How the President's advance team tries to eliminate the constitutional rights of "peaceable assembly" and the right "to petition the government for a redress of grievances"

clipped from http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/commentary.aspx?id=19099

I have a copy of the Presidential Advance Manual that instructs staffers responsible for preparing presidential appearances around the country to deter “potential demonstrators” from attending such events as “speeches, rallies, roundtable meetings and tours.” (The manual was obtained by subpoena in an ACLU lawsuit by two arrested demonstrators.)

Can this be the message we want to send to the world about our democracy in action? The advance manual’s answer to that impertinent question is to urge that when the president is speaking before “larger rallies,” these “rally squads,” including “college/young Republican organizations, local athletic teams and fraternities/sororities,” should get in front of the stage and “immediately in front of the main camera platform.” Thereby the cameras will focus on truly right-thinking Americans instead of the rabble expressing themselves.

Secret US air force team to perfect plan for Iran strike

clipped from www.timesonline.co.uk

THE United States Air Force has set up a highly confidential strategic
planning group tasked with “fighting the next war” as tensions rise with
Iran.

Project Checkmate, a successor to the group that planned the 1991 Gulf War’s
air campaign, was quietly reestablished at the Pentagon in June.

It reports directly to General Michael Moseley, the US Air Force chief, and
consists of 20-30 top air force officers and defence and cyberspace experts
with ready access to the White House, the CIA and other intelligence
agencies.

Detailed contingency planning for a possible attack on Iran has been carried
out for more than two years by Centcom (US central command), according to
defence sources.

It is led by Brigadier-General Lawrence “Stutz” Stutzriem, who is considered
one of the brightest air force generals. He is assisted by Dr Lani Kass, a
former Israeli military officer and expert on cyberwarfare.

Washing Post Article: Collecting of Details on [American] Travelers Documented

clipped from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/21/AR2007092102347_pf.html

The U.S. government is collecting electronic records on the travel habits of millions of Americans who fly, drive or take cruises abroad, retaining data on the persons with whom they travel or plan to stay, the personal items they carry during their journeys, and even the books that travelers have carried, according to documents obtained by a group of civil liberties advocates and statements by government officials.

But DHS Trip does not allow a traveler to challenge an agency decision in court, said David Sobel, senior counsel with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has sued the DHS over information concerning the policy underlying the ATS. Because the system is exempted from certain Privacy Act requirements, including the right to "contest the content of the record," a traveler has no ability to correct erroneous information, Sobel said.

Depicts 125,000 one-hundred dollar bills ($12.5 million), the amount our government spends every hour on the war in Iraq. Scroll down to see that picture is composed of $100 bills.

clipped from http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php

clipped from http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php

clipped from http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php

Facist America in 10 Easy Steps

Very interesting article by Naomi Wolf

clipped from http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2064157,00.html

From Hitler to Pinochet and beyond, history shows there are certain steps that any would-be dictator must take to destroy constitutional freedoms. And, argues Naomi Wolf, George Bush and his administration seem to be taking them all

As difficult as this is to contemplate, it is clear, if you are willing to look, that each of these 10 steps has already been initiated today in the United States by the Bush administration.

To find out which US Senators are voted against your Constitutional Right of habeas corpus, click here.

Greenspan Says Iraq War Was About Oil

clipped from http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/09/17/greenspan_spills_the_beans.php

Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006, whom the president has praised for his "wise policies and prudent judgment." Sadly for Bush and Cheney, Greenspan decided to put prudence aside in his new book, The Age of Turbulence, and answer the most neuralgiac issue of our times-why the United States invaded Iraq.

Greenspan writes:

"I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil."

In the heady days of "Mission Accomplished," a week after the president landed on the aircraft carrier, then-deputy defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz virtually bragged about the deceit during an interview. On May 9, 2003, Wolfowitz told Vanity Fair:

"The truth is that for reasons that have a lot to do with the U.S. government bureaucracy, we settled on the one issue that everyone could agree on, which was weapons of mass destruction as the core reason..."

Bush Setting America Up for War With Iran

clipped from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/16/wiran116.xml

Senior American intelligence and defence officials believe that President George W Bush and his inner circle are taking steps to place America on the path to war with Iran, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt.

Pentagon planners have developed a list of up to 2,000 bombing targets in Iran, amid growing fears among serving officers that diplomatic efforts to slow Iran's nuclear weapons programme are doomed to fail.

The intelligence source said: "No one outside that tight circle knows what is going to happen." But he said that within the CIA "many if not most officials believe that diplomacy is failing" and that "top Pentagon brass believes the same".

Recent developments over Iraq appear to fit with the pattern of escalation predicted by Pentagon officials.

CNN: Mystery 9/11 aircraft was military 'doomsday plane'

clipped from rawstory.com

Shortly before 10 am on the morning of September 11, 2001, amid rumors of a fourth hijacked plane headed for Washington, DC, a mystery aircraft appeared in restricted airspace over the White House. There has never been an official explanation for this incident, which has provided abundant fuel for 9/11 conspiracy theories.

CNN has now learned from two government sources that the mystery plane was a military aircraft and has determined that the blurry image on video appears to match photos of the Air Force's E-4B (discussed here on Wikipedia), a specially modified Boeing 747 with a communications pod behind the cockpit.

Click here to see video of plane on 9/11

Pin the Backbone on the Donkey

From Harpers

General Petraeus Iraq Reporting Fact Check

clipped from http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=736

GENERAL PETRAEUS’ TESTIMONY:
"As a bottom line up front, the military objectives of the surge are, in large measure, being met." [Testimony, 9/10/07]

General David Petraeus, in letter to troops: "One of the justifications of the surge, after all, was that it would help create the space for Iraqi leaders to tackle the tough questions and agree on key pieces of national reconciliation legislation…It has not worked out as we had hoped." [Letter to Troops, 9/7/07]

It's interesting to note that General Petraeus was not sworn in before giving his testimony to the House committee today. Once again, the spineless congress doesn't require the Bush Administration to be truthful or else face the consequences for lying to the American people.

The chart Petraeus won’t show

clipped from http://www.google.com/reader/view/

The AP reveals that a “briefing chart prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency says what Gen. David Petraeus won’t. Insurgent attacks against Iraqi civilians, their security forces and U.S. troops remain high.” Most of the insurgent attacks in Iraq continue to be focused on U.S. forces, as the chart shows:

Practice run for marshall law - the Operation FALCON Raids

Article by Frank Morales

clipped from http://www.projectcensored.org/censored_2008/index.htm

Under the code name Operation FALCON (Federal and Local Cops Organized Nationally) three federally coordinated mass arrests occurred between April 2005 and October 2006. In an unprecedented move, more than 30,000 “fugitives” were arrested in the largest dragnets in the nation’s history. The operations directly involved over 960 agencies (state, local, and federal) and were the brainchild of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and US Marshal’s Director Ben Reyna. The DoJ supplied television networks government-shot action videotape of Marshals and local cops raiding homes and breaking down doors, “targeting the worst of the worst criminals on the run,” emphasizing suspected sex offenders. Yet less than ten percent of the total 3

0,150 were suspected sex offenders and less than two percent owned firearms. The press has not asked, “Who were the others?”

This action is instead, he warns, a practice roundup in the move toward martial law.

Bush's police suppress Sept. 15 press conference

Less than 18 hours ago, National Park Service Police turned a September 15 Press Conference, held in front of the White House, into a chaotic scene. On the pretext that there was no permit for a three foot long folding table that the media placed their microphones on, the police intervened in the middle of the press conference to announce that it was an unpermitted activity. Three people were arrested and are still being held in jail. They include Adam Kokesh, an Iraq war veteran; Tina Richards of Grassroots America; and Ian Thompson an ANSWER Coalition organizer.

The Parks Police even rode a horse directly into the crowd of reporters and shocked onlookers. The National Parks Police is an agency in the Interior Department whose Secretary is a member of George W. Bush's cabinet. In recent weeks September 15 organizers have been fined more than $30,000 for putting up posters promoting the September 15 March on Washington.

To see entire article, click this link, then scroll down past "forward this message to a friend"

Police break up anti-war meeting in Washington

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Mounted police charged in to break up an outdoor press conference and demonstration against the Iraq war in Washington on Thursday, arresting three people, organizers and an AFP reporter said.

The charge caused a peaceful crowd of some 20 journalists and four or five protestors to scatter in terror, an AFP correspondent at the event in Lafayette Square said. No one appeared to have been hurt.

Last month, the movement was threatened with a fine of at least 10,000 dollars unless it removed posters in the city announcing the September 15 march.

Washington city authorities have said the posters had to come down because they were stuck on with adhesive that did not meet city regulations.

"At our demonstration today we were showing the media that the paste we use conforms to the rules," Becker said.

To see entire article, click this link, then scroll down past "forward this message to a friend"

US Plans to Attack Iran

Pentagon ‘three-day blitz’ plan for Iran

clipped from http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2369001.ece

THE Pentagon has drawn up plans for massive airstrikes against 1,200 targets in Iran, designed to annihilate the Iranians’ military capability in three days, according to a national security expert.

Alexis Debat, director of terrorism and national security at the Nixon Center, said last week that US military planners were not preparing for “pinprick strikes” against Iran’s nuclear facilities. “They’re about taking out the entire Iranian military,” he said.

President George Bush intensified the rhetoric against Iran last week, accusing Tehran of putting the Middle East “under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust”. He warned that the US and its allies would confront Iran “before it is too late”.

"We Are Going To Hit Iran. Bigtime"

"I don’t think it’s limited at all. We are shipping in and assigning every damn Tomahawk we have in inventory. I think this is going to be massive and sudden, like thousands of targets. I believe that no American will know when it happens until after it happens. And whatever the consequences, whatever the consequences, they will have to be lived with. I am sure if my father knew I was telling someone in a news organization that we were about to launch a supposedly secret attack that it would be treason. But something inside me tells me to tell it anyway."

Bush is Going to New Orleans for 2nd Anniversary of Katrina

clipped from http://www.first-draft.com/2007/08/bush-coming-to-.html

Yes he's making an appearance for the anniversary. Here are some of the comments at the Times Picayune and they reflect the vast majority of the comments there:

--NEW ORLEANS MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

--The Prez has some set of ballz comin' down for the anniversary after the his watch has pretty much left New Olreans for dead.

--The last thing we need this time of year is more hot air.

Other commenters really liked the idea of that last comment so don't be surprised if you see some upside down flags. In fact Suspect Device has one already....

Gulfstream at Napa County Airport raises eyebrows

clipped from www.napavalleyregister.com

Spy craft, or just another private jet at Napa County Airport?

That question arose after a Gulfstream jet with a notorious tail number flew in and out of the airport last week.

The plane’s tail number, N1HC, is mentioned in a European Parliament document from 2006 that describes planes chartered by the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA reportedly used a plane with that tail number, among other craft, to transport terrorist suspects to secret locations overseas, where the suspects were subjected to extreme interrogation techniques in an effort to gain information about terrorist networks.

According to the European Parliament document, “The N1HC is listed as an alleged CIA airplane, according to the report of the Scottish National Party.”

Flush with Profits from the Iraq War, Military Contractors See a World of Business Opportunities

clipped from http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/59571/?page=3

"These private contractors are really an arm of the administration and its policies," argues Kucinich, who has called for a withdrawal of all U.S. contractors from Iraq. "They charge whatever they want with impunity. There's no accountability as to how many people they have, as to what their activities are."

That raises the crucial question: what exactly are they doing in Iraq in the name of the U.S. and U.K. governments? Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), a leading member of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, which is responsible for reviewing sensitive national security issues, explained the difficulty of monitoring private military companies on the U.S. payroll: "If I want to see a contract, I have to go up to a secret room and look at it, can't take any notes, can't take any notes out with me, you know -- essentially, I don't have access to those contracts and even if I did, I couldn't tell anybody about it."

Fellow Americans: It's time to consider a national strike by workers to take back our democracy

The US Congress, for reasons best understood only by itself, has now revised the FISA laws to allow the Bush Administration to spy on anyone at any time, with or without a reason and certainly without a warrant.

The only person to have "oversight" will be Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. This is the same man that for years has been doing his utmost to undermine every civil liberty we have. This is far worse than merely a situation of the Fox guarding the hen house. Bush has decided to break any he doesn't like while his henchman, Gonzales, assures him its ok. Much like Hitler deciding to throw people he didn't like in concentration camps while the people who served him applauded his actions. It really is as though the inmates have taken over the asylum.

Let's be realistic: the Bush Administration has made an unprecedented power grab. The John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, passed by Congress in 2006 gives Bush the power to institute martial law in the US at any time he decides to do so. On July 17, 2007, as I mentioned in my earlier blog, Bush issued an executive order that would allow him to freeze the assets of anyone for any reason without any oversight and without recourse. He has set up the secretive Northern Command to enforce marshall law.

I'm telling you as plainly as I know how - he's grabbing power because he intends to use it to topple our democracy and take over. This is how dictatorships come into existence. Hitler is a perfect example of a democratically elected/appointed leader who then grabbed power and destroyed the democratic institutions. It's just a matter of time before people start being rounded up and disappeared to those holding pens that Halliburton's subcontractor is building in the southwest. (Did you really think those were for poor Mexican peasants illegally crossing the border?

It's painfully clear that not only is this US Congress is not going to stand up to this President and hold him accountable for laws he has broken, it's now giving him additional powers. In doing so, too many members of Congress have violated their oath to protect and defend the US Constitution.

Congress has let us down. I believe that it is now up to the American people to do what Congress seems to be afraid to do: hold the Bush Administration accountable for its lies, its lawlessness, and its trampling of the US Constitution.

It's time to have a national strike by everyone who thinks that the Bush Administration should not have the power to spy on American citizens. There's no law that says you must go to work if you choose not to. If everyone stayed home from work even one day, I promise you Congress, who seems to be afraid of the Bush Administration, would seriously reconsider taking back its power. In France, national strikes have been used very effectively by the citizens to force their national government to sit up and take notice. As was pointed out by an American living in France in Michael Moore's movie Sicko, in France the government seems to be afraid of the people but in the US, the people seem to be afraid of the government. It's time to turn that around and make our government work for the people.

Let's not be like the Germans at the end of WWII who were utterly surprised to find out that Hitler, who had came into power legally, turned out to be a fear mongering dictator capable of disappearing anyone who he didn't like. It CAN happen here and it WILL happen here if we don't take action to prevent it NOW.

Pass the word. Start talking to your members of Congress about a national strike if they don't take immediate action to do their constitutional duty of oversight over this runaway administration. Talk to your family and friends. Let's put a national strike on the table as a real possibility if the US Congress doesn't put the interests of the democracy before the nefarious interests of the Bush Administration.

See my blog dated July 24, 2007 "Is the Bush Administration Planning a Coup?"

clipped from http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/lindorff/004

Dave Lindorff: Martial Law Threat is Real

The looming collapse of the U.S. military in Iraq, of which a number of generals and former generals, including former Chief of Staff Colin Powell, have warned, is happening none too soon, as it may be the best hope for preventing military rule here at home.

From the looks of things, the Bush/Cheney regime has been working assiduously to pave the way for a declaration of military rule, such that at this point it really lacks only the pretext to trigger a suspension of Constitutional government. They have done this with the active support of Democrats in Congress, though most of the heavy lifting was done by the last, Republican-led Congress.

Bruce Fein isn't an alarmist. He says he doesn't see martial law coming tomorrow. But he is also realistic. He says, "This is all sitting around like a loaded gun waiting to go off. I think the risk of martial law is trivial right now, but the minute there is a terrorist attack, then it is real.