Rule by Fear or Rule by Law?
“The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgment of his peers, is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government whether Nazi or Communist.”
- Winston Churchill, Nov. 21, 1943
Since 9/11, and seemingly without the notice of most Americans, the federal government has assumed the authority to institute martial law, arrest a wide swath of dissidents (citizen and noncitizen alike), and detain people without legal or constitutional recourse in the event of “an emergency influx of immigrants in the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs.”
Beginning in 1999, the government has entered into a series of single-bid contracts with Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) to build detention camps at undisclosed locations within the United States. The government has also contracted with several companies to build thousands of railcars, some reportedly equipped with shackles, ostensibly to transport detainees.
According to diplomat and author Peter Dale Scott, the KBR contract is part of a Homeland Security plan titled ENDGAME, which sets as its goal the removal of “all removable aliens” and “potential terrorists.”
Fraud-busters such as Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, have complained about these contracts, saying that more taxpayer dollars should not go to taxpayer-gouging Halliburton. But the real question is: What kind of “new programs” require the construction and refurbishment of detention facilities in nearly every state of the union with the capacity to house perhaps millions of people?
Sect. 1042 of the 2007 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), “Use of the Armed Forces in Major Public Emergencies,” gives the executive the power to invoke martial law. For the first time in more than a century, the president is now authorized to use the military in response to “a natural disaster, a disease outbreak, a terrorist attack or any other condition in which the President determines that domestic violence has occurred to the extent that state officials cannot maintain public order.”
The Military Commissions Act of 2006, rammed through Congress just before the 2006 midterm elections, allows for the indefinite imprisonment of anyone who donates money to a charity that turns up on a list of “terrorist” organizations, or who speaks out against the government’s policies. The law calls for secret trials for citizens and noncitizens alike.
Also in 2007, the White House quietly issued National Security Presidential Directive 51 (NSPD-51), to ensure “continuity of government” in the event of what the document vaguely calls a “catastrophic emergency.” Should the president determine that such an emergency has occurred, he and he alone is empowered to do whatever he deems necessary to ensure “continuity of government.” This could include everything from canceling elections to suspending the Constitution to launching a nuclear attack. Congress has yet to hold a single hearing on NSPD-51.
U.S. Rep. Jane Harman, D-Venice (Los Angeles County) has come up with a new way to expand the domestic “war on terror.” Her Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 (HR1955), which passed the House by the lopsided vote of 404-6, would set up a commission to “examine and report upon the facts and causes” of so-called violent radicalism and extremist ideology, then make legislative recommendations on combatting it.
According to commentary in the Baltimore Sun, Rep. Harman and her colleagues from both sides of the aisle believe the country faces a native brand of terrorism, and needs a commission with sweeping investigative power to combat it.
A clue as to where Harman’s commission might be aiming is the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, a law that labels those who “engage in sit-ins, civil disobedience, trespass, or any other crime in the name of animal rights” as terrorists. Other groups in the crosshairs could be anti-abortion protesters, anti-tax agitators, immigration activists, environmentalists, peace demonstrators, Second Amendment rights supporters … the list goes on and on. According to author Naomi Wolf, the National Counterterrorism Center holds the names of roughly 775,000 “terror suspects” with the number increasing by 20,000 per month.
What could the government be contemplating that leads it to make contingency plans to detain without recourse millions of its own citizens?
The Constitution does not allow the executive to have unchecked power under any circumstances. The people must not allow the president to use the war on terrorism to rule by fear instead of by law.
Lewis Seiler is the president of Voice of the Environment, Inc. Dan Hamburg, a former congressman, is executive director.
© 2008 Hearst Communications Inc.
We can only defeat those who rule by fear by offering hope.
Pointing out what is wrong won’t work.
Hope is the antidote.
True or not — this is more alarmism, dumping hapless progressives at the doorstep of fear. Better shut up, quit writing, quit protesting, go hide. Hope vs. fear. Two illusions for our endless entertainment.
775,000 terror suspects, and growing 20,000 per month, eh? What year did Naomi write that? That’s 224,000 per year since. Given enough time, the number of terror suspects will outnumber the remainder.
Why not just jail the whole country, and set up an anti-prison for the few remaining people?
The other texture that doesn’t make sense with stories like this is the idea that tyranny can be legalized. It’s a moot point whether it is LEGAL to jail law-abiding people, round up millions, etc. Has there been any example of a modern Western country jailing millions of political prisoners (in the past half-century)? What’s the likelihood of it being successful? i.e. not causing a civil war?
We should be afraid of their plans. Denial, hiding and simply “hoping” will no more save us than it did the people of Nazi Germany, who also didn’t believe that their government could do such evil. And it was a modern country. To take it out of your equation, in order to make your thesis work, is dooming us to repeat history, again as tragedy.
We need to wake our fellow citizens up, not dismiss the ruling class plans as insignificant.
Here’s the ‘plain and simple’ definition: Everyone who doesn’t support bush is a terrorist. Anyone who doesn’t support bush’s plans is also a terrorist.
The plan is to rule by fear. Law no longer prevails since the Attorney General Michal Mukasey can’t even define what the law is. The one before him, Alberto Gonzales, made a joke out of the whole system. The ‘law’ has been perverted to the point where it’s boundries are no longer definable. Fear, Ignorance, and Racism are the ruling giants now. The only weapon capable of defeating them is the Constitution. Unfortunately, no warrior is stepping forward to weild it.
greenerthanthou: Nothing positive ever came out of fear, and it should never be used as a motivator. It doesn’t motivate people to do great things. If compassion, ethics, dignity and reason are lacking, then we need to nurture these.
I’m making no claim on the authenticity of alarmist articles, only commenting on two chief points: (a) fear doesn’t serve the progressive, small-d democratic — or American — causes (b) the feasible/likelihood of mass jailings by the millions is nil.
“The Constitution is just a G-damn piece of paper.” ~GW Bush~
Bush has proven that is so. and when he meets with our Congress, they give him standing ovations. “Hope” BTW, is just another four letter word.
I would be so bold as to remind you Paul B., that Stalin, Hitler and Saddam for just three examples, ruled by fear. Ruling or motivation by fear isn’t my choice of decent government or management, but it worked for their short reigns.
All three of those dictators were eventually taken out, but while they ruled, they sure did a lot of damage and Hitler came very close to achieving his goal of a thousand year reign. Had he not invaded Russia and divided his forces, the Nazis may still be ruling Europe and perhaps the rest of the world. Bush is followng Hitler’s blueprint while attempting to insure he corrects the errors Hitler made. We’re in serious trouble and we have just cause to fear the future.
Kem,
Who ever did anything sensible while under the influence of fear?
Again, I don’t make any claim to the authenticity of alarmist articles like this. I can’t quite decide whether it is Bush & Co. ruling the Republic by fear, or progressives giving themselves the heebie-jeebies.
Look no further than someone like Nelson Mandela for inspiration. Not perfect to be sure, but even after 27 years of prison he went on to go great things. In fact, even better things than before.
In addition to Hope, we need COURAGE to defeat rule by fear. Tyrants strive to “dis-courage” their subjects, and to make them dependent upon the state for personal security.
That’s the motive behind the claim that, “if we don’t fight them over there, we’ll have to fight them over here”.
Courage begins with writing a dissident letter to the editor or your hometown newspaper and signing your name to it. It begins with talking back to to the right-wing bullies who regurgitate Rush Limbaugh’s garbage at the water cooler.
It ends with every American exercising a little courage and accepting a little personal risk in exchange for their freedom. We shouldn’t ask our soldiers to bear all the risk to “keep the threat at bay” in a faraway land. That’s cowardly and immoral (in addition to aggravating the problem).
The only real security is collective security. The Second Amendment was right. We need “well-regulated militias”, but with armed courageous speech, not just guns.
I’m old enough to have listened to FDR make his speech referring to FEAR. It was encouraging and although the fear we felt was a fear of hunger and futility, the relationship to to-day’s FEAR is quite different. The fear I feel to-day is for the future of our country, future generations and the future of FREEDOM.
I don’t have to remind those of you that enter these discussions that we are Patriotic or we wouldn’t be in this site. What I want to remind you of is INVOLVEMENT. Talk to your Representatives and Senators. (If you can.) Talk to you friends and keep them INFORMED. And most of all, at this time, preach IMPEACHMENT. Kem and Paul, you are both intelligent and informed, keep up the good work!
> Why not just jail the whole country…
Gonzales said citizens didn’t have a Constitutional right to habeas corpus. In his view (and Mukasey’s) citizens have a right to habeas corpus but the President is free to ignore it.
John Yoo reasoned it was legal to torture helpless prisoners because it was legal for a soldier to kill during war. Try to imagine what they think is legal if no citizen has habeas corpus. I think essentially everyone IS in jail, we just don’t know it.
The President is free to ignore the Constitutional rights of citizens much like the warden is free to ignore the complaints of prisoners when their cells are searched. The President may detain people, much like a warden may toss people into solitary. Wardens still have restrictions on them. The only limit on “unitary executive” appears to be term limit. Maybe.
The next President will be under pressure to show how rough/tough he/she is. Obviously it is not likely McCain will undo Bush’s damage. But it is also not that good for a Dem.
Obama has claimed he’ll get the troops out. But it ain’t gonna be simple, easy, cheap or painless. He may find it expedient to leave all the domestic BS (warrantless wiretapping etc.) alone to preserve the political capital he needs to get the troops out.
But the USA always resorts to fear rather than law. It utterly rejects international law and supports unilateral wars of choice conducted by its military. It supports the death penalty and a prison system designed to brutalise, not rehabilitate. And it defends to the death (many deaths) the right of every American to own a gun so he and she may take the law into their own hands and terrorise their neighbour. American culture is all about fear, and contempt for the law.
I don’t quite follow your argument there. We have every reason to be worried about our government, but we should give them sole monopoly on firepower?
Seiler and Hamburg ask: “What could the government be contemplating that leads it to make contingency plans to detain without recourse millions of its own citizens?”
To answer that question, it is my studied belief that the ruling monied eilite in America (with their war on terrorism and building up the National Security State) are doing so to prolong the suvival of unsustainable Western industrial capitalism. We the people are being subjected to fear and spying because 1/2 of 1% of our nation wishes to continue to rule (the world) forever.
Any anti-capitalistic rhetoric will not be tolerated. But have hope, this oppresive movement in the interests of the wealthy ruling class will only speed up the evenual collapse of Western Corporate capitalism. It is the true destiny of our evolution as a species.
This is what “The Great Turning”, The Earth Charter, The World Social Forum, and an emerging higher global consciousness is all about, the inevitable self-destruction of Western corporate capitalism.
Social activists for social democracy, peace and justice should only continue to march in solidarity and consider themselves members of “The White Rose Society in America”.
As I’ve said before, the reason our alleged representatives have done nothing to reaffirm the Constitution, or use its remedies to get rid of the current unitary executive, is that by not doing anything for eight years, they have a legal precedent to inherit the entire criminal regime to use for their own purposes and We the People have no input whatsoever in the process. If they toss us an occasional bone, so be it, but it is big money that talks and rules and if it feels threatened in any way, the apparatus is in place to remove the threat.
It is not necessarily Heil Bush, it will be Heil whoever is the figurehead in charge at the moment.
America isn’t just going broke, it is broke. The last twenty years of government have taken us back 8 centuries. Our government has legalized fascism. Put on your ‘Brown Shirts’ and be a ‘Good American’.
Hoa binh
If the american people really wanted to fight terrorism, they would forcibly remove the people in washington who hide behind a lie democracy.
Until that day happens, America will ALWAYS be a haven for terrorists.
Well, Paul, as a nurse, I’ve seen fear do positive things. Nothing like a heart attack to make a person give up smoking and fried foods.
Fear is a great motivator. That’s why we had the 9-11 attacks. They needed a “new Pearl Harbor” to push through their plans to dominate the world.
I don’t think that they would need to imprison millions. The point of terror is that imprisoning, or torturing or murdering a few terrorizes the many and keeps them quiet and compliant.
I think that’s why the US government killed the Rosenburgs and left their children orphans. That shut up a lot of people in the 1950s.
Lynching of “uppity” African Americans from 1880 to the 1960s kept the rest of Black America in line.
Murdering union leaders and communists in 3rd world countries all over the world kept labor costs low for business.
So a few people are disappeared, or visibly thrown into prison camps, and the rest of the country falls right into line.
The average American has no respect for the Bill of Rights, freedom or liberty. Those are just words to kill other people for.
greenerthanthou:
Good points, but in the heart attack example the victim and actor were one in the same. In the 9/11 example (if true), while it motivated the country it did not lead to good ends.
I’m still certain that compassion, courage, dignity, reason, ethics, love of the good things in life, etc. must be our motives. Fear is the other side of the coin to hope. Both are vague, the stuff of mindgames, intangibles, platonic ethereality.
Rule by fear is bad enough, having the worst president ever really is overkill.
This country is moving from a Free Democracy to a Totalitarian regime. Our Comgress has given the President unlimited power to declare Martial Law. He can suspend the Rule of Law and the U.S. Constitution when ever he deems National Security Considerations warrant it.
This history repeating itself. A new Reich beening founded by Bush and Cheney!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I agree with comments of Stephen V. Riley…libertasFugit:wow, dark indeed!,Hoa binh:even darker…I’m turned onto Naomi Wolf’s scenario……if Obama is dirty-tricked out of the Presidency, very bright people that opinionate on this very exciting website could easily become “candidates” for an eventual sojourn into an already inplace KBR home-away-from home…it may or may not happen.It’s certainly no joke how the Pentagon military is probably already “coordinated” with Homeland Security nationally with police forces in every state. After 7 years post 9/11, why not? As Mw. Wolf postulates we NOW live at the level of midlevel Fascism. Chances are President Obama-inspired Democrats MIGHT try to slow slide to total Fascism a bit, IF he isn’t rubbed out…while a President McCainPatriot-ocracy would move authoritarianism further along the FascistRepublican track. Crazed End Times, totally arrogant Bushites has been unbelievably reckless in their “foreign policies” pushing i.e., Russia and China into protective security treaties with each other, and suppose they win over India,too!!!
America is at a real crossroads. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it will take the right path and once again become the great country that it once was.
To do this, a stiff broom has to be put through its political system!
The whole idea of Islamophobia is rule by fear to justify the war profiteering.
The military budgets of all Axis of Evil nations combined equals less than 1% of America’s military budget. It’s obvious that al qaida isn’t trying to take over the world, I wish I could say the same about America’s neocons.
We can easily defeat those who rule by fear with ridicule.
That’s why God invented South Park!
Yes, Verginia. There is a Sanity Clause.
Or, for those that like to sit under the Bodi Tree, the slings and arrows of outrageous fortunes will turn to floral bouquets.
Andrew, do you think that the assets of the whole world will cover Bush’s debts or must we plunder the galaxy too? What is our debt in Dollar-Parsecs?
-Thousands of railcars, some reportedly equipped with shackles..
-its goal the removal of “all removable aliens” and “potential terrorists.”, with the capacity to house perhaps millions of people?..
-allows for the indefinite imprisonment of anyone who donates money to a charity that turns up on a list of “terrorist” organizations, or who speaks out against the government’s policies. The law calls for secret trials for citizens..
-Should the president determine that such an emergency has occurred,
he and he alone is empowered
to do whatever he deems necessary
to ensure “continuity of government.”
-roughly 775,000 “terror suspects” with the number increasing by 20,000 per month.
-What could the government be contemplating?
plans to detain
without recourse
millions of its own citizens?
-The Constitution does not allow the executive to have unchecked power under any circumstances.
Again:
The Constitution does not allow the executive to have unchecked power under any circumstances.
The people must not allow the president …to rule by fear
instead of
by
law.
I would rather ride The Friendship Train…
Calling out to everyone across the nation
Said the world is in a desperate situation
Stealing, burning, fighting, killing
Nothing but corruption
It looks like mankind is on the eve of destruction
Oh yes it is now people let me tell you now
We’ve got to learn to live with each other
No matter what the race, creed or color
I just got to tell you what the world needs now
Is love and understanding
Get aboard the friendship train
Everybody shake a hand make a friend now
Listen to us now, we’re doing our thing
On the friendship train
..Gladys Knight and the Pips
Stephen V. Riley, thanks for the reference to “The Great Turning”. Anyone interested in critiquing the economic system might want to read David C. Korten’s work. Betrayal of Adam Smith explains the corruption of the economic system by 20th century capitalists. Very rarely are economics explained in such a way that makes sense. Very rarely are economics explained at all.
Take the elementary school kids on field trips to the ivy league economics lectures, jam apples into the professors’ mouths, and have the kids recite this article to the ivy-league students.
Korten put a name on the idea of full costs in retail prices - “internalization”, as opposed to “externalization”. The difference is crucial if we are to use this extremely valuable tool to limit consumption the natural way. As for the capitalists - they will shrivel back down to manageable size to fit into their cages.
All this unconstitutional garbage is because, you know, “9/11 changed everything.” Fear now rules Washington. Only 3 Dems and 3 Republicans voted against HR 1955, the thought police bill, although a few more refrained from voting.
One witness before the House homeland security committee, which wrote HR 1955, was the LA Ass’t Police Chief in charge of anti-terrorism. The bill is careful to avoid naming any particular group or religion as “extremist.” Within a day or so after the House passed it, however, this Chief issued orders for the LA police to “map” all Muslims living in the LA area. The uproar was such that he was forced to cancel that order. He will, he says, find other ways to “reach out” to Muslim youth in danger of radicalization from those who hold extremist views.
Congress should fix the Homeland Security Act and restore posse comitatus lest our Dear Leader take advantage of his new “power” to use the National Guard against us for our failure to believe his every word. Or even, horrors, to DEMONSTRATE against his policies. What a corruption of the Guard; what a sham this government is. Will November never come?
“The Military Commissions Act of 2006, rammed through Congress just before the 2006 midterm elections, allows for the indefinite imprisonment of anyone who donates money to a charity that turns up on a list of “terrorist” organizations, or who speaks out against the government’s policies. The law calls for secret trials for citizens and noncitizens alike.”
Did Congress take some of the taxpayers money out of their “congressional budgets” to notify their constituents via every major newspaper across the country which charities were on the “TERRORIST” list so that “WE THE PEOPLE” would know which ones we shouldn’t be making contributions to?????
If “NO” is the answer, do you wonder why they attached “imprisonment” for anyone who speaks out against government policies to this UN-constitutional bill?
Here is how the First Amendment reads:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment01/
Also: Read the Declaration of Independence:
http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/freedom/doi/text.html
Since the War Powers Act of 1917 as amended in 1933 we have not really had a constitutional government. FDR was actually our first unitary executive.
Bush has just been more visible about it, perhaps to wake us up a bit before they really clamp down, to lessen the shock. How considerate of him.
The technology of today makes 1984 possible. You do not actually have to jail 10% of the people, disappear 1% of the people and it is enough to get everyone else to obey (we already have almost 1% in prison). We know there are 30% of people who will accept whatever comes so long as there is a real Christian as President (and he must be Republican).
Everyone who posts on this site is already on a list. The internet is a great tool to find out those who need to be disappeared before they need to be disappeared. Think your login name hides your ID? And those books you order from amazon.com, checked out of the library? Your internet searches? All means to collect IP addresses, then email addresses and physical addresses. Thats why many of the sites force you to give them your email address in order to comment, so government can track you, and the sites moderate the content, some topics are taboo and controlled since those who host blogs and do not conform to Big Brothers wishes are at the top of the list, and do not get big donations from the controllers.
Why they feel the need to do so when Americans, especially those who consider themselves on the left or progressive, are so docile and no threat to anyone except their keyboards, and the few who have opened their eyes to reality is small (<5%). The vast majority of people still think a change in Presidents is the solution to all our problems.
The only thing I can think of is a terrible Depression is looming (it will be man made like the last one), perhaps food shortages due to those terminator seeds Monsanto is prepared to unleash on the world, or maybe just another war that is bigger and harder than Iraq was.
When peoples living standards are rapidly lowered or their children are forced to fight unjust wars with universal conscription, they get upset. That is the only thing that will cause people to get upset enough to march, and it looks like government is prepared for it. I say they know what is coming because they are going to bring it to us, just like they brought the september 2001 event.
Hitler once said that his government just simplified Democracy, and everything he did complied with German law. That did not help them in Nuremberg, but if he was victorious, there would have been no Nuremberg.
Our government is betting on winning the next World War and do not fear another Nuremberg.
Those intelligent people who have sought news beyond MSM and continue to deny the reality of recent years amaze me. They might wish to read “They Thought They Were Free” by Milton Mayer. It is probably too late anyways, and perhaps they just CTA in case the reality is true, hoping to get themself off the list, or keep off the list. Perhaps they are government agents trying to influence opinion, one reason I do not “chat” since I have better things to do than debate Big Brother.
As for 9/11 not achieving good ends. Good ends for whom. For those who want to destroy the America I grew up in, it has worked wonderfully. The position we are in is exactly where they want to be. We have a permament occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan, we have legalized martial law, spying on citizens and torture, democracy and Americas image has been tarnished, they have collapsed the economy to the point where people are seriously talking about a new global reserve currency to replace the dollar, and our globalist corporations are making more global profits than ever, profits charged to their offices located in British tax havens and not America, so they do not need to share the wealth with America by paying taxes. These are the good times for the powers that rule us who want the world to embrace Global Government controlled by the Anglo-American-Zionist elite.
To understand the true implications of this one has either to have actually been a witness to the actulization of Executive Order 9066 which madated the internment of Japanese American citizens; or know someone who was a victim of that villany…..As a child I was taught Never Again!
Yes of course, the capitalists deliberately produced all the confusion to keep the rabble at bay. The rule by law should be snuffed out and replaced with the rule by fear. Adam Smith’s “holistic” view of market demand serving society’s better interests should be snuffed out and replaced with the capitalist/communist gladiator battle. You know it had to be - because that’s liberalism - the “right to disagree”, the “right to 1 + 1 = 3″. How shockingly familiar!
So Adam Smith pretty much got economics right. And when someone gets something right, there ain’t no further gettin to be got. It’s friggin done, just like the friggin turkey is done - take it outta the oven now, IT’S DONE! But elites will be elites and they will declare “it’s not done after all!” Like Marx, Like Friedman, like all the rest, and they smash it and torch it, hack it and whack it, and whatta ya got? Well just read what Korten has to say:
Adam Smith was as acutely aware of issues of power and class as he was of the dynamics of competitive markets. However, the neoclassical economists and the neo-Marxist economists bifurcated his holistic perspective on the political economy, one taking those portions of the analysis that favored the owners of property, and the other taking those that favored the sellers of labor. Thus, the neoclassical economists left out Smith’s considerations of the destructive role of power and class, and the neo-Marxists left out the beneficial functions of the market. Both advanced extremist social experiments on a massive scale that embodied a partial vision of society, with disastrous consequences. - Betrayal of Adam Smith
Paul Bramcher–you post sanely and thoughtfully, but I think you miss some of our points—this article does not make me afraid and it will not cause me to be silent—it makes me fighting mad!Better to know what you might be upo against—no one wants to be blind-sided.
Not everyone succumbs to fear—for some, as another poster remarked, it can be a great motivator. This current battle between the 1% at the top who want to control the rest of us is not new and the battles keep re-forming to be fought over and over. We will never arrive, I fear, so we must simply stand together and take care of each other and refuse to break our strong ties to one another. I’t not about who wins—it’s how we play the game. We are souls having a human experience—so how would we have it?
Kem, Stalin didn’t get taken out. He ruled by fear from what 1929ish until 1953. He died of a stroke, alone, his secratary was too frightened to disturb him when he was alone in his office.
Most nations today - and in the past - have been ruled by fear. Even in countries that are supposedly democratic have had periods when fear is what rules the population. Sometimes it’s fear of others, sometimes fear of ‘god’, more often than not it’s fear of the nutty bugger who killed all of his political foes….
Rule of law has been subverted by the desire of government’s to legislate against activities that ought not to be criminalized; eg drug laws, prostitution, blasphemy. When too many people break those types of law, or are seen to break them without consequence, the idea that there is a law for all and that everyone is equal under that law goes out the window.
Hi ~Skip~ see our buddy ain’t here today. Yeah I knew about sneaky old Joe just croaking. God took him out. My point was and is, in a Fascist state, __ fear rules. Our country has been heading towards Fascism for years, ever since Nixon is when I first nooticed it was getting really bad. But this administration is the first time I’ve ever seen the fear factor, where Congress was aftaid to do their sworn duty and most people are afraid to use their real names when posting on a site such as Common Dreams. As Roosevlet and Truman warned us, when the government, the media and press is controlled by corporations, that’s Fascism. ___ We made it. __ Pogo nailed it.
Anyone who has not become a full-blown activist after reading the article needs to be put in one of the prisons.
http://ryanhartman.wordpress.com
This is the biggest reason why I think Bush/Cheney need to be impeached. We are begging for a whole lot worse leaders in the future by not showing this bunch they aren’t going to get away with it. Bush has managed to break every law on the books and never be held accountable for them. The Iraq invasion alone is enough to try him for treason against the American people! This is a bad example to be setting for future leaders. It’s sending a message you can get away with any outrage and never pay for it.
starofthesea,
I don’t mean to dismiss alarmism out-of-hand. I’m thinking of my childhood in the 1970’s, watching Leonard Nimoy’s “In Search Of”. In hindsight, I noted that these pseudo-scientific/mystical episodes were never intended to solve problems, to put matters to a rest, to offer a testable empirical litmus test, etc. Rather, they “drop off” the viewer at the doorstep of fuzzy WTF’s, unease, confusion, a cognitive disonance, untestable claims, etc.
So my main point with regard to these sorts of articles is that they don’t do something similar, to drop off the progressive, civil libertarian, etc. at a similar point of directionless unease.
There is little doubt in my mind that this meme exists out there, and is even nurtured. There’s something fishy about such articles which aren’t perhaps 25% alarmism, 25% hardcore evidence (photos are good), and 50% solution. When it’s more like 75%+ alarmism, I tend to reject it out of hand — true or not.
Detention camps and railcars! I have heard about these contracts and buildings, and would insist that my Congressman give the American people an accounting. My generation remembers well the death camps in Germany, but the younger generation seems to live in the land of make-believe Speers etc. There is nothing more terrifying than to think and to live as the poor Jews and others who lived through and died in the camps and our government needs housecleaning without further delay. Yeah, right, the Congress is busy with nonessentials, too busy to impeach, or force people like Gonzales, let alone Bush to be held on contempt of our Constitution.
November 4, 2008: election day - or perhaps not?
“greenerthanthou February 4th, 2008 1:24 pm
We should be afraid of their plans. Denial, hiding and simply “hoping” will no more save us than it did the people of Nazi Germany, who also didn’t believe that their government could do such evil. And it was a modern country.”
You are exectly, absolutely, positively, unequivocally correct. This administration has followed the “Blue Print” of Hitler since day one, starting with the Reichstag Fire/911. One would be hard pressed to find one national, or international law this admin. hasn’t broken. In fact, it is mimicking not only Hitler, but Mao Tse-tung, Stalin, Castro, and even Saddam Hussein.
The most surprising of all about this is that some still seem surprise at what this admin. does after seven years. Some say it’s okay to spy on them because they aren’t doing anything wrong. When (and if) the govn’t start placing cameras in their baths, and bedrooms, it just may be too late. But that will be fine, after all, that’s just another way to protect the US citizens from the terrorists.
Conclusion:
The people of the United States are quickly becoming a nation of idiots.
Railroad cars with shackles, eh?
It will take a really big catastrophe for Americans to accept the jailing and probable torture and murder of millions of their fellows, but let’s not misunderestimate our war president. He has nearly a year to go.
Why, if the many reports are true, did Bush buy 100,000 acres in Paraguay? I’ve read various speculations on this topic, but to me the answer that’s most convincing is that Bush is planning Dubya Dubya III. Paraguay is the perfect place to sit out global nuclear holocaust as the southern hemisphere will experience far less environmental disruption that the northern half of the world.
Let a dozen nuclear bombs hit American cities and few will complain about prison rail cars or detention camps.
The presidential office of the U.S. will not have given full expression to the character and demons of George Bush until the entire world is in flames. Global nuclear war is far from unthinkable with Bush in the WH. And if that is not what Bush has in mind, then what are the rail cars with shackles for?