As I was reading around blogs that I like to check I came upon this very interesting and somewhat disturbing article from the Army Times. The article is the one mentioned in the diary title Army Times: U.S. Army North up and running

This article was distrubing because it talked about the following

"As part of Army transformation, USARNORTH was formed to become the dedicated Army service component command to Northern Command, the unified command responsible for defending the homeland and coordinating defense support of civil authorities."

As I was catching up on new events in the world this wonderful saturday morning I came across a Bill, H.R. 6198, that snuck in through the bathroom window. Its name is the Iran Freedom Support Act. This bill did not exist before Wednesday morning/afternoon according to its legislative history on Thomas.loc.gov. I'm going to include it and links to the bill itself and a news article discussing it below the fold.

This bill provides for sanctions against any country that works to help Iran develop WMD's. It also serves as a renewal of the Iran Libya Sactions Act of 1996 which expired yesterday but is now extended to 2011. Thankfully it also says although I don't think it means anything that nothing in the bill authorizes the use of force against Iran. But this bill does set the stage rather nicely for continued saber rattling against them.

I have been watching CNN today and it really has been an interesting experience. When they aren't fearmongering about the Airplanes, long lines at airports, or just stuff we've already heard a thousand times about this terror plot in the UK they keep promoting their "Theme" day on Monday.

On Monday it seems the Theme is going to be "Target:USA" where they are going to focus an entire day of news coverage on where and how the US might still be vunerable to terrorist attacks and what all the people of the country can do to be vigilant.

As I was reading through the news this morning an article on Yahoo News caught my attention. Governors object to Bush's Guard plan I noticed that with all the other stuff going on lately the Bush Administration is trying to quietly sneak in more power for itself. Suprise I know, but this one is a really dangerous power that will bite all of us when the next disaster comes around.

According to CNN the U.N. Security council has passed another resolution calling on Iran to halt its nuclear ambitions by August 31st or face the threat of economic sanctions.

CNN Story on U.N. Iran Resolution

The thing that is especially worrisome here is that Iran has already said if they passed this resolution which they have then it would escalate the crisis and not defuse it. Because all of us who are keeping up with these issues know Iran isn't going to budge and come Aug. 31 something even more insane is going to happen if it doesn't before hand.

In a bill just introduced yesterday on the heels of the Supreme Court's decision in the Hamdan case that all of us seemed very pleased with because it served as a slapdown for the administration on its continual grab for unchecked power. Sen. Arlen Specter has shown that he is a true lackey of the Bush Administration by introducing a new bill called the "The Unprivileged Combatants Act of 2006".

The actual text of the bill is not quite up on Thomas yet, but if you really want to read it, it is currently lurking in the Senate record from yesterday. At S6797 which you can get to by searching on the bill and looking at all Congressional actions.

It's scary how fast the Senate can move when it wants to as they have scheduled a hearing on it for July 11. The summary of the bill is below.

I've been wondering what the Repubs are going try next with regards to court stripping and religious language and then I remembered an old chesnut from last year that seems to be coming back from the dead.

Check out S. 520, "Constitution Restoration Act of 2005". It is one of the most truly aweful court stripping bills I have ever seen. It came around briefly in March '05 but disappeared since.

It would strip ALL the federal courts of the ability to hear anything involving the government's acknowledgment that God is the sovereign source of law. With all these religious court stripping bills coming up I figured I would check on Thomas and see what the status on the bill was. Because this is in my opinion the big daddy of them all

Here is the bill and who re-introduced it after the flip.....

When I read in an article from MSNBC titled Bush may deploy Guard along U.S. border with Mexico I was immediately given pause to think about what this means not only for its stated purpose of border security but for it could mean in the greater scheme of things.

For me this is about remembering that Troops can be used to keep people IN just as well as they can be used to keep people OUT. A saying I heard on a another blog a year or two ago was always watch what happens on your borders and you will know the true state of your country. To me the militarization of the border with Mexico is just another step on the road to fascism and dictatorship.  

With all this Iran business going on in the Media over this last week with the US and Iran trying to one up each other I have been watching the price of Oil. I check Bloomberg.com several times a day to see the prices per barrel. The free info lists four different types of Oil prices. There are the two Europeans ones the IPE and the Brent I believe. There are also the two American ones, the WTI and NYMEX crude.

Both IPE and Brent are over 70/bbl at 70.57 and 70.22 respectively while NYMEX and WTI are at 69.45 and 69.32. This is the highest Oil has been since the Katrina hurricane disaster last summer.

There have been a great many diaries on the topic of illegal immigration and the many ways to solve it as a problem in this country. From Sensenbrenners crazy plot set to be debated in the Senate next week to all the different things being discussed here on this very blog.

What I'm curious to think about though is where are people with becoming immigrants to a new country themselves. What do you all think I about Emmigration to a new land, that possibly more closely represents your values. I left last September to come to Vancouver, BC here in Canada. It for me is quite possibly one of the best choices I have ever made. I went home over Christmas 2005 to see if I had actually made the right choice coming here from living in the Southern US. I discovered that I had because I couldn't live in the environment that exists down there anymore.

I just moved to Vancouver, BC from middle TN where I lived for 11 years to get a 2nd Masters degree in Theology from the Vancouver School of Theology. I was wondering if there were any other Vancouver kossacks out there that would come out and have a beer with me and talk about Politics, life, the universe and everything... I've met a lot of great folks up here already but I'm always on the look out for more like minded friends. Plus if your gay, cute, intelligent and can talk politics all the better... ;) Anyhow I would love to hear from some of you folks so give me a yell at my email address on my profile.

Well to do some stuff. Have a great night everyone.  

As I was reading a very nice legislative round by Juila Grey I noticed that in the committee section a bit of the Constitution Restoration Act was trying to come back from the dead in the form of House Resolution 97.

You can read the whole wretched thing by going to Thomas and searching on HRes 97 or clicking this link House Resolution 97. From having read it I was not to spurised but disheartened to see it take a swipe at the Lawerence vs. Texas decision openly and directly.

More after the jump....

I was working away in my office when I heard the TV on out in our Operations area. It seems that a large plant/factory that makes Oxygen Tanks has caught fire and all the tanks started exploding sending them according to the CNN folks where I was watching coverage from coming in from a chopper.

Large and continuous balls of flame where leaping from this building with much the same coloration as the new color-scheme of Kos those morning. I promise I'm not being snarky as this has actually happened.

Here's the link from MSNBC....

Firey Blaze in St. Louis

I have been pondering something recently. I have an admission to a graudate program in Canada that's good for this year and I was going to but due to some debt I got into trying to fix the house up to sell it I had to get the school to give me a one year deferrment.

My pondering revolves around whether or not I should leave for school up there with some debt or stay here (in small town Tennessee) until August 06 when I would then leave debt free. Right now I'm working from the leave next year plan.

What scares me is the way we as a country are headed and how fast it seems we are headed there. Everyday I read here and other places how quickly we are descending. I'm just wondering when is it time to leave?

More after the break...

I was watching CSPAN 2 on the HR 1268 bill on the war appropriations bill in the Senate. I listened to several senators this afternoon railing on about how we needed good and reasonable debate about the Real ID rider to this bill was a down right travesty and shame. Harry Reid got up and gave a very nice speech just before Bill Frist got up and called for a vote on the bill which just finished by the way. It started at 5:50 PM EST and ended 30 minutes later just now at 6:20 PM EST.

The Final vote on Bill HR1268 with Real ID Rider is an unbelievable at least to me 100-0. THERE WAS NOT A SINGLE NAY IN THE CHAMBER. This to me is completely insane. All the democratic party names that we have come to hold as defenders of what is left of Truth, Justice, and the American Way all voted yes.

I sat there and listened with a completely sick feeling the more "Aye"'s that I heard. Clinton, Kerry, Boxer, Reid, Obama, Feingold all voted "Aye". Astounding, just Astounding. The question for me is What in the world do we do now?

Here's another little piece of the coming Fascist State.... Next week when the Senate comes back they will pass the Iraq/Afghanistan/Tsumnai appropriations bill with a terrible REAL ID rider. Can't you just hear it now from the Republicans how could you vote against the troops and disaster victims.

It sets up national standards for drivers licenses. Makes it harder for people to gain asylum in the US because they have to prove they are persecuted. And my personal favorite it gives the Sec of DHS the power to waive and all laws to help build border protections. These waivers can only be appealed directly to the Supreme Court in the case that the DHS Sec does something against the Constitution.

The Conference report on this bill (HR 1268) was just released yesterday night. It seems the 2 houses have to come to a deal with with devil on this awful rider to an essential piece of legislation. More after the jump.

This is my first diary here on DailyKos since emerging from being a lurker. I'm sure this diary will slide away quickly but I wanted to see if I could get a few comments in the meantime. I've been curious about something as I see the US slide further and further downhill. Since I'm going to move to Vancouver for graduate school in September I have a question for other American Expats out there.

My question is has your life been better or worse sense you moved? Do you feel safer, more secure, more at home in your new country of residence?

The reason I'm curious is because as a liberal gay man in middle Tennessee I'm ever presently surrounded by people and a government that just doesn't fit for me. What I would really like is for what I feel on the inside to be matched by the government of the country I live in. I was able to do this with religion by becoming a Unitarian Universalist and leaving Roman Catholicism. I curious if you could do it by switching countries too. Thanks for your time and whatever comments if any appear.