The Bush Police State

[peaches2003]

Why doesn't Bush just declare martial law and repeal the Bill of Rughts? It's what he wants and what he is doing step-by-step. When will the American people wake up? NOw even the League of Women Voters are being spied on and intimidated to shut up.

www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060323/News01/60323014/CAT=News01

[MadMaddie]

1. I find it interesting in the Article that the FBI makes a statement

that would like to be invited to the forum....as if organizations are obligated to invite them...

Yet when the American populace wants to be included in some of the decisions that this administration makes they are ignored and closed out...

I hope that the League of Women Voters pursue this...

[Liberty Belle]

2. Same thing happened in Montana, when a library tried to show an ACLU film

critical of the Patriot Act. The librarians were pressured into canceling the show over complaints that they were biased by not inviting the feds to present the government's side of the story!

[MadMaddie]

3. Something is Terribly wrong...why is the FBI harrassing regular

Americans...and not chasing the terrorist down...

[Liberty Belle]

17. Because Buscho is more afraid of us.

[pepperbear]

12. not to mention all of the speeches from which liberals have been ejected..

cindy sheehan at the state of the union address comes to mind.

[Teaser]

4. We're not there yet.

What we are, right now, is an authoritarian democracy. Like Peru under the first few years of Fujimori's reign. But he, eventually, transitioned to fascism. Bush does not have enough time left in his term to move significantly in that direction. But if he has successors of similar mindset (or worse) than I am very worried.

[Swamp Rat]

7. You are assuming he will leave office willingly.

I don't think he will. :(



I call what we have now a Constitutional Dictatorship.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

8. You wascally wat!

LOL!!!!!!!

I hope that your stuff gets stuck on posters and waved in front of his motorcade this year . . . too much for his lizard-brain to handle.

[Teaser]

10. Until elections are more clearly manipulated

than the allegations of Diebold this and Diebold that (which remain allegations in my opinion) I'm going to stick with the classification of
authoritarian democracy. A great example of this was Mexico under the PRE. Elections were held, and real choices were made but manipulation at the local level and attempts to undermine the opposition at every level made the country a one party state in practice for years. A "soft" dictatorship if you will.

We are almost at that point...but not quite.

[onenote]

11. I am 100 percent certain he will leave voluntarily

I guess in a few years we'll see who has a better grasp of reality.

[Swamp Rat]

16. From your lips to god's ears.

I hope you are right. Anyway, reality is relative. :D

[november3rd]

5. FBI PR????

Since when are the FBI doing Public Relations for the Justice Department? There has been months and months--years of debate on the Patriot Act in Congress and all across the nation. What does an FBI agent in Detroit, MI think he's going to say to attendees at a League of Women Voters forum that they haven't already heard from Alberto Gonzales, Ashcroft, Bill Frist, or the rest of the BushCo choir?

I guess now either BushCo knows they have to stir up local support and sent out a memo to the district offices, or else the FBI agents have been told to disrespect the opinions and conclusions of independent citizens' groups. If those groups have a negative opinion of the Patriot Act, it must be because they don't understand what the Patriot Act does to help law enforcement "protect our freedoms."

We need to launch a retaliatory letter and publishing campaign against the policy of the government of having to have the last word in any public dialogue.

Let the FBI go back into the business of working for Americans instead of trying to tell us what to think. If people are confused about how the Patriot Act is used to fight terrorism, it's because agencies like the FBI are operating in secrecy and doing things surreptitiously. Just look at the case of the Newspaper hard drives they confiscated without a warrant in Pennsylvania this week.

[DELUSIONAL]

6. The FBI has absolutely NO business

getting involved (contacting)private citizens and groups to push through the bush propaganda.

At this point my guess is that the FBI has been cleansed of anyone but bushie loyalists -- and they are more than likely to lie or parrot bush crime family propaganda.

I read the article and the short snippets just can't do the subject matter justice. I believe that this is the must read article for the day -- or even the week.

[Kurovski]

9. Which reminds me...

How'z it hangin' Agent Mike? :hi:

[EVDebs]

13. DOJ is now known as Dept. of JUSTIFICATION for your information

[bobbieinok]

14. sure is a shame we the people never hear any defense of the patriot act

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

we surely could use a balanced discussion

[suffragette]

15. So the FBI is saying citizens shouldn't hold a forum without

inviting a propagandist from the government to speak?
And they're messing with Common Cause and the League of Women's Voters now?
This is sheer insanity.
I hope these groups bite back - hard.

[suffragette]

18. LWV and Common Cause have a joint letter up on their sites

From http://www.lwv.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Looking_For_Sunshine&TEMPLATE=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=4636

March 21, 2006

Dear Director Mueller:

At a time when Americans are rightly concerned about issues of security, we understand the need for the Federal Bureau of Investigation to be vigilant – but not vigilante.

We are concerned with an FBI agent’s questions following comments made by Common Cause President Chellie Pingree at a panel hosted by the League of Women Voters of Berrien and Cass counties, Michigan, and cited in a local newspaper the following day, March 17.

An FBI agent, Al DiBrito, apparently read the newspaper story and called the local League of Women Voters president, Susan Gilbert, according to Gilbert, asking questions about “this Pingree woman.” According to Gilbert, DiBrito said Pingree’s comments on the US Patriot Act were “way off base,” and that the League should have invited someone from the federal government to be on the panel and to respond.

Further, DiBrito also told Gilbert that an assistant U.S. attorney in Grand Rapids would be in touch with her to give her the real story on the Patriot Act. He urged Gilbert to “reach out” to the assistant U.S. Attorney, whom he identified as Hagen Frank, and said Frank was in the homeland security and terrorism division. DiBrito then supplied Gilbert with Frank’s phone number.

DiBrito also said he had contacted the reporter who wrote the story to obtain Gilbert’s contact information.

When the country has far more pressing security and terror concerns, we question the FBI using precious resources hounding leaders of two of the most distinguished citizen advocacy organizations in the country. Is this the kind of behavior citizen activists can expect from the FBI? To us, it smacks of intimidation.

Chellie Pingree
President
Common Cause

Susan Gilbert
President
League of Women Voters of Berrien and Cass Counties, Mich.


Here's the Common Cause link:
http://www.commoncause.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=395891&content_id=%7B4F64D787-4CCE-43CD-8994-E38FDE71EE7D%7D¬oc=1

[Brazenly Liberal]

19. Because as dumb as he is, he's very smart about one thing.

It's always been this way. Declare the Constitution invalid or the Bill of Rights repealed and Americans will rise up in anger and run your ass out.

But you can accomplish the same thing without being run out of anywhere if you just have a little patience. All you have to do is frighten them. Then you can chip a little away. Keep frightening them and you can keep chipping. They'll let you do it and thank you for protecting them.

This has always been true, but Bush has taken advantage of it to extremes others never dared.

[EVDebs]

20. Alito and Roberts, and the executive orders Bush to sign martial law

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=743264&mesg_id=743757

[cassiepriam]

21. He has declared marshall law and repealed the BORs

We just missed the press conference announcing it :(

[leftofthedial]

22. them ol boys love the quaint stories

like the one about boilin the bullfrog