United States government, 2005: If it walks like a goose… (Part II) (tags)
Part I (http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/020905Drolette/020905drolette.html) compared Bush administration actions to the first seven of fourteen “basic characteristics” Laurence W. Britt claims (in his article “Fascism Anyone?”) typify fascistic regimes. Here’s a similar look at the list’s back end:
Empire and Social Insecurity: Battle Plans of This White House (tags)
It was hard to sit still and watch his smug bully’s face during the February 2 State of the Union speech. It was infuriating to watch the standing ovations of the surrounding Congress, or hear the fawning patter of the news media.
In official traditions, the President tells Congress each year how the "Union" (meaning the United States) is doing. In reality, the State of the Union speech is a "bully pulpit" where presidents build public support for their next actions.
George W. Bush didn’t dare breathe a word of truth about the real "State of the Union." Bush couldn’t mention how most of the planet thinks he is a bloody cowboy who wants to rule like a new Roman emperor. He didn’t mention how the invasion of Iraq has turned into a brutal counterinsurgency. He didn’t discuss how bitterly the U.S. "homeland" is divided between "two Americas"—half of which hates the sight of him.
Revolutionaries, reporters and film crews assembled on Friday morning for a "Press Conference and Anti-Inaugural Banquet." It was held near Howard University at Café Manowaj, a cool and funky hang-out run by a crew of radical South Africans. Steaming breakfast dishes (named for people’s heroes and historical highpoints) soon appeared. Indymedia and RW reporters tended to order Amandla eggs. The Fox-5 TV guy was all over the Paris Commune French Toast. (His footage of our red-flag-filled cowboy-hat stomping made the 5 o’clock news that night.)
Sunsara Taylor: Are there any born-agains in the house who are deep into biblical armageddon prophesies? No? In that case, I first need to first walk you all through my ‘Armageddon Crash Course for post-Enlightenment Thinkers’....
At this very moment millions of people are being seduced into going for simple, good-versus-evil answers to the agonizing and growing complexities of the world. They are consumed with the coming Judgment Day, the return of Jesus, Armageddon, the Rapture.
The Crusade for God and Global Conquest (tags)
“America, in this young century, proclaims liberty throughout all the world, and to all the inhabitants thereof.”
—George W. Bush, second inaugural speech
“You think you know...but you have no idea...just what Bush has in store for...you...us...the world...our future!”
—Opening lines of the RCP’s statement
"The Battle for the Future Will Be Fought from Here Forward!"George W. Bush swaggered to the podium of his inauguration and said he would put before "every ruler and every nation" a choice over whether to embrace his vision of "freedom." (Kinda like how the Godfather makes you an "offer you can’t refuse.")
Rat in a Drain Ditch, Caught on a Limb (tags)
It’s been a long, dark, strange trip these past three-plus years, but rejoice, dear readers: Bush is toast! How can this be, you ask, and how can one be so sure? Read on, and be ye comforted: Find out why the Bushman goeth come November.
Why does Kerry sound like Bush? (tags)
According to the logic of the Democratic Party establishment and their mouthpieces, the only candidate that can beat Bush is the one that’s just as tough as Bush. As for people who actually want to see an end to Bush’s rotten reign--people who opposed the war on Iraq and Bush’s giveaways to Corporate America--they should keep quiet, while Kerry moves to the right to look for more votes.
If it’s war you want, vote Kerry (tags)
As the Bush administration comes under increasing fire for its decision to attack Iraq, the Democratic contender, John F. Kerry, is profiting from his perceived status as a critic of Bush’s foreign policy. A patrician grandee with a pleasing mix of liberal and patriotic views might seem to many Americans a welcome relief from the bellicose Texan with his faux swagger and his team of men who seem to have ‘military-industrial complex’ written across their menacing foreheads. But if anti-war Americans do elect Kerry for that reason, they will have duped themselves. Warmongering will be worse under Kerry than under Bush, and real peaceniks should therefore vote for Dubya.
Scary, Scary John Kerry (tags)
Well at least Kerry is an environmentalist though, right? Not exactly. Despite John Kerry’s cozy relationship with ghoulish green organizations like the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters, he should not be mistaken for a friend of nature. Kerry does not support the Kyoto Protocol, and as he told Grist Magazine in an interview last year, “[The Kyoto agreement] doesn't ask enough of developing nations, the nations that are going to be producing much greater emissions and which we need to get on the right course now through technology transfer.” Somebody should mention to Senator Kerry that currently, despite the US accounting for only 4% of the world's population, we still emit over a quarter of the globe’s Co2. But no, Kerry won’t call on the US to set an example to developing countries, that would asking too much of the US. And just last year Kerry decided not to cast a vote against a portion of Bush’s chainsaw Forest Plan (HR 1904), which authorized $760 million to thin out dense national forests under the pretext of increasing ecosystem health. This, combined with his support for Fast Track legislation, bombing of Afghanistan, and chemical fumigation in Colombia to counter coca and opium production -- provides us with a clear indication that not only is Kerry not an environmentalist, he’s also not that good at pretending to be.
Kerry Indicates He Would Continue Bush’s Pro-Sharon Policy (tags)
Abraham Foxman, the Anti-Defamation League’s national director, who was present at a recent meeting in New York City between Kerry and 40 Jewish leaders, reported that Kerry laid "to rest a nagging concern - that relentless Democratic criticism of Bush’s foreign policy implied criticism of Bush’s closeness to Israel." This is according to Ron Kampeas in a column published in The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. The article further quotes Foxman as saying that Kerry "tried to exempt Israel from the [Democrat's] critique of Bush’s foreign policy." According to Kampeas, Foxman characterized Kerry as "agree[ing] with administration policy on isolating Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, [and] supporting Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan for unilateral withdrawal from Gaza and on the security fence."
A challenge to the politics of "lesser evilism" (tags)
This year, the man who is likely to win the nomination--John Kerry--has a reputation as a "liberal." Yet he voted for the Patriot Act, for the war on Iraq, for Bush’s "No Child Left Behind" law, for the North American Free Trade Agreement--and now he is on record opposing gay marriage and supporting the continued U.S. occupation of Iraq.
Building Bridges Radio-Bush's Plan for Immigrants (tags)
Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report presents this 27 minute Radio Program. TO LISTEN CLICK ON WEB LINK
Democrats are just as committed to advancing U.S. military, economic and political power across the globe as the Republicans. The means may differ between them. But the ends have always been the same.
The needs of the few apparently outweigh the needs of the many when it comes to quenching California's thirst