Vanishing America

There is a sea change in America that is like a Tsunami moving across the freedoms of this land:


Pentagon wants new spying powers in US

“Pentagon says it won't spy on 'innocent' Americans, but critics say past record shows this is false.
By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com
Claiming it needs greater latitude for the war on terror, the US Senate Intelligence Committee has approved a request from the Pentagon for the right to "covertly" gather intelligence on US citizens in order to determine whether they can recruit them as informants, without telling them that they are doing so on behalf of the US government. Reuters reported Friday that the Pentagon said the measure, which is aimed at the Muslim community in the US, could help them fight insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan…”

Police State is closer than you think
By Paul Craig RobertsRepublished from LewRockwell.com

“Today in the US, the executive branch claims the power to arrest a citizen on its own initiative and hold the citizen indefinitely
Police states are easier to acquire than Americans appreciate.
The hysterical aftermath of September 11 has put into place the main components of a police state.
Habeas corpus is the greatest protection Americans have against a police state. Habeas corpus ensures that Americans can only be detained by law. They must be charged with offenses, given access to attorneys, and brought to trial. Habeas corpus prevents the despotic practice of picking up a person and holding him indefinitely.
President Bush claims the power to set aside habeas corpus and to dispense with warrants for arrest and with procedures that guarantee court appearance and trial without undue delay. Today in the US, the executive branch claims the power to arrest a citizen on its own initiative and hold the citizen indefinitely. Thus, Americans are no longer protected from arbitrary arrest and indefinite detention…”
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Greens noted several indications of the 'Iraqification' of New Orleans:

Here are some of the signs of 'Iraqification' of the South. There is a deliberate and conscious effort to reform New Orleans into a bastion of NeoConservative Values.
This is a grim forecast of what awaits American cities as Bush consolidates ultimate power.

".... Incursion by Blackwater and other private security forces, which already have contracts to provide security in Iraq; such firms are not held to the same standards of accountability as service members of the U.S. Armed Forces.
. The cruel neglect of prisoners in Louisiana, documented by Human Rights Watch and the ACLU , during the hurricane and its aftermath, with inmates locked in cells as floodwaters rose, deaths, and inmates still missing -- recalling official toleration and encouragement of prisoner abuses in Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, and Afghanistan.

. No-bid rebuilding contracts for companies like Halliburton/KBR, which have already profiteered to the tune of billions off the Iraq invasion and occupation, with similar no-bid contracts; award of federal contracts to favored white-owned firms and disregard by FEMA for requirements that contracts go to some minority businesses. According to The Wall Street Journal on September 23, Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson said that "his staff has been unable to locate any federal contracts for Mississippi that went to minority firms".... "During a recent New Orleans City Council hearing... a half-dozen minority business owners said they were being left out of the rebuilding effort, and Council President Oliver Thomas told Mayor Ray Nagin that he was living in 'Neverland' for thinking black businessmen would receive a significant number of government contracts."
. President Bush's appointment of White House advisor Karl Rove -- an administration 'crony' with no known expertise in urban policy or engineering (and who has been implicated in the Valerie Plame scandal) -- to supervise the rebuilding of New Orleans.
. Cuts proposed by Republicans, eliminating as much as $40 billion from Medicare and other social spending to pay for clean-up -- just as they diverted funding from social programs for the military venture in Iraq. "Elderly people who lost their homes and health care providers as a result of the hurricane will bear the brunt of the Medicare cuts," said Leenie Halbert, acting co-chair of the Green Party of Louisiana. "The failure to protect and care for people whose lives have been devastated by the hurricane the repeats to failure to protect and care for soldiers and their families most affected by the war "
. Proposed suspension of environmental protections, with a waiver of EPA rules, in areas hit by Katrina, comparable to the disregard of the environment in war zones.
"President Bush's recent proposal to federalize the National Guard in response to the bird flu threat are consistent with his exploitation of environmental disasters like Katrina and human conflicts like 9/11," said Nan Garrett, Georgia Green Party Co-Chair and Spokesperson of National Women's Caucus. "Crises like Katrina should be an opportunity, not only to provide relief, but to uphold all that's best about America and our concern for people hit by misfortune. Instead, we're seeing an unprecedented effort to centralize power, allow crony corporations to make a killing, and undermine constitutional and environmental protections.".."
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Other Countries fear U.S. so much that they want to move control of the internet away from U.S. hands. The United States has become a pariah nation. No longer does this country stand for peace and justice; human rights and fairness. Now it stands as a raging testimony to tyranny.

The struggle for real control over the Virtual World.

by Mario Osava

“Against the wishes of almost all other governments, Washington wants to maintain the current system of domain names administered by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a private sector, non-profit body that is linked to the U.S. Department of Commerce…”

“…The invasion of Iraq and U.S. restrictions on basic rights in the name of the "war on terrorism" have heightened the urgency of the need to place the Internet under international oversight, according to Carlos Afonso, a Brazilian member of the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) set up by the United Nations…”
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So what is happening to the famous American Middle Class...it would appear that it may be another species quickly facing extermination.

Remember, a middle class is not an accidental structure, it can only be created by Government that forces Corporations to deal fairly and justly with its employees and customers. Take away Government intervention and leave us to the mercies of corporations is like placing a snakehead fish in your aquarium.

The Vanishing Middle
By Harold Meyerson
Wednesday, October 12, 2005; Page A17

“We're leveling down.
With the bankruptcy filing Saturday of Delphi Corp., the largest American auto parts manufacturer, the downward ratcheting of living standards that has afflicted the steel and airline industries hit the auto industry big-time. As Delphi executives tell the tale, they need to reduce the hourly pay of their 34,000 unionized employees from the current $26 to $30 range to a somewhat more modest $10 to $12…”
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This is no longer a country of freemen, this is a country of plutocrats and obscenely rich men who control all the levers of power in this country. At least at the moment.

"...ETHICS -- IRAQ AND KATRINA HAVE MADE CHENEY RICHER: In 2003, Vice President Cheney asserted, "Since I left Halliburton to become George Bush's vice president, I've severed all my ties with the company, gotten rid of all my financial interest. I have no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind and haven't had, now, for over three years." That wasn't true in 2003, and it's not true now. In 2003, Cheney still received deferred compensation from the contracting behemoth and possessed more than 433,000 stock options. Those options were worth $241,498 a year ago; they now are worth more than $8 million. With Cheney in office, Halliburton has received more than $10 billion for work in Iraq and received one of the first no-bid contracts for work in the Gulf Coast..." (American Progress Action Fund, October 12, 2005)

That's all I can handle for one day, I am going to go soak in the hot tub and pretend American still exists.