Defending the Ancien Regime

I'm glad that hyper-tweeter 'blogdiva' (Liza Sabater) made the point early on the morning of Nov. 14, as Oakland was cleared out by a multi-city police force, that the raid was as much a product of President Obama and DHS head Janet Napolitano, as of the multicultural, ostensibly liberal government of Oakland. Whenever multiple jurisdictions are involved, you can be sure that DHS law enforcement funds are involved, and likely the regional Joint Terrorism Task Forces are involved as well.
When you come right down to it, the federal government perceives the continued presence of semi-permanent encampments in multiple cities as a threat to the public order - and there are always enough "Black Bloc" provocateurs in many cities to give that perception some validity. I won't go so far as Liza to say that DHS considers Occupy as "low-level terrorism", but the feds certainly give cities plenty of tactical riot funds to make park-clearance a major goal.

What is to be done? A phalanx of judges in Nashville, including some rather conservative ones, have slapped down the governor of Tennessee and the state police for clearing public squares, saying that political encampments are themselves a protected form of free speech. Why not extend that argument to multiple cities with a class action lawsuit against those municipalities who are quick to ban protests? I'm thinking Albany, Atlanta, Austin, Berkeley, Chapel Hill, Denver, Nashville, Oakland, Portland, St. Louis, Salt Lake City... hmm, the list is getting long. Notice how many cities with "liberal" governments are listed? Arguments for public safety appeal to conservatives and liberals alike. Maybe it's time to initiate an economic boycott against these cities and others.

On Thursday night, I'm on a panel at Colorado College called "What if there were no Bill of Rights?" I'll argue that most Americans shy away from the Bill of Rights if it interferes with their entertainment bubble. And those in political office at municipal, county, or state level, even if they are liberal Democrats, are quick to eradicate free expression when a special event comes to town, like a G20 meeting or political party convention -- raiding organizing spaces, banning the wearing of bandanas within city limits, etc. Judges in locales like St. Paul, Minn. have fined city governments for suspending Constitutional rights on "emergency" grounds, when they know full well their temporary laws will not pass Constitutional muster. Maybe it's time to get serious on the punitive fines for such cities.

(On another topic, I spoke on a panel about the changing role of automated warfare and what it meant for the veteran. Here 'tis.)

When All Hands Are Unclean

The Occupy Together movement made it pretty clear from mid-September that it assigned equal blame to Republicans and Democrats for placing their parties at the beck and call of corporate lobbyists. This baseline position made the efforts by Republicans to claim the Occupy movement was started by ACORN or unions look sort of silly (yeah, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, I'm talkin' to you). What has been fairly predictable since the post-Sept. 11 period, however, is the degree to which Democrats have compromised themselves by making tactical deals with the national security state. We could see this at the local level when cities played host to party conventions or IMF/World Bank meetings. It was often Democratic members of city councils who argued the most vociferously for rules to bar protests or ban the wearing of bandanas within city limits.

The chickens certainly came home to roost at the end of October, as Denver, Atlanta, Nashville, and Portland vied for the title of the city that could look the most like Oakland. And in many cases, the city, county, and state leaders left with the most egg on their faces were liberal Democrats, often members of minority groups. Oakland in particular was graced with the trifecta of Mayor Jean Quan, City Administrator Deanna Santana, and Vice Mayor Ignacio de la Torre, sharing the blame for the out-of-control riot police. It is likely that Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock will look equally pathetic after blame is parceled out for the Oct. 29 melee that put two in the hospital and 20 behind bars. What is equally ironic is that it is often conservative judges, as in the case with Nashville, who keep freeing protesters after police arrest them multiple times, saying the city and county do not have the authority to make such sweeping ordinances preventing free assembly.

Outsiders may say the Occupy movement has gotten out of hand, demanding the kind of crackdown we are seeing nationwide. Are there instances of provocateurs and overly boisterous protesters pushing the lines of police netting? Absolutely. Do some war veterans with PTSD and a few gun owners ignore the Occupy insistence on Gandhian principles of nonviolence? From time to time. But have there been any cases where protesters have attacked police? Don't be ridiculous, particularly when said police are in full body armor.

The militarization of first responders has taken place in the aftermath of Sept. 11 as the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security have thrown out money for Joint Terrorism Task Forces, intelligence fusion centers, and tactical SWAT teams in any cities over half a million in population. And the two major parties have been right there taking the money and largesse from such militarization. When New York police from all boroughs staged a near-riot Oct. 28 to prevent Bronx cops from being indicted on ticket-fixing charges, the police attacked the media and representatives from Commissioner Ray Kelly's office. Kelly and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg should take this as a warning that the New York Police may no longer be a controllable mob as they confront Occupy Wall Street. Let this be a broader warning for the nation. We may be seeing rogue cops emerge as uncontrollable forces in many cities in the next few months, and some Democrats may regret making such deals with the devil that the Republicans are all too happy to serve. By then, of course, it will be too late to say you are sorry.

Secret "Cells"

Who could be opposed to a tutorial multimedia demonstration on the dangers of terrorism, right? Well, unless the sponsors of "The CELL" are closely tied to the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, and are funded by the likes of the Dershowitz Group and the US Department of Homeland Security. The Colorado ACLU learned that this particular organization is closely tied to the Denver Performing Arts Center and the Mizel Museum. I'm not paranoid about AIPAC, but I'm worried that the presentation CELL will provide will be far from objective - and must a publicly-funded museum tout presentations from government security agencies? Thankfully, the online Colorado Independent paid attention to these disturbing aspects, because the rest of the Colorado media seemed to give it a free pass.

Damien Moran Booted from U.S.

Damien Moran, an Irish national living in Poland, has been active against the U.S. plan to station missile-defense missiles in Poland. He was going to speak in Colorado Springs April 7 about the NATO decision to back Bush's missile-defense plans. He never made it. At O'Hare Airport in Chicago, Damien was interrogated by Department of Homeland Security officials about his involvement in the Pitstop Plowshares movement. He was acquitted in that action, but that wasn't enough for DHS. He was sent back to Poland. Here's Damien's observations:

Pitstop Plougshares acquittee Damien Moran deported from the U.S.

Swords into Ploughshares

As well as a a ploughshares acquittal to my name I now have the privilege of being sent packing on a one-way flight from Chicago airport to Warsaw just 5 hours after I had landed.

I was immediately detained and questioned by Homeland Security officers about our Pitstop Ploughshares action at Shannon in February 2003 (www.warontrial.com), why I was arrested, why our group 'sabotaged' U.S. military property.

I informed them about our action and acquittal with pleasure. They were none too pleased.

When the gung-ho Officer Bock shouted out that deportation was the least of my problems I decided there was no point of pushing his buttons too far. I made my anti-war statement, explaining that I was en route to visit my brother in Virginia, then planned going to Colorado Springs and Nebraska to speak at anti-militarism conferences/panels and demonstrations.

I've been travelling and waiting in airports non-stop for the past 30 hours so now it's time to hit the hay. I will write a more extensive report tomorrow.

Unfortunately I've lost $350 dollars in flight expenses while the Global Network (www.space4peace.org) Against Weapons in Space that invited me have been setback over $1,000. If anyone has spare change to donate and help with costs (will be dedicated to anti-militarist/missile defence/direct action purposes) please let me know.

No Pasaran (New motto of U.S. Homeland Security dissenters),

Related Link: http://www.peacenikhurler.blogspot.com

Enhancing JTTF and Domestic Intelligence from Space

OK, I'll just cite the original Wall Street Journal article here on Department of Homeland Security getting access to spy-satellite intelligence, and refer you to my EE Times blog as to what this means re: different intelligence agencies have different rules for sharing info, they all operate from space, and who keeps Michael Chertoff's mitts off stuff he shouldn't have? Certainly not Alberto Gonzales -- or our president for that matter!

Here's why you should care: the Denver Police Intelligence Bureau's scandal in the late 1990s and early 2000s for reviving Red Squad-era dissident intelligence files, actually constituted precisely what former Attorney General John Ashcroft wanted local intelligence bureaus to do. And since Ashcroft asked the Joint Terrorism Task Forces to serve as liaisons for putting intelligence of questionable veracity into law-enforcement files, well, we can be sure this will escalate by a factor of ten now that Department of Homeland Security can gain access to intelligence from space. Don't look for FISA restrictions -- Congress has given Bush everything he wanted in FISA bypass, and then some. Be afraid. Be very afraid.