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The Vidiot's
weekly blog:
What
pissed me off this week? 3/6/2005
(updated
every Monday at some point during the day)
...'cause
I'm angry and my friends are sick of listening to me...
Cost
of the War in Iraq
Remember
these faces.
Media
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Let's hear it
for the Sailor!
Thank you, thankyouverymuch.
What a lifesaver
he was. There's NO WAY I could've done this last week.
But this week....
So much has stuck
in my craw this week. First and foremost, however, is the 'assassination'
attempt on the Italian journalist. It's just getting so overt over there,
isn't it. Why do I think it's an assassination
attempt? Well, because right before she got kidnapped, she was working
on a story about Fallujah for "il Manifesto," (Article
1, Article
2) an anti-war Italian newspaper. And her kidnappers told her to "be
careful because the Americans don't want you to return." What
do you think she
uncovered? Could it be war
crimes committed by our troops at the behest of the pentagon perhaps?
(Let the right-wing
smear begin!)The last thing this administration wants is some sort
of international uproar about the
US using banned chemical weapons in Fallujah. (Read this
poem by Wilfred Owen, a soldier who died on the Western Front in WWI.
There's a reason why this crap is banned.) I mean, Bush is seriously rattling
Syria's and Iran's
cages right now. It started with that 'assassination'
of al-Hariri. (I mean, why
on EARTH would Syria do that?) And now that Syria has agreed to a
total
withdrawal, Bush will probably raise
the bar even higher. (I can only imagine what was going on when they
heard about that withdrawal. It must've been a huge "D'OH!"
moment.) They really want another war and being in the midst of a chemical
warfare controversy will not help matters at all. (Feel a draft?)
Oh, and here's an hypocrisy alert: Turkey
has 1,357 military personnel in Northern Iraq, but we're not calling
for their withdrawal now are we? No, 'cause they're our 'friends.'
And I haven't forgotten
about Gannongate.
It's still here, and it's getting real
queer.
Cool House
of the Week: Cavehouse
in Granada Province, Spain
Cool Data
Site of the Week: Live
Internet Seismic Server
Another
Cool Data Site of the Week: Earthquake
data
Lego Site
of the Week: Lego
PCs
Best Gannon-related
Headline of the Week: The
Manchurian Beefcake
"I
Did Not Know That" of the Week: Anorexia
bracelet
Clever Alternate
Energy Source of the Week: Solar
Tower
Video of
the Week: Clint
Curtis Testifying about voting machine fraud
Blog Entry
of the Week: Revenge
of the Codex People
Must Read
of the Week: When
Democracy Failed
Site of
the Week: What's
your favorite word?
Gross Medical
Diary of the Week: Parasites
- A Sufferer's Diary
Oddly Useful
Site of the Week: Who's
Alive and Who's Dead
Can't Figure
Out What It's Good For Site of the Week: Compare
Stuff
CoinkyDinks
of the Week: Stephen
King can predict the future
Movie Trailer
of the Week: Gunner
Palace
Go Here
If You're Bored Site of the Week: Blogs
off the beaten path
Gannongate=Plamegate
With regards to that judge
who's family was assassinated: All media fingers point to a white supremacists
guy who is at present, awaiting sentencing. Now, I ask you: If you were
awaiting sentencing, would you do something that would cause the judge
to be harsher on you than he might've been otherwise? Of
course not.
Excerpt: Jailed
white supremacist Matthew Hale said Thursday the slaying of a federal
judge's husband and elderly mother was a "heinous crime"
that "only an idiot" would think he ordered, according to
a statement released by his mother.
So, it must be something
else then. Perhaps....IT'S
ABOUT THE VALERIE PLAME CASE AND JEFF GANNON'S CONNECTION TO THAT!!!!!
Excerpt: Apparently
problems were developing in subpoenaing Jeff Gannon alias Johnny Gosch
as to data on blowing the cover of Valerie Plame. Not in open court,
the Special Prosecutor took up the federal grand jury problems reportedly
with Judge Lefkow. Those working on the problem secretly were well
aware that pulling on the whorehouse chain would bring in George W.
Bush himself, as a federal criminally indicted defendant having committed
treason directly using Gannon alias Gosch.
Goosebumps
Sometime last week or the
week before, I had a nightmare. And in that nightmare I saw a huge plane
crashed into the East River (Potomac?) and I was on the roof of a tall
building looking at it. A cop came by on an airborne jet ski looking
thing and said to get out of town because there were minute men missiles
on board and he had no idea if and when they would blow. The next day,
I went to work and saw THIS
on yahoo. Gave me goosebumps.
Excerpt: Nearly
500 volunteers have already joined the Minuteman Project, anointing
themselves civilian border patrol agents determined to stop the immigration
flow that routinely, and easily, seeps past federal authorities. They
plan to patrol a 40-mile stretch of the southeast Arizona border throughout
April when the tide of immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border peaks.
These are some of my favorite
things: Nukes, rabid militia and the coming police state.
{sigh}
Partisans
at the Fed
Any illusions that Greenspan
wasn't a partisan hack can now be dispelled.
Excerpt: On Wednesday
the Fed chairman warned Congress of the opposite fiscal danger: he asserted
that there would be large budget deficits for the foreseeable future,
leading to an unsustainable rise in federal debt. But he counseled against
reversing the tax cuts, calling instead for cuts in Social Security,
Medicare and Medicaid.
So, perhaps, back during Clinton's
term, when Greenspan put the breaks on the economy by raising interest
rates? Maybe he was doing it to just screw Clinton. (Here's a Kos
diary on the subject.)
Ohmygawdohmygawdohmygawd!
I agree
with something Andrew Sullivan wrote?
Excerpt: There
were little white wires hanging down from their ears, or tucked into
pockets, purses or jackets. The eyes were a little vacant. Each was
in his or her own musical world, walking to their soundtrack, stars
in their own music video, almost oblivious to the world around them.
These are the iPod people.
Actually, I LOVE my iPod. I
really do. But I do feel horribly disconnected when I use it. One of the
cool things about NY is that there's so much to look at, smell and hear.
Everywhere you go, there's something. The iPod packs soft cotton around
all of it.
Oh
brother.
I can only assume that the
latest rumor that Bono
is being considered as a possible head of the World Bank...
Excerpt:Front man
of Irish U2, rock idol and social activist Bono may become the next
to head World Bank, U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow has said on ABC's
‘This Week.’ Snow said that he wouldn't rule out Irish rock star
as a potential successor to current World Bank President John Wolfensohn.
is being floated because the
REAL
guy up for the job is just too scary for the average person to contemplate
for very long.
Excerpt:Paul Wolfowitz,
U.S. deputy secretary of defense, is the leading candidate to replace
James Wolfensohn as the president of the World Bank, reports the Financial
Times.
Read this and weep: Top
10 Reasons Why Paul Wolfowitz Would Make a Good World Bank President
{sigh}
We could've had a peaceful
overthrow of Saddam.
Excerpt: "Though
it has not been reported until now, Uday Hussein was the biggest proponent
of regime change inside Iraq," Arnett wrote.
And what about Peter Arnett?
(From the same article)
Excerpt: The controversial
reporter, who was fired by the US NBC television network in 2003 after
suggesting that the US war plan in Iraq had failed, made the claim following
an 18-month investigation in which he says he gained access to Uday
Hussein's inner circle.
So, he was right about the
war having failed, so he's probably right about Uday wanting to overthrow
his dad. And I betchya' Uday would've been way more controllable than
Saddam. He was a much weaker dude.
Attack
on the Blogosphere
Boy, the blogs sure do scare
some folks, huh? Blogs have gotten bigger
Excerpt: The size
of the blogosphere has doubled every five months over the last year
and a half, according to blog analysis firm Technorati. Over that time,
blogs have gone from being a word that sounded insulting to an online
trend embraced even by a sexagenarian Massachusetts senator running
for president. Given the frenetic pace of that growth, data charting
the blog phenomenon have been vigorously consumed, and in some cases
contradictory.
So of course, Mainstream Media
(MSM) is hunkering down into their "us
vs. them" mentality, which is just oh so productive.
Excerpt:Depending
on whom you talk to, blogs are either a loose cannon or the replacement
for the mainstream media. The truth, as is often the case, is somewhere
in between.
Yes, now the much ballyhooed
"ethics"
is being bandied about, I'm sure as a way to somehow marginalize blogs.
Excerpt: The question
remains wide open as to whether ethics manifest in a standard, a protocol,
or best practices; must apply to bloggers' content. Readers have no
way of gauging the authenticity of content since for blogs there is
no ethical benchmark or standardized processes for posting publicly.
Or even attack
them directly.
Excerpt: Atrios
draws our attention to what could be a very worrisome development -
an apparent attempt to regulate Internet political advocacy in such
a way that would kill it. From an interview with FEC Commissioner Bradley
Smith (who seems to be a good guy on this issue)
In any
way they can.
Excerpt: This is
an incredible thicket. If someone else doesn't take action, for instance
in Congress, we're running a real possibility of serious Internet regulation.
It's going to be bizarre.
Yup. Anything to make the bloggers
look crrrraaaaaazzzzzyyyyyyyyy.
Excerpt: Sherman
and many others who publish the online journals known as Weblogs, or
``blogs'' for short, have discovered the addictive nature of blogging.
What starts out as a hobby for some can end up permeating their lives
and minds. Some of the diarists post repeatedly throughout the day,
juggle several blogs and feel anxious if they don't write. Most dedicated
bloggers say the endeavor has enriched their lives, but some worry about
finding balance and keeping their obsession in check.
Or make bloggers look like
criminals.
Excerpt: Three
blogs which revealed sensitive information about upcoming Apple products
could be made to disclose where the leaks came from. A California judge
said in a preliminary ruling that bloggers should not have the same
protection afforded to journalists under US law.
Another way to discredit blogs
is to create fake
blogs (flogs) as a way to make it harder for people separate the wheat
from the chaff.
Excerpt: It's laughable
that MSN has to create its own buzz by developing fake blogs and hoping
the word will spread. Even Microsoft evangelist, Robert Scoble, thinks
the campaign stinks.
Or make the internet a pain
in the ass to use.
Excerpt: Like millions
of casual computer users, Lipa has learned that the Internet has become
a dangerous place. Worms, viruses, spyware, spam and an unending string
of fraudulent traps lie in wait. One false click, or the failure to
install and update security software, can lead to identity theft, bogus
bills and crashed computers.
They've even handed
a press pass to a blogger, perhaps in an effort to say "See? Anyone
can get White House press passes. Gannon wasn't an anomaly."
Excerpt: Mr. Graff,
23, may be the first blogger in the short history of the medium to be
granted a daily White House pass for the specific purpose of writing
a blog, or Web log. A White House spokesman said yesterday that he believed
Mr. Graff was the first blogger to be given credentials.
Gee, maybe we should toss in
that whole "The UN wants to control the world" paranoia and
really
stir things up.
Excerpt: Leaders
of a U.N. Internet panel yesterday said they hope to set up a global
system where cyberspace would be under the control of the United Nations.
Meanwhile, people on the inside
of MSM who are moving to the outside are starting to spill
the beans.
Excerpt: The deterioration
we experienced at Newsday was hardly unique," she wrote in the
memo, describing the past few years. "All across America news organizations
have been devoured by massive corporations, and allegiance to stockholders,
the drive for higher share prices, and push for larger dividend returns
trumps everything that the grunts in the newsrooms consider their missions.
Long gone are the days of fast-talking, whiskey-swilling Murray Kempton
peers eloquently filling columns with daily dish on government scandals,
mobsters and police corruption. The sort of in-your-face challenge that
the Fourth Estate once posed for politicians has been replaced by mud-slinging,
lies and, where it ought not be, timidity.
But with MSM making mistakes
like this
Excerpt: NBC News
twice issued corrections for an erroneous "Nightly News" report
that the chief judge for Saddam Hussein's trial had been assassinated.
We really need the blogs right
now. Maybe blogs should all just add a disclaimer at the top so everyone
knows who funds them and what their angles are. Simple.
What
the...?
Ok, let me get this straight:
They won't let someone into the country because of her connection
with the revolution in Nicaragua,
Excerpt: The woman
who epitomized the 1979 Nicaraguan revolution that overthrew the dictator
Anastasio Somoza has been denied entry to the US to take up her post
as a Harvard professor on the grounds that she had been involved in
"terrorism".
but they'll appoint John
Negroponte as intelligence chief?
Excerpt: After
all, during the Reagan years, when he was ambassador to Honduras, Negroponte
was involved in what was arguably an illegal covert quid pro quo connected
to the Iran/contra scandal, and he refused to acknowledge significant
human rights abuses committed by the pro-US military in Honduras.
Even
the Left can go too far.
Sometimes
the left goes just a little too far with their paranoia. Here,
they're discussing an episode of ABC's Boston Legal.
Excerpt: Also,
many references were made during the trial about how Alan Dershowitz
and Alberto Gonzalez both promote torture. Really sick Alex. The moral
of the story was "Torture is good!"
Which just goes to show you
that drastic opinions on either side leads to a decrease in one's ability
to sense irony. I saw this episode and here’s what I thought
it was about: I thought it was about how easy it is to persuade people
that torture is ok. Both lawyers defending the cop didn’t want to
argue it. The one that ended up arguing the case was the darkest character
on the show. At the very end, she said to him," I couldn’t
do it. But I knew you could because you are better able to deal with darkness,"
or something to that effect. I got the feeling they were both disgusted
by how easy it was.
You
know you live in a fascist state when...
Your leaders
think religion and government shouldn't be separate.
Excerpt: House
Majority Leader Tom DeLay said today there is no constitutional guarantee
of separation of church and state as the Supreme Court prepared to take
up a case challenging the display of the Ten Commandments on the Texas
Capitol grounds.
Yes. God is responsible for
everything.
Excerpt: President
Bush says he is not taking credit for the freedom movement taking place
in the Middle East. Nor is he giving the credit to the US. President
Bush says he credits God, not his administration or America, for the
spread of freedom there.
In fact, religion is being
rammed
down our throats.
Excerpt: Energised
by last year's election victory which mobilised their vote, Christian
conservatives have been confidently pushing a moral agenda which puts
education at the heart of a battle to change US culture.
In more
ways than one.
Excerpt: The House
on Wednesday approved a job-training bill that would allow faith-based
organizations receiving federal funds to consider a person's religious
beliefs in making employment decisions.
You also know you're living
in a fascist state when the government controls
the media
Excerpt: But in
the wake of revelations about the aggressive and unprecedented tactics
employed by the White House to manipulate the news, that relatively
benign interpretation is being reexamined. Recent headlines about paid-off
pundits, video press releases disguised as news telecasts, and the remarkable
press access granted to a right-wing pseudo-journalist working under
a phony name, have led some to conclude that the White House is not
simply aggressively managing the news, but is out to sabotage the press
corps from within, to undermine the integrity and reputation of journalism
itself.
The government operates in
secrecy.
Excerpt: The Bush
administration is aggressively wielding a rarely used executive power
known as the state secrets privilege in an attempt to squash hard-hitting
court challenges to its anti-terrorism campaign.
Citizens are afraid
to speak their minds.
Excerpt: If you
could travel back in a time machine, one thing would be true no matter
where you went: you'd have to watch what you said. Opinions we consider
harmless could have gotten you in big trouble. I've already said at
least one thing that would have gotten me in big trouble in most of
Europe in the seventeenth century, and did get Galileo in big trouble
when he said it-- that the earth moves.
The words "internment"
and "camps" are back
in vogue.
Excerpt: The survey
said 42 percent of highly religious respondents believe that Muslim
Americans should register their whereabouts with the federal government.
Teachers
are being "watched"
Excerpt: Part of
"the problem" they are confronting is that sectors of academia
"reject the enduring policies of the U.S. government." How
odd, professors disagreeing with the government? I thought academics
were supposed to be hired based on the extent of their agreement with
the government!
And
China is accusing you of human
rights violations.
Excerpt: Instead
of indulging itself in publishing the "human rights country report"
to censure other countries unreasonably, the United States should reflect
on its erroneous behavior on human rights and take its own human rights
problems seriously. The double standards of the United States on human
rights and its exercise of hegemonism and power politics under the pretext
of promoting human rights will certainly put itself in an isolated and
passive position and beget opposition from all just members of the international
community.
They
hate people.
Hmm, I wonder what they're
going to do about all the US bankruptcies that are going
to happen?
Excerpt: THE US
is heading for a surge in bankruptcies and a dramatic increase in corporate
debt default as the number of companies with bonds rated at the lowest
end of the junk bond scale reaches record levels.
I guess they'll have to make
it harder for people to claim bankruptcy so that the credit
card companies can get paid.
Excerpt: As a result,
while they continue to press for legislation that would make it harder
for individuals to declare bankruptcy, the companies have found ways
to make money even on cardholders who eventually go broke.
(Here's
a Kos Diary on the subject)
Chavez
is nervous.
What's George up
to?
Excerpt: While
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez attends to the inauguration ceremony
of Uruguay"s leftist leader, Tabare Vazquez, in Montevideo, his
Armed Forces are closely watching the unexpected presence of several
US battleships near country's western coastline. On Monday, Venezuela's
Navy commander, Armando Laguna, made the announcement during an interview
on state TV but opted not to accuse Washington directly of any provocation.
Weaponry
Why does this
make me think of a neutron bomb. Becauase it hurts, but it does no damage?
Excerpt: The US
military is funding development of a weapon that delivers a bout of
excruciating pain from up to 2 kilometres away. Intended for use against
rioters, it is meant to leave victims unharmed. But pain researchers
are furious that work aimed at controlling pain has been used to develop
a weapon. And they fear that the technology will be used for torture
What is this government's obsession
with pain and torture all about anyway? One might think that someone VERY
high up has a teeny weeny penis. (Actually I met a guy this weekend who
lived in Austin, TX during the GW years. He knew people who had actually
seen Dear Leader's teeny weenis. He said EVERYbody knows it's a gerkin.
So, I guess we know who's swinging
pipe on THAT ticket.)
Halliburton:
GUILTY
Now here's
a story that keeps popping up like it's news or something.
Excerpt: The Justice
Department is looking into whether former Halliburton employees conspired
with other companies to rig bids for large overseas construction projects,
according to the company, the Wall Street Journal’s Russell Gold
will report Wednesday. Vice President Dick Cheney was the company’s
former chief executive.
About every 3 months or so,
this story gets out there, only to disappear down the hidey hole. Between
that and the possible shelving
of Bush's Social Security plan
Excerpt: Treasury
Secretary John W. Snow indicated Wednesday that the White House would
accept a Social Security overhaul that does not divert the program's
payroll taxes into personal retirement accounts, a major shift in the
administration's position. He and a Treasury Department spokesman, Robert
S. Nichols, reiterated that personal accounts must be part of any legislation,
but said that would not necessarily require the diversion of payroll
taxes to fund the accounts.
Guess it's time for another
distraction.
Excerpt: MADRID
(Reuters) - The Madrid train bombers had detailed plans of New York's
Grand Central Station, indicating they also planned to attack there,
a Spanish newspaper reported Wednesday.
(The fact that this story is
released 9 days prior to the Madrid bombing anniversary is purely a coinkydink.)
Is
it: A) Cronyism, B) Payola or C) Nepotism?
I dunno. Which is this?
Excerpt: The Campaign
for America's future, a group seeking to quash the "big money corporate
agenda" will issue a report today showing that the Chairman of
the House Social Security Subcommittee, Rep. Jim McCrery (R-LA) - President
Bush's ally, and the man charged to push Social Security privatization
through the House, has accepted nearly $200,000 in campaign contributions
from the Wall Street interests that stand to gain the most from privatization.
They also reveal two former McCrery staffers are now lobbyists for Wall
Street.
I'm pretty sure that this is
payola.
Excerpt: Media
Matters found eight guests who held graduate degrees in economics; three
supported privatizing Social Security, and five opposed it. While all
five opponents of privatization are supported by independent universities
and organizations, all three privatization proponents are funded by
right-wing organizations and foundations.
This
is definitely cronyism...or is it just nepotism?
Excerpt: "Uncle
Bucky," as he is known to the president, is on the board of the
company, which supplies armor and other materials to U.S. troops. The
company's stock prices have soared to record heights since before the
invasion, benefiting in part from contracts to rapidly refit fleets
of military vehicles with extra armor.
Same thing with this
one: cronyism or nepotism?
Excerpt: Neil Bush,
has a $60,000-a-year employment contract with a top adviser to a Washington-based
consulting firm set up to help companies secure contracts in Iraq, according
to the Nov 11, 2004 Financial Times.
And this?
This is just plain 'ole greed.
Excerpt: A $33,000
food order in Mosul was billed to the U.S.-led interim government of
Iraq at $432,000. Electricity that cost $74,000 was invoiced at $400,000.
Even $10 kettles got a 400 percent markup.
Religion
must be a neurological disease
How else can you explain something
like this:
Excerpt; Each actor
cited examples to suggest Jefferson was the enemy of Christians and
that Washington was a model Christian, who walked the walk - even begging
forgiveness from God when his prayers were not fervent enough.
Or this.
Excerpt: Parents
who are thinking about taking their children to see "Shrek 2,"
may wish to consider the following: The movie features a male-to-female
transgender (in transition) as an evil bartender. The character has
five o'clock shadow, wears a dress and has female breasts. It is clear
that he is a she-male. His voice is that of talk show host Larry King.
Fuck
You Ted!
Now they want to extend decency
standards to pay
service broadcast? Can you imagine not hearing Tony Soprano say "fuck"?
Excerpt: Senate
Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens said on Tuesday he would push
for applying broadcast decency standards to cable television and subscription
satellite TV and radio.
Second
verse, worse than the first.
And we thought
Ashcroft was bad.
Excerpt: I think
Gonzales is out of line. All three of those are up to Congress, the
legislative branch, not the Justice Department or the executive branch.
Gonzales should focus on enforcing the law, not creating it.
News
of the Weird
Weird Spheres
Excerpt: The manufactured
metallic spheroids have been mined out of a layer of pyrophyllite rock
and geologically and by the various radio-isotope dating techniques
are shown as being 2.8 - 3 billion years old, long before man, as shown
at the bottom of the graph.
Weird gravity
Excerpt: Gravity
leakage should create minor deviations in the motion of planets and
moons. Astronauts on the Apollo 11 mission installed mirrors on the
lunar surface. By shooting lasers at the mirrors, a reflected beam can
be monitored from Earth to measure tiny orbital fluctuations. Dvali
said deviations in the Moon's path around Earth might reveal whether
gravity is really leaking away.
Weird Death
Excerpt: A TEN-YEAR-OLD
boy died after being crushed by a giant snowball, it was reported last
night.
Weird Whales
Excerpt; It is
not certain whether whales thousands of kilometres apart communicate
directly with each other, or what their messages contain. But the results
support a 30-year theory that, before the advent of modern shipping,
the animals' booming voices would have resounded from one ocean basin
to another.
(And a related
story)
Weird Canine
Suicides
Excerpt: Animal
behaviourists are concerned at an apparent spate of canine "suicides"
in the town after at least five dogs are said to have thrown themselves
from an historic bridge in the past six months.
Previous
rants
What do we do about all of
this crap? I have no idea. Part of me wants to start teach-ins at my local
pub. Just go to the bar, rant and rave and inform the idiots who still think
Dan Rather is telling them the truth. Another part of me wants to organize
a voter observation program to insure that this moron isn't in the White
House all the way to 2008. I sincerely believe that if we protected the
voting rights of the underprivileged that any Democrat could SWEEP any election.
And we'd have to start with the Florida Election for Governor THIS FALL
(like these
guys!.) I don't think Democrats are the answer. But they are at least a
start.
At the very least,
point your CNN-loving friends to my links
page. Just getting started in reading alternate news sites gets people
thinking. I have one friend who was very happy-go-lucky, thinking ol'
Greta was telling the whole truth until I opened up his eyes a bit. Now,
he's all depressed. He'll get over it. You gotta' get depressed before
you get angry and you gotta' get angry before you can accomplish anything.
We're all in mourning. We have to move through the steps. But we gotta'
hurry it up.
Read. Inform.
Spread the word. Even if it means your friends avoid you for awhile. If
they really love you, they'll start to listen.
"POSSE
COMITATUS ACT" (18 USC 1385): A Reconstruction Era criminal law proscribing
use of Army (later, Air Force) to "execute the laws" except where expressly
authorized by Constitution or Congress. Limit on use of military for civilian
law enforcement also applies to Navy by regulation. Dec '81 additional
laws were enacted (codified 10 USC 371-78) clarifying permissible military
assistance to civilian law enforcement agencies--including the Coast Guard--especially
in combating drug smuggling into the United States. Posse Comitatus clarifications
emphasize supportive and technical assistance (e.g., use of facilities,
vessels, aircraft, intelligence, tech aid, surveillance, etc.) while generally
prohibiting direct participation of DoD personnel in law enforcement (e.g.,
search, seizure, and arrests). For example, Coast Guard Law Enforcement
Detachments (LEDETS) serve aboard Navy vessels and perform the actual
boardings of interdicted suspect drug smuggling vessels and, if needed,
arrest their crews). Positive results have been realized especially from
Navy ship/aircraft involvement.
(Tom
Ridge has practically said he'd do away with this act.)
{back}
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