And, for those of you who say, "well, it's all over in January, 2009" I have to say they could very well take the position that no one will be able to make them leave.  And, who will force them?  As President Jackson was reported to have said: "Chief Justice Marshall has made his order. Let him enforce it."

Those of you who may think, "oh, the military will not go through with it" (whatever "it" might be) have no understanding of that thought's implications.  For starters, do you really want to live in a country where military officers no longer consider themselves subject to civilian control and obedient to civilian authority's orders?  Or that they'll obey those orders only if it suits them?  That's pretty much the definition of a banana republic, or a military junta.  Instead of commanding the military, civilian politicians will be currying their favor.  And your rights will be an inconvenient, forgotten afterthought.  Or, if the honorable, moral ones will resign rather than carry out wrong-headed (constitutionally, legally, or otherwise) orders will be replaced by others with no such scruples.  And, don't forget, that the culture of obedience to orders is engrained marrow-deep, particularly in senior officers.  After all, one does not get to be a colonel or a general by being insubordinate, a goof, or anything less than a perfect soldier for a couple decades.

So, don't count on the military to save your rights.  With no disrespect intended, if they get involved, it will be to the ordinary guy's disadvantage.

The other thing everyone has to be wary of, is the temptation to scream "to the barricades" or something similar.  The long and the short of it is that the Rethugs have been looking for, and pushing toward, causing people to react violently.  They want opposition to their policies and the more violent the better.

"Why?", you might ask.

The Rethugs' objective is and has always been to ensure permanent control of all three branches of government.  As one commentator said on TV tonight, Republicans like power, want it, will work hard and will stop at nothing to get it.  (I, for one, could never see the point of having power or even using it in an authoritarian manner.  Too many decisions, too much to worry about, dealing with other peoples' problems.)  But, for whatever sick reason that might be driving them, the Rethugs want to exercise power.  Over you, me and everyone.  To get there, they need people they can call "traitors", "enemies", or "insurrectionists".  You've seen Coulter and her ilk calling all sorts of people (the ones she decided disagreed with her) "traitors" and worse.  That's really just two things going on.  First, it's dipping the toes in the pool to see if the water of public opinion is ok.  Second, it's getting the public used to calling people "traitors".  No dictatorship can progress without public support - those pictures you've seen of Nuremburg rallies or May Day Parades were of lots of ordinary people who believed the propaganda they'd been fed - enough to come out to those parades and rallies, endure brutal heat and discomfort, and throw themselves fully into screaming their lungs out.

In being prepared, the biggest thing to remember is that "being prepared" means recognizing both their provocations and the propaganda they use for what they are.  One can neither rise to the bait nor buy into their propaganda frames.  Doing either leads to a bad result.

I had a landlady once who, watching TV about some 80s vintage skinheads in the UK going on about "White Power", wearing swastika tattoos and so forth, broke into tears.  She was sobbing about " the fools - they know nothing about how it was to live under National Socialism".  She continued, telling about how her father had been a local Nazi party official - roughly the equivalent of a city councilman or so - in the small town where she'd lived most of her life.  And about how he'd bought into the program against the remonstrances of the women in his family and the discord it'd brought down in the family.  She told how, as the war turned badly, there were no words said (saying words was not a good idea, anyway), but by the time the Americans rolled through in the spring of 45, he'd found a way to hide his badges and such so as not to get hauled off by the occupation forces.  He didn't last very long afterward, though, as the combination of postwar privations, neighbors' recriminations and personal guilt feelings ultimately ate him alive from inside out and he died before his time.  That my landlady's husband had been captured by the Soviets at wars' end and spent 5 years in Siberian camps only made the situation worse.

Those people were intelligent, articulate, well-versed in history, literature and all the other subjects which make an educated person.  And, yet, they wound up buying in to the crap and paid a high price for it.  The crap was exquisitely packaged - as all such crap is and has to be, to be sold.  But, they were neither prepared nor cool and calm enough to withstand the onslaught of modern advertising methods.  By the time steadfastness was recognized as necessary, it was far too late. We have the benefit of history to teach us wariness of advertising and propaganda.

Bushie could never have tried to pull half the crap he's gotten away with, twenty years ago when the generation which had lived through WWII and the leadup to it was still vital and numerous.  Now that the few of them still left are in their dotage, the lessons paid in blood are largely forgotten.  And, the biggest of those was to be prepared and be steadfast.

Back when the so-called Patriot Act was first coming through the Congress, an early draft sought to suspend habeas corpus.  I recall Sensenbrenner telling (I think it was) Viet Dinh or Ashcroft that, regardless, they had to take out the suspension.  Not because it was inappropriate, but rather because they couldn't get away with it.  Rethugs need - like a junkie needs a fix- a suspension of habeas.  Without it, they cannot control things and keep power.  Like a junkie, they will do anything to get that suspension.  And, looking at the law, they've made a pretty clear outline that they will push one outrage after another, trying to corner ordinary people into violating the law so they can declare an "insurrection" and then suspend habeas.

I think it was over at Kos or FDL today, where they dissected a whole Winger propaganda exercise.  Some bunch of clowns decided they needed to excite their base among veterans, so they created a rumor (false, it was) that anti-war protestors were going to defile the Vietnam Veterans memorial wall.  (Let's set aside all the hateful things the same wingers said about the wall and its design back in 81 and 82, how it was vile and defamatory of veterans and so on.)  Anyway, the call went out for "a gathering of eagles" to "defend the wall", and a bunch of middle-aged-plus guys, most on motorcycles, showed up, got pre-made banners criticizing liberals as [wait for it] "traitors" and such, and got media coverage.

All of it was false - a pure confection of PR and manipulation.  Expect more of the same - a lot more.  All of it false.  But, that's what makes it a pretext.

The final point is that Bushie and his will use this fight to stir up his base.  I mean, they've even trotted out Tom Delay (I guess blogging just didn't do it for him) to encourage Bushie to fight, fight, fight.  And, Bushie and Rover are looking to carry this all the way to the election.  (FWIW, I view that Second Amendment case out of the DC Circuit last week as more of the same - a bogus fight to stir up the NRA and winger base by giving them a bone to wrestle over.  The minute I read that Silberman cited Dred Scott as some support for something in his opinion, it was clear this case and its adjudication was a propaganda exercise.  Remember, Bushie used to talk about Dred Scott back in the 2004 campaign - where it was identified as dog-whistle code for the anti-choice and other wingers.  This was more of the same.)

Be prepared.  Be very, very cool.  And be very steadfast.