Homeland Security Strikes Again

[Annie]

A worrying development.

---------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------


Subject: Fwd: [1919] The Rainbow Family under attack - Homeland Security in their prime!
Date: Sun, 2 Jul 2006 01:52:51 -0700 (PDT)



Greetings,

a few of you receiving this will not remember me... Yet everything patriotic in my being persuades me to forward his information to you in the hope that the liberty which is our heritage as Americans may yet be saved. Those of you who know me well, will know I am a member, and an avid proponent of the "Rainbow Family of Living Light". Those of you who know me at all (without doubt) know I am a bitter opponent of the current (illegitimate!) Bush administration in Wash, D.C. and of its' attack on all individual freedoms and true American values.

Please forward he following information to everyone you know. The circumstances described therein are occurring even as you read this message. So time is of the essence.

Thank you,
Brian Blassingame


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Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 16:15:45 -0700 (PDT)
From: "An Email User" <liebestraume777@yahoo.com>
Subject: Fwd: [1919] The Rainbow Family under attack - Homeland Security in their prime!
To: bamboozled999@yahoo.com

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Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 13:48:23 -0500
From: evolve@1919hemphill.org
To: 1919@worldunrest.org
Subject: [1919] The Rainbow Family under attack - Homeland Security in their prime!

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Please take the time to read this and do your part to help. Details are
at
the bottom on how to help.

Summary:

Since 1972 people from all over the US and the world make a trek to
the
National Forests for something called "The Gathering Of The Tribes"
to express
activism mixed with alternative spiritual practices and prayer.

The Bush Administration has spent millions of dollars trying to stop
the
Rainbow Gatherings. 500 people who have been issued citations, are
then being
herded into "trials" like none anyone has seen before in America.

These pseudo trials are likely prototypes for what Homeland Security
will
use in the cases of insurrection or even a plague. Defendants
inexplicably lose
the right to a public hearing (this year these hearings are being held
behind closed doors in a firehouse garage near the site.)

Attorneys and legal observers have been denied the right to even view
these
trials. The defendants are not explained their rights nor afforded the
right
to an attorney, the right to summon witnesses, the right to a jury
trial,
even fresh water!

We must understand that if these citizens lose their constitutional
right to
gather, we all lose such rights. This year the Rainbow Gathering is
being
used to set precedents that will be turned against drug policy, civil
liberty,
anti-war or other activists in the near future. Phone Numbers and A
list Of
Actions You Can Take Are listed at the end of the full story posted
below and
marked with **asterisks*We m



Original Post From:

------------------------<WBR>----- Bulletin Mes------
From: Fight American Fascism

EVERYONE!. This is serious businesss. This is not a joke, or anytime to
ignore what is really going on. I am posting this again in an attempt
to get
EVERYONE involved. These people are having all of their rights
violated and being thrown into all of those nice prison camps that we
have heard so much about.

It is your American duty to help these people. I have inclosed latest
letter
that I recieved right below. PLEASE help in every way possible so we
can
show the department of Homeland Security that we are not afraid and
that they
can not do this!

> From LEXX
My Original post has been deleted and they will not let me post this
any
more. At last contact, there are about 2-300 sites on other side of
Roadblock.
They are arresting EVERYONE! Any one on road or in area are being
taken to a
round up point to be taken to Detention camps! The family has been
determined to be a threat to Homeland Security, so begins the first
MASS ARRESTS!
THIS NEEDS TO GET OUT VERY SERIOUSLY! THIS IS A WACO TYPE SCENARIO
ABOUT TO
HAPPEN! PLEASE GET THIS OUT TO EVERY ONE YOU KNOW
THANKS,LEXX
===============================================

I don't care who you are, or what you're beliefs are, you NEED to help
with
this in order to protect our freedoms. Please read this article and
voice
you're support by calling you're representatives and everyone else. I
know most
of you don't read or act on what I post but PLEASE do it this time. We
have
now lost our free internet because we didn't do enough, let's not lose
our
right to assemble.


From: LEXX

Dear Friends and Family,

I need your help to protect my family, the collective efforts of tens
of
thousands of citizens known as the "Rainbow Family." This week, near
Steamboat
Springs, Colorado, the U.S. Forest Service has taken illegal action to
stop
this annual assembly for _expression and prayer, in gross violation of
the
participants essential Constitutional rights.

The 'Rainbow' Gatherings have borne a legacy of spiritual & cultural
pilgrimage to the National Forests since 1972, the purest exercise of
open
consensual assembly in our time. The annual 'Gathering of the Tribes'
draws thousands
over the first week of July, focusing on the 4th as a holy day of
prayer for
peace and freedom. In recent years small regional events in this mode
have
emerged, and such gatherings have taken place in many nations around
the world.

THE GATHERING EXPERIENCE --

Some say the "Rainbow" Gathering is the continuation of the idealism of
Woodstock. I think of it more as my annual spiritual retreat and
family reunion.
Since 1980, I have gathered with my family to compare ideas and pray
for
peace. I arrive loaded with the burdens of my work, depressed about
the world
situation. Each year I depart with my faith in humankind renewed and
with the
energy to fight the beast another year.

The rainbow family is not organized in any way; it is an exercise in
self-determination and cooperation in the public interest, without
need of
government controls. We understand that no matter what comes down, it
is the respect
and care for each other that win in the end. We have no leaders or
leadership,
we have no offices or officers, we have no treasurer or treasury. We
sit in
counsel, often for days at a time in order to make mutual decisions,
but
there is no power to enforce these decisions on any individual. In
the end, just
like in society, it works because enough responsible people make sure
that
what needs to be done gets done.

We have been doing rainbow gatherings for over 30 years, each time in
a
different national forest across the country. We come in and set up a
village in the woods. Cooperative kitchens pour out a wide variety
of foods. Seminars on just about any topic are run by the hour.

The Rainbow is known as a healing gathering; people with various
ailments
come for help. Here in one place they can receive healing, from
herbalists,
acupuncturists, chiropractors and masseuses working with osteopaths
and
physicians. These healers work as a team and share their knowledge in
a holistic approach that teaches all involved a lot about the roots
of medicine.

Religious groups, ranging from Christians to Hare Krishnas set up
camps.
It's truly a free society. We go pretty far back in the woods to get
away from
the ills of civilization like alcohol and hard drugs. We have our
gathering
and then restore any damage we cause to the woods. And we have a
perfect record
of restoration of the forest.

It's great to walk through a gathering and see so many people but not
a
scrap of paper on the ground, not a cigarette butt in sight. Each
year we train
thousands of newcomers how to get along in the woods without
destroying the
place. Knowledgeable Forest Servide 'Resource' personnel love us; it's
the
Federal bureaucrats and police from Washington who are on our case.

REPRESSIVE FEDERAL POLICIES --

The Bush Administration has spent millions of dollars trying to stop
the
Rainbow Gatherings. They are enforcing a 'Noncommercial Group Use'
permit
regulation that is impossible for unaffiliated individuals to comply
with. 36 CFR 251.54 They require that that someone sign as an agent
for a fictional group
entity named as permit Holder -- which then must assume full liability
from the Government and bind participants vicariously to its terms.

By the creed of the gatherings, no one can appoint themselves to such
a
position. More importantly, such an ad hoc gathering has no legal
capacity to
designate agents or act as a group party in any way. As a result,
individuals
are denied personal standing in First Amendment exercise and
subjected to harsh
criminal prosecution for being anywhere near the area

The Forest Service requires that a permit be applied for in advance of
the
gathering. And they use any excuse possible to deny a permit
application when
we manage to submit one. This year their denial was based on the fact
that a
logging company had a permit to log in a nearby parcel of the national
forest, even though there is no logging activity present whatsoever.
The site is far remote from any inhabitants -- but still the Forest
Service is all over our case.

Millions of taxpayer dollars are being spent to block this harmless
gathering from taking place. The scariest aspect of all this is how
Homeland Security is using these gatherings to perfect their
techniques of martial law.
Regulations written for the Federal Emergency Management Authority to
deal with
natural disasters are now being used to crush dissent in this country.

Each year the Rainbow Gathering is declared a "National Incident" and
federal military law ensues. A Special Agent is appointed "Incident
Commander",
with a Delegation of Authority, a large law enforcement "Team", and
huge budget
to control the gathering. Qualified Forest Service administrators lose
their
power, while the county sheriff and other officials are brought into
targeted
law enforcement actions by inclusion in the Incident Team and other
inter-agency agreements.

Each year Homeland Security gains more power over the individuals
involved.

RIGHTS CRISIS IN COLORADO --

At this writing Forest Service law enforcement has issued over 500
tickets
to the early arrivals at the gathering in Colorado. They have blocked
the road
and have prevented food and water from reaching those who managed to
get
into the gathering before the police roadblock was set up.

The 500 people with tickets are being herded into trials like none
anyone
has seen before in America. These pseudo trials are prototypes for what
Homeland Security will use in the cases of insurrection or even a
plague. Defendants lose the right to a public hearing (this year
these hearings are being held behind closed doors in a firehouse
garage near the site.

Attorneys and legal observers have been denied the right to even view
these
trials. The defendants are not explained their rights nor afforded the
right
to an attorney, the right to summon witnesses, the right to a jury
trial,
etc. Defendants ordered to appear each day at 9:00 a.m. and sit in the
hot sun
without water or sanitary facilities until their trials. Some have now
been
waiting for several days. These abbreviated trials only take a few
minutes. Last
year I tried to help a string of defendants defend themselves in
these
trials but felt helpless to do much as the system was clearly stacked
against
them.

This year is especially frustrating to me as I have to watch this come
down
from 6000 miles away. Right now I am in Hungary at a medical conference
for
my employment. I am flying home on Thursday and plan on being in court
Saturday, July 1st, to defend some of my best friends who got a
ticket for illegally gathering as they drove down a public highway.

WHAT TO DO --

The confrontation this year is getting more intense by the minute,
which is
why I am asking for your help. The only way to stop a massive
conflagration
in Colorado in the next few days is to get thousands of people to
contact
their political representatives as well as the responsible
administrators at the Forest Service to demand that this repression
stop immediately.

Please, even if you can never conceive of yourself at a Rainbow
Gathering,
you must understand that if these citizens lose their constitutional
right to
gather, we all lose such rights. This year the Rainbow Gathering is
being
used to set precedents that will be turned against drug policy, civil
liberty,
anti-war or other activists in the near future.
***********************
Following are some instructions on who to write and/or call

We hope to start flooding the Department of Agriculture and the Forest
Service with complaints starting Monday morning and not stopping
until harassment stops. It is especially important that we get a few
Congressional
representative and Senators concerned enough to write the Forest
Service for an
explanation of why so much money is being spent to keep people from
camping in the National Forest set aside for exactly that purpose.

Please keep the pressure on these bureaucrats until we are able to
spread
the word that the government has backed off and that the gathering can
proceed
unhindered.

If you do not know the contact information for your Congressman or
Senator,
you can find this here. You can call your representative at
212-224-3121.
Besides your representatives in Washington, please call and write the
following
people to voice your protest to this harsh treatment of people who
just want
to go on a camping trip in the woods. Keep the calls coming until word
is
passed around that the government has called off their dogs. Please
forward this letter to your friends and feel free to re-post it on any
listserv or
website you wish. Email me if you have any questions.

Don E Wirtshafter
Attorney at Law
Box 18 Guysville, OH 45735
740 662 5297
_don@hempery.don_ (mailto:don@hempery.com)

USDA, Natural Resources & Environment
Mark Rey, USDA Undersecretary
1400 Independence Ave. SW, .. 217-E
Washington, DC 20250
202-720-7173 Fax: 202-720-0632
_mark.rey@usda.mar_ (mailto:mark.rey@usda.gov)

Kathleen Gause, Director 202-205-8534
USDA Forest Service
Civil Rights Staff
Stop Code 1142
1400 Independence Ave., S.W.
Washington., DC 20250-1142
Tel (202) 205-1585


Office of the Chief
Dale Bosworth, Chief
USDA Forest Service
Yates Federal Building (4NW Yates)
201 14th Street, SW - Washington, DCÊ20250
202-205-1661; Fx: 202-205-1765
Executive Assistant...Executive Assistant...<WBR

Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests,
Mary H. Peterson, Supervisor
2468 Jackson Street -- Laramie, WY 82070-6535
307-745-2300 Fax: 307-745-2398

U.S. Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Region (R-2)
Rick Cables, Regional Forester
Mail: P.O. Box 25127 -- Lakewood, CO 80225-0127
303-275-5451
Richard Stem, Deputy Regional Forester, Resources: 303-275-5451

Steve Silverman, Office of General Counsel, Regional Attorney:
303-275-5536

Bill Fox, Law Enforcement & Investigations, Special Agent in Charge:
303-275-5253

Jerome Romero, Deputy Director of Civil Rights: 303-275-5340

Some resources to research these issues further:

The best Rainbow website: _www.welcomehome.org_
(http://www.welcomehome.org)

A good article written before the feds came down hard:
_www.csindy.com_
(http://www.csindy.com)

More recent coverage: _www.rockymountainnews.com
(http://www.rockymountainnews.com) and

_www.denverpost.com_ (http://www.denverpost.com)

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[freddie]

wow - talk about a 'slippery slope' - I'll be interested to see how this pans out

[uselesseater]

This sounds like a frightening escalation. Is there any press covering this?

[mobypaterson]

Of course the press aren't covering this, don't you know that there are far more important things to be talking about in the daily media? Big Brother is on for a start and they've just introduced those new people into the house haven't they? That's where all the journalists are!

The press' attitude to Government wrong doing irritates me greatly