Wasn't this why the National Guard was created?

To avoid conflict with the Posse Comitatus Act?:

The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials.

The long-planned shift in the Defense Department's role in homeland security was recently backed with funding and troop commitments after years of prodding by Congress and outside experts, defense analysts said.

There are critics of the change, in the military and among civil liberties groups and libertarians who express concern that the new homeland emphasis threatens to strain the military and possibly undermine the Posse Comitatus Act, a 130-year-old federal law restricting the military's role in domestic law enforcement.

But the Bush administration and some in Congress have pushed for a heightened homeland military role since the middle of this decade, saying the greatest domestic threat is terrorists exploiting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

[snip]

Domestic emergency deployment may be "just the first example of a series of expansions in presidential and military authority," or even an increase in domestic surveillance, said Anna Christensen of the ACLU's National Security Project. And Cato Vice President Gene Healy warned of "a creeping militarization" of homeland security.

"There's a notion that whenever there's an important problem, that the thing to do is to call in the boys in green," Healy said, "and that's at odds with our long-standing tradition of being wary of the use of standing armies to keep the peace."

The National Guard:

Established under Title 10 and Title 32 of the U.S. Code, state National Guard serves as part of the first-line defense for the United States.[3] The state National Guard is divided up into units stationed in each of the 50 states and U.S. territories and operates under their respective state governor or territorial government [4]. The National Guard may be called up for active duty by the state governors or territorial commanding generals to help respond to domestic emergencies and disasters, such as those caused by hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes.[4]

With the consent of state governors, members or units of state National Guard may be appointed to be federally recognized armed force members in active or inactive service [5][6][7]. If so recognized, they become part of the National Guard of the United States [1]. The National Guard of the United States units or members may be called up for federal active duty in times of Congressionally sanctioned war or national emergency [4]. State National Guard may also be called up for federal service, with the consent of state governors, to repel invasion, suppress rebellion, or execute federal laws if the United States or any its states or territories are invaded or is in danger of invasion by a foreign nation, or if there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the federal government, or if the President is unable with the regular armed forces to execute the laws of the United States [8]. Because both state National Guard and the National Guard of the United States relatively go hand-in-hand, they are both usually referred to as just National Guard.

Maybe I've answered my own question: (my bold)

The Posse Comitatus Act and the Insurrection Act substantially limit the powers of the federal government to use the military for law enforcement.

The Posse Comitatus Act is a United States federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1385) passed on June 16, 1878 after the end of Reconstruction. The Act prohibits most members of the federal uniformed services (the Army, Air Force, and State National Guard forces when such are called into federal service) from exercising nominally state law enforcement, police, or peace officer powers that maintain "law and order" on non-federal property (states and their counties and municipal divisions) in the former Confederate states.

The statute generally prohibits federal military personnel and units of the National Guard under federal authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity within the United States, except where expressly authorized by the Constitution or Congress. The Coast Guard is exempt from the Act.

Any militarization of our country is a dangerous thing and needs to be controlled carefully.

Trying to save the troops

One soldier at a time:

In 2007, at least 115 active-duty soldiers and National Guard and Reserve troops committed suicide, the highest rate since the Army began keeping records in 1980. IAVA estimates that between 30 percent and 40 percent of returning war veterans will face “serious mental health injury” — especially post-traumatic stress disorder — and that those numbers are exacerbated by long tours and frequent redeployments.

[snip]

"When these guys go [into battle], they learn to shut down their emotions,” said Campbell. “What helps you in Iraq is now hurting you at home.”

During a particularly rough patch earlier this year, Campbell said, the sergeant received a letter notifying him that his unit would be going back to Iraq.

“It was just too much,” said Campbell. “[The sergeant] sent a text message to someone at the armory, and they sent the police to go find him. They found him in a boat a couple days later. He had shot himself.”

[snip]

Campbell said that the transition from military to civilian life often hits Guard and Reserve troops particularly hard. He experienced it firsthand. After returning from Iraq, he said, it took a full year of his own reckless behavior and an ultimatum from his best friend before he admitted that he needed counseling for combat stress.

Even then, Campbell said he didn’t fully break down until days later, when a preview for an Iraq war film sent him over the edge. He said he spent hours in the theater, crying.

At IAVA, Campbell is helping to push for legislation that would provide returning soldiers with mandatory one-on-one screenings with mental health professionals within six months of returning from combat. He is also working toward increased access to mental health services in rural areas, a particular problem for some of the soldiers in his unit from remote parts of Louisiana.

Campbell wants Congress to lead the charge for a holistic approach to veterans’ mental health, including help for family members and targeted advertising campaigns to reduce the stigma that soldiers attach to counseling.

We need to listen to those who have been there. We need to honor their service and give those that need help the assistance they need. No one should stand by and let another generation of homeless and lost veterans wander the streets.

What a difference a day makes

And what a difference this preznit makes:

The Guard troops have been told that in order to be eligible for the education benefits they expect, they had to serve 730 days in Iraq. They served 729.

Nearly half the members of one of the longest serving U.S. military units in Iraq are not eligible for a more generous military educational benefit, with some falling one day short of eligibility. [...]

All 2,600 of the soldiers, who returned this year from Iraq, are eligible for money for school under the GI Bill. But nearly half discovered they weren't eligible for a more generous package of benefits available to other soldiers.

Minnesota's congressional delegation is apoplectic, and the Army has vowed to look into the matter, but the troops are understandably suspicious that they were deliberately brought home after 729 days so the Pentagon could deny them GI Bill benefits.

Keep an eye on this one.

I'm sure it was just coincidence! The Bush administration and the Pentagon wouldn't do that to our brave soldiers who risked their lives to fight for liberty and justice.... They would pay the highest possible wage! They would make sure our soldiers had the best equipment and the best armor! They would put our wounded soldiers into the best hospitals with the latest technology! They would honor the dead by letting the public view their caskets as they came home. They would have politicians attend the funerals. They would build a memorial to those that fell in battle that reminded people of the reasons why they fought and why they had died. And because Bush has claimed this is the fight of the century, a fight to preserve our way of life and to protect our nation, a fight of good against evil, obviously Bush has activated the draft.

Bush has done all these things, right? ... RIGHT?

No? NO??

There it is, folks, as plain as day. Bush does not give a flying fuck about our soldiers, the protection of this nation, the spread of democracy.

What he cares about is denying soldiers benefits so that he can give more money to his cronies.

Um... oops?

A massive wildfire that has already burned thousands of acres in the Pinelands and forced the evacuation of residents in two towns likely started this afternoon when an F-16 fighter jet dropped flares as part of a maneuver over a gunnery range, New Jersey National Guard officials said tonight.

In the comments:

Simple.

The military should withdraw from New Jersey. It never attacked America and doesn't want us there.

Posted by: End the occupation of NJ at May 16, 2007 1:11 PM

Bull Biscuits. We need to attack NJ there, so they dont attack us here. They hate us for our freedoms. They all worship the Jersey Devil. Plus most are Flyers fans. And no Timetables - they'll just wait for us to leave, then attack. We should build military bases there. at least bush should be able to find NJ on a map.

Posted by: Attack NJ at May 16, 2007 1:30 PM

.....

John Kerry voted for bombing New Jersey, before voting against it.

Posted by: flip flop at May 16, 2007 6:32 PM

Bush was right....we are safer with our military and national guards fighting in Iraq.

Posted by: misterbone at May 16, 2007 6:39 PM

Supporting the troops

By misusing the National Guard thereby leaving us unable to deal with inevitable disasters at home:

Nearly 90 percent of Army National Guard units in the United States are rated "not ready" -- largely as a result of shortfalls in billions of dollars' worth of equipment -- jeopardizing their capability to respond to crises at home and abroad, according to a congressional commission that released a preliminary report yesterday on the state of U.S. military reserve forces.

The report found that heavy deployments of the National Guard and reserves since 2001 for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and for other anti-terrorism missions have deepened shortages, forced the cobbling together of units and hurt recruiting.

[snip]

"The Department of Defense is not adequately equipping the National Guard for its domestic missions," the commission's report found. It faulted the Pentagon for a lack of budgeting for "civil support" in domestic emergencies, criticizing the "flawed assumption" that as long as the military is prepared to fight a major war, it is ready to respond to a disaster or emergency at home.

From Virginia and the District of Columbia to Indiana and New Mexico, National Guard units lack thousands of trucks, Humvees, generators, radios, night-vision goggles and other gear that would be critical for responding to a major disaster, terrorist attack or other domestic emergency, according to state Guard officials.

Well thought out, Bush! Just like everything else you've put your hand to!

Well, you could yell so everyone in the world can hear

That you can't lock the front door and you're going to bed now....

Is this ass covering because they know something is about to happen? Are they really trying to remove all protection? Or are they truly worried about it?

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush's troop buildup in Iraq and the demands of the four-year-old war are causing concern at the Pentagon that the conflict could hamper the military's response to domestic crises.

The head of the National Guard said Wednesday his troops lack the necessary equipment and that will hurt their ability to respond to natural or manmade disasters at home.

"I am not as comfortable as some others seem to be in accepting the low readiness levels here at home," Lt. Gen. Steven Blum said. "It creates a problem. It will cost us time and time will translate into lives."

Adm. Timothy Keating, commander of U.S. Northern Command, also said there may be "specific equipment shortfalls that, in the longer term, could have an impact on our ability to respond."

[snip]

And we are also sending troops in without the right equipment:

Army officials also say it will be a struggle to get all the equipment they need for the buildup. Some troops, they said, may not have all their equipment as they train for the mission, but would have it as they cross into Iraq from Kuwait.

Equipment and training are main concerns for the troops at home, particularly for National Guard units that have scrambled to get equipment. Units have resorted to swapping equipment among the states to ensure that trucks, helicopters and communications equipment are where they are needed most.

Noting the Guard was short on equipment before the war began, Andrew Feickert, national defense specialist with the Congressional Research Service, said deployed units then had to leave much equipment in Iraq.

"Units that have returned are trying to replace and repair their equipment," Feickert said.