As of October 1, 2008 the U.S. has a new division of military assigned to keep the country safe and maintain crowd control when necessary. The Army assigned the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team to duty within the continental United States.

"The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply convoys.

Now they’re training for the same mission — with a twist — at home."
More news from the Army Times

After 35 months of training in Iraq, this military branch is now deployed to fight threats in the U.S. such as civil disobedience and massive protests.
This marks the first time an active military unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities.

The tricky part is that this initiative is in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act which is often cited as a major constraint on the use of the military services to participate in homeland security, counter terrorism, civil disturbances, and similar domestic duties. This law was created to prohibit the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps from performing any kind of police work or assisting law enforcement agencies to enforce the law.

The 2008 RNC in St. Paul exemplifies that an excessively forceful police presence leads to more violence. The blunt use of force and covert surveillance at the RNC is evidence that the government will take many measures, even preemptive ones, to silence the voices of dissent.

Can someone say Police State? The Government must be planning on huge numbers of people rising up against, take your pick; thousands of homes being foreclosed on while millionaires stay fat and rich, another illegal election process, poor plans to insure a clean energy future, a war with no end in sight, increased media consolidation that allows corporate media to pollute our airwaves and dull our brains, poor health care initiatives, a global political presence that embarrasses us while bullying other countries, further investments in military while a peace economy makes more sense.
You can add to the list of things to be outraged about in the comments section below.

The anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, August 6 and Nagasaki, August 9 are remembered this year in Burlington Vermont in a city wide declaration. Burlington City Declares August 6 - Nuclear Disarmament Day.
This is the first such day to exist in the United States.
With awareness and energy perhaps citizens around the country will compel their local leaders to do the same.
The bombs were dropped 63 years ago. The world needs to learn from history. Nuclear weapons do not lead to world peace.
Today, now more than ever, we need to pressure the Department of Energy, the Administration, our local officials and spur dialog in our communities to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons and to honor the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

In an interview with YES! Magazine, former Secretary of State, member of the Reagan cabinet, George Shultz explains why he believes nuclear abolition is possible, and what can be done to make a nuclear-free world a reality.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?id=2692

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Burlington Telecom (BT), A local municipal cable provider started carrying the station a little over a year and a half ago.
In late May of this year BT said they would take AJE off the air due to an "inundation of phone calls" - the exact number of calls is unknow.
They have since said that the reasons for wanting to pull AJE off the air are due to "contractual issues".

BT advisory committees held a public forum in response to volumes of community input on June 10, 2008.
Over 50 people attended the meeting, 6 people spoke out in favor of removing AJE and over 35 spoke in favor of keeping it on the air.

In the interest of maintaining their space on the BT line up, AJE Managing Editor, Tony Burman and Military and Current Affairs Correspondent, Josh Rushing, visited Burlington to inform the community about AJE.

Governent Access Television Station CCTV, Channel 17 hosted them on June 11, 2008.

Here are excepts from the live show and public forum -

To watch the Full live program you can go to cctv.org

Burlington Telecom will come to a decision on whether to pull AJE or keep it on the air by June 17th.