Book Review: The End Of America: A Letter of Warning To A Young Patriot
By Mark Groubert Tuesday Apr 29, 2008 2:00pm
The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot
A Citizen’s Call To Action
By Naomi Wolf
Fascism: Fast and furious in ten historic steps.
1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy
2. Create a gulag
3. Develop a thug caste
4. Set up an internal surveillance system
5. Harass citizens’ groups
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release
7. Target key individuals
8. Control the press
9. Dissent equals treason
10. Suspend the rule of law
Naomi Wolf says: Recent history has profound lessons for us in the U.S. today about how fascist, totalitarian, and other repressive leaders seize and maintain power, especially in what were once democracies. The secret is that these leaders all tend to take very similar, parallel steps.
In the true spirit of Thomas Paine, Wolf takes her slender pamphlet/book (155 pages) to the streets of America. Our job is to read it, write about it and Revere it. Ride through the towns across the land yelling: “The fascists are coming. The fascists are coming.”
That is, if it isn’t too late.
Wolf’s previous books have mostly centered on women’s issues. The Beauty Myth, Fire With Fire, Misconceptions, Promiscuities: The Secret Struggle for Womanhood and The Treehouse. This work, The End of America is completely out of left field. A radical departure, if you will. While not trying to minimize the importance of her previous progressive books, this tome is a major historical piece of non-fiction. I say so because of its simplicity, minimalism, brevity, cohesion and importance.
I’ll tell you what it's not.
It is not highbrow. It is not pompous. It is not longwinded. It is not complicated.
It is simply, the truth.
At once a brilliant indictment of the Bush administration, The End of America, explains in blunt terms how the last 7 years have paralleled the same steps taken during the 20th century that led to the dictatorships of Italy, Russia, China, Germany, and Chile.
Believe me, folks. It can happen here.
The book is not partisan. It is historical. It starts with the premise that ten steps, ten small changes are all that is necessary to move a country from democracy to fascism.
The work demonstrates how the massive escalation of executive power in the White House has eroded the core values that surround our personal freedoms. In her citizen’s call to action, Wolf demonstrates the very real threats that exist to our civil liberties and explains how we can deal with this growing threat. You can start by reading this book.
In the 2006 military coup in Thailand, the leaders of the coup took a number of systematic steps. Within days, the coup leaders declared martial law, sent soldiers into residential areas, took over radio and TV stations, issued press restrictions, tightened travel and rounded up the usual suspects. They weren’t winging it. They knew exactly what they were doing. Veteran campers know how to make a fire. There are certain steps you take. The U.S. has already initiated the 10 steps to fascism and they are spelled out above. Wolf illuminates them all clearly and precisely. From the USA Patriot Act to the John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007, we have seen a breathtaking passage of laws that its own signers now admit they didn’t even bother to read. By the way, in case you are wondering, the Defense Authorization Act allows the President (or his surrogates) vast new powers over the National Guard. He can send Michigan’s militia to enforce what he decides is a “state of emergency” in California over the objections of the state’s governor and its people. This is a clear violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, which was meant to stop the federal government from using the military as police force. So much for state’s rights. Having seen its citizens beaten by a foreign king’s army, the founding fathers wanted to prevent our own government turning on its own citizens. Apparently the Bush administration finds that to be a restriction on the executive branch and an unconstitutional check on his powers. Question is, what are you gonna do about it? Vote him out? Okay, what about the next president?
As Americans follow the latest turn of events regarding Britney Spears or Miley Cyrus, the people who crave power consolidate it quietly and aggressively. They don’t have time to watch the latest episode of American Idol. They are in the business of creating their own.
Germans still went to the movies in Berlin in 1931.
The Chinese will soon have the Olympics as the Germans did in 1936. The outward structures always appear the same. The point is that fascism doesn’t come as a black and white newsreel any longer. Today, it comes in fuschia and pastels with a yellow smiley face. It is Disneyfied. It wears the same clothing as you do. The hair styles are the same. The shoes are the same. Remember the crazed thuggish gang of Republican operatives banging at the door while the Florida recount was occurring? They all wore white starched shirts and tan khaki slacks, yet they were dressed to kill. Democracy, that is.
This democracy business is a lot of work. Freedom makes you fat and lazy. I mean that in a good way. We used to be able to sit back and let our elected officials take care of business. Well, apparently business has taken care of our elected officials. Now we gotta do it. Ugh. Time to get off the couch. Well, let's get it on. I guess we do have to fight for our right to party.
The End of America by Naomi Wolf serves as a companion piece to her sister-in-arms, Naomi Klein’s work, The Shock Doctrine. Read them both and you will understand everything you need to know about today’s threats to democracy. But read them quick. The clock is ticking, we’re in the 4th quarter of the Super bowl with no time outs.
A WGA screenwriter/producer/journalist based in Hollywood, California, Mark Groubert is the Senior Film and Book Reviewer for CrooksandLiars.com. As a filmmaker he has produced numerous documentaries for HBO. Groubert is also the former editor of National Lampoon Magazine, MTV Magazine and The Weekly World News. In addition, he currently writes for the L.A. Weekly, L.A. City Beat, Penthouse, High Times and other publications.
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Paul Revere it, people! Get the word OUT. I bought this book for my die hard Rush- listening uncle and he has seen the light. Pass this book on to everyone you know.
Strengthen and enforce the Smith-Mundt Act. We're in this situation now because of the media helping the Bush government.
7 Numbers that Prove George Bush is Destroying America.
$50 billion - How much the Iraq War was estimated to cost before the invasion.
$1.4 trillion - How much the Iraq War is now estimated to finally cost.
$10 billion - How much money is unaccounted for in Iraq and post-Katrina.
47 million - how many Americans are living without health-insurance.
5 million - how many Americans lost health insurance under George Bush.
$3.5 trillion - how much national debt has risen under George Bush.
27% - how much of our debt is owed to foreign countries.
Kill all fascists.
1 - the number of nooses it would take to solve the George Bush problem.
I have a pretty good collection of Naomi Wolf stuff, videos, if you want to hear her speak on the subject.
You can't build a house without a foundation. The foundation for today's fascist tendencies was the War on Drugs, which turned out to be anything but a 'war' on inanimate objects but upon vast segments of our population, most of who are Democratic Party members...or they would be, if they could vote, which the DrugWar very handily strips them of.
But of course, we aren't supposed to talk about such things at 'progressive' sites like this, oh no. Might have to own up to all the 'me-too!' anti-drug legislation so-called 'progressives' wimpily supported to make themselves look as 'tough' as their fascist Repub 'colleagues'.
My Republican friends care little about facts or how policy affects them. They just want to get more and don't give a darn about who suffers!
A lot can happen between now and November. A lot......
Ride through the towns across the land yelling: “The fascists are coming. The fascists are coming.”
I've done this from Florida to Maine. People just look up from their iPods and cellphones and say, "What a nut".
Dr. Know @ 10:
Now that was funny! But if you really think about it, it's very sad.
Lou Proyect writes:
"...the whole purpose of fascism is to step into the breach when parliamentary democracy is incapable of containing the class struggle, isn’t it? In Germany during the 1920s the Weimar Republic collapsed because political struggle had moved into the streets. Workers militias clashed with Nazi goon squads, while the police lacked sufficient power to contain militant strikes and protests. Dictatorship was necessary in order to forestall proletarian revolution.
Does anybody believe that the USA is anywhere near such a point? The good news is that since it isn’t, we don’t have to worry about being dragged off to concentration camps because we operate blogs like “The Feral Scholar” or “Unrepentant Marxist”. But the bad news is that the class struggle is in such a retarded state that there really is no need for extreme measures. The big bourgeoisie regards the revolutionary left in more or less the same manner that an elephant regards a flea. That, of course, might change some day but there is no need to hide the truth from those who would pay attention to our ideas. We want to be taken seriously and that means avoiding the impression that we are like Chicken Little."
Full: http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2006/10/24/stan-goff-on-fascism/
This democracy business is a lot of work. Freedom makes you fat and lazy. I mean that in a good way. We used to be able to sit back and let our elected officials take care of business. Well, apparently business has taken care of our elected officials. Now we gotta do it. Ugh. Time to get off the couch. Well, let’s get it on. I guess we do have to fight for our right to party.
Great paragraph. Here's some great examples:
Citizen confronts Newt Gingrich at book signing.
Citizens confront Gary Hart.
Check your local library. Do they have this book? Ask them to buy it. But it for them.
Today, it comes in fuschia and pastels with a yellow smiley face. It is Disneyfied.
Yes, and it is behind all the CORPORATE MEDIA FACES ... Gibson, Williams, Couric, Russert, Matthews, Blizter, Brown, the entire Fox Propaganda channel, and all the rest of them ... while they collect their million dollar paydays ..........
pli @ 1:
This is hard to believe. I have a friend who is a die hard Rush/Savage type and he STILL can't see whats wrong.
Brave Citizens confidently confront Congressman Henry Waxman. Long overdue in my opinion. Great example of citizens working together to fight for our democracy.
I read this on my Kindle. Frightening book.
Pass the news...
Top Ten Signs Your Country May Be Going Fascist video format (just under 2 minutes)
and...
The Shock Doctrine by Alfonso Cuarón and Naomi Klein 6 minute video
Turner Classic Movies just showed this 1943 Berlin Germany version of "The Titanic" recently.
It was teh AWESOME and highly recommended if you want to compare and contrast that culture and this one.
Amazing the parallels that that production went through with Cameron's 1997 version.
~Nyc
The ZombieNation is too busy "buying tennis shoes with lights" to realize it is getting played.
Looks interesting, but I already bought 5 copies of Ron Paul's book and 5 copies of the audio CD so I can't buy this one just yet. Maybe next week.
99 @ 6:
Wow ... I'm listening to Her right now via your link. She really lets you know how bad things have gotten there. I shuddered when i saw that her computer had been searched and gone through by airport security.
Things have got to turn around before we are totally living in a fascist state.
Holy crap, wake up everybody!!! Democracy in America? Since when ?
Anyone like to tell me when the United States wasn't a "fascist state"? Was it when we were killing Native Americans and expropriating their land? Or was it when we were buying and selling Africans? Maybe after the Civil War when we had Jim Crowe and launched our Imperial adventures in foreign lands? WWI? WWII? The Clinton era? Please, tell me when was that "golden age" when we could let our politicians govern us from Washington in that pre-fascist era?
The entire foundation is thoroughly corrupt, along with the edifice built upon it.
blue @ 15:
You are Damn Right!!
"But read them quick."
The Shock Doctrine pissed me off so horribly that it toom me almost four months to read it. Every time I would read something, I'd have to put the book down and walk away before I threw it at someone. I read The End of America prior to reading The Shock Doctrine. That's prolly why it pissed me off so badly.
Both are excellently written books.
This has been a fascist government for quite a few years now, but it has really picked up a head of steam latley--just follow the history of the price of gasoline and that industry's profit margins. Just one example of many.
Bruce H. @ 8:
You should choose your friends carefully.
Tell me again how it is that such are your 'friends'.
If Zappa seemed ahead of the times on the threat posed by fascism in the USA, writer Sinclair Lewis about 70 years ago, back in the time of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Father Coughlin, wrote much about it in his book, "It Can't Happen Here". Lewis sums up his feeling with this, "When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross."
Henry Kissinger was appointed to head up the 9/11 Investigation Commission until some diligent women... The Jersey Girls. Who basically forced, demanded, and caused the issue of an investigation to occur in the first place. Asked Dr. Kissinger if he had any clients by the name of Bin Laden... He promptly stepped down. The new appointee wasn't any better. Trust me.
If we can't get over our scared of the dark mentality and confront these a-holes. They are going to do worse than what they've done so far. Do a little investigation. The internet is our friend and full of documentaries and alternative sources of credible information. Put the strings together. The Trials of Henry Kissinger is a good start. PNAC is important. Feel patriotic.
IgnoranceIsNotBliss @ 26:
both naomi klein and naomi wolf are great writers and great speakers who make simple, powerful points with great effectiveness. i think speaking wise klein is a [i]little[/i] better but both are great.
and i had the same experience reading shock doctrine. couldnt even finish it made me so angry.
It Can't Happen Here is a semi-satirical political novel by Sinclair Lewis published in 1935 . It features newspaperman Doremus Jessup struggling against the fascist regime of President Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip, who resembles (to some extent) the flamboyantly dictatorial Huey Long of Louisiana and Gerald B. Winrod, the Kansas evangelist whose far-right views earned him the nickname "The Jayhawk Nazi". It serves as a warning that political movements akin to Nazism can come to power in countries such as the United States when people blindly support their leaders.
That's the truth. I've read more than enough about the details of how Hitler, Franco, and Pinochet came to power, and I feel I have a decent understanding of what is going on today, so I don't expect reading this will enlighten me greatly. I will read it, though, because it seems this is "important" in the sense that many progressives will be influenced by it.
My main thought, though, is that all this talk of coming fascist gloom and doom without a plan to address it will have two main effects:
1 - A peaceful transfer of power to democrats will happen, confirming to many that, yes, progressives are crazy and/or dishonest. Regardless non-progressives will learn the lesson "don't listen to progressives"
2 - People who read it will be frightened into inaction. In a true fascist state, organizing and protesting is ineffective and will get you imprisoned or killed. The only hope for success given the state of the U.S. would be the defection of large segments of the U.S. military. Where does that leave the average progressive who isn't an officer in the military and doesn't want to be sent to Guantanamo? Nothing. Stay at home, vote democrat, and pray.
To recap, I expect the message your average American will internalize is "Be afraid. Don't trust progressives. Stay at home. Vote democrat."
What the American people need to internalize is "Be courageous. Vote democrat, but be prepared to fight them, too. Go out. Organize, and we will win!"
blue @ 15:
Disney has been doing propaganda for the past 70 years! Here is and oldie but goodie!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ69X1qt4sQ
What happened in Germany with ordinary citizens turning a blind eye to injustice in the name of reform and prosperity?
A letter of warning to voters...
Watch out for the so called "Fellowship" elite groups and their R and D connections.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080331/ehrenreich
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/09/hillarys-prayer.html
When the Founders of our nation constitutionally separated Church and State,
They did not expect that groups would be setup as tax-exempt and camouflaged covers..
who were really wealthy right-wing businessmen that set out to control the government of the United States.
And their Foreign Policy of KILLING.
--> Hedge Fund in Talks to Buy Blackwater
Private Equity Firm Could Invest At Least $200 Million Into Controversial Security Firm
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4756462
What unnerves me is I live in the center of a large metro surrounded by way to many crazy freaking clueless people who don't have any idea how quickly the rug could be yanked out from under them.
Something not mentioned, but what I also find troubling is that even at this very late stage, which amounts to the playing out of the endgame, there are too many folks who would label anybody who discusses these issues or who even points them out can still be labeled as whacko conspiracy theorists.
I just read this book a few months ago, and recommend it highly.
♠Bangkok-Bob♠ @ 3:
According to Josef Stigletz the war, everything taken into account, is more likely to cost between 3-5 trillion.
Dr. Know @ 10:
I had friends who were in Chile for sometime in 1971. Much later, after Pinochet (Allende was overthrown on 9/11/73), I talked to people who had been through those dark times under Pinochet.
People who were not activist in any way noticed very little wrong under Pinochet. There were stories of people disappearing. The people who were activists noticed quite a lot wrong, they didn't always live to tell about it.
So it goes in totalitarian regimes, once the right to speak is gone, any other rights follow quickly. You try to speak at your own peril.
Interestingly, it was common knowledge in Chile in 1971 that the CIA was attempting to subvert the government. The joke on the street was that the CIA had given the Generals one million dollars and they proceeded to do nothing. Pinochet finally got serious and the joke was over.
The Americans in general knew nothing about the CIA complicity in the Chilean overthrow.
We must keep selling those iPods, after all.
sorry, thats both wars together, afghanistan and Iraq.
To play Devil's advocate: Since all of those ten things have, to some degree or another, occurred within the United States of America, and considering that America is yet to turn into a fascist state (all melodramatic left-wing nutters aside), does that not imply some form of flaw in Klein's logic? While I am no fan of the current U.S. administration and its policies, the U.S. is a far cry from Nazi Germany.
John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007
Just poking around,
Senate passed it unanimously, so does that mean McCain, Obama and H.R. Clinton?
Reps- Ron Paul Naye
Huh. Ron Paul, the odd-ball out-- again.
I wrote a college paper similar to this book's idea: it was a letter to the children of 2076 explaining why America died in the early 21st century. I thought about publishing it until I realized this book and many others existed, but nobody cares. The same goes for Keith Olbermann's amazing Special Comments: he calls the fascists fascists, he points out all the same things, and still nobody cares.
The fact is that even Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" was just words on paper. It didn't gain America's independence; it didn't stop a single act of tyranny by King George. Nor did the Declaration of Independence, probably the finest single document in human history. What did work? The average American taking up arms and standing opposed to their tyrants. Armed rebellion, folks, is what worked--not the rhetoric, not the sentiments, but the actions of brave citizens who wanted to be free from tyranny.
Sadly, America will never rise up again. We saw what happened when the South tried to rise against an overpowering federal government: the Civil War and the horrors of Reconstruction. True, the end of slavery was hastened, so great good came from that war, but the federal gained even more power and "the People" were shown that they cannot always choose their own destinies. In the 1960s we saw millions of Americans trying nonviolent protests against the Vietnam War and the accompanying tyranny of federal government, and again we saw that the government was too powerful and too widespread to fight.
How many of you C&L readers honestly believe that Bush stole the 2000 election? Seriously, how many of you truly KNOW that Al Gore was our elected president until the SCOTUS selected Bush?
Now, how many of you took up arms and fought back against that coup? Anyone? Anyone?! If you truly believed that Bush stole the election, yet you did nothing but write and talk and march about it, then you did NOTHING. If you genuinely believe that your government has been stolen, you have a duty to fight for it.
This is why I won't try to spread this book around or "Paul Revere" it in the streets. Those of us who know that America is being destroyed by fascists have done NOTHING about it, and the rest of America just doesn't care.
The only reason Paul Revere's ride worked is because the citizens gave a damn and had the means--and the willingness--to fight back.
Why did Houston Police shoot and kill
a Federal Agent - Possibly CIA??
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&um=1&tab=wn&q=CIA+houston+police&btnG=...
L.A. Confidential @ 35:
Just spoke with a friend in Germany who has befriended an 85 year old that lived through KristalNacht who saw that shit go down first hand and from what he told me it seems we're already very close to that.
Just look at how we treat our 'useless eaters' here today in America.
The more things change, the more they stay the same, but, if that's the case, then my question is, once we've gone through running their playbook of persecuting the homeless, mentally ill, elderly, pedophiles, tatooed, nose ringed, gypsies, alcoholic and drug addicts, who are the new American Jews going to be?
Because that's where all this leads, inn't?
~Nyc
PS: Good catch on the 1936 Berlin/2008 Beijing Olympics, it's been staring me in the face for like forever, (I talk with China everyday on Skype), but just couldn't make the connection, so hat's off. (insert appropriate emoticon here)
#10 will occur when - and here I hope this prediction merely awards me The Aluminum Hat Prize - sometime in January, some thing will happen that will "permit" Bush/Cheney to declare Martial Law. No transfer to a new presidency will occur.
That "something" can be war on Iran or another attack or even just a hurricane; the Patriot Act bit of fascism ensured that such a declaration is much easier to do.
Meat @ 44:
For now perhaps. What happens if prolonged hard economic times occurs? Someones going to get blamed for this eventually and it's not sane and reasonable people who are going to be freaking out and doing the blaming and looking for scalps. It's not sane and reasonable people who are going to be working the crowds from the makeshift podiums up into a Nationalistic frenzy to restore the country to greatness.
We're really walking a tightrope.
L.A. Confidential @ 36:
In July of 1934 they understood that the rule of law was over. The so called 'Night of the long knives' was the seminal event. The army, the only institution which could have done something, was tacit.
Here is an excerpt:
On July 13, Hitler gave a long speech to the Nazi controlled Reichstag (Parliament) in which he announced seventy four had been shot and justified the murders.
"If anyone reproaches me and asks why I did not resort to the regular courts of justice, then all I can say is this: In this hour I was responsible for the fate of the German people, and thereby I became the supreme judge of the German people."
"It was no secret that this time the revolution would have to be bloody; when we spoke of it we called it 'The Night of the Long Knives.' Everyone must know for all future time that if he raises his hand to strike the State, then certain death is his lot."
George @ 49:
Well unless it looks like McBush has it wrapped up then they will put it off for a couple of more years when the septugenarian bites it.
♠Bangkok-Bob♠ @ 3:
ZERO...the amount I'm going to pay in income tax this year...why feed the pig?
the legal foundations for suspension of elected government are already set. all what's left is a justification ... some time after the election, but before the inauguration. remember when 6 nukes flew over the US last year, "by mistake" ? well, there was *one* news bulletin (which soon disappeared) that 1 of the 6 disappeared along route ...
" The next major terrorist attack on US soil will be nuclear. "
didn't say anything about foreigners.
And while you´re at it: I strongly suggest to visit Arthur Silber´s blog "Once Upon a Time..."
http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/
http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2008/03/thus-you-lose-world-what-fu...
http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2007/08/worsening-nightmare.html
and finally this post about how to build an effectiv resistence:
http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2007/02/dispatch-from-germany-summe...
But it might well be already to late.
I´m with Arthur: Most of you are fucking morons.
Meat @ 44:
Her name is Naomi Wolf (you blind man)
More on that Hedge Fund in Talks to Buy Blackwater
They never put the good stuff on the first page .... page two..
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Story?id=4756462&page=2
Cerberus Capital Management could invest $200 million for a stake in Blackwater, said a source close to the negotiations.
The chairman of Cerberus is
--> former Treasury Secretary John Snow,
--> and former Vice President Dan Quayle is also a prominent figure in the company.
AFP via Yahoo! News - 35 minutes ago
Iran remained the world's "most active" state sponsor of terrorism as it tries to build regional influence and drive the United States from the Middle East, a US government report said Wednesday.
Sports Illustrated - 33 minutes ago
Venezuela's associations with terror states, Iran's meddling in Iraq and the resurgence of al Qaeda in Afghanistan top the concerns in a new State Department report on terrorism threats in countries around the world.
AFP via Yahoo! News - Apr 30 3:27 AM
Palestinian Hamas militants are serving as the "proxy warriors" for an Iran bent on destroying Israel and destabilizing the Middle East, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said here.
Are we being "softened up"?
George @ 49:
I hate to point out the obvious; but, you need an Army to declare martial law. The American Army is off somewhere playing in a sandbox.
I like Pie @ 59:
Blackwater and homeland security is who/what will be knockin down doors...
A real time example....
The Imprisonment of Alabama Governor Don Siegelman
Full Thom Hartman interview..
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/alerts/350
I wonder what the Candidates statement is on this...
L.A. Confidential @ 58:
Like cheese in the microwave...asphalt in the hot sun...old couch cushions...
I like Pie @ 59:
You can't rely on the National Guard to shoot at their fellow citizens. That's what Blackwater is for.
More on that Houston Police killing today of ...
Roland Vincent Carnaby, 52, the local Houston chapter president of the Association for Intelligence Officers (AFIO).
"The Association For Intelligence Officers (AFIO), formerly known as the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, was incorporated in 1975 as a 501(c)3 non-profit, non-political, educational association for current and former intelligence professionals and supporters of the US intelligence community."
http://www.nndb.com/org/620/000161137/
Paul. @ 39:
That is exactly it.
Talk about any doubt you have in the government and you're a "liberal" or a "nutjob".
I like Pie @ 59:
LOL...not to be confused, but the President (or the asshole playing that role, as seen on TV), is the one that declares it. See, e.g.,:
http://www.answers.com/topic/martial-law
Scroll down for this quote: "Only the president can declare martial law on the federal level and only governors may do so on the state level."
Of course, maybe they'll have so wrecked the national guard, military, etc., that they'll find a hard time doing it....but the bigger question is whether in doing so they can retain power, McShithead being "elected" or not. Obviously, Bush/Cheney hate him quite a bit.
Paul B. @ 46:
bump
How to even start?
And for those who think Dumbya hasn't got more than two neurons firing at a time, there WILL be a Liberry:
The George W Bush presidential library is now in the planning stages
You'll want to be one of the first to make a contribution to this great man's legacy.
The library will include:
* The Hurricane Katrina Room, which is still under construction.
* The Alberto Gonzales Room, where you can't remember anything.
* The Texas Air National Guard Room, where you don't have to even show up.
* The Walter Reed Hospital Room, where they don't let you in.
* The Guantanamo Bay Room, where they don't let you out.
* The Weapons of Mass Destruction Room (which no one has been able to find).
* The Iraq War Room. After you complete your first tour, they make you go back for second, third, fourth, and sometimes fifth tours.
* The Dick Cheney Room, in the famous undisclosed location, complete with shooting gallery.
* Plans also include: The K-Street Project Gift Shop - where you can buy (or just steal) an election.
* The Airport Men's Room, where you can meet some of your favorite Republican Senators.
* Last, but not least, there will be an entire floor devoted to a 7/8 scale model of the President's ego.
* To highlight the President's accomplishments, the museum will have an electron microscope to help you locate them.
When asked, President Bush said that he didn't care so much about the individual exhibits, as long as his museum was better than his father's.
Both Presidential books are ready for the Library and one hasn’t even been colored in yet
************************************
State of the Union Address and Ground Hog Day
This has been a year when both Groundhog Day and the State of the Union address occurred in the same week. As has been pointed out, it was an ironic juxtaposition of events: one involved a meaningless ritual in which we look to a creature of little intelligence for prognostication, while the other involved a groundhog.
More on the houston police shooting:
google for "Alan Premel roland carnaby", there's only one page returned in the search. that page is gone, so click the google cache link. The man that was killed by Houston police was a partner of the CIA agent that recently won many millions in a recent lawsuit against the CIA.
L.A. Confidential @ 58:
What the freakin hell??? That's such bullshit!
"the Russians are coming"
"the Muslims are coming"
"the Fascists are coming"
But hysterical fearmongering bullshit is here to stay.
Meat @ 44:
According to Wolf, the brilliant brilliant brilliant patriot who wrote "The End Of America", we are in that transitional phase when everything still LOOKS normal, people still go to the theatre, restaurants etc, but that will change. Don't be fooled by the seemingly normal appearance. It's almost too late now. Everything has already been set up. Don't be so cocky.There are still the 800 concentration camps ready to go throughout the US. The big delusion is that once the election is over, everything will be OK. Vote for Obama. Hillary is already a corporate fascist and has taken more money from the lobbyists than any other member of Congress.
General_Hottentot (or whatever your name is): You reading this??????
George @ 66: