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Naomi Wolf: Give Me Liberty (must-see video)
"Interview with Naomi Wolf author of “Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries” given October 4, 2008 on Mind Over Matters, KEXP 90.3 FM Seattle."
We must impeach this president NOW!
Video from http://www.youtube.com/user/talkingsticktv
More posts:
http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/category/police-sta...
http://wordpress.com/tag/the-economy-sucks-and-or-colla... "Interview with Naomi Wolf author of “Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries” given October 4, 2008 on Mind Ove... more -
"We're living in a police state"
US military brigade deployed Oct 1st, first time in 200 years. Wall St "bailout" biggest plunder of public common wealth in history, preceded by wild fear mongering and threats of national destruction, yet no help for the struggling poor and middle classes. US military brigade deployed Oct 1st, first time in 200 years. Wall St "bailout" biggest plunder of public common wealth in ... more
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Betrayed by the Bailout: The Death of Democracy
Photo used with permission from http://stpaulrnc.shutterfly.com/20,
http://www.myspace.com/japhletba
by William Cox
featured writer
http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/
http://www.thevoters.org/
October 3, 2008
On this date, October 3, 2008, the American people were betrayed by those whom they had elected to represent them. The members of Congress who voted for the Wall Street “bailout” violated their oath of office to “support and defend the Constitution” … “that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same” … “and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: …”
Without holding any meaningful hearings or public discussions and listening only to those most responsible for the economic disaster, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Congress abdicated its responsibility to the American people.
Locking out most members from all discussions, the congressional “leadership” emerged from their backrooms with legislation that grants Secretary Paulson the ability to spend at least $700 billion to “take such actions as [he] deems necessary” … ” to promote financial market stability.”
Entrusting tremendous political and financial power (and a ton of borrowed money that taxpayers will have to repay with interest) into Paulson’s sole discretion, members of Congress must have been aware that, prior to his cabinet appointment in 2006, Paulson worked for 32 years at Goldman Sacks, one of the Wall Street firms that stands to benefit greatly from his “actions.”
[...]
Many have already exercised their First Amendment right to petition their government for the redress of grievances. A majority of the members of Congress, the two presidential candidates, and the President paid no attention to the economic experts and the thousands and thousands of voters who protested the bailout and who begged them to rescue the people rather than the rich and powerful.
The people can always take to the streets in protest, and they probably will do so in growing numbers as the economic circumstances become more harsh.
The U.S. government is already planning for the eventuality – not with the helping hand of supplemental legislation to help with mortgages, jobs, shelter or food, but with the mailed fist of military suppression. The Army Times reports the current deployment within the United States “homeland” of an “on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies or disasters, including terrorist attacks.” The Army acknowledges that the Northern Command may call upon the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team to help with “civil unrest and crowd control.”
[...]
continued at http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2008/10/03/betrayed... Photo used with permission from http://stpaulrnc.shutterfly.com/20, http://www.myspace.com/japhletba by William Cox ... more -
Has Sarah Palin Been Picked as the Titular Head of the Coming Police State?
Please understand what you are looking at when you look at Sarah "Evita" Palin. You are looking at the designated muse of the coming American police state.
You have to understand how things work in a closing society in order to understand "Palin Power." A gang or cabal seizes power, usually with an affable, weak figurehead at the fore. Then they will hold elections -- but they will make sure that the election will be corrupted and that the next affable, weak figurehead is entirely in their control. Remember, Russia has Presidents; Russia holds elections. Dictators and gangs of thugs all over the world hold elections. It means nothing. When a cabal has seized power you can have elections and even presidents, but you don't have freedom.
I realized early on with horror what I was seeing in Governor Palin: the continuation of the Rove-Cheney cabal, but this time without restraints. I heard her echo Bush 2000 soundbites ("the heart of America is on display") and realized Bush's speechwriters were writing her -- not McCain's -- speeches. I heard her tell George Bush's lies -- not McCain's -- to the American people, linking 9/11 to Iraq. I heard her make fun of Barack Obama for wanting to prevent the torture of prisoners -- this is Rove-Cheney's enthusiastic S and M, not McCain's, who, though he shamefully colluded in the 2006 Military Tribunals Act, is also a former prisoner of war and wrote an eloquent Newsweek piece in 2005 opposing torture. I saw that she was even styled by the same skillful stylist (neutral lipstick, matte makeup, dark colors) who turned Katharine Harris from a mall rat into a stateswoman and who styles all the women in the Bush orbit -- but who does not bother to style Cindy McCain.
Then I saw and heard more. Palin is embracing lawlessness in defying Alaskan Legislature subpoenas -- this is what Rove-Cheney, and not McCain, believe in doing. She uses mafia tactics against critics, like the police commissioner who was railroaded for opposing handguns in Alaskan battered women's shelters -- Rove's style, not McCain's. I realized what I was seeing.
Reports confirmed my suspicions: Palin, not McCain, is the FrankenBarbie of the Rove-Cheney cabal. The strategy became clear. Time magazine reported that Rove is "dialed in" to the McCain campaign. Rove's protege Steve Schmidt is now campaign manager. And Politico reported that Rove was heavily involved in McCain's vice presidential selection. Finally a new report shows that there are dozens of Bush and Rove operatives surrounding Sarah Palin and orchestrating her every move.
What's the plan? It is this. McCain doesn't matter. Reputable dermatologists are discussing the fact that in simply actuarial terms, John McCain has a virulent and life-threatening form of skin cancer. It is the elephant in the room, but we must discuss the health of the candidates: doctors put survival rates for someone his age at two to four years. I believe the Rove-Cheney cabal is using Sarah Palin as a stalking horse, an Evita figure, to put a popular, populist face on the coming police state and be the talk show hostess for the end of elections as we know them. If McCain-Palin get in, this will be the last true American election. She will be working for Halliburton, KBR, Rove and Cheney into the foreseeable future -- for a decade perhaps -- a puppet "president" for the same people who have plundered our treasure, are now holding the US economy hostage and who murdered four thousand brave young men and women in a way of choice and lies. Please understand what you are looking at when you look at Sarah "Evita" Palin. You are looking at the designated muse of th... more -
zeitgeist movie, part II - addendum
posted online today october 3rd http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7065205277695921912
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Denver Police DNC commemorative t-shirt: 'We Get Up Early To Beat The Crowds&...
The Denver police union is selling T-shirts that poke fun at protesters at last month's Democratic National Convention, but the main target isn't laughing.
The back of the shirts reads, "We get up early to beat the crowds" and "2008 DNC," and has a caricature of a police officer holding a baton.
The front has the number 68 with a slash through it, a reference to the Recreate 68 Coalition, which organized several demonstrations during the convention.
Click here to find out more!
Recreate 68 organizer Glenn Spagnuolo called the shirt appalling and tasteless.
Spagnuolo released a written statement Thursday saying members of the police union "clearly have no respect for the rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution."
Detective Nick Rogers, a member of the Police Protective Association board, said police often issue T-shirts to commemorate big events.
Rogers said each Denver officer was given one of the shirts free and others are on sale for $10 each at police union offices.
He said the union expects to sell about 2,000 of them.
Rogers said he hadn't received any previous complaints about the shirts.
Police arrested 154 people before and during the Democratic convention. There were few reports of violence.
In once incident, an officer was videotaped pushing a protester to the ground with his baton and telling her, "Back up, b----."
The district attorney declined to prosecute the officer, saying the woman had disobeyed warnings to back away and had grabbed the officer's baton. The Denver police union is selling T-shirts that poke fun at protesters at last month's Democratic National Convention, but the m... more -
Pre-election Militarization of the North American Homeland
Pic used with permission from http://www.flickr.com/people/theuptake/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/theuptake/2831828326/
by Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research, September 26, 2008
US Combat Troops in Iraq repatriated to “help with civil unrest”
The Army Times reports that the 3rd Infantry’s 1st Brigade Combat Team is returning from Iraq to defend the Homeland, as “an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.” The BCT unit has been attached to US Army North, the Army’s component of US Northern Command (USNORTHCOM). (See Gina Cavallaro, Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1, Army Times, September 8, 2008).
“Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.
It is not the first time an active-duty unit has been tapped to help at home. …
But this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities.
After 1st BCT finishes its dwell-time mission, expectations are that another, as yet unnamed, active-duty brigade will take over and that the mission will be a permanent one.
The command is at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., but the soldiers with 1st BCT, who returned in April after 15 months in Iraq, will operate out of their home post at Fort Stewart, Ga..
…
The 1st of the 3rd is still scheduled to deploy to either Iraq or Afghanistan in early 2010, which means the soldiers will have been home a minimum of 20 months by the time they ship out.
In the meantime, they’ll learn new skills, use some of the ones they acquired in the war zone and more than likely will not be shot at while doing any of it." (ibid)
The BCT is an army combat unit designed to confront an enemy within a war theater.
With US forces overstretched in Iraq, why would the Pentagon decide to undertake this redeployment within the USA, barely one month before the presidential elections?
The new mission of the 1st Brigade on US soil is to participate in “defense” efforts as well as provide “support to civilian authorities”.
What is significant in this redeployment of a US infantry unit is the presumption that North America could, in the case of a natgional emergency, constitute a “war theater” thereby justifying the deployment of combat units..
The new skills to be imparted consists in training 1st BCT in repressing civil unrest, a task normally assumed by civilian law enforcement.
What we are dealing with is a militarization of civilian police activities in derogation of the Posse Comitatus Act.
continued at http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2008/09/26/pre-elec...
see also http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2008/09/24/army-uni...
http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2008/01/31/the-thre... Pic used with permission from http://www.flickr.com/people/theuptake/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/theuptake/2831828326/ ... more -
Has Sarah Palin Been Picked as the Titular Head of the Coming Police State?
Pic used with permission from http://www.flickr.com/people/theuptake/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/theuptake/2831828326/
By Naomi Wolf
Alternet.org
Huffington Post
September 24, 2008
Palin will help to establish a true and irreversible ‘fear society’ in this once free once proud nation.
Please understand what you are looking at when you look at Sarah “Evita” Palin. You are looking at the designated muse of the coming American police state.
You have to understand how things work in a closing society in order to understand “Palin Power.” A gang or cabal seizes power, usually with an affable, weak figurehead at the fore. Then they will hold elections — but they will make sure that the election will be corrupted and that the next affable, weak figurehead is entirely in their control. Remember, Russia has Presidents; Russia holds elections. Dictators and gangs of thugs all over the world hold elections. It means nothing. When a cabal has seized power you can have elections and even presidents, but you don’t have freedom.
I realized early on with horror what I was seeing in Governor Palin: the continuation of the Rove-Cheney cabal, but this time without restraints. I heard her echo Bush 2000 soundbites (”the heart of America is on display”) and realized Bush’s speechwriters were writing her — not McCain’s — speeches. I heard her tell George Bush’s lies — not McCain’s — to the American people, linking 9/11 to Iraq. I heard her make fun of Barack Obama for wanting to prevent the torture of prisoners — this is Rove-Cheney’s enthusiastic S and M, not McCain’s, who, though he shamefully colluded in the 2006 Military Tribunals Act, is also a former prisoner of war and wrote an eloquent Newsweek piece in 2005 opposing torture. I saw that she was even styled by the same skillful stylist (neutral lipstick, matte makeup, dark colors) who turned Katharine Harris from a mall rat into a stateswoman and who styles all the women in the Bush orbit — but who does not bother to style Cindy McCain.
Then I saw and heard more. Palin is embracing lawlessness in defying Alaskan Legislature subpoenas — this is what Rove-Cheney, and not McCain, believe in doing. She uses mafia tactics against critics, like the police commissioner who was railroaded for opposing handguns in Alaskan battered women’s shelters — Rove’s style, not McCain’s. I realized what I was seeing.
[...]
What’s the plan? It is this. McCain doesn’t matter. Reputable dermatologists are discussing the fact that in simply actuarial terms, John McCain has a virulent and life-threatening form of skin cancer. It is the elephant in the room, but we must discuss the health of the candidates: doctors put survival rates for someone his age at two to four years. I believe the Rove-Cheney cabal is using Sarah Palin as a stalking horse, an Evita figure, to put a popular, populist face on the coming police state and be the talk show hostess for the end of elections as we know them. If McCain-Palin get in, this will be the last true American election. She will be working for Halliburton, KBR, Rove and Cheney into the foreseeable future — for a decade perhaps — a puppet “president” for the same people who have plundered our treasure, are now holding the US economy hostage and who murdered four thousand brave young men and women in a way of choice and lies.
[...]
continued at http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2008/09/24/has-sara... or at the above link
More on Palin: http://wordpress.com/tag/palin-sarah/
More on Police State: http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/category/police-sta... Pic used with permission from http://www.flickr.com/people/theuptake/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/theuptake/2831828326/ ... more -
U.S. Troops In Homeland “Crowd Control” Patrols From October 1st
U.S. troops returning from duty in Iraq will be carrying out homeland patrols in America from October 1st in complete violation of Posse Comitatus for the purposes of helping with “civil unrest and crowd control” - which could include dealing with unruly Americans after a complete economic collapse.
This shocking admission was calmly reported on September 8th by the Army Times website, which reports that from the beginning of next month the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team “Will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.”
The article notes that the deployment “marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities.”
The purpose of the unit’s patrols 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.”
The unit will be on homeland patrol for at least 20 months before returning to Iraq or Afghanistan in early 2010, according to the report.
Training for homeland operations has already begun at Fort Stewart and at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs.
Ominously, the report states that, “The 1st BCT’s soldiers also will learn how to use “the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded,” 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them.”
The unit would also be deployed to deal with hostile crowds of Americans in the aftermath of a massive economic depression, potential food riots and race riots, if one defines the term “crowd control” to match its reasonably applicable scenarios.
The open admission that U.S. troops will be involved in law enforcement operations as well as potentially using non-lethal weapons against American citizens 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.
The original text of the Insurrection Act severely limits the power of the President to deploy troops within the United States.
Continues*************** U.S. troops returning from duty in Iraq will be carrying out homeland patrols in America from October 1st in complete violation of Pos... more -
The Battle Plan II: Sarah "Evita" Palin, the Muse of the Coming Police S...
by: Naomi Wolf
Please understand what you are looking at when you look at Sarah "Evita" Palin. You are looking at the designated muse of the coming American police state.
You have to understand how things work in a closing society in order to understand "Palin Power." A gang or cabal seizes power, usually with an affable, weak figurehead at the fore. Then they will hold elections -- but they will make sure that the election will be corrupted and that the next affable, weak figurehead is entirely in their control. Remember, Russia has Presidents; Russia holds elections. Dictators and gangs of thugs all over the world hold elections. It means nothing. When a cabal has seized power you can have elections and even presidents, but you have freedom.
I realized early on with horror what I was seeing in Governor Palin: the continuation of the Rove-Cheney cabal, but this time without restraints. I heard her echo Bush 2000 soundbites ("the heart of America is on display") and realized Bush's speechwriters were writing her -- not McCain's -- speeches. I heard her tell George Bush's lies -- not McCain's -- to the American people, linking 9/11 to Iraq. I heard her make fun of Barack Obama for wanting to prevent the torture of prisoners -- this is Rove-Cheney's enthusiastic S and M, not McCain's, who, though he shamefully colluded in the 2006 Military Tribunals Act, is also a former prisoner of war and wrote an eloquent Newsweek piece in 2005 opposing torture. I saw that she was even styled by the same skillful stylist (neutral lipstick, matte makeup, dark colors) who turned Katharine Harris from a mall rat into a stateswoman and who styles all the women in the Bush orbit --but who does not bother to style Cindy McCain.
Then I saw and heard more. Palin is embracing lawlessness in defying Alaskan Legislature subpoenas --this is what Rove-Cheney, and not McCain, believe in doing. She uses mafia tactics against critics, like the police commissioner who was railroaded for opposing handguns in Alaskan battered women's shelters -- Rove's style, not McCain's. I realized what I was seeing.
Reports confirmed my suspicions: Palin, not McCain, is the FrankenBarbie of the Rove-Cheney cabal. The strategy became clear. Time magazine reported that Rove is "dialed in" to the McCain campaign. Rove's protégé Steve Schmidt is now campaign manager. And Politico reported that Rove was heavily involved in McCain's vice presidential selection. Finally a new report shows that there are dozens of Bush and Rove operatives surrounding Sarah Palin and orchestrating her every move.
What's the plan? It is this. McCain doesn't matter. Reputable dermatologists are discussing the fact that in simply actuarial terms, John McCain has a virulent and life-threatening form of skin cancer. It is the elephant in the room, but we must discuss the health of the candidates: doctors put survival rates for someone his age at two to four years. I believe the Rove-Cheney cabal is using Sarah Palin as a stalking horse, an Evita figure, to put a popular, populist face on the coming police state and be the talk show hostess for the end of elections as we know them. If McCain-Palin get in, this will be the last true American election. She will be working for Halliburton, KBR, Rove and Cheney into the foreseeable future -- for a decade perhaps -- a puppet "president" for the same people who have plundered our treasure, are now holding the US economy hostage and who murdered four thousand brave young men and women in a way of choice and lies.
How, you may ask, can I assert this? How can I argue, as I now do, that there is actually a war being ramped up against US citizens and our democracy and that Sarah Palin is the figurehead and muse for that war? by: Naomi Wolf ... more -
Big Brother state reaching new levels of surveillance and depression
By Roland Michel Tremblay
featured writer
Where do we need to move now to escape Big Brother, and would the North Pole suffice? I wonder. I came back from work tonight to find a new CCTV camera right outside my door, this is as close as it can be before they install one in the apartment I live in. I live on a lone street in the suburbs of London, there is absolutely no reason to put a camera there...
We can no longer deny that our governments are control freaks, they will not stop until they know everything we all do and say at any given time. This is called paranoia. Why the need for such a police state? What are the authorities really fearing? Great questions...
Let's study the consequences of such a Big Brother policy on all of us, and if really this is something we want in any self-proclaimed democracy. And if we don't want it, why is it still imposed on all of us? Crucial questions...
[...]
Just throw a bit of paper on the sidewalk, perhaps even unintentionally, there are CCTV cameras everywhere, your identity can now be established quickly with just a shot of your face and the databases. You're an instant criminal with a huge fine to pay. So many people have been fined hugely in England recently for chucking their cigarette butt on the sidewalk, and yet, no one blinked an eye to this state of affair...
Because it has not happened to you yet, and when it does, you will feel powerless to stop it, you wouldn't know what to do, and so, you will do nothing but accept that you're a criminal and that you have to be punished. Abuse of power, this is what will be on your mind. And the lack of power to redress the situation. We are so powerless, we could never hope to be heard, to change anything, even, to warn others. Well, I am doing it right now, and so you can find a way to do it too...
[...]
continued at http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2008/09/19/big-brot... or the above link
More: http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/category/police-sta...
http://wordpress.com/tag/big-brother-1984/ By Roland Michel Tremblay featured writer ... more -
Charges dropped against journalists arrested at RNC
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman’s office issued a statement announcing that the city attorney won’t prosecute journalists who were cited by authorities at the Republican National Convention (RNC) with “presence at an unlawful assembly,” a misdemeanor charge.
That pertains specifically to the journalists who were swept up in the massive arrests during protests in St. Paul on the convention’s first and last days. Nearly 50 of the more than 800 people arrested or detained were onsite to cover the RNC, according to a MnIndy analysis
Mayor Coleman said in the prepared statement about the policy decision made concerning journalists at the RNC, “This decision reflects the values we have in St. Paul to protect and promote our First Amendment rights to freedom of the press. … A journalist plays a special role in our democracy and that role is just too important to ignore.” While police carried out their charge to protect public safety, “we are serving the public’s interest to maintain the integrity of our democracy, system of justice and freedom of the press.”
The statement acknowledges the “growing media profession in print, broadcast and the Internet, the city attorney’s office will use a broad definition and verification to identify journalists who were caught up in mass arrests during the convention.” St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman’s office issued a statement announcing that the city attorney won’t prosecute journalists who were cited ... more -
Charges Against Journalists at RNC Dropped; Questions Remain
Photo used with permission; original source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/theuptake/2831828326/
Free Press
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: September 19, 2008
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Local authorities in St. Paul announced today that they will not prosecute journalists who were arrested on misdemeanor charges during the Republican National Convention earlier this month.
“This is an important first step, but many questions remain,” said Nancy Doyle Brown from Twin Cities Media Alliance. “We still need answers about why and how journalists got swept up in these arrests in the first place. And more than anything else, we need to ensure that this never happens again. We’ll never know how many important stories never got told because their authors were behind bars, not in the streets.”
Nearly two dozen reporters were arrested during the four-day event, including Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and two of her producers, Associated Press reporters, student journalists, and local TV photographers, among others. Other journalists were pepper-sprayed, and reporters with I-Witness were held at gunpoint during a “pre-emptive” police raid aimed at disrupting protesters. The press release from St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman’s office noted that the city’s attorney will use a “broad definition and verification to identify journalists who were caught up in mass arrests during the convention.”
“We’re pleased that the St. Paul authorities ultimately acted to uphold the rights of all journalists — including those citizens using blogs, cheap cameras and cell phones to report news as it happens,” said Josh Silver, executive director of Free Press, the national media reform organization. “Our task now is to ensure that our press remains free to report on the events, issues and stories that matter to our country, our communities, and our democracy.”
Less than three days after the initial arrests, more than 60,000 people across the country signed on to a letter from Free Press, demanding that Mayor Coleman and local authorities immediately “free all detained journalists and drop all charges against them.” These letters were delivered to St. Paul City Hall the day after the convention following a press conference that included local citizens and many of the journalists who had been arrested earlier in the week.
“The news from St. Paul City Hall is certainly welcome regarding the decision to drop charges against journalists who were arrested and cited during the RNC,” said Mike Bucsko, executive officer of the Minnesota Newspaper Guild Typographical Union, who spoke at the press conference. “However, it is essential the elected officials in St. Paul and Ramsey County examine the circumstances that led to the needless detention and harassment of journalists to ensure this type of indiscriminate behavior on the part of law enforcement does not happen again.”
Local advocates and independent journalists from KFAI Community Radio, National Lawyers Guild, Twin Cities Daily Planet, Twin Cities IndyMedia, Twin Cities Media Alliance and The Uptake were joined by national groups the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, The Newspaper Guild, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Reporters Without Borders, the Society for Professional Journalists and the Writers Guild of America, East, in condemning the unusually harsh treatment by city authorities.
Watch the press conference: http://qik.com/video/270176
More news from the RNC: http://wordpress.com/tag/rnc-st-paul-minneapolis-mn/ Photo used with permission; original source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/theuptake/2831828326/ Free Press FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ... more -
Army combat brigades to begin policing protests, civil unrest in US
(hat tip to WhiteNoise for this lead)
This story is very, very worrying to me, and is something that I think we need to keep a really close eye on. There is only 1 reason to have Army Combat brigades deployed inside the US with "non-lethal" weapon packages and that is for suppressing public protest and dissent. You don't fight terrorists or help with flood evac/rescue using bean bag guns and spike strips, period. And as anyone involved or watching recent large-scale public protests knows (Seattle WTO, IMF/WB, FTAA, R/D Conventions), the trend of increasigly militarized police forces has been a steadily growing trend since at leat 2000. This seems to only confirm that even more, and raises in my mind some really serious Posse Comitatus questions.
From the article:
"The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply convoys. Now they’re training for the same mission — with a twist — at home...But this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities...They may be called upon to help 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...
The 1st BCT’s soldiers also will learn how to use “the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded,” 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them.
“It’s a new modular package of nonlethal capabilities that they’re fielding. They’ve been using pieces of it in Iraq, but this is the first time that these modules were consolidated and this package fielded, and because of this mission we’re undertaking we were the first to get it.”
The package includes equipment to stand up a hasty road block; spike strips for slowing, stopping or controlling traffic; shields and batons; and, beanbag bullets."
Read the full story at the link.
If you're not familiar with the Posse Comitatus Act, read more here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act (hat tip to WhiteNoise for this lead) ... more -
Freehugs in China, Banned & Arrested
The freehugger is led away by police at the end of the video.
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Rule Changes Would Give FBI Agents Extensive New Powers
http://www.flickr.com/photos/theuptake/2831828326/
photo by The UpTake; used with permission
By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
washingtonpost.com
Friday, September 12, 2008; Page A02
The Justice Department will unveil changes to FBI ground rules today that would put much more power into the hands of line agents pursuing leads on national security, foreign intelligence and even ordinary criminal cases.
The overhaul, the most substantial revision to FBI operating instructions in years, also would ease some reporting requirements between agents, their supervisors and federal prosecutors in what authorities call a critical effort to improve information gathering and detect terrorist threats.
The changes would give the FBI’s more than 12,000 agents the ability at a much earlier stage to conduct physical surveillance, solicit informants and interview friends of people they are investigating without the approval of a bureau supervisor. Such techniques are currently available only after FBI agents have opened an investigation and developed a reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed or that a threat to national security is developing.
[...]
continued at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...
h/t: CLG http://www.flickr.com/photos/theuptake/2831828326/ photo by The UpTake; used with permission By Carrie Johnson ... more -
The right to assembly
The American Civil Liberties Union is representing dozens of protestors arrested at the RNC.
Chuck Samuelson of the ACLU says much of the police repression during the RNC was based on law coming out of the Patriot Act.
Charles (Chuck) Samuelson is the Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota. He graduated from Syracuse University with a B.A. in Medieval History and a minor in political science. He studied at Freiburg University in Germany and pursued a doctorate in Medieval History at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He moved to the Twin Cities in 1977 and has pursued a career in the non-profit sector for the past 25 years. The American Civil Liberties Union is representing dozens of protestors arrested at the RNC. ... more -
DENVER COPWATCH PODCAST ( SECRET POLICE @ THE DNC )
Denver CopWatch is a grassroots organization working for increased police accountability and against police brutality in Denver, Colorado. We observe police actively and advocate for peoples' rights. Contact us at (303) 380-4329, or by sending a message here on Myspace.
Denver CopWatch was in the streets throughout the Democratic National Convention and we are expecting a great deal of footage and documentation of police activity, especially the brutality that occurred on Monday evening. If you have video footage, photos and witness contact info/statements, or any documentation at all you can send it to Denver CopWatch to be used for legal action/defense by e-mailing it to denvercopwatch07@yahoo.com, or you can call (303) 380-4329 and leave you name and phone number or a way we can contact you and someone will get back with you A.S.A.P. to collect the documentation you have to offer - either we'll give you an address to which you can mail it, or we can arrange to pick it up at your convenience - or you can mail it to the following address:
Denver CopWatch
P.O. Box 9944
Denver, CO 80209 Denver CopWatch is a grassroots organization working for increased police accountability and against police brutality in Denver, Color... more -
No Dal Molin, violenze della polizia.
Sempre con grande rispetto della democrazia, il nostro premier Mafia P2 ( MP2 ) ha invitato con una lettera il sindaco di Vicenza Achille Variati a rinunciare al referendum sul Dal Molin organizzato per il 5 ottobre, ritenendo la consultazione popolare "INOPPORTUNA".
Tutto questo, un giorno prima delle violenze gratuite sui manifestanti ... Sempre con grande rispetto della democrazia, il nostro premier Mafia P2 ( MP2 ) ha invitato con una lettera il sindaco di Vicenza Achi... more -
Russian news compares RNC to a police state
Russia Today analyzes the situation between protesters and police in what they are calling a “police state”. During McCain’s speech Russia was a talking point in which he blamed Russia for re-assembling it's old empire.
Ralph Nader is also covered by this interesting outside perspective of the RNC Convention and the police brutality that took place. Russia Today analyzes the situation between protesters and police in what they are calling a “police state”. During McCain’s speech Ru... more
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Police State
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Police State
