Category: Military

Please join us in Protest, Monday

Spectrum of Views on the Loss of Freedoms If Bill Is Signed

This much we know: if President Obama signs the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), then it will be legal for American citizens to be arrested on United States soil, and be held indefinitely without trial. The House and Senate have now both passed the bill and it is going to Obama’s desk, where it is anticipated that he will quickly sign it.

Once the bill goes into law, it is a serious threat to the Bill of Rights and the rule of law within this country. It would seriously undermine the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th Amendments in the Bill of Rights.

Here is what the NDAA will cut up, here is the (actual) text of these amendments that protect American citizens that will be decimated:

Fourth Amendment – Protection from unreasonable search and seizure.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Fifth Amendment – due process, double jeopardy, self-incrimination, eminent domain.

The American military’s involvement in Iraq is over, with the formal ending of the engagement being announced yesterday by Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta at a very low-key ceremony at the Iraqi airport. Attended, by the way, by very few Iraqi politicians and civilian leaders.

This war – which cost 4500 American lives and 32,000 wounded, and over (a conservative estimate) 100,000 dead Iraqis – which forced us to spend $1 trillion, was one of the most shameful periods in modern American history.

This has to be said – as the corporate media, the pundits and politicians declare how proud they are of American combat troops while saying nothing about all the lies that the Bush administration pushed in order to invade that country in March of 2003.

In this celebratory atmosphere – we need to remind ourselves of the lies that got us there.

Lie No. 1: Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi government had weapons of mass destruction. None were ever found.

Lie No. 2: Saddam Hussein was responsible for the attacks on 9/11. Totally not true.

Lie No. 3: the Iraqis had connections with al Queda. Totally not true.

Senators Al Franken, Bernie Sanders, Rand Paul along with 8 others voted against the National Defense Authorization Act

By Felicia Sonmez / Washington Post / Updated: Thursday, December 15, 2:41 PM

A sweeping defense bill that sparked a heated debate over the handling of terrorism suspects passed the Senate on Thursday afternoon and is headed to President Obama’s desk, bringing to an end weeks of wrangling that included a veto threat from the White House.

The $662 billion defense authorization bill was approved by the Senate on an 86 to 13 vote one day after the White House withdrew its threat to veto the measure over several controversial detainee provisions that it said infringed on its executive power. The bill overwhelmingly passed the House on Wednesday night on a 283 to 136 vote.

By J. Harry Jones / SignOnSanDiego / Originally published October 28, 2011

The Los Coyotes Indian tribe can evict the military training center that has been operating on its remote North County reservation since last year, according to a ruling a federal judge issued Friday.

U.S. District Court Judge William Q. Hayes refused to grant a temporary restraining order against the tribe, which would have barred it from evicting ERTC LLC, formerly known as the Eagle Rock Training Center. The business, which caters to the military and law enforcement, insists it has a valid 25-year lease to conduct business on virtually the entire 25,000-acre North County reservation.

Eagle Fire in July Part of Conflict between Los Coyotes Tribe and Eagle Rock Training Center

By Dave Maass / CityBeat / September 28, 2011

An American Indian tribe in San Diego County has been engaged in a four-month standoff with a military contractor that refuses to leave its reservation, according to documents recently filed in U.S. District Court.

Tea party offers a lesson, but progressives don’t get it.

By Rick Janhkow

Below is a recent NYT News Service article that illustrates a point I have tried to make in the past about why progressive activism in this country is so weak and ineffective, and why counter-recruitment and school demilitarization work is an antidote to that weakness.

In general, peace and other progressive movement organizations in the U.S. focus on electoral campaigns, legislative lobbying and street protests that are immediate responses to crises, while they fail to simultaneously pursue long-term strategies that are necessary to make the general public willing to embrace and actively seek progressive social change.

Two-Faced Washington : Lowering America’s War Ceiling? Imperial Psychosis on Display

By Tom Engelhardt / TomDispatch.com / August 2, 2011

By now, it seems as if everybody and his brother has joined the debt-ceiling imbroglio in Washington, perhaps the strangest homespun drama of our time. It’s as if Washington’s leading political players, aided and abetted by the media’s love of the horserace, had eaten LSD-laced brownies, then gone on stage before an audience of millions to enact a psychotic spectacle of American decline.

Working to counter military recruiting and demilitarize our schools

I was asked to see if I could rekindle (and I can barely keep a campfire going) energy around leafleting our high schools with information to help students understand and deal with the attempts at militarizing them they’ll find in their schools and in their communities and beyond, as anyone can see in commercials, video games, and every form of media.

Well, it should be obvious that there’s a tremendous need for us, especially those of us who dare to refer to ourselves as “community activists.” We look out for our children when Uncle Sam comes after them with his zest for war, even though some of the organizations and activities that counter the militarization of young people are shrinking nationwide.

Using synthetic drugs such as spice will do more than just risk your military career — it could lead to serious and potentially long-term mental disorders.

That’s the initial observation by a Navy psychiatry resident who worked with sailors and Marines treated this past year at Naval Medical Center San Diego for using the popular-yet-banned drugs.

I’m not sure how the The OB Rag ended up on the invite list for the F-35 Cockpit Demonstrator event hosted by Lockheed Martin on May 17. But I had that morning free — and as Kurt Vonnegut wrote, “peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God” — so I volunteered to check it out.

The event was held at a Kearny Mesa office of Cobham Sensor Systems, a defense contractor with about 1,000 employees in San Diego. The goal was “to celebrate the past success and the strong future of the F-35 aircraft” with community leaders and media, said Eric Forstner, vice president of sales and marketing for Cobham.

The times are a – changin’. They certainly are. NASSCO – with 60% of its workcrew Latino, and located in Barrio Logan, a Mexican-American neighborhood of San Diego – is about to christen its latest Navy cargo ship after Cesar Chavez. The dedication ceremony will occur on Tuesday, May 17th, at NASSCO. The Chavez family will be flying into San Diego for it.

By Jeanette Steele / SignOnSanDiego / April 25, 2011

The Navy’s Third Fleet said it has halted use of time-delay underwater bombs for training in the waters off San Diego after a March 4 incident that killed at least three dolphins.