>>To convince me that fascism is here, I'd have to see large numbers
-- thousands -- of US citizens being treated in the same way that the
prisoners in Guantanamo are being treated (incarcerated without legal
basis, not charged, tortured).
Leigh writes:> The United States incarcerates a larger percentage of it's population than any other country in the world. What kind of evidence would it take to convince you that the legal system maintains order in and about this society where the unaffected and unencumbered never notice the screams of the inmates as they are gangraped or assaulted by prison staff and guards (often private employees wholly unaccountable to overview) at ANY prison in the country where the cells are often the same size as Guantanmo, especially if it's "protective" incarceration like Pelican Bay or Marion Ohio? After a few months, your back is permanently FUBAR and you can barely walk anymore.
>That's torture... <
I was familiar with all of that and don't see why the lecture is needed. But it's not Italian-style fascism (or Spanish-style fascism or Chile-style fascism, etc.), though it can and should be opposed on all levels.
Me: >>The ACLU wouldn't be allowed to appeal. <<
>The appeals in capital cases have been severely limited. By current
standards, many of the falsely convicted BPP members like "Geronimo"
Pratt would have been dead years ago... Now 'Reclaim the streets", an
organization that throws impromptu "Block Parties" has been declared a
terrorist org. <
there's a big difference between that (which I'm familiar with -- why the preaching?) and Italian-style fascism (or Spanish-style fascism or Chile-style fascism, etc.) But it can and should be opposed on all levels.
>Just sit still, they will catch up with the intellectuals eventually. <
luckily, I don't need to worry, not being an intellectual.
>>You wouldn't see members of the leading (vanguard?) party
complaining about restrictions on civil liberties. <<
Leigh: >Vanguard party? You mean the Democrat side of the congressional and senatorial aisle? <
No. the current vanguard party in the US is the GOP. It's organized like a stereotyped "Leninist" party, though it's falling apart a bit of late. --- Jim Devine / Bust Big Brother Bush! "There are no whole truths; all truths are half-truths. It is trying to treat them as whole truths that plays the devil." -- Alfred North Whitehead