Bush Seizes Control Over State Militias

[Waya]

...I don't know how true this is....but it sure sounds like something Bush would do......


A little-noticed change in federal law packs an important change in who is in charge the next time a state is devastated by a disaster such as Hurricane Katrina.
To the dismay of the nation’s governors, the White House now will be empowered to go over a governor’s head and call up National Guard troops to aid a state in time of natural disasters or other public emergencies. Up to now, governors were the sole commanders in chief of citizen soldiers in local Guard units during emergencies within the state.

A conflict over who should control Guard units arose in the days after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. President Bush sought to federalize control of Guardsmen in Louisiana in the chaos after the hurricane, but Gov. Kathleen Blanco (D) refused to relinquish command.

Over objections from all 50 governors, Congress in October changed the 200-year-old Insurrection Act to empower the hand of the president in future stateside emergencies. In a letter to Congress, the governors called the change "a dramatic expansion of federal authority during natural disasters that could cause confusion in the command-and-control of the National Guard and interfere with states' ability to respond to natural disasters within their borders."



More:

http://www.progress.org/2007/ussr03.htm

[Deep13]

1. That and the use of Nat. Guard to fight this illegal war...

...are violations of the 2nd Amendment.

[cascadiance]

2. I keep thinking perhaps we should have some REAL state militias

... those that are created and funded by the states separate from any national funding, etc. that we can use instead fo take care of state crisises and police functions that is independent of executive authority and only answerable to state authority.

Any chance we can get that going? It might be a bit more costly, but that way we could guarantee that they'd be around for things like hurricanes or earthquakes without being "raided" by folks like Bush for their pet wars!

I'd earlier also speculated that if California were ever forced in the future to have to secede from the country (less likely now with the Dems retaking congress and unfortunately Ahnold elected as governor), then we could have them as the bssis of a separate state controlled military force too without conflict of interest like other military units or the national guard would have.

People could join it feeling a lot more confident they wouldn't get roped into military service to fight in Iraq, etc.

[shadowknows69]

11. I like it

great

[htuttle]

3. Yes, it's quite true

Just another 'gift' from our formerly Republican-dominated Congress.

[Dhalgren]

4. This has nothing to do with "natural disasters" or anything of the like.

This has to do with population control and "social crises". Those detention centers built and being built by Halliburton are ominous monuments; and placing the National Guard under the direct command of the President on a full-time basis is just a small preview of what is in store for us...

[in_cog_ni_to]

5. Oh yeah. This is so he can turn the military on anti-Bush citizens when it's finally revealed he's

our dictator. The citizens will be controlled under order of the psycho.

No big deal.

:sarcasm:

[TZ]

6. Kent State again

No doubt thats what the aim of this legislation is. The police in DC actually already behave like this with protestors anyway..gotta make sure we pepperspray all those dangerous anti-war pacifists you know!!:grr:

[TahitiNut]

7. Governor Jim Rhodes (R) was in control of the Ohio National Guard at Kent State.

There was no federal usurpation, even though agents of the FBI were present.

[TahitiNut]

8. Governor Jim Rhodes (R) was in control of the Ohio National Guard at Kent State.

There was no federal usurpation, even though agents of the FBI were present. (Rhodes did not declare a 'state of emergency,' either.)

[TZ]

9. okay thats even scarier to know..

That that horrible event was a state backed attack on its citizens. Don't even want to think about what the Feds could do...

[MzNov]

10. this is what the Bush Crime Family has been working on over

the past few years, and our congress handed in to him on a silver platter with the Patriot Act and other slimey, sleazy amendments that the NeoCons have pushed thru when nobody in this country except the left wing brainiacs were looking.

Thom Hartmann has been warning us of this scenario for a long time.