New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said after the disaster that officers didn't have to worry about Civil or Miranda rights when dealing with the looters. Ideas like this cause concern with regular citizens: what happens if you're not a looter? There's a mini-documentary called Code Red: Martial Law from YouTube which features news clips from the 2005 New Orleans Martial Law experiment. Here's a snippet from that documentary:
Think that's bizarre? Well check out this news report from a local Louisiana station that appeared online a couple weeks ago. Romans 13 is apparently also an important tool during Martial Law.
The War on Terror is many things. The description Youtube description of Red Code points out a few.
No Habeas Corpus - Relief from Unlawful detention - Since 1789 - Abolished 2006.
No Posse Comitatus - Prohibits Military to act as local law enforcement - Since 1878 - Abolished 2006.
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 2)
1. Lets not forget the Gretna Police department shooting at unarmed civilians trying to walk out of flood waters. I was kept from driving a van load of bread, water, and gas to the victims after the THIRD day. I was told that I was not allowed and that I could not drive there anyway. I WAS SHOCKED!! They were wrong. I could have driven right up to the victims, given them some gas to continue driving, and at least provide bread and water. I had plans to fill the van up with people on the way out. I was told that the victims would shoot me and take my van. The same police told people with jet skis and small boats that they were not needed. Several DAYS later, the govenment finally started doing something.
There were lots of people trying to do the same thing and we were kept from it. The simple act of being outside is enough to get shot during marshall law. Law enforcement, local and federal, should be ashamed af their actions during Katrina as well as during the aftermath of the 2 previous storms in Florida. Especially Gretna. I am sure that there were more dead because of your actions... and lack of. Shame on you.
Steve Barnes at 7:14PM on Aug 28th 2007
2. Thats pretty incredible Steve, bizarre that the government spent so many resources to stop civilians from helping each other.
Roderick at 8:19PM on Aug 28th 2007
3. Don't blame Bush- blame stupid people who shirk personal responsibility, who live below sea level behind 50 year old levees in a sinking city, blame people who see a storm brewing for a week straight and make no attempt to evacuate for themselves or the 20 cats on their porch, blame the folks who breathed a sigh of relief that they dodged a bullet just before the levees broke, blame the Mayor and the Governor for leaving a hundred buses idle when they could have at least offered the opportunity to evacuate to somewhere above sea level...
Martial law is what we get when we take no responsibility for ourselves and we ask government to send in troops who must act as our mommy and daddy! Go home Jeff!
Go Home! at 11:44PM on Aug 28th 2007
4. I believe if people are going to blame the Bush administration for what happened in N.O. during the Katrina fiasco, they also need to blame the adminstrations that came before too. To blame the people who live(d) there is ridiculous! New Orleans was and someday will be again, one of the greatest places in this country. The people who were stranded and unable to get out were not stupid. They were victims of circumstance. These people were and still are living below poverty level. Some of them had medical problems. The water rose so quickly they just didn't have time. So before you call them stupid, stop and put yourself in their shoes! God Bless Louisiana! The greatest place in the world!!!!!!!
Denise at 12:08AM on Aug 29th 2007
5. the militia breaking into houses to confiscate weapons (and what else!?) guns drawn,against shoulder, ready to fire just in case an irate homeowner might decide they were looters and take a shot them. it sounds, feels, smells and tastes like unreal,like surreal but it was real. i wish this was brought to light sooner by the media. no one mentioned martial law,shooting at unarmed civilians,brutish treatment by police. i don't even know how many perished! up until today, i thought of warzones being in OTHER countries.
boredwell at 5:20AM on Aug 29th 2007
6. Habeus?? Check your Latin: "Habeas corpus," May you have the body.
Andrew Treacy at 8:16AM on Aug 29th 2007
7. Habeas Corpus means "Present the Body."
There are a number of facts about martial law that the public is blissfully unaware of. One of them is this: ANY military commander, upon arriving at a scene of destruction, unrest or instability, (from the lowest rookie LT fresh out of West Point/OCS to a general) and finding no competent civilian authority to restore order, may establish martial law. It doesn't always have to be some great disaster. It could be a mere local matter. A Mational Guard commander arriving first on the scene has the right (and mind you, the DUTY) to establish martial law until a competent civilian authority arrives to restore order.
Martial law is ALWAYS temporary. Civilian law always trumps martial law when competent civilian government is present.
The thing that concerns me most is that right away the first thing that the government wanted was everyone's guns. Bugger you laddie, you can have mine bullets first. Some of the armed citizenry prevented more looting and rape until authority could be established.
There was no militia present at New Orleans, except for those few armed civilians. The National Guard is NOT the militia. The government runs the National Guard, it is fully paid for and staffed by the US Army through the National Guard bureau. A militia is organized armed civilians, called out by the governor in time of need. A local militia commander may also establish martial law, BUT THE CITIZENS DON'T KNOW THAT!Instead, they will wait on the National Guard bureaucracy to get there. What happens if the weather conditions are so bad, the NGs helos can't fly? Or their Hummers and APC's can't get through because the roads are closed? Hmmm. What to do, what to do. You had best learn just who the militia is, especially as it applies to martial law and its declaration.
Madison said: "The Militia is the WHOLE OF THE PEOPLE." Every last able bodied male amongst you who can handle a gun IS THE MILITIA. If there is a declaration of martial law by the Federal Government, it is because YOU, THE MILITIA has FAILED to secure order! Learn your rights people, while you still bloody have them.
C
The Constitutionalist at 10:58AM on Aug 29th 2007
8. Habeas Corpus means "Present the Body." There are a number of
facts
about martial law that the public is blissfully unaware of. One of
them is this: ANY military commander, upon arriving at a scene of
destruction, unrest or instability, (from the lowest rookie LT fresh
out of West Point/OCS to a general) and finding no competent civilian
authority to restore order, may establish martial law. It doesn't
always have to be some great disaster. It could be a mere local
matter. A Mational Guard commander arriving first on the scene has
the right (and mind you, the DUTY) to establish martial law until a
competent civilian authority arrives to restore order. Martial law is
ALWAYS temporary. Civilian law always trumps martial law when
competent civilian government is present. The thing that concerns me
most is that right away the first thing that the government wanted
was everyone's guns. Bugger you laddie, you can have mine bullets
first. Some of the armed citizenry prevented more looting and rape
until authority could be established. There was no militia present at
New Orleans, except for those few armed civilians. The National Guard
is NOT the militia. The government runs the National Guard, it is
fully paid for and staffed by the US Army through the National Guard
bureau. A militia is organized armed civilians, called out by the
governor in time of need. A local militia commander may also
establish martial law, BUT THE CITIZENS DON'T KNOW THAT!Instead, they
will wait on the National Guard bureaucracy to get there. What happens
if the weather conditions are so bad, the NGs helos can't fly? Or
their Hummers and APC's can't get through because the roads are
closed? Hmmm. What to do, what to do. You had best learn just who the
militia is, especially as it applies to martial law and its
declaration.Madison said: "The Militia is the WHOLE OF THE PEOPLE."
Every last able bodied male amongst you who can handle a gun IS THE
MILITIA. If there is a declaration of martial law by the Federal
Government, it is because YOU, THE MILITIA has FAILED to secure
order! Learn your rights people, while you still bloody have them.C
The Constitutionalist at 11:02AM on Aug 29th 2007
9. This is exactly what our constitution is trying to protect us from.
Our country is gradually, but by no means slowly (these days), being undermined. Our constitution is being changed or nullified, piece by piece. Lincoln started it. Look it up.
We are deliberately being under-educated and mis-educated, particularly in the realms of history, civics, and our constitution. If we don't know what we have, then we won't know when it's gone. If we don't understand history, then we will more easily be tricked into repeating it. The powers that be just make sure we stay entertain, so we won't care, at least until we can't do anything about it.
Today, "our children" (meaning most adults and nearly every youth) have no idea what free speech is. They have no idea why anyone would even want to own a gun. "Habeas corpus" and "posse comitatus" are just funny words to them. They don't see why they should even take an interest in politics or the constitution. They figure someone else should tell them what to think and can take care of everything for them. Which is precisely what going through the public school system is designed to teach them.
They are happy just being entertained. As long as they can study up on their favorite football players' stats, they see no need to study up on history. As long as they can watch movies, they don't feel the need to watch out for their rights. Voting for an American Idol is satisfying enough to negate the urge to vote for decent leadership. And keeping tabs on the celebrities is far more fun than keeping tabs on the government. They don't understand that the "survival horror", "shoot-em-up" video games they play are close to becoming a "tank-rolling-down-your-street", "assault-rifle-in-your-face" reality.
Martial law is something I am beginning to see as almost inevitable. It is just a question of how long until Bush and company decide they want to seize dictatorial control of us. It'll be a rude awakening for some, and a living nightmare for all of us.
Emily Hopper at 11:42AM on Aug 29th 2007
10. "They don't understand that the "survival horror", "shoot-em-up" video games they play are close to becoming a "tank-rolling-down-your-street", "assault-rifle-in-your-face" reality."
I'm sorry, but even as paranoid as I am, I have to say that is not anywhere near close to becoming a reality.
First of all, were it to happen, the people in this country outnumber the Army, Navy and Air Force put together 100 to 1. They just said that 75% of Americans own a gun and know how to shoot one, including young children through their parents teaching them and young adults going out and buying a gun for self-defense.
What happened in New Orleans is NEVER going to happen again. NEVER AGAIN!
Christopher at 9:54PM on Aug 29th 2007
11. OH YEAH,
DON'T BLAME BUSH FOR ANYTHING! IT'S NOT HIS RESPONSIBILITY TO DO HIS JOB!(IT'S THE FKN CABINETS).
TOO BAD NO ONE IS EVER HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS (OR NON-ACTION) IN THIS COUNTRY!
Nicole at 12:30PM on Aug 29th 2007
12. Yea, you think all of those old people in wheel chairs and living on Social Security could afford to evacuate... not just evacuate, but seriously travel a long long way. Do not forget that Alabama and Mississippi were hit too. -AND HARD- Florida had just been hit by 2 hurricanes in the few weeks prior. So if everyone did evacuate, where were they supposed to go? How would they get there with no money and no gas at the gas stations? Where would they stay? You see how far away some of the survivors are now, and the logistics and costs involved. You are free to evacuate but evacuation in NOT FREE. It costs more than a vacation.
Now #3 guy... Go back and look. A week before the storm, nobody knew where it was going. Do you think that everyone in Florida, Mississippi, Alabama could evacuate? And do not forget Texas, if you are right, they would have to evacuate too.
By the time they knew that they were getting it, it was impossible to get them all out. IMPOSSIBLE
#3 poster, you will be in the same boat one day.
ENJOY YOUR BLISS
Steve at 1:25PM on Aug 29th 2007
13. I absolutely agree with what Emily Hopper said. If we don't wake up and realize what is going on in our country, it will one day be too late. Martial law will be upon us. We need to rise up as one and declare our constitutional rights and not take no for an answer. Romans 13 is valid but the next thing we must obey after Romans 13 is our constitution. If you don't know what the constitution says there are plenty of websites out there that have it written down. Go in to one of these websites do a search on the constitution and read, learn and educate yourselves because our education system won't. Don't wait until its too late. Find out and take action now.
Tammy Ashley at 2:51PM on Aug 29th 2007
14. UN-AMERICAN That is how it felt and that is what it was, no matter how I spell it.
Steve Barnes at 3:48PM on Aug 29th 2007
15. Christopher, I hope to God you are right.
However, you probably are not. I would love to know where you get your numbers.
From my calculations, our military (excluding regular law enforcement, which may well actually be used in addition to the military forces) weighs in at 2.3 million, including the National Guard. The population of our country is just about 300 million. If you take into account the number of people who could possibly be useful in such a situation, leaving out children and the aged we are left outnumbering the military 77 to 1.
That said, we move on to your next statistic, gun ownership. I would be ecstatic if I could believe the 75% you threw out there. (Just who are “they” anyway?) Unfortunately, the real numbers are far more grim. A mere 39% of Americans have a gun in their home. This doesn’t mean 39% of Americans have a gun, just 39% of households, no matter how many people reside there. Now, granted, they (a recent global study – the one from which, I suspect, you gleaned your mistaken stats) say there are 9 guns for every 10 people here, but in truth the average number of guns owned, per gun owner, is 4. If you bother to crunch the numbers, you’ll see that that means that a lot of households have one gun for a group of people, since quite a few have an arsenal. Add to that, the fact that only 51% of women have ever fired a gun in their lives (so what kind of shot could they possibly be?), while considering the gun control laws that prohibit ordinary citizens from owning the sort of weaponry that will be pointing our way, and you have just dropped our supposed advantage clean off the map.
What you don’t realize is that what happened in New Orleans not only will happen again, but that it has already happened before. Ever hear of the Civil War? Study it in depth. Don’t read opinions, just look at the hard facts; all of them. Study it in the context of our constitution, and you will discover that it was nothing more than martial law, declared on the south. (By the way, I’m not a southerner, but I know the constitution and history.) The south had every right to leave the union. They disagreed with the way their country was being run and since they didn’t have the clout to change it, they wanted out. The constitution allows for this. Lincoln didn’t like it. He, and those who hated the south, side-stepped, nullified, changed, and ignored huge portions of the constitution in order to get what they wanted: the south under control. (And you probably thought it had something to do with slavery… well, that’s shoddy public school education for you.) True, martial law, as such, ended, but the effects reverberate even today.
Our current government is doing the same thing now, only surreptitiously. Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Emily Hopper at 2:34AM on Aug 30th 2007