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~CALIFORNIA KARM@~~CALIFORNIA KARM@~~CALIFORNIA KARM@~~CALIFORNIA KARM@~

President Bush signing HR 5122

GORT2.4 Klaatu barada niktoContents

Editorial-A Note From My Desk

Page One-The Day The US Stood Still

Page Two-US stood still Contd

Page Three-US stood still Contd

Page Four-MOVIE REVIEW

Page Five

-Meet The CandidatesPage Six

-New Face/ Social Networking

Page Seven-The MRAP

Page Eight

-The Grapes of Rats

-In The News

A NOTE FROM MY DESK:

ont you hate it whenyou go to a party andsee all the couples

dressed up in matchingcostumes? Well I do too, whichis why Threads and I decided todo just that.

This year for Halloween Threadsdecided to go from inbox toinbox dressed up as Gort fromthe movie The Day the EarthStood Still, and I decided thatId be supportive and go asKlaatu from the same movie.

This issue will be slightly

different than previous issues.For the feature story, I amdemanding all my readers torespond to what is put forth. Myreaders are smart, and Id likethe responses to reflect that.

I hope this issue will at leastmake everyone think. Enjoy

The Day the US Stood Still

The most efficient way to

enslave a nation is through the

legal system. Passing laws that

slowly remove citizens rights,

history has proven, will suffocate

any democratic state and make

the people vulnerable to the

whims of the leader. The

objective is to make it appear

these laws are being passed for

the safety and security of the population. These laws are passed with the

justification of an arbitrary threat (i.e. terrorism) - but what these laws

really do is remove the power from the people and put it in the hands of

the government. This is happening in America today.

There is very little transparency in our government any more, laws are

being made and signed in secret, bills being passed using threats, and

fear is being used to manipulate the public. In American history, the

government has perpetrated numerous harmful agendas under false

pretenses, but never to the degree that is being done today.

"A disturbing recent phenomenon in Washington is that laws that strike

to the heart of American democracy have been passed in the dead of thenight Beyond actual insurrection, the president may now use military

troops as a domestic police force in response to a national disaster, a

disease outbreak, terrorist attack or any "other condition." remarks an

editorial in the New York Times about the amendment made to the

Insurrection Act of 1807. The revision (now referred to as the John

Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007 (HR 5122)gave the president

the power to decide what he felt was a threat - and to disregard the

provisions of the Posse Comitatus Act and allow the Army to police the

people.

Although parts of HR 5122 were repealed due to its conflicts with the

Constitution, President George W. Bush attached a signing statement to

the bill saying he did not feel bound by the repeal. Two years after

signing the bill, 4,000 soldiers were deployed to the US to patrol citizens.

In April of 1984, President Reagan signed Presidential Director Number

54, also known as REX 84. REX 84 is an exercise that FEMA would carry

out in the case of a national emergency. REX 84 was testing FEMA's

ability to assume military authority. In order to successfully carry out the

exercise, REX 84 required the 1) suspension of the Constitution of the

D

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United States, 2) turn control of the government to

FEMA, 3) appoint military commanders to run state

and local governments and 4) a Declaration of

Martial Law.

Recently on the internet there has been a lot of buzz

about impending Martial Law, much of thisoriginates from Representative Brad Sherman's

comment when he spoke to congress about the

$700 billion bailout bill that would save banks from

completely failing.

"The only way they can pass this bill is by creating

and sustaining a panic atmosphere. That atmosphere

is not justified. Many of us were told in private

conversation that if we voted against this bill on

Monday, that the sky would fall, the Market would

drop two or three thousand points the first day -

another couple thousand the second day and a few

members were even told that there would be

Martial Law in America if we voted no. Thats what I

call fearmongering. Unjustified."

Shortly after this statement was given, many people

began to speculate about a $385 million contract

that was given to a subsidiary of Halliburton, Kellogg

Brown & Root, in 2006 that was for the construction

of detention centers 'somewhere' in the United

States. At the time, KBR stated that the detention

centers were being built to deal with "an emergency

influx of immigrants into the US, or to support the

rapid development of new programs." (Emphasisadded.)

Kellogg Brown & Root built over 600 of these

detention centers throughout the country, right now

these detention centers are fully operational, fully

staffed, and completely empty. Each detention

center can hold up to 5,000 people. At capacity all

the detention centers will hold in excess of 400,000

people. Four known locations of these empty

detention centers in Michigan are in Camp Grayling,

Bay City, Berrien County and Lansing.

The contract with KBR, combined with HR 5122 and

NSPD - 51 / HSPD - 20, (also known as the National

Security and Homeland Security Presidential

Directive), not to mention knowledge of REX 84 got

many people uneasy. NSPD - 51 is a Directive, passed

in secret, which would give the President complete

power in the case of a national emergency, of his

declaration. As an article in Tennessee's

Chattanooga from May 24 explains;

"President Bush, without so much as issuing a press

statement, on May 9 signed a directive that granted

near dictatorial powers to the office of the president

in the event of a national emergency declared by the

president."

In the event of a national (or 'catastrophic')emergency, the president would, under this bill, be

granted powers unforeseen in this country. The

article in the Chatanooga continues;

"The directive loosely defines "catastrophic

emergency" as "any incident, regardless of location,

that results in extraordinary levels of mass

casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting

the US population, infrastructure, environment,

economy, or government functions.

"NSPD-51 / HSPD-20 also makes no reference

whatsoever to Congress. The language of the May 9

directive appears to negate any requirement that

the President submit to Congress a determination

that a national emergency exists, suggesting instead

that the powers of the executive order can be

implemented without any congressional approval or

oversight."

Suddenly Sherman's short speech before Congress

seems more plausible. In short, an economic failure

equals justification for Martial Law. The President

has given himself the power to declare almost any

crisis a 'national emergency'. With the 2007National Defense Authorization Act, the presidents

ability to "federalize" the Guard during a national

emergency such as terrorist attacks, natural

disasters, pandemics and "other emergencies" was

greatly expanded in that he'd no longer have to

consult with state Governors to do so.

Due to the haste in passing the $700 billion bailout

bill (formally known as the Emergency Economic

Stabilization Act), there wasn't much time for

Congress to add certain regulations for the money,

as far as what the banks receiving the aid could do

with it. Recent reports indicate that the banks do not

intend on using the money for its intended purpose,

instead some banks want to buy other banks, pay

dividends, give employees raises and executive

bonuses, or in some cases, some banks want to just

"sit on" the money given to them. It doesn't appear

that the money will be used to help the

homeowners, pressed for money, keep their homes

from being foreclosed.

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If these banks use this money in the ways they

suggest they will, it will only worsen the current

economic problems already present in America. The

haste in passing this bill could very well make the

economy far worse than it is, truly turning an

economic crisis into a "catastrophic emergency."

On Labor Day, the first day of the Republican

National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, a crowd

of two hundred people who were gathered in the

Harriet Island Regional Park were surrounded by

police and all of them were arrested,

indiscriminately, without probably cause. Not one of

these citizens was read their Miranda Rights, but

because they were in proximity of 600 protesters

who were arrested, they were also arrested.

The entire situation that happened in Minnesota

seems puzzling. As Americans we are given the right

to "Peaceably Assemble", the right to "Freedom of

Speech" and the right to "Petition the Government

for a redress of grievances" in the first Amendment

of the Bill of Rights. Not to mention the fourth

amendments right that every citizen has, in which

probable cause must be ascertained before any

arrest is made.

If, yet another bill that was passed in the House by

404 of our elected representatives, were to become

law, mass arrests like what happened in Minnesota

could become normal. The Violent Radicalization and

Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 (HR1955), dubbed the "Thought Crime Prevention Bill"

would make any "extremist belief system for the

purpose of facilitating ideological based violence in

advance political, religious, or social change" illegal.

The bill is directed at the American people and its

aim is to silence any dissent among the people

against the government that the government deems

harmful. The definitions of "violent radicalization"

and "homegrown terrorism" are so vague that

anything from a large group of protesters to a small

group of anarchists could be deemed a threat to the

US government - simply because their views or

beliefs differ from that of the US government.

HR 1955 would no longer require that an actual

crime be committed for the government to take

action against a group. Outrage at the government

could, if this bill is passed, be perceived as a threat

and the government can put the individual or group

in prison because of it. As the bill defines

homegrown terrorism;

"(3) HOMEGROWN TERRORISM - The term

'homegrown terrorism' means the use, planned use,

or threatened use of force or violence by a group or

individual born, raised, or based and operatingprimarily within the United States or any possession

of the United States to intimidate or coerce the

United States government, the civilian population or

the United States, or any segment thereof, in

furtherance of political or social objectives."

The Bill of Rights does not give any parameters to

freedom of speech - only that one individual's rights

ends when they infringe on other individuals rights.

This election year, our rights as American's may just

hang in the balance.

On October 1 of this year, the First Brigade of the

Third Infantry Division, which is nearly 4,000

soldiers, were deployed in the United States. Their

mission is crowd control to subdue "unruly

individuals" and manage a national emergency. The

soldiers will have access to both lethal and non

lethal crowd control technologies and tanks. They

will be called the chemical, biological, radiological,

nuclear or high-explosive Consequence Management

Response Force (CCMRF, pronounced "sea-smurf").

They have been deployed for twelve months.

What is unraveling in America really fast is acomplete undercutting of democracy as we know it.

How all this will play out is still unknown, but noting

what has already taken place, we can only speculate

that things will get worse long before they get

better. Both presidential candidates John McCain

and Barack Obama have already been briefed at the

White House by the FBI about a terrorist threat that

could take place within the first 250 days either

candidate takes office.

The bills being signed in the White House, and then

later implemented will continue to happen - despite,

unfortunately, who becomes the next President.

The President has given himself (and possibly

successors) a lot of power, power that was taken

from American citizens. How did this happen?

Perhaps it was when we, as a nation, stopped

questioning our government and instead decided to

stand still.

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MOVIER

EVIEWRachel Getting Married: A Study in Lividity

By Krista McNeil

Amidst the cacophony of life there is a string quintet

playing funeral dirges from India. Or, so it is in the nomos

of the provocative movie, Rachel Getting Married. Byprovocative, I mean it in the strictest literal fashion

possible: this movies calls to its viewers so subtly they are

unaware.

Aesthetically, it is also provocative. It is as if Tim Burton

latched on to The Family Stone, and added his own

unique flare. A single camera at times, and a shaky one

makes it feel like a reality show. Other times the camera

remains in scenes that would normally be cut-off. It forces

the viewers to be just as uncomfortable as the characters

in the awkward scenes. At other points it makes it feel as

though you are eavesdropping on painfully personal

moments and conversations. The movie does not fear to

call forth and elicit feelings and emotions other movies go

out of their way to avoid.

The two old ladies next to me hated it. They said it was

interesting, and I thought maybe they were on to

something; maybe it was just interesting. But then, the

old ladies couldnt figure out how to cross the street

outside the theater, even with the crosswalk signs.

The film doesnt follow the traditional introduction, climax,

resolution pattern. Its more, introduction, climax,

restoration to introduction. The climax, in fact, doesntoccur until very near the end and so subtle that I would

bet money on 90% of the audience missing it altogether

(just like the two old ladies, who remarked, Why is she

sending that little boat out onto the swimming pool? It is

a waste of film time.)

Its sort of like the title being a participial phrase, the

reader has to finish the sentence in order for it to move

beyond the realm of mere interest. Its like those old

kitschy Mad Lib books we all had as children: Rachel,

getting married, caused Kym to come home. Or, maybe

Rachel shouldnt be the subject, maybe, Kym should be:Kym, seeing Rachel getting married, felt abandoned.

The true brilliance of a participial phrase as the title is that

it explains the lack of traditional plotline. The Greeks can

be credited with refining the use of participial phrases to

describe ongoing action. When penned by the greatest

Greek linguists the ongoing action is woven into a fine

tension and juxtaposed to the rest of the sentence, which

has as its pinnacle a finite and completed verb/action. The

participial phrases are the most important part of these

sentencesit is where all other action takes place. This

movie is not about a grand story with a resolved plot, it is

about the day-to-day ongoingness of trying to live, but

never quite making it, in the face of the death of Ethan.

Rachel gets married, but not completely. We never seethe union consummated; we never see her and her spouse

living happily ever after. Nothing is resolved with Kym.

Completion is always just out of reach for these

characters.

The reason the film works is because each scene is a verse,

coddled by a selah. This is one of my favorite narrative

techniques, and perhaps one of the most difficult for

writers to master. It is a reflection of psalmistry, and

Jenny Lumet writes as though she studied at the feet of

King David himself. The familys fighting is balanced by the

antiphon of the wedding string quartet practicing in thebackground; Kyms self hatred and attempts to heal

herself at addicts meetings are embraced by the solemn

dirges. It is simultaneously a lament and a praise psalm.

The casting of Anne Hathaway as the lead actress is the

only aspect that weakens the provocative resolve of the

film. I get itsex sellsJonathan Demme had no other

choice. Had he not picked a sexy, traditionally beautiful

female lead, the film never would have gotten off the

ground. Lumets narrative is one in which nothing is

perfect, as I said, where nothing is completed. For Demme

to have casted such a beautiful person as Kym weakens

Lumets theme. The motif of a pale white, drug addicted,

beautiful female is one that shows like Law and Order

and CSI have beaten to death. All of the other

characters in the movie are imperfectfrom the

stepmoms overly tanned skin and sunspots, to Sidneys

huge nosethese imperfections perfect the characters as I

imagine Lumet imagined them. Hathaway is not how I

suspect Lumet imagined Kym. Hathaway, as Kym, makes

her come across as someone who was not ever strong, and

someone who will never be strong. Yet, the essence of the

character Kym is someone who, though painfully

shattered, is unbreakable.

In any matter though Hathaway is stunning, as are all the

characters. And they, like Lumets writing and Demmes

directing draw the audience into a world where lividity is

critiqued by the clear stillness of a pool of water and the

selah of a praise psalm.

Read this and more at; http://modernpsychomachia.blogspot.com/

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With 341 Presidential Candidates

running this year, including "Santa

Claus", "God J. Lally", "Jesus B.

Muhammed", "Savior", "Da Vid"

and "Watchman" - most of them

being write - ins, how will we ever

know who to vote for?

In Michigan there will be eight

potential candidates to choose

from, including John McCain and

Barack Obama, so lets take a lookat wholl be on the ballot.

Charles Baldwin

Constitutional Party Write In

Robert L Barr Jr

Libertarian Party Write-In

Cynthia Ann McKinney

Green Party Write-In

Brian P. Moore

Socialist Party Write-In

Alan L Keyes

American Independent Write-In

Ralph Nader

No Party Affiliation Write-In

John S. McCain III

Republican Party

Barack H. Obama Jr.

Democratic Party

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OPINION

The New Face In Social Networking

By: Chadwick Heller

Once upon a time there was Friendster, then MySpace,

then Facebook, then Twitter, now there is a new kid on

the block that wants to change the face of socialnetworking altogether. Meet Bluehoo, born Friday,

September 5th 2008, barely out of diapers and it wants to

take the virtual social networking world by storm.

Bluehoo, also known as Hoobert is a blue-tooth based

networking application that desires to make actually

talking to other people obsolete. Bluehoo will run

exclusively on cell phones and it is designed to scan the

area the cell phone is in to see if other people have the

application as well - the scan will be done using bluetooth.

When your phone detects another person with the

application, you will then be able to view their profile on

your phone and determine if that person is someone you'd

like to get to know.

Bluehoo is currently in its beta stage and it's site claims to

have just under 130,000 "hoos". Bluehoo, using bluetooth

will constantly be "talking" back and forth to its home

servers, therefore the application is likely to use up a lot of

a cell phone users data allowance. Bluehoo will also work

on Windows Azure.

As it looks now, Bluehoo will become any individuals

ultimate "people detector", presumably being used for

those of us who aren't sure how to identify another

human being. Thanks to Bluehoo, you will no longer find

your self having deep, engaging conversations with a chair

at your next party engagement.

I personally am subscribed to four "social networking"

websites, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and Helium and use

them all to keep in contact with different people in my

social sphere. All of these sites at one point had critics

claiming that people would "stop talking to one another

like normal people", but in reality, except for an expansion

in our lexicon - socializing amongst other humans hasn't

changed. Bluehoo however may just be that social

networking utility that the critics have been warning us

about.

I am not sure how I'd feel if someone came up to me and

said "Hey, Chadwick Heller! My phone just told me that Ishould talk to you - so, your profile says you like to read

and write and listen to Against All Authority, and that your

favorite authors are Jack Kerouac and Jose Saramago,

guess what, mine too!..." I'd sure be dumbfounded, until I

opened my phone and looked at their profile to respond,

"Uh, it says here your favorite authors are Dr. Seuss and

Tom Cruise, and that 'Miley Cirus really just rocks my face

off so much - she is SO hardcore!!!!' I'm sorry, Disney is

calling, they want their mousekateer back."

I believe Bluehoo will cause a lot of people to miss out on

some very good potential friendships. Finding friends etc.

shouldn't be like picking out a melon at the grocery store.

In my experience, the friends that are leastlike me happen

to be the ones I enjoy being around, I get the feeling

Bluehoo will attempt to match people up on their

similarities, which may be ok for some instances, but I feel

it's the asynchronicities of life that really pull us together.People like challenges, and even the small differences

amongst friends hold them together as much as the

similarities simply because those differences are

something we feel we must 'figure out' and understand.

Differences amongst friends forces people into trying to

understand one another. In order to understand another

person, we are obligated to get to know them.

I believe Bluehoo will catch on amongst the "tech-savvy"

first before it is realized that there are some bugs in this

new technology that won't be able to be fixed, mainly the

bug being that human relationships cannot be calculated.

Sure, some websites like to assert that they have found a

way to match up individuals, but their methods go a littlefurther than a simple profile. Although I can't foresee this

catching on mainstream like MySpace, Facebook and

Twitter, I am kind of curious to see Bluehoo in action. I

wonder if, once a person is detected a small GPS screen

pops up with an arrow on it pointing at the potential

target.

But outside of social networking, how else could a

technology like this be used - or misused? A part of me

believes Bluehoo is a derivative of a technology already in

use for spying on civilian's through FISA - but that is the

slight paranoia in me talking. But lets look at the reality,

there is already a problem with "MyStalking" in which

individuals learn about every social engagement of

another individual through the more "primitive" social

networking sites. At least MySpace and Facebook don't

reveal where a person (or, at least their cell phone) is at

any given second of the day. We all are aware of the

powers of hackers. This is the scenario I envision:

All, or at least a large majority of cell phones have GPS

locaters built in to them. With Bluehoo, the application is

always searching for others who use the same application.

So in theory, a person could "link" up to a persons cell

phone via their bluetooth signal that their social

networking pal, Bluehoo is constantly sending out and

simply tap into the users internal GPS on the cell phone.

Although I know very little about the ins and outs of

"hacking", tracking a potential target this way seems way

too easy and, at least in my mind, inevitable to happen.

Currently I am reading two books, The Brothers Karamazov

and Thomas L Friedman's The World Is Flat and I really like

the contrasting social dynamics described in both books,

but for a moment I'd like to discuss The World Is Flat.

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OPINION Continued

Due to the advancements in internet

related technology, Friedman puts forth

that the world is leveling (or flattening) out.

Competition and business is no longer conducted within

just the city, state or countries borders any more, but

rather globally. Conference calls can be made between

business partners in San Francisco, Las Vegas, New York,London and New Delhi via large flat screen monitors that

are connected wirelessly. Students in Colorado can be

tutored in Geometry via the internet from a teacher in

India. Perhaps Bluehoo is the first step in truly flattening

the social world.

Even with the downsides that I see with

Bluehoo, there is one potential upside to

the new technology. Maybe Bluehoo will

allow us to judge one another, not by our

outward appearances alone, but rather by the "content of

our character" - if that can be displayed on a profile that is.

Maybe Bluehoo is the first step in breaking down social

barriers amongst people. Again, I don't know exactly howBluehoo will work as far as what information will be

shared in these "profiles", nor it's range of coverage, but

maybe it will weaken some of the walls that society has so

carefully built.

The MRAPA new level in army protection

Yesterday I had a chance to speak to my friend Brian Zook,

who is currently serving a one year tour in Iraq. The

conversation was brief, he couldn't share much about

what he was doing aside from the fact that he was near

the Iraq / Iran border and that things were going good in

the area he was in but that "with the elections over there

coming up that could all change but I am a driver of an

MRAP its a pretty safe vehicle." He then told me that I

should use the 'ole Google and find out what this "MRAP"

vehicle is.

The MRAP is a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP)

Armored Vehicle that, as Brian describes it is a "badass 25

tons of armor" on wheels. This 'badass 25 tons of armor onwheels' was designed exclusively for the conditions faced

in Iraq. It is designed to with stand the impact of IED's,

overhead airbursts and side protection against shrapnel.

The windows on the MRAP are designed to withstand

"equal to or greater than" that of the armor on the

vehicle.

The MRAP will help protect troops like Brian against

Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) which are responsible

for 70% of all the US casualties in Iraq. The MRAP will

replace the Humvee's in Iraq and Afghanistan due to the

Humvee's vulnerability to IED's.

There are two MRAP models, the Cougar JERRV and the

Buffalo mine protected trucks. The Buffalo has slightly less

armor than the Cougar, but it is designed for mobility and

transporting troops in less hostile areas. The Buffalo is the

heavily armored vehicle that troops will take into more

hostile territories due to its heavy protection that it

provides. Some models of the Buffalo are designed with a

special arm to help clear land mine fields, without harming

any of the soldiers within the vehicle. To date, the Cougar

and Buffalo MRAP's have taken over 1,000 IED hits without

a loss of life.

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The Grapes of Rats

For those who enjoy a sodium rich diet, grapes

have been found, in a new University of Michigan

study to lower the risk of high blood pressure that

can develop into heart failure. The study, published

in the October issue of theJournal of Gerontology:

Biological Sciences finds that the antioxidants

within green, red and black grapes may reduce

hypertension that can lead to heart failure.

The researchers fed two groups of rats similar

sodium rich diets, one group, however was also fed

a powdered form of standard table grapes. After 18

weeks, the rats that ate the grape - enriched

powder showed to have a much lower blood

pressure than the rats that did not receive the

powder mixture.

"These findings support our theory that something

within the grapes themselves has a direct impact on

cardiovascular risk, beyond the simple blood-

pressure-lowering impact that we already know can

come from a diet rich in fruit and vegetables," said

Mitchell Seymour, who manages the University of

Michigan Cardioprotection Research Laboratory.

The "something" Seymour is referring to is believed

to be the flavanoids in the skin, flesh and seeds of

grapes. Although the results were promising with

the rats, further studies will need to be conducted

to examine the degree of the effects on humans.

The researchers were encouraged by the findings

however and say that this information could be

very beneficial to our aging population. According

to another recent study, only 35% of women and

39% of men over age 60 consumed two servings of

fruit per day. Only 6% of men and women ate the

recommended three servings of daily vegetables.

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moonship

Homeless in Ohio allowed to voteo Judge declared that homeless

can list park benches and otherlocations that aren't buildings

as their address

Joaquin Phoenix quits acting Schools and libraries see hundred of

requests to ban books

Sarah Palin eyeing 2012 Presidency Live grenade donated to Goodwill in

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UK declares Iceland a terrorist state Britains Rat population soaring to

record levels

Diebold voting machines hackable inabout 1 minute

Report on Iraq security lists 310 privatecontractors

Suggestions?

Critiques?Submissions?

Send them to:

C.HELLER.RUN@GMAIL.COMThank you.