The Homeland Security State

Nick Turse in TomDispatch:

Since ancient Rome, imperial republics have invariably felt a tension between cherished republican practices at home and distinctly unrepublican ones abroad; or put another way, if imperial practices spread far enough beyond the republic's borders and gain enough traction out there in the imperium, sooner or later they also make the reverse journey home, and then you have a crisis in -- or simply the destruction of -- the republic itself. The urge of the Bush administration to bring versions of the methods it's applying abroad back home is already palpable; the urge to free the President, as "commander-in-chief" in the "war on terror," from all the old fetters, those boring, restraining checks and balances, those inconvenient liberties won by Americans -- so constraining, so troublesome to deal with -- is equally palpable.

Long , long article about the encroachment into all our lives, and then this jewel:

Strange as it may seem, the Air Force has also gotten into the local surveillance act as well with an "Eagle Eyes" anti-terrorism initiative which "enlists" average citizens in the "war on terror." The Eagle Eyes' website tells viewers: "You and your family are encouraged to learn the categories of suspicious behavior" and it exhorts the public to drop a dime to "a network of local, 24-hour phone numbers… whenever a suspicious activity is observed." Just what, then, constitutes "suspicious activity"? Well, among activities worth alerting the flying eagles to, there's the use of cameras (either still or video), note taking of any sort, making annotations on maps, or using binoculars (birdwatchers beware!). And what other patterns of behavior does the Air Force think should send you running to the phone? A surefire indicator of terrorists afoot: "Suspicious persons out of place…. People who don't seem to belong in the workplace, neighborhood, business establishment, or anywhere else." Just ponder that one for a moment -- and, if you ever get lost, be afraid, very afraid…

While the Air Force does grudgingly admit that "this category is hard to define," it offers a classic you-know-it-when-you-see-it definition for calling your local eagle: "The point is that people know what looks right and what doesn't look right in their neighborhoods, office spaces, commutes [sic], etc, and if a person just doesn't seem like he or she belongs…" An… ahem… urban looking youth* in a suburban white community? Call it in! A crusty punk near Wall Street? Drop a dime! A woman near the White House wearing an anti-war t-shirt. Well, that's an out-of-category no-brainer!

*PC Doublespeak for "nigger".

And, in fact, much of this has already begun to come true. After all, "suspicious persons out of place" now do get arrested in the new Homeland Security State for such offenses as wearing anti-Bush t-shirts, carrying anti-Bush signs or just heckling the president. Today, even displaying an anti-Bush sticker is, in the words of the Secret Service, apparently "borderline terrorism." Holding a sign that reads, "This war is Bushit," warrants a citation from the cops and, as an eleven year old boy found out, the sheriff might come calling on you if you utter "anti-American" statements -- while parents may be questioned by law enforcement officials to ascertain if they're teaching "anti-American values" at home.

I've been going on in the past few days about a certain "Old European" trend in this country, like from Nazi Germany and East Germany. This "suspicious persons out of place" deal is designed to cow us into becoming the Ideal Citizen: Go to work, go home, consume in mass quantities, pay your taxes, don't go where you're not "supposed" to and shut the fuck up. Also, snitching people off just because you don't like them is a time-honored tradition. We will be a nation of Rat Bastids, all for "security", of course, so that's OK.

Brush up on the "elements of probable cause". Mere suspicion does not constitute probable cause. Not quite yet, but we're getting there.

As far as stifling dissent, we need more dissent. We need Vietnam-era dissent, constant and loud. I think the upcoming draft will actually help this. When they start drafting the average young American spoiled brat, you won't need a TV to hear the outcry, but that's a whole 'nother subject. We need so much dissent that if they lock every dissenter up, the country will come to a screeching halt. Hopefully in time to keep Bush from driving this country off a cliff.

The article is Part 1 of who knows how many. Go read. Stay tuned.

Well, exactly

This fellow in Memphis sums it up pretty well.

Anytime a program is proposed to help the American people, Republicans cry, "There's not enough money. How will we pay for it?"

However, there's always, always enough money for folly.

The Payoff

Here's the problem:

Bush needs a few European allies to legitimize his preemptive, optional, poorly-planned war with Iraq.

Here's the deal:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy on Friday gave a transatlantic team led by Lockheed Martin Corp. a $1.7 billion contract to build a new fleet of 23 U.S. presidential helicopters, a deal valued at up to $6.1 billion.

The decision was a stunning setback for Connecticut-based United Technologies Corp.'s Sikorsky Aircraft unit — which for nearly 50 years has built and maintained the green and white "Marine One" helicopters that fly the president.

[. . .]

Here's the payoff:

[. . .]

The deal attracted international attention, with Prime Ministers Tony Blair of Britain and Silvio Berlusconi of Italy personally pressing President Bush on behalf of Lockheed's British-Italian design.

[. . .]

Lockheed Vice President Stephen Ramsey said 65 percent of the US101 would be built in the United States, with the remaining 35 percent to be split between Britain and Italy.

[. . .]

This is the bone Bush is throwing his two little poodles. Blair and Berlusconi jumped on the Iraq bandwagon from the get-go and they're being rewarded for their oral talents. A bit better than Monica was, huh?

Opposing Torture

Okay, so I finally signed the petition on behalf of the Brain. I'm a little slow.

Update: 11:45:

Well said. RUFNKM:

. . . In our view, Gonzales is not fit to be Attorney General. Anyone who claims 9/11 is an excuse for a nation to act barbaric has no business in law enforcement.

Saturday Cattle Dog Blogging

It's good to be the Princess.

Myths

Gillard debunks hackery.

What John Stossel does not tell you is that vouchers would not give kids access to a private education. When asked by the New York Observer, leading private schools like Collegiate, Dalton and Spence pretty much said no way in hell would they take voucher kids, meaning, no niggers from Harlem unless they fit in. The sad reality is vouchers are a racist fraud. They use poor blacks as the shield, but the ultimate goal is to funnel money to white segregationist academies in the South. They will be the largest beneficiaries of a voucher program as poor whites flee the public school system. While public schools are defunded, these legacies of Brown would have billions of state dollars to run their schools with little public accountability.

Parents might get a fraction of what they need, Catholic Schools would take that money, but if the kid couldn't deal, it's back to the underfunded public school.

But Stossel went to Camden not Savannah to make his point.

Oh yeah, Jesse Jackson didn't ask for tax money to send his kid to school. [my emphasis]

Incest

Well, not really, but it got your attention, didn't it? What I am doing is, as the Jews call it, kvelling (Translation: what a Jewish mother does when her son actually does become a doctor). Many of you know of the satirical bunch over at Billionaires for Bush. Well, the lady who does the radio spots, Miss Xena Phobe, is my cousin through marriage (Her husband is Mrs. F's cousin). She's good, and does voiceovers and audiobooks for a living. They're soliciting scripts over there, so if you have a rapier wit and a grasp of satire, give it a look-see. She took my little quip about the Gun Show Channel. I'll let you know if they use it.

Git this new Winchester repeatin' rahfle for only fahr-nanty-nan'. Git it today wit' Val-U-Pay, sev'nty two payments on yer credit card. And today only on the Gun Show Channel, no background check. By golly, y'all kin be Ted Bundy and we don't care, we'll even throw in fahve hunnert rounds of full metal jacketed, 150 grain, Manstoppers feh-ree if y'all order in the next ten minutes. Son, Ah don' care if you is in Meridian, Mississippi or Noo York, we'll ship this baby out to ya overnight and no extree charge.

Wal-Mart....Progressive?

The bible-thumpers are in for a surprise today as their favorite shopping mecca, Wal-Mart, has announced that it is expanding its employee ethics policy to include civil unions and domestic partnerships, gay or heterosexual, under its definition of "immediate family." No doubt, this is due to the influence of having SpongeBob Square Pants products on the shelves.

What's next, the Queer Eye guys promoting Wally World fashions and home decor?

Cheney at Auschwitz

As big an embarrassment as the Chimp. The Rude Pundit.

Good on 'em

Good Christians:

[. . .]

"Absolutely, the UCC [United Church of Christ] extends an unequivocal welcome to SpongeBob," the Rev. John H. Thomas, the UCC's general minister and president, said, only partly in jest. "Jesus didn't turn people away. Neither do we."

[. . .]

Note to Wingnuts. That's what Jesus would do, you idiots.

More from Tom at Corrente.

Revelations

More conservative Republican (are we better now, CAFKIA?) pundits on Goebbels' . . er, Rove's payroll. Details at Shakespeare's Sister.

It's Friday. Yay!! The reason I'm happy is that it's the last day I'll have to work at temperatures of 7 with a wind chill of -15 for a while. Sucks being a mechanic in the winter. It was easier when I was young.

Hope?

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli leader Ariel Sharon said on Thursday conditions were right for a "historic breakthrough" on Middle East peace after measures taken by new Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to bring calm.

He said that if Palestinians worked to "fight terror," then Israel could move forward with a U.S.-backed peace "road map" meant to lead to a Palestinian state.

"I believe the conditions have been created to permit us and the Palestinians to reach an historic breakthrough, a breakthrough that will lead us to security and peace," Sharon told a business forum.

[. . .]

Now, I trust Sharon and his Likuds about as far as I trust Bush and the Neocons. About as far as I can piss into a force nine gale. So far he's managed to fuck the Palestinians, rightly or wrongly, on a regular basis. However I welcome any attempts to reach some sort of accommodation in the region. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the root causes of terrorism. With the grandaddy of the modern terrorist movement (Arafat) dead, and Abu Mazen seeming to keep the peace since the election, it actually allows one to hope that peace might actually be an option. Too bad Bill Clinton wasn't here to take advantage of the opportunity. Remember the Troubles in Northern Ireland? When was the last time you heard the acronym IRA referred to something other than an investment plan?

Teddy

Today:

We thought in those early days in Vietnam that we were winning. We thought the skill and courage of our troops was enough. We thought that victory on the battlefield would lead to victory in war, and peace and democracy for the people of Vietnam.

[. . .]

We cannot allow history to repeat itself in Iraq. We must learn from our mistakes in Vietnam and in Iraq. We must recognize what a large and growing number of Iraqis now believe the war in Iraq has become a war against the American occupation.

[. . .]

The elections in Iraq this weekend provide an opportunity for a fresh and honest approach. We need a new plan that sets fair and realistic goals for self-government in Iraq, and works with the Iraqi government on a specific timetable for the honorable homecoming of our forces.

[. . .]

And of course the Repubs had something to say about Kennedy's 'treasonous' talk.

Republican National Committee spokesman Brian Jones criticized Kennedy’s timing.

“Its remarkable that Sen. Kennedy would deliver such an overtly pessimistic message only days before the Iraqi election,” said Jones. “Kennedy’s partisan political attack stands in stark contrast to President Bush’s vision of spreading freedom around the world.”

[. . .]

Why is it that all the folks with some sense compare 'Bush's vision' in Iraq to Vietnam? I mean, if the shoe fits, right? I'm hoping and praying that the Iraqi people can pull off this election on Sunday, for their sakes and in spite of what Chimp-boy does. After three decades of Saddam and two years of Bush, they deserve a break.

Take a minute

Sixty years ago today, the camp at Auschwitz was liberated. BBC:

[. . .]

At least 1.5 million children were murdered by the Nazi regime between the years 1933 and 1945. The vast majority were Jewish, but disabled children, Roma children and children in the occupied territories were also killed as a direct result of Nazi policies. The lives of hundreds of thousands of other children were also significantly affected.

Only an estimated 11 per cent of Jewish children alive in 1933 survived until 1945.

10,000 Jewish children came to Britain on Kindertransport - listen to and read some of their stories and find out how the Nazis treated children

Six million Jews were killed by the Nazis last century. It's estimated that 15 million people died in total. These included Slavs, Gypsies, homosexuals, disabled people, anyone of African descent, Christian pastors and Catholic priests, Jehovah's Witnesses and many more individuals who for one reason or another, were regarded as degenerates or considered racially inferior.

[. . .]

Take a minute and say a prayer for all who have, and will, die at the hands of tyrants. If you're in Europe, you owe it to yourself to take a tour of one of the camps. It was one of the most moving experiences of my life.

Update: 15:35:

Gord turned me on to this in comments.

Maggie On Babs

No, it's not a new mail-order-only video. Margaret Carlson writes about Senator Boxer in the LATimes:

You wouldn't know it from reading the newspapers, but Sen. Barbara Boxer served her country valiantly last week. In her grilling of Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice, Boxer finally named the elephant in the hearing room, which is more than the war itself. It's the lies that got us there.

For her trouble, Boxer was blasted — even by those who agreed with her — not so much on substance but on style (my emphasis). Sen. Robert Byrd gets called "irascible." Why can't women get called irascible? It's so much nicer than the other words we get called.

Style? This is a fucking street fight, folks. Style be damned. Kickin', bitin', gougin', stompin'- those count. Win or die.

The Los Angeles Daily News accused Boxer of embarrassing herself with uncivil bombast. "The edge in her voice was jarring," wrote the San Francisco Chronicle. The Washington Post's Colbert King took on Boxer for "slurring Rice." In blog- land, Boxer was called, among other things, "old, burnt out, shrill and saggy looking."

Ah, what do they know? Babs got me so hard a cat couldn't scratch it.

Perhaps a more diplomatic interrogation could have saved herself some grief. But it's hard to find that pitch-perfect voice within the range of civility on these subjects. On Wednesday, the U.S. suffered its biggest one-day loss in Iraq. The war's body count is at 1,400. Insurgents vow a bloodbath on Sunday. In Washington, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice sail on, and everybody's mad at Barbara Boxer.

Good tactic: Shoot the messenger. If I was a boot-lickin' congressoid, Sen. Boxer's actions would shame me to the point my testicles might just pop back out. Good on ya, Babs, and thanks, Maggie, for pointing these things out.

End-Timers & Neo-Cons

I'm getting some good stuff lately from conservatives that are nearly as pissed off at Bush as I am. I am glad to see this.

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy during 1981-82. He was also Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He writes in ZNet:

America has blundered into a needless and dangerous war, and fully half of the country's population is enthusiastic. Many Christians think that war in the Middle East signals "end times" and that they are about to be wafted up to heaven. Many patriots think that, finally, America is standing up for itself and demonstrating its righteous might. Conservatives are taking out their Vietnam frustrations on Iraqis. Karl Rove is wrapping Bush in the protective cloak of war leader. The military-industrial complex is drooling over the profits of war. And neoconservatives are laying the groundwork for Israeli territorial expansion.

In the ranks of the new conservatives, however, I see and experience much hate. It comes to me in violently worded, ignorant and irrational emails from self-professed conservatives who literally worship George Bush. Even Christians have fallen into idolatry. There appears to be a large number of Americans who are prepared to kill anyone for George Bush.

The Iraqi War is serving as a great catharsis for multiple conservative frustrations: job loss, drugs, crime, homosexuals, pornography, female promiscuity, abortion, restrictions on prayer in public places, Darwinism and attacks on religion. Liberals are the cause. Liberals are against America. Anyone against the war is against America and is a liberal. "You are with us or against us."

This is the mindset of delusion, and delusion permits no facts or analysis. Blind emotion rules. Americans are right and everyone else is wrong. End of the debate.

The conservative movement that I grew up in did not share the liberals' abiding faith in government. "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Today it is liberals, not conservatives, who endeavor to defend civil liberties from the state. Conservatives have been won around to the old liberal view that as long as government power is in their hands, there is no reason to fear it or to limit it. Thus, the Patriot Act, which permits government to suspend a person's civil liberty by calling him a terrorist with or without proof. Thus, preemptive war, which permits the President to invade other countries based on unverified assertions.

There is nothing conservative about these positions. To label them conservative is to make the same error as labeling the 1930s German Brownshirts conservative.

When the draft is reinstated, conservatives will loudly proclaim their pride that their sons, fathers, husbands and brothers are going to die for "our freedom." Not a single one of them will be able to explain why destroying Iraqi cities and occupying the ruins are necessary for "our freedom." But this inability will not lessen the enthusiasm for the project. To protect their delusions from "reality-based" critics, they will demand that the critics be arrested for treason and silenced. Many encouraged by talk radio already speak this way.

Because of the triumph of delusional "new conservatives" and the demise of the liberal media, this war is different from the Vietnam war. As more Americans are killed and maimed in the pointless carnage, more Americans have a powerful emotional stake that the war not be lost and not be in vain. Trapped in violence and unable to admit mistake, a reckless administration will escalate.

Good article. I just hit a few high spots, so go read. What's scaring me these days is that I don't get quite as concerned as I used to when I find myself agreeing with a conservative viewpoint. That's how bad things are becoming. It'll be good to gang up against Bush and defeat him. Then we can go back to fighting amongst ourselves. This is crazy, but I look forward to it like I never have before.

Democracy, Inc.

From the Corporate Crime Reporter:

Robert Kennedy Jr. last week accused President George Bush of being “the most corrupt and immoral President that we have had in American history.”

Kennedy is touring the country promoting his new book, Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and his Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy (HarperCollins, 2004).

In the book, Kennedy implies that we live in a fascist country and that the Bush White House has learned key lessons from the Nazis.

“While communism is the control of business by government, fascism is the control of government by business,” he writes. “My American Heritage Dictionary defines fascism as ‘a system of government that exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership together with belligerent nationalism.’ Sound familiar?”

He quotes Hitler’s propaganda chief Herman Goerring: “It is always a simply a matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”

Kennedy then adds: “The White House has clearly grasped the lesson.”

Kennedy also quotes Benito Mussolini’s insight that “fascism should more appropriately be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power.”

I think Bush&Co. are very selective in their choice of things passed down from "Old Europe".

I'd rather a BJ

In terms of presidential indiscretions anyway. Stolen from Travis:

Today in history

Was it really only seven years ago [audio clip]? Remember the good old days when a scandal was about a blowjob not torture policies and the obstruction of voting? Bring back cigars and thong underwear!

Soul, or the lack thereof

Wolcott:

[. . .]

When Bush did address the soldiers' deaths, he said that we "weep and mourn" when Americans die, but as he was saying it his hand was flatly smacking downwards for emphasis, as if he were pounding the table during the business meeting, refusing to pay a lot for a muffler. The steady beat of his hand was at odds with the sentiments he was expressing--he didn't look or sound the least bit mournful or sombre. And why should he? Death doesn't seem to be a bringdown for him. There isn't the slightest evidence that he experiences the anguish LBJ did as casualties mounted in Vietnam. His record as chief executioner in Texas is of a man for whom the death of another is an administrative detail, a power exercise. As Sister Helen Prejean wrote in The New York Review of Books:

[. . .]

Bush has no soul and looks at our troops as numbers in a ledger. He doesn't care how many die, how many American lives, and families, he destroys, let alone all of the innocent Iraqis killed in the last 2 years. At risk of sounding like a Jesuslander, Bush is the Devil's henchman.

Liberators

Cartoon via Ezra.