Worrisome news item

[kengr]

Caught an item on the news last night that does *not* bode well for the country.

Bush & co are pushing to get posse commitatus repealed. In other words, they want to use the slow response to Katrina as an excuse to repeal the law that forbids using the military in a "police"/"law enforcement" role.

Even the media is scratching their heads on what the hell this would have done to help.

But my cynical side notes that it'd work really well for sending in troops to "put down" activities the administration objects to. Like demonstrations against the war.

Comments

[aurictech.livejournal.com]

Here's a link to an AP story on the idea of having the military be the lead response agency under certain disaster conditions. It doesn't look as if a full repeal of the Posse Comitatus Act is on the table. I also noticed in the story that neither support for nor opposition to this idea break along party lines.

In general, I believe that, when deciding whether to support any increase in government power, one should imagine the worst possible ways that one's political opponents could abuse that power. That principle is why I normally oppose any increase in government power, regardless of which party proposes it.