McDermott Sponsors Bill Creating Draft

" ... great effort was made to create a situation in which Americans would not be affected by the war; it would be nothing more than a television program here, with the media there tightly controlled. For the first time in history taxes were reduced as a war was launched. Mercenaries were hired to conduct much of the war. The economy here benefited by the extensive us of contractors, formerly called war profiteers. ... "

Originally posted at seattlepi.nwsource.com

As we all know the Iraq War was carefully orchestrated. The McClellan book calls attention to the propaganda campaign that preceded the war and continues throughout the campaign. The historical precedent that was probably examined for the use of media for manufacturing consent to the war, or the appearance of consent, was the Spanish-American War.

At the same time, great effort was made to create a situation in which Americans would not be affected by the war; it would be nothing more than a television program here, with the media there tightly controlled. For the first time in history taxes were reduced as a war was launched. Mercenaries were hired to conduct much of the war. The economy here benefited by the extensive us of contractors, formerly called war profiteers.

The military even manufactured stories to create warrior icons, insulting the family of Pat Tillman (which still fighting to get to the truth of the coverup) and embarrassing Jessica Lynch, who gave one of the most moving speeches imaginable to Congress when she disclaimed the lies that had been concocted about her. This was all part of an effort to re-engineer many of the social influences that contributed to the anti-war movement that brought an end to the Viet Nam War.

Perhaps the most significant factor in boosting the anti-war movement of forty years ago was the draft. College age men were forced to go to war, excluding people such as those comprising the current administration who exploited privilege or exemptions from service. Others went to Canada, prison or became conscientious objectors. The fabric of society was torn by the appropriation of people to fight the war. When the war affected the lives of most people here, there was a great deal more concern about it and the reasons for it. The volunteer army circumvents much of this.

Congressman Rangel is concerned that the volunteer army is disproportionately composed of the poor and people of color, people who do not have a strong voice in politics. Congressman McDermott wants a system where people will care about policies that result in the deaths of huge numbers of innocent people. Last week two independent surveyors estimated that over 1,200,000 innocent people have been killed in Iraq. In propaganda jargon this is "collateral damage."

The founding fathers were quite aware of the damage to the society that could be done by an unpopular war. So they sought to built into their government's framework structure that would avoid such a possibility. One measure was to forbid a standing army. This has gone into the historical dustbin. Another was to give Congress the duty of appropriating money for any war. James Madison in the Federalist Papers thought that this measure assured that there could never be an unpopular war in the United States. We have seen this aspect of governmental checks and balances fail.

Jim McDermott and Charles Rangel have sponsored a bill that is intended to create a structural impediment to unpopular war. Like the architects of the Iraq War, they used the Viet Nam War experience as a guide. Their bill will institute a two year period of national service, military or other service.

The bill would require people between the ages of 18 and 42 to perform national service of some sort for two years. McDermott at a speech at the University of Washington characterized the bill as an attempt to re-invest democracy in our society (where service is not born disproportionately by lower economic groups) and create a sense of community in the country.

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/northwestlaw/archives/140288.asp?from=blog_last3

US Army Cover-Up of Rape and Murder?

Is There an Army Cover-Up of Rape and Murder of Women Soldiers?
By Ann Wright
www.scoop.co.nz
29 April 2008

The Department of Defense statistics are alarming - one in three women who join the US military will be sexually assaulted or raped by men in the military. The warnings to women should begin above the doors of the military recruiting stations, as that is where assaults on women in the military begin - before they are even recruited.

But, now, even more alarming, are deaths of women soldiers in Iraq and in the United States following rape. The military has characterized each death of women who were first sexually assaulted as deaths from "noncombat related injuries," and then added "suicide." Yet, the families of the women whom the military has declared to have committed suicide strongly dispute the findings and are calling for further investigations into the deaths of their daughters. Specific US Army units and certain US military bases in Iraq have an inordinate number of women soldiers who have died of "noncombat related injuries," with several identified as "suicides." ...'

Story continues

Is the Bush Administration Compiling an Enemies List of Americans with the Assistance of the Telecom Companies?

See: http://constantineinstitute.blogspot.com/2008/06/is-bush-administration-compiling.html

Bush Replaced REX84 With New Martial Law EO

See: http://aconstantineblacklist.blogspot.com/2008/05/bush-replaced-rex84-with-new-martial.html

Latest Hagee Eruption: Antichrist Will Be Partly Jewish & Gay

See: http://aconstantineblacklist.blogspot.com/2008/06/latest-hagee-eruption-antichrist-will.html

DVD Review: The Reich Underground (re the Nazi Tunnel Systems and Subterranean Factories)

Video Business

RELEASE DETAILS

Title: The Reich Underground
Release Date: 05/20/2008
Label/Distributor: First Run
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Retail Price: $24.95
Genre: Art House & International Cast: Reich Underground
Running Time: 104
DVD Video Options: Black & White, Color, DVD-Video
DVD Audio Options: English, Subtitled; German, Original Language
DVD Extras: filmmaker biography.
UPC Code: 720229913232
A look at the underground tunnel system that the Germans built during World War II to house their armament factories.

The Reich Underground
By Cheryl Cheng -- Video Business, 5/12/2008

FIRST RUN
Street: May 20
Prebook: now

Interesting film about the Nazi tunnel systems during WWII.

This fascinating documentary by Michael Kloft (The Goebbels Experiment) travels underground to examine the subterranean factories that the Nazis built during World War II.

Kloft provides ample detail about the mechanics behind the tunnel systems as well as the conditions that laborers endured to build them. Reich Underground also has some rare footage of Adolf Hitler and propaganda mastermind Joseph Goebbels.

Shelf Talk: Educators, libraries and museums are the most obvious target for this title. For those who have seen The Counterfeiters, this year's Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film, Reich Underground will be a suitable companion piece, as they both explore a part of the Nazi regime that hasn't received much coverage.

Documentary, color and B/W, NR (disturbing visuals), 104 min., DVD $24.95

Extras: filmmaker bio
Director: Michael Kloft
First Run: DVD premiere

http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6559909.html

The NeoFascist Media

See: http://constantineinstitute.blogspot.com/2008/06/neofascist-media.html

Franco 'Collaborated with Nazis' to Prove Canary Islands were Home to Aryan Race

By Fiona Govan in Madrid
14/04/2008

Atlantis

Spanish archaeologists collaborated with the Nazis in their attempts to prove the theory of Aryan supremacy and justify their claims of racial superiority over the Jews, according to a new book.



In pictures: The Nazi search for the lost continent of Atlantis

Spain wanted to promote the idea that the Aryan race could be traced to the Canary Islands, amid claims they were all that remained of the lost continent of Atlantis.

Scientists from the Ahnenerbe, an institute set up by Heinrich Himmler and funded by the SS, planned to travel to the Atlantic islands to carry out research but were forced to postpone the project when war broke out in September 1939. They appointed archaeologist Julio Martinez Santa Olalla, a friend of the dictator General Franciso Franco, to conduct investigations on their behalf.

The extent of the collaboration between Franco’s archaeologists and those in Nazi Germany has been revealed in a new book by Francisco Gracia Alonso, professor of history at the University of Barcelona. Prof Gracia reveals the close relationship between Santa Olalla and the Ahnenerbe, which was founded to investigate "the science of ancient intellectual history".

Himmler’s organisation sent German scholars around the world to discover the roots of the Aryan race, leading them to examine Bronze Age carvings in Sweden, forgotten folk customs in Finland and even to Tibet to explore claims that Buddha himself was of Aryan descent.

Its scientists were occupied in searching for such legendary objects as Thor’s Hammer and the Holy Grail but were also responsible for carrying out medical experiments on Jews in concentration camps. The Ahnenerbe’s findings were used to justify Hitler’s belief that true Germans were descended from an Aryan ideal. Prof Gracia believes that the Spanish fascists had expressed interest in setting up a similar unit under Franco, following his victory in the Spanish Civil War.

"They wanted to create something similar in Spain in order to maintain control over the ideological basis of the country’s archaeology and prehistory," he said. Jose Luis Arrese, one of Franco’s ministers, had held discussions with Himmler over the matter.

The book has uncovered evidence that Himmler’s unit funded Spanish excavations, providing expensive photographic equipment and lending aircraft to carry out aerial surveys of sites. Plans were laid for joint excavations of Visigoth sites on mainland Spain and on the Canary Islands where the Nazis hoped to find evidence of an ancestral race of Aryans.

The theory had been a favourite of the first head of the Ahnenerbe, Herman Wirth, who propounded that the islands were remnants of Atlantis.

"An expedition that was supposed to take place in 1939, under the direction of Otto Huth, an Ahnenerbe researcher specializing in ancient spiritual Aryan beliefs, was postponed indefinitely because of World War II," said Prof Gracia. After that, it was left to Santa Olalla to inform the Germans of research carried out by Spanish teams.

"He made several visits to Germany, had his papers published by the Ahnenerbe and toured Nazi Germany giving lecture tours," said Prof Gracia, who added that there was no evidence that he had participated in anything more sinister. The collaboration came to an abrupt end with the fall of Nazi Germany. Several leading scholars from the Ahnenerbe were sentenced to death in the Nuremberg trials for their part in the Holocaust.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1584732/Franco-%27collaborated-with-Nazis%27-to-prove-Canary-Islands-were-home-to-Aryan-race.html#continue