Is It Fascism Yet?

[babylonsister]

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/22171

Is It Fascism Yet?
Submitted by davidswanson on Sat, 2007-05-05 15:33. Media

By Rain Burroughs, Richmond VA

A friend recently said that the US is turning into a police state. Didn't want to believe him because I see the inherent good in all and still have a little hope. Thursday changed me. I went to protest at 9th & Broad with others that don't like the state of the union. Decided to go in to the event open to the public to gather more signatures calling for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. Cheney first. Got a pages full of signatures in less than an hour. Hermitage High School band members asked if I would come to their school to give a talk. Tap, tap on my shoulder. An officer tells me that I have been reported to be seen handing out flyers. No, I haven't, I am collecting signatures to have Cheney and Bush impeached. He was friendly enough but escorted me to the entrance/exit to talk to other policemen to get it "sorted out".

Once there, an officer said I wasn't allowed to solicit. I responded that I was just trying to substantiate the will of the people because Congress is not hearing us. Then an officer took my handbag that has a small sticker "Impeach Now! Impeach.org" with a pic of prez-not Bush. "That is not allowed here." Weird. The secret service people did a real good job of patting me down and looked in and at my bag before I entered. What happened? I don't know. Intimidation?

I feel bad that I didn't stand my ground. I was threatened with arrest if I didn't leave peacefully. I left. They thanked me for being cooperative. I have a six year-old daughter that needed to be picked up at the bus stop.

Let us do more. Not one more death, not one more dime, stop the war, now's the time.

[seemslikeadream]

1. A Different Kind Of Fascism

Huey Long once said, "Fascism will come to America in the name of anti-fascism." I'm afraid, based on my own experience, that fascism will come to America in the name of national security."


Jim Garrison, Playboy Interview, October, 1967
"What worries me deeply, and I have seen it exemplified in this case, is that we in America are in great danger of slowly evolving into a proto-fascist state. It will be a different kind of fascist state from the one of the Germans evolved; theirs grew out of depression and promised bread and work, while ours, curiously enough, seems to be emerging from prosperity. But in the final analysis, it's based on power and on the inability to put human goals and human conscience above the dictates of the state. Its origins can be traced in the tremendous war machine we've built since 1945, the "military-industrial complex" that Eisenhower vainly warned us about, which now dominates every aspect of our life. The power of the states and Congress has gradually been abandoned to the Executive Department, because of war conditions; and we've seen the creation of an arrogant, swollen bureaucratic complex totally unfettered by the checks and balances of the Constitution.

In a very real and terrifying sense, our Government is the CIA and the Pentagon, with Congress reduced to a debating society. Of course, you can't spot this trend to fascism by casually looking around. You can't look for such familiar signs as the swastika, because they won't be there. We won't build Dachaus and Auschwitzes; the clever manipulation of the mass media is creating a concentration camp of the mind that promises to be far more effective in keeping the populace in line. We're not going to wake up one morning and suddenly find ourselves in gray uniforms goose-stepping off to work. But this isn't the test. The test is: What happens to the individual who dissents? In Nazi Germany, he was physically destroyed; here, the process is more subtle, but the end results can be the same.

I've learned enough about the machinations of the CIA in the past year to know that this is no longer the dreamworld America I once believed in. The imperatives of the population explosion, which almost inevitably will lessen our belief in the sanctity of the individual human life, combined with the awesome power of the CIA and the defense establishment, seem destined to seal the fate of the America I knew as a child and bring us into a new Orwellian world where the citizen exists for the state and where raw power justifies any and every immoral act. I've always had a kind of knee-jerk trust in my Government's basic integrity, whatever political blunders it may make. But I've come to realize that in Washington, deceiving and manipulating the public are viewed by some as the natural prerogatives of office. Huey Long once said, "Fascism will come to America in the name of anti-fascism." I'm afraid, based on my own experience, that fascism will come to America in the name of national security."
http://bloggn.petercase.com/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=EDD5A9E8-B5E7-3F32-9B66DC5F74C7AE1F



Song of Choice

Early every year, seeds are growing
Unseen, unheard, they lie beneath the ground
Would you know before the leaves are showing
That with weeds all your garden will abound?

If you close your eyes, stop your ears
Hold your mouth, how can you know?
The seeds you cannot see may not be there
The seeds you cannot hear may never grow

In January you've still got the choice
You can cut the weeds before they start to bud
If you leave them to grow higher, they'll silence your voice
And in December you may pay with your blood

Close your eyes, stop your ears
Close your mouth and take it slow
Let others take the lead and you bring up the rear
And later you can say you didn't know

Everyday another vulture takes flight
There's another danger born every morning
In the darkness of your blindness the beast will learn to bite
How can you fight if you can't recognize a warning?

Close your eyes, stop your ears
Close your mouth and then you know
Let others take the lead and you bring up the rear
And later you can say you didn't know

Today you may earn a living wage
Tomorrow you may be on the dole
Though there's millions going hungry, you needn't disengage
For it's them, not you, that's fallen in the hole

It's alright for you if you run with the pack
It's alright if you agree with all they do
If the fascist's party slowly climbing back
It's not here yet, so what's it got to do with you?

The weeds are all around us and they're growing
It will soon be too late for the knife
If you leave them on the wind that around the world is blowing
You may pay for your silence with your life

Close your eyes, stop your ears
Close your mouth, they're never there
And if it happens here, they'll never come for you
Because they'll know you really didn't care

Peggy Seeger

[wildbilln864]

2. kick! n/t

[liberal N proud]

3. You can say what ever you want as long as it agrees with me!

Yes the US is quickly moving to become a police state. They are trying to figure out how they can control the internet and stop us from freely communicating in the last safe haven for freedom of speech.
Even here, say just the right thing and Agent Mike will be calling.

Glad to see you were out there doing what needs to be done, it must have struck a nerve somewhere for them to shut you down.

[Blue_Tires]

4. kick for a fellow Virginian

[meldroc]

5. Watch the May Day LAPD Police Riot videos.

There's one on the DU front page that shows two LAPD thugs beating the hell out of a little kid with batons.

For people who are black, Latino, poor, and/or live in the inner city, all-out Nazi-scale totalitarian fascism has been in place for decades.

[Straight Shooter]

6. Where can I get a tattoo decal that says "Impeach bush & cheney"?

I want to stick one on each butt cheek and then let the officers know where they can read my patriotic messages.

[unkachuck]

7. kick....n/t

[file83]

8. Wasn't that a scene from "Schindler's List"....

...or "The Pianist". Sounds EXACTLY like a scene of some movie that covered late 1930's Poland and the occupation by Nazi Germany.

Someone doing something COMPLETELY normal, but the SS soldiers ask for "Papers please", tell the person they can't do that...a very intimidating, scary scene. What was that...?

And to think, this happened in 2007 in Bush's America.

[dfgrbac]

9. More are beginning to realize ...

When our representatives pay more attention to corporate lobbyists than to the people, you head towards fascism. And the train accellerates.

A nation under control of corporations produces fascism. Both major parties are following the corporate money, unfortunately, and selling the rest of us out.

[bearfan454]

10. Very true nt