4um: The Makings of a Police State-Part I

The National Security Generation

"When an opponent declares, 'I will not come over to your side,' I say calmly, 'Your child belongs to us already...What are you? You will pass on. Your descendants, however, now stand in the new camp. In a short time they will know nothing but this new community'."- - Adolf Hitler

Our children who were born on and around September 11, 2001 are now almost eight years old. These children, who we usually refer to as 56;the future,57; have only known a nation that has been engaged in perpetual wars, and to them it is 56;forever.57; How many times a day do they hear and read the word 56;war57;? Whether it57;s the TV they are tuned in to, or their parents57; daily paper they happen to get a glimpse of, or the radio news program they listen to during their car rides70;they can57;t help but hear and see 56;wars57;: war on terror, war in Iraq, the Afghan war70;

They know a nation whose state is defined by a color coded alert system. They are being told and taught to be 56;alert57; against a vague and never-defined threat posed by an even more vague enemy.

To them the days when their parents traveled with dignity is a sweet bed-time story; one that starts with 56;Once upon a time we boarded our planes without going through metal detectors and puff-machines, without bending over before the 56;badge-men57; to remove our shoes, without being searched and probed70;without fear; the fear of becoming a chosen one by our state and it57;s badge-men70;57;

Their national pride before international eyes is forced to adopt a coping mechanism: How to defend their nation57;s record on torture; how to explain their government57;s world-wide kidnapping as extraordinary renditions prompted by even more extraordinary circumstances; how to justify the civilian death tolls accumulated nonstop by their government57;s never-justified wars; and more.

As bad as all this sounds we may wish this was the extent of it, when it comes to our children, our new generation; our future. But we don57;t always get what we wish for; do we? Sometimes it takes more than 56;wishful thinking.57;

The strength and maintenance of any police state depends largely on the loyal unquestioning following of its masses. What better target than the young minds of the youth ready to soak up whatever information and training is designed for and directed toward them? What better method than misdirecting the passionate patriotism and innate sense of self-preservation against 56;perceived57; threats? What better place to create this than in our schools through 56;specialized57; education?

Our Nation57;s New Scouts

On May 15 this year Telegraph UK ran an article on a nationwide Boy Scouts training program on combating terrorism. The reported number of scouts between the ages of 14 and 21 who are currently enrolled in law enforcement and terrorism programs across the United States is around 35,000. Learning for Life, a subsidiary of the Boy Scouts of America Organization, runs and manages this project.

60;Many agencies, such as the Border Patrol, are heavily involved in shaping the activities and admit they see the programme as a useful recruitment tool. Although law enforcement exploring originally stuck to learning the policing basics, organisers say the training has become more specialised since the September 11 attacks ...61;

Can you picture our cute youngster scouts in their new scout environment, carefully designed and put in place after September 11? Here is a little glimpse:

60;Dressed in combat fatigues and armed with air guns firing tiny plastic pellets, they are taught how to assault buses, raid marijuana fields and rescue terrorist hostages from buildings.61;

Speaking of methods, how about this to define the new concept of being a true American? The new definition of honor and bravery?

60;This is about being a true-blooded American guy and girl. It fits right in with the honour and bravery of the Boy Scouts," said AJ Lowenthal, a sheriff's deputy and Explorer leader in Imperial, California.61;

I vaguely recall the words of a dictator spoken in a not too distant past. How did it go? Was it 56;This is about being a true-blooded German youth representing their country with pride and bravery70;57; or something like that? Do you too recall what I am trying to remember? Or this - from the scouts57; role in Mussolini57;s Italy, Opera Nazionale Balilla (ONB):

60;Mussolini assigned ex-Ardito and deputy-secretary for Education Renato Ricci the task of "reorganizing the youth from a moral and physical point of view". Ricci sought inspiration with Robert Powell, the founder of

Scouting, meeting with him in England. The ONB included children between the ages of 8 and 18.The organization surpassed its purpose as a cultural institution that was intended to serve as the ideological counterpart of school, and served as a paramilitary group, training for future assignments in the Italian Army.Male children enrolled wore uniform. During military exercises, they were armed (the guns were replaced with toy versions for the Figli della Lupa).61;I for one see an amazing parallel. Is it because I am looking for it? I don57;t think so.

Our High Schools & the National Security Curriculum

LA Times reports on Meade High School in Northern Maryland, the first high school in the country to offer a four-year course in Domestic Security. The article57;s 56;sexy57; title goes like this: 56;The School Mixes Algebra, Homeland Security.57; The goal is identified as 56;to help graduates build careers in one of America's few growth industries.57; By the 56;few growth industries57; they mean not only the intelligence agencies, Department of Homeland Security, etc, but all the parasitic related private contractors such as private weapons companies and mercenary contractor firms like well-known Blackwater.

60;the 90 ninth-graders who chose the new

homeland security program this last school year focused on topics torn from the headlines: Islamic jihadism, nuclear arms, cyber-crime, domestic militias and the like.61;The story starts getting a bit sadly comical with the following lines:

60;New themes even were added to their science, social studies and English classes.61; There57;s a lot of homeland security issues in 'Romeo and Juliet,' " said Bill Sheppard, the program coordinator. "Like, how do you deal with infiltration in your own family?"61;

What is this man really saying? We must now prepare our youngsters to detect infiltration; however this infiltration is to be defined by the state, even in one57;s own family? Do you remember the loyal Nazi youth who reported their own parents? Didn57;t we make hundreds of movies about the Stazi and how they trained the youth to collaborate with them and act as their snitches?

You don57;t need much imagination to envision a description of the homeland security class, but here is a short one for you:

60;Edler's classroom is on the lower level, near the woodworking shop. One corner has armchairs, another a table covered with military and intelligence magazines. The walls are lined with students' posters that compare extremist groups at home and abroad.61;

70;and here is how they lure these poor naïve kids:

60;"This course will help me get a top-secret security clearance," said Darryl Bagley, an eager 15-year-old. 60;That way I can always get a job.61; Since the Sept. 11 attacks, about 320 colleges and universities have begun awarding graduate or postgraduate certificates or degrees in emergency management, bio-defense and other security-related fields. Federal grants and a steady growth in jobs have driven the surge.61;

Now how many naïve kids can resist the misguided lure and glamour of getting 56;security clearance,57; the prospect of becoming a 007 like spy, the possibility of carrying badges and guns70;and doing all that for one57;s 56;state57; and being told that it57;s for the protection and the good of the country? How many?

This new breed of programming the education of our youth seems to be mushrooming and spreading:

60;Joppatowne High School in northern Maryland started a similar program in 2007. And two more schools, one near Baltimore and the other in the state's western panhandle, will follow next fall, said state education department spokesman Bill Reinhard. Schools in other states, including California, are watching closely.61;

Mother Jones reports further on Joppatowne High School:

60;Dedicated to everything from architecture to sports medicine, "career academies" claim to offer high school kids focus, relevancy, and solid job prospects. Now add a new kind of program to the list: homeland security high. In late August, Maryland's Joppatowne High School became the first school in the country dedicated to churning out would-be Jack Bauers. The 75 students in the Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness magnet program will study cybersecurity and geospatial intelligence, respond to mock terror attacks, and receive limited security clearances at the nearby Army chemical warfare lab.61;

And here we can see the difference in reporting:

60;The new school is funded and guided by a slew of federal, state, and local agencies, not to mention several defense firms. Officials say it will teach kids to understand the "new reality," though they hasten to add that the school isn't focused just on terrorism. School administrators, channeling Cheneyesque secrecy, refused to be interviewed for this story. But it's no secret that the program is seen as a model for the rest of the country, with the Pentagon and other agencies watching closely.61;

Now think about it: how many public schools can resist getting this funding? To them, adding and offering these 56;Motherland - Fatherland57; programs means: tons of money (by their standards), real prestige (by blind and misguided standards), and maybe even the misguided positive stigma of being closely attached to the federal intelligence and police agencies.

The article goes appropriately to the real punch line:

60;The school's main goal is to get its grads jobs in the booming $24-billion-a-year homeland security industry. It's certainly in the right location: Northeast Maryland has become a mecca for the military-industrial complex. The Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground is the county's biggest employer, and all manner of defense contractors have set up shop nearby, including weapons maker Northrop Grumman.61;

Doesn57;t it always come down to money? This is exactly how they (The Feds) diminished the role and power of the individual states and this is how they are going about taking control of the public schools. This is the bait they dangle before our new generation57;s noses: we57;ll give you security clearance, mysterious and glamorous policing jobs, guaranteed employment and money. Now go and resist this in the name of real Americanism, independence, and the love of liberties. How many do you think will?

Military and Para-Military Training for our Schools

Last week another relevant story got my attention. Marine Corps Times published a piece titled 56;Marine-Themed Public Schools Meet Resistance57; about how the corps is wooing public schools throughout the country to expand it57;s network of military academies despite criticism.

60;Marine officials are talking with at least six districts 52; including in suburban Atlanta, New Orleans and Las Vegas 52; about opening schools where every student wears a uniform, participates in Junior ROTC and takes military classes, said Bill McHenry, who runs the service57;s Junior ROTC program. Those schools would add to more than a dozen public military academies that have opened nationwide, a trend that57;s picking up speed as the Defense Department looks for ways to increase the number of units in Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps.61;

Here is a single quote on the opposition side:

60;Critics such as Mike Hearington, a 56-year-old Vietnam War veteran whose son attends Shamrock Middle School in DeKalb County, say the schools are breeding grounds for the military.60;To pursue children like they are is criminal in my mind,61; Hearington said.61;

Is it me, or did they try to depict critics as die-hard Jane Fonda Style Vietnam war critics?

Now as for the 56;money57; angle:

60;In DeKalb County, the school district would get about $500,000 a year plus $1.4 million in startup funds from the Corps, Lewis said. The school would open with 150 cadets, growing eventually to about 65070;Last year, Congress passed a defense policy bill that included a call for increasing the number of Junior ROTC units across the country from 3,400 to 3,700 in the next 11 years, an effort that will cost about $170 million, Defense Department spokeswoman Eileen M. Lainez said. The process will go faster by opening military academies, which count as four or more units, McHenry said.61;

To some of you these amounts may not seem much, while tremendous to others. Just take a look at most of these public schools57; budgets and you57;ll see that $2 million or so is enough to have school administrators panting and drooling all over themselves70;

Here is more in another article covering the same topic on Chicago schools:

60;One in 10 public high school students in Chicago wears a military uniform to school and takes classes -- including how to shoot a gun properly -- from retired veterans. That number is expected to rise as junior military reserve programs expand across the country now that a congressional cap of 3,500 units has been lifted from the nearly century-old scheme.61;

And70;

60;Opponents say the programs divert critical resources from crumbling public schools and lead to a militarization of US society.61; To call these young people child soldiers might be technically inaccurate, but it does reveal the truth of it," said Oscar Castro, a spokesman for the National Youth and Militarism Program, an advocacy group.61;

The Nazis were aware that education would create loyal Nazis by the time they reached adulthood. Hitler Youth, Hitler-Jugend, HJ, was organized into corps under adult leaders, and the general membership was comprised of boys aged fourteen to eighteen:

60;One aim was to instill the motivation that would enable HJ members, as soldiers, to fight faithfully for the Third Reich. Many HJ activities closely resembled military training, with weapons training, assault course circuits and basic tactics.The HJ was also seen as an important stepping stone to future membership of the elite Schutzstaffe, SS. The HJ also maintained several corps designed to develop future officers for the

Wehrmacht. The corps offered specialist pre-training for each of the specific arms for which the HJ member was ultimately destined. The Marine Hitler Youth, for example, was the largest such corps and served as a water rescue auxiliary to the Kriegsmarine.61;Again, is it me looking for parallels, or is it really there, clear and present?!

We all know how Adolf Hitler57;s regime after taking over Germany went about organizing the youth to have them become the future warriors for their armed forces. These young Germans were to be manipulated and put into service for the good of the Third Reich and would also go on to become the future warriors that would carry out the total war policies of Hitler and his loyal henchmen. Here is a paragraph on the role of the paramilitary training for the youth in schools:

60;To add more excitement, a new phase began for the Hitler Youth with increased emphasis on para-military training in direct association with the Wehrmacht (Army) Luftwaffe (Air Force) and Navy. In 1937, a Hitler Youth rifle school was also established. About 1.5 million boys were trained in rifle shooting and military field exercises over the next few years with over 50,000 boys earning a marksmanship medal that required near perfect shooting at a distance of 50 meters (164 feet).61;

Let57;s not leave out colleges and universities. Our new President of 56;Change57; has come up with some 56;change57; plans for this segment of our youth too.

Our favorite man, Pincus, at The Washington Post seems to be having fun while reporting on our President of Change57;s Spy-Rearing project plans for Universities; here is his opening:

60;To the list of collegiate types -- nerds, jocks, Greeks -- add one more: spies in training. The government is hoping they'll be hard to spot.61;

60;The Obama administration has proposed the creation of an intelligence officer training program in colleges and universities that would function much like the Reserve Officers' Training Corps run by the military services. The idea is to create a stream "of first- and second-generation Americans, who already have critical language and cultural knowledge, and prepare them for careers in the intelligence agencies," according to a description sent to Congress by Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair.61;

Keep reading my friends, the story gets hotter:

60;The students' participation in the program would probably be kept secret to prevent them from being identified by foreign intelligence services, according to an official familiar with the proposal.61;

How do you like that? Where will the classes be held: some underground bunkers in Utah?! Maybe they will hold the classes in the wee hours of the night and have the students clad in camouflage!

Here comes the section on the alluringly attractive money bait being dangled before the college students57; noses:

60;Students attending participating colleges and universities who agree to take the specialized courses would apply to the national intelligence director for admittance to the program, whose administrators would select individuals "competitively" for financial assistance. Much like the support provided to those in the military programs, the financial assistance could include "a monthly stipend, tuition assistance, book allowances and travel expenses," according to the proposal. It also would involve paid summer internships at one or more intelligence agencies.61;

I am planning to write a piece on the massive baggage that comes with obtaining Security Clearance, but here is how the new administration is planning to hook our college youth big time:

60;Applicants to the intelligence training program would have to pass a security background investigation, although it is unclear when they would have to do so. Students who receive a certain amount of financial assistance would be obligated to serve in an intelligence agency for the same length of time as they received their subsidy.61;

Just so that you know, a background check to receive clearance includes a background check of all your family members and friends, since you as an applicant have to provide information about everyone you regularly associate with70;

The least these college babes can get out of it is becoming a good old-fashion snitch for agencies like the FBI. So for those who in the end may not score high enough, there are always positions like this:

60;The FBI is taking cues from the CIA to recruit thousands of covert informants in the United States as part of a sprawling effort to boost its intelligence capabilities.According to a recent unclassified report to Congress, the FBI expects its informants to provide secrets about possible terrorists and foreign spies, although some may also be expected to aid with criminal investigations, in the tradition of law enforcement confidential informants. The FBI did not respond to requests for comment on this story.

The bureau has arranged to use elements of CIA training to teach FBI agents about "Source Targeting and Development," the report states. The courses will train FBI special agents on the "comprehensive tradecraft" needed to identify, recruit and manage these "confidential human sources." According to January testimony by FBI Deputy Director John S. Pistole, the CIA has been working with the bureau on the course.61;

A good friend and a source in the FBI tells me that they in fact have been very active on the college-universities circuit; hiring students away as informants, aka snitches.

As we said, children are the future. This article details the current status of our youth as defined by the state. Is this our future?

excellent commentary. it's really sad that the little ones born post 911 will never know or understand the spirit and liberty with which this country was founded.

At least you could be kind enough to add an addendum stating who trained the military Adolph inherited and where they were trained.