echoes of Vineland

[Doug Millison]

...is starting to sound like the sort of thing that Pynchon judged harshly
in Vineland, echoing at that time US government plans to round up
dissenters and put them in concentration camps.  Today's situation is not
quite the same, of course, but the powers-that-be continue to use September
11 as an excuse to erode civil liberties, vastly increase defense spending,
and now, it seems, transform the US into a country with an even more
visible military presence, it's looking more and more like an occupied
state everyday, in my opinion.


http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020128-19980364.htm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42765-2002Jan26.html
"[...]  Before September, military leaders had resisted the idea of a
homeland CINC (pronounced "sink"), reflecting a traditional aversion to --
and legal limits on -- the use of federal armed forces for domestic law
enforcement. Opposition also existed outside the Pentagon on both the
political left and right, with civil libertarians and right-wing militia
groups alike warning against military forces encroaching on areas
traditionally considered the responsibility of civilian emergency response,
law enforcement and health agencies. [...]  Roughly 6,000 troops are
stationed at more than 400 airports across the country as part of the
effort to deter terrorists and reassure the public about the safety of air
travel. [...]   Legal barriers to sending the armed forces into U.S.
streets have existed for more than a century under the Posse Comitatus Act
of 1878. That law was prompted by President Ulysses S. Grant's use of
federal troops to monitor the elections in the former Confederate states.
The act prohibits military personnel from searching, seizing or arresting
people in the United States. [...] "