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U.S. Military Chain of Command
Running from the president to the secretary of defense to the commander of the combatant command, the chain of command for the United States military is spelled out by the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986. The secretaries of the military departments assign all forces under their jurisdiction to the unified and specific combatant commands to perform missions assigned by those commands.
Under the Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1958, the Departments of Army, Navy and Air Force were eliminated from the chain of "operational" command. Commanders of unified and specified commands now respond to the president and the secretary of defense through the joint chief of staff. The act redefined the functions of the military departments to those of essentially organizing, training, equipping and supporting combat forces for the unified and specified commands.
President of the United States
*Commander in chief of the United States Armed Forces.
Secretary of Defense
*Principal defense policy adviser to the president
*Appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate
*Military action taken by the president is passed through the secretary of defense
National Security Council
*Consists of the president, vice-president, secretary of state and secretary of defense
*Serves as the principal forum for considering national security issues requiring presidential decisions
*The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff serves as military adviser to the Council; the CIA is the intelligence adviser
*The secretary of the treasury, the U.S. representative to the United Nations, the assistant to the president for national security affairs, the assistant to the president for economic policy and the president's chief of staff are invited to all meetings.
*The attorney general and the director of the office of national drug control policy attend meetings pertaining to their jurisdiction. If appropriate, other officials are invited.
Secretaries of the Military Departments
*The secretary assigns all forces to combatant commands except those assigned to recruit, organize, supply, equip, train, service, mobilize, administer and maintain their respective forces.
*Secretaries are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff [CJCS]
*The chairman is the principal military adviser to the president, secretary of defense and National Security Council.
*In carrying out these duties the chairman will consult and seek advice from the other service chiefs and combatant commanders as necessary.
*The chairman is appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate for a four-year term
The Joint Chiefs of Staff
*Comprised of representatives of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force.
*They have no executive authority to command combatant forces.
*Each of the chiefs is appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
Unified and Specified Operations
*"Unified Commands" consist of elements from two or more services placed under a single commander who exercises operational control over the forces assigned to him.
*Service forces may be organized under subordinate joint commands.
*Specified commands have a broad continuing mission and are normally composed of forces primarily from one service. Within these unified and specified organizations, each military department (Army, Navy and Air Force) retains responsibility for administration and logistical support of its assigned forces under the directive authority of the CINC.
Combined Operations
*Conducted by forces of two or more nations, acting together toward the same objective.
*American forces participating in combined operations are subject to command arrangements and authorities established by international agreement between the participating nations.
*There are two types of combined operations: operations in which an alliance exists, characterized by formal agreements and procedures for coordination between forces, and operations in which a coalition exists with forces of nations friendly to the immediate undertaking. Coalition missions operate without prior formal agreements or procedures for coordination and are the most challenging. They require, at a minimum, require the support of an extensive liaison structure. - FOX
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click
"Donald
Rumsfeld comes alive in battle, which made him a brilliant
architect of the Iraq war. But is the sharp-elbowed fighter
ready for the peace?"
Donald
Rumsfeld , Secretary of War, TIME magazine
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"What
these people are doing now makes Iran-Contra [a Reagan
administration national security scandal] look like amateur
hour. . . it's worse than Iran-Contra, worse than what
happened in Vietnam," said Karen Kwiatkowski, a former
air force lieutenant-colonel."
Cheney's
Hawks 'Hijacking Policy'
archive example of TIME magazine person of the year
"Last
week Herr Hitler entertained at a Christmas party 7,000
workmen now building Berlin's new mammoth Chancellery, told
them: "The next decade will show those countries with
their patent democracy where true culture is to be
found."
1938:
Adolf Hitler
U.S.
Army uses cadavers in landmine tests
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Why
is Saddam the target?
In
1993, the FBI says, Saddam's agents smuggled a car bomb into
Kuwait in a failed effort to assassinate George Bush Snr,
although explosives experts have questioned the evidence.
SMH
Bush's
letter to Congress formally announcing the commencement of
hostilities against Iraq (3/18/03) explained that the use of
force would be directed against "terrorists and terrorist
organizations, including those nations, organizations or persons
who planned, authorized, committed or aided the terrorist attacks
that occurred on September 11, 2001." In his "Mission
Accomplished" speech aboard the U.S.S. Lincoln (5/1/03),
Bush declared that the invasion of Iraq had "removed an ally
of Al Qaeda."
FAIR
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"In
violation of the U.S. Constitution, the Administration
transferred without the knowledge of the Congress some $700
million from other accounts to fight the war in Iraq. The
Congress legally is required to authorize any such transfers and
the White House did not inform either legislative branch.
*Months
before the war began, the senior military commander for the Iraq
operation, General Tommy Frank, carried out secret plans for the
invasion of Iraq. Yet, when questioned by the press, Franks
blatantly lied when he claimed he had not been told of any plans
for such a war.
An
irrevocable split and mistrust had developed between Vice
President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Colin Powell so that
they were hardly on speaking terms. Powell was not informed of
the decision to go to war until after the plan was activated.
Powell, a 35-year veteran of military duty, then warned the
President that if the U.S. invaded Iraq, "we would own it."
In other words, there would be no easy way out, an assertion that
has so far proven to be right.
CIA
Director George Tenet is a total sycophant. He assured the
President that the war would be "a slam dunk." Before
that, he apparently was duped by a group of hired guns, that is
Iraqi spies, who provided U.S. intelligence with inaccurate
information about the whereabouts of Sadaam Hussein on March 19th
before the war began. Those assertions by a group known as the
Rock Stars prompted a U.S. air and rocket attack on the Dura
Farms outside of Baghdad that contrary to Tenet's belief did not
prove that Hussein actually was ever there.
National
Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice and Communications Director,
Karen Hughes were among the few advisors to the President who
agreed that the decision on Iraq was the right one.
Worse
than Watergate
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Saddam
& Osama
"Post 9/11, the sense of urgency to have solutions to
these problems has grown. The absence of action is not a
solution. Sometimes multi-lateralism is code for not acting."
Condaleeza Rice
"We
write to endorse your admirable commitment to "lead the
world to victory" in the war against terrorism. We fully
support your call for "a broad and sustained campaign"
against the "terrorist organizations and those who harbor
and support them." We agree with Secretary of State Powell
that the United States must find and punish the perpetrators of
the horrific attack of September 11, and we must, as he said, "go
after terrorism wherever we find it in the world" and "get
it by its branch and root." We agree with the Secretary of
State that U.S. policy must aim not only at finding the people
responsible for this incident, but must also target those "other
groups out there that mean us no good" and "that have
conducted attacks previously against U.S. personnel, U.S.
interests and our allies." PNAC
statement of intentions
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Does
the United States own a copyright on the word freedom? You'd
almost think so by how often it's batted around like a tennis
ball. Why isn't the American press challenging these empty
statements?"
-Dr
Nancy Snow
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Big Boys, Big
Toys, Big Plans
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"Although it may
take several decades for the process of transformation to
unfold, in time, the art of warfare on air, land, and sea will
be vastly different than it is today, and "combat"
likely will take place in new dimensions: in space,
"cyber-space," and perhaps the world of microbes.
Air warfare may no
longer be fought by pilots manning tactical fighter aircraft
sweeping the skies of opposing fighters, but a regime
dominated by long-range, stealthy unmanned craft.
On land, the clash of
massive, combined-arms armored forces may be replaced by the
dashes of much lighter, stealthier and information-intensive
forces, augmented by fleets of robots, some small enough to
fit in soldiers' pockets.
Control of the sea could
be largely determined not by fleets of surface combatants and
aircraft carriers, but from land- and space-based Systems,
forcing navies to manoeuver and fight underwater.
Space itself will become
a theater of war, as nations gain access to space capabilities
and come to rely on them; further, the distinction between
military and commercial space Systems combatants and
noncombatants will become blurred.
Information Systems will
become an important focus of attack, particularly for U.S.
enemies seeking to short-circuit sophisticated American
forces.
And advanced forms of
biological warfare that can "target" specific
genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of
terror to a politically useful tool."
above quotes
from
'Rebuilding
Americas Defences' - The Project for the
New American Century (2000) FULL VERSION
read
a summary by Betty Stockbauer |
Tommy
franks
General
Jack D. Ripper, a right-wing fanatic who suspects Communists of
fluoridating
the water to "sap and impurify all of our precious bodily
fluids."
Dr
Strangelove: was Kubrick
killed
by the illuminati...
???
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The US
military Junta's final push...
Discussing the hypothetical
dangers posed to the U.S. in the wake of Sept. 11, Franks said
that "the worst thing that could happen" is if
terrorists acquire and then use a biological, chemical or nuclear
weapon that inflicts heavy casualties.
If that happens, Franks
said, "... the Western world, the free world, loses what it
cherishes most, and that is freedom and liberty we've seen for a
couple of hundred years in this grand experiment that we call
democracy."
Franks then offered "in
a practical sense" what he thinks would happen in the
aftermath of such an attack.
"It means the
potential of a weapon of mass destruction and a terrorist,
massive, casualty-producing event somewhere in the Western world
" it may be in the United States of America " that causes our
population to question our own Constitution and to begin to
militarize our country in order to avoid a repeat of another
mass, casualty-producing event. Which in fact, then begins to
unravel the fabric of our Constitution. Two steps, very, very
important."
Franks didn't speculate
about how soon such an event might take place.
Already, critics
of the U.S. Patriot Act, rushed through Congress in the wake of
the Sept. 11 attacks, have argued that the law aims to curtail
civil liberties and sets a dangerous precedent. But Franks'
scenario goes much further. He is the first high-ranking official
to openly speculate that the Constitution could be scrapped in
favor of a military form of government."
Gen.
Franks Doubts Constitution Will Survive WMD Attack
Cigar
Aficionado's Interview with General Tommy Franks
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The
Armegeddon plan
"For 20 years, unbeknownst to most of the public, U.S.
officials and private citizens have rehearsed a secret plan to
preserve America's government if Washington or other key cities
were somehow wiped out, and perhaps even to take control of the
government if the nation's top leaders were lost."
Worst
Case Scenario
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Key
figures in the plan " who served as senior staffers for the
Reagan, Clinton and both Bush administrations " participated in
what for years were just exercises, war games, which they
discussed recently with ABCNEWS' Nightline. One of those senior
staffers was serving in the White House on Sept. 11, 2001, when a
version of the Armageddon plan was actually put into effect "
most likely for the first time. "On the morning of 9/11, the
entire continuity-of-government program was activated," said
Richard Clarke, former U.S. counterterrorism chief under
Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush, and an ABCNEWS consultant.
"Every federal agency was ordered, on the morning of 9/11,
to activate an alternative command post, an alternative
headquarters outside of Washington, D.C., and to staff it as soon
as possible." "[Vice President Dick] Cheney and
[Secretary of Defense Donald] Rumsfeld had participated in this
program," Mann said. "They knew all the details. So,
what happens on Sept. 11? Immediately, Cheney goes off into the
bunker and tells the president of the United States, 'Stay out of
town.' " And Don Rumsfeld asks his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, to
get out of town. They begin to send out these teams of federal
officials. This is really an echo of the continuity-of-government
plan."
Worst
Case Scenario
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Creating a world of uncertainty has great dividends
U.S. defense forces realignment moving ahead
Tuesday 10th May, 2005 - The U.S. Defense Department is moving forward with plans to reshape its force structure overseas.
The realignment is being coordinated with Congress, other government agencies and U.S. allies and partners, defense officials told Pentagon reporters in Washington Monday.
The global defense posture review is being undertaken as a "deliberate, thoughtful and flexible" process that meets 21st-century threats and improves troops' quality of life, according to Ryan Henry, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy.
Henry joined Ray DuBois, acting undersecretary of the Army, in countering charges by the Commission on Review of Overseas Military Facility Structure of the United States that DoD is moving ahead too quickly and without sufficient coordination. The independent commission released its report last week and held a news conference on its findings Monday.
DoD welcomes the commission's support for the global posture realignment, announced last August by President Bush, Henry said. The plan calls for the return of up to 70,000 troops and 100,000 family members and civilian employees currently based overseas to the United States.
"We believe the commission's report reflects an earnest effort to assess the military facility structures of the United States overseas," Henry said. "It recognizes that our overseas presence must reflect the challenges we face in the 21st century."
In announcing the initiative last summer, Bush said the U.S. force structure overseas reflects Cold War threats, not those that exist today.
Basing more troops in the United States and taking advantage of new technologies to quickly deploy them and their increased combat power will result in "a more agile and flexible force," the president said.
During Monday's Pentagon briefing, Henry re-emphasized the need for flexibility of U.S. forces and disputed the commission's assertion that global posturing needs to reflect concrete threats.
"We live in a world of uncertainty," he said. "We can predict with a certain degree of certainty that in the coming years we will need to use our military forces. ... What we cannot predict is where, when or in what manner we may need to use those forces."
Returning heavier forces as well as administrative and support functions to the United States will help increase the flexibility of the U.S. armed forces and their ability to respond quickly as necessary, he said.
Plans for what has been called the most significant rethinking of U.S. overseas military posture in more than 50 years have been coordinated "every step of the way," Henry said. They reflect input from regional combatant commanders, interagency partners, Congress, U.S. ambassadors and U.S. allies and partners, he said.
At the same time, the process is being conducted in a way that dovetails with several other initiatives under way: the department's Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommendations, to be released later this week; a mobility capabilities review expected this summer; and the Quadrennial Defense Review.
Coordinating these efforts will prevent gaps in military capabilities as well as infrastructure and quality-of-life programs for troops and their families, DuBois said. "It's a complex set of moves, and they are all interrelated," he said.
Throughout the planning, quality-of-life programs have remained a top priority, Henry said. "We in DoD realize that the No. 1 resource we have in the department are the fighting men and women ... and their families who support them," he said. "They are the one asset that we want to make sure we optimize."
- big news network
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The
following executive orders may be activated by the President
during a crisis that threatens "economic growth and
prosperity":
(each
one is linked to its full text)
10995
Right to seize all communications media in the United States.
10997
:
Right to seize all electric power, fuels and minerals, both
public and private.
10999
:
Right to seize all means of transportation, including personal
vehicles of any kind and total control of highways, seaports and
waterways.
11000
:
Right to seize any and all American people and divide up families
in order to create work forces to be transferred to any place the
government. sees fit.
11001:
Right to seize all health, education and welfare facilities, both
public and private.
11002:
Right to force registration of all men, women and children in the
United States.
11003:
Right to seize all air space, airports and aircraft.
11004:
Right to seize all housing and finance authorities in order to
establish "Relocation Designated Areas" and to force
abandonment of areas classified as "unsafe."
11005:
Right to seize all railroads, inland waterways, and storage
facilities, both public and private.
11921:
Authorizes plans to establish government control of wages and
salaries, credit and the flow of money in US financial
institutions
Life
after the Oil Crash
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Anyone
on the planet can be jailed for 2 years:
Monday,
June 28, 2004
The
Supreme Court delivered a partial victory to the Bush
administration in its war on terrorism Monday, ruling narrowly
that Congress gave President George W. Bush the power to hold an
American citizen without charges or trial, but that the detainee
can challenge his treatment in court. - Star
telegram
The
U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that prisoners seized as
potential terrorists and held for more than two years at a U.S.
military prison camp in Cuba may challenge their captivity in
American courts, a defeat for President Bush in one of the first
major high court cases arising from the Sept. 11 attacks.-
seattle
post
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Except
US troops who break the Geneva convention!
The
ICC, which began operating in The Hague last year, can try
individuals for war crimes committed after 1 July 2002 anywhere
in the world. The US has signed immunity deals with 90 countries,
but last month dropped a request for the UN to extend a two-year
exemption for US personnel, because of lack of support. The
legislation is part of a $19.4bn foreign aid bill for 2005 that
must be adopted by the Senate and signed by President George W
Bush before it becomes law.BBC
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Why
does this fascist Junta still have the power to arrest ANYONE on
suspicion alone,
while it's own troops can 'just follow
orders' & commit atrocity after atrocity?
Police
state MIAMI
''We
ran into a line of brown shirts,'' he said, referring to the
uniforms worn by the Miami-Dade Police Department. ``They were
very rude. They would not let us pass, and they sent us down the
railroad tracks.
''That's
when we saw the black shirts coming at us,'' he said. Miami
police wore black uniforms.
''They
were pointing their guns at us,'' he continued. ``I guess they
had those rubber pellets in them, but I didn't know, I was just
incredibly frightened. Some of the people with us got down on
their knees, and as I got down on my knees, I was briskly pushed
to the ground. It felt like I had a foot to my back knocking me
down. Everyone in our group was knocked to the ground and
handcuffed. I had my hands cuffed behind my back for 7 ½
hours.''
Killmon
said he was charged with disorderly conduct.
''I
still don't know what it was I did,'' he said Saturday.
After
spending the night in jail, he said a judge dismissed the charges
against him.
''Miami
was a police state,'' he said.
He
respected the badge, but `not in Miami'
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Police
state South Carolina
Armed Police
Invade High School, No Drugs Found
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UK
TERROR ALERT SET TO HIGH because BUSH the terrorist is
VISITING (not so) Great Britain!!!
FUCK
BUSH RIGHT OFF
ALERT-
America is a fundamental christian police state :
American
Woman...latest victims in the tyranny of Bush's extreme right
wing religious coalition... Bush
signs partial birth abortion ban
Congress
has banned access to abortion for virtually every woman who
depends on the federal government for her health care, including
Medicaid recipients, women in the military and military
dependents stationed overseas, women in federal prisons, Native
American women, federal employees, and even Peace Corps
volunteers. Anti-choice lawmakers have used the appropriations
process to restrict access to reproductive health care, here and
abroad, at virtually every turn. here
for more
also...sign
the petition to help make emergency contraception available
over the counter
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IT"S
OFFICIAL - AMERICA IS F**KED
The
return of National service
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"A BILL: To provide for the common defense by requiring that
all young persons in the United States, including women, perform
a period of military service or a period of civilian service in
furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and
for other purposes."
read
the bill
for congress
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remind
you of somewhere?
It almost turned into a violent confrontation, and security had to
step in to stop a veteran from punching out one of the "let
em die" crowd. The four of us that had been talking
peacefully were escorted from the store and told to stay off mall
property. One security guard was a Vietnam vet, and he was
definitely not in agreement with the pro war crowd. He quietly
gave us some words of support and encouragement, and then played
the role of a pro war man when his boss showed up. He explained
that he couldn't afford to lose his job, and that his company had
a policy against hiring anyone opposed to the war. He said that
one of his friends had been fired from the company after putting
an anti-war sticker on his car.
How
much worse can it get?
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Ridge
Warns of Election Threat in U.S.,
No Details
Homeland
Security Secretary Tom Ridge warned Americans on Thursday that al
Qaeda may try to carry out a large-scale attack to disrupt
upcoming elections but offered no details and had no plans to
raise the terror threat level.
Democrats
used the latest warning, which provided no specific new
intelligence about an attack on any particular site, to urge the
Republican-led Senate to act on legislation for homeland security
funding.
Ridge
said the warning was based on intelligence received from credible
sources gathered over the past months.
"Since
September 11th, 2001, we have had intelligence that al Qaeda
intends to launch more attacks against the homeland," he
told a news conference.
"Credible
reporting now indicates that al Qaeda is moving forward with its
plans to carry out a large-scale attack in the United States in
an effort to disrupt our democratic process."
But
he said authorities had no specific intelligence about whether al
Qaeda was targeting either the Democratic convention later this
month in Boston or the Republican convention in New York at the
end of August.
more: Rueters
see
also: Bin
Laden Aims to Attack U.S. This Year - NY Times
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BOO!!!
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THIS IS ALL SCRIPTED!
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New
Mexico High school
Bill
Nevins, a New Mexico high school teacher and personal friend, was
fired last year and classes in poetry and the poetry club at Rio
Rancho High School were permanently terminated. It had nothing to
do with obscenity, but it had everything to do with extremist
politics.
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The
"Slam Team" was a group of teenage poets who asked
Nevins to serve as faculty adviser to their club. The teens,
mostly shy youngsters, were taught to read their poetry aloud and
before audiences. Rio Rancho High School gave the Slam Team
access to the school's closed-circuit television once a week and
the poets thrived.
In
March 2003, a teenage girl named Courtney presented one of her
poems before an audience at Barnes & Noble bookstore in
Albuquerque, then read the poem live on the school's
closed-circuit television channel.
A
school military liaison and the high school principal accused the
girl of being "un-American" because she criticized the
war in Iraq and the Bush administration's failure to give
substance to its "No child left behind" education
policy.
The
girl's mother, also a teacher, was ordered by the principal to
destroy the child's poetry. The mother refused and may lose her
job.
Bill
Nevins was suspended for not censoring the poetry of his
students. Remember, there is no obscenity to be found in any of
the poetry. He was later fired by the principal.
After
firing Nevins and terminating the teaching and reading of poetry
in the school, the principal and the military liaison read a poem
of their own as they raised the flag outside the school. When the
principal had the flag at full staff, he applauded the action
he'd taken in concert with the military liaison.
Then
to all students and faculty who did not share his political
opinions, the principal shouted: "Shut your faces."
What a wonderful lesson he gave those 3,000 students at the
largest public high school in New Mexico. In his mind, only
certain opinions are to be allowed.
But
more was to come. Posters done by art students were ordered torn
down, even though none was termed obscene. Some were satirical,
implicating a national policy that had led us into war. Art
teachers who refused to rip down the posters on display in their
classrooms were not given contracts to return to the school in
this current school year.
The
message is plain. Critical thinking, questioning of public
policies and freedom of speech are not to be allowed to anyone
who does not share the thinking of the school principal.
Hard
lessons from poetry class: Speech is free unless it's critical Bill Hill
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Chicks' Critical Remarks About Bush Create Controversy
Friday, March 14, 2003 - NASHVILLE, Tennessee - The Dixie Chicks are drawing harsh words from country music fans for remarks singer Natalie Maines made about President George W. Bush during a recent performance in London.
Maines told the audience earlier this week, "Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas."
Angry phone calls flooded Nashville radio station WKDF-FM on Thursday, some calling for a boycott of the Texas trio's music.
The group released a statement Thursday saying they have been overseas for several weeks and "the anti-American sentiment that has unfolded here is astounding. While we support our troops, there is nothing more frightening than the notion of going to war with Iraq and the prospect of all the innocent lives that will be lost."
In a separate statement Thursday, Maines said, "I feel the president is ignoring the opinion of many in the U.S. and alienating the rest of the world. My comments were made in frustration, and one of the privileges of being an American is you are free to voice your own point of view."
The Dixie Chicks will kick off a U.S. tour in support of their multi-platinum album Home on May 1 in Greenville, South Carolina. The group's hits include "Wide Open Spaces," "Ready to Run" and "Landslide." - FOX News
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Six weeks earlier they had sung the national anthem at the Superbowl. Now, public CD-burning parties were being held all over the south and mid-west
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Dixie Chicks pulled from air after bashing Bush
Saturday, March 15, 2003 Posted: 0045 GMT ( 8:45 AM HKT) DALLAS, Texas (Reuters) -- There are a lot worse things in country music than your wife leaving you or your dog dying. There's stations not playing your music because you done gone and said some things against the president.
Music superstars the Dixie Chicks are finding out that criticizing President Bush's plans for war in Iraq can cost you air play, big time.
Country stations across the United States have pulled the Chicks from playlists following reports that lead singer Natalie Maines said in a concert in London earlier this week that she was "ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas." Station managers said their decisions were prompted by calls from irate listeners who thought criticism of the president was unpatriotic.
The group, which got its start in Texas, was one of the darlings of this year's Grammy Awards. The three-woman band that blends blue grass and pop hooks has spawned legions of fans who embrace the ideals of strong women celebrated in some of the trio's songs.
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One station in Kansas City, Missouri held a Dixie "chicken toss" party Friday morning, where Chick critics were encouraged to dump the group's tapes, CDs and concert tickets into trash cans. Houston country station KILT pulled the band's records from its playlist -- at least temporarily -- after 77 percent of people polled on its Web site said they supported the move.
"We've got them off the air for right now," said Jeff Garrison, program director at KILT, which is owned by Viacom's Infinity Broadcasting Corp. "People are shocked. They cannot believe Texas' own have attacked the state and the president," Garrison said.
Lead singer Maines said in a statement she felt the president was ignoring the opinions of many in the United States and alienating the rest of the world by pushing for war with Iraq. "We've been overseas for several weeks and have been reading and following the news accounts of our government's position. The anti-American sentiment that has unfolded here is astounding," Maines said.
One of the country stations in Dallas that helped champion the Chicks when they were scraping by in that city playing gigs on street corners for tips, "99.5 The Wolf," said they are listening to the listener's views but do not think it is right to immediately jump on the bandwagon and stop playing the Chicks, said program director Paul Williams. Williams said it is too early to tell how strong a backlash may develop against the Chicks. He said the comments touched a deep nerve in Texas because they came from one of the biggest country groups to come out of the state and were directed at a president who calls Texas home.
"The listener outlash is probably bigger here than anywhere else," William said.
The Chicks have the number one country album in the United States on the Billboard charts called "Home" and the No. 1 single with "Travelin' Soldier", which is about a U.S. soldier who fought in Vietnam. - cnn.com
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Sherman
Austin
On
Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2003, Sherman Martin Austin began serving one
year in federal prison under terms of a plea agreement for which
he was sentenced on Aug. 4, 2003. Austin, the 20-year-old
African-American founder and former webmaster of the anarchist
website www.raisethefist.com, pleaded guilty to "distribution"
of information about making or using explosives with the "intent"
that the information "be used for, or in furtherance of, an
activity that constitutes a Federal crime of violence." Such
was deemed illegal under a relatively obscure federal statute, 18
U.S.C. 842 (p)(2)(A), pushed through Congress by Democrat Sen.
Dianne Feinstein in the late 1990s. The offending material, which
Austin repeatedly has emphasized he did not author, was housed on
an isolated section of Austin's web server, and a small portion
of it contained amateurish instructions on how to assemble simple
explosives. Free
Sherman
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Steve
Kurtz
Steve
Kurtz is Associate Professor in the Department of Art at the
State University of New York's University at Buffalo, and a
member of the internationally-acclaimed Critical Art Ensemble.
Kurtz's
wife, Hope Kurtz, died in her sleep of cardiac arrest in the
early morning hours of May 11. Police arrived, became suspicious
of Kurtz's art supplies and called the FBI.
Within
hours, FBI agents had "detained" Kurtz as a suspected
bioterrorist and cordoned off the entire block around his house.
(Kurtz walked away the next day on the advice of a lawyer, his
"detention" having proved to be illegal.) Over the next
few days, dozens of agents in hazmat suits, from a number of law
enforcement agencies, sifted through Kurtz's work, analyzing it
on-site and impounding computers, manuscripts, books, equipment,
and even his wife's body for further analysis. Meanwhile, the
Buffalo Health Department condemned his house as a health risk.
Kurtz,
a member of the Critical Art Ensemble, makes art which addresses
the politics of biotechnology. "Free Range Grains,"
CAE's latest project, included a mobile DNA extraction laboratory
for testing food products for possible transgenic contamination.
It was this equipment which triggered the Kafkaesque chain of
events. FBI field and laboratory tests have shown that Kurtz's
equipment was not used for any illegal purpose. In fact, it is
not even possible to use this equipment for the production or
weaponization of dangerous germs. Furthermore, any person in the
US may legally obtain and possess such equipment.
"Today,
there is no legal way to stop huge corporations from putting
genetically altered material in our food," said Defense Fund
spokeswoman Carla Mendes. "Yet owning the equipment required
to test for the presence of 'Frankenfood' will get you accused of
'terrorism.' You can be illegally detained by shadowy government
agents, lose access to your home, work, and belongings, and find
that your recently deceased spouse's body has been taken away for
'analysis.'"
Though
Kurtz has finally been able to return to his home and recover his
wife's body, the FBI has still not returned any of his equipment,
computers or manuscripts, nor given any indication of when they
will. The case remains open.
Indymedia
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U.S.
confronts computer whiz
A
bespectacled computer whiz sits at the center of what civil
libertarians are calling a confrontation between the First
Amendment and the war on terror. Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, a Muslim
graduate student at the University of Idaho, has spent the past
six weeks on trial on charges he provided material support to
terrorist groups -- not with cash or arms, but with computer
expertise.
The
Saudi-born Ph.D. candidate set up and ran Web sites that
prosecutors say were used to recruit terrorists, raise money and
disseminate inflammatory rhetoric. His supporters say the
government is using vague anti-terrorism laws to prosecute
Al-Hussayen for his beliefs.
"To
the extent that someone provides guns or money to a group for
terrorism, that should be punished," said Kevin Bankston, an
attorney for the civil liberties group Electronic Frontier
Foundation. "But you can't outlaw advocacy for any group or
position, and that seems to be what they are attempting to do."
The case is seen as a major test of a provision of the Patriot
Act that targets "secondary" terrorists who provide
"expert advice or assistance." In January, in another
case, a federal judge in California ruled the provision violates
people's First and Fifth Amendment rights.
In
the Al-Hussayen case, federal prosecutors have portrayed him as a
major force in the Islamic Assembly of North America. They say he
served as its webmaster and posted diatribes against Jews and the
United States and scholarly Islamic decrees extolling the virtues
of suicide bombers.
"Al-Hussayen
provided the linkage to create the platform and then the content
to advocate extreme jihad," prosecutor Kim Lindquist
said."
By
BOB FICK Associated Press writer
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Gallery
Owner Attacked for Iraq Abuse Art
"...Two
days after the painting went up in a front window, someone threw
eggs and dumped trash on the doorstep. Haigh said she did not
think to connect it to the events at Baghdad's notorious prison
until people started leaving nasty messages and threats on her
business answering machine. "I think you need to get your
gallery out of this neighborhood before you get hurt," one
caller said.
She
removed the painting from the window, but the gallery's troubles
received news coverage and the criticism continued. The answering
machine recorded new calls from people accusing her of being a
coward for moving the artwork.
Last
weekend, Haigh said a man walked into the gallery, pretended to
scrutinize the painting for a moment, then marched up to her desk
and spat in her face.
On
Thursday, someone knocked on the door of the gallery, then
punched Haigh in the face when she stepped outside.
"This
isn't art-politics central here at all," Haigh said. "I'm
not here to make a stand. I never set out to be a crusader or a
political activist." In closing the gallery, Haigh was
forced to cancel an upcoming show featuring counterculture artist
Winston Smith.
For
Haigh, who opened Capobianco a year and a half ago, having the
chance to work with prominent artists fulfilled a lifelong dream.
"I
kept thinking someday I'll have enough of a reputation where I
could bring in my heroes of the art world, people like Guy
Colwell especially," she said.
Haigh
has received some expressions of support since closing the
gallery. Her favorite: an e-mail whose writer said, "I'm
sure that a few and dangerous minds don't understand that they
have only mimicked the same perversity this painting had
expressed."
New
York Post Associated press story
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Girl
arrested, handcuffed for taking scissors to school
PHILADELPHIA
(AP) " A 10-year-old girl was placed in handcuffs and taken to
a police station because she took a pair of scissors to her
elementary school.
School
district officials said the fourth-grade student did not threaten
anyone with the 8-inch shears, but violated a rule that considers
scissors to be potential weapons.
Administrators
said they were following state law when they called police
Thursday, and police said they were following department rules
when they handcuffed Porsche Brown and took her away in a patrol
wagon. USA
Today
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New
York Art Show Shuttered After Bush Monkey Portrait
A
portrait of President Bush using monkeys to form his image led to
the closure of a New York art exhibition over the weekend and
anguished protests on Monday over freedom of expression.
"Bush
Monkeys," a small acrylic on canvas by Chris Savido, created
the stir at the Chelsea Market public space, leading the market's
managers to close down the 60-piece show that was scheduled to
stay up for the next month.
The
show featured art from the upcoming issue of Animal Magazine, a
quarterly publication featuring emerging artists.
"We
had tons of people, like more than 2,000 people show up for the
opening on Thursday night," said show organizer Bucky Turco.
"Then this manager saw the piece and the guy just kind of
flipped out.
'The
show is over. Get this work down or I'm gonna arrest you,' he
said. It's been kind of wild." - news
from babylon
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2001 -
Violence
erupts in Cincinnati
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"How
desperate are these Satanists? The US arrested a man from
Portland, Oregon saying that he had ties to Al Queda and that his
fingerprint was found by fontish authorities on the bombing
material in what one FBI official later described as "an
absolutely incontrovertible match".
Using
the power granted them by the PATRIOT Act, FBI agents broke into
the house of Brandon Mayfield and conducted a search in his
absence, rifling through his kids' fontish homework, and leaving
the doors double-bolted - which immediately alerted the Mayfield
family that someone had been on the premises. Mayfield called 911
when it happened a second time, and he found a man's footprint on
the rug. They couldn't pick up the phone without hearing an odd
clicking.
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When
the FBI finally swooped down on the Mayfields' home in a quiet
suburb of Portland, Oregon, they burst in the door, trashed the
place, and trundled him off in handcuffs without a word. He was
jailed for weeks without charges. Ashcroft's goons told the media
he was being held as a "material witness" to the Madrid
bombings.
By
mid-April, the fontish authorities were saying there was no trace
of Mayfield's presence in their country, and also disagreed with
the FBI's contention that the prints found on a detonator bag
matched Mayfield's at all.
The
government finally let Mayfield go, but not until John Ashcroft's
Justice Department had done everything to keep him jailed,
defenseless, and smeared as a "terrorist" in the eyes
of the world."
Terror
in the US
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Mouthful
Gets Metro Passenger Handcuffs and Jail
Stephanie
Willett is a 45-year-old scientist for the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency from Bowie whose skirmishes with the law had
largely been limited to a couple of speeding tickets.
Until
she was caught chewing inside a Metro station.
About
6:30 p.m. July 16, Willett was eating a PayDay candy bar while
riding the escalator from 11th Street NW into the Metro Center
Station. Metro Transit Police Officer Cherrail Curry-Hagler was
riding up.
The
police officer warned Willett to finish the candy before entering
the station because eating or drinking in the Metro system is
illegal.
Willett
nodded, kept chewing the peanut-and-caramel bar and stuffed the
last bit into her mouth before throwing the wrapper into the
trash can near the station manager's kiosk, according to both
Willett and Curry-Hagler.
Curry-Hagler
turned around and followed Willett into the station. Moments
after making a remark to the officer, Willett said, she was
searched, handcuffed and arrested for chewing the last bite of
her candy bar after she passed through the fare gates. She was
released several hours later after paying a $10 fine, pending a
hearing. - Wash.
Post
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Linda
Ronstadt supressed
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Singer
Linda Ronstadt's tribute to leftist filmmaker Michael Moore at
the Aladdin in Las Vegas was booed by concertgoers in attendance,
hundreds of whom walked out.
According
to a report in the Las Vegas Sun, some of the angry fans
reportedly defaced posters of her in the lobby of the hotel,
writing comments and tossing drinks on her pictures.
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[snip]
Near
the end of the show, Ronstadt, 58, dedicated the Eagles hit
"Desperado" to Moore, whose Bush-bashing "Fahrenheit
9/11" is currently playing in theaters. According to the
paper, the room erupted into equal parts boos and cheers.
She
told the audience Moore "is someone who cares about this
country deeply and is trying to help."
[snip]
Timmins
told Sun gossip columnist Timothy McDarrah: "We live in a
city where people come from all over the world to be entertained.
We hired Ms. Ronstadt as an entertainer, not as a political
activist.
"Whether
you are politically on the left or on the right is not the point.
She went up in front of the stage and just let it out. This was
not the correct forum for that."
Continued
Timmins: "Our first and only priority is the enjoyment of
our customers. I made the decision to ask Miss Ronstadt to leave
the hotel. A situation like that can easily turn ugly and I
didn't want anything more to come out of it. There were a lot of
angry people there after she started talking.
"If
she wants to talk about her views to a newspaper or in a magazine
article, she is free to do so. But in a stage in front of four
and a half thousand people is not the place for it."
world
net news daily
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Elton
John Claims Anti-War Music Has Been Silenced
Elton
John tells Interview magazine that the U.S. government is using
"bullying tactics" to prevent anti-war music from being
heard, and that performers are so scared that they are just
letting it happen.
"There's
an atmosphere of fear in America right now and that is deadly,"
John explained, according to the New York Daily News, noting,
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"Everyone
is too career-conscious. They're all too scared... things have
changed."
The
British pianist pointed out that supporters of the war in
Iraq--such as country star Toby Keith--are given free reign,
while the Dixie Chicks faced a huge backlash after singer Natalie
Maines made an anti-Bush comment to a London audience last year.
"They
were treated like they were being un-American, when in fact they
have every right to say whatever they want about him because he's
freely elected, and therefore accountable," John said.
He
added that in the 1960s, artists took pride in using their
freedom of expression. "People like Bob Dylan, Nina Simone,
the Beatles and Pete Seeger were constantly writing and talking
about what was going on. That's not happening now."
John
just wrapped up his five-night stand at Radio City Music Hall in
New York City last night (Sunday, July 18).
The
57-year-old pianist and his band performed with a full symphony
orchestra and choir made up of students from both the Juilliard
School in New York City and the Royal Academy Of Music in
London.
LAUNCH
Radio Networks
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So...where
is the place for a political stand?!
&
why can't the AVERAGE AMERICAN tolerate other peoples views?
WTF!!!
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Cat
Stevens [Yusuf Islam] given 'the treatment'
Stephen
Georgiou, aka Cat Stevens and these days better-known as Yusuf
Islam, was denied entry into the US, yesterday, on "national
security grounds", says the Associated Press.
However,
there were no details about why he was "considered a risk to
the United States," says the story.
Stevens
became Islam in the late 1970's and is active in the
international peace movement.
"He
was interviewed and denied admission to the United States on
national security grounds," homeland security spokesman
Dennis Murphy is quoted as sayhing by AP, adding,
"HE
said the man would be put on the first available flight out of
the country today." - source
more
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Kangaroo Court Results
In 6-Times Tasered Rush Guitarist
'"This gives new meaning to dinner at The Ritz," Alex Zivojinovich said as he walked out of the jail in the same black suit he was wearing at the New Year's Eve bash at the posh hotel. His white shirt was covered in dried blood. He had black eyes and a swollen nose, which he said was broken in the altercation with deputies...Asked whether he felt the arrest was fair, Alex replied: "Absolutely not. That is a matter of opinion. They didn't like the way we were dancing, apparently."' - Naples Florida News, Jan 3rd, 2004. - more
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Flashback: Americans may be held as 'enemy combatants,' appeals court rules
Government welcomes ruling upholding presidential power
Wednesday, January 8, 2003 RICHMOND, Virginia (CNN) -- A federal appeals court Wednesday ruled President Bush has the authority to designate U.S. citizens as "enemy combatants" and detain them in military custody if they are deemed a threat to national security.
"Judicial review does not disappear during wartime but the review of battlefield captures in overseas conflicts is a highly deferential one," said the opinion of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The ruling reverses a lower court decision ordering the government to produce more information to defend its holding of Yaser Hamdi, a U.S. citizen accused of fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan, and dismisses the complaint of his attorneys.
The appeals court ruling was immediately hailed by the government.
"I applaud today's decision, which reaffirms the president's authority to capture and detain individuals such as Hamdi who join our enemies on the battlefield to fight against America and its allies," said Attorney General John Ashcroft. "Today's ruling is an important victory for the president's ability to protect the American people in times of war."
Hamdi, who was born in Louisiana but grew up in Saudi Arabia, is being held in a Navy brig in Norfolk, Virginia, after being captured in Afghanistan. He has not been allowed visits by the federal public defender who represents him, and the government has given no indication if or when it may file charges against him.
Through a series of court proceedings, Hamdi defense counsel Frank Dunham has argued his client's constitutional rights were being violated. Although a lower court agreed, the three-member appeals panel unanimously rejected the arguments.
"The events of September 11th have left their indelible mark," the court said in explaining its decision to defer to executive authority. "It is not wrong even in the dry annals of judicial opinion to mourn those who lost their lives that terrible day. Yet we speak in the end not from anger or sorrow but from the conviction that separation of powers takes on special significance when the nation itself comes under attack." "Hamdi's status as a citizen, as important as that is, cannot displace our constitutional order or the place of the courts within the Framer's scheme," the opinion said.
The federal appeals court in Richmond is widely viewed as among the most conservative in the nation, and has generally supported the government's lawyers during a series of disputes in the Hamdi case. The ruling Wednesday was issued by Circuit Court Judges J. Harvie Wilkinson III, and William Wilkins, both appointed by President Ronald Reagan, and Judge William Traxler Jr., who was appointed by President Bill Clinton.
In this third appeal by the government in the Hamdi case, the Circuit Court again overturned U.S. District Court Judge Robert Doumar, a Reagan appointee. In the latest appeal, the United States had asked the Circuit Court to overturn Doumar's order requiring the production of various materials regarding Hamdi's status as an alleged enemy combatant. The lower court questioned whether a declaration by a Defense Department official setting forth what the government contends were the circumstances of Hamdi's capture was sufficient by itself to justify his continued detention.
The appeals panel said it was.
"Because it is undisputed that Hamdi was captured in a zone of active combat in a foreign theater of conflict, we hold that the submitted declaration is a sufficient basis upon which to conclude that the commander-in-chief has constitutionally detained Hamdi pursuant to the war powers entrusted to him by the United States Constitution," the Appeals Court said. "No further factual inquiry is necessary or proper, and we remand the case with direction to dismiss the petition."
The court did not address the issue presented in a separate case involving another enemy combatant, that of accused "dirty bomb" suspect Jose Padilla. (More on Padilla case)
"We have no occasion, for example, to address the designation as an enemy combatant of an American citizen captured on American soil or the role that counsel might play in such a proceeding. See, e.g., Padilla v. Bush," the opinion read. "We shall, in fact, go no further in this case than the specific context before us -- that of the undisputed detention of a citizen during a combat operation undertaken in a foreign country and a determination by the executive that the citizen was allied with enemy forces."
Ashcroft has alleged that Padilla, 31, who was detained last May after arriving at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport from overseas, was part of a scheme by al Qaeda to explode a conventional bomb laced with radioactive material, possibly in Washington, D.C.
After Padilla had been detained for a month as a material witness in a federal facility in New York City, President Bush declared him an enemy combatant and he was transferred to a Navy brig in Charleston, South Carolina.
His attorneys have argued that he ought to be returned to New York and that the government should be forced to comply with standard criminal court procedures, including letting him speak to his attorneys. - .cnn.com
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