why don't we simply call Bushism "fucked up" rather than abuse the word "fascist," which has a specific historical meaning?
On 2/16/06, Dennis Claxton <ddclaxton at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Leigh wrote:
>
>
> >US citizens being treated in the same way that the
> > > prisoners in Guantanamo are being treated (incarcerated without legal
> > > basis, not charged, tortured).
> > >
> > >
> >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
>
>
> It's true that we have far too many people in prison and that we use
> prisons to take care of problems that should be taken care of in
> other ways. For example, the Los Angeles County jail system is one
> of the largest de facto mental institutions in the country. Many,
> many people who are locked up there should be in hospitals. Many
> more should be in drug treatment.
>
> But you've ignored part of the question Jim asked. He said the
> people in Guantanamo are not charged. Jailing people without charges
> is an important element of a police state and we have not arrived
> there. We have prisons and jails full of people who are
> *overcharged*, but that is not the same as not charged.
>
> I just spent the afternoon interviewing people locked up in the
> federal prison in downtown Los Angeles. I am in and out of jails and
> prisons in southern California a lot. From where I sit, what we have
> is a very bad system, but it is not Guantanamo.
>
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>
-- 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