Selling Out The American Way

The US, after funding the Chinese research on exactly the best way to run a totalitarian police surveillance state are now ready to spread this new vision of democracy inaction to a myriad of fledgling authoritarian states.

Our newest customer is none other than Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, a leader we hear constantly decried in the media as a military dictator, heavy handed and oppressive, with goals of exploitation and domination. Earlier in the year, following a US backed invasion and glitter show into Ecuador with the intent to cripple revolutionary militant group FARC, (and get some war on terror face time for our presidential candidates) most of the beltway was ready to label Venezuela as a so called "Terrorist State", which would have required (not recomended) a total embargo and possible blockade of the south american country. It is likely if it wasnt for our own hunger for Venezuelan oil, we would have gone that route and heightened already high tensions in the Américas.

Now, as a memo leaked last month shows, we are more than happy to provide them with millions of dollars of opressive technology, to ensure that their power over their own people remains stable and iron fisted. God forbid we allow the scales of world power to tip towards self determination, no matter what the alternatives might be. Why, freedom might spread like wildfire, to any number of US backed bannana republics in South America and around the World.

Years of CIA covertly created puppet states would be at risk...

The memo shows a sale agreement for millions worth of telephone tapping and other surveillance equipment to the Venezuelan government of Hugo Chavez. The multi-million dollar quotation, addressed to the Venezuelan Director General of Military Intelligence has been verified with military sources. The shipment includes bulk mobile telephone interceptors, satellite telephone interception stations, direction finding trucks, micro-sized video spy cameras, and hundreds of other billable items including training for Venezuelan intelligence officers at the defense contractor's compound in Miami, Florida.

The contractor, Phoenix Worldwide Industries, briefly describes itself on its public website (which lists only its law-enforcement, not intelligence services) as follows:

"Although Phoenix Worldwide Industries has been in business for many years, until now, we've kept ourselves a secret to meet the classified data requirements of the U.S. government intelligence, investigative, and enforcement agencies that have been our principal clients.

Phoenix appears not to have even had a public website until 2006. As the contractor's offer to the Chavez government was made prior to this date, its hiding from the public, but not from foreign governments, hints that the company was fearful exposure of its activities could result in a tightening of export controls or a reduction in domestic surveillance programs. The willingness of the contractor to export to Venezuela also suggests that regimes more sympathetic to the United States may have received advanced surveillance technology, as we strive to create a global police state. Export familiarity is revealed by three transportation recommendations in the Chavez quotation:

Transportation Method No. 1: Commercially available air transport via 747 Combi direct flight from Miami to Caracas, Venezuela via the U. S. State Department Security Impound at Miami International Airport - Phoenix will deliver the ordered items to Miami International Airport at no charge to the Venezuelan Government.

Transportation Method No. 2: Contract Transportation with the U. S. Air Force (MAC) Military Airlift Command (Phoenix has the availability of Homestead Air Force Base which is four (4) miles from its Manufacturing Plant No. 4). Phoenix will deliver the ordered items to Homestead Air Force Base at no charge to the Venezuelan Government.

Transportation Method No. 3: Transportation with the Venezuelan Air Force Military Airlift Command (Phoenix has the availability of Homestead Air Force Base which is four (4) miles from its Manufacturing Plant No. 4). Phoenix will deliver the ordered items to Homestead Air Force Base at no charge to the Venezuelan Government.

You can read the Agreement here: http://file.sunshinepress.org:54445/venezuela-us-phone-tapping-equipment-quotation.pdf

This is the man Barack Obama labels as a dangerous demagogue, stating:
"Demagogues like Hugo Chavez have stepped into this vacuum of a failed US Latin America policy. His predictable yet perilous mix of anti-American rhetoric, authoritarian government, and checkbook diplomacy offers the same false promise as the tried and failed ideologies of the past."

Well that sounds like something Barack should know about, right? Though in all fairness i guess all politicians must be familiar with the concept of false promises. Promises like a right to and a responsibility to spread freedom, Democracy, Truth, Justice, and the American Way.
Theres a video on google about why the last Superman movie dropped the last part of Superman's famous slogan, "For Truth, Justice, and the American Way." In it the actor tries to say that the phrase was dropped because superman belongs to the world, and not just the United States, that the American ideals on which superman was based have grown and spread around the world, but the fact is, and the real reason it was removed was that we have let down the world and seem to have grown imperially past those ideals, and to most of the world, it would be shocking to see those three concepts in one sentence.

This is something we must change, if not for the world, for ourselves, if not for ourselves, for our children.

There must be a new American Hero.

You.

The Great Joke Formerly Known As Great Britain.

Great Britain has been turning up in blogs a lot lately. And for good reason. The sheer jackassitude they seem to have been in command of for the past, oh, decade is absolutely mind-blowing. So much so that I think they're in need of a name change. Verbally, they shall be referred to as, "The Country Formerly Known as Great Britain;" however, they will formally be known only by the symbol:

From Real Men Have Beards, Read the rest here.

No Really, do it.

Ill Wait.

Back?

Good.

While our author here had many great links, some of which i have been collecting myself, for a post very similar, it is not an exhaustive list, as i also remember about reading about banning palm trees, and about permits to show affection to a child.

This is just scratching the surface of an ideology that says it is not only the states responsibility to protect society from the individual, but that it is also the states duty to take all potentially harmful power away from its citizens. I would like to remind you that the very existance of liberty and freedom are power, and stand in the way of the very notion of a nanny state. This is all very real, and very may well happen here if people dont realize what I first figured out when i was a child, when I read the book Fahrenheit 451, and realized that while there is no need to unduly offend someone, if you were to ever forbid offending anyone, you would would in fact have to police everyone, and ban ALL expression. The same ballance exists when you start to decide to tell people that they cant do this, or cant do that, in the interest of public safety. You would, at the campaigns end, in order to "guarantee a safe country", police everything, outlaw everything, and bann ALL activity of any sort. Then we might be safe, maybe. Might just be me, but I really dont think thats a decent trade off. The book demonstrated that pretty easily, and if you havent read it, you might want to check it out, or buy a copy for a child you know.

To borrow from a very famous Ben Franklin quote, Those who would trade health and safety for liberty, deserve neither. In A world that still retains a 100% mortality rate, there will always be room for more and more regulation In the interest of Public Safety, ad infinitum, forever. And i dont trust any politician or policy maker that says that he has the ability to ballance that concern for public safety with "reasonable measures of control". If he has any concern it is to be able to discern between more control and thus more power, and less control, and thus less power.

While things here in Yanktown arent quite as bad as they are in the UK. (I havent seen anyone chasing eachother down the street with a hammer, as my roomate did on a recent visit to London) we do see a number of warning signs. Not only does our federal government move almost daily to more closely regulate what and how Individuals lives our lives in the interest of public safety, it also marches foreward with inteligence programs to know every detail of our actions. State and City governments install traffic and pedestrian cameras to allow police where their are none, to generate revenue, and to fight crime. Phily alone purchases $10 million in CCTV cameras this year. Here in my city, i see more traffic cameras put in almost every week. New laws are passed every day, too numerous to count, let alone to know the contents of. There's a war on drugs and a war on poverty and a war on crime, and war on obesity and now a war on terrorism (individuals).


When you look at all these wars you might start to see the real war is with an idea, the idea that you cant help yourself, that you arent responsible enough, that your personal beliefs dont matter. That your government doesnt trust you, and yet, REQUIRES you to trust it. And if that wasnt enough, we have dozens and dozens of American't activist groups lobbying for more laws, to take away more rights from decent hard working Americans. MADD says they want a total prohibition on alcohol, Brady wants to ban all firearms, Local groups campaign for more laws to prohibit everything from sex toys, to porn stores, to selling ice-cream without a permit, to selling food containing trans-fats to selling puppies near a roadway.


And then, in the interest of consolidating all power in the state, as one giant collective reasuring being, keeping the lowly citizens it feeds off of from either stepping out of line or hurting themselves, we become a joke, a mockery of every priciple this country was founded on.


Personaly, If I have to die anyways, I'd rather die with my hat on. Its the American way.

Or maybe its the Human Way, and some of us have lost that, as Virgil wrote in the Aenid, in the first century BC:


Moriamur et in Media Arma Ruamus

Una Salus Victis Nullam Sperare Salutem

let us die even as we rush into the midst of battle

for the one hope of the doomed is not to hope for safety

Federal War on Terror(Individual)ism Steams down the Miss.

Law enforcement agencies join together for 'anti-terrorism initiative'

By Cindy Wolff
Monday, April 14, 2008

Shelby County Sheriff's deputies arrested 71 people, including 31 fugitives, during a 24-hour street sweep that ended about a half hour after sunrise Sunday.

The sheriff's office and 50 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies pulled over cars, climbed on boats on the Mississippi River and served fugitive warrants as part of an "anti-terrorism initiative," called Operation Sudden Impact.
Special Agent Don Wolfe of the West Tennessee Judicial Violent Crime and Drug Task Force with his dog, Hydro, conducts a search of a tug boat with Petty Officer Second Class Rich Guthrie with the U.S. Coast Guard during Operation Sudden Impact.

It was the first time that many agencies joined forces for such a large sweep, said Shelby County Sheriff Mark Luttrell, whose office coordinated the operation.

Even though Memphis hasn't suffered a terrorist attack, the city is using federal grants to fight crime, which might lead to the discovery of a terrorist suspect. Other cities are using federal money with similar programs.

"Our community is considered an international distribution center and is a possible target for terrorists," said Capt. Dale Lane, commander of the Sheriff's Office Homeland Security Bureau.

The 100 sheriff's deputies working Saturday night and Sunday morning also recovered 12.2 grams of heroin, 19 syringes and seized $1,795. They issued citations for 202 traffic violations.

Information gathered in the sweep will be reviewed by intelligence officers at the local Homeland Security center. The information will be forwarded to the state's Homeland Security center in Nashville.

Other agencies that participated in the sweep will release results from their departments today.
***



Do Tennessee Businesses Have Ties To Terrorism?

Posted: April 14, 2008 08:16 AM

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Federal agencies raided several Memphis businesses in a coordinated effort to find information about possible terrorism ties.

The operation has been named known as "Sudden Impact."

The FBI along with hundreds of officers said they are looking for anything out of the ordinary. Agents take computers and paperwork from businesses. (emphasis added)

One store owner said he was told the agents were looking for stolen electronics. While some business owners feel they are being targeted, law-enforcement officers said they are just trying to track down possible terrorists before something big happens.

"What we have found traditionally is that terrorists are involved in a number of lesser known type crimes," said Mark Luttrell, Shelby County sheriff.

There has been no word on if any of the confiscated goods have led to any arrests.
***

I know personaly it doesnt concern me to give a single federal agency with little oversight and no real charter total control, both directorialy, and fiscally, over all levels, be it Federal, State, or Local, of law enforcement and domestic force. Doesnt worry me at all.


When die DHS came for the Smack users,
I remained silent;
I was not a smack user.

When they locked up the poor drivers,
I remained silent;
I was not a poor driver.

When they came for the electronics store owners,
I did not speak out;
I was not an electronics store owner.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out

-Inscription on the tomb of the Unknown Freedom

Those of you who will not speak up now, i hope you all practice the following phrase, for the future:

"Ja, Ich sah, was passierte."

So they will know the "Good Germans" when they meet them, and can thank them.

"Yes, I witnessed it happening"

Who wants war?

The freedom fighter and the soldier and the terrorist have the same job descriptions, just different sides. All wars eventually are shown to be merely battles for power paid for by the poor and fought to see which group of rich people will be in charge of whoever is left alive. Not really something for intelligent people to get behind.

Rule by Fear, or Rule by Law

An article co-written by former Congressman Dan Hamburg and carried by the San Francisco Chronicle has gained much attention recently as it shines light on a coordinated federal government program to build detention camps at undisclosed locations within the United States. The issue gained national attention two years ago when it was announced that Kellogg, Brown and Root had been awarded a $385 million dollar contract by Homeland Security to construct detention and processing facilities in the event of a national emergency.
The language of the preamble to that agreement veils the program with talk of temporary migrant holding centers, but it is made clear that the camps will also be used "as the development of a plan to react to a national emergency." This has been worrysome to many activists, but hasnt received alot of public attention until now.

Respected author Peter Dale Scott speculated that the "detention centers could be used to detain American citizens if the Bush administration were to declare martial law."
Daniel Ellsberg, former Special Assistant to Assistant Secretary of Defense, called the plan, "preparation for a roundup after the next 9/11 for Mid-Easterners, Muslims and possibly dissenters. Theyve already done this on a smaller scale, with the 'special registration' detentions of immigrant men from Muslim countries, and with Guantanamo."
Under the enemy combatant designation anyone at the behest of the US government, even if they are a US citizen, can be kidnapped and placed in an internment facility forever without trial. Jose Padilla, an American citizen, spent over four years in a Navy brig before being brought to trial.

In 2002, FEMA sought bids from major real estate and engineering firms to construct giant internment facilities in the case of a chemical, biological or nuclear attack or a natural disaster. And a much discussed and circulated report, the Pentagon's Civilian Inmate Labor Program, has recently been updated detailing a "template for developing agreements between the Army and corrections facilities for the use of civilian inmate labor on Army installations."

Where all this is going is hard to say, but it is probably important that it goes there publicly and in the open, and i am glad to reprint the Seiler/Hamburg article in full. Enjoy.

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

"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 noncitizen 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.