USA Governors tell Bush: KEEP YOUR HAND OFF OUR NAT'L GUARD!!!

[pbartch]

Governors Object to Bush's National Guard Plan
By ROBERT TANNER, AP

CHARLESTON, S.C. (Aug. 6) - The nation's governors are closing ranks in opposition to a proposal in Congress that would let the president take control of the National Guard in emergencies without consent of governors.

The idea, spurred by the destruction and chaos that followed Hurricane Katrina's landfall in Louisiana and Mississippi, is part of a House-passed version of the National Defense Authorization Act. It has not yet been agreed to by the Senate.

The measure would remove the currently required consent of governors for the federalization of the Guard, which is shared between the individual states and the federal government.

"Federalization just for the sake of federalization makes no sense," said Gov. Kathleen Blanco of Louisiana, a Democrat who had rough relations with the Bush administration after the disaster last year. "You don't need federalization to get federal troops. ... Just making quick decisions can make things happen."

Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, a Republican, said "a whole bunch of governors" were opposed to the idea after the proposed change was brought up in a private lunch meeting.

<SNIP>

Some two dozen governors met in Charleston for three days of discussions at the annual summer gathering of the National Governors Association. The association's leaders sent a formal letter of opposition to House leaders last week.

<SNIP>

"The idea of federalizing yet another function of government in America is a, the wrong direction, and b, counterproductive," Sanford said. "The system has worked quite well, notwithstanding what went wrong with Katrina."



http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/governors-object-to-bushs-national-guard/20060806052809990003?cid=771

[fooj]

1. Right on!

[mkb]

30. The Tyranny of Centralization

     A couple of brief comments, if you will.  First, I think
the Republic is, despite its problems, very much worth saving,
as perhaps Lincoln said "the last best hope of
earth."  Military centralization and concentration will
not assist in that effort.
     Second, I wish people to think flexibly with hopefully a
benign eclecticism as the basic objective.  In other words, to
find the best combination of ideas and events in life.  So
centralization may not ALWAYS be bad, but in terms of
corporate or military power, at this time at least seems
detrimental to such progress.

[bananarepublican]

31. It seems incompetence has already been federalized under GWB. Why...

... "incompetentize" the National Guard?

[originalpckelly]

2. Could this be a part of the emperor's new secret programs?

I am definitely scared. :scared:

[BlueCaliDem]

23. Controlling of the States Nat. Guard *would* make declaring Martial Law

...easier, wouldn't it?

The executive order is drafted, and just waiting to be declared should another 9/11-like attack happen on American soil.

Perhaps Bush and his Neo-con cronies are seeing that with his sinking approval numbers, there's no way American will allow Republicans to hold on to Congress, and they've still got the plan to create an American Empire hot in their pockets.

I believe federalization of all the States' National Guard units is the first step before declaring Martial Law and suspending ALL elections---and then we're stuck with Chimpy in Chief for god-only-knows-HOW-long!

Good that the Governors rejected the House's sneaky plans.

[rodeodance]

3. the House has been doing really stupid mean things last few years.

[FighttheFuture]

15. In other words... acting like true Republicans!

[me b zola]

4. This may be slightly OT

Gov. Schweitzer (D,MT) has been telling bush, even before KatrinaBush to keep his mitts off his National Guard units. Schweiter has said that bush shouldn't send MT's NG to Iraq because MT needs them at home for potential disasters that may occur, such as wild fires.


That being said, this bill sounds like a bad one. Does anyone have a text of the bill?

[snappyturtle]

10. As I understand it.....

this little ditty was tucked (deeply tucked) into a defense spending bill. Aside: I love your Gov. I think he'd make a wonderful, sensible President!

[snappyturtle]

11. Wrong...self-correct....

this proposal is in House passed National Defense Authorization Act! If that is of any help.

[me b zola]

14. I wish I had Schweitzer for a Gov

...but then I wish every state had a Schweitzer as Gov. ;) And yes, I would love for him to run for POTUS. I first heard about him when he was interviewed a AAR last year. I was blown away. Imagine, a straight talking Liberal progressive in a very "red" state. He blows all of the dlc talking points out of the water.






edited to say I'm in Oregon :hi:

[krkaufman]

21. Sounds like Bush thinks he's found a way around your Gov, ...

... and will be shipping those NG troops off to Iraqiranafghanistan when he damn well feels like it.

Where is that line in the sand, across which lies dictatorship?

[me b zola]

29. That line has been crossed a while ago

And I wish that Schweitzer was my Gov, I'm from Oregon. :hi:

[Cobalt-60]

32. Dragging off a single kid to war

is one thing.
I think they might find it difficult to take a fully equipped National Guard formation somewhere where it refuses to go.

[davepc]

33. SCOTUS already ruled that the president can deploy the NG at his whim

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2438462&mesg_id=2442103

[paparush]

5. Ah...good old Conservative 'small government' *cough* bullshit *cough*

[TechBear_Seattle]

6. Could someone explain to me...

How this is not a direct attack on the Tenth Amendment and other Constitutional guarantees of state sovereignty?

[snappyturtle]

7. More......

This is what I posted Sunday.......

I heard this topic being discussed on WJ this morning. I've been looking around here at DU and haven't seen it mentioned here yet. This one scares me. The following link is to an article written by David Broder. Very sneaky time to bring up more authority for the president while we are distracted with war, war, and more war.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...

NOW THE LINK DOESN'T WORK! Gov. Huckabee (ARK) stated that he was upset with the wording of the resolution, or obscure part of the defense spending bill that included giving * authority over the National Guard in "serious natural or manmade disasters". The Governor wanted the disaster terminology defined and not so open ended. Could he be warning us that * might view a civilian up-rising, protest, as a manmade disaster? IMHOP, one factor our dear pres does not NEED is more authority!!!

Edit: spelling!

[proud patriot]

8. Good

:thumbsup:

9. definitely seems like a chess move of the fascists

When Katrina happened, our governor in Wisconsin was waiting and waiting for the go ahead to go help.

[Joanne98]

18. It is. They use every crisis to forward their DICTATORSHIP!

But it's not going to work this time. Thank Gawd.

[Divernan]

28. Bush/Chertoff blocked FEMA from going to NOLA for about a week

As used to be the practise, up until Katrina, with natural disasters which can be predicted in advance, (such as hurricanes, as opposed to tornados) hundreds of FEMA career civil servant/disaster relief specialists, from all the FEMA Regions in the country were packed and ready to deploy to NOLA about a week BEFORE the hurricane made landfall. Because of the HUGE size of this hurricane, the only people planning to remain behind in the regional offices were skeleton staffs to "keep the lights on".

However, Chertoff - head of DHS- overrode the pathetic FEMA Director, Brown, and refused to authorize travel to NOLA until AFTER the storm hit. No one knows what role, if any, Bush/Cheney played in Chertoff's blocking actions. But what everyone does know is that hundreds of the people who drowned would have been located and assisted to evacuate in time had the hundreds of experienced, professional emergency responders been allowed to go to NOLA before the storm actually hit.

My point is, if I were a governor, I could EASILY envision Bush/Chertoff refusing authorization for a state's own national guard to help their own state's citizens. Keep in mind that when Bush was elected, he appointed his Texas Chief of Staff/campaign manager, Joe Albaugh to head FEMA, with the assignment to shut the agency down - because Bush et al believe that if you don't have enough savings and insurance to take care of your own household in the face of tornados, floods, hurricanes, blizzards, etc., that's YOUR problem, not the governments. Then 9/11 happened, and he couldn't continue to gut FEMA publicly, so he put it under Chertoff, who continued stripping the agency of funding and personnel slots.

34. Yes, they could use the authorization

to sit on their hands in a disaster. Then just have a congressional hearing afterwards, or maybe not.

[McCamy Taylor]

12. Bush Co. preparing to seize control if they lose the election?

[MrCoffee]

13. Did they also tell him to keep his meat-hooks off the lady governors?

[TexasLawyer]

16. vote in the poll

click on the link to the article and vote on the plan. here's the tally so far.

What do you think of President Bush's National Guard plan?
I oppose it 75%
I support it 18%
I'm not sure 7%

[Joanne98]

19. Done

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

24. Done. 75% oppose

http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/governors-object-to-bushs-national-guard/20060806052809990003?cid=771

It's a wonder my hair isn't pure grey after these years of repeated * attacks against our country and constitution.

[acmavm]

17. Any idea who authored this sneaky piece of anti-states rights

legislation. Someone had to write that bill and sneak it in there.

bush** (by that I mean the neos) is insane out of control. And they're scared.

[Joanne98]

20. The Federalists Society? lol. I wouldn't be surprised.

They're ALL FAKES!

[Nikki Stone 1]

22. kick

:kick:

[Swamp Rat]

25. k&r

[BadgerKid]

26. Please verify: S.2507 and H.R.5122

Note: The sponsors were "requested" to introduce the bills.

http://thomas.loc.gov/


S.2507
Title: A bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2007 for military activities of the Department of Defense, to prescribe military personnel strengths for fiscal year 2007, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Sen Warner, John (by request) (introduced 4/4/2006) Cosponsors (1)
Related Bills: H.R.5122
Latest Major Action: 4/4/2006 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services.

COSPONSORS(1), ALPHABETICAL : (Sort: by date)


Sen Levin, Carl - 4/4/2006


H.R.5122
Title: To authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2007 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Hunter, Duncan (by request) (introduced 4/6/2006) Cosponsors (1)
Related Bills: H.RES.806, H.RES.811, S.2507, S.2766, S.2767
Latest Major Action: 6/22/2006 Resolving differences / Conference -- Senate actions. Status: Senate insists on its amendment, asks for a conference, appoints conferees Warner; McCain; Inhofe; Roberts; Sessions; Collins; Ensign; Talent; Chambliss; Graham; Dole; Cornyn; Thune; Levin; Kennedy; Byrd; Lieberman; Reed; Akaka; Nelson FL; Nelson NE; Dayton; Bayh; Clinton.

COSPONSORS(1), ALPHABETICAL : (Sort: by date)


Rep Skelton, Ike - 4/6/2006

[bonito]

27. Kick &R n/t

[DemonFighterLives]

35. Go Governors!

Another terrible idea by dubco.
:argh:

The little dictator needs his wings clipped.

[rabblerowzer]

36. The “Lord of the Flies”

Governors Balk at Bid To Place Guard Under Bush Control

"Federalization just for the sake of federalization makes no sense," Governor Blanco, a Democrat of Louisiana, said.

Don’t be deceived, the fascist cabal running this country doesn’t do anything without criminal intent. The “Lord of the Flies” is attempting another underhanded coup to increase his power and subvert democracy. State control of the National Guard is a vital check on the power of the executive branch. Our founding fathers were not stupid, they were all too aware of the danger of a rogue president trying to make himself dictator, and they put the National Guard under control of State Governors to act as counterweight against a President’s control of our armed forces.

If we submit to yet another presidential power grab to subvert Checks and Balances, we will be left defenseless.

[sangfroid]

37. And for those who who think there's nothing to worry about...

Sorry if someone has already posted this:

http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=eed74d9d44c30493706fe03f4c9b3a77#

[roamer65]

38. We need actual state militias again

They federalize the NG and I will favor the formation and arming of actual state militias under the control of the governor and state legislature of each state. All states monies presently allocated to the NG's, should then go to the militias.

[earth mom]

39. Good for the governors showing some backbone!

Gawd, I have really have had it with the evil bastards in DC! :grr: