Only The Paranoid Survive
Some of us have smiled when our correspondents talked about the possibility of martial law and the election being cancelled. “Oh those paranoids”, I thought. Then a friend sent me this little dispatch from the Army Times.
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.
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.
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.
I’m still not buying the martial law idea, but if banks start failing and Wall Street barons flee the country on their private jets, there might be some pretty angry mobs in the streets. Somehow the “non-lethal weapons package” does not seem designed for assisting in natural disasters.
Jesus Len- Why have you been holding out on us?
I couldn’t agree more, that’s why I put up that gorgeous Dave Stewart song.
I’m not worried about Barack’s chops. He’s shown himself in the last week with masterful chops. I actually think the Sarah and John show is about ready for amidseason cancellation. Palin’s interview with Couric was embarrassing. It was like one of those Miss America Pageant “what do want to do for the world interviews.
If we believe the Vice President should be truly an ordinary citizen, then she fills the bill. But if we hope for our leaders to be of exceptional talent. Then she doesn’t even get in the quarter finals.
Jesus Len- Why have you been holding out on us?
I couldn’t agree more, that’s why I put up that gorgeous Dave Stewart song.
I’m not worried about Barack’s chops. He’s shown himself in the last week with masterful chops. I actually think the Sarah and John show is about ready for amidseason cancellation. Palin’s interview with Couric was embarrassing. It was like one of those Miss America Pageant “what do want to do for the world interviews.
If we believe the Vice President should be truly an ordinary citizen, then she fills the bill. But if we hope for our leaders to be of exceptional talent. Then she doesn’t even get in the quarter finals.
“Ding, dong, the witch is dead. Which old witch? The Wicked Witch! Ding, dong the Wicked Witch is dead…”
It’s all there somewhere in a song…
“Brother can you spare a dime?”
“Ding, dong, the witch is dead. Which old witch? The Wicked Witch! Ding, dong the Wicked Witch is dead…”
It’s all there somewhere in a song…
“Brother can you spare a dime?”
Len- One more thing.”The stupid stuff ” will be over, when we’ve buried the racism issue. The racists may be a vocal minority–but they are a true minority.
Len- One more thing.”The stupid stuff ” will be over, when we’ve buried the racism issue. The racists may be a vocal minority–but they are a true minority.
Len- One more thing.”The stupid stuff ” will be over, when we’ve buried the racism issue. The racists may be a vocal minority–but they are a true minority.
Note that congress has not allowed the Chicken Little Syndrome to totally erase it’s power, prerogatives, and responsibilities…at least not yet. They resisted Paulson’s outrageous nuttery.
There is a chance that if Obama gets in, our Constitution may be restored and respected as the living document it is…living with the intent of the Founding Fathers, not living with expedient changes for an oligarchy drenched and basted in oil and blood.
Just remember that even with Posse Comitatus, there were four dead in Ohio, and that war was wrong, too.
Go back and re-read McNamarra’s apology for continuing a war that he and his cronies knew they did not have the skill, guts, moral superiority, or will to win. They knew damned well that they were sending up cannon fodder to be ground up into bloody meat, and they just kept doing it. That’s what the war mongering Right Wing does best…kills their young and calls it patriotism.
And what’s the deal with McCain refusing release when he was a prisoner of war? Is that real? Isn’t the # 1 duty of a prisoner of war to be repatriated so he or she can carry on the fight?
Note that congress has not allowed the Chicken Little Syndrome to totally erase it’s power, prerogatives, and responsibilities…at least not yet. They resisted Paulson’s outrageous nuttery.
There is a chance that if Obama gets in, our Constitution may be restored and respected as the living document it is…living with the intent of the Founding Fathers, not living with expedient changes for an oligarchy drenched and basted in oil and blood.
Just remember that even with Posse Comitatus, there were four dead in Ohio, and that war was wrong, too.
Go back and re-read McNamarra’s apology for continuing a war that he and his cronies knew they did not have the skill, guts, moral superiority, or will to win. They knew damned well that they were sending up cannon fodder to be ground up into bloody meat, and they just kept doing it. That’s what the war mongering Right Wing does best…kills their young and calls it patriotism.
And what’s the deal with McCain refusing release when he was a prisoner of war? Is that real? Isn’t the # 1 duty of a prisoner of war to be repatriated so he or she can carry on the fight?
Rick- We live in revolutionary times. Who of us who have been corresponding so wonderfully for the past nine months, would have imagined how wierd it would get in the run up to the election?
I made some fairly outrageous predictions in January that have turned out to be true. Honestly, at the time I felt more like Philip K. Dick than myself.
Let’s just pray the next 40 days bring us the joy that Len spoke of. We are much more capable than we think of the sacrifices that will be needed to move us to the New America.
Rick- We live in revolutionary times. Who of us who have been corresponding so wonderfully for the past nine months, would have imagined how wierd it would get in the run up to the election?
I made some fairly outrageous predictions in January that have turned out to be true. Honestly, at the time I felt more like Philip K. Dick than myself.
Let’s just pray the next 40 days bring us the joy that Len spoke of. We are much more capable than we think of the sacrifices that will be needed to move us to the New America.
Wise words. I’ll make sure and tell the hot-headed kids I come across who are experiencing their first Depression, and first “W”. Change is slow, but its comin’ round the mountain. Ah experience…
Funny how the worst times can bring out the best people. Funnier still that I actually believe in the concept ideal of “America” now–now that it has been shot, wire-tapped and beat into the ground these past 8 years.
Here’s to the future.
Wise words. I’ll make sure and tell the hot-headed kids I come across who are experiencing their first Depression, and first “W”. Change is slow, but its comin’ round the mountain. Ah experience…
Funny how the worst times can bring out the best people. Funnier still that I actually believe in the concept ideal of “America” now–now that it has been shot, wire-tapped and beat into the ground these past 8 years.
Here’s to the future.
Wise words. I’ll make sure and tell the hot-headed kids I come across who are experiencing their first Depression, and first “W”. Change is slow, but its comin’ round the mountain. Ah experience…
Funny how the worst times can bring out the best people. Funnier still that I actually believe in the concept ideal of “America” now–now that it has been shot, wire-tapped and beat into the ground these past 8 years.
Here’s to the future.
Is there an Intrade bet for Bush suspending the election and imposing martial law? Just askin…
Is there an Intrade bet for Bush suspending the election and imposing martial law? Just askin…
Randy Newman has a song for some of us who may be experiencing a surge of paranoia.
Randy Newman has a song for some of us who may be experiencing a surge of paranoia.
Randy Newman has a song for some of us who may be experiencing a surge of paranoia.
Randy Newman has a song for every occasion
Randy Newman has a song for every occasion
There will be lots of people in the streets if Barack wins the election by say two million votes and looses in the electoral college. Whether there is also blood in the streets will depend on the administration response.
posted by Randy T
There will be lots of people in the streets if Barack wins the election by say two million votes and looses in the electoral college. Whether there is also blood in the streets will depend on the administration response.
posted by Randy T
Randy,
Since the pundits of the Left have been predicting / threatening widespread violence if Obama looses the election, this seems reasonable.
Face it, if Obama wins the popular vote but looses the electoral vote the ONLY administrative response can be “he lost.”
Randy,
Since the pundits of the Left have been predicting / threatening widespread violence if Obama looses the election, this seems reasonable.
Face it, if Obama wins the popular vote but looses the electoral vote the ONLY administrative response can be “he lost.”
Name the pundits of the Left who have been threatening widespread violence, please.
Name the pundits of the Left who have been threatening widespread violence, please.
” Miss America Pageant – What do you want to do for the world interview?”
Wrong candidate but very funny nevertheless.
” Miss America Pageant – What do you want to do for the world interview?”
Wrong candidate but very funny nevertheless.
” Miss America Pageant – What do you want to do for the world interview?”
Wrong candidate but very funny nevertheless.
“If McCain wins, look for a full-fledged race and class war, fueled by a deflated and depressed country, soaring crime, homelessness – and hopelessness” ~ Fatima Ali, 9/2/08
Richmond, Virginia mayor Douglas Wilder went on CBS “Face the Nation” today and threatened pro-Barack Obama riots at the August Democratic Convention if Obama loses the nomination.
Russ Smith touches on an emerging storyline: the certain combination of acute anger, despair and bitterness on the left if McCain’s late comeback snatches victory away from Obama in the homestretch of this incredibly long and intense campaign. The response to Kerry’s defeat was muted by the fact that few liberals were especially smitten with him to begin with. But the fallout this time could be pretty raw stuff.
There are more if you’re willing to look.
“If McCain wins, look for a full-fledged race and class war, fueled by a deflated and depressed country, soaring crime, homelessness – and hopelessness” ~ Fatima Ali, 9/2/08
Richmond, Virginia mayor Douglas Wilder went on CBS “Face the Nation” today and threatened pro-Barack Obama riots at the August Democratic Convention if Obama loses the nomination.
Russ Smith touches on an emerging storyline: the certain combination of acute anger, despair and bitterness on the left if McCain’s late comeback snatches victory away from Obama in the homestretch of this incredibly long and intense campaign. The response to Kerry’s defeat was muted by the fact that few liberals were especially smitten with him to begin with. But the fallout this time could be pretty raw stuff.
There are more if you’re willing to look.
“If McCain wins, look for a full-fledged race and class war, fueled by a deflated and depressed country, soaring crime, homelessness – and hopelessness” ~ Fatima Ali, 9/2/08
Richmond, Virginia mayor Douglas Wilder went on CBS “Face the Nation” today and threatened pro-Barack Obama riots at the August Democratic Convention if Obama loses the nomination.
Russ Smith touches on an emerging storyline: the certain combination of acute anger, despair and bitterness on the left if McCain’s late comeback snatches victory away from Obama in the homestretch of this incredibly long and intense campaign. The response to Kerry’s defeat was muted by the fact that few liberals were especially smitten with him to begin with. But the fallout this time could be pretty raw stuff.
There are more if you’re willing to look.
@jon: “One more thing.”The stupid stuff ” will be over, when we’ve buried the racism issue.”
We can bury it as an issue but it will not go away as a human response. Even in our generation where we promised we would not pass the disease on to our children, it reemerged. They taught it to each other and in some ways, it is even more virulent.
That is why the value of our values has to be the expression of our culture en masse. Racism, sexism all of that will keep popping back up because there are real differences and if they can’t be expressed, they become a cause for separation. Gandhi despaired over the caste system of India and despite all attempts to erase it, it is still there and still a source of pride for some. The bride burnings persist in the villages.
It is something we can manage, but as long as Eddie Griffin can make Undercover Brother, someone will be making a box of Obama Waffles. That is the pernicious side of our natures and I don’t think we can wish it away or legislate it away. We can enforce the laws, we can preach from the pulpits, we can police our own acts, but it will still be there like pneumonia.
My hope is that if we do that long enough, if enough people will come to understand that at least some of this kind of thinking is habit formation, part of the accidental wiring, and that to become self-aware, to be enlightened is to take responsibility for unwiring and rewiring, then this condition will become no worse than a common cold.
But in my experience, it is done one person at a time between two people at a time who come to respect each other, and for that gift, find cause to fight their own blue meanies.
Last night I was teaching my song, The Gift, to the black man for whom it was written and who heads up the contemporary service at our church. If a cultural subtlety it is, consider that here in Alabama, I, a white guy, am writing black soul for a black guy who heads up a service for a mostly white church. Black soul is a gift because that sound brings joy to the people. Joy is what we share and how we claw our way out of the sins of our fathers.
I don’t know anything about your church, but here is the demo for free if ever any of you reading this know a group that needs a contemporary rock/gospel tune. I can send the arrangement if they need that.
Sing a song of joy.
http://home.hiwaay.net/~cbullard/mp3/TheGift.mp3
@jon: “One more thing.”The stupid stuff ” will be over, when we’ve buried the racism issue.”
We can bury it as an issue but it will not go away as a human response. Even in our generation where we promised we would not pass the disease on to our children, it reemerged. They taught it to each other and in some ways, it is even more virulent.
That is why the value of our values has to be the expression of our culture en masse. Racism, sexism all of that will keep popping back up because there are real differences and if they can’t be expressed, they become a cause for separation. Gandhi despaired over the caste system of India and despite all attempts to erase it, it is still there and still a source of pride for some. The bride burnings persist in the villages.
It is something we can manage, but as long as Eddie Griffin can make Undercover Brother, someone will be making a box of Obama Waffles. That is the pernicious side of our natures and I don’t think we can wish it away or legislate it away. We can enforce the laws, we can preach from the pulpits, we can police our own acts, but it will still be there like pneumonia.
My hope is that if we do that long enough, if enough people will come to understand that at least some of this kind of thinking is habit formation, part of the accidental wiring, and that to become self-aware, to be enlightened is to take responsibility for unwiring and rewiring, then this condition will become no worse than a common cold.
But in my experience, it is done one person at a time between two people at a time who come to respect each other, and for that gift, find cause to fight their own blue meanies.
Last night I was teaching my song, The Gift, to the black man for whom it was written and who heads up the contemporary service at our church. If a cultural subtlety it is, consider that here in Alabama, I, a white guy, am writing black soul for a black guy who heads up a service for a mostly white church. Black soul is a gift because that sound brings joy to the people. Joy is what we share and how we claw our way out of the sins of our fathers.
I don’t know anything about your church, but here is the demo for free if ever any of you reading this know a group that needs a contemporary rock/gospel tune. I can send the arrangement if they need that.
Sing a song of joy.
http://home.hiwaay.net/~cbullard/mp3/TheGift.mp3
I read this blog. Pretty much every posting, and every comment.
I am struck by something this morning:
If there is revolution on the air, and it comes down to taking to the streets, I think cooler heads *will* prevail, because I do not think that National Guard, or full-time military will fire upon their countrymen. After all, if revolution comes, I would imagine the goal would be to re-establish the Constitution, and to have tribunals for those in power. There has been such a degradation of this nation in the last decade, that it may require revolution to set it right. But that revolution, I think at this point, would have at the heart of it: restoring our Constitution and the checks and balances it provides.
If we do not restore sanity and honor to our nation’s leadership, if we do not address the gaping wholes in the fabric of our nation, if we do not realize as one, that we are all Americans, and truly are our neighbors keepers, we will follow Rome. We will follow Alexander. We will follow all those seemingly mighty empires that are no more.
We are America. And we are currently adrift in our sea of existence, making long slow circles around the drain. The spirals are becoming tighter, each spin around coming faster.
We must seize this time, grasp our nation by our collective lapels, and slap some reason back into all of us.
We don’t need an enemy. All of history has provided them, consistently and reliably.
We need, again collectively, to realize that America needs an ideal. We need a goal. We need to charge the better angels of our nature with a task worthy of our ancestry, our history, ourselves.
Worthy of the American spirit, so long absent from our house.
We can do better. I am looking for a President who can move us closer to the ideal. Challenge us to be better, and then roll up their sleeves and work alongside us in the trench to bring that ideal to fruition.
I remember Hope.
Vaguely.
- Zhirem
I read this blog. Pretty much every posting, and every comment.
I am struck by something this morning:
If there is revolution on the air, and it comes down to taking to the streets, I think cooler heads *will* prevail, because I do not think that National Guard, or full-time military will fire upon their countrymen. After all, if revolution comes, I would imagine the goal would be to re-establish the Constitution, and to have tribunals for those in power. There has been such a degradation of this nation in the last decade, that it may require revolution to set it right. But that revolution, I think at this point, would have at the heart of it: restoring our Constitution and the checks and balances it provides.
If we do not restore sanity and honor to our nation’s leadership, if we do not address the gaping wholes in the fabric of our nation, if we do not realize as one, that we are all Americans, and truly are our neighbors keepers, we will follow Rome. We will follow Alexander. We will follow all those seemingly mighty empires that are no more.
We are America. And we are currently adrift in our sea of existence, making long slow circles around the drain. The spirals are becoming tighter, each spin around coming faster.
We must seize this time, grasp our nation by our collective lapels, and slap some reason back into all of us.
We don’t need an enemy. All of history has provided them, consistently and reliably.
We need, again collectively, to realize that America needs an ideal. We need a goal. We need to charge the better angels of our nature with a task worthy of our ancestry, our history, ourselves.
Worthy of the American spirit, so long absent from our house.
We can do better. I am looking for a President who can move us closer to the ideal. Challenge us to be better, and then roll up their sleeves and work alongside us in the trench to bring that ideal to fruition.
I remember Hope.
Vaguely.
- Zhirem
HOPE
This whole financial collapse is going to usher in a period that´ll be truly revolutionary for the US. Let’s just hope it happen. Long overdue.
Bernard
HOPE
This whole financial collapse is going to usher in a period that´ll be truly revolutionary for the US. Let’s just hope it happen. Long overdue.
Bernard
HOPE
This whole financial collapse is going to usher in a period that´ll be truly revolutionary for the US. Let’s just hope it happen. Long overdue.
Bernard
“And what’s the deal with McCain refusing release when he was a prisoner of war? Is that real? Isn’t the # 1 duty of a prisoner of war to be repatriated so he or she can carry on the fight?”
It doesn’t quite work like that. The prisoner’s code of honor was that they would be repatriated in order of capture. He was way down the line. Next, he was the son of the Admiral commanding the naval forces in Southeast Asia, so his Dad
was the head honcho for the war. He knew if he accepted repatriation, it would be a coup for the North Vietnamese and would make things worse for the US troops in the field. So he declined. He has said that if he knew just how bad what was ahead of him would be, he might have reconsidered. It was very bad.
Escape would have been another issue, but there were very few of those attempted that succeeded. It’s difficult for a Caucasian to go unnoticed. Some tried and were killed, disappeared, or were recaptured and tortured.
I don’t think we help ourselves questioning those events. McCain is a real hero and Obama acknowledges that. The question is, is a hero of that time the right man to be President at this time. Personally, I’d rather this be a contest of ideas.
“And what’s the deal with McCain refusing release when he was a prisoner of war? Is that real? Isn’t the # 1 duty of a prisoner of war to be repatriated so he or she can carry on the fight?”
It doesn’t quite work like that. The prisoner’s code of honor was that they would be repatriated in order of capture. He was way down the line. Next, he was the son of the Admiral commanding the naval forces in Southeast Asia, so his Dad
was the head honcho for the war. He knew if he accepted repatriation, it would be a coup for the North Vietnamese and would make things worse for the US troops in the field. So he declined. He has said that if he knew just how bad what was ahead of him would be, he might have reconsidered. It was very bad.
Escape would have been another issue, but there were very few of those attempted that succeeded. It’s difficult for a Caucasian to go unnoticed. Some tried and were killed, disappeared, or were recaptured and tortured.
I don’t think we help ourselves questioning those events. McCain is a real hero and Obama acknowledges that. The question is, is a hero of that time the right man to be President at this time. Personally, I’d rather this be a contest of ideas.
“And what’s the deal with McCain refusing release when he was a prisoner of war? Is that real? Isn’t the # 1 duty of a prisoner of war to be repatriated so he or she can carry on the fight?”
It doesn’t quite work like that. The prisoner’s code of honor was that they would be repatriated in order of capture. He was way down the line. Next, he was the son of the Admiral commanding the naval forces in Southeast Asia, so his Dad
was the head honcho for the war. He knew if he accepted repatriation, it would be a coup for the North Vietnamese and would make things worse for the US troops in the field. So he declined. He has said that if he knew just how bad what was ahead of him would be, he might have reconsidered. It was very bad.
Escape would have been another issue, but there were very few of those attempted that succeeded. It’s difficult for a Caucasian to go unnoticed. Some tried and were killed, disappeared, or were recaptured and tortured.
I don’t think we help ourselves questioning those events. McCain is a real hero and Obama acknowledges that. The question is, is a hero of that time the right man to be President at this time. Personally, I’d rather this be a contest of ideas.
I think that your idea and my idea of “threats” differ.
For instance, I presume that you believe that Henry Paulson is threatening us with a Great Depression.
I think that your idea and my idea of “threats” differ.
For instance, I presume that you believe that Henry Paulson is threatening us with a Great Depression.
(To jonolan, that is)
(To jonolan, that is)