Yesterday, in an event most of you probably did not even notice, the United States took another step down the path to extremism and authoritarianism.  Does that sound hyperbolic?  Read on and let me know if you still think so when you reach the end.

In a 5-4 ruling, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the President of the United States has the power to order the detention in a military prison of anyone in the United States -- citizen or not-- and hold them indefinitely without charging them with a crime and without affording them the most basic Constitutional rights, such as the right to stand trial and attempt to prove their innocence.  Read that again and understand the implications.  All it takes is an assertion by the President that the individual arrested is an "enemy combatant."  The President does not have to  prove the person is an enemy combatant, at least in any conventional sense, just merely assert that he or she is an enemy combatant.

That the advice often given in writing workshop: Write what you are afraid of. It is good advice because it allows you to get past your own fears and figure out what your truth is. It's hard to do, too. Follow me below the fold for a reflection on how to discuss what scares us collectively.

My first diary on DKos, published in December 2004, started with this paragraph:

In the fall of 2002 I started asking myself the question, "Knowing what I know now, when would I have left Germany before WWII?"  Would it have been with the rise of the military-worshipping culture?  Would it have followed the putsch?  Would the anti-semitism have driven me away? All of those would have been fine reasons, but I think I would have left Germany as soon as I understood that I was personally in danger because of my oppostion to the government, non-violent though it may be.

I left the US in 2006... and I won't be back soon. After the jump I explain why.

Amazon’s Kindle has something called NowNow, where you can send them a question about anything via your Kindle and you’ll get up to three answers "from real people." This was my question, just to see how they would answer it:

In the event that the U.S. closes down like Nazi Germany did, will people be allowed to leave? Who is most likely to be in peril?

Here’s the three different answers, which arrived via different emails and apparently were written by different people. I thought this was very interesting! I mean, you’ve gotta love it. Now I’m tempted to really start messing with their minds! LOL!

Disappointed as I am in the Obama reversal on immunity to the telephone companies, I'm more or less willing to forgive him that if he thinks doing so is necessary to win the Presidency.  

The question is, why might he think doing so is necessary to win the Presidency?

The obvious reason is that he wants to take a "national security" issue off the table.  He wants to be seen by the public to support the most draconian national security efforts, and to deny McCain the opportunity to make any claims that he is weak on national security.  That seems reasonable but there is a problem about that thesis.  

There is a profound asymmetry between those who care about this issue and the vast majority who don't.  Would anyone have not voted for him over a word and a concept so obscure as "immunity"?   Does anyone love the telephone companies so much that they would object to having them pay a fine for being "bad"?   I really doubt it.  Not defending the telephone companies  just doesn't hurt Obama very much with any obvious constituency out there.

But not doing so hurts him with one  very important one:  the telephone companies themselves.

More below:

When it comes to setting public policy, economics is one of the most important social sciences.  It’s right up there with history.  But like Rodney Dangerfield, it don’t get no respect.

"An Economist knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing."
"An Economist can predict anything except the future."
"An Economist falls in a hole and says, ‘I need a ladder.  Therefore the market will provide one.’"

The Doughy Pantload - known to his "friends" as Jonah Golberg - is bad enough by himself.

Not content with knowing the definitions behind the labels he likes to toss out at people - the latest word that he is throwing around is Facism - he prefers to just make up definitions as he goes along.

Even if well recorded history proves him wrong again, and again, and again, he just keeps it up.

Now, read below the flip on how Golberg's writing has caused one person to completely snap and loose touch with reality ---->

I'm sorry, I cannot countenance this importance being given to everything military. Our country was forged to be a civilian nation with a civilian leadership. A melding of military and politics leads to only one thing. Sinclair Lewis wrote once, "It Can't Happen Here."

I've always argued that it could happen here; and we must fight to not make it so. For if it were, we might get more than we bargained for; we might find ourselves consumed with nothing but working...

I keep getting hammered here, on other blogs and by my friends when I try to tell people how important the FISA issue is.  It isn't just the immunity provisions, it is the whole bill.  This bill is a complete giveaway of our 4th amendment rights.

Again I implore people to watch the speeches by the only champions we have left, Senators Biden and Feingold.
Biden
http://dodd.senate.gov/...
Feingold
http://feingold.senate.gov/...

They clearly state what the issues are and what the dangers are if it passes.

I see this as the beginning of the end of the Republic.  Lets start with the definition of a Republic.

NOTICE: In a spirit of friendly advice, I strongly suggest to anyone already prepared to attack me as "an Obama hater" to first read some of my comments prior to June 20. If you do, you'll save yourself some embarrassment. On the other hand, if you're one of those who will think "He must be a paid McCain troll who spent the last several months establishing a cover so he could try to divide us at a moment of vulnerability!", you're too paranoid to be reasoned with anyway... so flame on.

While we've been very busy here arguing election politics, a fascist billionaire has seized dictatorial powers in Italy.  Sivio Berlusconi's "Iron Fist" legislation has passed the Italian Senate.

I guess Mussolini has been dead too long.

Re:
US lawmakers pass under-fire spy bill

by Charlotte Raab Fri Jun 20, 5:22 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - In a late-term triumph for US President George W. Bush, the US House of Representatives on Friday approved spy-powers legislation that has drawn heavy fire on civil liberties grounds.

Lawmakers voted 293-129 for a bill that may shield telecommunications firms facing massive lawsuits over their work with Bush's secret, six-year, warrantless wiretapping program, begun after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

And Re:
gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/06/20/government-rules-its.html [boingboing.net]

news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080620/pl_afp/usintelligencepoliticsbush;_ylt=At5GvZ... [yahoo.com]

Today people are saying "Obama is a Chicago politician. What did you expect?"

I expected Change You Can Believe In.

Remember?

But this is what I got...

1. Glenn Greenwald - who, as a former Constitutional law litigator, knows more about the subject than either me or you - says:

Seeing the words in print, though, adds a new dimension to appreciating just how corrupt and repugnant this is...

Well guys, we had a good run at it. Couple hundred years. It was a nice go.

Now it's gone. Some people will say, "This isn't such a big deal, it's just the telcos. Sure they're assholes, but so what?"

Obama is the leader of the Democratic party.  Clearly many have called the Obama campaign to voice their concern over FISA and requesting Obama come out in public against the bill.

Leaked and confirmed, a United States Special Forces manual titled Foreign Internal Defense Tactics Techniques and Procedures for Special Forces has been made available on the WikiLeaks website.   The document's scope in its first lines is described as this:

This publication establishes joint tactics, techniques, and procedures (JTTP) for the Armed Forces of the United States involved in or supporting foreign internal defense operations. It discusses how joint operations, involving the application of all instruments of national power, support host nation efforts to combat subversion, lawlessness, and insurgency.

Follow me over the flip.

Just building on a comment I added elsewhere that won't get a viewing.

The fact is we won't actually hold the Bush administration accountable.  We'll make the same mistakes again as a nation and not punish our right wing anti-democratic extremists who are trying to destroy our nation and take us away from the constitution on which it is founded.

This is what allowed some of these idiots back in power after they should have been punished for Iran Contra.  

As I'll briefly outline below, personally, I think we'll point back to this as the inaction that led to the disintegration of our nation.  Yes quite seriously I see the violent demise of America in these actions, extreme though that may seem... if you're interested follow me below...

What do they have in common?

Both of them were powerless without followers.

Think for yourselves.

Be the change you want to see.

No further explanation for the evils of the world is necessary, but apparently the machine thinks differently. That said, allow me to explain. Obama and Bush are two sides of the same coin. This does not mean there isn't a difference, it means that we must as a species recognize the power that we all possess. We live in a world of choice, whether we realize it or not. Every action will be taken deliberately, whether we are conscious of it or not.  All of us arrived at their destinations by your own actions. The job of any concerned citizen is to raise awareness, to enlighten, not to scold or punish. This requires self-determination, and a profound ability to see that ALL of us are capable of both good and evil. Obama is as worthy of praise as Bush is worthy of forgiveness. Poverty for one is poverty for all. If we can accept that Bush is merely a misguided, flawed and manipulated being who is no different from the rest of us, then we can truly begin to treat the wounds that are threatening our very existence as a species. Good night and good morning