THREADS 10/30/08

GORT

2.4

Klaatu barada nikto

The Day the US Stood Still
The most efficient way to enslave a nation is through the legal system. Passing laws that slowly remove citizens rights, history has proven, will suffocate any democratic state and make the people vulnerable to the whims of the leader. The objective is to make it appear President Bush signing HR 5122 these laws are being passed for the safety and security of the population. These laws are passed with the justification of an arbitrary threat (i.e. terrorism) - but what these laws really do is remove the power from the people and put it in the hands of the government. This is happening in America today. There is very little transparency in our government any more, laws are being made and signed in secret, bills being passed using threats, and fear is being used to manipulate the public. In American history, the government has perpetrated numerous harmful agendas under false pretenses, but never to the degree that is being done today. "A disturbing recent phenomenon in Washington is that laws that strike to the heart of American democracy have been passed in the dead of the night Beyond actual insurrection, the president may now use military troops as a domestic police force in response to a national disaster, a disease outbreak, terrorist attack or any "other condition." remarks an editorial in the New York Times about the amendment made to the Insurrection Act of 1807. The revision (now referred to as the John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007 (HR 5122)gave the president the power to decide what he felt was a threat - and to disregard the provisions of the Posse Comitatus Act and allow the Army to police the people. Although parts of HR 5122 were repealed due to its conflicts with the Constitution, President George W. Bush attached a signing statement to the bill saying he did not feel bound by the repeal. Two years after signing the bill, 4,000 soldiers were deployed to the US to patrol citizens. In April of 1984, President Reagan signed Presidential Director Number 54, also known as REX 84. REX 84 is an exercise that FEMA would carry out in the case of a national emergency. REX 84 was testing FEMA's ability to assume military authority. In order to successfully carry out the exercise, REX 84 required the 1) suspension of the Constitution of the

Contents Editorial -A Note From My Desk Page One -The Day The US Stood Still Page Two -US stood still Contd Page Three -US stood still Contd Page Four - MOVIE REVIEW Page Five -Meet The Candidates Page Six -New Face/ Social Networking Page Seven -The MRAP Page Eight -The Grapes of Rats -In The News A NOTE FROM MY DESK:
ont you hate it when you go to a party and see all the couples dressed up in matching costumes? Well I do too, which is why Threads and I decided to do just that. This year for Halloween Threads decided to go from inbox to inbox dressed up as Gort from the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still, and I decided that Id be supportive and go as Klaatu from the same movie. This issue will be slightly different than previous issues. For the feature story, I am demanding all my readers to respond to what is put forth. My readers are smart, and Id like the responses to reflect that. I hope this issue will at least make everyone think. Enjoy

~CALIFORNIA KARM@~

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United States, 2) turn control of the government to FEMA, 3) appoint military commanders to run state and local governments and 4) a Declaration of Martial Law. Recently on the internet there has been a lot of buzz about impending Martial Law, much of this originates from Representative Brad Sherman's comment when he spoke to congress about the $700 billion bailout bill that would save banks from completely failing. "The only way they can pass this bill is by creating and sustaining a panic atmosphere. That atmosphere is not justified. Many of us were told in private conversation 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 another couple thousand the second day and a few members were even told that there would be Martial Law in America if we voted no. Thats what I call fearmongering. Unjustified." Shortly after this statement was given, many people began to speculate about a $385 million contract that was given to a subsidiary of Halliburton, Kellogg Brown & Root, in 2006 that was for the construction of detention centers 'somewhere' in the United States. At the time, KBR stated that the detention centers were being built to deal with "an emergency influx of immigrants into the US, or to support the rapid development of new programs." (Emphasis added.) Kellogg Brown & Root built over 600 of these detention centers throughout the country, right now these detention centers are fully operational, fully staffed, and completely empty. Each detention center can hold up to 5,000 people. At capacity all the detention centers will hold in excess of 400,000 people. Four known locations of these empty detention centers in Michigan are in Camp Grayling, Bay City, Berrien County and Lansing. The contract with KBR, combined with HR 5122 and NSPD - 51 / HSPD - 20, (also known as the National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive), not to mention knowledge of REX 84 got many people uneasy. NSPD - 51 is a Directive, passed in secret, which would give the President complete power in the case of a national emergency, of his declaration. As an article in Tennessee's Chattanooga from May 24 explains; "President Bush, without so much as issuing a press statement, on May 9 signed a directive that granted near dictatorial powers to the office of the president in the event of a national emergency declared by the president." In the event of a national (or 'catastrophic') emergency, the president would, under this bill, be granted powers unforeseen in this country. The article in the Chatanooga continues; "The directive loosely defines "catastrophic emergency" as "any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the US population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions. "NSPD-51 / HSPD-20 also makes no reference whatsoever to Congress. The language of the May 9 directive appears to negate any requirement that the President submit to Congress a determination that a national emergency exists, suggesting instead that the powers of the executive order can be implemented without any congressional approval or oversight." Suddenly Sherman's short speech before Congress seems more plausible. In short, an economic failure equals justification for Martial Law. The President has given himself the power to declare almost any crisis a 'national emergency'. With the 2007 National Defense Authorization Act, the presidents ability to "federalize" the Guard during a national emergency such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters, pandemics and "other emergencies" was greatly expanded in that he'd no longer have to consult with state Governors to do so. Due to the haste in passing the $700 billion bailout bill (formally known as the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act), there wasn't much time for Congress to add certain regulations for the money, as far as what the banks receiving the aid could do with it. Recent reports indicate that the banks do not intend on using the money for its intended purpose, instead some banks want to buy other banks, pay dividends, give employees raises and executive bonuses, or in some cases, some banks want to just "sit on" the money given to them. It doesn't appear that the money will be used to help the homeowners, pressed for money, keep their homes from being foreclosed.

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If these banks use this money in the ways they suggest they will, it will only worsen the current economic problems already present in America. The haste in passing this bill could very well make the economy far worse than it is, truly turning an economic crisis into a "catastrophic emergency." On Labor Day, the first day of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, a crowd of two hundred people who were gathered in the Harriet Island Regional Park were surrounded by police and all of them were arrested, indiscriminately, without probably cause. Not one of these citizens was read their Miranda Rights, but because they were in proximity of 600 protesters who were arrested, they were also arrested. The entire situation that happened in Minnesota seems puzzling. As Americans we are given the right to "Peaceably Assemble", the right to "Freedom of Speech" and the right to "Petition the Government for a redress of grievances" in the first Amendment of the Bill of Rights. Not to mention the fourth amendments right that every citizen has, in which probable cause must be ascertained before any arrest is made. If, yet another bill that was passed in the House by 404 of our elected representatives, were to become law, mass arrests like what happened in Minnesota could become normal. The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 (HR 1955), dubbed the "Thought Crime Prevention Bill" would make any "extremist belief system for the purpose of facilitating ideological based violence in advance political, religious, or social change" illegal. The bill is directed at the American people and its aim is to silence any dissent among the people against the government that the government deems harmful. The definitions of "violent radicalization" and "homegrown terrorism" are so vague that anything from a large group of protesters to a small group of anarchists could be deemed a threat to the US government - simply because their views or beliefs differ from that of the US government. HR 1955 would no longer require that an actual crime be committed for the government to take action against a group. Outrage at the government could, if this bill is passed, be perceived as a threat and the government can put the individual or group in prison because of it. As the bill defines homegrown terrorism; "(3) HOMEGROWN TERRORISM - The term 'homegrown terrorism' means the use, planned use, or threatened use of force or violence by a group or individual born, raised, or based and operating primarily within the United States or any possession of the United States to intimidate or coerce the United States government, the civilian population or the United States, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives." The Bill of Rights does not give any parameters to freedom of speech - only that one individual's rights ends when they infringe on other individuals rights. This election year, our rights as American's may just hang in the balance. On October 1 of this year, the First Brigade of the Third Infantry Division, which is nearly 4,000 soldiers, were deployed in the United States. Their mission is crowd control to subdue "unruly individuals" and manage a national emergency. The soldiers will have access to both lethal and non lethal crowd control technologies and tanks. They will be called the chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-explosive Consequence Management Response Force (CCMRF, pronounced "sea-smurf"). They have been deployed for twelve months. What is unraveling in America really fast is a complete undercutting of democracy as we know it. How all this will play out is still unknown, but noting what has already taken place, we can only speculate that things will get worse long before they get better. Both presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama have already been briefed at the White House by the FBI about a terrorist threat that could take place within the first 250 days either candidate takes office. The bills being signed in the White House, and then later implemented will continue to happen - despite, unfortunately, who becomes the next President. The President has given himself (and possibly successors) a lot of power, power that was taken from American citizens. How did this happen? Perhaps it was when we, as a nation, stopped questioning our government and instead decided to stand still.

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MOVIE REVIEW

Rachel Getting Married: A Study in Lividity

By Krista McNeil Amidst the cacophony of life there is a string quintet playing funeral dirges from India. Or, so it is in the nomos of the provocative movie, Rachel Getting Married. By provocative, I mean it in the strictest literal fashion possible: this movies calls to its viewers so subtly they are unaware. Aesthetically, it is also provocative. It is as if Tim Burton latched on to The Family Stone, and added his own unique flare. A single camera at times, and a shaky one makes it feel like a reality show. Other times the camera remains in scenes that would normally be cut-off. It forces the viewers to be just as uncomfortable as the characters in the awkward scenes. At other points it makes it feel as though you are eavesdropping on painfully personal moments and conversations. The movie does not fear to call forth and elicit feelings and emotions other movies go out of their way to avoid. The two old ladies next to me hated it. They said it was interesting, and I thought maybe they were on to something; maybe it was just interesting. But then, the old ladies couldnt figure out how to cross the street outside the theater, even with the crosswalk signs. The film doesnt follow the traditional introduction, climax, resolution pattern. Its more, introduction, climax, restoration to introduction. The climax, in fact, doesnt occur until very near the end and so subtle that I would bet money on 90% of the audience missing it altogether (just like the two old ladies, who remarked, Why is she sending that little boat out onto the swimming pool? It is a waste of film time.) Its sort of like the title being a participial phrase, the reader has to finish the sentence in order for it to move beyond the realm of mere interest. Its like those old kitschy Mad Lib books we all had as children: Rachel, getting married, caused Kym to come home. Or, maybe Rachel shouldnt be the subject, maybe, Kym should be: Kym, seeing Rachel getting married, felt abandoned. The true brilliance of a participial phrase as the title is that it explains the lack of traditional plotline. The Greeks can be credited with refining the use of participial phrases to describe ongoing action. When penned by the greatest Greek linguists the ongoing action is woven into a fine tension and juxtaposed to the rest of the sentence, which

has as its pinnacle a finite and completed verb/action. The participial phrases are the most important part of these sentencesit is where all other action takes place. This movie is not about a grand story with a resolved plot, it is about the day-to-day ongoingness of trying to live, but never quite making it, in the face of the death of Ethan. Rachel gets married, but not completely. We never see the union consummated; we never see her and her spouse living happily ever after. Nothing is resolved with Kym. Completion is always just out of reach for these characters. The reason the film works is because each scene is a verse, coddled by a selah. This is one of my favorite narrative techniques, and perhaps one of the most difficult for writers to master. It is a reflection of psalmistry, and Jenny Lumet writes as though she studied at the feet of King David himself. The familys fighting is balanced by the antiphon of the wedding string quartet practicing in the background; Kyms self hatred and attempts to heal herself at addicts meetings are embraced by the solemn dirges. It is simultaneously a lament and a praise psalm. The casting of Anne Hathaway as the lead actress is the only aspect that weakens the provocative resolve of the film. I get itsex sellsJonathan Demme had no other choice. Had he not picked a sexy, traditionally beautiful female lead, the film never would have gotten off the ground. Lumets narrative is one in which nothing is perfect, as I said, where nothing is completed. For Demme to have casted such a beautiful person as Kym weakens Lumets theme. The motif of a pale white, drug addicted, beautiful female is one that shows like Law and Order and CSI have beaten to death. All of the other characters in the movie are imperfectfrom the stepmoms overly tanned skin and sunspots, to Sidneys huge nosethese imperfections perfect the characters as I imagine Lumet imagined them. Hathaway is not how I suspect Lumet imagined Kym. Hathaway, as Kym, makes her come across as someone who was not ever strong, and someone who will never be strong. Yet, the essence of the character Kym is someone who, though painfully shattered, is unbreakable. In any matter though Hathaway is stunning, as are all the characters. And they, like Lumets writing and Demmes directing draw the audience into a world where lividity is critiqued by the clear stillness of a pool of water and the selah of a praise psalm.
Read this and more at; http://modernpsychomachia.blogspot.com/

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Charles Baldwin

Robert L Barr Jr

Cynthia Ann McKinney

Constitutional Party Write In

Libertarian Party Write-In

Green Party Write-In

John S. McCain III

Barack H. Obama Jr.

With 341 Presidential Candidates running this year, including "Santa Claus", "God J. Lally", "Jesus B. Muhammed", "Savior", "Da Vid" and "Watchman" - most of them being write - ins, how will we ever know who to vote for? In Michigan there will be eight potential candidates to choose from, including John McCain and Barack Obama, so lets take a look at wholl be on the ballot.

Republican Party

Democratic Party

Ralph Nader

Alan L Keyes

Brian P. Moore

No Party Affiliation Write-In

American Independent Write-In

Socialist Party Write-In

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OPINION
I believe Bluehoo will cause a lot of people to miss out on some very good potential friendships. Finding friends etc. shouldn't be like picking out a melon at the grocery store. In my experience, the friends that are least like me happen to be the ones I enjoy being around, I get the feeling Bluehoo will attempt to match people up on their similarities, which may be ok for some instances, but I feel it's the asynchronicities of life that really pull us together. People like challenges, and even the small differences amongst friends hold them together as much as the similarities simply because those differences are something we feel we must 'figure out' and understand. Differences amongst friends forces people into trying to understand one another. In order to understand another person, we are obligated to get to know them. I believe Bluehoo will catch on amongst the "tech-savvy" first before it is realized that there are some bugs in this new technology that won't be able to be fixed, mainly the bug being that human relationships cannot be calculated. Sure, some websites like to assert that they have found a way to match up individuals, but their methods go a little further than a simple profile. Although I can't foresee this catching on mainstream like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter, I am kind of curious to see Bluehoo in action. I wonder if, once a person is detected a small GPS screen pops up with an arrow on it pointing at the potential target. But outside of social networking, how else could a technology like this be used - or misused? A part of me believes Bluehoo is a derivative of a technology already in use for spying on civilian's through FISA - but that is the slight paranoia in me talking. But lets look at the reality, there is already a problem with "MyStalking" in which individuals learn about every social engagement of another individual through the more "primitive" social networking sites. At least MySpace and Facebook don't reveal where a person (or, at least their cell phone) is at any given second of the day. We all are aware of the powers of hackers. This is the scenario I envision: All, or at least a large majority of cell phones have GPS locaters built in to them. With Bluehoo, the application is always searching for others who use the same application. So in theory, a person could "link" up to a persons cell phone via their bluetooth signal that their social networking pal, Bluehoo is constantly sending out and simply tap into the users internal GPS on the cell phone. Although I know very little about the ins and outs of "hacking", tracking a potential target this way seems way too easy and, at least in my mind, inevitable to happen. Currently I am reading two books, The Brothers Karamazov and Thomas L Friedman's The World Is Flat and I really like the contrasting social dynamics described in both books, but for a moment I'd like to discuss The World Is Flat.

The New Face In Social Networking

By: Chadwick Heller Once upon a time there was Friendster, then MySpace, then Facebook, then Twitter, now there is a new kid on the block that wants to change the face of social networking altogether. Meet Bluehoo, born Friday, September 5th 2008, barely out of diapers and it wants to take the virtual social networking world by storm. Bluehoo, also known as Hoobert is a blue-tooth based networking application that desires to make actually talking to other people obsolete. Bluehoo will run exclusively on cell phones and it is designed to scan the area the cell phone is in to see if other people have the application as well - the scan will be done using bluetooth. When your phone detects another person with the application, you will then be able to view their profile on your phone and determine if that person is someone you'd like to get to know. Bluehoo is currently in its beta stage and it's site claims to have just under 130,000 "hoos". Bluehoo, using bluetooth will constantly be "talking" back and forth to its home servers, therefore the application is likely to use up a lot of a cell phone users data allowance. Bluehoo will also work on Windows Azure. As it looks now, Bluehoo will become any individuals ultimate "people detector", presumably being used for those of us who aren't sure how to identify another human being. Thanks to Bluehoo, you will no longer find your self having deep, engaging conversations with a chair at your next party engagement. I personally am subscribed to four "social networking" websites, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and Helium and use them all to keep in contact with different people in my social sphere. All of these sites at one point had critics claiming that people would "stop talking to one another like normal people", but in reality, except for an expansion in our lexicon - socializing amongst other humans hasn't changed. Bluehoo however may just be that social networking utility that the critics have been warning us about. I am not sure how I'd feel if someone came up to me and said "Hey, Chadwick Heller! My phone just told me that I should talk to you - so, your profile says you like to read and write and listen to Against All Authority, and that your favorite authors are Jack Kerouac and Jose Saramago, guess what, mine too!..." I'd sure be dumbfounded, until I opened my phone and looked at their profile to respond, "Uh, it says here your favorite authors are Dr. Seuss and Tom Cruise, and that 'Miley Cirus really just rocks my face off so much - she is SO hardcore!!!!' I'm sorry, Disney is calling, they want their mousekateer back."

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OPINION Continued Due to the advancements in internet related technology, Friedman puts forth that the world is leveling (or flattening) out. Competition and business is no longer conducted within just the city, state or countries borders any more, but rather globally. Conference calls can be made between business partners in San Francisco, Las Vegas, New York, London and New Delhi via large flat screen monitors that are connected wirelessly. Students in Colorado can be tutored in Geometry via the internet from a teacher in India. Perhaps Bluehoo is the first step in truly flattening the social world. Even with the downsides that I see with Bluehoo, there is one potential upside to the new technology. Maybe Bluehoo will allow us to judge one another, not by our outward appearances alone, but rather by the "content of our character" - if that can be displayed on a profile that is. Maybe Bluehoo is the first step in breaking down social barriers amongst people. Again, I don't know exactly how Bluehoo will work as far as what information will be shared in these "profiles", nor it's range of coverage, but maybe it will weaken some of the walls that society has so carefully built.

The MRAP
A new level in army protection Yesterday I had a chance to speak to my friend Brian Zook, who is currently serving a one year tour in Iraq. The conversation was brief, he couldn't share much about what he was doing aside from the fact that he was near the Iraq / Iran border and that things were going good in the area he was in but that "with the elections over there coming up that could all change but I am a driver of an MRAP its a pretty safe vehicle." He then told me that I should use the 'ole Google and find out what this "MRAP" vehicle is. The MRAP is a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) Armored Vehicle that, as Brian describes it is a "badass 25 tons of armor" on wheels. This 'badass 25 tons of armor on wheels' was designed exclusively for the conditions faced in Iraq. It is designed to with stand the impact of IED's, overhead airbursts and side protection against shrapnel. The windows on the MRAP are designed to withstand "equal to or greater than" that of the armor on the vehicle.

The MRAP will help protect troops like Brian against Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) which are responsible for 70% of all the US casualties in Iraq. The MRAP will replace the Humvee's in Iraq and Afghanistan due to the Humvee's vulnerability to IED's. There are two MRAP models, the Cougar JERRV and the Buffalo mine protected trucks. The Buffalo has slightly less armor than the Cougar, but it is designed for mobility and transporting troops in less hostile areas. The Buffalo is the heavily armored vehicle that troops will take into more hostile territories due to its heavy protection that it provides. Some models of the Buffalo are designed with a special arm to help clear land mine fields, without harming any of the soldiers within the vehicle. To date, the Cougar and Buffalo MRAP's have taken over 1,000 IED hits without a loss of life.

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The Grapes of Rats

For those who enjoy a sodium rich diet, grapes have been found, in a new University of Michigan study to lower the risk of high blood pressure that can develop into heart failure. The study, published in the October issue of the Journal of Gerontology: Biological Sciences finds that the antioxidants within green, red and black grapes may reduce hypertension that can lead to heart failure. The researchers fed two groups of rats similar sodium rich diets, one group, however was also fed a powdered form of standard table grapes. After 18 weeks, the rats that ate the grape - enriched powder showed to have a much lower blood pressure than the rats that did not receive the powder mixture. "These findings support our theory that something within the grapes themselves has a direct impact on cardiovascular risk, beyond the simple bloodpressure-lowering impact that we already know can come from a diet rich in fruit and vegetables," said Mitchell Seymour, who manages the University of Michigan Cardioprotection Research Laboratory. The "something" Seymour is referring to is believed to be the flavanoids in the skin, flesh and seeds of grapes. Although the results were promising with the rats, further studies will need to be conducted to examine the degree of the effects on humans. The researchers were encouraged by the findings however and say that this information could be very beneficial to our aging population. According to another recent study, only 35% of women and 39% of men over age 60 consumed two servings of fruit per day. Only 6% of men and women ate the recommended three servings of daily vegetables.

In The News
Pakistan earthquake kills 170, leaves thousands homeless Demonstrations in Syria force closure of US embassy Syria closes down American school in retaliation of Sundays Air Strike Thousands without power in Upstate New York due to Snow Storm Feds cut interest rate to 1% Lowell MI football #1 in country NASA may speed up launch of moonship Homeless in Ohio allowed to vote o Judge declared that homeless can list park benches and other locations that aren't buildings as their address Joaquin Phoenix quits acting Schools and libraries see hundred of requests to ban books Sarah Palin eyeing 2012 Presidency Live grenade donated to Goodwill in Santa Cruz California Microsoft offers reward of missing XBOX 360 gamer after boy ran away US may already be engaging in a Proxy War with Iran UK declares Iceland a terrorist state Britains Rat population soaring to record levels Diebold voting machines hackable in about 1 minute Report on Iraq security lists 310 private contractors

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