THE HANDSTAND

august 2005

Doremus Jessup, editor of the Fort Beulah The Daily Informer, in Sinclair Lewis' famous book "It Can't Happen Here", at its conclusion, "drove out, saluted by the meadow larks, and onward all day, to a hidden cabin in the Northern Woods where quiet men awaited news of freedom.....still Doremus goes on, into the sunrise, for a Doremus Jessup can never die......



Mark Witney writes:

"Tyranny has very few indispensable parts; a compliant media, that will regulate information to meet the goals of the state; a “rubber-stamp” Parliament that will endorse the policies of the supreme leader; a judiciary that will adjust the law to serve the requirements of the ruling body, a strong military to seize the wealth of weaker nations; and a security apparatus, that will eliminate any domestic threats to the system. On June 29 President Bush took the great-leap forward in transforming the nation’s intelligence services by ordering a restructuring of the FBI and putting “a broad swath of the agency” under the direct control of the executive.

Bingo; Bush’s personal secret police; an American Gestapo. The formation of the new agency was presented as part of 74 recommendations made by the 9-11 Commission on Intelligence. Every member of the so-called “independent” panel was hand-picked by the Bush team and their proposals reflect the narrow interests of American elites. Bush loyalists and Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) members Lawrence Silberman and Charles Robb, (both of whom were directly involved in the 9-11 whitewash) chaired the committee, and provided the rationale for the dramatic changes to the existing system. Astonishingly, Bush was able to unilaterally create the National Security Service without congressional approval as part of his sweeping powers under the new anti-terror legislation.

The freshly minted National Security Service, which has been dubbed the New SS, will operate under the authority of former ambassador to Iraq, John Negroponte, whose involvement in overseeing the terrorist activities of death squads in Nicaragua will provide him with the necessary experience for his new task. Negroponte, the new Intelligence czar, will report directly to the President, who in turn will carefully monitor the violations of civil liberties that will naturally evolve from unsupervised investigations. The formation of the Bush Gestapo overturns long held precedents for maintaining the independence of law enforcement agencies."

Mark Witney: Genesis of an American Gestapo

President Bush, in December 2000, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying, "If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator."

US anti-war grannies face justice

Elderly members of a US anti-war group called the "raging grannies of Tucson" are due in court following a protest at an Arizona military recruitment centre. They have been accused of trespassing after entering the centre earlier this month, saying they wanted to enlist. The group, mostly women in their 60s and 70s, said they wanted to go to Iraq so their grandchildren could come home. An army spokeswoman says the protesters were not serious about enlisting and were harassing recruiters. Nine people - five elderly activists and four journalists - are due to appear in court on Monday. The Raging Grannies, who are associated with the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, have held protests outside the Tucson recruitment centre every week for three years. 'Serious' On 13 July the group decided to enter the premises. "We went in saying we were here to enlist, but they didn't believe us," Pat Birnie, a spokeswoman for the group, told the BBC News website. "We read a statement, sang songs, and then we left." Ms Birnie, 75, said the protesters were well outside the centre when police arrived and said they were trespassing, a criminal offence. She said the charge was an "overreaction", and that the grannies had been serious about joining the army. "We would like to replace our young who are in the firing line," Ms Birnie said. Nancy Hutchinson, an Army spokeswoman in Arizona, told AP news agency that those opposed to the Iraq war should contact their legislators rather than bother recruiters. "They need to direct their frustrations at people who have the power to change things," she said.