The Coming Coup d'Etat?

noreply@blogger.com (agnesblout) — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 17:56:00 +0000

How the President's advance team tries to eliminate the constitutional rights of "peaceable assembly" and the right "to petition the government for a redress of grievances"

clipped from http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/commentary.aspx?id=19099

I have a copy of the Presidential Advance Manual that instructs staffers responsible for preparing presidential appearances around the country to deter “potential demonstrators” from attending such events as “speeches, rallies, roundtable meetings and tours.” (The manual was obtained by subpoena in an ACLU lawsuit by two arrested demonstrators.)

Can this be the message we want to send to the world about our democracy in action? The advance manual’s answer to that impertinent question is to urge that when the president is speaking before “larger rallies,” these “rally squads,” including “college/young Republican organizations, local athletic teams and fraternities/sororities,” should get in front of the stage and “immediately in front of the main camera platform.” Thereby the cameras will focus on truly right-thinking Americans instead of the rabble expressing themselves.

Secret US air force team to perfect plan for Iran strike

noreply@blogger.com (agnesblout) — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 18:53:00 +0000

clipped from www.timesonline.co.uk

THE United States Air Force has set up a highly confidential strategic
planning group tasked with “fighting the next war” as tensions rise with
Iran.

Project Checkmate, a successor to the group that planned the 1991 Gulf War’s
air campaign, was quietly reestablished at the Pentagon in June.

It reports directly to General Michael Moseley, the US Air Force chief, and
consists of 20-30 top air force officers and defence and cyberspace experts
with ready access to the White House, the CIA and other intelligence
agencies.

Detailed contingency planning for a possible attack on Iran has been carried
out for more than two years by Centcom (US central command), according to
defence sources.

It is led by Brigadier-General Lawrence “Stutz” Stutzriem, who is considered
one of the brightest air force generals. He is assisted by Dr Lani Kass, a
former Israeli military officer and expert on cyberwarfare.

Washing Post Article: Collecting of Details on [American] Travelers Documented

noreply@blogger.com (agnesblout) — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 16:44:00 +0000

clipped from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/21/AR2007092102347_pf.html

The U.S. government is collecting electronic records on the travel habits of millions of Americans who fly, drive or take cruises abroad, retaining data on the persons with whom they travel or plan to stay, the personal items they carry during their journeys, and even the books that travelers have carried, according to documents obtained by a group of civil liberties advocates and statements by government officials.

But DHS Trip does not allow a traveler to challenge an agency decision in court, said David Sobel, senior counsel with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has sued the DHS over information concerning the policy underlying the ATS. Because the system is exempted from certain Privacy Act requirements, including the right to "contest the content of the record," a traveler has no ability to correct erroneous information, Sobel said.

noreply@blogger.com (agnesblout) — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 03:08:00 +0000

Depicts 125,000 one-hundred dollar bills ($12.5 million), the amount our government spends every hour on the war in Iraq. Scroll down to see that picture is composed of $100 bills.

clipped from http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php

Facist America in 10 Easy Steps

noreply@blogger.com (agnesblout) — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 03:03:00 +0000

Very interesting article by Naomi Wolf

clipped from http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2064157,00.html

From Hitler to Pinochet and beyond, history shows there are certain steps that any would-be dictator must take to destroy constitutional freedoms. And, argues Naomi Wolf, George Bush and his administration seem to be taking them all

As difficult as this is to contemplate, it is clear, if you are willing to look, that each of these 10 steps has already been initiated today in the United States by the Bush administration.

noreply@blogger.com (agnesblout) — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 01:37:00 +0000

To find out which US Senators are voted against your Constitutional Right of habeas corpus, click here.

Greenspan Says Iraq War Was About Oil

noreply@blogger.com (agnesblout) — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 05:13:00 +0000

clipped from http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/09/17/greenspan_spills_the_beans.php

Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006, whom the president has praised for his "wise policies and prudent judgment." Sadly for Bush and Cheney, Greenspan decided to put prudence aside in his new book, The Age of Turbulence, and answer the most neuralgiac issue of our times-why the United States invaded Iraq.
Greenspan writes:
"I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil."

In the heady days of "Mission Accomplished," a week after the president landed on the aircraft carrier, then-deputy defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz virtually bragged about the deceit during an interview. On May 9, 2003, Wolfowitz told Vanity Fair:
"The truth is that for reasons that have a lot to do with the U.S. government bureaucracy, we settled on the one issue that everyone could agree on, which was weapons of mass destruction as the core reason..."

Bush Setting America Up for War With Iran

noreply@blogger.com (agnesblout) — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 23:27:00 +0000

clipped from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/16/wiran116.xml

Senior American intelligence and defence officials believe that President George W Bush and his inner circle are taking steps to place America on the path to war with Iran, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt.

Pentagon planners have developed a list of up to 2,000 bombing targets in Iran, amid growing fears among serving officers that diplomatic efforts to slow Iran's nuclear weapons programme are doomed to fail.

The intelligence source said: "No one outside that tight circle knows what is going to happen." But he said that within the CIA "many if not most officials believe that diplomacy is failing" and that "top Pentagon brass believes the same".

Recent developments over Iraq appear to fit with the pattern of escalation predicted by Pentagon officials.

CNN: Mystery 9/11 aircraft was military 'doomsday plane'

noreply@blogger.com (agnesblout) — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 22:34:00 +0000

clipped from rawstory.com

Shortly before 10 am on the morning of September 11, 2001, amid rumors of a fourth hijacked plane headed for Washington, DC, a mystery aircraft appeared in restricted airspace over the White House. There has never been an official explanation for this incident, which has provided abundant fuel for 9/11 conspiracy theories.

CNN has now learned from two government sources that the mystery plane was a military aircraft and has determined that the blurry image on video appears to match photos of the Air Force's E-4B (discussed here on Wikipedia), a specially modified Boeing 747 with a communications pod behind the cockpit.

Click here to see video of plane on 9/11

Pin the Backbone on the Donkey

noreply@blogger.com (agnesblout) — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 02:41:00 +0000

From Harpers

General Petraeus Iraq Reporting Fact Check

noreply@blogger.com (agnesblout) — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 01:46:00 +0000

clipped from http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=736

GENERAL PETRAEUS’ TESTIMONY:
"As a bottom line up front, the military objectives of the surge are, in large measure, being met." [Testimony, 9/10/07]

General David Petraeus, in letter to troops: "One of the justifications of the surge, after all, was that it would help create the space for Iraqi leaders to tackle the tough questions and agree on key pieces of national reconciliation legislation…It has not worked out as we had hoped." [Letter to Troops, 9/7/07]

It's interesting to note that General Petraeus was not sworn in before giving his testimony to the House committee today. Once again, the spineless congress doesn't require the Bush Administration to be truthful or else face the consequences for lying to the American people.

The chart Petraeus won’t show

noreply@blogger.com (agnesblout) — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 04:57:00 +0000

clipped from http://www.google.com/reader/view/

The AP reveals that a “briefing chart prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency says what Gen. David Petraeus won’t. Insurgent attacks against Iraqi civilians, their security forces and U.S. troops remain high.” Most of the insurgent attacks in Iraq continue to be focused on U.S. forces, as the chart shows:

Practice run for marshall law - the Operation FALCON Raids

noreply@blogger.com (agnesblout) — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 22:38:00 +0000

Article by Frank Morales

clipped from http://www.projectcensored.org/censored_2008/index.htm

Under the code name Operation FALCON (Federal and Local Cops Organized Nationally) three federally coordinated mass arrests occurred between April 2005 and October 2006. In an unprecedented move, more than 30,000 “fugitives” were arrested in the largest dragnets in the nation’s history. The operations directly involved over 960 agencies (state, local, and federal) and were the brainchild of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and US Marshal’s Director Ben Reyna. The DoJ supplied television networks government-shot action videotape of Marshals and local cops raiding homes and breaking down doors, “targeting the worst of the worst criminals on the run,” emphasizing suspected sex offenders. Yet less than ten percent of the total 3
0,150 were suspected sex offenders and less than two percent owned firearms. The press has not asked, “Who were the others?”

This action is instead, he warns, a practice roundup in the move toward martial law.

Bush's police suppress Sept. 15 press conference

noreply@blogger.com (agnesblout) — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 18:05:00 +0000

Less than 18 hours ago, National Park Service Police turned a September 15 Press Conference, held in front of the White House, into a chaotic scene. On the pretext that there was no permit for a three foot long folding table that the media placed their microphones on, the police intervened in the middle of the press conference to announce that it was an unpermitted activity. Three people were arrested and are still being held in jail. They include Adam Kokesh, an Iraq war veteran; Tina Richards of Grassroots America; and Ian Thompson an ANSWER Coalition organizer.

The Parks Police even rode a horse directly into the crowd of reporters and shocked onlookers. The National Parks Police is an agency in the Interior Department whose Secretary is a member of George W. Bush's cabinet. In recent weeks September 15 organizers have been fined more than $30,000 for putting up posters promoting the September 15 March on Washington.

To see entire article, click this link, then scroll down past "forward this message to a friend"

Police break up anti-war meeting in Washington
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Mounted police charged in to break up an outdoor press conference and demonstration against the Iraq war in Washington on Thursday, arresting three people, organizers and an AFP reporter said.

The charge caused a peaceful crowd of some 20 journalists and four or five protestors to scatter in terror, an AFP correspondent at the event in Lafayette Square said. No one appeared to have been hurt.
Last month, the movement was threatened with a fine of at least 10,000 dollars unless it removed posters in the city announcing the September 15 march.
Washington city authorities have said the posters had to come down because they were stuck on with adhesive that did not meet city regulations.

"At our demonstration today we were showing the media that the paste we use conforms to the rules," Becker said.
To see entire article, click this link, then scroll down past "forward this message to a friend"

US Plans to Attack Iran

noreply@blogger.com (agnesblout) — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 19:25:00 +0000

Pentagon ‘three-day blitz’ plan for Iran

clipped from http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2369001.ece

THE Pentagon has drawn up plans for massive airstrikes against 1,200 targets in Iran, designed to annihilate the Iranians’ military capability in three days, according to a national security expert.

Alexis Debat, director of terrorism and national security at the Nixon Center, said last week that US military planners were not preparing for “pinprick strikes” against Iran’s nuclear facilities. “They’re about taking out the entire Iranian military,” he said.

President George Bush intensified the rhetoric against Iran last week, accusing Tehran of putting the Middle East “under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust”. He warned that the US and its allies would confront Iran “before it is too late”.

"We Are Going To Hit Iran. Bigtime"

"I don’t think it’s limited at all. We are shipping in and assigning every damn Tomahawk we have in inventory. I think this is going to be massive and sudden, like thousands of targets. I believe that no American will know when it happens until after it happens. And whatever the consequences, whatever the consequences, they will have to be lived with. I am sure if my father knew I was telling someone in a news organization that we were about to launch a supposedly secret attack that it would be treason. But something inside me tells me to tell it anyway."

Bush is Going to New Orleans for 2nd Anniversary of Katrina

noreply@blogger.com (Agnes Blout) — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 15:10:00 +0000

clipped from http://www.first-draft.com/2007/08/bush-coming-to-.html

Yes he's making an appearance for the anniversary. Here are some of the comments at the Times Picayune and they reflect the vast majority of the comments there:

--NEW ORLEANS MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

--The Prez has some set of ballz comin' down for the anniversary after the his watch has pretty much left New Olreans for dead.

--The last thing we need this time of year is more hot air.

Other commenters really liked the idea of that last comment so don't be surprised if you see some upside down flags. In fact Suspect Device has one already....

Gulfstream at Napa County Airport raises eyebrows

noreply@blogger.com (Agnes Blout) — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 04:20:00 +0000

clipped from www.napavalleyregister.com

Spy craft, or just another private jet at Napa County Airport?

That question arose after a Gulfstream jet with a notorious tail number flew in and out of the airport last week.

The plane’s tail number, N1HC, is mentioned in a European Parliament document from 2006 that describes planes chartered by the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA reportedly used a plane with that tail number, among other craft, to transport terrorist suspects to secret locations overseas, where the suspects were subjected to extreme interrogation techniques in an effort to gain information about terrorist networks.

According to the European Parliament document, “The N1HC is listed as an alleged CIA airplane, according to the report of the Scottish National Party.”

Flush with Profits from the Iraq War, Military Contractors See a World of Business Opportunities

noreply@blogger.com (Agnes Blout) — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 17:29:00 +0000

clipped from http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/59571/?page=3

"These private contractors are really an arm of the administration and its policies," argues Kucinich, who has called for a withdrawal of all U.S. contractors from Iraq. "They charge whatever they want with impunity. There's no accountability as to how many people they have, as to what their activities are."

That raises the crucial question: what exactly are they doing in Iraq in the name of the U.S. and U.K. governments? Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), a leading member of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, which is responsible for reviewing sensitive national security issues, explained the difficulty of monitoring private military companies on the U.S. payroll: "If I want to see a contract, I have to go up to a secret room and look at it, can't take any notes, can't take any notes out with me, you know -- essentially, I don't have access to those contracts and even if I did, I couldn't tell anybody about it."

Fellow Americans: It's time to consider a national strike by workers to take back our democracy

noreply@blogger.com (Agnes Blout) — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 01:59:00 +0000

The US Congress, for reasons best understood only by itself, has now revised the FISA laws to allow the Bush Administration to spy on anyone at any time, with or without a reason and certainly without a warrant.

The only person to have "oversight" will be Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. This is the same man that for years has been doing his utmost to undermine every civil liberty we have. This is far worse than merely a situation of the Fox guarding the hen house. Bush has decided to break any he doesn't like while his henchman, Gonzales, assures him its ok. Much like Hitler deciding to throw people he didn't like in concentration camps while the people who served him applauded his actions. It really is as though the inmates have taken over the asylum.

Let's be realistic: the Bush Administration has made an unprecedented power grab. The John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, passed by Congress in 2006 gives Bush the power to institute martial law in the US at any time he decides to do so. On July 17, 2007, as I mentioned in my earlier blog, Bush issued an executive order that would allow him to freeze the assets of anyone for any reason without any oversight and without recourse. He has set up the secretive Northern Command to enforce marshall law.

I'm telling you as plainly as I know how - he's grabbing power because he intends to use it to topple our democracy and take over. This is how dictatorships come into existence. Hitler is a perfect example of a democratically elected/appointed leader who then grabbed power and destroyed the democratic institutions. It's just a matter of time before people start being rounded up and disappeared to those holding pens that Halliburton's subcontractor is building in the southwest. (Did you really think those were for poor Mexican peasants illegally crossing the border?

It's painfully clear that not only is this US Congress is not going to stand up to this President and hold him accountable for laws he has broken, it's now giving him additional powers. In doing so, too many members of Congress have violated their oath to protect and defend the US Constitution.

Congress has let us down. I believe that it is now up to the American people to do what Congress seems to be afraid to do: hold the Bush Administration accountable for its lies, its lawlessness, and its trampling of the US Constitution.

It's time to have a national strike by everyone who thinks that the Bush Administration should not have the power to spy on American citizens. There's no law that says you must go to work if you choose not to. If everyone stayed home from work even one day, I promise you Congress, who seems to be afraid of the Bush Administration, would seriously reconsider taking back its power. In France, national strikes have been used very effectively by the citizens to force their national government to sit up and take notice. As was pointed out by an American living in France in Michael Moore's movie Sicko, in France the government seems to be afraid of the people but in the US, the people seem to be afraid of the government. It's time to turn that around and make our government work for the people.

Let's not be like the Germans at the end of WWII who were utterly surprised to find out that Hitler, who had came into power legally, turned out to be a fear mongering dictator capable of disappearing anyone who he didn't like. It CAN happen here and it WILL happen here if we don't take action to prevent it NOW.

Pass the word. Start talking to your members of Congress about a national strike if they don't take immediate action to do their constitutional duty of oversight over this runaway administration. Talk to your family and friends. Let's put a national strike on the table as a real possibility if the US Congress doesn't put the interests of the democracy before the nefarious interests of the Bush Administration.

See my blog dated July 24, 2007 "Is the Bush Administration Planning a Coup?"

Dave Lindorff: Martial Law Threat is Real

noreply@blogger.com (Agnes Blout) — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 17:51:00 +0000

clipped from http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/lindorff/004

Dave Lindorff: Martial Law Threat is Real

The looming collapse of the U.S. military in Iraq, of which a number of generals and former generals, including former Chief of Staff Colin Powell, have warned, is happening none too soon, as it may be the best hope for preventing military rule here at home.

From the looks of things, the Bush/Cheney regime has been working assiduously to pave the way for a declaration of military rule, such that at this point it really lacks only the pretext to trigger a suspension of Constitutional government. They have done this with the active support of Democrats in Congress, though most of the heavy lifting was done by the last, Republican-led Congress.

Bruce Fein isn't an alarmist. He says he doesn't see martial law coming tomorrow. But he is also realistic. He says, "This is all sitting around like a loaded gun waiting to go off. I think the risk of martial law is trivial right now, but the minute there is a terrorist attack, then it is real.

"Father or Reaganomics" says Watch For Another 9/11-WMD Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Agnes Blout) — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 17:23:00 +0000

clipped from http://www.vdare.com/roberts/070718_wakeup.htm

This is a wake-up call that we are about to experience
another 9/11-WMD experience.

Intelligent observers are puzzled that President Bush is
persisting in a futile and unpopular war at the obvious
expense of his party’s electoral chances in 2008.

Isn’t it more likely that Cheney and Rove have in mind
events that will, once again, rally the people behind
President Bush and the Republican Party that is fighting
the “war on terror” that the Democrats “want
to lose”?

Such events could take a number of forms. As even
diehard Republican Patrick J. Buchanan

observed on July 17, with

three US aircraft carrier battle groups in congested
waters off Iran, another Tonkin Gulf incident could
easily be engineered to set us at war with Iran.

Alternatively, false flag “terrorist” strikes
could be orchestrated in the US.

It is possible that
the administration could provoke some groups to actual
acts of violence.

White House preparing to stage new September 11 - according to former Reagan official

noreply@blogger.com (Agnes Blout) — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 16:55:00 +0000

clipped from en.rian.ru

WASHINGTON, July 20 (RIA Novosti) - A former Reagan official has issued a public warning that the Bush administration is preparing to orchestrate a staged terrorist attack in the United States, transform the country into a dictatorship and launch a war with Iran within a year.

Paul Craig Roberts, a former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, blasted Thursday a new Executive Order, released July 17, allowing the White House to seize the assets of anyone who interferes with its Iraq policies and giving the government expanded police powers to exercise control in the country.

"The American people don't really understand the danger that they face," Roberts said, adding that the so-called neoconservatives intended to use a renewal of the fight against terrorism to rally the American people around the fading Republican Party.

Fired US Attorney pressured by Justice Department to engage in unlawful activities

noreply@blogger.com (Agnes Blout) — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 02:33:00 +0000

clipped from www.pbs.org

David Iglesias, the former U.S. attorney of New Mexico, talks to NOW about the pressure he says he received from the Justice Department to engage in "unlawful activities," his resistance, and why he believes it cost him his job. This is a longer version of the interview that appeared in the broadcast.

NOW: As the U.S. Attorney of New Mexico you were asked to investigate and prosecute instances of voter fraud. What was the nature of this alleged voter fraud?

DAVID IGLESIAS (DI): I was aware that the Justice Department was interested in having U.S. attorneys investigate and prosecute voter fraud going back to 2002. In New Mexico, I wasn't really aware of that being a potential large scale issue until the summer of 2004. So I set up a taskforce in September 2004 to investigate. I made it state, local and federal law enforcement, and I had made sure that the FBI was involved, and that the Justice Department, public integrity section in Washington was involved.

Like grandfather, like grandson?

noreply@blogger.com (Agnes Blout) — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 16:31:00 +0000

The BBC has a program about President Bush's grandfather's involvement in a 1933 plot to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The program is called "The Whitehouse Coup". Click here to listen to it. (When you get to the BBC page, click on the button "listen to this programme in full". Program begins about 30 seconds after you click the button. Program is 30 min long.)

clipped from http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/document/document_20070723.shtml

Document uncovers details of a planned coup in the USA in 1933 by right-wing American businessmen
View a picture gallery of images related to this edition.

The coup was aimed at toppling President Franklin D Roosevelt with the help of half-a-million war veterans. The plotters, who were alleged to involve some of the most famous families in America, (owners of Heinz, Birds Eye, Goodtea, Maxwell Hse & George Bush’s Grandfather, Prescott) believed that their country should adopt the policies of Hitler and Mussolini to beat the great depression.

Mike Thomson investigates why so little is known about this biggest ever peacetime threat to American democracy.

Is the Bush Administration Planning a Coup?

noreply@blogger.com (Agnes Blout) — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 21:55:00 +0000

It's becoming more and more clear to me that the Bush Administration, in violation of their sworn oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, fully intends a takeover of the United States government.

The Bush Administration has done so many illegal and unethical acts that they can be grouped into categories.

President Bush has invented his own judicial system and politicized the Justice Department:

We have civil and military judicial systems in place which are perfectly adequate to prosecute people that we captured in Afghanistan and Iraq. These systems worked just fine during World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam war and the first Gulf war. But suddenly, the Bush Administration wants its own special judicial system, the rules of which it makes up, and over which there is no oversight.
The 2006 Military Commissions Act allows the Bush Administration and the Administration alone, to declare anyone to be an enemy combatant. Once you are declared to be an enemy combatant, you are not entitled to habeas corpus, the right to face one's accusers in a court of law.
The Justice Department, under Attorney General Alberto Gonzales fired US District Attorneys and replaced them with people who happen to agree with the Bush administration's political agenda.

President Bush ignores laws which is a clear violation of the constitution and of his oath of office:

On April 20, 2004, President Bush famously said, "any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires—a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution.” By December, 2005, the Bush Administration admitted to breaking the law by secretly spying on American citizens without subpoenas but insisted Bush has the power to do so, in spite of Bushes earlier admission that such action would be illegal.

In effect, the Bush Administration believes that it need not be bound by any law it doesn't like.

Bush has waged a campaign to marginalize Congress and limit its ability to carry out its Constitutional duty of oversight of the Executive branch:

The White House has stated that neither the it nor the Justice Department nor is obligated to comply with Congressional subpoenas related to the political firings of US Attorneys.
President Bush uses "signing statements" to ignore laws he doesn't like or interpret them in any way he wants which is always different than what Congress intended.
Last week, the White House denied Congressman Defazio's request, to review highly classified documents that would outline the Administration's plans for running the government during a national emergency. Defazio sits on the Homeland security Committee and is entitled to review such documents. "Maybe people who think there's a conspiracy out there are right" DeFazio said.

He has created a military unit especially to operate on US soil and given himself the authority to freeze the assets of citizens and/or impose martial law.

In 2002, the government created the secretive Northern Command. It is an operational command inside the US.
According to a 2005 article by William Arkin, who writes for the Washington Post and Global Research, a top secret Pentagon operation called Granite Shadow "...allows for emergency military operations in the United States without civilian supervision or control".
In February of 2006 the Pacific News Service reported that "A Halliburton subsidiary has just received a $385 million contract from the Department of Homeland Security to provide "temporary detention and processing capabilities." On US soil, not in some foreign country.
The John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, passed by Congress in 2006 gives Bush the power to institute martial law in the US at any time he decides to do so.
On July 17th, 2007, the President issued an executive order that would block the assets of anyone in the US. All it takes is for the Secretaries of Defense, State, and the Treasury, all of whom are controlled by the President, to decide that your assets should be blocked. There is no recourse, no warrant served, no charges filed.

So many things the Bush Administration has done could be classified as "odd". Why in the world would a President of the United States so clearly ignore the Constitution that he is sworn to uphold and insist that simply being President gives him the power to do whatever he wants to do? And why is he strangely unconcerned that his approval ratings have plummeted? On the face of it, it makes no sense that a democratically elected president would do such things.

But I do have an explanation for his inexplicable behavior, thanks to my experience working in the business world for many years.

From time to time, I found myself in situations where a company would allow an ongoing situation to exist that was contrary to the company's goals. I began to think of these situations as "odd" activities because appeared to harm the company. Often the behavior or procedure was acknowledged by management who seemingly understood it was hurting the company, yet it allowed it to continue. The first few times I witnessed "odd" activities, I drove myself nuts trying to figure out why any company would allow such situations to go uncorrected. One day, I happened to discover that the particular "odd" activity was in fact allowing the company to perpetrate a very unethical activity from which it made a lot of money. From then on, every time I encountered an "odd" activity, I was usually able to discover who benefited from it. Sometimes it was the company, sometimes it was someone in management and the company was in fact harmed.

The key to explaining anyone's behavior, is to figure out what payoff they are receiving in return for the behavior. Payoff can mean money, but it can also be in the form of power or an emotional benefit.

The payoffs from Bush's behavior do not seem to match his role as President. For example, Bush has made a tremendous power grab in trying to set up the imperial presidency and marginalizing Congress. Increased power for the President appears to be the payoff. But if he were to succeed, the next President, who could be a Democrat, would inherit those new powers. It's puzzling that President Bush would put new Presidental powers in place that could easily be used to undo everything he's done by the next President - unless he has reason to think that there will be no next President or that the next President will agree with him politically.

If you look at the Bush administration's behavior to date as steps in setting up a dictatorship or a one-party system, what he's done so far begins to make a lot of sense.

A dictator:

Lives in a world where he is never accountable for anything he does
Makes up his own laws
Can freely ignore or even eliminate any elected body.
Appoints only people that are loyal to him to head various departments
Isn't too concerned about his approval ratings as long as he believes he cannot be removed from power
Controls the people by economic means (freezing assets) and by using the military (Northern Command) and imposes martial law if people threaten to become unruly
makes up his own judicial system to and uses it to spy on people or search them without any form of subpoena or other court oversight
eliminates habeas corpus so that people he doesn't like may be held indefinitely without charge in facilities built especially for that purpose so they cannot threaten him in any way.

Sounds a lot like what we've seen so far, doesn't it?

If President Bush is determined to become a dictator or set up a one-party system, here are things I would expect him to do:

Stage a "terrorist attack" on US soil. It wouldn't have to be an actual attack as happened on 9/11, but it would have to appear real to US citizens. The US mainstream media can be counted on to report as fact anything the Bush Administration says is true. Once the mainstream media puts it on tv, citizens all over America would probably believe it.
Repeat that there is a an imminent threat. (See Michael Chertoff, the head of Homeland Security, claim that he has a "gut feeling" that there will be a terrorist attack on the US soon.)
Repeat lies that promote anything he wants to do such as the lie that Iraq or Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11.
Ignore facts that do not help him to reach his goals such as the fact that 15 of the 19 9/11 terrorists were Saudi Arabian and NOT ONE of them was from Iraq.
Set up a military operation under his sole control ready to impose martial law as soon as it was ordered to do so.
Set up a justice system separate from any existing system that conforms to any rules I make up.
Put laws in place allowing him to detain anyone permanently without charges and without access to any court I don't control and without access to council.
Eliminate habaes corpus.
Set up detention facilities to permanently house people I don't like.

As you can see, the only thing he has not accomplished on this list is the staging of a real or mock terrorist attack on US soil.

If you think that a dictatorship could never happen in the foremost democracy in the free world, consider this from Wikipedia (emphasis added): "Modern dictators have usually come to power in times of emergency. Frequently they have seized power by coup d'etat, but some, most notably Benito Mussolini in Italy and Adolf Hitler in Germany achieved office as head of government by legal means (election or appointment), and once in office gained additional extraordinary powers."

The Wikipedia description of how Mussolini and Hitler became dictators sounds a lot like the path President Bush is following right now. It is critical that we be on our guard and highly sensitive to everything the Bush administration does - especially if what he does is in conflict with his sworn duty as President. Now is the time to insist that Congress use every means at its disposal to hold the Bush Administration accountable for every illegal act it has committed.

Thomas Jefferson said, "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." Never were his words more true than now.