Via Democracy Now!

Army Unit to Deploy in October for Domestic Operations

Beginning in October, the Army plans to station an active unit inside the United States for the first time to serve as an on-call federal response in times of emergency. The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent thirty-five of the last sixty months in Iraq, but now the unit is training for domestic operations. The unit will soon be under the day-to-day control of US Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command. The Army Times reports this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to Northern Command. The paper says the Army unit may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control. The soldiers are learning to use so-called nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals and crowds.

Fascism! Smell it!

I've always wondered why the big rush to pass the pro-torture detainee bill.

"Time is of the essence," said Rep. Tom Cole (news, bio, voting record), R-Okla. "We must move this legislation to the president's desk."

But why? After all, habeas corpus has been part of our common law tradition for almost a millenium, since the Magna Carta; and the principle of judicial review is part of our Constitutional system of checks and balances.

And this legislation destroys habeas corpus and the Constitution.

Surely not even the Republicans would throw these two great principles away without some serious thought? Oh, wait. I've got Unka Karl on the other line:

You've read Hersh. Now you should take a little trip down memory lane, and read these two posts from Robert Parry, the man who broke the Iran-Contra scandals back when we had a functional press.

C'mon guys, it's still August:

[KOS] for the record, I still don't think we'll win back either chamber. I've seen the GOP close the deal too many times before for me to get complacent and cocky. Nah. I think we'll win 7-14 seats in the House, 3-5 in the Senate.

Yeah, I know such pessimism is tough when the numbers, data, and current events give so much cause for optimism, but I was burned two cycles in a row. I'm not getting my hopes up.

And in August, there aren't any surprises. Nor in September. Unlike October: