

44. don't trust 'em

With over 300 million people in the country and tens of millions of them anti-Bush, the camps would be extremely impractical. I don't think the camps are for Quakers or environmentalists or animal rights people. I do see a few opportunities for the camps. One is an economic collapse. If society were in chaos, crime could become rampant and the camps could hold criminals.
Another is in case of an epidemic like bird flu, where people are sent to camps - much like old leper colonies. Another use for the camps could be internment housing for any Muslims living in the USA in case war breaks out all over the ME. And if there IS a big war looming, I can see the possibility of a draft - which might mean that Military Contractors would go door to door signing up young men. Resist? Off to the camps. Anti-war protestors would probably join them. A lot of conspiracy talk going on here, but after seeing the pics of some of those camps on-line and after watching the USA going off the deep end on so many counts with seemingly no resistance from our leaders, I've got to tell you, I'm seriously worried about where this is headed.

[rich4468]

46. Keep in mind that this is an opinion piece

And should be viewed as such. This is not to say that I don't believe every word of it and that it is truly alarming but until a major daily (including the SF Chronicle) runs a fully vetted ARTICLE on the front page this issue won't gain any traction.

[frog92969]

55. K&R

[truth2power]

57. I just checked the comments section of that article...

There are now eight, and three of those are dismissing that whole thing as the ravings of "enviro-whackos" and the like. And I seem to remember that, over a year ago, when people were posting here about the camps, they were practically laughed off the board. Wouldn't want to not appear to be "mainstream" or anything, and what would "they" (the Reptiles) think of us. <sigh>

Yes, this is alarming! I don't know what it will take to wake people up.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

61. when Bush said 4 more years he meant 20 years!

[Junkdrawer]

63. I'm telling you, our "leaders" are scared to death of what we'll do when the economy falls...

THAT'S why the camps are being set up...

THAT'S why domestic wiretapping is now legal...

They know that the Ponzi Game that is our Economy is ready to fall any day and that mass economic hardship will do what the repeal of intangible "rights" hasn't: foster a general rebellion.

It's one thing when, say 1% or 5% of a community loses their jobs. It's a completely different thing when 25% or 40% of a community loses their economic supports in a relatively short period of time.

When it's 5%, people blame themselves. When it's 25% or more, people blame the powers that be. This is not going to be pretty.

[Warren DeMontague]

65. The SF Chron "article" is an open forum opinion piece, thin on actual evidence.

Funny, I seem to remember an awful lot of similar sounding gibberish coming out of the far right in the 90s; of course, at that time it was Bill Clinton bringing UN Black Helicopters in to force virginal white heartland daughters to put condoms on bananas and worship Baal.

Look, the things the Bush admin. actually HAS done are bad enough- subverting the constitution, torture, etc. But all the stuff about Halliburton concentration camps and rail cars and the like; hey, I have relatives who were victims of the Nazis, I take these allegations seriously- but is there any, actual EVIDENCE that Halliburton/KBR are building concentration camps and shackle-filled rail cars?

I mean, evidence that doesn't come from Alex Jones? :shrug:

[99th_Monkey]

74. Google "KBR, Halliberton, Concentration camps, contracts". It's a matter of public record

2150 hits. Here's just a few of them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/04/national/04halliburton.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B62C8724D-AE8A-4B5C-94C7-70171315C0A0%7D&dateid=38741.5136277662-858254656
http://www.alternet.org/rights/42458/
http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/47/17936
http://www.libertyforlife.com/jail-police/us_concentration_camps.htm

[warren pease]

75. Please see my post # 18 above...

Follow each of those links, think about the cumulative effect of all those various items, ask yourself why any group would go to that much trouble to put all these various systems in place, then draw your own conclusions.

And Alex Jones isn't sourced for any of it. In fact, about a third of the links take you to official white house news releases, DHS fluff pieces and the text of the current military appropriations bill.

I did use some material from that subversive and anti-American organization, the ACLU, so maybe that's suspect. Anyway, have at it.


wp

[Warren DeMontague]

76. Yes, because I don't see any evidence that "Halliburton is building concentration camps" here,

I must hate the ACLU.

Except I sent em a check last month. Whoops.

Like I said, the Bush admin. has clearly done a whole litany of extra-constitutional, illegal, immoral or otherwise just plain bad shit, from spying to torture to invading Iraq- but hyperbole about how "Halliburton is building concentration camps! I'm SERIES!!!" doesn't help anyone. It reminds me of the nutty shit I was hearing from right wingers during the Clinton years about Black Helicopters.

Sorry, I just don't see evidence that this is anything more than what it seems to be, i.e. a fat gravy train contract for essentially nothing.

And where is the stuff about the "rail cars with shackles in them"? :shrug:

[warren pease]

84. Realistically, there are easier ways to funnel cash to Halliburton/KBR...

There's that pallet of shrink-wrapped cash carrying a reported $9 BILLION that's just disappeared from a warehouse in Iraq.

But as to "credible reports" regarding these camps, Impeachment Monkey was good enough to provide links to several stories on the subject, one even from the NYT, which is somewhat incredible in itself.

Btw, I have no idea what you mean by "rail cars with shackles in them."

And looking beyond possible internment camps, what about all those other pieces of the puzzle I called your attention to? Did you poke around and look at some of them? Do they not suggest elements composing some kind of pattern, or do you just see them as random events with no organizing principle behind them?

And if the latter, what do you make of government by fiat such that an executive order allows the DoD and DHS to decide to seize all your assets if you publicly disagree with BushCo's Iraq policy? Or, as the order is quaintly titled: "Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq." This apparently isn't a joke, although I'm not sure what's going on over there qualifies as "stabilization efforts."

Anyway, long story short, if you're a member of the peace movement, get loud enough to come to their attention and don't happen to be rich enough for the second tier of the justice system to kick in, they can steal all your stuff, bust anyone who tries to help you out (family, friends, a bank loaning you money, probably somebody giving you a quarter once you're reduced to panhandling), and they won't tell you about any of this. You'll probably find out when you stick your ATM card in the slot and discover you're broke.

If that's not bad enough, there's "Endgame," as the DHS calls HR 1955 / S 1959, known officially as The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007, and which contains – among dozens of odious provisions – these gems:

(2) The promotion of violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism and ideologically based violence exists in the United States and poses a threat to homeland security.

(3) The Internet has aided in facilitating violent radicalization, ideologically based violence, and the homegrown terrorism process in the United States by providing access to broad and constant streams of terrorist-related propaganda to United States citizens.

Which is to say, the Internet's days may be numbered, at least as we know and use it. Certainly corporate ecommerce sites will continue to thrive, but dissent really has to be dealt with. Having thoroughly corrupted and co-opted mass media, the Internet is the only place left where you can find out what's actually happening in your own country. Just read any of the foreign press -- from the Guardian to the Times of India to Le Monde (English translation for me) to any of the German zeitungs -- and you'll eventually figure out what the hell's going on in the US.

Clearly, that can't be allowed to continue so, under the usual guise of fighting terrorism, this new law -- which passed the House 404 - 6, will certainly slide right through the Senate and will certainly be signed by a salivating Bush -- begins to address the huge problem of uncontrolled thought posed by the Internet.

I don't know; if all this doesn't trouble you, I wish I had your optimism or resignation. If it does, then you have to decide what, if any, action you're willing to take to counteract this type of crap.

Either way, it's a tough call. I've obviously made my peace with the consequences of resistance. I hope you find it possible to do the same.

I do have one consistent guiding principle: this administration is malevolence incarnate and absolutely cannot be trusted to do anything but serve the needs of its corporate masters. A big part of that mandate means keeping the serfs marginalized, scared, dumb, complacent, inert, debt-ridden, hopeless and dependent on TV as their sole source of information. And they've been pretty damn successful so far.


wp

[Warren DeMontague]

92. I'm sure you and I share the same commitment to the Constitution & Bill of Rights.

I salute you for your dedication. Much of what you write here, I agree with wholeheartedly.

I'm only referring to the specific allegations in the OP (including the thing about the rail cars w/shackles in them) made to the tune of "Halliburton is out there building concentration camps as we speak". And the OP is presented disingenuously; implying that it's based a story in a legitimate news source, ie the SF Chronicle, when in reality it's a piece from "OPED News" with an Open Forum opinion piece in the Chron. That doesn't mean it's not factual, but the reality is that anyone who can string together 500 words can get an open forum piece in the SF Chronicle.

Someone want to pull up a link to google Earth and show exactly where these Halliburton/KBR "Concentration Camps" actually are?

Allegations like that are easy enough to disprove, it seems to me, and my concern if I have one here is that then when people raise legitimate issues with the ancillary stuff you mention, or talk about FISA and other real, pressing encroachments on freedom, liberty and the rule of law, they get lumped in with the Black Helicopters/New World Order/Illuminati UFOs are coming to get me/Alex Jones nuts.

To paraphrase the old adage "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you"... also, There are things to be paranoid about; but that doesn't mean that some people aren't so stone cold paranoid that they see things that aren't there anyway.

[warren pease]

97. Yeah, that's a problem alright..

It's a fine line between giving people a tolerable amount of well-sourced material and alienating them with speculation. There are some baseline things everybody needs to hear about -- and it's always interesting to watch peoples' reactions to things like Operation Northwoods or NSPD 51 or the TSA "VIPR" teams when they thought they "knew stuff" because they watch CNN.

But most people can't handle too much of this at a time or cognitive dissonance kicks in and they just reject the entire thesis out of hand.

For some reason, I don't have that problem. I expect the worst from governments and I'm rarely disappointed. By the time I hit college in 1968, I was completely predisposed me to believe that governments are capable of anything to perpetuate their own power and that of the elites who put them there. And that altruism and benevolence are never, ever functions of government, unless they're buying somebody or some group off to keep them from suddenly "getting it," marching to DC 100 million strong and evicting every single one of these frauds, toadies, tools, liars, thieves, clowns and charlatans. The New Deal seems to have been one such effort, at least according to a lot of recent historical analysis, although it did produce great results for the people, regardless of motive.

All this preamble by way of putting my political influences and belief systems in context vis a vis the current pack of hyenas destroying life on earth.

So to me, loathing and distrust of BushCo and all totalitarian satraps is both a belief system and an investigation into the facts, nuances and connections, with an emphasis on what's provable and what's probable. And that's why I put together that list of totalitarian-seeming measures. I honestly don't see what else they could possibly add up to except the imposition of some form of national security state.

I don't have any idea whether it'll be some kind of slowly evolving fascism with a happy face, or the overnight appearance of tanks and armed troops on downtown street corners. But something's up. I have a hard time believing that, after working for at least 50 - 60 years to put the extreme right in full control of the US, the stars of the show are just going to pack up and leave because some "goddamn piece of paper," specifically the 22nd Amendment, says they have to.

It's far more likely that they'll use all those new powers they've consolidated in the executive branch to simply flip off what's left of the democratic process, the Constitution (what else is new?), the voting public and the entire rest of the world, refuse to go anywhere and challenge anybody to evict them.

What then? Is there anybody left who respects the Constitution, has a spine, a heart and a brain, is outraged beyond the capacity to sit down and shut up, and is willing to do what's required to rid the world of this scourge? That pretty much eliminates Congress, who would normally be stuck with managing the job.

Or option two: The 2008 elections will be allowed to proceed because the proprietary source code and the touchscreen interfaces for the voting machines are now so stable that, no matter which buttons voters push, the outcome is not in question and all traces of tampering are obliterated. People will know in their bones that McCain stole it, but since exit polls are now said to be highly error-prone, there are no mechanisms left to prove it.

And as McCain sleeps through his four year hitch, Jeb is out there making headlines and sharpening his stump speech, preparing for a presidential run in 2012 -- which he will of course win either legitimately or through another standard election fraud.

By this time, most Americans simply won't give a shit anymore, expect all elections to be rigged and stop voting. Ironically, this allows the oligarchy and the totalitarians to simply walk and steal what they've been fighting for since the 19th century.

So that's two possible scenarios. Is there a third that makes logical sense in context?

It seems to me that we have only a little time left to live the illusion of freedom and self-determination. Then we'll have quite a while to think about how we blew it by letting these vampires get away with lie after lie and outrage after outrage, preferring to avoid confrontation, enjoy our microwave popcorn, swig gallons of shitty Bud Lite and let TV numb us into mindless acceptance and abject submission.

Other than all that, I'm really overjoyed about being an American these days.


wp

[rAVES]

66. K&R.. wakey wakey America!

[earth mom]

70. K & R!

:kick:

[Initech]

73. It's official: WE are the Nazis.

It's no longer a comparison. It's fact.

Illegal occupation? Check.

Leader who everyone hates but thinks really highly of himself and has some really loyal supporters? Check.

Massive amounts of propaganda? Check.

Illegally detaining its own citizens in concentration camps? Check mate.

[Maat]

78. Wow; I was aware of the problem ..

but this is a great write-up (a pause - I'm digesting it all).

[Kitty Herder]

81. What do we do now? Ideas anyone?

Seriously.

[warren pease]

85. One little monkey wrench worth considering...

How do you push back and who do you push back at? How about the corporate slimeballs whose money has propelled these snakes into power and kept them there? And the return on that investment shows that they supported the right vipers, since their stock prices have climbed into the stratosphere -- recent "corrections" notwithstanding.

Maybe now would be a nice time to get into the streets, shut down what's left of the wheezing economy with a general strike, stop paying credit card bills, drag mortgage payments out till the last day before penalties set in, refuse to pay medical insurance premiums and use the ER instead like the rest of the poor have to do, and generally screw up these vampires' revenue streams for a couple of months or so...

Appeals to decency, benevolence, fair play and cutting people a little damn slack fall into the void. However, they're pretty serious about anything that might cut their quarterly earnings per share by a penny. Using this pressure point as a guideline, why give them another nickel until they give you something in return?

So pick maybe a dozen corporations whose execs and shareholders have gotten insanely rich (or richer) off of BushCo wars, surveillance obsession, propaganda spewing, energy price fixing, environmental destruction and... the list of BushCo sleaze is nearly endless.

But you can narrow it down by going after the old stand-byes; companies like GE, Time Warner, AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Viacom, Northrup Grumman, Blue Cross, Aetna, Standard Oil, Exxon, Lockheed-Martin, Dynacorp, Disney, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch... Hell, just look at Ms. Clinton's and Mr. Obama's top 20 campaign contributors. There's a bunch worthy of a little disciplinary action.

Then call the communications or PR or investor relations departments at the corporations you've decided to mess with and tell them exactly what you're up to and why you're doing it.

Tell them that their CEOs, board members and major investors need to contact their political stooges in the House and tell them to impeach these demonspawn or they'll cut off their allowances. And until impeachment hearings begin, they'll not be getting a single penny from you or any of the tens of thousands like you who are taking the same actions.

This will get their attention, I guarantee you, particularly if there are, in fact, tens of thousands more doing the same thing at the same time. Even giant corporations need a reliable revenue stream to keep things running smoothly. Cut that off for a couple of months and they're going to feel the pinch.

Nobody listens to the peasants, and nobody ever will unless they're forced to. But when the heads of these autocratic fiefdoms threaten to stop bribing their political dependents, I have a sneaking suspicion that H Res. 333 might find its way back onto Ms. Nancy's table.

Or maybe not, but it'll be a hell of a lot of fun just fucking with these brazen bastards for a change.


wp

[diamidue]

87. It would be fun

until they declared Martial Law...

[warren pease]

89. They're going to do that anyway...

...might as well have a little fun before the whip comes down. There's not going to be much opportunity for fun once the national security state is in place. And I'd give it about six or seven months at the outside for that to happen.

Permit a little speculation about our collective fates:

A false flag event will kill a few hundred to a few thousand people, and it'll be blamed on a previously unknown "domestic terrorist cell" composed of Iranian Islamic radicals and assisted by those "home grown terrorists" that haunt the Internet and from which The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 will finally protect us.

This will create the pretense for a series of bombing attacks on Iran, maybe using the Israelis as proxies, maybe using nukes. This will either trigger massive protests, some violent, in the US, or massive protests will be staged using agents provocateurs to simulate mob violence. There will be injuries, possibly deaths.

Either way, to ensure the safety of the American people, BushCo will reluctantly increase the military presence in our cities and towns to keep the violence and lawlessness perpetrated by a few dangerous terrorist sympathizers from tearing apart the very fabric of our society, blah, blah, blah. And then they throw away the key.

Just in case this seems like the ravings of a paranoid loon (which I sincerely hope it is), there's this little list of dictatorial outrages already on the books, in place and ready for activation (borrowed from my post #18 above).

Repressive legislation, executive orders and presidential directives; massive federal invasions of privacy regarding medical and http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/23/washington/23intel.html?ex=1308715200&en=168d69d26685c26c&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss">financial records; monitoring US citizens' electronic communications; re-targeting spy satellites for domestic surveillance; the TSA cavity search specialists (for attractive young women only; the rest are presumed to pose no threat to the state); no-fly and terrorist watch lists; Halliburton/KBR's detention camps; RFIDs in all new passports and in the new national ID cards scheduled to be issued this year; new TSA "behavior detection officers" to spot those who don't "look quite right;" all this wonderful new stuff from the DHS; private armies featuring mercenaries from companies like Blackwater and SAIC springing up like mushrooms after a light rain... All that and the Patriot Act, the http://www.aclu.org/safefree/detention/commissions.html">Military Commissions Act, http://www.aclu.org/safefree/extraordinaryrendition/22203res20051206.html">extraordinary rendition (whatever the hell that means) and torture, too. (Note: the torture link is graphic and disgusting.)

Also, see the blockquote in this post, which is a small part of H.R. 1585, the fiscal year 2008 National Defense Authorization Act. Note the orders to prepare to use regular troops -- as opposed to the Guard or Reserves -- to respond to "natural disasters and terrorist events." In other words, martial law.

So have fun while you can.


wp

[mojowork_n]

83. Write to John Conyers' office, add your names to the impeachment petition

His office e-mail address is [e-mail]

D.U. link to petition here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4555035&mesg_id=4555812

While it's still a democracy.

[mojowork_n]

90. Surprise, from a vetted source

I found this link on the "Information Clearinghouse" website, but it leads back to one I trust, "The Progressive" magazine, from Madison, WI:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19338.htm

Excerpt:

Exclusive! The FBI Deputizes Business

By Matthew Rothschild

12/02/08 " The Progressive" -- -- Today, more than 23,000 representatives of private industry are working quietly with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. The members of this rapidly growing group, called InfraGard, receive secret warnings of terrorist threats before the public does—and, at least on one occasion, before elected officials. In return, they provide information to the government, which alarms the ACLU. But there may be more to it than that. One business executive, who showed me his InfraGard card, told me they have permission to “shoot to kill” in the event of martial law.

InfraGard is “a child of the FBI,” says Michael Hershman, the chairman of the advisory board of the InfraGard National Members Alliance and CEO of the Fairfax Group, an international consulting firm.

InfraGard started in Cleveland back in 1996, when the private sector there cooperated with the FBI to investigate cyber threats.

“Then the FBI cloned it,” says Phyllis Schneck, chairman of the board of directors of the InfraGard National Members Alliance, and the prime mover behind the growth of InfraGard over the last several years.

InfraGard itself is still an FBI operation, with FBI agents in each state overseeing the local InfraGard chapters. (There are now eighty-six of them.) The alliance is a nonprofit organization of private sector InfraGard members.


I posted a reply to the Conyers impeachment thread I linked to, but was unaware of the authorship of this info I included there, which I'd referenced.

[havocmom]

91. Corporations doing the tasks of government agencies, is it fascism yet?

:kick: for the night shift. Good info here.

[mojowork_n]

93. It's not looking good, at the moment. n/t

[havocmom]

96. Speaking of detention centers, re my post up thread about prisons in Montana

Local news story last night about one of those freshly built prisons in Harding, MT. Not in use... yet.

Like I posted before, GOP gov build lots of (private contractor) prison cells here, and we don't have a lot of population, let alone a lot of prison population. He went on to chair the RNC and head bush/cheney 2004. Now a well paid lobbyist.

We got LOTS of federal $$ since 2001 for amazing road work on roads that just don't get used that much; the state of Montana has less than 1,000,000 people, but is 4th in area. LOTS of lonely roads here, and LOTS of new pavement.

Yeah, gotta wonder about empty prisons where nobody sees them and extremely well maintained roads leading to them.