The Sentry News Digest

Sentry Closing

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:35:06 GMT

Dear Readers,

AOL has informed us journal writers that as of October 31, all AOL journals will be closed down.

We will be required to move to other blog sites or pay for a web site.

Not being super familiar with any of that I am considering closing the Sentry down.

I will let you know as soon as I can if we are moving and where or if we will be closing.

Richard

Editor

Apocalypse Now

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 23:00:40 GMT

The Four Horsemen Arrive in America

War, Famine, Pestilence, Death. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are riding through America with a vengeance.

Normally restricted to third world countries, the horsemen are now taking great pleasure in galloping through a heretofore wealthy and robust nation that considered their presence impossible.

But as surely as pride precedes a fall; greed, avarice, the heady drug of power and religious establishment have brought America to her knees.

We stand today, a country in financial and moral ruin, raped by the rich and powerful under the aegis of political and religious ideologues.

The men who established our once great Republic, knew well the dangers of tyranny and with great care and thought carved the tenets of Democracy into the rock of our unique and precious constitution. They could never guess that men, even more vile, more tyrannical, selfish, and dominant than those from which they fled, would one day erase those immortal words in the name of the two masters they served; the greed of Plutocracy and occult spiritual hegemony of Oligarchy.

Now the pillars of freedom are toppling and the flame of Democracy in the torch of Liberty, so long a beacon of hope to the world, is flickering into darkness. The people of America, forgetful of the wisdom imparted in our Declaration of Independence and smug in the knowledge that no such thing could come to pass in this bastion of freedom, watch, oblivious to the dissolution of a once great sovereign state, as our government in league with industry, military might and state sponsored religion, sound the death knell of this once thriving and vital nation.

Eight years ago, for the first time in our brief history, we elected a king instead of a president and we gave to him the fealty once reserved for vassals. We honored him but were disrespected in return. We asked for peace but received war instead. We petitioned for the protection of our environment but were given pollution. We pleaded for the security of food and product safety for our children but were afforded only lead paint. We wished only for jobs so that with hard work we could raise our families but they were sent to other countries. We wanted industry and business to fairly serve the people; instead they stole from us, used our national resources for obscene profit, sold us shoddy products and gave powerful men many millions of dollars for less contribution in a year than an American worker made in an hour.

We were told that America is a Christian nation, favored by God and with this favor our leaders would take us to the heights of world leadership. Instead we were imprisoned by fear, interned in our own land and guarded by agents of government, blinded by inflated religious faith and less responsible for keeping terror out than for keeping us in. We allowed our elected representatives to become the new Aristocracy and our religious leaders to become the new Pharisees.

Under our king and his minions, we became a warrior nation, an aggressor state in which imperialism replaced democracy and we accepted it much as those poor deluded people accepted Nazism as a way to eliminate the undesirable and bring peace and prosperity to the majority. Under the Right of the King, religion was transformed into the Force Majeure of Dominion Christianity, which soon permeated our government and armed forces with its pernicious agenda of world domination and march to theocracy.

The immeasurable moral turpitude of our triumvirate of Big Government, Big Business and Big Religion has forever scarred our wondrous experiment into self rule and equality of race, creed and color. A retrograde movement of medieval thinking, spawned by the arcane doctrines of stifling religious and political conservatism, has succeeded in the rebirth of Fascism in a nation which had once defeated it.

I know not what is in store for America. I only know that I love her and the dazzling precepts of democracy and opportunity she promised. I love her for the good people who gave birth to her and nurtured her. I love her for the children who with hard work and through her beneficence could rise as nowhere else to success and I love her for her innocence which overcame the ravages of racism, financial discrimination and the torture of prisoners.

I resent the bastardization of Justice, the looting and pillaging of true American values and the selling of her closest guarded treasures to the highest bidder. And most of all our reversion to the savagery of mass killing and breaking on the wheel of benign populations often mistakenly regarded as enemies.

The barbarians at the gate were us. In our lack of foresight we allowed Miss Liberty to be burned down for the insurance.

It will take decades, if then, and assuming the return of men with integrity, to restore America to her former greatness; a blinding epiphany which will illustrate beyond doubt the efficacy of true Republicanism and require us to rebuild a stronger Democracy with firm safeguards against the forces of political and religious skullduggery and especially against our own unforgivable willingness to hand over a pure and chaste entity to the ilk of maniacs and despoilers of nations.

Military Religious Freedom Foundation Files Second Suit against DOD

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:59:35 GMT

Illegal Christian Proselytizing a fixture in in the Armed Forces and Service Academies

There are those who see nothing wrong with overt and coercive Christian proselytizing in our armed forces and service academies. Among them are Evangelical Christian Chaplains, Evangelical organizations Such as Campus Crusade for Christ, Christian Officers Fellowship and others.

Ignoring constitutional protections prohibiting government sponsorhip or advancement of religion, this coterie of extremists prey on our young men and women Soldiers, Airmen, Marines, Sailors, Coastguard National Guard and Reservists and use the specter of command influence to require them to participate in sectarian Christian prayer, ceremonies and services.

This unAmerican activity is routinelyundertaken by senior officers and NCO’s
who have abrogated their oath to the Constitution by violating the First Amendment establishment clause.

The Uniform Code of Military Justice also prohibits involuntary participation in religious activities.

From the Air Force Academy to West Point and Annapolis, to the battle zones of Iraq and Afghanistan and military bases throughout America and the world,
our young men and women are subject to unmerciful pressures in the name of Dominion Christian doctrine.

The lawsuits currently filed against the DOD and Secretary of Defense by individuals and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation are intended to bring this illegal activity to a halt.

The military’s initial reaction to the suits were that procedures for handling such complaints are already in place. This laughable defense belies the fact that if our military men and women are subject to such abuse by their senior officers and NCO’s what chance would a complaint have of making it through the very command structure which is performing the abuses?

We shall she what, if anything, comes of this legal action. It is fair to note that this Dominion Christian infestation is deep and widespread having taken years, with the help of rich and well organized Evangelical organizations, to effectively infiltrate the armed forces from the Pentagon down.

Tags: dominion Christians armed forces, proselytizing

Sarah, Sweet Sarah

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 01:51:02 GMT

Sarah Palin's Creationism Will Rape the Environment

The Bush administration has been a nightmare for the environment -- and the nomination of Palin is an insurance policy.

Despite the media feeding frenzy, we still may be asking ourselves, "Just who exactly is Sarah Palin?" Mixed in with the Davy-Crockett-meets-SuperMom vignettes -- all those moose hunting, ice fishing, snowmobiling, baby-juggling, and hockey-momming moments -- we've also learned that she doesn't care much for her former brother-in-law and wasn't afraid to use her office to go after his job as a state trooper; that she was for the "bridge to nowhere" before she was against it; that she's against earmarks unless they benefit her constituents; that she can deliver a snappy wisecracking speech, thinks banning books in libraries is okay, considers herself a pit bull with lipstick, and above all else, wants to drill the ever-lovin' daylights out of every corner of her home state (which John McCain's handlers have somehow translated into being against Big Oil, since she insisted on a marginally bigger cut of the profits for Alaskans).

Oh, and -- not that this is very important to Americans or the planet -- she now thinks that global warming might possibly be human-made sorta though she didn't before, despite the fact that the state she governs is on the frontline of climate change. And, of course, she's a classic right-wing, fundamentalist Christian: against abortion -- check; against same-sex marriage -- check; against stem-cell research -- check; favors teaching Creationism in public schools -- check.

It's that last item, her willingness to put Creationism up against the teaching of evolutionary science in the classroom on a he-says-she-says basis, that's far more revealing of just who our new Republican vice presidential candidate is than we generally assume. It deserves the long, hard look that it hasn't yet gotten. Most Democrats and progressives tend to think of the teaching of Creationism as a mere sidebar item on their agenda of political don't-likes, but it's not. Sarah Palin's bias towards Creationism is a window into her political soul and a measure of John McCain's hypocrisy.

It's possible that the public has been fooled into thinking of McCain as a "maverick" when it comes to his party's abysmal record on the environment, but his selection of Palin as his running mate sends quite a different message. In fact, he's potentially put future generations on a "bridge to nowhere" (or perhaps to the fourteenth century). Whether we know it or not, we should now be duly warned: The Palin nomination is the equivalent of launching a "surge strategy" in the Republican war on the environment.

The Republican Holy War on Nature (Continued)

For the past eight years, the Bush administration's assault on environmental quality has been so deliberate, destructive, and hostile that the usual explanations -- while not wrong -- are hardly adequate. Yes, Republican animosity to government regulation is long-standing. Yes, they believe in the power of an unrestricted marketplace to shape our collective behaviors. And yes, they emphasize property rights over notions of the commons and have often been comfortable sacrificing wildlife, air, and water quality in the pursuit of profits. In addition, despite recent claims, they are indeed the party of Big Oil. But none of this quite explains the Bush administration's shameful record on the environment. In the final analysis, the only explanation that fits the nightmare of the last eight years is this: It has been on a holy war against nature -- and the nomination of Sarah Palin is essentially an insurance policy taken out on its continuation.

The idea that the environment matters is ingrained in Americans, even those who don't think of themselves as environmentally inclined. Democrats and Republicans alike have learned the hard way that the decisions we make about what we allow into our air, water, and soil gets translated into our skin, blood, and bones. We now sense that we all live downwind and downstream from one another, and that it is prudent to practice restraint and take precautions when making environmental decisions.

This unspoken consensus is one of the great accomplishments of the modern environmental movement. The policies of the Bush regime have been shocking and shameful exactly because they fly in the face of these shared values and beliefs. Only when we grasp that the narrow Republican base both Bush and McCain pander to no longer shares these basic values and beliefs, does their war on the natural world make sense.

If you believe that a look-alike God made the world for you to dominate and use, that you are among God's chosen few, and that He will provide for you no matter what you do to your surroundings, then you are likely to see yourself as above the natural order. If you believe that the world will be ending soon anyway, that you will be "raptured" while non-believers are "left behind" (as fundamentalist Tim LeHay so vividly describes the process in his bestselling novels), then precaution and restraint are moot. Remember, more than 60% of the nation's 60 million evangelicals believe that the Bible is literally true, every last word of it, and more than a third believe the end of the world will occur in their lifetime.

That's why a pro-Creationist stand is no sideline issue, but the litmus test that reveals whether a politician shares the religious right's ideology -- a literal interpretation of the Bible, a disparaging attitude towards science, belief in mankind's unfettered dominion over the natural world, and a willingness to impose its religious doctrines on others.

Tags: Bush, coruption, religious theocracy. Sarah Palin

White Privilege...Still Going Strong

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 19:09:20 GMT

This is Your Nation on White Privilege

For those who still can't grasp the concept of white privilege, or who
are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it,
perhaps this list will help.

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol
Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your
family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you
or your parents, because "every family has challenges," even as black
and Latino families with similar "challenges" are regularly typified as
irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

White privilege is when you can call yourself a "fuckin' redneck," like
Bristol Palin's boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes
with you, you'll "kick their fuckin' ass," and talk about how you like
to "shoot shit" for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible,
all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.

White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six
years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of,
then returned to after making up some course work at a community
college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to
achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as
unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first
place because of affirmative action.

White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town
smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state
with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island
of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people
don't all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S.
Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means
you're "untested."

White privilege is being able to say that you support the words "under
God" in the pledge of allegiance because "if it was good enough for the
founding fathers, it's good enough for me," and not be immediately
disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was
written in the late 1800s and the "under God" part wasn't added until
the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and
terrorists their rights (because, ya' know, the Constitution, which you
used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous
and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.

White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make
people immediately scared of you. White privilege is being able to have
a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants
your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was "Alaska
first," and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family,
while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11
memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school,
people immediately think she's being disrespectful.

White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and
the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of
women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to
child labor--and people think you're being pithy and tough, but if you
merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month
governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in
college--you're somehow being mean, or even sexist.

White privilege is being able to convince white women who don't even
agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your
running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the
ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them
give your party a "second look."

White privilege is being able to fire people who didn't support your
political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a
typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and
merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in
Chicago means you must be corrupt.

Scratchin' Our Heads

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:45:10 GMT

Convoluted Logic

We were a little confused at the Sentry. Let me see if I have this straight....

* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic,
different."

* Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers,-- a quintessential American
story.

* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim. -- Name
your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

* Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.

* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well
grounded. -- If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer,
become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a
voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12
years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State
Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become
chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee,
spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13
million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign
Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.

* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city
council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people,
20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then
you're qualified to become the country's second highest=20ranking
executive.

* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a
real Christian. If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress,
and left your disfigured wife and married heiress Cindy the next month,
you're a Christian.

* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including
the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

* If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no
other option in sex education in your state's school system while your
unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.

* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a
prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city
community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values
don't represent America's.

* If your husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DWI
conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until
age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much clearer now.

Of Mad Men, Mad Women and War

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 20:50:45 GMT

Gen. George Patton wrote:

It is certain that the two World Wars in which I have participated would not have occurred had we been prepared. It is my belief that adequate preparation on our part would have prevented or materially shortened all our other wars beginning with that of 1812. Yet, after each of our wars, there has always been a great hue and cry to the effect that there will be no more wars, that disarmament is the sure road to health, happiness, and peace; and that by removing the fire department, we will remove fires. These ideas spring from wishful thinking and from the erroneous belief that wars result from logical processes. There is no logic in wars. They are produced by madmen. No man can say when future madmen will reappear. I do not say that there will be no more wars; I devoutly hope that there will not, but I do say that the chances of avoiding future wars will be greatly enhanced if we are ready.

-General George Patton

George Patton was correct. Every so often madmen come along and, without logic, start wars. From Genghis Kahn to George W. Bush these madmen have accounted for deaths in the millions and retarding world progress in the arts, sciences and other human endeavors.

Being prepared includes smelling these madmen out and preventing their rise to power and lacking that, getting rid of them when they are finally found out.

We have missed our chance with George W. Bush but we still have an opportunity to prevent the same madmen and now, mad women, from getting elected and continuing the madness.

The McCain-Palin ticket is Bush-Cheney all over again. Only this time the intent is even more sinister. Now in addition to the steady march toward theocracy under Bush, will be the abrogation of Constitutional rights in the name of God under Sarah Palin.

I, for one, am ready to expose these new mad-persons now and prevent yet another religious war, such as in which we are now engaged in the mid east, only on a much greater scale.

As religious police herd women into abortion-free zones at home under Palin's direction, American forces under McCain will extend the American empire from the 761 world-wide military installations in 156 countries to include all of the Muslim countries and then on to Eastern Europe. Bush's missile installations in Poland give frightening reality to that scenario.

Thinking back of the many women who from the throne or behind it, waged war I am prepared to treat Ms. Palin as just another madman and in the spirit of equality, approach her candidacy as I would that of any man.

Let's stop the mad men (and women) now.

Start Studying the Bible. There Will Be A Test!

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:20:35 GMT

A Palin Theocracy

Liberty Holding Cross, Memphis TN

John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate has invigorated a lackluster campaign. The media can't stop talking about her. Given McCain's age and state of health (his medical file was nearly 1,200 pages long), Palin would indeed be a heartbeat away from becoming president. But what would a Palin administration really look like?

Palin is a radical, right-wing, fundamentalist Christian who would love to create a theocracy. She believes we are living in the "end times" which will result in a bloody inferno from which only true Christians will be saved. Palin recently attended a service in her Wasilla Bible Church run by David Brickner, who runs Jews for Jesus, a group the Anti-Defamation League criticizes for its "aggressive and deceptive" proselytizing of Jews. Those who don't accept Jesus as their savior will burn in Hell, according to Palin's brand of theology.

As governor of Alaska, Palin asked her congregation to pray for the natural gas pipeline, which she characterized as "God's will." She thinks the war in Iraq is a "task that is from God." Palin has pushed for creationism to be taught in schools, and she opposes stem cell research.

Palin's choice to have a Down syndrome child and her teenage daughter's choice to continue her pregnancy have made right-wing evangelical Christians ecstatic. But while she chose pregnancy, Palin would deny a woman victimized by rape or incest the right to choose abortion, and then criminally punish both the woman for having one and her doctor for performing it.

McCain would also love to inject a heavy dose of Christianity into his administration. A year ago, he declared, "The Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation." Just about the only issue on which McCain has not flip-flopped is his opposition to abortion rights. The next president will almost certainly make at least one appointment tothe Supreme Court. McCain has pledged to appoint judges in the mold of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito; these would also be Palin's preferred judges. Another conservative on the court would mean that Roe v. Wade would be overruled. That would return us to back-alley abortions with coat hangers.

Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager, said that "this election is not about issues ... This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates." The Republicans know they will lose if they really focus on issues such as the economy, the war, healthcare, education and the environment. They are hoping that pro-choice women who supported Hillary Clinton will gravitate to Palin because she's a feisty - albeit anti-choice - woman. They are also banking on support from people who cannot bring themselves to vote for a black man.

But those non-evangelicals who back the McCain-Palin ticket do so at their peril. Not only will they continue to suffer four more years of the disastrous Bush policies; they will also find themselves living in a Christian theocracy.

Tags: religion kills, theocracy, sarah palin, McCain health

How Bush and His Thugs Changed America Into A Terrorist State

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:14:36 GMT

Reflections on 9-11

By Cindy Sheehan

Reprinted from "ICH "

The 7th anniversary of September 11, 2001 is approaching and it seems like a good time to reflect on what our nation has lost since that tragic day and what we can do to go forward.

I do not think that anyone alive on that day will forget the shock that struck our nation when the symbols of US capitalism and militarism were struck out of the clear blue sky. I was in panic mode for a few days, because I did not hear from Casey who was stationed at Ft. Hood on that day and his base went into lock-down and he was too busy to call. Even though we mourn with our fellow Americans, the loss of over 3000 innocent people and the pain their families have had to deal with, the attacks of 9-11 have touched every American.

There are several ways to look at 9-11:

• 9-11 was planned and executed by the US government.
• BushCo did not plan 9-11, but they knew it was going to happen and did nothing to prevent it and, in fact, may have allowed it to happen.
• 9-11 was planned and executed by a group of 17 terrorists (14 of them from Saudi Arabia) without the fore knowledge of the US government and we were attacked because the terrorists "hated our freedoms and democracy."

Whichever of the theories is true, one thing is for sure: the Bush regime's response to 9-11 was woefully inept and criminal and many people have been killed, wounded, displaced or destroyed because of the Bush regimes' exploitation of the tragedy to use ultra-violence against the innocent people of two nations in response to a criminal act perpetrated by a few. Watching the recent RNC was a reminder of 9-11 hysteria used to justify implementing the Project for a New American Century and excusing BushCo for the crimes they have committed on the non-existent graves of our brothers and sisters who perished that day and whose remains were never recovered.

Instead of taking a hard and critical look at the corporate-imperialistic policies of our government and trying to objectively figure out why we were attacked, we set off on a nationalistic flag waving fervor of mass fear that was only to be cured by shopping, traveling and allowing George and Dick to make a demented response to it. After 9-11 our country lost a real opportunity to search our souls and make amends to the world for our greed and violence. An apt response would have been to punish the perpetrators of the crime in a court of law and not by rabidly seeking the first country to destroy. Attacking Afghanistan was like bombing Sicily to oblivion for the crimes of the Mafia. Attacking Iraq was just for neocon kicks.

George Bush was handed a Presidential Daily Briefing in Crawford, Texas on August 6th, 2001, that read: "Osama bin Laden determined to strike in the United States." According to journalist Ron Susskind, Bush told the agent who delivered the message: "Okay, you've covered your ass." Instead, our collective asses are twisting in the wind of the abuses and excesses of the last 7 years.

Our economy is being destroyed by 7 years of seemingly endless occupations that have made Dick and his cronies wealthy, but have harmed the rest of us. The price of gas has almost tripled since 9-11, thus causing all other consumer goods to skyrocket. People are losing their jobs and homes because this war economy cannot be sustained with Monopoly money printed and devalued to cover our rising deficits. We have become the worlds' worst debtor nation and our treasury is trillions in debt.

Our famous "freedoms" that the terrorists "hated" have been eroded due to the PATRIOT ACT, the Military Commissions Act and the violent response to protest from our robo-clad police state. We can be guaranteed that any call, email or text message that we send or receive is being read and if we dare protest we will be pepper-sprayed, maced, tear gassed, tasered, or beaten with a Billy club by our employees: law enforcement; authorized by our other employees: government.

My opponent, Nancy Pelosi, has cooperated and collaborated with the Bush regime to allow torture and incarceration without due process and NSA spying on Americans without warrants. She opens her Gucci bag and doles out billions for his War OF Terror while sitting in her mansion, children and grandchildren out of harms way, while our country implodes and Iraq and Afghanistan burn. She has legitimized BushCo's crimes and refuses to hold them accountable for the destruction they have unleashed upon our world.

It's not only time for new leadership in our government, but it's time for a new 9-11 Commission that has subpoena power and is not facilitated by the crooks who either perpetrated the crime and/or collaborated with it. Government abuses cannot be credibly investigated by government commissions: A citizen's investigation that is independent from the federal government and where people like George and Dick will actually have to give their testimony in the light of day, under oath and not holding hands, must be empowered and empanelled.

If you agree with me that a new 9-11 investigation is warranted, please contribute to my campaign to unseat Vichy-Pelosi who would never agree to investigate her buddy Bush for any crimes, much less the crime of our new century.

But most importantly, Cindy for Congress sends our deepest condolences to those who lost family member on 9-11 and anyone else on this planet who have lost their jobs, homes, or lives due to George's tragic response to the tragedy of 9-11.

My son is one of the ones whose life was ended prematurely. I mourn deeply for him each day, but the way forward is towards healing, peace, accountability, environmental sustainability, and economic equality and away from the violence and greed that has colored every aspect of our lives since that sad day.

Tags: george bush, thugs, terrorism

When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:00:03 GMT

Sinclair Lewis

Fascism Anyone?

Fascism’s principles are wafting in the air today, surreptitiously masquerading as something else, challenging everything we stand for.

The cliché that people and nations learn from history is not only overused, but also overestimated; often we fail to learn from history, or draw the wrong conclusions. Sadly, historical amnesia is the norm.

We are two-and-a-half generations removed from the horrors of Nazi Germany, although constant reminders jog the consciousness. German and Italian fascism form the historical models that define this twisted political worldview. Although they no longer exist, this worldview and the characteristics of these models have been imitated by protofascist1 regimes at various times in the twentieth century. Both the original German and Italian models and the later protofascist regimes show remarkably similar characteristics. Although many scholars question any direct connection among these regimes, few can dispute their visual similarities.

Beyond the visual, even a cursory study of these fascist and protofascist regimes reveals the absolutely striking convergence of their modus operandi. This, of course, is not a revelation to the informed political observer, but it is sometimes useful in the interests of perspective to restate obvious facts and in so doing shed needed light on current circumstances.

For the purpose of this perspective, I will consider the following regimes: Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Franco’s Spain, Salazar’s Portugal, Papadopoulos’s Greece, Pinochet’s Chile, and Suharto’s Indonesia. To be sure, they constitute a mixed bag of national identities, cultures, developmental levels, and history. But they all followed the fascist or protofascist model in obtaining, expanding, and maintaining power. Further, all these regimes have been overthrown, so a more or less complete picture of their basic characteristics and abuses is possible.

Analysis of these seven regimes reveals fourteen common threads that link them in recognizable patterns of national behavior and abuse of power. These basic characteristics are more prevalent and intense in some regimes than in others, but they all share at least some level of similarity.

1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism. From the prominent displays of flags and bunting to the ubiquitous lapel pins, the fervor to show patriotic nationalism, both on the part of the regime itself and of citizens caught up in its frenzy, was always obvious. Catchy slogans, pride in the military, and demands for unity were common themes in expressing this nationalism. It was usually coupled with a suspicion of things foreign that often bordered on xenophobia.

2. Disdain for the importance of human rights. The regimes themselves viewed human rights as of little value and a hindrance to realizing the objectives of the ruling elite. Through clever use of propaganda, the population was brought to accept these human rights abuses by marginalizing, even demonizing, those being targeted. When abuse was egregious, the tactic was to use secrecy, denial, and disinformation.

3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause. The most significant common thread among these regimes was the use of scapegoating as a means to divert the people’s attention from other problems, to shift blame forfailures, and to channel frustration in controlled directions. The methods of choice—relentless propaganda and disinformation—were usually effective. Often the regimes would incite “spontaneous” acts against the target scapegoats, usually communists, socialists, liberals, Jews, ethnic and racial minorities, traditional national enemies, members of other religions, secularists, homosexuals, and“terrorists.” Active opponents of these regimes were inevitably labeled as terrorists and dealt with accordingly.

4. The supremacy of the military/avid militarism. Ruling elites always identified closely with the military and the industrial infrastructure that supported it. A disproportionate share of national resources was allocated to the military, even when domestic needs were acute. The military was seen as an expression of nationalism, and was used whenever possible to assert national goals, intimidate other nations, and increase the power and prestige of the ruling elite.

5. Rampant sexism. Beyond the simple fact that the political elite and the national culture were male-dominated, these regimes inevitably viewed women as second-class citizens. They were adamantly anti-abortion and also homophobic. These attitudes were usually codified in Draconian laws that enjoyed strong support by the orthodox religion of the country, thus lending the regime cover for its abuses.

6. A controlled mass media. Under some of the regimes, the mass media were under strict direct control and could be relied upon never to stray from the party line. Other regimes exercised more subtle power to ensure media orthodoxy. Methods included the control of licensing and access to resources, economic pressure, appeals to patriotism, and implied threats. The leaders of the mass media were often politically compatible with the power elite. The result was usually success in keeping the general public unaware of the regimes’ excesses.

7. Obsession with national security. Inevitably, a national security apparatus was under direct control of the ruling elite. It was usually an instrument of oppression, operating in secret and beyond any constraints. Its actions were justified under the rubric of protecting “national security,” and questioning its activities was portrayed as unpatriotic or even treasonous.

8. Religion and ruling elite tied together. Unlike communist regimes, the fascist and protofascist regimes were never proclaimed as godless by their opponents. In fact, most of the regimes attached themselves to the predominant religion of the country and chose to portray themselves as militant defenders of that religion. The fact that the ruling elite’s behavior was incompatible with the precepts of the religion was generally swept under the rug. Propaganda kept up the illusion that the ruling elites were defenders of the faith and opponents of the “godless.”A perception was manufactured that opposing the power elite was tantamount to an attack on religion.

9. Power of corporations protected. Although the personal life of ordinary citizens was under strict control, the ability of large corporations to operate in relative freedom was not compromised. The ruling elite saw the corporate structure as a way to not only ensure military production (in developed states), but also as an additional means of social control. Members of the economic elite were often pampered by the political elite to ensure a continued mutuality of interests, especially in the repression of “have-not” citizens.

10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated. Since organized labor was seen as the one power center that could challenge the political hegemony of the ruling elite and its corporate allies, it was inevitably crushed or made powerless. The poor formed an underclass, viewed with suspicion or outright contempt. Under some regimes, being poor was considered akin to a vice.

11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts. Intellectuals and the inherent freedom of ideas and expression associated with them were anathema to these regimes. Intellectual and academic freedom were considered subversive to national security and the patriotic ideal. Universities were tightly controlled; politically unreliable faculty harassed or eliminated. Unorthodox ideas or expressions of dissent were strongly attacked, silenced, or crushed. To these regimes, art and literature should serve the national interest or they had no right to exist.

12. Obsession with crime and punishment. Most of these regimes maintained Draconian systems of criminal justice with huge prison populations. The police were often glorified and had almost unchecked power, leading to rampant abuse. “Normal” and political crime were often merged into trumped-up criminal charges and sometimes used against political opponents of the regime. Fear, and hatred, of criminals or “traitors” was often promoted among the population as an excuse for more police power.

13. Rampant cronyism and corruption. Those in business circles and close to the power elite often used their position to enrich themselves. This corruption worked both ways; the power elite would receive financial gifts and property from the economic elite, who in turn would gain the benefit of government favoritism. Members of the power elite were in a position to obtain vast wealth from other sources as well: for example, by stealing national resources. With the national security apparatus under control and the media muzzled, this corruption was largely unconstrained and not well understood by the general population.

14. Fraudulent elections. Elections in the form of plebiscites or public opinion polls were usually bogus. When actual elections with candidates were held, they would usually be perverted by the power elite to get the desired result. Common methods included maintaining control of the election machinery, intimidating an disenfranchising opposition voters, destroying or disallowing legal votes, and, as a last resort, turning to a judiciary beholden to the power elite.

Does any of this ring alarm bells? Of course not. After all, this is America, officially a democracy with the rule of law, a constitution, a free press, honest elections, and a well-informed public constantly being put on guard against evils. Historical comparisons like these are just exercises in verbal gymnastics. Maybe, maybe not.

Tags: Fascism Comes To America