Our blogs about
America's Wars
War on Iraq
War on Drugs
War on Afghanistan
War on Columbia
War on Philippines
War on Venezuela

MORE
Matrix Masters
Blogs
World Events
Katrina's Aftermath
US News
Bush Crime Family News
Science & Health
Earth News
Free Speech
News from Africa
News from Palestine
Bill of Rights Under Attack

Support Bloggers' Rights!

Lorenzo's
Random Musings
. . . about Chaos,
Reason, and Hope

 

The USA is in the Beginning Stages of a Police State
A police state exists when federal and state police mechanisms: 1) Serve the central government instead of serving the citizens; 2) Enforce the policies of the central government instead of responding primarily to criminal misdeeds; and 3) Spy on and intimidate citizens . . . All these conditions now exist in the United States! . . . Under the former 1989 Guidelines, the FBI first had to obtain evidence suggesting some kind of criminal activity before its agents could begin investigating. Under the FBI's new May 30, 2002 revised Guidelines, FBI agents are authorized to carry out "general topical research" and retain files on this research. Specifically, agents may conduct "online searches" and visit "online sites and forums as part of such research." . . . The new Guidelines warn against searching "for information by individuals' names or other individual identifiers," but it's okay to search by names to locate "names of authors who write on the topic" that the agent is researching. Of course every citizen of the United States is a possible "author" of e-mail messages on a variety of subjects, so all U.S. citizens are potential "terrorism suspects" under these new guidelines. . . . The new Guidelines now encourage the FBI to snoop around looking for people who might be suspicious, creating files on anyone who catches their fancy. Agents can now investigate people, organizations, websites, chat rooms and forums for any reason or for no reason at all. They can enter your home without a warrant and are not required to inform you that they have invaded your home if you are not present. . . . All the records they create in their investigations will be placed in national databases available to all agencies now under the new "Homeland Security" umbrella. Never in U.S. history has there been such a monolithic surveillance mechanism with the terrible power to destroy American citizens' lives. . . . Scores of U.S. cities are now using surveillance television camera systems to spy on citizens--shades of 1984. With video cameras perched atop buildings and poles, watching whatever American are doing, do you suppose there might be some potential for abuse in such systems? . . . "Under the heading of 'civil disturbance planning', the U.S. military is training troops and police to suppress democratic opposition in America. The master plan, Department of Defense Civil Disturbance Plan 55-2, is code-named, 'Operation Garden Plot'. Originated in 1968, the 'operational plan' has been updated over the last three decades, most recently in 1991, and was activated during the Los Angeles 'riots' of 1992, and more than likely during the recent anti-WTO 'Battle in Seattle.' . . . We know that the beginning stages of a police state exist in the United States when: a leader is brought into power through illegal means; a national catastrophe is used as the pretext to begin a war and institute extraordinary restrictions on constitutional liberties; citizen dissent is held to be treasonous; the constitutional separation of powers is abrogated by a power-mad executive branch which controls or intimidates the other two branches of government . . . The signs are unmistakable; the Bush regime is waging a "war against dissent," rapidly moving the United States to a total police state. . . . One of the most horrendous aspects of this incipient American police state is its portrayal as a benign patriotism. "We're going to make our nation safe from terrorists," Bush sneers. This is a part of the larger propaganda campaign to make Dubya appear a harmless dunce--someone who isn't smart enough to be a villain. . . . As we've seen in a previous essay the parallels between Nazi Germany and the Bush administration are striking. Bush's creeping police state is being ushered in through exactly the same means that Hitler used to overpower the German people. Along with the attacks of his brutal Gestapo thugs, Hitler achieved ultimate success when he got the people to spy and inform on one another. . . . So the Bush administration has recently given the new Neighborhood Watch Association and their new allies from the old AmeriCorp, $3.8 billion in government funds to create what Bill Berkowitz has termed AmeriSnitch. . . . This isn't a matter of if we decide to stop this police state in its infancy; we either stop it now or it will inevitably germinate into a full-blown monster. Whatever we do, we must make certain that Bush does not serve a second term!

posted by Lorenzo 7:58 PM