Tag: 1984 was a Warning not a Blueprint

Leah Plante Joins Fellow Anarchist in Prison

I have an update on yesterday’s story about Leah Planet. She refused to testify against he fellow anarchists during the grand jury hearing and is now being held in a cage:

A third self-described anarchist from the Pacific Northwest has been jailed by federal officials for refusing to speak before a secretive grand jury that the accused have called a politically-motivated modern-day witch-hunt.

Leah-Lynn Plante, a mid-20s activist from Seattle, Washington, was ushered out of court by authorities on Wednesday after refusing for a third time to answer questions forced on her by a grand jury — a panel of prosecutors convened to determine if an indictment can be issued for a federal crime.

She joins fellow anarchists Katherine Olejnik and Matt Duran as state prisoners in their fishing expedition. Even though the state goons had enough cause to get a warrant issued (in other words they were able to drop the word anarchist near a judge) they apparently couldn’t find enough evidence of wrongdoing to charge the three with any crime so they’ve resorted to coercive tactics to wrest testimonies from the three. Fortunately Leah, Katherine, and Matt are reusing to play the state’s game.

I can do nothing but commend the three’s refusal to cooperate with the criminal gang generally referred to as government. Whether they do anything wrong or not isn’t really relevant in this case as responsibility to gather evidence of wrongdoing falls to the prosecutors. Seeing insufficient evidence exists to even bring up charges this is looking more like an anarchist witch hunt than a serious attempt to get justice for wronged individuals.

President Obama is Trying to Get Us Directly Involved in Syria

President Obama, the man who ran on an anti-war platform in 2008, is working very hard to get America directly involved in Syria. According to Dennis Kucinich, Obama has deployed troops very close to the Syrian border:

Ohio Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich believes the deployment of American troops in Jordan — which was announced Wednesday — brings the United States “immeasurably” closer to being dragged into the civil war in Syria.

“I can see in a moment how it happens: we’re a few dozen miles from the Syrian border and all of a sudden we are within the reach of physical danger. All it takes is a single incident,” Kucinich said in a phone interview with U.S. News.

The Ohio congressman complained that the commander-in-chief sent the troops to Jordan “without notifying Congress.” Ironically, Kucinich noted, the Obama administration announced the deployment exactly ten years after the House of Representatives authorized President George W. Bush to invade Iraq.

As Kucinich said our troops will be within reach of physical danger. All that is needed is for one Syrian soldier, or more likely a rebel acting as a Syrian soldier, to fire on our troops and an excuse to enter a direct conflict with the Syrian state will exist.

Why would Obama do this? Why would he purposely put United States personnel needlessly in danger? Probably because he wants to the start the war with Syria less Romney gets the chance if he wins the election. In addition to fulfilling our state’s bloodlust winning against the Syrian government would give us yet another country bordering Iran to build military bases in. The path to Persia will be all but entirely paved soon enough.

Locking People in Cages

A Seattle anarchist is likely to be tossed into a cage because she’s unwilling to cooperate with a Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) witch hunt:

Today Leah Plante will again appear before a federal grand jury in Seattle, Washington, for the third time, and refuse to testify about her political beliefs and political associations. It is likely that she will be imprisoned for her principled stance against what she calls a witch hunt against local anarchists.

The grand jury is investigating anarchists in the Northwest, following FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force raids in search of “anarchist literature.” Two other anarchists, Matthew Kyle Duran and Katherine Olejnik, have already been imprisoned for refusing to cooperate.

I have to give Leah Plante credit for having one hell of a backbone. Her kidnapping at the hands of law enforcement agents appears to be nothing more than a typical interstate anarchist witch hunt that the FBI likes to perform periodically (before the Republican National Convention in St. Paul similar raids were conducted on anarchist gathering spots). These witch hunts, like any form of state witch hunt, are run in a fairly specific manner. First a warrant is issued that targets anything and everything you may find at a typical target’s home (anarchist literature in an anarchist home for example) then the targeted individuals are hauled in front of a grand jury and expected to testify against their friends. These coerced (if they don’t testify they’re locked in a cage) testimonies are then used as evidence to bring charges against the targeted individuals.

If she does testify her friends may face charges and spend time in a cage and if she doesn’t testify she’ll probably spend time in a cage. As usual the state offers no escape from its wrath.

The Ministry of Propaganda is in Full Swing

I have to say that the Obama campaign has succeeded in employing some of the slickest propagandists in the country. Take a look at this site that purports to show how Obama’s policies have directly helped local municipalities.

Don’t mind the fact that the information contained on that site is pure malarkey since all of the listed projects are funded through the Recovery Act; funding that Congress controls. Still it’s a damn slick site and the boys over at the Romney campaign really need to get their shit together if they hope to combat Obama’s propaganda with their own propaganda. Seriously, Joseph Goebbels would be in awe of the Obama campaign’s ability in marketing.

Making Up Propaganda

The state has a habit of making up stories in order to make itself appear necessary and benevolent. For example the United States government has spend untold amounts of money convincing the people living within its claimed territory that certain drugs are bad. Needless to say the same government also like to brag about drug busts because it believes such busts will convince the people of the government’s necessity. Sometimes the state gets caught making up such propaganda and it’s usually quick to deny such allegations, even when those allegations are undeniable:

[P]olice still won’t admit the plants they seized in what was supposedly the biggest outdoor marijuana bust in Lethbridge history are plain old flowers — daisies, to be precise.

All police will concede at this point is the 1,624 plants torn from a suburban Lethbridge garden on July 30 isn’t marijuana, as first claimed after a phalanx of police marched in and starting plucking.

Daisies aren’t marijuana but the state isn’t going to admit that anytime soon.

Welcome to the Club Assange

I would like to take a moment to congratulate Julian Assange on receiving the prestigious award of being declared an enemy of the state:

THE US military has designated Julian Assange and WikiLeaks as enemies of the United States – the same legal category as the al-Qaeda terrorist network and the Taliban insurgency.

Declassified US Air Force counter-intelligence documents, released under US freedom-of-information laws, reveal that military personnel who contact WikiLeaks or WikiLeaks supporters may be at risk of being charged with “communicating with the enemy”, a military crime that carries a maximum sentence of death.

Being declared an enemy of the state isn’t always an easy task. Some individuals seeking this award resort to taking the low road of violence but Assange decided to take the high road but creating a system where the state’s secrets could be revealed for all to see. From one enemy of the state to another I welcome Assange to the club.

The hypocrisy of this declaration should be noted by everybody. The United States government claims it’s a “government of the people, by the people.” If that were the case the people would need access to all available state information in order to make informed decisions. Instead the state conceals the most important information in order to persuade the people that everything is running fine. What this demonstrates is that the United States government isn’t by the people, it’s by the oligarchs who tell the people fair tales in order to keep them placated and subservient while believing they’re in charge.

A Serf by Any Other Name is Still a Serf

What do you call an agricultural laborer work is forced to work a lord’s land? A serf. What do you call an agricultural laborer who is forced to work a lord’s land but is allowed to keep half of his produce? A serf:

North Korea plans to allow farmers to keep as much as half of their produce in an attempt to boost agricultural output, it has been claimed, in a move that would be a major economic reform for the beleaguered country.

How fucking generous of the North Korean government. They’re only going to take half of the serfs’ food! Obviously the new Dear Leader is far more benevolent and generous than the list. At this rate North Koreans will be free individuals within 1,000 years!

Seriously, if the population of any country should be revolting it’s North Korea’s.

Nuking the Economy

What does the world’s most powerful military force do when it runs out of money? Spend money it doesn’t have on upgrading weapons that it doesn’t need:

They may be cash poor as the recession continues, but that doesn’t stop the Obama Administration from continuing to spend, with a new scheme to spend hundreds of billions of dollars they don’t have on thousands of nuclear weapons they don’t need.

The “modernization” plan seeks to upgrade some 5,113 nuclear warheads as well as refurbishing nuclear weapons facilities and replace delivery systems for the weapons, each capable of wiping out a major city, and combined capable of destroying virtually the sum total of human civilization.

I give up, what can you say about this story that it doesn’t say already?

Executive Branch Says Restricting Executive Branch’s Power Unconstitutional

Brace yourselves because I’m about to dump a shocker of a news story on you. The executive branch has come out and said that it’s unconstitutional to restrict its power:

The Obama administration had some harsh words Friday after a federal judge appointed by Obama said the government doesn’t have a right to indefinitely detain anyone even remotely associated with terrorist groups.

[…]

Forrest’s ruling oversteps the court’s authority and infringes on Obama’s power to act as Commander in Chief, according to the government’s court filings.

Many constitutional scholars claim that the purpose of the Constitution is to restrict the state’s power. Supposedly the document lists very specific powers granted to each branch of the state. Looking at the document I don’t see where it states the president has the power to indefinitely detain an American citizen without due process. Are constitutional scholars incorrect in this assessment that the Constitution is meant to restrict governmental power or is the executive branch incorrect in claiming that it has the power to indefinitely detain individuals without due process? Thankfully the Constitution describes how these kinds of disputes can be resolved as it gives sole authority to decide such matters to a court of nine people that are part of the state. Wait… there seems to be some conflict of interest here.

Judge Blocks Enforcement of the NDAA’s Indefinite Detention Clause

It appears as though there are a handful of good judges left in this country. United States District Judge Katherine Forrest has blocked the enforcement of the NDAA’s indefinite detention clauses:

A federal judge permanently blocked enforcement of a U.S. law that opponents claim may subject them to indefinite military detention for activities including news reporting and political activism.

U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan today ruled that the law, passed as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012, is unconstitutional. Forrest made permanent the preliminary injunction against the law that she had ordered in May. The government is appealing her May order.

I’m not surprised to hear the state appealing the decision, the last thing they want is to have their power restricted. If I was a betting man I’d put money on the state getting a successful appeal because the number of good judges in the system is minuscule. Most judges seem happy to grant its employer whatever power it demands.