What in the hell is going on? Is it just me? I don't think so. It seems to me that a great number of people are aware of what is happening to our civil liberties, rights, privacy, etc...
And yet, our government continues to pass legislation (without debate) that gives the fascist stormtroopers more power to investigate us, monitor us, and generally abuse us.
No checks. No balances. No oversight.
MEASURE APPROVED GIVING FBI GREATER ANTI-TERROR POWERS...
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/20/national...&partner=GOOGLE
WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 — Congressional negotiators approved a measure on Wednesday to expand the F.B.I.'s counterterrorism powers, despite concerns from some lawmakers who said that the measure gave the government too much authority and that the public had been shut out of the debate.
The measure gives the Federal Bureau of Investigation greater authority to demand records from businesses in terrorism cases without the approval of a judge or a grand jury. While banks, credit unions and other financial institutions are currently subject to such demands, the measure expands the list to include car dealers, pawnbrokers, travel agents, casinos and other businesses.
The expansion, included in the 2004 authorization bill for intelligence agencies, has already been approved by both the House and the Senate, and lawmakers from both chambers approved the provision as part of the larger bill in a private session late Wednesday, officials said. Law enforcement officials said the F.B.I. would gain greater speed and flexibility in tracing suspected terrorist money.
Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, introduced a motion to limit the life of the new law, but it was defeated on a party-line vote.
"I'm concerned about this," Mr. Durbin said in an interview. "The idea of expanding the powers of government gives everyone pause except the Republican leadership."
The approval came despite 11th-hour concerns raised by five Democrats and a Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, who questioned why their panel — which has responsibility for overseeing the F.B.I. — was shut out of any discussion on the little-noticed proposal.
In a letter this week to the Senate intelligence committee, the senators urged the panel, which does much of its work in secret, not to move ahead with such a significant expansion of the F.B.I.'s powers without further review. They said public hearings, public debate and legislative protocol were essential in legislation involving the privacy rights of Americans.
The letter was signed by Senator Larry E. Craig, Republican of Idaho, and five Democrats: Mr. Durbin, and Senators Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, Russell D. Feingold of Wisconsin, Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and John Edwards of North Carolina.
Full Version: Prison Planet descending. Fascist dictatorship forming.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/34105.html
White House plans to ratify a Council of Europe Cybercrime treaty will be a disaster for the privacy and security of Americans, Privacy International (PI), the human rights watchdog, claims.
President Bush this week urged Senators to back the adoption of the mutual assistance Treaty into US law. The Treaty, designed to streamline cooperation between signatory countries, will significant expand the power of investigators to access data and prosecute offences ranging from copyright infringement to "hate speech".
PI warns that if the Senate ratifies the Treaty, "dozens of countries will have 'on demand' access to the personal information and communications records of any American they may wish to investigate". This data - including full email logs, phone records and mobile phone location data together with account and financial records - could be "cherry picked" by investigating authorities in countries that ratify the treaty.
Providing the US signs up to the Treaty, the personal details of millions of US citizens will be available "on demand" to Balkan and former communist countries, PI says.
Safeguards? What safeguards?
PI warns that the "low standard of evidence or authentication demanded for these transfers of personal information creates exceptional dangers to many ethnic and minority groups in the US".
The conditions for sharing this information mean that intelligence could concern offences which are criminal in the requesting country, but not in the US. Grounds for refusing to share data are limited.
The ratification of the Treaty would make data regarding US citizens available to governments around the world with little oversight or control, according to PI. It warns the treaty will "open the floodgates for overseas government and private bodies" looking for sensitive personal information.
Only very basic information about the purposes of the data would be given to US officials.
Civil liberties organisations have opposed the treaty from the beginning.
In an open letter two years ago, critics argued: "the convention continues to be a document that threatens the rights of the individual while extending the powers of police authorities, creates a low-barrier protection of rights uniformly across borders, and ignores highly-regarded data protection principles".
Simon Davies, PI director, said the Treaty "imperils the constitutional and judicial protections that Americans enjoy. Ratification will compromise every safeguard in US law. The Treaty is ill considered, regressive and unnecessary and should be rejected by the Senate." ®
White House plans to ratify a Council of Europe Cybercrime treaty will be a disaster for the privacy and security of Americans, Privacy International (PI), the human rights watchdog, claims.
President Bush this week urged Senators to back the adoption of the mutual assistance Treaty into US law. The Treaty, designed to streamline cooperation between signatory countries, will significant expand the power of investigators to access data and prosecute offences ranging from copyright infringement to "hate speech".
PI warns that if the Senate ratifies the Treaty, "dozens of countries will have 'on demand' access to the personal information and communications records of any American they may wish to investigate". This data - including full email logs, phone records and mobile phone location data together with account and financial records - could be "cherry picked" by investigating authorities in countries that ratify the treaty.
Providing the US signs up to the Treaty, the personal details of millions of US citizens will be available "on demand" to Balkan and former communist countries, PI says.
Safeguards? What safeguards?
PI warns that the "low standard of evidence or authentication demanded for these transfers of personal information creates exceptional dangers to many ethnic and minority groups in the US".
The conditions for sharing this information mean that intelligence could concern offences which are criminal in the requesting country, but not in the US. Grounds for refusing to share data are limited.
The ratification of the Treaty would make data regarding US citizens available to governments around the world with little oversight or control, according to PI. It warns the treaty will "open the floodgates for overseas government and private bodies" looking for sensitive personal information.
Only very basic information about the purposes of the data would be given to US officials.
Civil liberties organisations have opposed the treaty from the beginning.
In an open letter two years ago, critics argued: "the convention continues to be a document that threatens the rights of the individual while extending the powers of police authorities, creates a low-barrier protection of rights uniformly across borders, and ignores highly-regarded data protection principles".
Simon Davies, PI director, said the Treaty "imperils the constitutional and judicial protections that Americans enjoy. Ratification will compromise every safeguard in US law. The Treaty is ill considered, regressive and unnecessary and should be rejected by the Senate." ®
| QUOTE |
| Lawmakers from both chambers approved the provision as part of the larger bill in a private session late Wednesday ... The Senate Judiciary Committee ... questioned why their panel — which has responsibility for overseeing the F.B.I. — was shut out of any discussion on the little-noticed proposal. |
This has become the profile for expanding the frontiers of fascism. Push innocuous bills through the two chambers, then insert the toxic stuff in private conference committee negotiations, totally bypassing the responsible legislative committees.
It's done by the Congressional leadership -- Denny Hastert and Bill Frist. It corrupts the legislative process, and is probably unconstitutional.
Meanwhile we lecture the world about "democracy." This sounds like the kind of democracy Saddam Hussein would have been very comfortable with. The powers that be get what they want, while the hapless sheeple get to troop to the polling stations as the politicians suavely flatter them: "You're the players. We propose, you decide."
What a sickly sham. The powerful, senior Senator Ted Kennedy (along with five of his colleagues) protests that he's been bypassed. The leadership just ignores him and escalates the repression. How far is an ordinary citizen going to get, whining about his Constitutional rights? These days, that's probably grounds for a "sentence enhancement."
This sounds more like a warning shot that the NWO and banksters are ready to foreclose and make their moves!
Gen. Franks Doubts Constitution Will Survive WMD Attack
Gen. Tommy Franks says that if the United States is hit with a weapon of mass destruction that inflicts large casualties, the Constitution will likely be discarded in favor of a military form of government.
Franks, who successfully led the U.S. military operation to liberate Iraq, expressed his worries in an extensive interview he gave to the men’s lifestyle magazine Cigar Aficionado.
In the magazine’s December edition, the former commander of the military’s Central Command warned that if terrorists succeeded in using a weapon of mass destruction (WMD) against the U.S. or one of our allies, it would likely have catastrophic consequences for our cherished republican form of government.
Discussing the hypothetical dangers posed to the U.S. in the wake of Sept. 11, Franks said that “the worst thing that could happen” is if terrorists acquire and then use a biological, chemical or nuclear weapon that inflicts heavy casualties.
If that happens, Franks said, “... the Western world, the free world, loses what it cherishes most, and that is freedom and liberty we’ve seen for a couple of hundred years in this grand experiment that we call democracy.”
Franks then offered “in a practical sense” what he thinks would happen in the aftermath of such an attack.
“It means the potential of a weapon of mass destruction and a terrorist, massive, casualty-producing event somewhere in the Western world – it may be in the United States of America – that causes our population to question our own Constitution and to begin to militarize our country in order to avoid a repeat of another mass, casualty-producing event. Which in fact, then begins to unravel the fabric of our Constitution. Two steps, very, very important.”
Franks didn’t speculate about how soon such an event might take place.
Already, critics of the U.S. Patriot Act, rushed through Congress in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, have argued that the law aims to curtail civil liberties and sets a dangerous precedent...
Gen. Franks Doubts Constitution Will Survive WMD Attack
Gen. Tommy Franks says that if the United States is hit with a weapon of mass destruction that inflicts large casualties, the Constitution will likely be discarded in favor of a military form of government.
Franks, who successfully led the U.S. military operation to liberate Iraq, expressed his worries in an extensive interview he gave to the men’s lifestyle magazine Cigar Aficionado.
In the magazine’s December edition, the former commander of the military’s Central Command warned that if terrorists succeeded in using a weapon of mass destruction (WMD) against the U.S. or one of our allies, it would likely have catastrophic consequences for our cherished republican form of government.
Discussing the hypothetical dangers posed to the U.S. in the wake of Sept. 11, Franks said that “the worst thing that could happen” is if terrorists acquire and then use a biological, chemical or nuclear weapon that inflicts heavy casualties.
If that happens, Franks said, “... the Western world, the free world, loses what it cherishes most, and that is freedom and liberty we’ve seen for a couple of hundred years in this grand experiment that we call democracy.”
Franks then offered “in a practical sense” what he thinks would happen in the aftermath of such an attack.
“It means the potential of a weapon of mass destruction and a terrorist, massive, casualty-producing event somewhere in the Western world – it may be in the United States of America – that causes our population to question our own Constitution and to begin to militarize our country in order to avoid a repeat of another mass, casualty-producing event. Which in fact, then begins to unravel the fabric of our Constitution. Two steps, very, very important.”
Franks didn’t speculate about how soon such an event might take place.
Already, critics of the U.S. Patriot Act, rushed through Congress in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, have argued that the law aims to curtail civil liberties and sets a dangerous precedent...
Purdy:
Frankspeak is a tad scary.Mebbee his bosses have been openly discussing their options in the event of.....er financial collapse.Almost a given that such an event would have to "masked" by something much more radical,so that the blame could be pinned on someone/something else.
Buddha mentioned it on IDS today and it's something that I keep harping on about--but Mr. Orwell's 1984 is a very insightful piece of literatuur.
Pity we're probably all Winston Smith's here!
Frankspeak is a tad scary.Mebbee his bosses have been openly discussing their options in the event of.....er financial collapse.Almost a given that such an event would have to "masked" by something much more radical,so that the blame could be pinned on someone/something else.
Buddha mentioned it on IDS today and it's something that I keep harping on about--but Mr. Orwell's 1984 is a very insightful piece of literatuur.
Pity we're probably all Winston Smith's here!
Sad and sick is right. Imagine --circumventing congressional approval or disapproval by sneaking it in by stealth. That's text book fascism. I was reading Mark to Market this morning and someone posted a very eloquent piece about his experiences working for the airlines and his fears for his pension and I got this image in my head of all of these elderly people lining the streets trying to sell the last of their little trinkets for food, after the corporations default on their pension obligations. It's going to look like Russia, by God. The complete and utter failure of highly centralized, highly corrupt systems.
What on earth is going on? Bush's action on steel and other trade issues, almost make it look like he wants to turn America into Fortress America eventually. Close off the borders, and throw us all into Christian reeducation work camps. They're crazy assed lunatics.
This link is a bit beside the point, but very poignant. It speaks to the issue of corruption at the highest levels. It also describes a system of a few winners and many losers-- a little like oligarchic Russia.
How the Money Works: the Destruction of Neighbourhoods
The model works about the same in every country, although the particulars vary between domestic and international agencies and the military and enforcement bureaucracies. Some call it the securitisation process. Some call it corporatisation. Some call it privatisation. Some call it globalisation. What this means in layman's terms is that the management of resources is centralised. This is done through a system of securitisation based on privilege and coercion rather than performance and the rule of law.
From the viewpoint of the neighbourhood there are six ways to centralise local capital:
First, you consolidate all retail sales into a few large corporations, including franchise operations, cutting out local small business.
Second, you outsource ("privatise") all local government functions to a few large corporations or subject them to such an overwhelming amount of federal regulation that they can be controlled and managed for the benefit of a few large corporations and their investors.
Third, you buy up all the land and real estate, or encumber them with mortgages in a way that is as profitable as possible and allows you to get control when you want it.
Fourth, you finance the entire process with the profits from narcotics and organised crime that you market into the neighbourhood. This enables you to finance your expansion in a manner that lowers your cost of capital in a way that conveniently lowers the initial price of your investment and/or weakens your competition. I buy your business and land with your money at a fraction of the cost. No one sells her home faster and cheaper than a mother trying to make bail or pay a lawyer to save her family from jail or death. That is why narcotics trafficking is the ultimate form of neighbourhood leveraged buyout.
Fifth, you leverage all of this with tax shelters, private tax-exempt bonds, municipal bonds, government guarantees, and government subsidies -- all protected with complex securities arrangements.
Sixth, you ensure that the only companies and mutual funds allowed meaningful access to capital are those run by syndicate-approved management teams. To raise significant campaign funds candidates for political office appoint syndicate-approved management teams. Investment syndicates define the boundaries of managed competition that cycle all capital back through their pipelines. That means the only local boys who can make good are those who play ball with the syndicate.
In this way the private equity in a community can be extracted at a near infinite rate of return to investors and a highly negative rate of return to taxpayers.
http://www.ratical.org/co-globalize/CAFmrl.html
What on earth is going on? Bush's action on steel and other trade issues, almost make it look like he wants to turn America into Fortress America eventually. Close off the borders, and throw us all into Christian reeducation work camps. They're crazy assed lunatics.
This link is a bit beside the point, but very poignant. It speaks to the issue of corruption at the highest levels. It also describes a system of a few winners and many losers-- a little like oligarchic Russia.
How the Money Works: the Destruction of Neighbourhoods
The model works about the same in every country, although the particulars vary between domestic and international agencies and the military and enforcement bureaucracies. Some call it the securitisation process. Some call it corporatisation. Some call it privatisation. Some call it globalisation. What this means in layman's terms is that the management of resources is centralised. This is done through a system of securitisation based on privilege and coercion rather than performance and the rule of law.
From the viewpoint of the neighbourhood there are six ways to centralise local capital:
First, you consolidate all retail sales into a few large corporations, including franchise operations, cutting out local small business.
Second, you outsource ("privatise") all local government functions to a few large corporations or subject them to such an overwhelming amount of federal regulation that they can be controlled and managed for the benefit of a few large corporations and their investors.
Third, you buy up all the land and real estate, or encumber them with mortgages in a way that is as profitable as possible and allows you to get control when you want it.
Fourth, you finance the entire process with the profits from narcotics and organised crime that you market into the neighbourhood. This enables you to finance your expansion in a manner that lowers your cost of capital in a way that conveniently lowers the initial price of your investment and/or weakens your competition. I buy your business and land with your money at a fraction of the cost. No one sells her home faster and cheaper than a mother trying to make bail or pay a lawyer to save her family from jail or death. That is why narcotics trafficking is the ultimate form of neighbourhood leveraged buyout.
Fifth, you leverage all of this with tax shelters, private tax-exempt bonds, municipal bonds, government guarantees, and government subsidies -- all protected with complex securities arrangements.
Sixth, you ensure that the only companies and mutual funds allowed meaningful access to capital are those run by syndicate-approved management teams. To raise significant campaign funds candidates for political office appoint syndicate-approved management teams. Investment syndicates define the boundaries of managed competition that cycle all capital back through their pipelines. That means the only local boys who can make good are those who play ball with the syndicate.
In this way the private equity in a community can be extracted at a near infinite rate of return to investors and a highly negative rate of return to taxpayers.
http://www.ratical.org/co-globalize/CAFmrl.html
Applied Digital Solutions' CEO Announces ``VeriPay'' Secure, Subdermal Solution for Payment and Credit Transactions at ID World 2003 in Paris
VeriPay is intended to be a secure, subdermal RFID (radio frequency identification) payment technology for cash and credit transactions.
VeriPay is intended to be a secure, subdermal RFID (radio frequency identification) payment technology for cash and credit transactions.
It's coming. Shouldn't be long now. Total Prison Planet. Total fascist takeover. Total enslavement.
Sweeping new emergency laws to counter UK terror
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/...sp?story=466424
Sweeping measures to deal with terrorist attacks and other emergencies are to be announced this week, giving the British Government power to over-ride civil liberties in times of crisis, and evacuate threatened areas, restrict people's movements and confiscate property.
[...]
Some of the proposals in the draft version of the Bill, drawn up in the summer, have alarmed civil rights activists, notably a clause that gives the Government the power to suspend parts or all of the Human Rights Act without a vote by MPs.
Once an emergency has been proclaimed by the Queen, the Government can order the destruction of property, order people to evacuate an area or ban them from travelling, and "prohibit assemblies of specified kinds" and "other specified activities".
[...]
Civil liberties groups have been alarmed by the Cabinet Office's sweeping definition of an "emergency" and the powers it confers. It is defined as any event that represents a serious threat to the welfare of the population, the environment, political or economic stability or security of any part of the UK. This includes wars, floods, a breakdown of power supplies, outbreaks of animal diseases or any situation that "causes or may cause disruption of the activities of Her Majesty's Government".
Gareth Crossman of Liberty said: "We are not saying that the Government shouldn't have powers to deal with civil emergencies, or that they shouldn't be brought up to date, but we are concerned that they have been extremely broadly drawn."
Sweeping new emergency laws to counter UK terror
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/...sp?story=466424
Sweeping measures to deal with terrorist attacks and other emergencies are to be announced this week, giving the British Government power to over-ride civil liberties in times of crisis, and evacuate threatened areas, restrict people's movements and confiscate property.
[...]
Some of the proposals in the draft version of the Bill, drawn up in the summer, have alarmed civil rights activists, notably a clause that gives the Government the power to suspend parts or all of the Human Rights Act without a vote by MPs.
Once an emergency has been proclaimed by the Queen, the Government can order the destruction of property, order people to evacuate an area or ban them from travelling, and "prohibit assemblies of specified kinds" and "other specified activities".
[...]
Civil liberties groups have been alarmed by the Cabinet Office's sweeping definition of an "emergency" and the powers it confers. It is defined as any event that represents a serious threat to the welfare of the population, the environment, political or economic stability or security of any part of the UK. This includes wars, floods, a breakdown of power supplies, outbreaks of animal diseases or any situation that "causes or may cause disruption of the activities of Her Majesty's Government".
Gareth Crossman of Liberty said: "We are not saying that the Government shouldn't have powers to deal with civil emergencies, or that they shouldn't be brought up to date, but we are concerned that they have been extremely broadly drawn."
Gen. Tommy Franks says that if the United States is hit with a weapon of mass destruction that inflicts large casualties, the Constitution will likely be discarded in favor of a military form of government.
Doesn't this remind you of the Rand Corporation's Homeland Security / Patriot Act roadmap published in 1999, where they mentioned that airplanes might be used for terrorism? Uh huh. Line up the dominoes, knock 'em down.
State governors have always had the authority to declare a state of emergency and to call out the National Guard if need be. The purpose of the new legislation is to suspend the Constitution in an emergency ... which may become a permanent emergency.
Fascism is on open, public display now. They used to march into Rome wearing brown shirts. Now they wear nice suits and work in the Capitol. The plans for our future are quasi-secret. But you don't need to be a remote viewer to figure out the basic plot outline.
Doesn't this remind you of the Rand Corporation's Homeland Security / Patriot Act roadmap published in 1999, where they mentioned that airplanes might be used for terrorism? Uh huh. Line up the dominoes, knock 'em down.
State governors have always had the authority to declare a state of emergency and to call out the National Guard if need be. The purpose of the new legislation is to suspend the Constitution in an emergency ... which may become a permanent emergency.
Fascism is on open, public display now. They used to march into Rome wearing brown shirts. Now they wear nice suits and work in the Capitol. The plans for our future are quasi-secret. But you don't need to be a remote viewer to figure out the basic plot outline.
| QUOTE (threadbare @ Nov 21 2003, 01:41 PM) |
| Sad and sick is right. Imagine --circumventing congressional approval or disapproval by sneaking it in by stealth. That's text book fascism. I was reading Mark to Market this morning and someone posted a very eloquent piece about his experiences working for the airlines and his fears for his pension and I got this image in my head of all of these elderly people lining the streets trying to sell the last of their little trinkets for food, after the corporations default on their pension obligations. It's going to look like Russia, by God. The complete and utter failure of highly centralized, highly corrupt systems. What on earth is going on? Bush's action on steel and other trade issues, almost make it look like he wants to turn America into Fortress America eventually. Close off the borders, and throw us all into Christian reeducation work camps. They're crazy assed lunatics. This link is a bit beside the point, but very poignant. It speaks to the issue of corruption at the highest levels. It also describes a system of a few winners and many losers-- a little like oligarchic Russia. How the Money Works: the Destruction of Neighbourhoods The model works about the same in every country, although the particulars vary between domestic and international agencies and the military and enforcement bureaucracies. Some call it the securitisation process. Some call it corporatisation. Some call it privatisation. Some call it globalisation. What this means in layman's terms is that the management of resources is centralised. This is done through a system of securitisation based on privilege and coercion rather than performance and the rule of law. From the viewpoint of the neighbourhood there are six ways to centralise local capital: First, you consolidate all retail sales into a few large corporations, including franchise operations, cutting out local small business. Second, you outsource ("privatise") all local government functions to a few large corporations or subject them to such an overwhelming amount of federal regulation that they can be controlled and managed for the benefit of a few large corporations and their investors. Third, you buy up all the land and real estate, or encumber them with mortgages in a way that is as profitable as possible and allows you to get control when you want it. Fourth, you finance the entire process with the profits from narcotics and organised crime that you market into the neighbourhood. This enables you to finance your expansion in a manner that lowers your cost of capital in a way that conveniently lowers the initial price of your investment and/or weakens your competition. I buy your business and land with your money at a fraction of the cost. No one sells her home faster and cheaper than a mother trying to make bail or pay a lawyer to save her family from jail or death. That is why narcotics trafficking is the ultimate form of neighbourhood leveraged buyout. Fifth, you leverage all of this with tax shelters, private tax-exempt bonds, municipal bonds, government guarantees, and government subsidies -- all protected with complex securities arrangements. Sixth, you ensure that the only companies and mutual funds allowed meaningful access to capital are those run by syndicate-approved management teams. To raise significant campaign funds candidates for political office appoint syndicate-approved management teams. Investment syndicates define the boundaries of managed competition that cycle all capital back through their pipelines. That means the only local boys who can make good are those who play ball with the syndicate. In this way the private equity in a community can be extracted at a near infinite rate of return to investors and a highly negative rate of return to taxpayers. http://www.ratical.org/co-globalize/CAFmrl.html |
I clicked the link and it does mention the Federal Reseve...But doesn't explain the basic mechanics of it or comercial debt backed by debt fractional reserve banking...
The Fractional reserve system itself is an absolute capitalist system...The longer a responsible capitalist maintains contact with the system or the higher up the Hierarchical pyramid they ascend the more corrupted they will become...
The 2 choices of intelligent life are...
Absolute Capitalism and social or Responsible Capitalism...
Absolute Capitalists believe that the needs of the one or few outweigh the needs of the many...
Responsible Capitalists believe that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or one...
The basis and creation of LAWS is the gift of Responsible Capitalists...Civilization is the creation of responsible capitalists...
Absolute capitalists believe in the ends justifying the means and interpret law as you can do whatever you want as long as you don't get caught breaking the LAW...Or how a Criminal individual and or an Animal thinks...
Responsible capitalists believe that the ends don't justify the means because they believe breaking the LAW is wrong reguardless if you think you can get away with it or not get caught...Or how a civilized individual thinks...
All the bad or Negative effects that have happened in the recorded history of humanity can be blamed on Absolute Capitalists and all the good or Positive effects that have happened in the recorded history of humanity can be blamed on Responsible capitalists...
Fractional reserve banking is suited only to perpetuate the Absolute capitalists at the expense of responsible capitalists...
Without the corruption of and transmutation of responsible capitalists into Absolute capitalists the system could not function...
The longer the absolute capitalist fractional reserve banking system is in operation the more corrupt/weak it becomes...until of course it reaches it's maximum potential then collapses...
The floating exchange rate debt backed by debt fractional reserve banking system is the cause...
When you open your eyes in the morning that is the effect
All the system is capable of producing ultimately is corruption...and to try to stop it will cause the system to "prematurely" collapse...but the system collapses when it reaches it's maximum potential anyway...
Until a responsible capitalist system is constructed there is no escape from certain mathmatical inevitability...
People say we have learned from our mistakes...Fractional reserve banking is the mother of all mistakes...If that one is not learned from then there is no way to prevent the rebirth of all the others which we are then doomed to repeat...over and over again...
That is what we have been doing for 6000+ years so far... either 2 steps foward and one step back or two steps forward and two steps back...sometimes even three steps back...
We are currently on the verge of two steps back and the possibility of three steps back is also in play...
He respected the badge, but `not in Miami'
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/...ede/7328687.htm
Early on Thursday morning, Bentley Killmon boarded a chartered bus to take him from Fort Myers to Miami so he could protest the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas. The 71-year-old, retired airline pilot said he was amazed by the heavy police presence in downtown Miami when he arrived.
Throughout the day, he said he watched police overreact to incidents. He saw a 53-year-old woman get shot in the chest with rubber bullets. He saw other peaceful protesters being gassed with pepper spray. He saw young people, who weren't doing anything illegal or improper, being pushed and harassed by cops.
''My father was in the Norfolk City Police Department for many years,'' he said. ``Until Thursday, I respected the badge. I respected the job the police had to do. But I no longer respect the badge. Not in Miami. Not after what I saw. Not after what happened to me and others.''
As the day ended, Killmon, along with others from the Alliance for Retired Americans, were trying to find their way back to their buses.
''We ran into a line of brown shirts,'' he said, referring to the uniforms worn by the Miami-Dade Police Department. ``They were very rude. They would not let us pass, and they sent us down the railroad tracks.
''That's when we saw the black shirts coming at us,'' he said. Miami police wore black uniforms.
''They were pointing their guns at us,'' he continued. ``I guess they had those rubber pellets in them, but I didn't know, I was just incredibly frightened. Some of the people with us got down on their knees, and as I got down on my knees, I was briskly pushed to the ground. It felt like I had a foot to my back knocking me down. Everyone in our group was knocked to the ground and handcuffed. I had my hands cuffed behind my back for 7 ½ hours.''
Killmon said he was charged with disorderly conduct.
''I still don't know what it was I did,'' he said Saturday.
After spending the night in jail, he said a judge dismissed the charges against him.
''Miami was a police state,'' he said.
While city and county leaders pat themselves on the back and Miami Police Chief John Timoney talks about the ''remarkable restraint'' shown by officers, one of them may want to contact Killmon and tell this man what a great job the police did.
Miami's Angel Calzadilla, Timoney's executive assistant, said he couldn't comment on Killmon's arrest until he was certain which police agency arrested him.
''As the story comes out, over the next few hours and days and weeks, the public is going to learn what we saw on the street, that the police provoked these exchanges and went way out of their way to increase the magnitude of their response,'' said Ron Judd, a regional director for the AFL-CIO. ``There was nothing measured in their response. We had retired steel workers, retired firefighters, retired teamsters harassed and arrested Thursday.
''When you start shooting seniors with rubber bullets and using pepper spray on them and arresting them, it's just outrageous,'' Judd said. ``And if their stories don't get people's dander up and the public isn't outraged by this, then folks in South Florida have no heart.''
As far as the national leadership of the AFL-CIO is concerned, what happened in Miami was an insult to every member of the organization.
''You are going to hear from us loud and clear over the next few weeks and months,'' he said. ``All of the options are open -- asking the Justice Department to investigate civil rights abuses, filing our own lawsuits against the city and the county and whatever we can think of. That is how outraged we are by this.''
Fred Frost, president of the South Florida AFL-CIO and its 150,000 members, agreed.
''Am I happy with the way the police treated regular working people and the respect that I think we are due?'' he asked. ``The answer is no. I think they treated us like we were the enemy. The police just seemed to be so hyped up. I felt like I was in a war zone. This wasn't my city. This wasn't the city I know.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/...ede/7328687.htm
Early on Thursday morning, Bentley Killmon boarded a chartered bus to take him from Fort Myers to Miami so he could protest the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas. The 71-year-old, retired airline pilot said he was amazed by the heavy police presence in downtown Miami when he arrived.
Throughout the day, he said he watched police overreact to incidents. He saw a 53-year-old woman get shot in the chest with rubber bullets. He saw other peaceful protesters being gassed with pepper spray. He saw young people, who weren't doing anything illegal or improper, being pushed and harassed by cops.
''My father was in the Norfolk City Police Department for many years,'' he said. ``Until Thursday, I respected the badge. I respected the job the police had to do. But I no longer respect the badge. Not in Miami. Not after what I saw. Not after what happened to me and others.''
As the day ended, Killmon, along with others from the Alliance for Retired Americans, were trying to find their way back to their buses.
''We ran into a line of brown shirts,'' he said, referring to the uniforms worn by the Miami-Dade Police Department. ``They were very rude. They would not let us pass, and they sent us down the railroad tracks.
''That's when we saw the black shirts coming at us,'' he said. Miami police wore black uniforms.
''They were pointing their guns at us,'' he continued. ``I guess they had those rubber pellets in them, but I didn't know, I was just incredibly frightened. Some of the people with us got down on their knees, and as I got down on my knees, I was briskly pushed to the ground. It felt like I had a foot to my back knocking me down. Everyone in our group was knocked to the ground and handcuffed. I had my hands cuffed behind my back for 7 ½ hours.''
Killmon said he was charged with disorderly conduct.
''I still don't know what it was I did,'' he said Saturday.
After spending the night in jail, he said a judge dismissed the charges against him.
''Miami was a police state,'' he said.
While city and county leaders pat themselves on the back and Miami Police Chief John Timoney talks about the ''remarkable restraint'' shown by officers, one of them may want to contact Killmon and tell this man what a great job the police did.
Miami's Angel Calzadilla, Timoney's executive assistant, said he couldn't comment on Killmon's arrest until he was certain which police agency arrested him.
''As the story comes out, over the next few hours and days and weeks, the public is going to learn what we saw on the street, that the police provoked these exchanges and went way out of their way to increase the magnitude of their response,'' said Ron Judd, a regional director for the AFL-CIO. ``There was nothing measured in their response. We had retired steel workers, retired firefighters, retired teamsters harassed and arrested Thursday.
''When you start shooting seniors with rubber bullets and using pepper spray on them and arresting them, it's just outrageous,'' Judd said. ``And if their stories don't get people's dander up and the public isn't outraged by this, then folks in South Florida have no heart.''
As far as the national leadership of the AFL-CIO is concerned, what happened in Miami was an insult to every member of the organization.
''You are going to hear from us loud and clear over the next few weeks and months,'' he said. ``All of the options are open -- asking the Justice Department to investigate civil rights abuses, filing our own lawsuits against the city and the county and whatever we can think of. That is how outraged we are by this.''
Fred Frost, president of the South Florida AFL-CIO and its 150,000 members, agreed.
''Am I happy with the way the police treated regular working people and the respect that I think we are due?'' he asked. ``The answer is no. I think they treated us like we were the enemy. The police just seemed to be so hyped up. I felt like I was in a war zone. This wasn't my city. This wasn't the city I know.''
Just now Bush was on television, blustering about Iraq. He was wearing a green fatigue jacket.
Another psy-op, getting sheeple used to the idea of military government.
Another psy-op, getting sheeple used to the idea of military government.
Frank's was saying something that is taken for granted in the military. The topic of ending contitutional rule is the subject of routine study at the Army War College. The supplied reason in this case, an isolated terrorist attack, is perhaps a bit novel but the concept has now inculcated the entire military and broad sections of 'conservatism'. In times past massive nuclear strike was the leading probable cause. Massive civil unreset is also sometimes thrown into the mix as well.
Actually I have a bit more faith in the military. For every waco like Lieutenant General Boykin there are dozens of high officers who understand the nuttiness of pure military government.
It is where civilian government meets the military that the worry lies. Of course police in general should be added into the mix.
To the extent we now have one party government in America which is overtly allied with the military and the police is the extent to which we should worry.
The term facism is almost without meaning. It is a classic 'buzz word',that is it carries instant emotional appeal but little information. Left and right throw the term around all the time. There is some sort of law which says that any political discussion on the internet will elicit the term facism witin a short period. Behold.
Use the term and start to lose any logical discourse.
Actually I have a bit more faith in the military. For every waco like Lieutenant General Boykin there are dozens of high officers who understand the nuttiness of pure military government.
It is where civilian government meets the military that the worry lies. Of course police in general should be added into the mix.
To the extent we now have one party government in America which is overtly allied with the military and the police is the extent to which we should worry.
The term facism is almost without meaning. It is a classic 'buzz word',that is it carries instant emotional appeal but little information. Left and right throw the term around all the time. There is some sort of law which says that any political discussion on the internet will elicit the term facism witin a short period. Behold.
Use the term and start to lose any logical discourse.
Union Calls for Congressional Investigation into 'Police-State Assaults' in Miami
http://www.uswa.org/uswa/program/content/737.php
Reporter unclear why she was arrested
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll...4/APN/311240817
http://www.uswa.org/uswa/program/content/737.php
Reporter unclear why she was arrested
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll...4/APN/311240817
The reason the word fascism is bandied about so frequently on the web is there is legitimate fear the U.S. is trending strongly in that direction. There are some details worthy of debate, for example, are govts. controlling large corporations or is it the other way around? But while more sophisticated types than myself, are debating the finer points of definition, people are getting locked up, beaten up, and the truncheons are being dusted off.
As Jorma points out many people are using the f word these days and it's worth doing a google search for "definition" and "fascism" to see how diverse the established definitions are. Here are a couple:
The 14 Defining
Characteristics Of Fascism
by Dr. Lawrence Britt
Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each:
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism -
Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights -
Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause -
The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
4. Supremacy of the Military -
Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2003/05/265139.shtml
In 1932 Mussolini wrote (with the help of Giovanni Gentile) and entry for the Italian Encyclopedia on the definition of fascism.
Fascism, the more it considers and observes the future and the development of humanity quite apart from political considerations of the moment, believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace. It thus repudiates the doctrine of Pacifism -- born of a renunciation of the struggle and an act of cowardice in the face of sacrifice. War alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have courage to meet it. All other trials are substitutes, which never really put men into the position where they have to make the great decision -- the alternative of life or death....
...The Fascist accepts life and loves it, knowing nothing of and despising suicide: he rather conceives of life as duty and struggle and conquest, but above all for others -- those who are at hand and those who are far distant, contemporaries, and those who will come after...
...Fascism [is] the complete opposite of…Marxian Socialism, the materialist conception of history of human civilization can be explained simply through the conflict of interests among the various social groups and by the change and development in the means and instruments of production.... Fascism, now and always, believes in holiness and in heroism; that is to say, in actions influenced by no economic motive, direct or indirect. And if the economic conception of history be denied, according to which theory men are no more than puppets, carried to and fro by the waves of chance, while the real directing forces are quite out of their control, it follows that the existence of an unchangeable and unchanging class-war is also denied - the natural progeny of the economic conception of history. And above all Fascism denies that class-war can be the preponderant force in the transformation of society....
After Socialism, Fascism combats the whole complex system of democratic ideology, and repudiates it, whether in its theoretical premises or in its practical application. Fascism denies that the majority, by the simple fact that it is a majority, can direct human society; it denies that numbers alone can govern by means of a periodical consultation, and it affirms the immutable, beneficial, and fruitful inequality of mankind, which can never be permanently leveled through the mere operation of a mechanical process such as universal suffrage....
...Fascism denies, in democracy, the absur[d] conventional untruth of political equality dressed out in the garb of collective irresponsibility, and the myth of "happiness" and indefinite progress....
...iven that the nineteenth century was the century of Socialism, of Liberalism, and of Democracy, it does not necessarily follow that the twentieth century must also be a century of Socialism, Liberalism and Democracy: political doctrines pass, but humanity remains, and it may rather be expected that this will be a century of authority...a century of Fascism. For if the nineteenth century was a century of individualism it may be expected that this will be the century of collectivism and hence the century of the State....
The foundation of Fascism is the conception of the State, its character, its duty, and its aim. Fascism conceives of the State as an absolute, in comparison with which all individuals or groups are relative, only to be conceived of in their relation to the State. The conception of the Liberal State is not that of a directing force, guiding the play and development, both material and spiritual, of a collective body, but merely a force limited to the function of recording results: on the other hand, the Fascist State is itself conscious and has itself a will and a personality -- thus it may be called the "ethic" State....
...The Fascist State organizes the nation, but leaves a sufficient margin of liberty to the individual; the latter is deprived of all useless and possibly harmful freedom, but retains what is essential; the deciding power in this question cannot be the individual, but the State alone....
...For Fascism, the growth of empire, that is to say the expansion of the nation, is an essential manifestation of vitality, and its opposite a sign of decadence. Peoples which are rising, or rising again after a period of decadence, are always imperialist; and renunciation is a sign of decay and of death. Fascism is the doctrine best adapted to represent the tendencies and the aspirations of a people, like the people of Italy, who are rising again after many centuries of abasement and foreign servitude. But empire demands discipline, the coordination of all forces and a deeply felt sense of duty and sacrifice: this fact explains many aspects of the practical working of the regime, the character of many forces in the State, and the necessarily severe measures which must be taken against those who would oppose this spontaneous and inevitable movement of Italy in the twentieth century, and would oppose it by recalling the outworn ideology of the nineteenth century - repudiated wheresoever there has been the courage to undertake great experiments of social and political transformation; for never before has the nation stood more in need of authority, of direction and order. If every age has its own characteristic doctrine, there are a thousand signs which point to Fascism as the characteristic doctrine of our time. For if a doctrine must be a living thing, this is proved by the fact that Fascism has created a living faith; and that this faith is very powerful in the minds of men is demonstrated by those who have suffered and died for it.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/mussoli...ni-fascism.html
This sounds very much like the neocon/neoliberal repuglicrat gospel to me.
The first is from Indymedia and I'll assume for that reason that Dr.Britt is a libertarian lefty. I included Mussolini's definition for a right from the horse's mouth definition to see how it compares and contrasts with Britts. They look pretty similar, though Mussolini makes it sound so lofty and glorious, you want to put on your jackboots and start kicking. Why, it would be irresponsible to be anything but a fascist in these times.
I like the perpetual war as a permanent tool of refinement of the character idea. Very Rumsfeld.
After reading this, it dawns on me that the fascists didn't really lose the second world war they just relocated their franchises
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As Jorma points out many people are using the f word these days and it's worth doing a google search for "definition" and "fascism" to see how diverse the established definitions are. Here are a couple:
The 14 Defining
Characteristics Of Fascism
by Dr. Lawrence Britt
Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each:
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism -
Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights -
Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause -
The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
4. Supremacy of the Military -
Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2003/05/265139.shtml
In 1932 Mussolini wrote (with the help of Giovanni Gentile) and entry for the Italian Encyclopedia on the definition of fascism.
Fascism, the more it considers and observes the future and the development of humanity quite apart from political considerations of the moment, believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace. It thus repudiates the doctrine of Pacifism -- born of a renunciation of the struggle and an act of cowardice in the face of sacrifice. War alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have courage to meet it. All other trials are substitutes, which never really put men into the position where they have to make the great decision -- the alternative of life or death....
...The Fascist accepts life and loves it, knowing nothing of and despising suicide: he rather conceives of life as duty and struggle and conquest, but above all for others -- those who are at hand and those who are far distant, contemporaries, and those who will come after...
...Fascism [is] the complete opposite of…Marxian Socialism, the materialist conception of history of human civilization can be explained simply through the conflict of interests among the various social groups and by the change and development in the means and instruments of production.... Fascism, now and always, believes in holiness and in heroism; that is to say, in actions influenced by no economic motive, direct or indirect. And if the economic conception of history be denied, according to which theory men are no more than puppets, carried to and fro by the waves of chance, while the real directing forces are quite out of their control, it follows that the existence of an unchangeable and unchanging class-war is also denied - the natural progeny of the economic conception of history. And above all Fascism denies that class-war can be the preponderant force in the transformation of society....
After Socialism, Fascism combats the whole complex system of democratic ideology, and repudiates it, whether in its theoretical premises or in its practical application. Fascism denies that the majority, by the simple fact that it is a majority, can direct human society; it denies that numbers alone can govern by means of a periodical consultation, and it affirms the immutable, beneficial, and fruitful inequality of mankind, which can never be permanently leveled through the mere operation of a mechanical process such as universal suffrage....
...Fascism denies, in democracy, the absur[d] conventional untruth of political equality dressed out in the garb of collective irresponsibility, and the myth of "happiness" and indefinite progress....
...iven that the nineteenth century was the century of Socialism, of Liberalism, and of Democracy, it does not necessarily follow that the twentieth century must also be a century of Socialism, Liberalism and Democracy: political doctrines pass, but humanity remains, and it may rather be expected that this will be a century of authority...a century of Fascism. For if the nineteenth century was a century of individualism it may be expected that this will be the century of collectivism and hence the century of the State....
The foundation of Fascism is the conception of the State, its character, its duty, and its aim. Fascism conceives of the State as an absolute, in comparison with which all individuals or groups are relative, only to be conceived of in their relation to the State. The conception of the Liberal State is not that of a directing force, guiding the play and development, both material and spiritual, of a collective body, but merely a force limited to the function of recording results: on the other hand, the Fascist State is itself conscious and has itself a will and a personality -- thus it may be called the "ethic" State....
...The Fascist State organizes the nation, but leaves a sufficient margin of liberty to the individual; the latter is deprived of all useless and possibly harmful freedom, but retains what is essential; the deciding power in this question cannot be the individual, but the State alone....
...For Fascism, the growth of empire, that is to say the expansion of the nation, is an essential manifestation of vitality, and its opposite a sign of decadence. Peoples which are rising, or rising again after a period of decadence, are always imperialist; and renunciation is a sign of decay and of death. Fascism is the doctrine best adapted to represent the tendencies and the aspirations of a people, like the people of Italy, who are rising again after many centuries of abasement and foreign servitude. But empire demands discipline, the coordination of all forces and a deeply felt sense of duty and sacrifice: this fact explains many aspects of the practical working of the regime, the character of many forces in the State, and the necessarily severe measures which must be taken against those who would oppose this spontaneous and inevitable movement of Italy in the twentieth century, and would oppose it by recalling the outworn ideology of the nineteenth century - repudiated wheresoever there has been the courage to undertake great experiments of social and political transformation; for never before has the nation stood more in need of authority, of direction and order. If every age has its own characteristic doctrine, there are a thousand signs which point to Fascism as the characteristic doctrine of our time. For if a doctrine must be a living thing, this is proved by the fact that Fascism has created a living faith; and that this faith is very powerful in the minds of men is demonstrated by those who have suffered and died for it.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/mussoli...ni-fascism.html
This sounds very much like the neocon/neoliberal repuglicrat gospel to me.
The first is from Indymedia and I'll assume for that reason that Dr.Britt is a libertarian lefty. I included Mussolini's definition for a right from the horse's mouth definition to see how it compares and contrasts with Britts. They look pretty similar, though Mussolini makes it sound so lofty and glorious, you want to put on your jackboots and start kicking. Why, it would be irresponsible to be anything but a fascist in these times.
I like the perpetual war as a permanent tool of refinement of the character idea. Very Rumsfeld.
After reading this, it dawns on me that the fascists didn't really lose the second world war they just relocated their franchises
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Excellent find,Threadbare.
The term "totalitarian dictatorship" is probably a more correct description of where the USA is headed. The term "fascism" implies a particular political platform which, I believe, will not arise this time.
Of course, this is all academic, since the symptoms and the effects on the average citizen are pretty much the same...
Regards,
Vesselin
Of course, this is all academic, since the symptoms and the effects on the average citizen are pretty much the same...
Regards,
Vesselin
| QUOTE (Jorma @ Nov 24 2003, 08:08 PM) |
| The term facism is almost without meaning. It is a classic 'buzz word',that is it carries instant emotional appeal but little information. |
Fascism means a system of social organization in which resources remain nominally in private hands, but are controlled by the state via regulation and syndicalism, under an ideology of belligerent nationalism.
| QUOTE |
| All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state. - Benito Mussolini |
It's not a buzz word. And it has seven (7) letters, with third (3rd) letter 's'.
Today's lesson in faScism:
| QUOTE |
| A provision of an intelligence spending bill will expand the power of the FBI to subpoena business documents and transactions from a broader range of businesses -- everything from libraries to travel agencies to eBay -- without first seeking approval from a judge. Intelligence spending bills are considered sensitive, so they are usually drafted in secret and approved without debate or public comment. The expansion surprised many in Congress, including some members of the intelligence committees who recently began reconsidering the scope of the Patriot Act. |
'Surprised' again
| QUOTE |
| Amendment IV The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. |
Warrants are issued by judges, not FBI gumshoes. Remember "checks and balances"? This bill repeals the Constitution. But lots of bills already do that.
Let's face the facts. The United States, circa 1776, was a revolutionary government. Starting in 1913, there was a counterrevolution. The revolutionary Constitution has been repealed, almost in its entirety.
The tyranny of the current fascist regime makes the damnations of King George III in the Declaration of Independence seem trivial ... "frivolous" is the term that federal judges favor, I believe.
Why keep living in a dream? Federalism is dead. The Constitution is dead. The revolution is over. Welcome to the "Homeland of the Free/Brave."
I've seen that 14 point description/definition of facism. Fine. I just think the term does more harm than good. It's great when preaching to the choir but to convince or sway someone about the nature of the world as we see it I can guarantee if you use it you will lose them.
As if anyone wants a taste of my political philosophy I think the main thing is that ANY ideology is bad. Facism certainly had a strong ideological underpinning.
I'll offer up a daily Blog from just today which gets into this and offers a glimpse at a method of arugement which can win people and which is to my mind far more constructive. Name calling against the powers that be is a losing proposition. Rush alone, or the Fox News chatter will energize 10 or 20 million people today to hate deeply, totally, any disagreement with the GOP partisan stance of the moment.
The political and the personal
http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/
As if anyone wants a taste of my political philosophy I think the main thing is that ANY ideology is bad. Facism certainly had a strong ideological underpinning.
I'll offer up a daily Blog from just today which gets into this and offers a glimpse at a method of arugement which can win people and which is to my mind far more constructive. Name calling against the powers that be is a losing proposition. Rush alone, or the Fox News chatter will energize 10 or 20 million people today to hate deeply, totally, any disagreement with the GOP partisan stance of the moment.
The political and the personal
http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17252
Crimes against Nature-Robert F Kennedy Jr.
Today, more than ever, it is critical for American citizens to understand the difference between the free-market capitalism that made our country great and the corporate cronyism that is now corrupting our political process, strangling democracy and devouring our national treasures.
Corporate capitalists do not want free markets, they want dependable profits, and their surest route is to crush competition by controlling government. The rise of fascism across Europe in the 1930s offers many informative lessons on how corporate power can undermine a democracy. In Spain, Germany and Italy, industrialists allied themselves with right-wing leaders who used the provocation of terrorist attacks, continual wars, and invocations of patriotism and homeland security to tame the press, muzzle criticism by opponents and turn government over to corporate control. Those governments tapped industrial executives to run ministries and poured government money into corporate coffers with lucrative contracts to prosecute wars and build infrastructure. They encouraged friendly corporations to swallow media outlets, and they enriched the wealthiest classes, privatized the commons and pared down constitutional rights, creating short-term prosperity through pollution-based profits and constant wars. Benito Mussolini's inside view of this process led him to complain that "fascism should really be called 'corporatism.' "
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
"There are three classes of intellects: one which comprehends by itself; another which appreciates what others comprehend; and a third which neither comprehends by itself nor by the showing of others; the first is the most excellent, the second is good, the third is useless."
--Niccolo Machiavelli, from The Prince
http://www.geocities.com/skull_and_bones_nazis/
| QUOTE (Jorma @ Nov 25 2003, 09:13 PM) |
| I've seen that 14 point description/definition of facism. Fine. I just think the term does more harm than good. It's great when preaching to the choir but to convince or sway someone about the nature of the world as we see it I can guarantee if you use it you will lose them. As if anyone wants a taste of my political philosophy I think the main thing is that ANY ideology is bad. Facism certainly had a strong ideological underpinning. I'll offer up a daily Blog from just today which gets into this and offers a glimpse at a method of arugement which can win people and which is to my mind far more constructive. Name calling against the powers that be is a losing proposition. Rush alone, or the Fox News chatter will energize 10 or 20 million people today to hate deeply, totally, any disagreement with the GOP partisan stance of the moment. The political and the personal http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/ |
Nice blog Jorma - Thanks for sharing.
Nice looking blog, Jorma, I'll peruse it more carefully later. Your comments are always appreciated even if I don't agree with you on occasion.
My own experience with the intellectuals in the U.S, is they're not alarmist enough. Perhaps your neighbourhood is different than the one I lived in, but your way of conveying alarm wouldn't have helped much with hardened knuckleheads in the Seattle area.
People who are clinging to the middle of the road, either from the left or from the right, are NEVER going to get it, if they don't get it by now. Some are just butthead stupid, others are willfully ignorant. There are a few who just happen to find themselves stranded in the middle of the road, by happenstance, though. These are the ones who can be moved by stronger rhetoric, like "Get off the road, you're going to be run over by FASCISM!"
Ideology and most "isms" can be cruel, except for "cynicISM" which, at the present time, may prove to be completely fruitless.--a real act of political self sabotage.
My own experience with the intellectuals in the U.S, is they're not alarmist enough. Perhaps your neighbourhood is different than the one I lived in, but your way of conveying alarm wouldn't have helped much with hardened knuckleheads in the Seattle area.
People who are clinging to the middle of the road, either from the left or from the right, are NEVER going to get it, if they don't get it by now. Some are just butthead stupid, others are willfully ignorant. There are a few who just happen to find themselves stranded in the middle of the road, by happenstance, though. These are the ones who can be moved by stronger rhetoric, like "Get off the road, you're going to be run over by FASCISM!"
Ideology and most "isms" can be cruel, except for "cynicISM" which, at the present time, may prove to be completely fruitless.--a real act of political self sabotage.
Patriot Act helps the Feds in cases with no tie to terror
http://www.msnbc.com/news/997054.asp
Whisked through Congress in the weeks after 9/11, the Patriot Act—which gives federal law enforcement wide-ranging powers to track and eavesdrop on suspected terrorists—was promoted as an urgently needed law to thwart future attacks. When civil libertarians complained the law could lead to abuses, Attorney General John Ashcroft derided them as “hysterics.” He insisted that any weakening of the act would “risk American lives.” Some early fears that the Patriot Act would be abused have been overblown. One much-criticized provision that allows the FBI to monitor the books people check out of libraries hasn’t actually been used at all. Yet Operation G-String shows how the Feds are using their new powers in cases that have nothing to do with terrorism—something most members of Congress never anticipated.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/997054.asp
Whisked through Congress in the weeks after 9/11, the Patriot Act—which gives federal law enforcement wide-ranging powers to track and eavesdrop on suspected terrorists—was promoted as an urgently needed law to thwart future attacks. When civil libertarians complained the law could lead to abuses, Attorney General John Ashcroft derided them as “hysterics.” He insisted that any weakening of the act would “risk American lives.” Some early fears that the Patriot Act would be abused have been overblown. One much-criticized provision that allows the FBI to monitor the books people check out of libraries hasn’t actually been used at all. Yet Operation G-String shows how the Feds are using their new powers in cases that have nothing to do with terrorism—something most members of Congress never anticipated.
Justices Back Forced Entry By Police in Drug Case
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...1-2003Dec2.html
In a victory for law officers, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously Tuesday that it was constitutional for police to wait 20 seconds before knocking down the door of a drug suspect.
[...]
The Fourth Amendment requires that all searches be "reasonable," and the Supreme Court has recognized that this sometimes requires police to adhere to the traditional legal norm that they may not enter a home without knocking and identifying themselves first.
But the court has also carved out wide exceptions for "no-knock" entries when the police have good reason to think they would be putting themselves at risk by waiting, or would risk losing evidence. As Souter observed yesterday, police searching for a stolen piano need not hurry for fear that it might be flushed down a drain -- but drugs are a different story.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...1-2003Dec2.html
In a victory for law officers, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously Tuesday that it was constitutional for police to wait 20 seconds before knocking down the door of a drug suspect.
[...]
The Fourth Amendment requires that all searches be "reasonable," and the Supreme Court has recognized that this sometimes requires police to adhere to the traditional legal norm that they may not enter a home without knocking and identifying themselves first.
But the court has also carved out wide exceptions for "no-knock" entries when the police have good reason to think they would be putting themselves at risk by waiting, or would risk losing evidence. As Souter observed yesterday, police searching for a stolen piano need not hurry for fear that it might be flushed down a drain -- but drugs are a different story.
Talk about your sophistic nonsense. These corrupt and cretinous chickenheads of the treasonous supreme court need a freaking history lesson. Why didn't someone ask the question: "when has law enforcement not abused its powers and over stepped its bounds when its restraint has been lessened?" And really. Piano theft? Shows the world in which these mother phuckers exist. A big screen TV would have played better as an example. Upper crust wannabes. "Oh dear, Lovey, someone's stolen the Steinway...better telephone police chief Thug or commisioner Brute and report our loss." These assholes are completely out of touch with reality. They're probably high on Ecstasy and too busy jerking off under their robes to see how close at hand lies the end of the Republic and the birth of the Empire.
Basically thats is what the police force is...Legalized thugs...The establishment street gang...Their primary function is to protect the top from taking responsibility for their actions...
Every action by the top has a reaction on the bottom...The Police are hired to contain this...
To be a rich person you must take more than you give...to become poor you must have to give more than you take...If you don't like this system and try to fight it...The authorities will creep closer and closer until one day you are in a cage out of sight... They will wait until you slip up...then strike...
I think the ultimate goal is to implant chips which can be tracked...and a button pressed to immoblize you if you become a problem or begin thinking that the top is the problem and or should be held accountable...
The goal of the absolute capitalists is to eliminate all resistance...
You are either with us or you are with the terrorists...
Whatever the top dictates is your fate you must accept it or you are a terrorist...
You can either die on your knees begging for mercy or die standing up to them...
Soon they will be openly killing people in ever larger numbers who resist their fate...
War is coming...
"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." -Albert Einstein
According to the intelligence comunity the cold war was World War III and currently World War IV has begun and in progress...
Every action by the top has a reaction on the bottom...The Police are hired to contain this...
To be a rich person you must take more than you give...to become poor you must have to give more than you take...If you don't like this system and try to fight it...The authorities will creep closer and closer until one day you are in a cage out of sight... They will wait until you slip up...then strike...
I think the ultimate goal is to implant chips which can be tracked...and a button pressed to immoblize you if you become a problem or begin thinking that the top is the problem and or should be held accountable...
The goal of the absolute capitalists is to eliminate all resistance...
You are either with us or you are with the terrorists...
Whatever the top dictates is your fate you must accept it or you are a terrorist...
You can either die on your knees begging for mercy or die standing up to them...
Soon they will be openly killing people in ever larger numbers who resist their fate...
War is coming...
"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." -Albert Einstein
According to the intelligence comunity the cold war was World War III and currently World War IV has begun and in progress...
FBI Applies New Rules to Surveillance
Many Searches Not Subject To Regular Courts' Oversight
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A...anguage=printer
The FBI has implemented new ground rules that fundamentally alter the way investigators handle counterterrorism cases, allowing criminal and intelligence agents to work side by side and giving both broad access to the tools of intelligence gathering for the first time in decades.
The result is that the FBI, unhindered by the restrictions of the past, will conduct many more searches and wiretaps that are subject to oversight by a secret intelligence court rather than regular criminal courts, officials said. Civil liberties groups and defense lawyers predict that more innocent people will be the targets of clandestine surveillance.
The new strategy -- launched in early summer and finalized in a classified directive issued to FBI field offices in October -- goes further than has been publicly discussed by FBI officials in the past and marks the final step in tearing down the legal wall that had separated criminal and intelligence investigations since the spying scandals of the 1970s, authorities said.
Many Searches Not Subject To Regular Courts' Oversight
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A...anguage=printer
The FBI has implemented new ground rules that fundamentally alter the way investigators handle counterterrorism cases, allowing criminal and intelligence agents to work side by side and giving both broad access to the tools of intelligence gathering for the first time in decades.
The result is that the FBI, unhindered by the restrictions of the past, will conduct many more searches and wiretaps that are subject to oversight by a secret intelligence court rather than regular criminal courts, officials said. Civil liberties groups and defense lawyers predict that more innocent people will be the targets of clandestine surveillance.
The new strategy -- launched in early summer and finalized in a classified directive issued to FBI field offices in October -- goes further than has been publicly discussed by FBI officials in the past and marks the final step in tearing down the legal wall that had separated criminal and intelligence investigations since the spying scandals of the 1970s, authorities said.
While Saddam was Captured: Stealth enactment of the "Patriot II" legislation
Various Sources
While CNN and other media outlets are rejoicing because of the capture of Saddam Hussein, Bush again introduced new legislation last Saturday which increased the federal powers to investigate and reduces the privacy rights of American citizens :
H.R. 2417, INTELLIGENCE AUTHORIZATION AGREEMENT OF 2004
Whitheouse Statement on HR 2417 (December 13, 2003)
http://www.whitheouse.gov/news/releases/20...20031213-3.html
HR 2417 was cleared by the Congress on November 21, 2003
http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=4862&sequence=0
Comments of Ron Paul, Congressman for Texas on HR 2417 :
It appears we are witnessing a stealth enactment of the enormously unpopular "Patriot II" legislation that was first leaked several months ago. Perhaps the national outcry when a draft of the Patriot II act was leaked has led its supporters to enact it one piece at a time in secret. Whatever the case, this is outrageous and unacceptable. I urge each of my colleagues to join me in rejecting this bill and its incredibly dangerous expansion of Federal police powers.
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2003_cr/h112203.html
Bush signs bill extending FBI powers
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- President Bush has signed legislation making it easier for FBI agents investigating terrorism to demand financial records from casinos, car dealerships, and other businesses.
The changes were included in a bill authorizing 2004 intelligence programs. Most of the details of the bill are secret, including the total cost of the programs, which are estimated to be about $40 billion. That would be slightly more than Bush had requested.
Bush signed the bill Saturday, the White House announced.
The bill expands the number of businesses from which the FBI and other US authorities conducting intelligence work can demand financial records without seeking court approval.
Under current law, "national security letters" can be issued to traditional financial institutions, such as banks and credit unions, to require them to turn over information. The bill expands the definition of financial institution to include other businesses that deal with large amounts of cash.
Supporters of the change say it will help authorities identify money laundering and other activities that fund terrorism. But some lawmakers and civil liberties advocates say the change does not provide enough safeguards to ensure that authorities will not violate the privacy of innocent people.
In other provisions, the bill:
Requires the CIA director to prepare a report as soon as possible on what intelligence agencies have learned from their experiences in Iraq.
Creates a Treasury Department office to work with intelligence agencies on fighting terrorist financing.
Creates pilot programs to share raw data between agencies.
Authorizes agencies to continue research on computerized terrorism surveillance suspended by the Pentagon.
Various Sources
While CNN and other media outlets are rejoicing because of the capture of Saddam Hussein, Bush again introduced new legislation last Saturday which increased the federal powers to investigate and reduces the privacy rights of American citizens :
H.R. 2417, INTELLIGENCE AUTHORIZATION AGREEMENT OF 2004
Whitheouse Statement on HR 2417 (December 13, 2003)
http://www.whitheouse.gov/news/releases/20...20031213-3.html
HR 2417 was cleared by the Congress on November 21, 2003
http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=4862&sequence=0
Comments of Ron Paul, Congressman for Texas on HR 2417 :
It appears we are witnessing a stealth enactment of the enormously unpopular "Patriot II" legislation that was first leaked several months ago. Perhaps the national outcry when a draft of the Patriot II act was leaked has led its supporters to enact it one piece at a time in secret. Whatever the case, this is outrageous and unacceptable. I urge each of my colleagues to join me in rejecting this bill and its incredibly dangerous expansion of Federal police powers.
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2003_cr/h112203.html
Bush signs bill extending FBI powers
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- President Bush has signed legislation making it easier for FBI agents investigating terrorism to demand financial records from casinos, car dealerships, and other businesses.
The changes were included in a bill authorizing 2004 intelligence programs. Most of the details of the bill are secret, including the total cost of the programs, which are estimated to be about $40 billion. That would be slightly more than Bush had requested.
Bush signed the bill Saturday, the White House announced.
The bill expands the number of businesses from which the FBI and other US authorities conducting intelligence work can demand financial records without seeking court approval.
Under current law, "national security letters" can be issued to traditional financial institutions, such as banks and credit unions, to require them to turn over information. The bill expands the definition of financial institution to include other businesses that deal with large amounts of cash.
Supporters of the change say it will help authorities identify money laundering and other activities that fund terrorism. But some lawmakers and civil liberties advocates say the change does not provide enough safeguards to ensure that authorities will not violate the privacy of innocent people.
In other provisions, the bill:
Requires the CIA director to prepare a report as soon as possible on what intelligence agencies have learned from their experiences in Iraq.
Creates a Treasury Department office to work with intelligence agencies on fighting terrorist financing.
Creates pilot programs to share raw data between agencies.
Authorizes agencies to continue research on computerized terrorism surveillance suspended by the Pentagon.
| QUOTE (purdymouth @ Dec 2 2003, 11:49 PM) |
| As Souter observed yesterday, police searching for a stolen piano need not hurry for fear that it might be flushed down a drain -- but drugs are a different story. |
What's wrong with this analogy offered by one of the highest-ranking judges in our country?
Note that Souter's hypothetical piano is stolen. A crime has been committed. The victim reported the theft to the police. That's why they're looking for the stolen piano: to return it to its rightful owner, and prosecute a burglar or robber.
In 99% of drug raids, the drugs aren't stolen. The owner of the drugs paid for them, fair and square. No victim has come forward to complain. In virtually every drug case, the complainant is a narc, a government agent.
Equating common-law crime (where there is a victim) with "victimless crimes" which have been legislated out of thin air, is an example of the shoddy, mendacious "logic" used to justify "laws" which invert the constitution and mock liberty.
The "war on drugs" was started in 1937 as a replacement for the "war on alcohol" which ended in 1933. It had specifically racial intentions: marijuana was seen as the lowlife habit of blacks and mexicans, while caucasian suburbanites drinking their rye and dry martinis would be untouched by it. To this day, the drug laws are still highly efficient in targeting minorities for prison. But the side effect has been to target and destroy the constitution as well.
It took 13 years for Prohibition to be identified as a failure and ended by the democratic process. After decades of failure in the War on Drugs, there is no sign of anything like the wholesale repeal of Prohibition in 1933. In fact the federal government refuses to recognize state medical marijuana initiatives, and prosecutes locally-authorized clubs under federal law. This tells us several things:
1. The democratic process doesn't function anymore, especially at the federal level.
2. The system is corrupt. Government and organized crime share a common interest in continuing the drug war, which culls out "amateur" competition.
3. Federalism is dead. The federal government has lost all respect for the states and the people.
4. The Bill of Rights is dead. The logic of the war on victimless crime supersedes core constitutional guarantees against unreasonable searches. Judges get their paychecks and their fat bennies from Congress, and will do as they're told.
5. The American revolution was a unique moment in history, in a young colony. Today's tyranny is far worse than the trivial depredations described in the Declaration of Independence. But the illusion is maintained that "we're doing it to ourselves." Absent the ability to blame it on outsiders, there's little prospect of a second American revolution.
6. However, with economic collapse as a trigger, some regions might see it as in their interest to break away from the Washington D.C.-based regime and thus repudiate their portion of the crushing federal debt.
7. Thus secession may be our best (though distant) hope of experiencing what used to be known as "American liberty" in our lifetimes. The United States as a whole will never be free again. It's a cultural thing -- most Americans don't believe in liberty anymore. The Bill of Rights could not be passed as a constitutional amendment, or even a statute, today. It's too radical, too unpopular, and contradicts thousands of existing "laws" and regulations.
| QUOTE (machinehead @ Dec 18 2003, 03:35 AM) |
| 6. However, with economic collapse as a trigger, some regions might see it as in their interest to break away from the Washington D.C.-based regime and thus repudiate their portion of the crushing federal debt. |
"The Federal Government will panic and establish dictatorial controls over the major economic power centers such as banking, international trade, and critical corporations. Fascism will arrive in its naked form (we have it in a disguised form at present). Exchange controls will be enacted. It will be illegal to take money out of the country. The Patriot Act will be used more and more oppressively. Big Brother tactics will be heaped upon Americans. If terrorists capitalize on the turmoil, martial law will be put into effect. The beginning stages of Orwell's nightmare will descend upon us."
...
"As bad as it will get, however, there will still be hopeful paths to take for the survival of freedom and sanity. One is that in the chaos that descends upon America, numerous state secessionist movements will rise up with strong voices advocating withdrawal from the tyrannical control of Washington. I believe Texas will be one of the leaders, and will possibly draw the states of the old South along with some of the western states into a historic split of America. The split will be between the two philosophies of big government statism and small government constitutionalism."
Economic Meltdown, Secessionist Crackup?
Regards,
Vesselin
Vesslin, you have hit upon a particular and peculiar seam of American politics where the political 'right' goes around the bend and meets portions of the left. Portions, I must stress, mostly the long dead anarchists. This is where Tim McVie came from.
As a general rule you should assume that casual enthusiasts for Hultberg's rhetoric (rhetoric not being used as a pejorative term) would do quite well serving in the police and the military of an authoritarian state. A few others would go the way of newly convicted American terrorist William Krar.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/13/opinion/13LEVI.html
Most will vote straight GOP because while they hate 'government' they like to hate certain groups a whole lot more.
Not that I have to lecture you about authoritarian personalites or systems. I guess they are universal and your own home country has plenty of lessons in how nationalism mixes with ideology,personaltiy and good old fashioned self interested opprotunism to produce oppression.
As a general rule you should assume that casual enthusiasts for Hultberg's rhetoric (rhetoric not being used as a pejorative term) would do quite well serving in the police and the military of an authoritarian state. A few others would go the way of newly convicted American terrorist William Krar.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/13/opinion/13LEVI.html
Most will vote straight GOP because while they hate 'government' they like to hate certain groups a whole lot more.
Not that I have to lecture you about authoritarian personalites or systems. I guess they are universal and your own home country has plenty of lessons in how nationalism mixes with ideology,personaltiy and good old fashioned self interested opprotunism to produce oppression.
Ron Paul
re: H.R. 2417, INTELLIGENCE AUTHORIZATION AGREEMENT
speech of
HON. RON PAUL
of texas
in the house of representatives
Thursday, November 20, 2003
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise with great concerns over the
Intelligence Authorization Conference Report. I do not agree that
Members of Congress should vote in favor of an authorization that most
know almost nothing about--including the most basic issue of the level
of funding.
What most concerns me about this conference report, though, is
something that should outrage every single American citizen. I am
referring to the stealth addition of language drastically expanding FBI
powers to secretly and without court order snoop into the business and
financial transactions of American citizens. These expanded internal
police powers will enable the FBI to demand transaction records from
businesses, including auto dealers, travel agents, pawnbrokers and
more, without the approval or knowledge of a judge or grand jury. This
was written into the bill at the 11th hour over the objections of
members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which would normally have
jurisdiction over the FBI. The Judiciary Committee was frozen out of
the process. It appears we are witnessing a stealth enactment of the
enormously unpopular "Patriot II" legislation that was first leaked
several months ago. Perhaps the national outcry when a draft of the
Patriot II act was leaked has led its supporters to enact it one piece
at a time in secret. Whatever the case, this is outrageous and
unacceptable. I urge each of my colleagues to join me in rejecting this
bill and its incredibly dangerous expansion of Federal police powers...
Nobody's listening, Ron.
re: H.R. 2417, INTELLIGENCE AUTHORIZATION AGREEMENT
speech of
HON. RON PAUL
of texas
in the house of representatives
Thursday, November 20, 2003
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise with great concerns over the
Intelligence Authorization Conference Report. I do not agree that
Members of Congress should vote in favor of an authorization that most
know almost nothing about--including the most basic issue of the level
of funding.
What most concerns me about this conference report, though, is
something that should outrage every single American citizen. I am
referring to the stealth addition of language drastically expanding FBI
powers to secretly and without court order snoop into the business and
financial transactions of American citizens. These expanded internal
police powers will enable the FBI to demand transaction records from
businesses, including auto dealers, travel agents, pawnbrokers and
more, without the approval or knowledge of a judge or grand jury. This
was written into the bill at the 11th hour over the objections of
members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which would normally have
jurisdiction over the FBI. The Judiciary Committee was frozen out of
the process. It appears we are witnessing a stealth enactment of the
enormously unpopular "Patriot II" legislation that was first leaked
several months ago. Perhaps the national outcry when a draft of the
Patriot II act was leaked has led its supporters to enact it one piece
at a time in secret. Whatever the case, this is outrageous and
unacceptable. I urge each of my colleagues to join me in rejecting this
bill and its incredibly dangerous expansion of Federal police powers...
Nobody's listening, Ron.
| QUOTE (purdymouth @ Dec 19 2003, 09:55 PM) |
| These expanded internal police powers will enable the FBI to demand transaction records from businesses, including auto dealers, travel agents, pawnbrokers and more, without the approval or knowledge of a judge or grand jury. |
The FBI now has the same powers that the Stasi had in East Germany.
And probably more spies working for them, when you consider all the businesses that are obliged to file CTR's (Cash Transaction Reports) and SAR's (Suspicious Activity Reports).
Wow, I'm glad we have a strong Bill of Rights to protect us!
I guess I'll stop my quibbling about the term facism, not so much because I've changed my mind about the term being counterproductive but because semantics isn't the main issue by a long shot.
Facism in German and Italy was brought into power thru demcratic means. It is now common in the mainstream to identify Bush oppoents of any stripe as traitors who hate America.
As Richard Pearl said this week at a forum discussing opposition to neoconservatism
"I can only conclude that the visceral anti-Americanism just runs deeper than any other set of values that is meaningful on the left and hence the obsession with and the disparagement of what they define as a neoconservative approach to international affairs.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/
And then this from a syndicated cartoonist. See the Saddam with a Dean button a few clicks down the page For good input on this sort of thing and "eliminationist" rhetoric see here.
http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/
And this image from Seattle where police were called in to push demonstators back from a site where Bush was making a campaign appearance. I think perhaps the turning point on this will come in Sept at the GOP convention in NYC. The largest demonstrations in American history are already predicted. Marshal law is my prediction, troops in the streets, the media cheering them, the troops on. Oh, and let me guess. This will coincide with a huge rally in the markets.
Facism in German and Italy was brought into power thru demcratic means. It is now common in the mainstream to identify Bush oppoents of any stripe as traitors who hate America.
As Richard Pearl said this week at a forum discussing opposition to neoconservatism
"I can only conclude that the visceral anti-Americanism just runs deeper than any other set of values that is meaningful on the left and hence the obsession with and the disparagement of what they define as a neoconservative approach to international affairs.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/
And then this from a syndicated cartoonist. See the Saddam with a Dean button a few clicks down the page For good input on this sort of thing and "eliminationist" rhetoric see here.
http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/
And this image from Seattle where police were called in to push demonstators back from a site where Bush was making a campaign appearance. I think perhaps the turning point on this will come in Sept at the GOP convention in NYC. The largest demonstrations in American history are already predicted. Marshal law is my prediction, troops in the streets, the media cheering them, the troops on. Oh, and let me guess. This will coincide with a huge rally in the markets.
Jorma, The loony right and left aren't so crazy. They get the details wrong and causality confused but they have something to contribute. They've come together in a vacuum created by the intellectual elite who have pretty much ignored govt trashing of the constitution. Some hayseed growing pot to survive the onslaught of globalisation has a distinctive and important view of govt. that others have ignored, to their peril.
Though there are some unsavory Nazis in there, no doubt, and honest to God psychotic paranoids, you've got to hand it to the psychotic paranoids, clutching guns in the hinterland. Their take on reality turns out to be closest to the truth. The rest of us have been suckered by our own genteel notions. Will they vote republican? Hell no! Not this time around.
The real threat this country has faced is from the middle of the road, not the edges.
Let's hear it for the "Guns and Dope" party!
Though there are some unsavory Nazis in there, no doubt, and honest to God psychotic paranoids, you've got to hand it to the psychotic paranoids, clutching guns in the hinterland. Their take on reality turns out to be closest to the truth. The rest of us have been suckered by our own genteel notions. Will they vote republican? Hell no! Not this time around.
The real threat this country has faced is from the middle of the road, not the edges.
Let's hear it for the "Guns and Dope" party!
Threadbare: about the guns part of the guns and dope party:
A Deficit of $100 Million Is Confronting the N.R.A.
Guns are not going to stop the decay of the US democracy. The pro-gun movement is even accelerating the decay of the US democracy.
Those who linger for civil war and rule of guns have never seen war or violence. Most of the dictatorships and juntas of the 20th century did not fall by civil war. And when they fell by civil war, democracy has been very fragile or illusionary.
A Deficit of $100 Million Is Confronting the N.R.A.
Guns are not going to stop the decay of the US democracy. The pro-gun movement is even accelerating the decay of the US democracy.
Those who linger for civil war and rule of guns have never seen war or violence. Most of the dictatorships and juntas of the 20th century did not fall by civil war. And when they fell by civil war, democracy has been very fragile or illusionary.
GMTFO will be the order of the day. My brother-in-law is in Costa Rica preparing to buy property. I'm going back with him in March to attend an intensive Spanish course and check it out for myself. As I have said, I intend to get the hell out of here. I can both love and leave this place, at least until these haters like Perle are all finished wiping out half of the world's population. Of course, the flu or some other deadly biothing might be harder to dodge than simple, old, garden variety facism/fall of an empire 
In 1981 i tried my best, but i failed (btw, forget that crap that i did it because of Jodie Foster, total crap!), next year i will be back. Watch out for me in NYC in sep 2004. I will be there.
Regards John Hinckley
Regards John Hinckley
| QUOTE |
| In 1981 i tried my best, but i failed (btw, forget that crap that i did it because of Jodie Foster, total crap!), next year i will be back. Watch out for me in NYC in sep 2004. I will be there. Regards John Hinckley |
hahahahahahahahahahahah
Go Johnny, Go Go Go...Johnny B Goode;)
Judge: I saw police commit felonies
A judge who said he witnessed some of the anti-free trade protests complains in open court about how police handled the demonstrations.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/7538538.htm
A judge who said he witnessed some of the anti-free trade protests complains in open court about how police handled the demonstrations.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/7538538.htm
"tonight I'm gonna bust some shots off,
tonight I'm gonna dust some cops off..."
"Cop Killer," by Ice T
tonight I'm gonna dust some cops off..."
"Cop Killer," by Ice T
Merry Christmas my fellow "lefties"
........... and dont forget in 2004 we have to fight or it will be all over. If the GOP wisn in 2004 it is time to leave the country. If you are in the US of course
And a very merry Christmas to you too,fxfox.
Like the card!
Like the card!
So did freedom.
| QUOTE |
| The people who wrote the Southern Constitution had lived under the federal one. They knew its strengths, which they tried to copy, and its weaknesses, which they tried to eliminate. One grave weakness in the U.S. Constitution is the "general welfare" clause, which the Confederate Constitution eliminated. |
| QUOTE (machinehead @ Dec 25 2003, 02:50 PM) |
| So did freedom. Coulda been, shoulda been |
I put it through the absolute self indulgent reason filter and the change did nothing...
In my studies of the Absolute capitalists I spent most of my time trying to figure out how to take over systems...This is before I realized the implosion factor...
Problem reaction solution... You must outlaw solutions...you can never outlaw problems...
As long as fractional reserve banking is a viable solution to a problem then this sad story will continue to play out... over and over again...like it has for the past 6000+ years...
WITH A WHISPER, NOT A BANG
Bush signs parts of Patriot Act II into law — stealthily
http://www.sacurrent.com/site/news.cfm?new...id=482778&rfi=6
On December 13, when U.S. forces captured Saddam Hussein, President George W. Bush not only celebrated with his national security team, but also pulled out his pen and signed into law a bill that grants the FBI sweeping new powers. A White House spokesperson explained the curious timing of the signing - on a Saturday - as "the President signs bills seven days a week." But the last time Bush signed a bill into law on a Saturday happened more than a year ago - on a spending bill that the President needed to sign, to prevent shuttng down the federal government the following Monday.
By signing the bill on the day of Hussein's capture, Bush effectively consigned a dramatic expansion of the USA Patriot Act to a mere footnote. Consequently, while most Americans watched as Hussein was probed for head lice, few were aware that the FBI had just obtained the power to probe their financial records, even if the feds don't suspect their involvement in crime or terrorism.
Bush signs parts of Patriot Act II into law — stealthily
http://www.sacurrent.com/site/news.cfm?new...id=482778&rfi=6
On December 13, when U.S. forces captured Saddam Hussein, President George W. Bush not only celebrated with his national security team, but also pulled out his pen and signed into law a bill that grants the FBI sweeping new powers. A White House spokesperson explained the curious timing of the signing - on a Saturday - as "the President signs bills seven days a week." But the last time Bush signed a bill into law on a Saturday happened more than a year ago - on a spending bill that the President needed to sign, to prevent shuttng down the federal government the following Monday.
By signing the bill on the day of Hussein's capture, Bush effectively consigned a dramatic expansion of the USA Patriot Act to a mere footnote. Consequently, while most Americans watched as Hussein was probed for head lice, few were aware that the FBI had just obtained the power to probe their financial records, even if the feds don't suspect their involvement in crime or terrorism.
Yep,Purdy,I just knew that the timing of the announcement of Saddam's capture had some hidden purpose to it-this was it!
Totalitarianism by stealth!
Present admin seems to be rather good at sneaking things past the legistlature.
Also seem to remember something about the war dept. being unable to account for 2 trillion over the past 10 years which was announced the day before---yep,da biggie!
Never mentioned again,so,I guess they found the money or just thought it was too little to make a fuss about with all that other crap going on!
Totalitarianism by stealth!
Present admin seems to be rather good at sneaking things past the legistlature.
Also seem to remember something about the war dept. being unable to account for 2 trillion over the past 10 years which was announced the day before---yep,da biggie!
Never mentioned again,so,I guess they found the money or just thought it was too little to make a fuss about with all that other crap going on!
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