The WAWG Blog

McCain Supporter Turns Away Children of Obama Supporters During Trick-or-Treat – Shirley Nagel of Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan gave out treats Friday evening, but only to those who share her support of John McCain and running mate Sarah Palin. A sign posted outside Nagel’s house, about 12 miles west of Detroit, served notice to all trick-or-treaters. It read: “No handouts for Obama supporters, liars, tricksters or kids of supporters.” Nagel said that “Obama’s scary.” When asked about children who’d been turned away empty-handed and crying, she said: “Oh well. Everybody has a choice.”

When they’re like that, one is all you need (or can stand).

Regards,

Jim

Senator Obama made the following during his acceptance speech on August 28, 2008:

For over two decades, he’s [John McCain] subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy – give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is – you’re on your own. Out of work? Tough luck. No health care? The market will fix it. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps – even if you don’t have boots. You’re on your own.

Here are some more ‘you’re-on-your-own’ examples:

• If you believe as the social conservative Republicans believe, John & Sarah will support you. If not, you’re on your own.
• If your a business man of any level of wealth, J&S will support cutting your taxes so you don’t have to support the infrastructure that helps their business succeed. If you’re unemployed, you’re on your own because you must have screwed up.
• If you are unborn, they support your life over all others. If you were raped, by anyone, and you think the rapist shouldn’t be a father or your own life is at risk and you have other children that need you, you’re on your own.
• If your company makes excessive profits and pays excessive executive salaries, you and the company should be given more tax breaks. If you have to pay an excessive amount of your income on high priced gasoline, you’re on your own.
• If you’re from a nation with resources that make our economy run and are suffering from a cruel dictator who might implement the next holocaust, J&S will send your children to dump the dictator, save you from evil and prevent some future imaginary 9/11. If you’re from a nation with nothing and those you love are being killed by fellow citizens, you’re on your own.
• If you can provide information about enemies of interest to them, J&S will protect you from prosecution for violation of our laws. If your name ends up on the terrorist watch list, you’re on your own.
• If a company sells patented drugs and it pays high fees to other companies for expensive television advertising, J&S will prevent access to generic drugs. If you need patented drugs and you don’t have health insurance, you’re on your own.
• If you use torture on our enemies because the enemy does, J&S approve and will protect you from prosecution. If you’re tortured, you’re not only on your own, you’re presumed guilty, so torture is OK.
• If you own a company and want to cut costs, J&S are OK with anything you do. If your place of work has has been shut down and your job has left the country, you’re on your own. If your employer doesn’t provide or no longer offers a retirement plan, you’re on your own. If your employer doesn’t provide or no longer offers paid sick leave, you’re on your own.
• If you have done a lousy job managing your large investment company, J&S will rescue you and your excessive unwarranted salary and benefits. If you were coned into a home loan from this same company, you’re on your own.
• If you do ‘right,’ as they define it, J&S will make sure you are free from persecution. If they redefine what is wrong or accuse you of a wrong, you’re on your own.
• If you’re a self starter or just born into a rich family that helps them get elected, J&S will help you any way they can. If you need some coaching and and might vote against them, you’re on your own.
• If you’re a born-again Christian with unquestioning respect for authority figures, welcome to the J&S fan club. If not, watch your step – you’re on your own.
• If you accepted another reassignment to a battle zone, they have a ribbon on the back of their truck to remember you by. If you’re suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome, you’re on your own.
• If you’re are arrested as an enemy combatant based on hearsay, you’re on your own.

It all comes down to this: If you don’t believe in, believe as and do as they do, you’re on your own.

The following was provided by:
Mary Vogas
Volunteer for the Ewing Campaign
281-482-5423 or 281-250-8204

Texas Secretary of State Hope Andrade has been asked to declare long-time State Board of Education member David Bradley ineligible to serve on the Board should he win reelection to the body November 4.

A formal letter (attached, with supporting documents) has been sent to Sec. Andrade by Houston attorney Chad Dunn. In it, he details the fact that Bradley has not lived in the district he represents – as required by state law – since at least 2000. (SBOE District 7 includes Galveston, Jefferson and Chambers Counties, a portion of Brazoria County, and a large portion of East and South Harris County.)

Bradley has alienated even his fellow Republicans with his extremist views. His Democratic challenger is Laura Ewing, a Friendswood educator who is running an aggressive campaign against the long-time incumbent who was first elected in 1996.

Ewing — who has been endorsed by the Houston Chronicle, Beaumont Enterprise and many others groups — is currently airing a hard-hitting television ad that calls for Bradley to be “expelled” from the School Board. The ad can be viewed at www.ewingfortexas.com.

Bradley’s ineligibility stems from the fact he actually lives in Buna in Jasper County, where he claims a homestead exemption. His voter’s registration lists a Beaumont office as his residence, along with his wife and two adult children.

“David Bradley has either lied to officials in Jasper County or Jefferson County, but the indisputable fact is that he has knowingly filed a false government document with at least one official agency,” Ewing said.

This is not Bradley’s first brush with the law, as Ewing noted in her TV ad. He was indicted by a Travis County Grand Jury for violating the state’s Open Meetings Law, and more recently was investigated by a Jefferson County Grand Jury. He was forced to close at least one business for failure to pay taxes.

“It would be bad enough if Bradley were just lying about his legal residence, but his service on the Board has been deplorable,” Ewing said. “He has bullied fellow Board members and even bragged about “slapping teachers” who oppose his extremist politics.”

Ewing also noted that Bradley recently received a $5,000 contribution – almost a quarter of his campaign funds – from a New York City financial adviser. Coincidentally, Bradley has led the effort for an early review of a lucrative financial services contract now being provided to the SBOE by another firm.

“David Bradley has never been about doing the right thing for our children. He has such disdain for public schools that his own children were home-schooled,” Ewing said. “It’s time we elect someone less interested in taking care of his cronies and imposing his political will on our teachers.”

Ewing, of Friendswood, is a career educator with a master’s degree in educational leadership. She is the parent of of a public school educated student.

For further information, contact:
Laura Ewing, (281) 992-9674

Labels divide us and some of our fellow Americans are unknowingly using them to help bin Laden implement his plan to destroy us.

At the start of this conflict, bin Laden committed a horrendous crimial act and murdered almost 3,000 citizens of the world. He wanted to defeat us by collapsing our financial infrastructure centered around the World Trade Center.   But we came together and stopped him.  

But that didn’t last long.    A neocon agenda, that had been waiting in the background for years, was ready and available to change the world.

Our president took that agenda for his own and proceeded to lie us into a war for oil. He used various pretenses like protecting us from WMDs and later rescuing the citizens of Iraq from a cruel dictator.   He played enough of us and our Congress into a first ever preemptive battle with Iraq and a follow-on occupation that is costing tens of billions a month.   Add to these occupation costs the costs of bailing out our financial systems, Bush’s tax cuts for the rich and families loosing their homes, and what is the result? Our nation and economy are going bankrupt.

“So we are continuing this policy of bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy.” This statement was made in a video on October 30, 2004. The speaker was Osama bin Laden.

But that was then and, unfortunately, has mostly been forgotten. However, four years later, his wishes are unfolding before his eyes and he has done nothing.

And now, as we near the end of the 2008 election cycle, what else is happening and how does it fit into bin Laden’s plans?

We have hate speech and negative labels aimed at Senator Obama and his supporters by some McCain/Palin supporters.

How does bin Laden view these attacks of one group of Americans against another? Isn’t dividing your enemies forces another war tactic? Can you imagine how ecstatic bin Laden must be as he watches us fight amongst ourselves? This is all happening while the world watches and bin Laden does nothing – not even a video to tweek our collective noses. Absolutely nothing. A small group of our fellow Americans and their national candidates are doing the dividing for him.

Hate and labels divide.

We must unite or witness destruction from within while bin Laden smirks from afar.

Freddie Mac Secretly Paid Republican Consulting Firm $2 Million to Kill Regulations – Freddie Mac secretly paid a Republican consulting firm $2 million to kill legislation that would have regulated and trimmed the mortgage finance giant and its sister company, Fannie Mae, three years before the government took control to prevent their collapse. In the cross hairs of the campaign carried out by DCI of Washington were Republican senators and a regulatory overhaul bill sponsored by Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. DCI’s chief executive is Doug Goodyear, whom John McCain’s campaign later hired to manage the GOP convention in September. Freddie Mac’s payments to DCI began shortly after the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee sent Hagel’s bill to the then GOP-run Senate on July 28, 2005. All GOP members of the committee supported it; all Democrats opposed it.

Representative Michele Bachmann Accuses Obama and Democrats of Being Anti-America – Republican Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota accused Obama and Democrats of being anti-America on Friday on MSNBC’s Hardball. She also said, “Let’s examine all congressmen to see who is pro-America or not pro-America.” (Is she suggesting we return to the McCarthy Un-American Activities witch-hunt hearing days? – JLV) The good news is that Bachmann’s Democratic foe in Minnesota raised nearly $500,000 (Update: Over $700,000 per TV report tonight) because of her remarks on Hardball Friday.

McCain Campaign Hits Up Russian Envoy for Cash – Russia’s permanent mission to the UN has received a letter from U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain asking for $5,000 in financial support of his election campaign, the mission said in a statement on Monday. “We have received a letter from Senator John McCain with a request for a financial donation to his presidential election campaign. In this respect we have to reiterate that neither Russia’s permanent mission to the UN nor the Russian government or its officials finance political activities in foreign countries,” the statement said. According to Ruslan Bakhtin, press secretary of the Russian mission, the letter was dated September 29 and was signed by McCain.

Obama’s False Medicare Claim – In a TV ad and in speeches, Obama is making bogus claims that McCain plans to cut $880 billion from Medicare spending and to reduce benefits. A TV spot says McCain’s plan requires “cuts in benefits, eligibility or both.” Obama said in a speech that McCain plans “cuts” that would force seniors to “pay more for your drugs, receive fewer services, and get lower quality care.” These claims are false, and based on a single newspaper report that says no such thing. McCain’s policy director states unequivocally that no benefit cuts are envisioned. McCain does propose substantial “savings” through such means as cutting fraud, increased use of information technology in medicine and better handling of expensive chronic diseases.

McCain Supporters Heckle Early Voters, Call Them ‘Cheaters’ – At the polling site was a group of loud and angry protesters who shouted and mocked the voters as they walked in. People were shouting about Obama’s acknowledged cocaine use as a young man, abortion and one man used the word “terrorist.” They also were complaining that Sundays are for church, not voting. Most voters in line ignored the hecklers but a few heckled back. One voter said she was deeply saddened to see people protesting the most fundamental right of democracy.

Obama Supporters’ Tires Slashed In North Carolina – Someone slashed the tires of at least 30 vehicles parked outside the Crown Coliseum on Sunday during a rally for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, authorities said. Sheriff’s deputies are investigating. The tires were cut while people were inside the Crown Coliseum listening to speeches, said Maj. E. Wright of the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office. The slashed tires left several women, including a single mother and a toddler, stranded and upset.

Palin Condemns Robocalls Yesterday, Then Makes Robocalls Today – Sarah Palin may have condemned robocalls yesterday as intrusive and a drain on people’s attention spans, but that didn’t stop her from recording her own robocall on behalf of the McCain campaign. McCain’s Robocalls Have Parents Worried About Their Kids; Palin Criticizes Tactic

How Palin Was Chosen as the Republican VP Candidate – In February, 2007, Adam Brickley gave himself a mission: he began searching for a running mate for McCain who could halt the momentum of the Democrats. Brickley began by “randomly searching Wikipedia and election sites for Republican women.” Though he generally opposes affirmative action, gender drove his choice. “People were talking about Hillary at the time,” he recalled. … Brickley registered a Web site—palinforvp.blogspot.com—which began getting attention in the conservative blogosphere. … Brickley said that “the hand of God” played a role in choosing Palin: “The longer I worked on it the less I felt I was driving it. Something else was at work.” (George W. Bush thought he was told by God to run for President, and look how well that worked out. – JLV) Next, Palin was promoted by ultra-conservative Bill Kristol. (Kristol has been wrong on nearly every thing he has said for years, so that explains a lot. – JLV)

Voter Registration Fraud Investigation Leads to Arrest – Mark Anthony Jacoby, who owns the firm known as Young Political Majors (YPM), was arrested after allegedly registering himself to vote, once in 2006 and again in 2007, at an address where did not live. An investigation by the Secretary of State’s Election Fraud Investigation Unit revealed that Jacoby twice registered to vote at the address of a childhood home in Los Angeles although he no longer lived there. This arrest comes on the heels of recent media coverage of YPM’s fraudulent tactics sometimes known as “slamming” – where voters are duped into changing their party registrations, or where their registration is simply changed by YPM without the voter’s knowledge: The Times randomly interviewed 46 of the hundreds of voters whose election records show they were recently re-registered as Republicans by YPM, and 37 of them — more than 80% — said that they were misled into making the change or that it was done without their knowledge.

Hate You Can Believe In: ACORN Deluged with Threatening and Racist Voicemails and Emails – After McCain outrageously claimed before a national audience on Wednesday night that ACORN was “maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy,” the group came under attack, literally. In the following days, ACORN’s Boston and Seattle offices were vandalized and at least one employee received a death threat. And for nearly two weeks, ACORN offices across the nation have been subjected to an onslaught of racist and threatening voicemails and emails. You can get samples of the ugliness (if you must) at the link.

Thousands of Voters ‘Incorrectly’ Purged From Voter Rolls Across Nation – Officials in Wisconsin admit that their database is wrong one out of five times when it flags voters, sometimes for data discrepancies as small as a middle initial or a typo in a birth date. When the six members of the state elections board — all retired judges — ran their registrations through the system, four were incorrectly rejected because of mismatches.

Regards,

Jim
Will you listen to your hopes or your fears?

The most important race in Texas for our students’ education is in State Board of Education District 7 between David Bradley and Laura Ewing. David Bradley is the incumbent. Mr. Bradley is in insurance for a business while Ewing is a career educator in the public schools. Mr. Bradley is trying to further his ideological agenda while Laura Ewing wants to improve schools in Texas.

As reported in The Examiner Online, Bradley ignored three years of work by teachers and experts on a new language arts curriculum. He proposed instead that the board adopt a different curriculum patched together overnight by social conservatives and slipped under hotel room doors the morning of the vote. Teachers and curriculum experts said the substitute was far too rigid, outdated and poorly organized, but the Bradley faction had the numbers and the motion passed. Bradley later bragged in the press that he had “spanked” the teachers.

“It was demeaning, degrading and demoralizing,” said Alana Morris, past president of the Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts. “Bradley was just like a playground bully with anyone who disagreed with him. He was condescending and even turned his back on teachers who were speaking.”

Now information has surfaced about Mr. Bradley becoming physical with Cynthia A. Thornton, former District 10 representative on the SBOE. She described her encounters with Bradley for The Examiner. “As I went to the restroom and walked around his chair, he actually grabbed me and told me to keep my G.D. mouth shut,” she exclaimed. After a second unpleasant encounter, a uniformed officer of the Capitol Police was always present when the board was in session.

Recently, Bradley addressed the Jefferson County Republican Women’s luncheon with the charge that Ewing wants to put a Muslim curriculum in our public schools. His “proof?” Ewing participated in a study group that traveled to north and east Africa and India to study Islamic history and culture. The trip was sanctioned by Gov. Rick Perry because it is a “state of Texas requirement that sixth-grade world cultures classes as well as high school level world geography and world history classes teach about the impact of Christian, Jewish and Islamic religions and culture on contemporary society.” Bradley tried to further prove his allegation by waving a photo of a group that includes Ewing posing in front of the Taj Mahal, a far cry from the implied suggestion that Ewing wants to turn your neighborhood elementary school into a madrassa.

This is the last straw! We have got to stop this man from dictating his personal agenda to students across Texas. Vote Ewing for SBOE!

Laura Ewing Campaign
Netroots Outreach
Respond  to Mary Vogas

I’m only $130.00 away from my Grassroots Finance Committee commitment to Senator Obama’s presidential campaign. Since, I’m matching contributions dollar-for-dollar, I only need contributions totaling $65.00. Please watch the videos below and consider making a small contribution toward that $65.00.

Big Hit Buda made this short film and provides concrete reasons why people should vote for Obama. (This video: “ELECT OBAMA (remix)” was filmed at the V.P. announcement rally in Springfield, IL and at several locations throughout Chicago. )

Here are some quotes from the next video:

Something is stirring. It’s about you. Enough of the politics of the past. A new politics for a new time. We cannot walk alone. … march into the future.

Help bring empathy back to our national government.   You may not see much difference between McCain and Obama, but there is.   Here is a quote for Obama’s nomination acceptance speech that demonstrates the difference:

For over two decades, he’s [John McCain] subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy – give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is – you’re on your own. Out of work? Tough luck. No health care? The market will fix it. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps – even if you don’t have boots. You’re on your own.

Contribute to support empathy by October 24, 2008.   I will match your contribution, dollar for dollar.  

My thanks to those who have have gotten me so close to my goal and for those that will help me reach or even exceed my goal.

The McCain Campaign’s Bad Behavour Causes Esquire to Endorse a Presidential Candidate for the First Time in 75 Years – The following is an excerpt from a statement from Esquire Magazine:

… we did not recommend against John McCain lightly. Over the past two years, we’ve published four substantive pieces about Senator McCain, including one cover profile. He’s a man we have long respected and liked, but the man running for president is a very different man from the John McCain we wrote about two years ago, or 8 months ago, or just a few weeks ago.

The following are two reader comments posted to the above statement. First the humorous one:

yes, I’m waiting for Joe Biden to stand up and say, “Senator, I knew John McCain, I know John McCain, and Senator McCain, you’re no John McCain!!”

Second, the serious one:

This could have come from my own lips. As a retired AF Senior Master Sergeant, I am deeply disappointed in John McCain. He has let his campaign become not only dishonorable, but dangerously divisive. All those in the military (especially my fellow NCOs) must look at this man and decide whether his behavior, and the behavior of those he has surrounded himself with, is even close to the values you believe in and fight for. Is this what is taught in professional military education? Unless the world has gone totally upside-down since 1993, it is most definitely not! Please look at this man — he is not a gentleman; he may have been an officer, but he is no gentleman. And he is creating a very dangerous situation in an effort to “win” — not in an effort to serve. Were it in an effort to serve, he would be demonstrating “a service heart” in his campaign by sharing his heretofore secret methods for catching Bin Ladin, healing the economy, and solving the health care crisis.”

An excerpt from the Esquire endorsement article

Obscured by Obama’s dithering is the fact that his Republican counterpart is one of the first presidential candidates in history to run as a parody of himself. John McCain has decided on a cheap and dishonorable campaign. He has embraced the tactics with which he was slandered in 2000, and he has hired the people responsible for them. In so doing, he has become something of a mockery of everything he once purported to be. He has stated that he wouldn’t now vote for his own immigration bill. He has operated in violation of the very campaign-finance law that bears his name. And even though his own body bears the scars of torture, he has silenced himself on the issue of the torture sanctioned and designed by the government he seeks to lead, so as not to alienate “the base.” The most underutilized trope of the campaign is the notion that John McCain is running against John McCain.

Regards,

Jim
Will you listen to your hopes or your fears?

McCain Lies About Warning About the Economic Disaster – During last night’s Presidential Debate Senator John McCain made the claim that he “warned” about the impending economic crisis. But in in November 2007, McCain admitted that he was clueless about the economic mess, saying, “I don’t know of hardly anybody, with the exception of a handful, that said “wait a minute, this thing is getting completely out of hand and is overheating.” So, I’d like to tell you that I did anticipate it, but I have to give you straight talk, I did not.”

McCain Misleads on Obama voting 94 times for higher taxes – Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain said at the Oct. 7 presidential debate in Nashville, Tennessee, that Democratic opponent Sen. Barack Obama “has voted 94 times to either increase your taxes or against tax cuts. That’s his record.” VERDICT: Misleading. McCain’s summary ignores the fact that some of the votes were for measures to lower taxes for many Americans, while increasing them for a much smaller number of taxpayers. A nonpartisan examination also finds that the 94 total includes multiple votes on the same measures and budget votes that would not directly lead to higher taxes.

McCain Lies About Obama Never Taking on His Party – Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain said at the Oct. 7 presidential debate in Nashville, Tennessee, that Democratic opponent Sen. Barack Obama has “never taken on his leaders of his party on a single issue.” VERDICT: False. While McCain is correct that Obama has supported the Democratic leadership almost all of the time, to say he’s never differed with them is not true.

McCain Misleads (Big Time) on Obama Getting Money From Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – At the presidential debate Tuesday, October 7 in Nashville, Tennessee, Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain said Democratic opponent Sen. Barack Obama and other Democrats resisted regulating mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which ultimately collapsed and had to be taken over by the government. “Meanwhile, they were getting all kinds of money in campaign contributions. Sen. Obama was the second-highest recipient of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac money in history — in history,” he said. VERDICT: Misleading. No donations actually came from the companies. One method of measuring employee contributions does put Obama second overall, but another, for the current election cycle, shows McCain receiving $169,000 from “directors, officers, and lobbyists for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac”, while Obama received only $16,000 from employees.

Just Before Her Husband Tells a String of Lies About Barack Obama, Cindy McCain Says Obama Has Waged the Dirtiest Campaign in U.S. History – On the day of the Presidential Debate, Cindy McCain said Sen. Barack Obama has “waged the dirtiest campaign in American history,” and her husband Sen. John McCain will use the debate to correct the distortions.

Veteran Report Card 2008: Who in Washington Does and Does Not Support Our Troops and Vets? – You can see both the “A Lists” and the “D Lists” at the link above, but since this is the Bad Deeds, here are the “D Lists”:

House “D List”
John Campbell CA
Chris Cannon UT
John Duncan TN
Thomas Tancredo CO
Ron Paul TX

Senate “D List”
Tom Coburn OK
Michael Enzi WY
John McCain AZ
Jim DeMint SC

McCain Calls Americans His “Fellow Prisoners” – (Okay, this next one isn’t a bad deed, but it’s almost funny, until you ask what kind of flashback dreams McCain has.) After referring to the various proposals that comprise his domestic policy agenda, John McCain offered an absolute head-scratcher of a line during a campaign speech on Wednesday. “Across this country this is the agenda I have set before my fellow prisoners,” he declared. In the prepared remarks he was supposed to say “fellow citizens.”

The White House Sold the Bailout Bill to Members of Congress by Threatening to Impose Martial Law – Check out the video of Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) speaking on the House floor last Thursday about how the White House sold the bailout bill to members by threatening to impose martial law.

Why Coal is Not Clean – About 470 mountain tops in Appalachia have been destroyed. Mountaintop removal mining is faster and cheaper than underground mining but its impact on the environment is much worse. Mountaintop mining is legal and became more prevalent six years ago when federal laws were relaxed. During the mining process, miners blast the mountain and shear off the top ridges to extract layers of coal. From the air the affected mountains appear flat, gray and dusty with rubble sliding down into the valleys and streams.

Regards,

Jim
Will you listen to your hopes or your fears?

I couldn’t find any mainstream media service which covered this and with all the furor over the world’s economic breakdown, I almost missed it. (Refer to the end of the post for some of the limited media coverage and background information.)

Here are some quotes from these references:

Never before had a U.S. unified command focused specifically on homeland defense. It had been a mission shared by several commands, none of which had ultimate authority or responsibility. – DoD

But this new mission marks the first time an active unit [3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team, who spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle] 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. – Army Times.

They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control …. – Army Times (Remember the arrest of Amy Goodman and other Democracy now personnel at the Republican National Convention?)

USNORTHCOM’s AOR includes air, land and sea approaches and encompasses the continental United States, Alaska, Canada, Mexico and the surrounding water out to approximately 500 nautical miles. It also includes the Gulf of Mexico and the Straits of Florida. The defense of Hawaii and our territories and possessions in the Pacific is the responsibility of U.S. Pacific Command. The defense of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands is the responsibility of U.S. Southern Command. The commander of USNORTHCOM is responsible for theater security cooperation with Canada and Mexico. – US Northern Command

USNORTHCOM’s civil support mission includes domestic disaster relief operations that occur during fires, hurricanes, floods and earthquakes. Support also includes counter-drug operations and managing the consequences of a terrorist event employing a weapon of mass destruction. The command provides assistance to a Lead Agency when tasked by DoD. Per the Posse Comitatus Act, military forces can provide civil support, but cannot become directly involved in law enforcement. – US Northern Command

This last statement is not as comforting as it may sound. Over the last two years, there have been changes made to the laws concerning use of our military against us.

On October 18, 2006, Major Dandy of Daily Kos detailed how GWB gutted Posses Comitatus and Insurrection Act. “The provision ‘mak[es] it easier for the President to declare martial law, stripping state governors of part of their authority over state National Guard units in domestic emergencies.’ … So now the President can send troops from Tennessee to quash what he deems a threat to civil order in Oregon, even if the governors of Tennessee and Oregon both object.”

This alarming change was also summarized last September by Paul J. Watson at InforWars.com

Section 1385 of the Posse Comitatus Act states, “Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.”

Under HR 5122 – John Warner Defense Authorization Act, signed by President Bush on October 17, 2006, the law was changed to state, “The President may employ the armed forces to restore public order in any State of the United States the [unitary] President determines hinders the execution of laws or deprives people of a right, privilege, immunity, or protection named in the Constitution and secured by law or opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws.”

This doesn’t sound like something we the people need. This puts too much power in the unitary executive. Then we the people changed the situation – a little. We voted for new leadership in our Legislature with the 2006 election and turned it over to the Democrats.

Guess what they did? They passed a new law to put the original language back into the Insurrection Act. This law, HR 4986: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, undid section 1706 of the John Warner Defense Authorization Act, which, according to Wikipedia, “allowed the President to declare a public emergency and station the military anywhere in America and take control of state-based National Guard units without the consent of the governor or local authorities.”

So, that fixes that, right? A good law wipes out a bad law – not really.

Don’t forget about GWB’s infamous, excessive and pro-unitary-executive signing statements. Here is what he added to his approval of HR 4986 and its attempt to reduce his unitary powers:

Today, I have signed into law H.R. 4986, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008. …

Provisions of the Act, including sections 841, 846, 1079, and 1222, purport to impose requirements that could inhibit the President’s ability to carry out his constitutional obligations to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, to protect national security, to supervise the executive branch, and to execute his authority as Commander in Chief. The executive branch shall construe such provisions in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President.

In other words, Congress may have put the Insurrection Act back the way it was, but GWB chose to ignore their work to put checks and balances back into our laws.

Can you say police state? Do you think there could be something worse than the current financial crisis that is distracting us from other issues like this one? I do.

Will we be surprised if there is another crisis that would give GWB an opportunity to do what he wants – declare marshall law, suspend the election and deploy the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team to keep us under control?

Redeploying the 3rd Infantry’s 1st Brigade Combat Team changes their mission in two ways: The reduced lethality of their weapons and the citizens they can use these weapons against – us.