Fighting the Five Fascisms in Wisconsin and Ohio

FOCUS | Scalia Resigns Post As Scoutmaster

PBS and the Koch Brother Scandal

Reagan's Chickens Home to Roost?

Wall Street Lobbyists Roll Back Finance Reform, Again

FOCUS | The Mad Science of the National Debt

Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman begin: "The escalating confrontations in Wisconsin and Ohio are ultimately about preventing the United States from becoming a full-on fascist state. The stakes could not be higher - or more clear."

Protests in Wisconsin are still building, 02/21/11. (photo: Reuters)

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+30 # Activista 2011-02-21 20:43

brilliant article - Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman:
"The entire economic crisis now gripping the United States can be directly traced to the military budget, which exceeds the sum of what's being spent by all other nations combined. In a brilliant recent column, Robert Greenwald points out that the entire alleged shortfall in Wisconsin could be covered by bringing just 180 troops home from Afghanistan"
JUST 180 troops ... US is more sick than Soviet Union in 1980 ....
we are doomed ...

0 # 3rdM-3rdE 2011-02-25 18:12

Quoting Activista:

brilliant article - Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman:
"The entire economic crisis now gripping the United States can be directly traced to the military budget, which exceeds the sum of what's being spent by all other nations combined. In a brilliant recent column, Robert Greenwald points out that the entire alleged shortfall in Wisconsin could be covered by bringing just 180 troops home from Afghanistan"
JUST 180 troops ... US is more sick than Soviet Union in 1980 .... we are doomed ...

So don't vote for Brechnev... or Gorbachev. Unions vs. Fractional Reserve Banking is the key issue here; and We have Them far outnumbered. VOTING rights is the main determinant of whether this (mass majority) is to prove more of an ASSET or a LIABILITY.

+18 # giraffe 2011-02-21 23:56

So when does the law step in on these Wisconsin (Ohio, Florida, etc) governmors? They are using their "power" for their own gains and there must be laws about abuse of power.

I don't want to sit by watching my freedom/liberty erode by these creeps. They were elected after the Supremes passed a decision that CANNOT be constitutional -- a corp has rights of an individual -- come on now.

But Scalia/Thomas were treated to a paid vacation by the pimps (Koch brothers) just before they passed that decision that began this avalanche illegal decisions (like putting "w" into the White House- even though the feds can NOT interfere in state elections)

Anybody know who enforces the LAWS here? DOJ? W.H.?

+9 # michelle 2011-02-22 21:21

It was jammed packed with union members from all walks of life on the capitol steps of Sacramento tonight. There is a call from moveon for Saturday on the steps of the capitol in every state. We don't have to sit quietly and watch our freedom/liberty erode. WE can fight back. The Koch brothers were included in the anti-collective bargaining bill--they would be able to purchase the power plants in WI. I no longer believe the law is on the side of the people. It has to be into the streets if we are to create the change we need to preserve our human rights as well as dignity. We need to move from anger to action. Another demonstration against corporations is scheduled for Feb. 26th. Check out usuncut.org. Everyone is needed. Here in Sacto the tea party planned to show up in union tee shirts and make outrageous statements to the press.
It was tea that provoked the colonists to revolution. This time it is the tea party of Koch and company that provokes the middle class. Perhaps this century it is time to toss the tea party in the Boston Harbor and strike a blow for democracy.

-31 # rock 2011-02-22 06:49

"The trillions of dollars of pure martial waste poured into the Cold War and those in Southeast Asia, central America, the Middle East, Southwest Asia and elsewhere could easily have clothed, housed, fed, educated, and provided otherwise decent lives for all human beings the world over."

Unspoken, and apparently left unappreciated here is the core fact that, without the commitment represented here, more or less the entire world would be clothed, housed, fed and educated in chains under communism. The authors' preference for that alternative is evident - but certainly the hope and choice of people everywhere is for some kind of freedom, however imperfect.

+10 # Activista 2011-02-22 09:20

Rock - read below - "Communism selfimploded by its own military escalation frenzy and thanks to new information technologies in those ...."
US/Capitalism is selfimploding by its own military escalation frenzy and thanks to new information technologies in those countries the USr military empire is CAPUT.

+10 # Robert Griffin 2011-02-22 15:45

It is quite likely that Soviet Communism was failing on its own due to its misunderstandin g of humanity and to the corruption an all-powerful state attracts.

+1 # rock 2011-02-22 16:49

Agreed, but had they faced no credible opposition, they probably would not have been so flimsy. Also, nobody seems to have grasped the fact that they were failing until the latter days.

+4 # DaveW. 2011-02-23 21:04

rock, Boo! Boo! Boo! This is about the only thing that the right knows how to do.
They've been living an "imperfect" freedom across the Middle East for decades. Take a good look. Do you see much of the concepts of "hope and choice" there. Do we need to spend a million dollars a day to run the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan, an aircraft carrier that should have been a garbage scow, along the WEST COAST of America? Who the f*** are they protecting us against? Great white sharks or renegade surfers? But hey, let's keep "fighting the good fight" even if we have to gut the country to do it. Read any Roman history? The "tentacles" of Freedom don't have the luxury of being "imperfect" when they're being implemented at the point of a sword or a gun. Communism...Ter rorism...Illega l Immigration...U nion Workers...Women ...Muslims...Af rican-Americans ...Chinese-Amer icans...Japanes e-Americans...P hilippine-Ameri cans. Our history is "littered" with closed minds and debauched hearts always on the continual lookout for next "enemy" on the horizon. Who's next rock...cat lovers?

+11 # stonepig 2011-02-22 07:37

These two authors are so acuurate and talented. There are no laws being upheld by the DOJ or SEC as it relates to the corpocracy. One has to read the Rolling Stone article to get that whole picture. Making all this go correctly, for the people??? Dear God I hope so.

+8 # m.aamodt 2011-02-22 08:16

please, please share this article far and wide.

+10 # m.aamodt 2011-02-22 08:24

rock, you are off the page here. Communism selfimploded by its own military escalation frenzy and thanks to new information technologies in those countries.

+23 # futhark 2011-02-22 09:35

I am not afraid of Islamic radicals taking over the United States and imposing Sharia law,

I am not afraid of communists or socialists taking control in the United States.

I am afraid of the loss of our human and Constitutional rights due to the actions of those who excuse these infractions in the name of "security".

I am afraid of the squandering of resources in maintaining a military establishment far beyond that which could conceivably be needed to protect the nation from invasion, resources that could otherwise be used to protect and enhance the health, education, and true security of the citizens.

I am afraid of the accumulation of control over resources by a small group of oligarchs, who use them to establish and increase political hegemony to the vast detriment of most of the world's population and the biosphere.

+4 # Capn Canard 2011-02-23 06:24

futhark, well said. Those who are afraid can't see the forest with all the trees blocking the view.

+1 # 3rdM-3rdE 2011-02-25 18:28

Quoting futhark:

I am not afraid of Islamic radicals taking over the United States and imposing Sharia law,

I am not afraid of communists or socialists taking control in the United States.

I am afraid of the loss of our human and Constitutional rights due to the actions of those who excuse these infractions in the name of "security".

I am afraid of the squandering of resources in maintaining a military establishment far beyond that which could conceivably be needed to protect the nation from invasion, resources that could otherwise be used to protect and enhance the health, education, and true security of the citizens.

I am afraid of the accumulation of control over resources by a small group of oligarchs, who use them to establish and increase political hegemony to the vast detriment of most of the world's population and the biosphere.

Democratically elected representatives of the people controlling the national currency of the USA necessitates neither or the first 2, while remedying each of the last 3.

Business can (and will) go on like before, just WAY less corrupt.

This is not a new issue. On the contrary, in many ways Fractional Reserve Banking is the oldest and most enduring issue in American history.

+17 # DPM 2011-02-22 10:35

As mentioned in the above article, it is up to us. We cannot rely on the institutions designed to protect us. They have been hijacked by the corporate interests and changed or ignored by our elected representatives . We must force the government to do what it is elected to do, that is, to act in the best interests of the citizens of this country. It looks as though we need a very loud vocal repudiation of what our government is doing and a very expensive repudiation of corporate control. Boycott! Protest! Organize! Speak out! Talk about the shameful way companies and government are "screwing" the public. Tell people what they can expect if the unions are crushed. Where do they think their 8 hour day/40 hour week, paid holiday, company benefits and minimum wage came from? The warm paternal hearts of their employers?
Educate the ignorant. Keep up the pressure!

+7 # Todd Williams 2011-02-22 13:05

What's the problem Rock? Do you miss the bogyman of Communism? That was, I'm sure, the great enemy used to justify your support of rotten dictorships, undeclared wars, CIA interference in foreign affairs and other clandestine and not so clandestine machinations of the US government for all those years. Of course, you've unboubtedly replaced the Communists with the Muslims, like other TeaParty/Repug supporters.

-9 # rock 2011-02-22 16:58

What's with you Todd? Do you not think it was appropriate to resist the worldwide effort to impose communism wherever and whenever? I don't much care for these dictators you mention, but I'll take Chiang over Mao, Batista over Castro, and the Shah over the Ayatolla any day. We all know it's going to take a long time for Democracy to take hold wherever, so we might as well come to grips with the fact that we aren't going to impose our system on anyone either, but we might as well at least work with the ones who are friendly to us.

As for the Muslims, well I do want to resist the global effort to impose Sharia Law everywhere. How about you?

+5 # rf 2011-02-23 04:21

If you haven't noticed...the entire article is about us having lost our Democracy here...WAKE UP DUDE!!! It is also BS to say one has a choice only between two crap dictators...whe ther originating at the left or the right...all that you mentioned above became facists...and there are other roads...like public financing of all election campaigns...wha t would it cost??? 2-4 billion...imagi ne what it would save us in squandered military spending alone!

+3 # Capn Canard 2011-02-23 06:39

Imposition of Sharia law is a right wing fantasy, a wet dream that will dry up quickly in any society that has instant communication! Community blackboards with constant messaging tends to erase Authoritarian edicts without bloodshed. So, there is very little or NO threat.

+7 # mtnview 2011-02-23 09:15

Rock, you write: "well I do want to resist the global effort to impose Sharia Law everywhere. How about you?"

By what authority is it your job, my job, or the position of the US to impose our will on anyone else? While I abhore the tenets of Shia law, people have the right to self determine their futures, i.e. Egypt.

However, in the US, the military is used simply to under pin the economy --- and to support corporate interests. Wake up Man, and see how you are being deluded by fears imposed by power solely for the purpose of controling you. The only reason for 9 years of war to continue is our government can not afford to bring home 300,000 armed troops to no jobs and no benefits. A receipe for revolution. Unless you are in the top 2% of wealthy Amerikans, you will be forced into poverty. The fight is on, and supporting our comrades, yes Comrades, in Wisconsin, et al, is in all of our interest. Only the balance of power is at stake, the future of our country. On Wisconsin......

+4 # dancerThe protesterc 2011-02-23 13:45

huh? But, the protesters in Wisconsin are not communists. They are genuine American workers and citizens who are being maligned, disenfranchised and who are fighting for OUR way of life, OUR laws and for OUR taxes to be used as WE NEED THEM TO BE! We need to find ways to get of of elected officials who then pursue their own CORPORATE agendas despite the demands of those they are supposed to represent.

0 # aikidokurt 2011-03-01 09:47

bankrupt amkerica, fight the boogeyman, and call out the troops! 1n 2007 iraq it cost $35,000,000 to kill one insurgent! only cost $100 to take out a us. serviceman/cont ractor. here's what a better soldier than you could dream to ever be said, rock:
"Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear -
kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervour -
with the cry of grave national emergency.
Always, there has been some terrible evil at home,
or some monstrous foreign power that was going to gobble us up
if we did not blindly rally behind it."
General Douglas MacArthur
(1880-1964) WWII Supreme Allied Commander of the Southwest Pacific, Supreme United Nations Commander

+2 # dancer 2011-02-23 13:37

I think some of you are not understanding what Rock says... you are getting the opposite of what I think he is saying..... It's as if the mere mention of the word communism unhinges people's ability to read more carefully, like the word turns off whatever we think with....

+5 # Anagnorisis 2011-02-23 00:43

Excellent article, a keeper. Living in a rural, small town area I see this creeping Fascism in a microcosmic view: totalitarian corruption, business as usual within which the workingman does bear the burden of all illicit, albeit legal, impositions. Small wonder there are protests before the big bubble bursts. Knowledge garnered through communications is the key to survival of waning democracy.

0 # Oligarch 23 2011-02-23 12:47

You are absolutly right that we want to impose a Fascist system of governance here. More money for me and my friends of curse! We don´t care about you, the workers who do all the work. And we could definitly afford to give you more than you have been geting. But as gordon Gecko said in those long ago Reagan days, when at last we were able to slip out of the shadows and start to take control-Greed is Good. And I need more money-I could score a deal for 80 miles of pampa ranchland with cows while down here!

+3 # dancerThe protesterc 2011-02-23 13:52

Poor Michael Douglas... he says they made the movie to highlight to people how corrupt and rotten the system had grown and that the public needed to work away from it... but the public took it the other way as if greed really was good... well, it was great for the crooks, but it cost america plenty in many ways we're suffering under now.

0 # DaveW. 2011-02-23 20:47

dancerTheprotes terc, Poor KIRK DOUGLAS. He's still alive and was one of Hollywood's greatest liberals for many years. His multiple face lifted son is married to a woman who once said she didn't see the need for their children to go to college because they would no doubt go into show business. Poor Kirk Douglas.

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