Via Scholars and Rogues comes this disturbing little blerb that seems almost drugged to calmness in this discussion of what will could happen in the event of an emergency that 'requires' martial law:

But gun confiscation is exactly what happened during the state of emergency following Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, along with forced relocation. U.S. Troops also arrived, something far easier to do now, thanks to last year's elimination of the 1878 Posse Comitatus act, which had forbid regular U.S. Army troops from policing on American soil.

If martial law were enacted here at home, like depicted in the movie "The Siege", easing public fears and quelling dissent would be critical. And that's exactly what the 'Clergy Response Team' helped accomplish in the wake of Katrina.

Dr. Durell Tuberville serves as chaplain for the Shreveport Fire Department and the Caddo Sheriff's Office. Tuberville said of the clergy team's mission, "the primary thing that we say to anybody is, 'let's cooperate and get this thing over with and then we'll settle the differences once the crisis is over.'"

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I swear I'm not making this up! KSLA, Shreveport:

Could martial law ever become a reality in America? Some fear any nuclear, biological or chemical attack on U.S. soil might trigger just that. KSLA News 12 has discovered that the clergy would help the government with potentially their biggest problem: Us.

If martial law were enacted here at home, like depicted in the movie "The Siege", easing public fears and quelling dissent would be critical. And that's exactly what the 'Clergy Response Team' helped accomplish in the wake of Katrina.

Hey, who said Katrina didn't have a silver lining?

Former PM says it's time to give up on 'democracy' in Iraq.

Iraq's former prime minister Ayad Allawi has called for the imposition of martial law in a last-ditch attempt to halt the country's worsening security situation.
The car bomb killed 70 people at Tayaran Square
Dr Allawi is the first major Iraqi politician to suggest that democratic freedoms can no longer be sustained in the face of mounting violence.

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Read the Kossack Diary. The money quote:

So now the President can send troops from Tennessee to quash what he deems a threat to civil order in Oregon, even if the governors of Tennessee and Oregon both object.

This, by the way, is how the Chinese - whose approach to government and party building Bush seems so much to admire - broke up the protests in Tienanmen Square. They brought in troops from the provinces who knew nothing about what the protest was about, but knew that if they were ordered to shoot, they had to shoot

I wonder why they would want to do that?