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Let me say this another way. Germany and Italy didn't go into the shit can overnight. In the beginning Fascism is a great way to jump start a stagnant economy, and sure enough it yanked Germany and Italy from deep depressions and at least in the beginning the majority of their citizens loved it. Its all the nasty things that happen after the fact that catch up with you sooner of later. So when I say we live in a fascist state.you need to look first at what that means, for instance by looking at the definition, then at the telltale signs.

You do that honestly, hold America up to the light of truth and tell me we aren't living in a fascist state, and darling, I'll have to say either, you're in denial, ignorant of the facts or obfuscating the truth. We touch all the base, Home-run. So, the fact that American culture is diverse, rich, and that our founding fathers hamstrung the crap out of our legislatures means we still have a functional country when other less robust nations sucked a gasket and folded. It also means we have a better than even shot at taking back what is rightfully ours, but you have to get clear headed and deadly honest first. We're in trouble, and the facists have been calling the shots now for most of 30 years and if we don't get our heads screwed on straight and take it back soon, then that little bit of levity you have about yelling out a window could sure enough come back to haunt you.

Anyone that takes your stance lives inside the US. Many more people consider Bush to be a war criminal outside the US, where the US propaganda machine doesn't churn its wheels so much. But let me ask you one question if you really believe Bush isn't a war criminal... How did the World Trade Towers fall a free fall speed to the ground, when the study of physics claims it would take over a minute for such structures to pancake to the ground without controlled termite explosions. Just curious. Also, why didn't we leave Iraq once we found out there weren't any WMD. Just curious about that one too. And why where many more votes counted for Bush that voters that turned out to vote? Doesn't that strike you as odd, at least? http://www.ideamouth.com/voterfraud.htm Bush is not only a war criminal, but a fraud to the American people, and a scandal to the world. http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm

The Afghanistan war was planned before 9/11.

The decision to launch the Iraq war was made before 9/11.

The decision to launch a war against Iran was made before 9/11.

The Patriot Act was written before 9/11.

The government's spying on Americans began before 9/11.

The government knew that terrorists could use planes as weapons -- and had even run its own drills of planes being used as weapons against the World Trade Center and other U.S. high-profile buildings, using REAL airplanes -- all before 9/11.

The government heard the 9/11 plans from the hijackers' own mouths before 9/11.

No steel-framed high-rise building had ever collapsed due to fire before 9/11.

The neocons who now run the U.S. government lamented, before 9/11, that they could not institute their plans for global domination without a "new Pearl Harbor".

Did 9/11 really "change everything"? Or was everything we're seeing now planned before 9/11?

http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm

I'm not implying it's a conspiracy. A conspiracy implies there was some thought put into this, I'm quite sure that very little thought goes into anything Bush or his cronies do. This is simplify the attitude of Bush and co. Specifically they seem to believe that the U.S. government sits astride the world and directs it as it wishes because it can (Iraq, Domestic Spying, Signing Statements). The point isn't that there's some deliberate concerted action going on here, but that Bush keeps making new position for political masters to control and muzzle the agencies of the government to keep them "on message" even when the message has no relation to reality. Furthermore, he persists in appointing incompetent ignorami into positions of power in the very wrost sort of cronyism (Michael Brown, Alberto Gonzales, Harriet Miere and many more).

They abuse people under them, not because they have some nefarious goal in mind, but simply because they can. This is an administration which is ok with using torture (Alberto Gonzales written opinion, extraordinary renditions, Guantanomo) as long as they don't get too much bad publicity over it (Abu Ghraib). Bush believes in the use of force first and foremost (Iraq, torture of prisoners for information) and if that doesn't work, then you didn't use enough force (Texas Execution record). He doesn't tolerate questions from his underlings (Colin Powell) or any type of disagreement (see the treatment of NASA, the Pentagon, and the Surgeon General). I've heard people describe his behaviour at the white house, advisors who tell him things he doesn't want to hear get left out of future meetings and snubbed until they stop trying to think for themselves. If they don't stop asking questions or thinking, they end up isolated and powerless like Colin Powell before he resigned.

Bush actively encourages ignorance in his cronies and underlings because they shouldn't know or believe anything that contradicts the official Bush policy because it's dangerous to their careers. Parroting Bush is the way to stay in favour and get rewards. It's a little bit like the Office only instead of running a small division of a company the completely incompetent manager is running the worlds most powerful country. If the idea of Dilbert's pointy haired boss having nuclear weapons scares you, then you know what the rest of the world has been feeling for the last 6 years.

Sorry--meant to link here: 14 Points of Fascism

Good afternoon. Today I ordered our Armed Forces to strike at terrorist-related facilities in Afghanistan and Sudan because of the imminent threat they presented to our national security.

I want to speak with you about the objective of this action and why it was necessary. Our target was terror. Our mission was clear -- to strike at the network of radical groups affiliated with and funded by Osama bin Laden, perhaps the preeminent organizer and financier of international terrorism in the world today.

You might notice the date there. August 20, 1998. For those of you not following the links, it was Clinton that said this.

Did the media report this? You betcha

U.S. missiles pound targets in Afghanistan, Sudan

Retaliation for bombing of U.S. embassies in eastern Africa

Bin Laden reportedly survives attack

Remember again, this was August 20, 1998. 1,118 days before 9/11 took place.

OK, so we have ABSOLUTE proof that Clinton tried to kill OBL. Not in some made-for-TV movie last year, but archived news reports from the day.

I'll let you catch your breath, because I feel like a frackin' Spartan and I'm going for the legs now.

What was the official response... not from shock jocks, not from hot-heads... but from Republican Senators?

I am so glad you asked.

Sen. Arlen Specter. (R-Pa.) "There's an obvious issue that will be raised internationally as to whether there is any diversionary motivation."

Sen. John D. Ashcroft (R-Mo.) "There is a cloud over this presidency."

Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.), (who called on Clinton to resign after his speech) "The president has been consumed with matters regarding his
personal life. It raises questions about whether or not he had the time to devote to this issue, or give the kind of judgment that needed to be
given to this issue to call for military action."

Whether or not the Commander In Chief could possibly have the time in his busy schedule in trying to kill a man that tried to blow up the WTC in 1993. A man responsible for the attack on the USS Cole. A man that turned US property in Africa to smouldering rubble and gristle.

So yeah, I want to talk about missing emails, and liberties with our Liberty, and why it was that, FOR ONE THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTEEN DAYS, all Republicans wanted to concentrate on was the oral sex they weren't getting.

Now I've got the legs, it's time to go for the throat. Google Groups is the archive of Usenet posts going back to 1981. If ONE PERSON, just ONE CONSERVATIVE, had posted just ONE LINK supporting Clinton in his valid attempt to shut down al Queda, someone somewhere surely would have posted it. The link above has narrowed down the search. Click on it, and you'll see it's for posts between August 20 1998 and September 10 2001. All posts including bin Laden, but not including -monica, -lewinsky, -cigar, -blowjob.

Well, you can see that someone was asking how safe an aircraft carrier was, in German, the night before. Nostradamus groups

You must be blissfully unaware of the past 5-6 years of administration appointees. I almost envy you. Nearly ALL appointees over any sort of regulatory watchdog, scientific fact-finding, or pork-laden government spending bureau of the government has been an industry lobbyist of some sort who is assured to make sure that said industry (which donates lots of money to the Republicans) will make out like a bandit (literally) on the taxpayer's dime or taint and all evidence that gets in the way of said industry's profits.

Read more here:
Bush Has Appointed Over 100 Lobbyists as 'Regulators'
WhiteHouseForSale.org | Contributors and Paybacks Articles
Evidence that this has been a pattern of behavior as far back as when he was governor.
Some info on two of the officials reviewing the Dubai Ports World deal
An even longer list of crony appointees

The Bush administration is one of the more shameful examples of cronyism in modern US history. The term "conflict of interest" doesn't begin to cover it. Then, when you can't find a person with experience as an industry shill, you can always go to political advocates with no experience in the field (but solid Bush support):

Michael Brown's two political appointees deputees in FEMA
A petition for Bush to make political appointments with a list of 6 good examples
The Hertiage Foundation even endorsed making political appointees over experienced civil servants in 2001! ...No really, 7 ridiculous arguments straight from the horse's mouth! (How's FEMA workin' out there, HF?)
Why, just look how many Heritage Foundation flacks are now in the administration.

Any wonder why the DHS hasn't done hardly anything useful, why FEMA had someone with no emergency relief experience installed as it's head, why scientists are abandoning NASA, the EPA, the CDC, etc. in droves, and why hundreds of IRS agents that audit capital gains and estate taxes have been downsized? It's government with the wheels taken off -- oriented explicitly to do nothing but enrich special interests by people who have publicly stated that that's all they believe the government exists to do in the first place.

What, you didn't think they meant that they'd try to STOP it when they said that, did you? Yeah, I was fooled too, but not anymore. It's time we get people back in power who believe that the government is meant to serve the people. People who believe that it's part of the solution and not part of the problem. Otherwise, as we've seen, the temptation to just exploit "the problem" is just too much.

You are confusing fascism with theocracy. The terrorists who attacked us on Sept. 11th want to establish a global caliphate ruled by Islamic law, with the ultimate decisions made by Imams, or Islamic Clerics. Rule by religious figures and religous law is called 'theocracy'.

See Clerical Fascism. Yes, "Fascism ought to more properly be called corporatism since it is the merger of state and corporate power" is true, but historically Fascism does not exclude a blurring of theocracy into the mix. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism#Fascism_and_r eligion.

And looking at the Fourteen defining characteristics of Fascism we see:

8.) Religion and Government are Intertwined: on the list.

That said, your point is probably still valid, that the Islamic radicals are not really Fascists. IMO, the real Fascists (Clerical or otherwise) are here in the United States. Going back to the line from the parent article:

Great way to devolve a democratic republic into a fascist theocracy. Me worried? Yea."

I think that hits the nail on the head. Towards a Fascist Theocracy is the direction the US is headed in.

So no, you have never been threatened or injured by an Islamofacists. Misunderstanding the enemy will not aid us in our fight.

Agreed. And I'm sure that's intentional on the part of the Neo-ConsFascists. Remember when Huey Long was asked "Will Fascism ever come to America?" He replied

Yes, but we will call it anti-fascism.

I think Mr. Long's prescience is being demonstrated by current events.

Just read here, here and here.

I've also addressed this issue before.

I can't go so far as to claim that the United States has become totally Fascist (yet), but I stand by my claim that the neo-con ideology is
moving us in the direction of fascism. I'll even go so far as to say that "Neo-Con" is just a euphemism for "Fascist."

Just read here, here and here.

I've also addressed this issue before.

I can't go so far as to claim that the United States has become totally Fascist (yet), but I stand by my claim that the neo-con ideology is
moving us in the direction of fascism. I'll even go so far as to say that "Neo-Con" is just a euphemism for "Fascist."

This is right in line with expectations. (see point #12 in 2nd link)

http://www.hermes-press.com/police_state.htm [hermes-press.com]
http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm [oldamericancentury.org] [oldamericancentury.org]
http://www.hermes-press.com/etch1.htm [hermes-press.com] [hermes-press.com]

In the land of the NOT free, All hail the shrub!

It might bite back!

The terrorists' goal is to spread fear to help them get to their political goals. They are going to be very happy everytime this alert system is used...

And that's exactly why they are going to use it.

Actually, that sounds an awful lot like Fascism, to me.

Why would the DHS want to help terrorists?

I can't believe that a MegaCorporation based out of Washington State would find new roots in good-ole'-boy Texas. I wonder if it has anything to do with $Big Oil, $President $Bush, $Corrupt Government, and consumer/constituent abuse?

Nah, I'm probably just being a consipiracy nerd. It's clearly just sheer coincidence.

This is right in line with expectations.

http://www.hermes-press.com/police_state.htm
http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm [oldamericancentury.org]
http://www.hermes-press.com/etch1.htm [hermes-press.com]

In the land of the NOT free, All hail the shrub!

Or to sum it up:
http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm

Or just do a search on 14 Points of fascism

Yes they are but they are not going towards Communism (left in the political spectrum)
they are going far right towards Fascism.
http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm
http://www.hermes-press.com/etch1.htm

All hail the shrub!

Take a look at this article, based on real-world fascism study. (The link to the original study can be found there).

I can sorta agree that what article outlines is not exactly what _I_ understand as fascism too, but it confirms, that it is a rather controversial term and RMS's usage of this term is reasonable enough.

Supporting occupied peoples in regaining their freedom is clearly a hindrance to trade when politicians and their corporate cronies have manufacturing bases to export and bucks to be made. It is interesting how the empires of Mao and Lenin, both of whom remain on display full of preservatives, have turned to imperialist fascism (made infamous by their past opponents Japan and Germany respectively, although e.g. the British Empire certainly had such tendencies as well) in order to "earn their rehabilitation" in the eyes of the West.

Western leaders are full of love and affection for dictators like Putin and Hu Jintao (aka the Butcher of Tibet after his brutal crackdown on Tibetans during his reign as the supreme chinese party chief in occupied Tibet) while the non-expansionist socialist dictators of smaller countries, like Cuba's Castro and Zimbabwe's Mugabe, are still being treated like pariahs.

If the western democracies actually asked their electorate which is worse, a small non-expansionist socialist state like Cuba or a genocidally expansionist one-party dictatorship like China, would the western leaders have to act surprised by the answer?

The link is dead. Try this http://www.oldamericancentury.org/boltonun.mov

Perhaps the opinions expressed by the US Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, have in some way lead to distrust of American intentions.

I wonder how many UN ambassadors have seen the video. Bolton gets quite Hitlarian at the end.

In "Fascism Anyone?," Laurence Britt identifies 14 characteristics common to fascist regimes. His comparisons of Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Suharto, and Pinochet yielded this list of 14 "identifying characteristics of fascism." http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm I would call the modern China fascist as well. (of course, the Nationalists started out as admitted fascists who admired Hitler and Mussolini, but Taiwan has been democratic for the last decade, and the bloodbaths of the past are clearly over..) All totalitarian governments are very similar. They worship power and feel might makes right. They seek control over one's thoughts and over information, always seeking to block outside information or inconvenient facts. They are almost always strikingly racist, to the point of organizing genocides and often democides (genocide of one's own people) based on politicl beleifs or family history of dissent or employment, or marital status. (Many fascist governments discriminate against the unmarried and they also almost always outlaw abortion, desiring many young men to serve as cannon fodder, in a state of perpetual warfare or near warfare) Fascism was very strong in the US in the past. (Henry Ford was Hitler's main inspiration- he said, and Prescott Bush, the current President's grandfather, was his angel investor - according to the New York Tribune.) The CIA had a cozy relationship with many ex-Nazis after the war, in a story which to this day largely remains untold..

you could have picked a better example...
http://oldamericancentury.org/Bushs_Big_Joke.wmv

http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm Found this to be a little scary!

See my previous post about people whose response to serious questions being asked about the current poltical state in our country is to call it "paranoia."

Keep saying that. Eventually even people like you will see what's happening, but by then it will be too late.

http://www.oldamericancentury.org/

The above site has real journalism on it, not corporate "talking points."

Not everybody who feels the way I do is a "geek" holed up inside all day on their computer. It might even be possible that some of us are in a better position to know about what the US government getting away with then you are.

I see and hear people all of the time acting like all of the concerns over privacy and the way the US Govt. is gutting civil liberties is just paranoia.

These people have not done their research, and probably also don't know much about history.

We are now a fascist state and are becoming more extreme by the day. Don't believe me? Take a look at this, it explains what's happening quite well:

http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm

Nobody loves the American country and the American people more than I, but blindly trusting this government who have lied and lied and lied (and by the way, things have been pretty Shday since Eisenhower left office - Clintons administration was better in many ways, but most were only superficial) are crazy.

Our media is controlled. This is a fact. Mainstream media is not going to tell you certain stories, period. NPR? Give me a break. The Internet? Trust me, they've been snooping like crazy since the beginning and they have plenty of plans to make sure you are under control and toeing the party line.

America is now an authoritarian society, becoming more so every day and it is no exaggeration to say that we are becoming a fascist theocracy. This is really sad. I remember in the 80s how the "Communists" were painted as evil, we were told that their government spied on them..

If you doubt what I say and want to attack me, go ahead - it;s either because deep down you're in denial or you just aren't looking at what's hapenning.

Most hardcore conservatives really hate neocons once they actually look at what they stand for. And apparantly you haven't actually read the patriot act. Oh, wait, that would be illegal. I may have my beef with traditional conservatives (and other beefs with traditional liberals... don't worry.) But that's nothing compared to our thinly veiled new fascist leadership.

you must at least concede that this standardization is based on consistency, functionality, and ease of use, not a desire to build a nationwide network of centrally administered RFID detectors for the purposes of tracking every citizen

Even if the reason is not to track citizens, it will eventually be used for it if allowed. Speed pass records have been confiscated in investigations ever since the speed pass was introduced. Do you think that the government won't subpoena records of where you've been if they deem you a threat? It's already done with credit card records, cell phone usage records, etc etc. Except in this case the ID card scanner will probably have to phone home to a central server to verify the card. Now the government won't have to go through the hassle of collecting all this data, when it's already in their hands. Allows for a lot more shuffling of locational data to make a case appear to fit (even if the data is only circumstantial.)

Granted, this data mining will probably be used MOSTLY on investigations where there is already a suspect, and this information could also be subpoenad by a defendant to prove his innocence. Basically if you feel that your government is generally benevolant, there should not be a problem with using this tech. However if you have fears that your government is moving towards more totalitarianisticor even fascist state, then you might actually has a valid reason to fear this.

Yes, America is now a fascist state

The laundry list is huge I'm sure, it's because the corporation is intertwined with the halls of power. Easy enough to suppress widespread disemination of the truth when all the wealthy people in the same circles intermingle and run the media, government, and big companies. They all have their own interests at heart.

Oh well, I found this little ray of sunshine that made me feel a little better:
Why I Refused a 2nd Deployment to Iraq By: Sgt. Kevin Benderman

I mean, I pity you. You are clearly unaware of what the neofascists surrounding Bush have done over the past for years and will continue to do. So your so-called God is in the White House, continuing to preside over the destruction of America as a world power, basically to line the pockets of Halliburton stockholders. Maybe you're one of them. Guess what: Bush's management of the economy probably means financial ruin for you, too, eventually. Hopefully the rest of us can leave the country before Herr Gonzales puts all the Jews and Catholics into boot camps...

But is it ironic that someone complaining about someone complaining about minutiae misspells minutiae? Is it ironic that I complain about someone complaining about someone complaining about minutiae? Or is it just ironic that the current world superpower is known better than any other for its inability to define or perceive irony?

Thanks to Google images:

A very fetching pearled codpeice!

Is John Travolta's codpeice over inflated, or just his ego?

Batman wouldn't be quite so heroic without his codpeice.

A George Dubya Bush double play!

And to finish off, A Briefe History of the Codpiece.

-

Which side should we error on? A few people making millions being able to make a few million more, or thousands of people avoiding having babies with birth defects, or having health problems due to pollution or unsafe work environments, or future generations having to deal with energy and resource issues that could have been mitigated by non-selfish policies today?

The Bush way is to appoint people with clear conflicts of interest to positions of power.

Aren't you aware of the other outrageous example of the Bush administration ignoring the advice of professionals (e.g. scientists) to favor the profit of unethical corportists? The professionals in the Pentagon told their boss and the administration that 400K+ troops would be needed to secure Iraq properly. But in order to save money for paying contracts to Halliburton and KBR, we went in with something like 150K troops and negligible help from other countries (except GB).

Given that Cheney walked out of CEOship at Halliburon to a position where he was able to push for and get a war in Iraq is another conflict of interest that should be considered as criminal as the Bush administration's ignoring of scientific advice, again just to bump up profits for friends and political supporters.

The proper response to these actions is outrage, the proper term for these actions is criminal behavior. The proper response should be arrest and prison. And trading American serviceperson's lives for profit makes one a Traitor.

This project was started by Hank Asher. He had to take his name off the company, because of his past. Following are links to info regarding this man. You tell me? Is this the guy we trust to secure this kind of information?
Florida's flawed "voter-cleansing" program
Old American Century google for more.