Funny, how freedom and democracy should be strictly enforced in other countries only

http://blog.dankim.com/2006/02/10/fascism%...american-style/

Fascism—American Style

Posted on Friday 10 February 2006

I recently read an article that pointed me to Dr. Lawrence Britt’s essay on the Fourteen Defining Characteristics of Fascism. For those of you not familiar with the essay, I’ve posted it below as taken from rense.com.

Fourteen 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.

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. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

6. Controlled Mass Media—Sometimes to 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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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 and letters is openly attacked.

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.

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.

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.

Now let’s take a look at each of Britt’s fourteen points, and how America, in 2006, under the Bush Presidency Regime is faring.

Powerful and Continuing Nationalism—I would have to say that this is definitely present. When the Bush regime believes it can dictate world policy unilaterally, what else can it be.

Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights—Also present…we just have to look at Abu Ghraib, the Attorney General’s previous approval of torture as White House Counsel, the NSA spying on US citizens without warrants, and the long history of the Bush regime’s behavior towards human rights.

Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause—The scapegoats and enemies of the state in this case are the ever-lurking fundamentalist Islamic terrorists. Why else would the Bush regime be fighting a “War on Fundamentalism.” Nevermind, that the fundamentalist Christians are just as bad in many ways, and are in power in the Bush regime. Part of the reason I think Osama bin Laden has never been captured is the necessity for him as the Al Qaeda Boogeyman for the Bush regime.

Supremacy of the Military—Check, yup, the military is getting a big fat check, and the lower and middle class are getting royally screwed. Too bad that GWB didn’t see fit to equip our soldiers properly, before sending them off to get killed in a pointless and endless “War on Fundamentalism.”

Rampant Sexism—This is a bit more subtle, but if you look, you will see that abortion rights and the rights of homosexuals are being covert assault as Britt points out.

Controlled Mass Media—Also a bit more subtle than some of the other points. How many of the mainstream media actually were willing to publish the Danish editorial cartoons. How much has the media made of the repeated highly illegal and ethically questionable actions of the Bush regime over the last six years.

Obsession with National Security—The Bush regime has mastered using the “Threat Level” for political gain. They have little hesitation about using fear-mongering to further their political goals, as seen just after the 2004 Democratic National Convention, when the Bush regime raised the threat level based on out-of-date information. The “War on Fundamentalism” is framed as such an issue that many civil rights must be given up in order for it to succeed.

Religion and Government are Intertwined—Also true, as the neo-conservatives are closely allied with the Christian conservative right. Look at their positions on abortion, the death penalty, assisted suicide, and other issues.

Corporate Power is Protected—Also true. Look at who is benefitting from the “War on Fundamentalism” and the resulting high oil prices—Halliburton, the defense industry, and the oil industry… where do the Bush regime leaders have their roots…Halliburton, the defense industry, and the oil industry. I guess Britt’s “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” appears to hold quite true here as well. Also, look at the Digital Millenium Copyright Act and other attempts to quash, previously legal, fair use of copyrighted materials.

Labor Power is Suppressed—I don’t really see any signs of this. If I am missing something obvious, please let me know.

Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts—Censoring a NASA scientist… hmm, I guess that would qualify. The lack of defense for the Danish cartoons would probably also qualify here… in a country that is founded on the right to freely express oneself… how sad.

Obsession with Crime and Punishment—Britt says, “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.” This would probably cover the warrantless wiretaps, and the use of the military and local police to spy on anti-war protest groups.

Rampant Cronyism and Corruption—I guess this is pretty well covered too. Vice Fascist President Dick Cheney used to run Halliburton, and Halliburton got a majority of the military contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan. George C. Deutsch worked on GWB’s Presidental theft campaign, and he got appointed to censor NASA, even though he was hardly qualified. Another glaring example is the failure of FEMA after Hurricane Katrina due to Bush regime crony Michael Brown not having a clue about emergency management. Another good example of cronyism is Kevin Warsh, who was recently appointed by GWB to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors as seen here

Fraudulent Elections—Here’s another good point in case. Although it hasn’t ever been proved, or even been questioned, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Bush regime stole the elections in 2000 and 2004.

In 2000, the election was decided by a Supreme Court, with a Republican-appointed majority; in a state where: the Secretary of State, Katherine Harris, worked as a campaign manager on the Bush Presidential election campaign and did not recuse herself from making decision regarding his election and stopped the hand re-count; and the governor, Jeb Bush, is the brother of the Presidential candidate in question.

In 2004, the election was decided by two states: Ohio, where the CEO of Diebold— manufacturer of many of the electronic voting machines used in the state—swore he would do everything to deliver the votes of the state of Ohio to the Bush candidacy, and the voting machines in question had no verifiable audit system and have since proven to be easily manipulated; and Florida, where problems plagued the ability of predominantly Democratic voters due to voter registration problems, and the state’s governor was still the brother of the candidate.

Also, please note, that the Bush regime stated that the exit polls in Ohio, which showed Kerry as winning the state, as not accurate—yet exit polls are generally used for that same purpose in monitoring other elections in other countries by our government.

I guess the Bush regime has brought fascism home to America. All hail King George….wait…wasn’t this country founded because of another idiot tyrant named King George. Maybe another revolution is in order.

Again, in terms of full disclosure, I did not vote for GWB in either election, so I am not guillty of supporting and abetting his fascist tactics and behavior. I am a Democrat, but I do not blindly support a party that has failed to pull itself together to confront the fascist behavior by the current government.

JohnL. wiped your pathetic 'Fascism' argument long ago which, if I recall correctly, was your final undoing in the Bearpit!

Bored today Butterfy?

Policing Porn Is Not Part of Job Description

Montgomery Homeland Security Officers Reassigned After Library Incident

By Cameron W. Barr

Washington Post Staff Writer

Friday, February 17, 2006; Page B08

Two uniformed men strolled into the main room of the Little Falls library in Bethesda one day last week and demanded the attention of all patrons using the computers. Then they made their announcement: The viewing of Internet pornography was forbidden.

The men looked stern and wore baseball caps emblazoned with the words "Homeland Security." The bizarre scene unfolded Feb. 9

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6021602066.html

Policing Porn Is Not Part of Job Description

Montgomery Homeland Security Officers Reassigned After Library Incident

By Cameron W. Barr

Washington Post Staff Writer

Friday, February 17, 2006; Page B08

Two uniformed men strolled into the main room of the Little Falls library in Bethesda one day last week and demanded the attention of all patrons using the computers. Then they made their announcement: The viewing of Internet pornography was forbidden.

The men looked stern and wore baseball caps emblazoned with the words "Homeland Security." The bizarre scene unfolded Feb. 9

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6021602066.html

Everyone knows that the only people who view porn online are perverts, child-molestors and Democrats, all "Enemies of the State". Thus it is the DHS's job to crack down on these subversive activities, because viewing porn ultimately leads to terrorism !

My nuts went to sleep reading that.

B'fly's version of communistic bush-hating manifesto.

Why don't you go live where your views are supported?

Maoist controlled Nepal or northeast tribal Afghanistan seems to fit the bill these days.

Oh ... that's right ... in addition to being an admitted communist, you're also a gloating hypocrite!

'Nuf said!

Oh ... that's right ... in addition to being an admitted communist, you're also a gloating hypocrite!

'Nuf said!

'Nuff said, indeed.

Some of you guys need to unclench your sphincters a bit and stop taking life so seriously. It's a hidden forum on a website so I doubt we're gonna doom/save the world here. Just relax, shoot the sh1t, and try not to get so wound up about it.

cv

... so I doubt we're gonna doom/save the world here.

It's healthy to have an opinion and to state and to have the balls to stand up and defend one's opinion. If the world was full of unopinionated vegetables, then Hitler or Stalin would have been running the show.

B'fly's version of communistic bush-hating manifesto.

Why don't you go live where your views are supported?

Maoist controlled Nepal or northeast tribal Afghanistan seems to fit the bill these days.

Oh ... that's right ... in addition to being an admitted communist, you're also a gloating hypocrite!

'Nuf said!

Spee ! I'm shocked !

It took you over 12 hours to respond to that post ! I thought you'd be all over it in minutes

I agree (somewhat) with your post. Having lived in Canada, Germany, Thailand and Afghanistan, I'd much rather live in the "west".

Funny thing about Nepal. We had something like 150 Nepalese workers in our camp in Kabul. Nicest, hardest working guys we had. I trained dozens of them how to operate things like Bobcat excavators, forklifts and All Terrain vehicles (we didn't have a lot of heavy equipment in the camp).

Out of all of them, I think there was 2, maybe 3 of them that didn't have a non-stop smile on their face. In general, they were saddened by what was happening in their home country. They didn't approve of the Maoists, and thought that those whackos (my term) were hurting their country, not helping it.

There are many arm-chair protesters out there, ready to rant on about conditions in other countries, all from the safety and comfort of the "western" nation they live in. Few, if any of them, have the strength of conviction to actually go to those countries and protest there.

For example, when Suharto was still in power he attended an APEC conference in Vancouver. Protesters lined up to demonstrate against him, and ended up getting into scuffles with the police. The police caught some serious flak afterwards, as some officers were seen as being a little too liberal with their use of pepper spray (not those little cans you carry in your pocket, but sprayers the size of those fire extinguishers you carry in your car).

Some of the protesters arrested listed their occupations as professional agitators ! Living off of welfare, they travel from place to place trying to stir up trouble. Yet none of them would have had the balls to go to Indonesia and protest against Suharto there.

Funny how some of those people use the rights and freedoms given to them, to protest against the very people that gave them those rights !

Oh ... that's right ... in addition to being an admitted communist, you're also a gloating hypocrite!

'Nuf said!

'Nuff said, indeed.

Great post

Everyone knows that the only people who view porn online are perverts, child-molestors and Democrats, all "Enemies of the State". Thus it is the DHS's job to crack down on these subversive activities, because viewing porn ultimately leads to terrorism !

Exactly, that's why need to crush the opposition

Oh ... that's right ... in addition to being an admitted communist, you're also a gloating hypocrite!

'Nuf said!

'Nuff said, indeed.

Great post

Right, for a change!

... so I doubt we're gonna doom/save the world here.

It's healthy to have an opinion and to state and to have the balls to stand up and defend one's opinion. If the world was full of unopinionated vegetables, then Hitler or Stalin would have been running the show.

But wait, aren't you also defending the idea that democrats and the opposition have only the right to shutup ?

Aren't you the one who is defending the Bush propaganda against others propanganda ? and demonizing people with strong opinions when they don't share yours ?

Aren't you hypocritly advocating that people become "unopinionated vegetables" so that your government doesn't have to fight so hard to defend its propaganda agenda ?

Under Hitler, or Stalin, you Spee, would have been the perfect "snitch" to help the government prevails. Under the Vichy government, you would have been a "collabo", snitching your own citizens to defend the party line.

You should be proud

... and do a Google for a little surprise and entertainment.

Try this: "Hitler Bush".

Have fun...

... and do a Google for a little surprise and entertainment.

Try this: "Hitler Bush".

Have fun...

And here I was expecting nudie pics of Eva Braun

cv

I did a quick Google

31 Similarities Between Hitler and President Bush

by Edward Jayne

www.dissidentvoice.org

August 29, 2004

(revised from an earlier version posted March 29, 2003)

When President Bush decided to invade Iraq, his spokesmen began comparing Saddam Hussein to Adolph Hitler, the most monstrous figure in modern history. Everybody was therefore shocked when a high German bureaucrat turned the tables by comparing Bush himself with Hitler. As to be expected, she (the bureaucrat) was forced to resign because of her extreme disrespect for an American president. However, the resemblance sticks--there are too many similarities to be ignored, some of which may be listed here.

1.

Like Hitler, President Bush was not elected by a majority, but was forced to engage in political maneuvering in order to gain office.

2.

Like Hitler, Bush began to curtail civil liberties in response to a well-publicized disaster, in Hitler’s case the Reichstag fire, in Bush’s case the 9-11 catastrophe.

3.

Like Hitler, Bush went on to pursue a reckless foreign policy without the mandate of the electorate and despite the opposition of most foreign nations.

4.

Like Hitler, Bush has increased his popularity with conservative voters by mounting an aggressive public relations campaign against foreign enemies. Just as Hitler cited international communism to justify Germany’s military buildup, Bush has used Al Qaeda and the so-called Axis of Evil to justify our current military buildup. Paradoxically none of the nations in this axis--Iraq, Iran and North Korea--have had anything to do with each other.

5.

Like Hitler, Bush has promoted militarism in the midst of economic recession (or depression as it was called during the thirties). First he used war preparations to help subsidize defense industries (Halliburton, Bechtel, Carlyle Group, etc.) and presumably the rest of the economy on a trickle-down basis. Now he turns to the very same corporations to rebuild Iraq, again without competitive bidding and at extravagant profit levels.

6.

Like Hitler, Bush displays great populist enthusiasm in his patriotic speeches, but primarily serves wealthy investors who subsidize his election campaigns and share with him their comfortable lifestyle. As he himself jokes, he treats these individuals at the pinnacle of our economy as his true political “base.”

7.

Like Hitler, Bush envisages our nation’s unique historic destiny almost as a religious cause sanctioned by God. Just as Hitler did for Germany, he takes pride in his “providential” role in spreading his version of Americanism throughout the entire world.

8.

Like Hitler, Bush promotes a future world order that guarantees his own nation’s hegemonic supremacy rather than cooperative harmony under the authority of the United Nations (or League of Nations).

9.

Like Hitler, Bush quickly makes and breaks diplomatic ties, and he offers generous promises that he soon abandons, as in the cases of Mexico, Russia, Afghanistan, and even New York City. The same goes for U.S. domestic programs. Once Bush was elected, many leaders of these programs learned to dread his making any kind of an appearance to praise their success, since this was almost inevitably followed by severe cuts in their budgets.

10.

Like Hitler, Bush scraps international treaties, most notably the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the Biological Weapons Convention, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the Convention on the Prohibition of Land Mines, the Chemical Weapons Convention, the Kyoto Global Warming Accord, and the International Criminal Court.

11.

Like Hitler, Bush repeats lies often enough that they come to be accepted as the truth. Bush and his spokesmen argued, for example, that they had taken every measure possible to avoid war, than an invasion of Iraq would diminish (not intensify) the terrorist threat against the U.S., that Iraq was linked with Al Qaeda, and that nothing whatsoever had been achieved by U.N. inspectors to warrant the postponement of U.S. invasion plans. All of this was false. They also insisted that Iraq hid numerous weapons it did not possess since the mid-190s, and they refused to acknowledge the absence of a nuclear weapons program in Iraq since the early nineties. As perhaps to be expected, they indignantly accused others of deception and evasiveness.

12.

Like Hitler, Bush incessantly shifted his arguments to justify invading Iraq--from Iraq’s WMD threat to the elimination of Saddam Hussein, to his supposed Al Qaeda connection, to the creation of Iraqi democracy in the Middle East as a model for neighboring states, and back again to the WMD threat. As soon as one excuse for the war was challenged, Bush advanced to another, but only to shift back again at another time.

13.

Like Hitler, Bush and his cohorts emphasize the ruthlessness of their enemies in order to justify their own. Just as Hitler cited the threat of communist violence to justify even greater violence on the part of Germany, the bush team justified the invasion of Iraq by emphasizing Hussein’s crimes against humanity over the past twenty-five years. However, these crimes were for the most part committed when Iraq was a client-ally of the U.S. Our government supplied Hussein with illegal weapons (poison gas included), and there were sixty U.S. advisors in Iraq when these weapons were put to use (see NY Times, Aug. 18, 1992). U.S. aid to Iraq was actually doubled afterwards despite disclaimers from Washington that our nation opposed their use. President Reagan’s special envoy Donald Rumsfeld personally informed Hussein of this one hundred percent increment during one of his two trips to Iraq at the time. He also told Hussein not to take U.S. disclaimers seriously.

14.

Like Hitler, Bush takes pride in his status as a “War President,” and his global ambition makes him perhaps the most dangerous president in our nation’s history, a “rogue” chief executive capable of waging any number of illegal preemptive wars. He fully acknowledges his willingness to engage in wars of “choice” as well as wars of necessity. Sooner or later this choice will oblige universal conscription as well as a full-scale war economy.

15.

Like Hitler, Bush continues to pursue war without cutting back on the peacetime economy. Additional to unprecedented low interest rates bestowed by the Federal Reserve, he has actually cut federal taxes twice by substantial amounts, especially for the top one percent of U.S. taxpayers, while conducting an expensive invasion and an even more expensive occupation of a hostile nation. As a result, President Clinton’s $350 billion budget surplus has been reduced to a $450 billion deficit, comprising an unprecedented $800 billion decline in less than four years. At the same time the U.S. dollar has steadily dropped against currencies of both Europe and Japan.

16.

Like Hitler, Bush possesses a war machine much bigger and more effective than the military capabilities of other nations. With the extra financing obliged by the defeat and occupation of Iraq, Bush now relies on a “defense” budget well in excess of the combined military expenditures of the rest of the world. Moreover, the $416 billion defense package passed last week by Congress will probably need to be supplemented before the end of the year.

17.

Like Hitler, bush depends on an axis of collaborative allies, which he describes as a “coalition of the willing,” in order to give the impression of a broad popular alliance. These allies include the U.K. as compared to Mussolini’s Italy, and Spain and Bulgaria, as compared to, well, Spain and Bulgaria, both of which were aligned with Germany during the thirties and World War II. As a result of their cooperation, Prime Minister Blair’s diplomatic reputation has been ruined in England, and a surprising election defeat has produced an unfriendly government in Spain. The Philippines have withdrawn their troops from Iraq to save the life of a hostage, and other defections can be expected in the near future.

18.

Like Hitler, Bush is willing to go to war over the objections of the U.N. (League of Nations). His Iraq invasion was illegal and therefore a war crime as explained by Articles 41 and 42 of the U.N. Charter, which require two votes, not one, by the Security Council before any state takes such an action. First a vote is needed to explore all possibilities short of warfare (in Iraq’s case through the use of U.N. inspectors), and once this has been shown to be fruitless, a second vote is needed to permit military action. U.S. and U.K. delegates at the Security Council prevented this second vote once it was plain they lacked a majority. This was because other nations on the Security Council were satisfied with the findings of U.N. inspectors that no weapons of mass destruction had yet been found. Minus this second vote, the invasion was illegal. Bush also showed in the process that he has no qualms about bribing, bullying, and insulting U.N. members, even tapping their telephone lines. This was done with undecided members of the Security Council as well as the U.N. Secretary General when the U.S.-U.K. resolution was debated preceding the invasion.

19.

Like Hitler, Bush launches unilateral invasions on a supposedly preemptive basis. Just as Hitler convinced the German public to think of Poland as a threat to Germany in 1939 (for example in his Sept. 19 speech), Bush wants Americans to think of Iraq as having been a “potential” threat to our national security--indeed as one of the instigators of the 9-11 attack despite a complete lack of evidence to support this claim.

20.

Like Hitler, Bush depends on a military strategy that features a “shock and awe” blitzkrieg beginning with devastating air strikes, then an invasion led by heavy armored columns.

21.

Like Hitler, Bush is willing to inflict high levels of bloodshed against enemy nations. Between 20,000 and (more probably) 37,000 are now estimated to have been killed, as much as a ro-1 kill ratio compared to the more than 900 Americans killed. In other words, for every U.S. fatality, probably as many as forty Iraqi have died.

22.

Like Hitler, Bush is perfectly willing to sacrifice life as part of his official duty. This would be indicated by the unprecedented number of prisoners executed during his service as governor of Texas. Under no other governor in the history of the United States were so many killed.

23.

Like Hitler, Bush began warfare on a single front (Al Qaeda quartered in Afghanistan), but then expanded it to a second front with Iraq, only to be confronted with North Korea and Iran as potential third and fourth fronts. Much the same thing happened to Hitler when he advanced German military operations from Spain to Poland and France, then was distracted by Yugoslavia before invading the USSR in 1941. Today, bush seems prevented by the excessive costs of the Iraqi debacle from going to war elsewhere if reelected, but not through any lack of desire.

24.

Like Hitler, Bush has no qualms about imposing “regime change” by installing Quisling-style client governments backed by a U.S. military occupation with both political and economic control entirely in the hands of Americans. It is no surprise that Iyad Alawi, Iraq’s current temporary prime minister, was once affiliated with the CIA and has been reliably reported by the Australian press to have executed six hooded prisoners with a handgun to their heads just a day or two before his appointment a couple weeks ago.

25.

Like Hitler, Bush curtails civil liberties in captive nations and depends on detention centers (i.e., concentration camps) such as a Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and any number of secret interrogation centers across the world. Prisoners at the camps go unidentified and have no legal rights as ordinarily guaranteed by the Geneva Conventions. They have also been detained indefinitely (for 2 ½ years already at Guantanamo Bay), though there is mounting evidence that many are innocent of what they have been charged--some, for example, having been randomly seized by Northern Alliance troops in Afghanistan for an automatic bounty from U.S. commanders. Moreover, many Iraqi prisoners have been tortured, in many instances just short of death. Recent U.S. documents disclose that as many twenty have died while being tortured, and twenty others have died under unusual circumstances yet to be determined.

26.

Like Hitler, Bush uses the threat of enemies abroad to stir the fearful allegiance of the U.S. public. For example, he features public announcements of possible terrorist attacks in order to override embarrassing news coverage or to crowd from headlines positive coverage of Democratic Party activities. He also uses the threat of terrorism to justify extraordinary domestic powers granted by the Patriot Act. Even the books we check out of public libraries can be kept on record by federal agents.

27.

Like Hitler, Bush depends on a propaganda machine to guarantee sympathetic news management. In Hitler’s case news coverage was totally dominated by Goebbels; in Bush’s case reporters have been almost totally “imbedded” by both military spokesmen and wealthy media owners sympathetic with Bush. The most obvious case is the Fox news channel, owned and controlled by Rupert Murdoch. Not surprisingly, recent polls indicate that the majority of Fox viewers still think Hussein played a role in the 9-11 attack.

28.

Like Hitler, Bush increasingly reduces the circle of aides he feels he can trust as his policies keep boomeranging at his own expense. Just as Hitler ended up isolated in his headquarters, with few individuals granted access, Bush is now said to be limiting access primarily to Attorney General Ashcroft (who also talks with God on a regular basis) as well as Karl Rove, the Vice President, Karen Hughes, and a few others. Both Secretary of State Powell and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld are now said to be out of the loop.

29.

Like Hitler, Bush has become obsessed with his vision of conflict between good (U.S. patriotism) and evil (anti-Americanism. Many in contact with the White House are said to be worried that he is beginning to lose touch with reality--perhaps resulting from the use of medication that seriously distorts his judgment. Possibly symptomatic of this concern is the increasing number of disaffected government officials who leak embarrassing documents.

30.

Like Hitler, bush takes pleasure in the mythology of frontier justice. As a youth Hitler read and memorized the western novels of Karl May, and Bush retains into his maturity his fascination with simplistic cowboy values. He also exaggerates a cowboy twang despite his C-average elitist education at Andover, Yale, and Harvard.

31. Like Hitler, Bush misconstrues Darwinism, in Hitler’s case by treating the Aryan race as being superior on an evolutionary basis, in Bush’s case by rejecting science for fundamentalist creationism.

Of course countless differences may be listed between Hitler and President Bush, most of which are to the credit of Bush. Nevertheless, the resemblances listed here are striking, especially since Bush’s first term in office must be compared with Hitler’s performance as German Chancellor through the year 1937, preceding the chain of events immediately preceding World War II. In any case, George W. Bush seems the worst and most dangerous U.S. president in recent memory (for me since Roosevelt)--if not in the entire history of the United States.

Edward Jayne is a retired English professor with experience as a '60s activist. He can be contacted at: [email protected].

I did a quick Google

Pathetic...

... and do a Google for a little surprise and entertainment.

Try this: "Hitler Bush".

Have fun...

And here I was expecting nudie pics of Eva Braun

cv

You can find them on google, just takes some looking. But she wasn't a looker

There are many arm-chair protesters out there, ready to rant on about conditions in other countries, all from the safety and comfort of the "western" nation they live in. Few, if any of them, have the strength of conviction to actually go to those countries and protest there.

Tell me about it!

I'm still waiting for all those left coast liberals who said they were going to leave America if Bush defeated Gore. Well, it's 6 years and we're still waiting.

I've lived and worked in many places around the world, including about 1/2 of the US states, about 1/3 of Europe, the Pacific Rim, and a couple of spots in the Middle East. The one thing that is common to all these places are the basic people who want little more than a decent job, a decent income to provide for their family, a roof over their head, food for their belly, and a chance for their kids to have a better life than they did. All these hard-line islamo-wackos want is the power and control to prevent people from seeking and acquiring exactly these things.

Somebody wake me up when it gets interesting...

Everybody was therefore shocked when a high German bureaucrat turned the tables by comparing Bush himself with Hitler.

Not really fair though. If you take the time to research it, you could come up with comparisons of one leader to another all through history.

Saudi King Faud (deceased) to Saladin. Stalin and Ghengis Khan. Ariel Sharon and Qadaffi.

I'm sure if you tried, you could even come up with a list of comparisons between King Richard (the Lion Hearted) and George Bush.

How about Clinton (Bill, not Hillary) and Henry the 8th ? Billy has a few bodies buried.....somewhere.

You could easily come up with comparisons that show how much better one leader is/was compared to another, for better or worse.

... The one thing that is common to all these places are the basic people who want little more than a decent job, a decent income to provide for their family, a roof over their head, food for their belly, and a chance for their kids to have a better life than they did. All these hard-line islamo-wackos want is the power and control to prevent people from seeking and acquiring exactly these things.

Oh, is Islam telling them to prevent people from this or where exactly did you pick this absurd idea from?

You make a statement but provide no evidence.

An Iranian student, fills in the papers of a registration form indicating his readiness for martyrdom, or to carry out suicide attacks, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 18, 2006. A gathering of Iranians who claim they are dedicated to becoming suicide bombers warned the United States and Britain on Saturday of attacks on coalition military bases in Iraq if there were a strike against Tehran's nuclear facilities. (AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian)

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TEHRAN (AFP) - A small hardline Iranian group launched a fresh suicide bomber recruitment drive, hoping to lure volunteers ready to die in the fight against Israel, Salman Rushdie or foreign invaders.

"We feel a serious threat by America," he told AFP at the event, held in a Tehran university building and attended by around 100 people.

Looks B-Fly & zzap signing up to bring down America!

What in Heaven's name could the insect be talking about?

Looks B-Fly & zzap signing up to bring down America!

When it comes time to strap on the bombs, I wonder how many of those wannabees will ask for an academic deferment ?

What in Heaven's name could the insect be talking about?

More lucrative contracts for Halliburton?

Looks B-Fly & zzap signing up to bring down America!

Only asking the ultra-right to back up their statements.

It's a looong way from a pic of guys supposedly signing up to be suicide bombers, to Spee's statement, which I challenged.

But I wouldn't expect you to follow logic in your arguments, you are a hardened combatant whose blindfolds have become 2nd nature, Boon Mee.

More lucrative contracts for Halliburton?

Gasp ! Are you insinuating that GWB might be looking to award more no-bid contracts to the VP's (former) company !!!!

Every so often, my resume pops up in a database search done by one of those companies. They find words like (top) shot, (secret) clearance, (valid) passport and come up with:

Valid Top Secret Clearance.

What they seem to miss is "Valid Canadian Passport"

Soon as they realise I'm not American, there goes the contract offer

Replace "top" with "US", and Boon will swallow your job.