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It sure would be nice if one the of Representatives who were apparently told this would back up Rep. Sherman’s statement and name names. Who, exactly, was saying there would be martial law?

That would be telling, commonsnguy.

I’m not sounding so paranoid these days, am I?

I still doubt that there will be an election. We may be in the final days of what we think of as the United States. Although honestly, what I always thought of as the United States has already begun to disappear. Even our “savior” Obama voted for the police state and gives an alarming amount of lip service to “faith-based” government.

Dick Cheney would be happy–possibly even orgasmic–to see tanks rumbling through American cities and heavily-armed troops on every street corner. That’s his vision of law and order.

9/11 popped up out of a trap door at the start of this regime like a Christmas present for ol’ Vice President Strangelove, and the credit meltdown has popped up at the end of it.

Incidentally I am now officially jobless thanks to this mess.

Over the last few months, I, too, have been wondering if
those who say we’re headed toward martial law aren’t right.
The first thing that caught my eye was an article I saw on
the Indianapolis Star (that’s since been removed from that
paper’s web site, but can still be found in the
http://www.dailynewscaster.com link). Then a friend sent me the
http://www.army.mil link to the document laying out how civilian
prisoners could be used on military bases for military
projects. And, now, this http://www.armytimes.com article
which Jon has cited. For your reading pleasure I’ve also
included in the list below a link to another article
discussing the FBI/DHS connection to the Indianapolis
exercise and Amy Goodman’s take on these actions.

http://www.army.mil/usapa/epubs/pdf/r210_35.pdf
http://www.dailynewscaster.com/2008/06/03/marines-to-begin-martial-law-training-in-indianapolis/
http://www.dailynewscaster.com/2008/06/18/fbi-homeland-security-behind-martial-law-exercises-in-indianapolis/
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/army_homeland_090708w/
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/10/02

A fairly decent discussion related to the first link above,
including a link to the KBR web site article discussing the
awarding of the contract for building prison infrastructure,
which could be construed to be that discussed in the DoD
document, can be found at:

http://cortez.gnn.tv/blogs/14561/Halliburton_building_Concentration_Camps_in_the_US

Based on my own admittedly rather limited reading of
history and just plain gut instinct, I’ve maintained
on numerous occasions in conversations with some of my
friends that the ever-growing disparities we are seeing
in the distribution of wealth, among other things, would
result in strife on the streets – armed insurrection,
possibly. I’ve always thought it a far-off-in-the-future
possibility, but one within my lifetime for sure. The
numbers of folks living on the edge of survival, paycheck-
to-paycheck, has been growing over the years and I have
been wondering what a collapse of the economy (now read
as the “financial and banking system”) might do to push
them over the edge. Not that I have been any sort of
seer into the future on the collapse we’ve been watching,
but with all of the crazy credit stuff of the last few
years, I often wondered what ulterior motive was behind
it – whether or not it was part of a last-ditch attempt
to stave off further disenfranchisement by making the
“American Dream” more available than it probably should
have been. That this availability was made possible
through instruments and practices far riskier than had
been available in the past indicates the degree of the
gamble that was being made, in retrospect. The steps
toward martial law over the last few years, I think,
could be construed as an admission at some level in the
federal government that the gamble could be lost. That
some of the preparatory exercises and deployments are
actually happening could be evidence that the gamble is
close to being lost.

What to do? The adage “Hope for the best, prepare for
the worst.” comes to mind.

Enough of doom and gloom for today. The meadowlarks have
been passing through Devils Lake again on their way south,
so it’s time to be happy that Fall is still around.

Agreed, Jeff. They’re gone now, but for the past two weekends I had countless flycatchers singing their hearts out in my back yard. Last weekend there were vast (as in, Hitchcockian) flocks of starlings. I regularly hear the piercing cries of the two red-tailed hawks who nest across the road. And the finches are of course ever-present. Doves, blackbirds, jays, catbirds, and crows round out the list. Along with the honking geese.

But we don’t get meadowlarks. I’d like that.

I am not nearly as pessimistic as Dan.

I posted this discussion as a diary at dailykos.com, where it generated 150 votes (46% said it shows how far the Repubs might go in desparation); and an exchange about how possible/likely a martial takeover might be.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/4/165841/491/238/620150 (I didn’t refer traffic to this site — just pointed to the source documents — because I wasn’t sure if you’d prefer to have kossaks thronging here, Jon.)

The Army Times did post a correction to its original story:

“A non-lethal crowd control package fielded to 1st Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, described in the original version of this story, is intended for use on deployments to the war zone, not in the U.S., as previously stated.”

Hey Dan, sorry to hear about your job loss. What do you do?

Oh geez guys, you really are showing signs of PTSD due to the trauma of the last 8+ years; hyper vigilance being the predominant symptom.

Two things argue against it:

1. Thanks to the gun nuts, America is armed, and the current split in America would result in another civil war, (Red v. Blue this time) which would keep Bush and Chaney’s International Cabal Masters from being able to make a profit.

2. People in concentration camps don’t pay taxes, which would keep Bush and Chaney’s International Cabal Masters from being able to make a profit.

Hey I’ve got a question.
It is unquestionable that we are all in a scary situation. Martial Law is most likely to occur before the next election and our civil liberties and basic happiness will be challenged very aggressively by our “leaders” in the not so distant future.
My question is this:
Why do fascist/dictators become fascist/dictators? I just can’t wrap my head around it. Why did Hitler grab for so much power, why did King Henry the third want power for evil, why Ceaser, and why is Bush so eager to turn America into a police state? What is the motivation? Is it just a power trip, is it money? It just doesn’t make sense to me. Someone please explain.

Maude:

This is one theory based on sociopathy:

http://lamammals.blogspot.com/2005/11/sociopaths-in-white-house.html

from a few years ago based on Linda Mealy’s research cited in that blog.

This is a good time to be cooling heads and planning. That they plan for it shouldn’t make us *too* paranoid. They plan for everything from food riots to bozos in spaceships landing and trying to turn us all into clown zombies.

Frequency dependent sociopathy is one of the reasons I counsel both sides to be leary of using intimidation tactics. It feeds the fringe bozos who then inflate their shoes and go looking for other clowns to honk their noses at.