Lookingunderalltherocks's Weblog

Try this on for size all ye Republican rabble

lookingunderalltherocks — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:49:32 +0000

In my email I found this today. The only

American capable of fomenting rebellion is the

President. Well it would seem to me as if he has

declared open war on far more than just our

civil liberties.

Thousands of Troops Are Deployed

on U.S.Streets Ready to Carry Out “Crowd

Control”Members of Congress were told they could face martial law if they didn’t pass the bailout bill. This will not be the last time.

By Naomi Wolf

08/10/08 “

AlterNet” — Background: the First Brigade of the Third Infantry Division, three to four thousand soldiers, has been deployed in the United States as of October 1. Their stated mission is the form of crowd control they practiced in Iraq, subduing “unruly individuals,” and the management of a national emergency. I am in Seattle and heard from the brother of one of the soldiers that they are engaged in exercises now. Amy Goodman reported that an Army spokesperson confirmed that they will have access to lethal and non lethal crowd control technologies and tanks.

George Bush struck down Posse Comitatus, thus making it legal for military to patrol the U.S. He has also legally established that in the “War on Terror,” the U.S. is at war around the globe and thus the whole world is a battlefield. Thus the U.S. is also a battlefield.

He also led change to the 1807 Insurrection Act to give him far broader powers in the event of a loosely defined “insurrection” or many other “conditions” he has the power to identify. The Constitution allows the suspension of habeas corpus — habeas corpus prevents us from being seized by the state and held without trial — in the event of an “insurrection.” With his own army force now, his power to call a group of protesters or angry voters “insurgents” staging an “insurrection” is strengthened.

U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman of California said to Congress, captured on C-Span and viewable on YouTube, that individual members of the House were threatened with martial law within a week if they did not pass the bailout bill:

“The only way they can pass this bill is by creating and sustaining a panic atmosphere. … Many of us were told in private conversations that if we voted against this bill on Monday that the sky would fall, the market would drop two or three thousand points the first day and a couple of thousand on the second day, and a few members were even told that there would be martial law in America if we voted no.”

If this is true and Rep. Sherman is not delusional, I ask you to consider that if they are willing to threaten martial law now, it is foolish to assume they will never use that threat again. It is also foolish to trust in an orderly election process to resolve this threat. And why deploy the First Brigade? One thing the deployment accomplishes is to put teeth into such a threat.

I interviewed Vietnam veteran, retired U.S. Air Force Colonel and patriot David Antoon for clarification:

“If the President directed the First Brigade to arrest Congress, what could stop him?”

“Nothing. Their only recourse is to cut off funding. The Congress would be at the mercy of military leaders to go to them and ask them not to obey illegal orders.”

“But these orders are now legal?’”

“Correct.”

“If the President directs the First Brigade to arrest a bunch of voters, what would stop him?”

“Nothing. It would end up in courts but the action would have been taken.”

“If the President directs the First Brigade to kill civilians, what would stop him?”

“Nothing.”

“What would prevent him from sending the First Brigade to arrest the editor of the Washington Post?“

“Nothing. He could do what he did in Iraq — send a tank down a street in Washington and fire a shell into the Washington Post as they did into Al Jazeera, and claim they were firing at something else.”

“What happens to members of the First Brigade who refuse to take up arms against U.S. citizens?”

“They’d probably be treated as deserters as in Iraq: arrested, detained and facing five years in prison. In Iraq a study by Ann Wright shows that deserters — reservists who refused to go back to Iraq — got longer sentences than war criminals.”

“Does Congress have any military of their own?”

“No. Congress has no direct control of any military units. The Governors have the National Guard but they report to the President in an emergency that he declares.”

“Who can arrest the President?”

“The Attorney General can arrest the President after he leaves or after impeachment.”

[Note: Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi has asserted it is possible for District Attorneys around the country to charge President Bush with murder if they represent districts where one or more military members who have been killed in Iraq formerly resided.]

“Given the danger do you advocate impeachment?”

“Yes. President Bush struck down Posse Comitatus — which has prevented, with a penalty of two years in prison, U.S. leaders since after the Civil War from sending military forces into our streets — with a ’signing statement.’ He should be impeached immediately in a bipartisan process to prevent the use of military forces and mercenary forces against U.S. citizens”

“Should Americans call on senior leaders in the Military to break publicly with this action and call on their own men and women to disobey these orders?”

“Every senior military officer’s loyalty should ultimately be to the Constitution. Every officer should publicly break with any illegal order, even from the President.”

“But if these are now legal. If they say, ‘Don’t obey the Commander in Chief,’ what happens to the military?”

“Perhaps they would be arrested and prosecuted as those who refuse to participate in the current illegal war. That’s what would be considered a coup.”

“But it’s a coup already.”

“Yes.”

Naomi Wolf is the author of Give Me Liberty (Simon and Schuster, 2008), the sequel to the New York Times best-seller The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot (Chelsea Green, 2007).

America has Bush and his GOP cronies now become DOMESTIC TERRORIST? Hmmmmm, could be construed that way, I would think.

A memory of something

lookingunderalltherocks — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:49:04 +0000

Recently I was reading a back (within the last year) issue of National Geographic Magazine. In it, toward the back, was an article about Arlington ational Cemetary

Gotta LOVE Email

lookingunderalltherocks — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:48:38 +0000

Found this in mine and wanted to sharwe with ALL.

Obama Campaign Letter in Response to McCain-Palin Letter Re: Potential Election Day Problems

Share –by Greta Van Susteren

Read below … this is a copy of a letter by the Obama-Biden Campaign sent last month (and released today) responding to Senator John C. Danforth and Senator Warren Rudman’s concerns about potential voter fraud:

September 23, 2008

Honorable John C. Danforth

Honorable Warren B. Rudman

McCain-Palin 2008

P.O. Box 16118

Arlington , VA 22215

Dear Senator Danforth and Senator Rudman:

We have received your letter of September 15, 2008, informing us of the formation of what you call the Honest and Open Election Committee by the McCain-Palin Campaign.

However attractively labeled, this seems a starkly political maneuver to deflect attention from the reality of the suppression strategies pursued by national, state and Republican party committees. This has been the shameful history of the party from the Goldwater “Operation Eagle Eye” program to the present day-a history replete with instances of systematically planned and executed programs to block access to the vote for targeted communities of voters.

In 2004, the Republican Party, on the eve of the general election, mounted challenges to tens of thousands of voters in Nevada, Ohio and Wisconsin based on caging lists, that is, lists of returned mailers or based on similar information providing no legitimate grounds whatsoever for such challenges. None of these challenges, to our knowledge, was upheld and accusations of voter fraud by national Republican Party leaders were proven utterly baseless.

Now, in 2008, the Republican Party again appears determined to engage in tactics and strategies to deny the right to vote to qualified citizens:

· In Michigan, the chairman of Macomb County Republican Party has threatened to use lists of persons whose homes have been foreclosed to challenge those persons at the polls. Only after public exposure, did he deny that this was the plan for Macomb County, and this matter is now before the federal district court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

· In Florida, the RNC has mailed non-forwardable letters to Democratic voters asking them to confirm their party affiliation as Republican-thereby raising doubts about their registration status and creating the basis for possible challenge lists. Even top Republican election officials in Florida, including the Secretary of State, have publicly condemned this tactic.

· In Wisconsin, the Republican Attorney General, who serves as co-chair of the McCain-Palin campaign in the state, has filed suit challenging the refusal of the states own election administration authorities to throw thousands of voters off the rolls based on dubious and impractical matches of identifying information.

· In Ohio, Republicans are challenging the decision of the Secretary of State to allow first-time voters to obtain an absentee ballot at the time they register even though the law clearly affords this right.

Manifestly, the confusion, uncertainty, deprivations of rights and interference with efficient election administration created by these tactics, and similar ones that the Republican Party has used in recent election cycles, cannot be effectively addressed by the creation late in the day of “committees” with gloriously self-serving names. Rather, the best way to address them is for responsible Republican leaders like both of you to speak out, loudly and forcefully, to condemn these tactics, to insist that they be shut down once and for all and then to make sure that they are.

This is what we would hope that you could accomplish. If your concern truly lies with ‘Honest and Open Elections”, then your work is properly and effectively begins at home–with the Republican operatives who are planning and running these suppressive programs and who are being directed in these activities by the same national McCain and party leadership that recruited you to this “Committee”.

Sincerely yours,

David Plouffe,

Campaign Manager, Obama for America

I have become convinced of a great many things based on PURE observation

lookingunderalltherocks — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 20:03:24 +0000

For instance, I have become convinced that evil simply, as a SOLID entity, simply does NOT exist. What has come to be called evil is simple GREED and SELF-INTEREST. Think about what I have said and you will SOON come to accept the validity of my words. Even the Biblical character of Satan has only his own self-interests at heart. Evil in the world only exist BECAUSE of GREED and ‘looking out for number one’.

I have also become convinced that the GOP is evilfor this very reason. The GOP politicians exist because well off (read that greedy) people help them to BUY their way into office so that they (these GOP politicians) can pay them back by passing laws and DEregulating things that ALLOW the greedy to ACQUIRE still MORE.

I have become convinced, based on a comment by George Bush (the Constitution is ONLY a piece of paper) and the ACTIONS of the GOP-DOMINATED Congress, that my, your, OUR Constitution is in SERIOUS danger should We the PEOPLE be so STUPID and brain-dead as to EVER allow the Republican Party to DOMINATE OUR government again. The most GLARING example of how the GOP is seeking to UNDERMINE the Constitution is the so-called Patriot Act. There is NOTHING patriotic about the government being allowed, BY LAW, to ABRIDGE our civil liberties, liberties GUARANTED to us by the CONSTITUTION. For those of you who do NOT know, and based on some ofthe postings I have read there seems to be many out there, Posse Cummatius was put into law to PREVENT any President from USING the US Military as a DOMESTIC POLICE force. Have you not heard that Bush has SUSPENDED this law and ORDERED the ARMY to QUELL PEACEFUL ASSEMBLY, another of the RIGHTS granted We the PEOPLE by the Constitution.

I am 60 years old and have a LOOOOOOOOONG memory. I remember when the Democrats (WALLACE of Alabama, Lester Maddox of Georgia AND STROM THURMOND of South Carolina) fought tooth and nail to keep black AMERICANS out of public schools, to keep public restrooms labeled ‘White’ and ‘Colored’, to MAINTAIN separate PUBLIC drinking fountains, and to PREVENT blacks from eating at a lunch counter side by side with whites. I was there, I saw it all happening. Then Lester Maddox, and other Democrats, finally awakened to one simple, undeniable fact that ‘We the PEOPLE’ is ALL inclusive, there are NO (except for the several places where it says “…except for Indians who do not vote.” exclusionary clauses or phrases to be found ANYWHERE in OUR Constitution. Guess what folks, the Constitutional GUARANTEES apply to ALL and this includes all those who appreciate sexual partners of the same gender. What this means that, under the law, a man and woman may marry then so may a man and a man or a woman and a woman. TOO many, NON-thinking Americans have ALLOWED religious beliefs to cloud political realities out of their minds. The Bible and the Constitution are two SEPARATE and DISTINCTLY different documents. Remember “Render unto Caesar the THINGS that are Caesar’s and unto God the THINGS that are God’s”? Too many people, includinf ministers, have CONFUSED this with tithes and offerings. The word translated as ‘things’ has NO connection or connotation to ANYTHING monetary. Even Jesus wanted, nay DEMANDED, that church and state remain SEPARATE.

I heard Lyndon B. Johnson tell the nation that the US had been attacked by the North Vietnamese navy. Supposedly an NVA gunboat had fired on a US Navy destroyer in the Gulf of Ton Kien. This NEVER happened and FIFTY-EIGHT THOUSAND of MY generation died for this LIE. Bush told America that Saddam had ‘weapons of mass destruction’, that he was trying to acquire ‘yellow cake’ from Nigeria and that Iraq was somehow involved with the 9/11 attack so, America, for the FIRST time in our history, invaded a nation that posed NO threat to us. Remember how we had bin Ladin pushed into the northern mountains of Afghanistan? Remember how, for NO reason EVER given, bin Ladin suddenly became irrelevant? Remember all the flak the first Bush got over the fact that he did NOT allow US forces to go into Baghdad? Why? Because the US was in Iraq, as a PART of a United Nations sanctioned move to OUST Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Now remember Bush, “The UN is IRRELEVANT”? Junior, I believe, in an effort to UNbesmirch the family name, LIED our way BACK to IRAQ. I admit, the world is better off WITHOUT Saddam but he was NO worse than a DOZEN other dictators we have propped up over the years. Do you not remember Donald Rumsfeld, in Baghdad, SHAKING hands with Saddam, while a member of the staff of the FIRST George Bush? Incidentally, does anyone remember WHY Rumsfeld was in Iraq? He was there to seal the deal that traded chemical weapons precursors to Saddam for OIL concessions. WAKE up folks. The GOP is NOT America’s friend and have NOT been since Dwight David Eisenhower.

A few things I want to say

lookingunderalltherocks — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 04:06:31 +0000

John Mc “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Cain and Sarah I don’t have a clue Palin have embarked on a vicious smear campaign against Barach Obama AND Joe Biden and are totally IGNORING the skeletons in Mc Cain’s closet. He has a background of belonging to SEVERAL subversive organizations while Palin has a background of being in charge of a backwater town in a state who’s ONE claim to fame is that ussia can be seen from a bedroom window. Between the two. one is UNFIT for leadership and the other doesn’t even know the meaning of the word. The BIGGEST event during the weeks Palin was Mayor was to hold a staff meeting once a week. Leadership? Give ne a break. Her only leadership position was to lead a hunt where animals were SLAUGHTERED for NO reason.

No brag, just facts

lookingunderalltherocks — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 22:00:01 +0000

You just gotta love email. Got this in my email and wanted to share it with all of you out there.

Obama Campaign Letter in Response to McCain-Palin Letter Re: Potential Election Day Problems

Share –by Greta Van Susteren

September 23, 2008

Honorable John C. Danforth

Honorable Warren B. Rudman

McCain-Palin 2008

P.O. Box 16118

Arlington , VA 22215

Dear Senator Danforth and Senator Rudman:

We have received your letter of September 15, 2008, informing us of the formation of what you call the Honest and Open Election Committee by the McCain-Palin Campaign.

Now, in 2008, the Republican Party again appears determined to engage in tactics and strategies to deny the right to vote to qualified citizens:

Sincerely yours,

David Plouffe,

Campaign Manager, Obama for America

My thoughts, based on YEARS of observation

lookingunderalltherocks — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:58:34 +0000

The absolutely most abomidable Democrat is INFINITLY more of a TRUE America FIRST American than the absolutely most admired Republican. And that’s the way I see it. I have watched the two parties over the years. The first Republican President I remember was Eisenhower. It was IKE who WARNED America of the dangers inherent in the Military/Industrial Complex. Every Republican since has failed to heed Ike’s words. While I cannot prove it, economically, I could assert that the current high price of EVERYTHING is because of this. When Ike was in office, for instance, a loaf of bread costs only TEN CENTS, candy sold by the penny, and you could drive around all week on five dollars worth of gas. How much can you get for pennies today, how much for a dime and how much will FIVE dollars purchase? America, the G O P is NOT, repeat, NOT our friend, unless of course you are part of their Million Club. (these are those who have given their campaigns at least one-tenth of a million ten or more times)

As to what I found on the Web

lookingunderalltherocks — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:40:31 +0000

This ‘guide’ was designed by Bonewit, I believe I got that correct. Whatever, I still have the site on my ‘Favorites’ list if anyone is interested. My comment, after reading over this list, is just how very much this sounds like the G O P! In a cult, the leaders do NOT want those who would dare think for themselves. They do not want those who would dare to ask questions, especially those who would then question the answers they were given. The leaders of a cult would tell their brainwashed minions, “Don’t think. The thinking has already been done.”. Sound like the Republicans to anyone else?

A Little Tidbit I found on the Web

lookingunderalltherocks — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:34:08 +0000

Supposedly here is how one may determine the viability of a cult.
Factors:                                     1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10
                                             Low                      High
1. INTERNAL CONTROL: Amount of
internal political power exercised
by leader(s) over members.               1.  _____________________________

2. WISDOM CLAIMED by leader(s);
amount of infallibility declared
or implied about decisions or doc-
trinal/scriptural interpretations.       2.  _____________________________

3. WISDOM CREDITED to leader(s)
by members; amount of trust in
decisions or doctrinal/scriptural
interpretations made by leader(s).       3.  _____________________________

4. DOGMA: Rigidity of reality con-
cepts taught; amount of doctrinal
inflexibility or "fundamentalism."       4.  _____________________________

5. RECRUITING: Emphasis put on
attracting new members; amount
of proselytizing.                        5.  _____________________________

6. FRONT GROUPS: Number of subsid-
iary groups using different names
from that of main group.                 6.  _____________________________

7. WEALTH: Amount of money and/or
property desired or obtained by group;
emphasis on members' donations;
economic lifestyle of leader(s)
compared to ordinary members.            7.  _____________________________

8. POLITICAL POWER: Amount of
external political influence
desired or obtained; emphasis on
directing members' secular votes.        8.  _____________________________

9. SEXUAL MANIPULATION: of members
by leader(s); amount of control
exercised over sexuality of members;
advancement dependent upon sexual
favors or specific lifestyle.            9.  _____________________________

10. CENSORSHIP: Amount of control
over members' access to outside
opinions on group, its doctrines
or leader(s).                           10.  _____________________________

11. DROPOUT CONTROL: Intensity of
efforts directed at preventing or
returning dropouts.                     11.  _____________________________

12. VIOLENCE: amount of approval when
used by or for the group, its
doctrines or leader(s).                 12.  _____________________________

13. PARANOIA: amount of fear con-
cerning real or imagined enemies;
perceived power of opponents;
prevalence of conspiracy theories.      13.  _____________________________

14. GRIMNESS: Amount of disapproval
concerning jokes about the group,
its doctrines or its leader(s).         14.  _____________________________

15. SURRENDER OF WILL: Amount of
emphasis on members not having to
be responsible for personal deci-
sions; degree of individual dis-
empowerment created by the group,
its doctrines or its leader(s).         15.  _____________________________

16. HYPOCRISY: amount of approval for
other actions (not included above)
which the group officially considers
immoral or unethical, when done by or
for the group, its doctrines or
leader(s); willingness to violate
group's declared principles for
political, psychological, economic,
or other gain.                          16.  _____________________________

                                             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10
Now in Wicca, we do N O T H I N G like any of this.  We don't even proseltyze.  In Wicca, we are here and only those who seek my find, only those who knock will find that open door.
                                             Low                      High

What I just read…

lookingunderalltherocks — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:25:21 +0000

Governor Palin’s Mental Health Problems Surface

Posted on October 12th, 2008

by psburton in 2008 Election Coverage, Alaska News, All News, Arizona News, Blogosphere News, Breaking News, Op-ed, US Politics

Read 590 times.

In the wake of Governor Sarah Palin’s cheerful insistence the legislative report into the trooper gate probe cleared her of any wrongdoing. I join those who share concern the pressures of the campaign may be taking a negative toll on her mental health. Its an issue that obligates me to set aside partisan perspective and reach out with compassion to someone who is in obvious distress. After all when you come upon a person who is drowning, who amongst us stops to ask party affiliation before diving in to help.

Like every other blog pundit, I was waiting with baited breath to pounce when Sarah attempted to spin the damming legislative findings in the best possible light, but to my utter astonishment the poor woman stated she was delighted to learn the report cleared her. We would anticipate an individual in otherwise good mental health to express anger and perhaps outrage at being unfairly smeared by what she perceived as the findings of partisan political witch hunt.

But as any mental health expert would probably tell you, if a person in high public office is confronted with bi-partisan finding she abused the power of her office and violated public trust, and responds by happily reporting her thankfulness at being cleared. Its a strong indication of possible dissociative denial and time to set politics aside for a moment and see if we cant get Sarah some help. That she gave birth within the last year might suggest it’s related to postpartum depression, despite the ludicrous claims of scientologists. Modern mental heath professionals do wonders in helping those afflicted with a mental disorder to lead positive and fulfilling lives.

Of course we cant know till after an appropriate examination is conducted, whether it’s simply short term problems related to the chemical imbalances of postpartum depression or a more permanent condition like bi-polar disorder. But the good news folks is irregardless of what ever seems to be pushing our Sarah off the mental health reservation, help is available.

Of course the first step in finding out how we can help Governor Palin is discovering what’s wrong, a clinical evaluation would take only a few days and depending on the diagnosis, treatment could begin at once. And thankfully we no longer need to treat the majority of those afflicted with short or long term mental illness in a hospital setting.

Unless Sarah is suffering from a behavior disorder that can express itself in violent outbursts, I am confident mental health experts would agree she would be fit to resume her duties as Governor in a relatively short period and if she were to be elected vice president she would have access to the best mental health experts in the country 24/7.

As we explore the subject of Governor Palins mental health problems, In retrospect perhaps we can see that some of her other statements on the stump reflect a person who’s mental clarity seems clouded. Though generations ago mental illness like a Physical disability was something which could be an impediment to holding public office. Times have changed for the better. While F.D.R went to great lengths to hide his disability from the public and Senator Tom Eagleton was forced to with draw as George McGovern’s vice presidential running mate when it was revealed he had undergone treatment for depression.

Happily we have moved past that type of thinking, If a candidate for President or vice President is ill, be it in mind or body, our instinct is to put aside political rhetoric and offer help and support. I simply couldn’t imagine any thing but an out pouring of understanding and prayer when Governor Palin acknowledges she is suffering and a swelling of public sentiment that becomes an encouragement to seek out appropriate treatment.

That’s my view, yours may be different

I make NO claims about this piece, I am merely reporting what I have read. Draw your OWN conclusions.