Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Edwards dumps on Clinton...

The Houston Chronicle reported today that Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards believes Hillary Clinton is part of the problem, not a solution.
"This corruption did not begin yesterday — and it did not even begin with George Bush, although Lord knows it's been present while George Bush has been president. It has been building for decades until it now threatens literally the life of our democracy."
Voicing the concerns of many thinking, non-deluded Americans, Edwards went on to say:
"Down one path, we trade corporate Republicans for corporate Democrats; our cronies for their cronies; one political dynasty for another dynasty, and all we are left with is a Democratic version of the Republican corruption machine."
Edwards is speaking to the people who have long opined that there's not much difference between the Dems and the Reps. Whether this tactic will work for him is another story. As William Buckley pointed out recently it is rarely a good idea to denigrate the leaders of one's own party.

Still, one would hope that reason prevails. Hillary is not the best choice to run the country. She takes money from the health-care industry, refuses to back down from her pro-war stance, and would likely bring to America a big dose of more-of-the-same. Hillary's only positive is that, like Bill, she is very adept at gauging the politically expedient path to take.

Enough with run-of-the-mill politics. Let's start electing PEOPLE to represent America.

Caption fun!


1. Condi loves this thing.
2. President Bush discovers a new, more efficient way to screw the American people.
3. Pew! Pew! Pew!
4. How do you plug this thing in?
5. 447 days from now I'm going to use this thing to mix me up some 'ritas... ooo wee, gonna be so drunk...
6. Hold it right there, sidewinder!

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Bottled water gets even sillier...



Do you cringe at the idea of drinking tap water? Are Ozarka, Perrier, Fiji, Evian, Volvic just too blase? Try new Bling H2O, guaranteed to give you more of what you drink a bottled water for... class, exclusivity, pretentiousness... you'll have it all.

Bling H2O comes in Limited Edition, corked, 750 ml, reusable, frosted glass bottles, "exquisitely crafted with Swarovski crystals."

I really can't say it better than the website, so here it is:

Bling H2O is the inspiration of Kevin G. Boyd, Hollywood writer-producer. While working on various studio lots where image is of the utmost importance he noticed that you could tell a lot about a person by the bottled water they carried.

In Hollywood it seemed as if people flaunted their bottled water like it was part of their presentation. Whether the bottles had a cool shape or came from an exotic island, none truly made that defining statement. Bling H2O was fashioned to make that defining statement. The mission was to offer a product with an exquisite face to match exquisite taste. The product is strategically positioned to target the expanding super-luxury consumer market.

Wait... "reusable"??? So, this conversation is possible:

Jeeves: And what, madam, shall I do with this empty water bottle?
Paris: Well, it's much too pretty to be thrown out. Do put some lilies in it.
Jeeves: Yes, ma'am!
Paris: Better still. Just fill it with cocaine and I'll take it with me.


It's pop culture in a bottle, so they say. MY thought is that if you find yourself drinking this stuff, well, it's just God's way of telling you're making too damn much money.

But how could you resist? It's a STEAL at only $24 a bottle...

I shudder to think what's next...


Thursday, October 25, 2007

Wacky, but possibly credible news of the day...

Pravda.ru reports that humans and dolphins once lived side by side in Atlantis...

As Douglas Adams said in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:

It is an important and popular fact that things are not always what they seem. For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much -- the wheel, New York, wars and so on -- whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man -- for precisely the same reasons.

It's the kind of nutty thing I find myself wanting to believe, just because it would make the world a more interesting place.

A tale of three Iraqs...

The Kurds control northern Iraq to the extent that they will not allow the Iraqi national army in their area. The coalition forces are working with the Shiites in the south and the Sunnis in the center. All that remains is for the three factions to get together and divvy up the oil profits.

Former US ambassador to Coatia, Peter W. Galbraith, has written an excellent editorial on the subject.

It's a great, sensible and rather obvious idea, but one the Bush administration will not likely embrace, because the Iraq war was never really about oil (or democracy or stability or Al-Qaida or Saddam Hussein); the Iraq war was/is about oil profits.

Hope floats... behind your eyes...

Scientists have discovered the area of the brain that controls optimism... how long will it be before Big Pharma gives us a drug that targets that area?

Bring it on, America needs a large dose, and hopefully in time to avoid Bush's '08 October surprise...

Article here...

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Yet another reason Iraq is a quagmire...

Turkey wants to attack rebels in Kurdish Iraq... wait, I thought Turkey was on OUR side...

Our ally then, wants to attack the country we're "liberating."

To which I can only respond, WTF???

World Series Prediction...

The Colorado Rockies will slip by the Boston Red Sox in seven games.

Drug money...

Forget, for the moment, the 46 billion dollars more that Bush wants to fight his ill-considered war in Iraq. Tied to that proposal is a "request" for 1.4 billion to fight the "War on Drugs," the lion's share of which will go to Mexico, 550 million.

The American government has been fighting, and I use the term loosely, the WOD for as long as I can remember, certainly before long I smoked my first doobie more moons ago than I care to remember. If America is (finally) upset about how much money and how many lives have been wasted in Iraq imagine how much more incensed they must be at the even larger sum in blood and treasure, that has been wasted in the War on Drugs.

At least one would think so...

But I can sit down and smoke a relatively harmless, yet highly illegal substance with a good (conservative) friend of mine and we can argue point and counterpoint about the War on Terror till the troops come home, neither of us ever really snapping to the fact that we have a common enemy, our own government would bust BOTH of us, regardless of whether we think W is the Anti-Christ or simply the village idiot, the chief irony being that conservatives are supposedly all about taking personal responsibility...

At least that's what they tell us. Truth is, we're free to do whatever we want to do as long as they approve of it... first.

And what do you think happens to the money that's sent to Mexico and Central and South America? Sure, some of it is spent eradicating crops set by farmers who aren't in on the criminal game, giving them little choice but to join up with the criminal factions simply to make a living by producing what to them is merely a marketable crop. But I think we can rest assured that a large portion, if not most, of the money goes to the ones who know how to game the system, and inevitably, those will be the criminal element. With the end result that very little progress is made in the government's War on Drugs.

Imagine, for a moment, if tobacco was made illegal (and don't laugh, because, well, would you really put it past this current pack of yahoos?) and suddenly farmers in Virginia are criminals, and millions of smokers are jonesing BAD.

Next thing you know the government is busting illegal growers and smugglers with pipe tobacco, and the only place those jonesing smokers can go for their fix is, you guessed it, their friendly neighborhood... criminals. And the price of your illegal tobacco? Well, since the suppliers now have to factor the cost of guns, guards and high-tech smuggling techniques, the price will skyrocket. That 5 dollar pack that Texas smokers now complain 
about would go to, well, around 500.

All of which would go to the criminal element, the very people you most DON'T want involved in a product people like. Crack whores? Hell, make way for cigar whores...

Which of course, is exactly what has happened to the price of marijuana over my lifetime. What I used to buy for 10 dollars would now cost me well over $400, dang near as much as gold. And where is the sense in that?

This is so basic I almost hate to say it, but the amount we spend on "fighting" the "war on drugs", added to the amount of taxes pot smokers would GLADLY pay, could change the nation. (Just as the amount we could save by fighting a more sane "war on terror" would cure cancer, homelessness and well, take your choice of curable ills, but we're forgetting that for the nonce.)

At the bottom line, who profits from the War on Drugs? Criminals and the people who make military hardware.

Let's all recite the lesson we should have learned during the prohibition of alcohol... YOU CANNOT LEGISLATE PUBLIC MORALITY!!!

So what's my solution? Legalize it, regulate it and tax it, just like tobacco, alcohol, and firearms. For more information contact the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), the Drug Truth Network, or Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). The latter is an organization of law enforcement officials who have realized what a sham the War on Drugs is.

Disclaimer: this post was NOT written "under the influence", but in a freest of all possible Americas (and isn't that what we all really want?), it would be.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Buy this song...

Conservative, Christian, Right-Wing Republican, Straight, White, American Males
 by Todd Snider

Conservative Christian, right wing Republican, straight, white, American male.
Gay bashin’, black fearin’, poor fightin’, tree killin’, regional leaders of sales
Frat housin’, keg tappin’, shirt tuckin’, back slappin’ haters of hippies like me.
Tree huggin’, peace lovin’, pot smokin’, porn watchin’ lazyass hippies like me.
Tree huggin’, love makin’, pro choicen, gay weddin’, widespread diggin’ hippies like me.
Skin color-blinded, conspiracy-minded, protestors of corporate greed,
We who have nothing and most likely will ‘till we all wind up locked up in jails
By conservative Christian, right wing Republican, straight, white, American males,.

Diamonds and dogs, boys and girls, living together in two separate worlds
Following leaders of mountains of shame, looking for someone to blame.

Diamonds and dogs, boys and girls, living together in two separate worlds
Following leaders of mountains of shame, looking for someone to blame.
I know who I like to blame:

Conservative Christian, right wing Republican, straight, white, American males,
Soul savin’, flag wavin’, Rush lovin’, land pavin’ personal friends to the Quayles
Quite diligently workin’ so hard to keep the free reins of this Democracy
From tree huggin’, peace lovin’, pot smokin’, barefootin’ folk-singin’ hippies like me.
Tree huggin’, peace lovin’, pot smokin’, porn watchin’ lazyass hippies like me.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

W does something right...


14 Points Alert

In a Wednesday news conference, Bush raised the spectre of fear, saying that a nuclear-armed Iran might raise the risk of "World War III". Bush said that he has told people "that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon".

Of course, this is a lot like his rhetoric in the run-up to the Iraq war. The problem is, if it's true, if Iran really does want nukes and really does want to take out Israel, how can we believe Bush who has almost willfully squandered his credibility?

Short answer: we can't. We, the people of the United States of America cannot trust our president to tell the truth. I cannot stress this enough. We all know we can't trust politicians in general, but we can't trust this guy AT ALL!

Unfortunately, there are ditto-heads who will take him at face value and pass on the ignorance. I predict that within a week I will get a mass-forwarded email from a conservative friend pointing out that Iran must be stopped, quoting Bush.

This, on the same day he and the Congress finally give the Dalai Lama some due recognition...

Maybe the military knows something...

A Houston Chronicle analysis of campaign contributions from January through September reveals that donors identifying themselves as affiliated with the military have donated more to the Obama and Paul campaigns than other campaigns. Obama and Texas lawmaker Ron Paul are both critics of the Iraq war.

While the amounts involved are miniscule ($53968 and $63440, respectively), analysts say the donations may suggest "unease" with the situation in Iraq.

Texas A&M political science professor George C. Edwards III said Obama's military affiliated donations may also be due to the proportionately larger number of African-Americans serving in the military.

One of Paul's contributors is retired Army chaplain Lindell Anderson, who said, "As a Christian, I think (Paul) speaks to a theme that the United States shouldn't be the policeman of the world." Anderson donated $100.

An American Legion spokeswoman was rather condescending about the Paul donations, saying "I don't know the rhyme or reason behind it. It's America. Anybody can throw their money at who they want." The AL has endorsed Paul in the past because of his stance on veterans' issues, though the organization is obviously pro-war.

This information speaks for itself, but to speak to the point, this information, along with recent reports that the military brass is less than thrilled about progress in Iraq, says that the military may be the people to listen to here. After all, it is the military that knows firsthand the human costs of war.

In historical perspective, as wrong as America's involvement in Viet Nam was, it has long been held that the outcome would have been 
different if the military had been given free rein. Similarly, if the military bigs 
had been more closely consulted about Iraq I'm certain their recommendations 
would have been to either not go in or to go in full bore.

Full disclosure: I have donated $10 to the Draft Gore '08 campaign.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Friday, October 12, 2007

A meeting of the mind and a half...

Owing to some strange confluence of good and evil, President Bush will soon be the first sitting president to appear with the Dalai Lama in public when the latter receives the Congressional Gold Medal, that body's highest civilian honor... and about damn time both happened...

I can't imagine their private meeting will be very long or much help. The Prez will report that he "looked in the man's eyes and saw his soul" or some such nonsense. The Dalai Lama will smile and not report that he looked in the president's eyes and saw nothing.

China, as always, is in a snit about the exiled leader's visit...

Here's the full story.

And here's a Congressional Gold Medal...


Run, Al... save us from boring politics...

If you're into the sport of politics at all, you want Al Gore to run...
the mad stampede to the next presidential election started out wide open and would be even with Gore in the mix. How hard
do you think Hillary would fight Al for her right to party pink in the White House
for the first time in history? To my eye, she's already getting a little cocky about
the nomination. How much more brilliant and charming do you think Obama could make himself with a challenger as at ease with the camera (and the camera's ease with him) as Al Gore?

The state of the environment and America's responsibility (and liability) in it may well be the
 issue that decides the fate of man on the planet and so far the issue has gotten, 
to be charitable, short shrift from the contenders. Let's call in someone who knows the subject and has ideas about it.

There would also be a fine aroma of a bare-knucks grudge match in Al's entry as well. Fact is, Papa Clinton's indiscretions were a big part of why Gore had trouble in 2000. If Clinton had handled his personal life with some maturity for a measly eight years, he could have walked onstage at the Staples Center in LA, given Al a metaphorical clap on the back and a hearty "Al's our man" and left the stage a kingmaker... and the Gore/Edwards ticket could have waltzed in 16 years of Democratic domination of the executive branch... and who knows, maybe later Bill would have won his own Nobel...

But never mind Bill, let him share a Nobel with his pal Poppy Bush.

I predict that the Gore-Giuliani presidential debates would break viewer records, if for no other reason than to see cool, experienced nice groomed Al use 
words like blunt instruments in savaging Rudy, who looks like nothing so much as a light bulb... you want big stakes reality teevee? Here it is!

Al Gore's won a nice little accolade in the Nobel Peace Prize; it will look nice next to his Emmy. If all he wants to do is line up trophies, he's got a nice start, though the Nobel is "only" a medal. The question Gore has to ask himself, how do you follow up two once-in-a-lifetime achievements?

How could you not want this guy to at least run for president? Here he is hanging out with his pals Tom and Jon...



So yeah, Al Gore isn't perfect, as we'll see when the swift boats are inevitably launched, but at least he espouses a positive vision for the future... I can't state categorically that I would endorse him for president, hoping as I am for the emergence of a viable third party, but his entry into the fray would bring a welcome issues injection...

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Carter Talks Sense... Again...

Adding to his May interview in which Jimmy Carter called the Bush administration the "worst" in American history, Carter has denounced Dick Cheney as a "disaster" for our country and holds undue sway over the President.




"He's a militant who avoided any service of his own in the military and he has been most forceful in the last 10 years or more in fulfilling some of his more ancient commitments that the United States has a right to inject its power through military means in other parts of the world," Carter said. Read it all here.

In another interview with CNN, Carter said, " Our country for the first time in my lifetime has abandoned the basic principle of human rights. We've said that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to those people in Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo, and we've said we can torture prisoners and deprive them of an accusation of a crime."

Would that more former Presidents would speak truth to power... are you listening, Bill?

Cool Fark Contest...

Here's a Fark.com contest to design a new logo for the Republican National Convention in St. Paul...

My personal favorite, posted by Total Farker ElectronChaser





America to Dem Frontrunners: Hey! We're talking here!

"I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than are governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of their way and let them have it."
(Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1959)

The Congressional elections in 2006, we were told, were a referendum on the Iraq war. So why have NONE of the three Democratic frontrunners pledged to have our troops out of Iraq by the end of their first term? Could none of them give at least lip service to the stated desires of the American people?

Do we need any more evidence that the American government as it exists today does NOT have the interests of the country foremost in mind?

The Democans and Republicrats shouldn't be surprised if a viable third party appears and turns them all out of office...



Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Caption fun!!!




1. Did you hear the one about the vegetarian priest? The only meat he would eat was NUN!!! Ah ha ha ha!!!
2. Please forgive me for all the boys I've murdered.
3. You'll be pleased to know that under Patriot Act 3 spankings with rulers will again be allowed... in fact, spankings OF rulers WITH rulers will be allowed.
4. So what are you girls up to later? Whyncha drop by the frat house for a few brewskis?
5. Married? Well, pucker up, babe, cuz He ain't here now...
6. Yes, Sister, every sperm IS sacred.
7. Saaaay, where can I get one of them outfits? Condi'd look right nice in that getup.

Coming soon... retroactive virginity!!!

Today George Bush said he will not sign a government surveillance bill unless it contains language granting retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies 
who cooperated with the administration's illegal wiretapping efforts, because, he says, they "are facing multi-billion-dollar lawsuits only because they are believed to have assisted in the efforts to defend our nation following the 9/11 attacks."

Putting aside yet another demonstration of W pulling 9/11 into every single argument he can,  and setting aside for this moment the FACT that they DID cooperate (as opposed to W's slippery "believed to have assisted") what he is really saying is that it was okay that these companies cooperated with the illegal wiretaps, nicely invoking points number 7 and 9 of the 14 points of fascism, which, as always, you can read on the right side of the first page of my blog.

If he wants to retroactively forgive those companies who did comply with the illegal wiretaps, is he going to retroactively
 punish the companies who declined to help the government spy on the American people?

Or perhaps he's setting up the precedent so he can proclaim himself retroactively innocent of crapping on the Constitution...

Anyway, in the same spirit, I hereby proclaim myself innocent of quite a number of things I did in the past. No need to name them, of course, since I was/am now innocent...

Only 467 days of this left...

Now, more than ever, "Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom." (Thomas Jefferson)

Monday, October 8, 2007

George W was right!!!

George Washington, that is... in his farewell address, the original George W warned Americans against "ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burdens we ourselves ought to bear."

So why does the Bush administration think it's "fiscally irresponsible" to levy a tax to pay for their misguided war?

When asked recently about a proposal by Congressional Democrats to enact a surtax to pay for the Iraq war, the White House press secretary Dana Perino responded, "We've always known that Democrats seem to revert to type, and they are willing to raise taxes on just about anything." Then she added, "I just think it's fiscally irresponsible."

Who does Ms. Perino think she's kidding? Just as adding a tax on oil is the MOST fiscally responsible thing to do to reduce dependence on Middle East oil and fund the development of renewable energy sources, so is a war tax the most fiscally responsible way to pay for war. Otherwise, we leave it to our children (nieces and nephew, in my case) to pay for the war.

And the next generation is going to have enough to pay for as it is.

Perhaps NYTimes columnist Thomas Friedman is right when he says, sarcasm oozing off the page, THESE DEMOCRATS JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND: THE TOOTH FAIRY PAYS FOR WARS.

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Your Sailboat belongs to the Department of Homeland Security

Well, not yet... but here's the situation as clearly as I can put it together.

When you register your boat, be it sailboat, yacht, tugboat, or ocean liner, it is registered through the United States Coast Guard, which has traditionally been a civilian service, under the Department of Transportation. After 9/11, when the Department of Homeland Security was cobbled together, control of the Coast Guard was moved to the DHS.

What this means is that if, for instance, you are found operating your sailboat while intoxicated, your private vessel can be seized by the government, and you, a non-military citizen of the US, will be tried in a military court under the jurisdiction of a Judge Advocate General. 

If you go to the Coast Guard's website it now acknowledges that it is a branch of the US military, meaning that the USCG is a military branch under the direct control of, guess who, the President of the United States. And it goes further than that, this puts ALL maritime endeavors, including the quasi-unions where seaman sign up for the Merchant Marines under the control of the President.

The full story can be found at martiallaw911.com.

The last thing I want to be seen as is a conspiracy theory alarmist wacko, but folks, this is getting serious... unfortunately, this all ties into the North American Union, which is supposed to happen by 2010. Here's a You Tube CNN story.

Do not be distracted!!! There are more important things going on than the lives of 
Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan.

The Sunday Monitor radio show, which is broadcast on Houston's KPFT, and the Monitor's website are always a good place to start.

Friday, October 5, 2007

Buy your Quid before there's a run on the Ferengi Intergalactic Bank



In a bold move to meet the currency needs of the next generation, worldwide money changers Travelex is introducing the Quasi Universal Intergalactic Denomination, or Quid.

This looks like one of the coolest things this Texas boy has ever seen.

I called the Travelex office in Houston, and they were not aware of it yet, but they were very interested, and figure it must be a real thing because, well, the BBC wouldn't LIE, would they?

My contact at Travelex promised to let me know when/where they are available. Check back with me...

Read the article here.



Bush says America doesn't torture

CNN reported today that Bush says "This government does not torture people." Read it here.

He went on to say " The techniques that we use have been fully disclosed to appropriate members of the United States Congress." Which of course means nothing. Members of Congress are complicit in Bush's crimes, by neglect if not actual intent.

My question on our interrogation "techniques" is, do they hurt? More to the point, do they hurt over and over??? If so, guess what, buddy, that's torture.

How long will it be before we find out that he's lying this time?

And now, an old riddle...

How can you tell George Bush is lying?

His lips are moving.

Now I know some of you knee jerk reactionaries are going to say the same thing W does... it's all about protecting America. And I understand that. But how can we expect to take the moral high ground when we are detaining people in isolation, and waterboarding them... the theory of mission creep says that eventually he'll justify pulling people's fingernails the same way.

And then we will be no better than savage criminals... and I say "we" because every American that doesn't stand up against this sort of thing is just as guilty as the guy giving a suspected terrorist a super-swirly.

W was right, if we are not for him we're against him.

Newb

I notice that some of these entries chopped off the edge of the "page." I'll figure out what the problem is... eventually...

Thursday, October 4, 2007

All I'm saying

Okay, I'm definitely not saying America is fascist. Author Naomi Wolf has written a sort of history of fascism called End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Democracy. She lays out a historical pattern of ten steps in which democracies have been usurped by fascism. Here they are, without comment, from her Guardian article, which I encourage you to read in its entirety
here.

1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy

2. Create a gulag

3. Develop a thug caste

4. Set up an internal surveillance system

5. Harass citizens' groups

6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release

7. Target key individuals

8. Control the press

9. Dissent equals treason

10. Suspend the rule of law

It's easy to see that we are experiencing a troubling number of these characteristics. The Bush administration is clearly guilty of numbers 1, 2, 9, and 10. To number 3 it is only necessary to know that the first entity to respond to Hurricane Katrina was Blackwater, and it was Blackwater that was accused of "shooting looters." Key individuals have been targeted as well: there are university professors who have been denied tenure or had tenure stripped for their political views. What of author Judith Miller and diplomat Joseph C. Wilson?

This easily leads to number 8, control of the press. As I see it this happens through self-censorship in ways large and small.

Bush's use of signing statements alone show his contempt for the rule of law, satisfying number 10.

I'm just saying America COULD be fascist. The good news is that people are starting to stand up for 
themselves. Thanks primarily to the internet people are able to communicate. I truly believe that in the 
final scheme of things that the "truth will out."

After all...

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

That's all I'm saying.


The 14 points of fascism

These have been posted elsewhere and often, but they seem an appropriate place to start my blog. I was and am still stunned when I read them and note how the Bush administration has applied them in America. Though I have always considered myself a Texan before an American, I do consider myself "patriotic" and often wonder what happened to the ideas and ideals I was taught in my early days. Comments follow some, perhaps all of the points...

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.

I am all for patriotic displays, but the American flag, as all flags, is not "sacred" nor should it be hailed as such. The redneck truck I saw circling parking lots on 9/12/01 with a large American flag flying did nothing save assuage the drivers' own sorrow. How much better if he had traded that truck that very day for something that got better gas mileage. If we keep drinking oil like water, well, the terrorists win.

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.

Habeas corpus, a fundamental basis of democracy has been denied to American citizens. Sure, they are the "bad guys" locked up at Guantanamo, but how long is it before dissenting voices are declared terrorists? Dissent is a hallmark of America and American freedom.

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.



This happens in many ways. How often do we see news items about this or that "terrorist plot" being broken up,  and trumpeted across the front pages, when weeks or months later the plots are determined to be nothing, news that is buried in the back pages, if noted at all.

America has always needed a scapegoat, an enemy. Stalin, Hitler, Kruschev, Ho Chi Minh, Pol Pot, Qaddafi, bin Laden, Saddam Hussein... and waiting in the 
wings... Ahmadinejad.

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.

The question liberals ask often, what else could be done with that money, is always a good one. I submit that the money spent bombing Afghanistan and Iraq could have solved "the problem" without bombs and bullets.

5.) Rampant Sexism
The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation and national policy.

A blatant example of this is the Jessica Lynch affair. How often was she portrayed as a waif, or tiny or other diminuitives. The subtext is that we must protect our "wimmenfolk" from "evildoers". This goes back to at least the American Civil War and the rise of the KKK, whose major premise was to "protect our women" from the evil "darkies," who were, of course, just scapegoats to further white male dominance.

6.) Controlled Mass Media
Sometimes the media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

The censorship we're seeing today is the most insidious of all, the self-censorship of the mainstream media in their reluctance to go after the truth, no matter where it lies. The Lynch affair is evidence again. If not for European journalists we might not have known the truth. Some of those truths, incidentally, were the facts that (a) she was not raped, (b) she was not held against her will, and (c) the "daring rescue" lasted six minutes and no one was injured, and no shotrs were fired. Again, this was all uncovered by European journalists.

7.) Obsession with National Security
Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses

"We must stop them over there before they attack us here."
To which I respond, a very wise and esteemed man once said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."


Fear, as any psychologist will tell you, is the ultimate unreasonable motivator. The human animal will do things out of fear he would never do otherwise.



8.) Religion and Government are Intertwined
Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

When, in his 2003 State of the Union speech, Bush used the phrase "power, wonder working power", Christian ditto-heads could be heard singing the old hymn across the country.

What would Jesus do? A more pertinent question is indeed, who would Jesus bomb?


9.) Corporate Power is Protected
The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

This has been a theme of the Bush administration since the very early days, pre 9/11, when Dick Cheney convened his still secret energy council. One wonders if that is in fact where the Iraq war really began.

10.) Labor Power is Suppressed
Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

I haven't actually seen any examples of this... which is not to say it doesn't happen. Unions today have almost no power.

11.) Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts
Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free _expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.

Professors with dissenting voices have already lost or been denied their tenure. And when you have a president who says things like "Our childrens does learn", ignorance becomes acceptable. And when people will accept ignorance, they will accept anything.

12.) Obsession with Crime and Punishment
Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations

Blackwater didn't just come up in Iraq. They were dispatched after Hurricane Katrina, and those were the people accused of shooting looters.

13.) Rampant Cronyism and Corruption
Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

This one is so obvious I deign to address it.

14. Fraudulent Elections
Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

The very least that can be said about the last two presidential elections is that they were suspect.