Bush's Bubble

[vicente]

The Bush Doctrine:
International relations are relations of power, not law; power prevails and law legitimizes what prevails. The United States is unquestionably the dominant power in the post-Cold War world; it is therefore in a position to impose its views, interests, and values. The world would benefit from adopting those values, because the American model has demonstrated its superiority. The Clinton and first Bush Administrations failed to use the full potential of American power. This must be corrected; the United States must find a way to assert its supremacy in the world.


http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2003/12/soros.htm

[sonrisa]

:unsure: oh what do we do? (http://www.rense.com/general46/whatdo.html) :unsure:

[DavidS]

Originally posted by sonrisa@Jan 1 2004, 12:41 PM
:unsure: oh what do we do? :unsure:
Hi vicente, sonrisa, et al. –

The last para on the page of the link sonrisa posted says: "There are things we can do. We can rattle the Court System and present it with our grievances, grievances that are hundreds, even thousands. We can call into the radio and television stations, make our voices heard. We can organize outside of the Federal Buildings, the Court buildings, the City Halls, all across America. We can make our voices heard and if by only another, just like us. For, if enough of us holler then they can't help but to hear... "

I personally don't 'believe': "If enough of us holler then they can't help but to hear." Why? I 'believe' "For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted." (Matthew 13:15) applies; IOW, I 'believe'a that the 'situation we are in is a tad more 'complicated' than is implicit in the 'solution' proposed.

My personal 'answer' to the Q "What can we do?" (which goes more along the lines of "What will we 'naturally' be 'impelled' to do?) is, "Let Nature take its course," or "Co·operate with Nature taking its course." But that raises another Q: Just what is Nature's 'course'? Here's an excerpt from some writing I did a while back which expresses my 'view' on that matter.

[Note: (1) my 'answer', which 'includes' but is not 'limited' to the kinds of do·able actions references in the above para, presumes that what I call 'psychospiritual dynamics' are 'potently' operative; (2) some readers may not have the time-n-energy to read through it - the equivalent of 3 pages worth of text follow.]

The 'decimation' will follow a pattern (in many areas, its outlines are already apparent). Broadly speaking, in terms of individuals and groups: Those who have not acquired requisite knowledge and wisdom, lacking foresight and appropriate values to guide them, will be 'lost' amidst the turmoil and turbulence they themselves create or otherwise encounter. Those who have uselessly squandered or hoarded their assets instead of becoming more resourceful will be found wanting when and as, because Life's contingencies become more demanding, greater capabilities and a higher level of contributiveness are generally required. And, as anti-communal activities become unaffordable and salutary cooperation essential for continued sustenance, those who are abusive or neglectful of others, will find themselves shut out in the cold or, worse, cast into the fire.

Many argue otherwise, regarding the last of the foregoing criteria in particular. They rationalize that, if any, those who are the most skillfully selfish, by obtaining and maintaining access to the most, are the ones most likely to prosper and succeed, particularly when and if, because of ecological stress and disorder, there really isn't enough for everybody and systems of sharing break down. And many become convinced that they are right because those who are most self-enhancing do gain the upper hand in the early stages of such a happening. However, their presumption is misleading; this is not the long-run outcome.

What turns things around and puts such speculation to rest is Life's fundamental psychospiritual dynamic: Attitude and intention are root-factors which determine the course of events. Ultimately, for better or for worse, with "[our] conscience…bearing witness, and [our] thoughts…accusing or else excusing one another," everyone is decisively affected by what others think and feel about them.

During periods of opulence, the impact of such judgment and response is not as clear-cut because attention is then focused on the excess that is available, and opinion and will are generally tempered by contentment. Selfishness and personal attainment are not strenuously objected to, often they are even encouraged and admired, because many then see nothing wrong with focusing on pleasing themselves and, because they feel there is more to be had, are inclined to be easygoing and accepting of others doing the same. However, as resources diminish and choices regarding their allocation become crucial, tolerance for excess and waste decreases, evaluation becomes more critical and interpersonal reaction, accordingly, more acute and intense. In proportion to how beneficent or detrimental one is perceived to be, one is then resolutely either endorsed and supported or rejected and opposed by others in one's ken.

As the ill effects of ecosystemic deterioration [note: I use 'ecosystem' to reference both 'natural' and 'social' 'systems] become more assaultive and inescapable, the process progressively becomes more energized and all-encompassing. The impetus to identify and correct what has gone wrong intensifies to the point where all that is of consequence is examined and a referendum based on conscience is held. 'Apparent' words and deeds are scrutinized; underlying attitudes and intentions are clairvoyantly assessed. Not just gross unwholesomeness, charades of piety and legality are judged for what they are, as mores are seen to be mere 'forms' of expression and the spirit which gave rise to them is redistilled and clarified. Dialogue and debate lead to consensus and conviction. Spokespersons and exemplars emerge in all quarters. What is necessary and beneficial is earnestly espoused and advocated. What is wasteful and counterproductive is equally earnestly abhorred, and those who engage in such behaviors are censured and castigated. (Though we have clearly embarked on such enterprise, much more is yet to be said and done on this score, in the current macrocycle.)

Consequences follow in increasingly rapid succession. Whether because they exclusively focus on enhancing their own or their own kind's welfare or for some other reason, those who lack appropriate regard and concern for the developmental needs of others are identified as detractors from and traitors to Life. Simply called to honor conscience, confronted, and given a chance to change at first, those who obdurately remain violational are soulfully 'condemned' soon thereafter. A significant portion of the yearning for conditions to improve is channeled into wishes for their comeuppance and elimination from Life's arena. Such desires finally becomes so focused and, in combination, so intense that, personal privilege and power notwithstanding, that very train of events is psychospiritually impelled.

The demoralization and demise of those who don't accede to and accord with the prescriptions of conscience is assured by their own apprehensiveness—they are simultaneously afflicted from within. Particularly when others around them increasingly suffer, because they then cannot escape knowing that selfish excess is unjustified and denying others their due is a sin(that is, anti-Life in function), personal misgivings and anticipation of retributive misfortune overshadow their thoughts and feelings. Their fantasies become more troubled. Horrible happenings haunt their dreams. They keep imagining not obtaining what they want and losing what they already have. More and more, what is strikes them as personally insulting. However much may actually be available to them, they experience what isn't as a significant denial. A sense of incompleteness and insatiety dogs their heels. Feeling more and more alienated from others and less and less a part of Life's flow, they find being alone and doing nothing 'grand' unpleasant and disquieting.

In conjunction with the effect of the psychospiritual reactions they evoke from others, such wretched thoughts and feelings psychospiritually operate to guarantee them consequences that are most unfortunate. In proportion to how callous and destructive they are, judgments and forebodings see to it that they become foci for what, to those who are naive, appear to be 'chance' accidents, 'natural' illnesses, 'inadvertent' errors in judgment and 'unavoidable' catastrophes. However hard they try, wherever they may be, those who are not aligned with Life's greater expression suffer eventual ill fate as, in realms of Mind and Spirit, they accrue more and more 'negativity'. One way or another, those who don't lovingly do what they can to advance our common cause go awry; if they don't change for the better along the way, irretrievably.

Life will not sustain their impetus. The energies of those who remain greedy, withholding and antithetical finally falter, as they engender antagonism from without and are inwardly debilitated by their own sense of sin. Instead of flowering to fruition, their creative thrust is thwarted and perverted. When storms eventually strike, their connection to Life is severed. At the end of each evolutionary cycle and beginning of a new one, such malcontents are excised from the field of thought and feeling that constitutes our species. ("Every branch in me that beareth not ['good' or 'Life-enhancing'] fruit he taketh away." (John 15:2)

The converse holds true as well. The very same dilemmas and difficulties that overwhelm the ignorant and impede the unresponsive provide vital impetus to those who are inclined to become more understanding and constructive in relation to others around them. And the very same dynamic which proves disastrous to the adverse and the recalcitrant serves to reinforce and nurture those who choose to become more benevolent and collaborative.

Creative development is no chance happening: As suffering becomes more widespread, conflicts more severe and imbalance more glaring, those who are empathetic and caring seek to comprehend the etiology of surrounding circumstance and aim to intercede in ways that stimulate the development and exercise of healthy response-ability, facilitate creative problem-solving, and promote self-expression that is communally constructive. Knowing that our attitude is impartial and our purpose is to be contributive, that it is right and fitting we should succeed in such undertaking is something we single-mindedly think and whole-heartedly feel. Unconflicted thought-feelings psychospiritually serve to propel us forward. Instead of getting derailed or sidetracked, we learn from mistakes and setbacks how to avoid pitfalls and overcome problems along the way. Immune to demoralization, no matter what the odds, we persevere with integrity.

As we conscientiously reexamine and reinterpret the truth, shells made of limited beliefs and shortsighted goals give way. Inner Intelligence bursts forth with transcendental perspective and unleashed vitality. Recognizing everyone else as a fellow participant and the whole as our very own, we ignore impulses and inhibit behaviors that are detrimental, choosing instead to enhance and express those that are beneficial to everyone. Enlightened by knowledge of the fact that each of us is an integral part of Life, we see through the specter of personal transience—instead of becoming embroiled in hate or getting caught up in greed or fear because we or others we care about may not have, and possibly may never get, what we or they personally want, we respond to crises creatively, deliberately acting in ways that make the most of That Which Is, the eternally reverberative I-Am-That-I-Am living in each and all.

Though, at the outset, such motivation is 'brought' to Life by a relative few, our 'movement' gains momentum because benevolence is exponentially self-potentiating. Especially when many are troubled and need is great, since we conscientiously serve the cause of Life, our efforts are psychospiritually welcomed and endorsed. This not only sustains our impetus but, despite ongoing expenditure, keeps it growing. We thereby inspire others of like mind and heart to join us in common cause. And, as we continue to stimulate and enhance one another in synergetic coaction, our energy eventually builds to the point where, linking up with that of other similarly motivated groups, it sets off a chain reaction. A tremendous stream of Creativity surges forth in due course.

Consequently, trends and events around us increasingly confirm our faith in Life's power, heightening the degree and extent of our positive expectations. Our ability to know and discriminate is psychospiritually thereby boosted ever further. And we become more and more creatively potent as our capacity for constructive relationship transcends one after another boundary and limitation. As even those not initially so inclined are salutarily touched and affected, they begin to resonate responsively as well. More harmonious modes of thought, feeling and behavior take hold and spread, further augmenting the process. In time, as the clutter and debris of past inadequacies and failures are swept away, the entire pattern of Life's earthly expression is radically transformed.

[DavidS]

For some, unknown to me, 'reason', ;) the Edit button wasn't available on my preceding post. Just wanted to add the source cite for the statement: with "[our] conscience…bearing witness, and [our] thoughts…accusing or else excusing one another," in my preceding post, to wit, Romans 2:15.
:)

[vicente]

Unfortunately, the attention span of the average American for politics is about 16 minutes per week. As rightwing conservatives control the US media, those 16 minutes, in todays world, is 100% slanted in their favor.

The rightwing media and Bush Administration extensively use the psychology of inattentional blindness. For example, a well known study has people watch a video tape of a basketball game and asked to count the number of times one team takes possession of the ball. During the film clip, which lasts a few minutes, a person in a gorilla suit strolls onto the centre of the court, turns and faces the audience and does a little jig. The gorilla then slowly walks off the court. The remarkable fact is that of the thousands who did this study, not one noticed the gorilla.



Most Important Underreported Stories of the Year

The Bush tax cuts have flopped. The flip side of the "recovery" stories. This has also been on the list the last two years. But it's worth a return engagement because most of the administration's economic claims – and assumptions for future planning – are grossly fictional. Never has an administration been so greedy for its own economic interests, or lied so much about it. We'll be stuck with the bill for decades.

Corporate corruption continues to run amok. Bush's 2002 "reforms" were a farce. The problem isn't just the lack of regulatory enforcement – it's the entire system.

Health care in America in crisis. Bush's Medicare bill largely served to make wealthy drug companies richer still; the so-called "Patient's Bill of Rights" was a meaningless farce. Meanwhile, even a relatively minor health problem can destroy the life savings of the nearly 50 million uninsured, and the far larger numbers whose insurance works great so long as we don't get sick. The real story here is the countless parasites unnecessarily making money in our health care system, and how politicians would rather cater to them than help solve a crisis that, sooner or later, affects each of us.

Dennis Kucinich and Al Sharpton. Neither man has a chance for the Democratic nomination. Yet both Kucinich and Sharpton have generated fiercely loyal followings as the only two candidates in a crowded field with the clarity and guts to challenge fundamental assumptions of the Bush domestic and foreign policy agendas. Howard Dean's successful candidacy wouldn't be possible without this pair on his flank, making him look "more reasonable" even as corporate media ignore or ridicule their campaigns.

The Taliban making a comeback. Bush's pledges to not abandon Afghanistan turned out to be a cruel joke. Sure, our troops are still there – they're the only thing keeping CIA man Hamid Karzai in "power," albeit only in the capital city of Kabul and only during daylight hours. Elsewhere, the same old brutal warlords are running the show, stealing, murdering and getting rich from record poppy harvests. The Americans have so little influence they've resorted to quietly working with "moderate" elements of the Taliban – who, with the patience of any society that has a history of several thousand years, are getting stronger again in the mountains.

The peace movement was right about Iraq. The fact that the Bush Administration was lying about virtually every justification for invading Iraq was something any inquiring reporter could have exposed months before the invasion began. No ties to Al-Qaeda. No weapons of mass destruction. No danger to U.S. security. Dated, wildly exaggerated, or simply forged "intelligence." An invasion that was illegal under any and every conceivable legal authority.

The catastrophe that has been the U.S. administration of Iraq. Iraq's guerrilla resistance is not the work of Saddam Hussein, or foreign fighters recruited by Al-Qaeda and the like. It's the work of the Americans – specifically, it wouldn't exist except for the widespread and steadily rising popular anger over the Americans' ongoing, utter failure to provide any of the services normally associated with government. Eight months into U.S. rule, looting is so bad most Iraqis won't leave home after dark. Usually there's no electricity to see by, anyway, especially outside Baghdad. The U.S. occupiers have been censoring Arab media, repressing the political parties they don't like – especially Shi'a fundamentalists – making widespread mass arrests with no semblance of a judicial system or due process (and widespread torture allegations), and murdering civilians seemingly at will and with no fear of consequence. Far from instilling democratic values, Washington has done everything possible to avoid them – from canceling promised free elections to blocking the use of U.N. and other technocrats with experience in building and nurturing civil society to not doing that work itself.

Privatization and corporate looting of Iraq. Iraq is literally being auctioned off, mostly to well-connected American companies like Halliburton and Bechtel. Few Iraqis have any of the new currency, let alone jobs – those are all going to Americans or to Kuwaitis, Saudis, or Southeast Asian nationals. By the time Iraq is given the chance (albeit heavily rigged in D.C.'s favor) to "rule itself," the country will look a lot like those houses the Grinch visited before Christmas – except that these Grinches will never, ever get bigger hearts and give the stuff back.

Israel's apartheid wall. Longer and taller than Berlin's, it's a flagrantly illegal gambit to reduce Palestine to Bantustans; meanwhile, the routine brutalization and humiliation of ordinary Palestinians continues to grow. This, not Iraq, is the conflict upon which future world peace depends, and Washington's role in worsening it has been critical. Why so little attention?

Africa, Africa, Africa. So much is flying under U.S. media radar, it's hard to know where to start – from Mugabe's terrorizing of Zimbabwe to AIDS to the renewed national and regional depredations of Nigeria, a country effectively run by the likes of Shell and Chevron, and whichever local generals have the franchise this week. But as always the place to start is Central Africa – where a brutal, decade-long war has now killed a staggering four million or more people, replete with atrocities, civilian massacres, torture, sexual slavery, and lots and lots of U.S.-made weaponry. The war's raison d'etre? The mineral wealth of the eastern Congo, which includes several rare minerals used in the production of computer screens, keyboards, and chips. Prominent among the numerous American companies getting rich by paying "rebel" armies to take over mining regions are Halliburton and Bechtel.

The collapse of the 'Washington consensus.' U.S. media have given a bit of attention to the hypocrisy of the Bush Administration pushing a free trade agenda while blithely continuing its price supports for domestic steel and agribusiness. (Somehow, the arms trade never makes this list.) But the bigger story is that despite Washington's enormous fiscal and military clout, and the sobering example of Iraq for any who dare step out of line, fewer and fewer countries are buying that "free trade" bullshit. Since 2000, popular movements in nearly every country in South America have determined who governs the country; this year, protesters forced Bolivia's president into exile over a natural gas export scheme. Lula, Brazil's newly elected, left-leaning president, has formed (along with India and, increasingly, China) a caucus that is standing up to Bush demands for the right to loot the global South. Both the WTO talks in Cancun and FTAA talks in Miami broke down this fall. Popular outrage over decades of destroyed economies isn't letting the elites who run these countries acquiesce to Washington. Now that's democracy in action.

Bush v. Constitution. There have been no publicly revealed terror attacks foiled on U.S. soil since 9/11 – only the trumped-up cases of a few homegrown Muslim fantasy warriors. But state power and erosion of civil liberties and the Bill of Rights continues to expand, in the name of 9/11 and "terrorism." A leaked draft of a proposed "PATRIOT II" bill caused a public uproar early in the year. A major provision was then snuck through Congress anyway – the right to seize and examine any business's records, no warrant, judge or jury needed. Guantanamo's prisons continue to expand, allegations of torture and border brutalizations keep cropping up in foreign media, and John Ashcroft still has a job. The good news: Increasingly, courts are telling Bush to back off. The bad news: If reelected, Bush will likely get to pick two or three new Supreme Court judges.

U.S. remains biggest terrorist nation in the world. We're the largest arms exporter. We're funding the next generation of Saddams in places like Pakistan and Uzbekistan. We ignore international treaties and laws whenever we like. No combination of world powers has been able or willing to hold this rogue state accountable for its transgressions. The only force that can is the American public itself. In 2004, we'll have the chance. The essential first steps: Educating ourselves, seeking out multiple alternative news sources, and making up our own minds. The essential next steps: Use that knowledge, spread that knowledge, and get busy!

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17475

[vicente]

Another reason Bush should be tried and executed for crimes against Americans, Humanity and the World:

Quarantining Dissent

When President Bush travels around the United States, the Secret Service visits the location ahead of time and orders local police to set up "free speech zones" or "protest zones," where people opposed to Bush policies (and sometimes sign-carrying supporters) are quarantined. These zones routinely succeed in keeping protesters out of presidential sight and outside the view of media covering the event.

When Bush went to the Pittsburgh area on Labor Day 2002, 65-year-old retired steel worker Bill Neel was there to greet him with a sign proclaiming, "The Bush family must surely love the poor, they made so many of us."

The local police, at the Secret Service's behest, set up a "designated free-speech zone" on a baseball field surrounded by a chain-link fence a third of a mile from the location of Bush's speech.

The police cleared the path of the motorcade of all critical signs, but folks with pro-Bush signs were permitted to line the president's path. Neel refused to go to the designated area and was arrested for disorderly conduct; the police also confiscated his sign.

Neel later commented, "As far as I'm concerned, the whole country is a free-speech zone. If the Bush administration has its way, anyone who criticizes them will be out of sight and out of mind."

At Neel's trial, police Detective John Ianachione testified that the Secret Service told local police to confine "people that were there making a statement pretty much against the president and his views" in a so-called free- speech area.

Paul Wolf, one of the top officials in the Allegheny County Police Department, told Salon that the Secret Service "come in and do a site survey, and say, 'Here's a place where the people can be, and we'd like to have any protesters put in a place that is able to be secured.' "

Pennsylvania District Judge Shirley Rowe Trkula threw out the disorderly conduct charge against Neel, declaring, "I believe this is America. Whatever happened to 'I don't agree with you, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it'?"

Similar suppressions have occurred during Bush visits to Florida. A recent St. Petersburg Times editorial noted, "At a Bush rally at Legends Field in 2001, three demonstrators -- two of whom were grandmothers -- were arrested for holding up small handwritten protest signs outside the designated zone. And last year, seven protesters were arrested when Bush came to a rally at the USF Sun Dome. They had refused to be cordoned off into a protest zone hundreds of yards from the entrance to the Dome."

One of the arrested protesters was a 62-year-old man holding up a sign, "War is good business. Invest your sons." The seven were charged with trespassing, "obstructing without violence and disorderly conduct."

Police have repressed protesters during several Bush visits to the St. Louis area as well. When Bush visited on Jan. 22, 150 people carrying signs were shunted far away from the main action and effectively quarantined.

Denise Lieberman of the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri commented, "No one could see them from the street. In addition, the media were not allowed to talk to them. The police would not allow any media inside the protest area and wouldn't allow any of the protesters out of the protest zone to talk to the media."

When Bush stopped by a Boeing plant to talk to workers, Christine Mains and her 5-year-old daughter disobeyed orders to move to a small protest area far from the action. Police arrested Mains and took her and her crying daughter away in separate squad cars.

The Justice Department is now prosecuting Brett Bursey, who was arrested for holding a "No War for Oil" sign at a Bush visit to Columbia, S.C. Local police, acting under Secret Service orders, established a "free-speech zone" half a mile from where Bush would speak. Bursey was standing amid hundreds of people carrying signs praising the president. Police told Bursey to remove himself to the "free-speech zone."

Bursey refused and was arrested. Bursey said that he asked the police officer if "it was the content of my sign, and he said, 'Yes, sir, it's the content of your sign that's the problem.' " Bursey stated that he had already moved 200 yards from where Bush was supposed to speak. Bursey later complained, "The problem was, the restricted area kept moving. It was wherever I happened to be standing."

Bursey was charged with trespassing. Five months later, the charge was dropped because South Carolina law prohibits arresting people for trespassing on public property. But the Justice Department -- in the person of U.S. Attorney Strom Thurmond Jr. -- quickly jumped in, charging Bursey with violating a rarely enforced federal law regarding "entering a restricted area around the president of the United States."

If convicted, Bursey faces a six-month trip up the river and a $5,000 fine. Federal Magistrate Bristow Marchant denied Bursey's request for a jury trial because his violation is categorized as a petty offense. Some observers believe that the feds are seeking to set a precedent in a conservative state such as South Carolina that could then be used against protesters nationwide.

Bursey's trial took place on Nov. 12 and 13. His lawyers sought the Secret Service documents they believed would lay out the official policies on restricting critical speech at presidential visits. The Bush administration sought to block all access to the documents, but Marchant ruled that the lawyers could have limited access.

Bursey sought to subpoena Attorney General John Ashcroft and presidential adviser Karl Rove to testify. Bursey lawyer Lewis Pitts declared, "We intend to find out from Mr. Ashcroft why and how the decision to prosecute Mr. Bursey was reached." The magistrate refused, however, to enforce the subpoenas. Secret Service agent Holly Abel testified at the trial that Bursey was told to move to the "free-speech zone" but refused to cooperate.

The feds have offered some bizarre rationales for hog-tying protesters. Secret Service agent Brian Marr explained to National Public Radio, "These individuals may be so involved with trying to shout their support or nonsupport that inadvertently they may walk out into the motorcade route and be injured. And that is really the reason why we set these places up, so we can make sure that they have the right of free speech, but, two, we want to be sure that they are able to go home at the end of the evening and not be injured in any way." Except for having their constitutional rights shredded.

The ACLU, along with several other organizations, is suing the Secret Service for what it charges is a pattern and practice of suppressing protesters at Bush events in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, Texas and elsewhere. The ACLU's Witold Walczak said of the protesters, "The individuals we are talking about didn't pose a security threat; they posed a political threat."

The Secret Service is duty-bound to protect the president. But it is ludicrous to presume that would-be terrorists are lunkheaded enough to carry anti-Bush signs when carrying pro-Bush signs would give them much closer access. And even a policy of removing all people carrying signs -- as has happened in some demonstrations -- is pointless because potential attackers would simply avoid carrying signs. Assuming that terrorists are as unimaginative and predictable as the average federal bureaucrat is not a recipe for presidential longevity.

The Bush administration's anti-protester bias proved embarrassing for two American allies with long traditions of raucous free speech, resulting in some of the most repressive restrictions in memory in free countries.

When Bush visited Australia in October, Sydney Morning Herald columnist Mark Riley observed, "The basic right of freedom of speech will adopt a new interpretation during the Canberra visits this week by George Bush and his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao. Protesters will be free to speak as much as they like just as long as they can't be heard."

Demonstrators were shunted to an area away from the Federal Parliament building and prohibited from using any public address system in the area.

For Bush's recent visit to London, the White House demanded that British police ban all protest marches, close down the center of the city and impose a "virtual three-day shutdown of central London in a bid to foil disruption of the visit by anti-war protesters," according to Britain's Evening Standard. But instead of a "free-speech zone," the Bush administration demanded an "exclusion zone" to protect Bush from protesters' messages.

Such unprecedented restrictions did not inhibit Bush from portraying himself as a champion of freedom during his visit. In a speech at Whitehall on Nov. 19, Bush hyped the "forward strategy of freedom" and declared, "We seek the advance of freedom and the peace that freedom brings."

Attempts to suppress protesters become more disturbing in light of the Homeland Security Department's recommendation that local police departments view critics of the war on terrorism as potential terrorists. In a May terrorist advisory, the Homeland Security Department warned local law enforcement agencies to keep an eye on anyone who "expressed dislike of attitudes and decisions of the U.S. government." If police vigorously followed this advice, millions of Americans could be added to the official lists of suspected terrorists.

Protesters have claimed that police have assaulted them during demonstrations in New York, Washington and elsewhere.

One of the most violent government responses to an antiwar protest occurred when local police and the federally funded California Anti-Terrorism Task Force fired rubber bullets and tear gas at peaceful protesters and innocent bystanders at the Port of Oakland, injuring a number of people.

When the police attack sparked a geyser of media criticism, Mike van Winkle, the spokesman for the California Anti-Terrorism Information Center told the Oakland Tribune, "You can make an easy kind of a link that, if you have a protest group protesting a war where the cause that's being fought against is international terrorism, you might have terrorism at that protest. You can almost argue that a protest against that is a terrorist act."

Van Winkle justified classifying protesters as terrorists: "I've heard terrorism described as anything that is violent or has an economic impact, and shutting down a port certainly would have some economic impact. Terrorism isn't just bombs going off and killing people."

Such aggressive tactics become more ominous in the light of the Bush administration's advocacy, in its Patriot II draft legislation, of nullifying all judicial consent decrees restricting state and local police from spying on those groups who may oppose government policies.

On May 30, 2002, Ashcroft effectively abolished restrictions on FBI surveillance of Americans' everyday lives first imposed in 1976. One FBI internal newsletter encouraged FBI agents to conduct more interviews with antiwar activists "for plenty of reasons, chief of which it will enhance the paranoia endemic in such circles and will further service to get the point across that there is an FBI agent behind every mailbox."

The FBI took a shotgun approach toward protesters partly because of the FBI's "belief that dissident speech and association should be prevented because they were incipient steps toward the possible ultimate commission of act which might be criminal," according to a Senate report.

On Nov. 23 news broke that the FBI is actively conducting surveillance of antiwar demonstrators, supposedly to "blunt potential violence by extremist elements," according to a Reuters interview with a federal law enforcement official.

Given the FBI's expansive definition of "potential violence" in the past, this is a net that could catch almost any group or individual who falls into official disfavor.

James Bovard is the author of "Terrorism & Tyranny: Trampling Freedom, Justice, and Peace to Rid the World of Evil." This article is adapted from one that appeared in the Dec. 15 issue of the American Conservative.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...&type=printable (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/01/04/INGPQ40MB81.DTL&type=printable)

[Fujoubou]

Bush had a clone. He was called Hitler.

[vicente]

Bush had a clone. He was called Hitler.

Actually, sometimes Conspiracy Theories, like Watergate, Contra-Affair, etc., prove true. Bush, a clone of Hitler? That just may prove to be true also. One thing for certain, he has divided America and the World so deeply, that he will always beat out Hitler on any "Most Evil List".

http://flash.bushrecall.org/

[Fujoubou]

omg this is funny lol

[vicente]

If you liked:
http://flash.bushrecall.org/
The following is a little harsh, but appropriate:
http://www.liberaloasis.com/bushin41point2.htm

:)

[vicente]

High-bandwidth:

http://www.bushin30seconds.org/view.html?i...d=03&size=large (http://www.bushin30seconds.org/view.html?id=03&size=large)

http://www.bushin30seconds.org/view.html?i...d=04&size=large (http://www.bushin30seconds.org/view.html?id=04&size=large)

http://www.bushin30seconds.org/view.html?i...d=05&size=large (http://www.bushin30seconds.org/view.html?id=05&size=large)

http://www.bushin30seconds.org/view.html?i...d=06&size=large (http://www.bushin30seconds.org/view.html?id=06&size=large)

http://www.bushin30seconds.org/view.html?i...d=07&size=large (http://www.bushin30seconds.org/view.html?id=07&size=large)

http://www.bushin30seconds.org/view.html?i...d=09&size=large (http://www.bushin30seconds.org/view.html?id=09&size=large)

http://www.bushin30seconds.org/view.html?i...d=11&size=large (http://www.bushin30seconds.org/view.html?id=11&size=large)

http://www.bushin30seconds.org/view.html?i...d=14&size=large (http://www.bushin30seconds.org/view.html?id=14&size=large)

http://www.bushin30seconds.org/view.html?i...d=14&size=large (http://www.bushin30seconds.org/view.html?id=14&size=large)

http://www.liberaloasis.com/busgin41point2.htm

http://flash.bushrecall.org/

[sonrisa]

Hi Fujoubou! check this out (http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/010704A.shtml)

I realize Thanxgiving is long over with but this is too rich (http://www.bushwhackedusa.com/turkey)

[Fujoubou]

sonrisa : hehehe that person seams to love bush alot.

[sonrisa]

hi Fujoubou check this one out! (http://www.bushorchimp.com)
also this one! (http://www.dumpdubya.com)
this one too! (http://www.whitehouse.org)