Fascism Talking Points

Speaking in Washington, D.C., the president said there had been progress in making the country safer in the five years since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He also said that, even though U.S. actions have weakened al-Qaida since the Sept. 11 attacks, Americans must take seriously the words of the enemy.

Also Tuesday, the White House released a document titled the National Strategy for Fighting Terrorism, which says that America is safer than it was five years ago, but that significant threats remain.

So here's their message to us.

"Though weve successfully quelled the risk of any future terrorist attacks, prepare to be attacked at any moment."

Its a total contradiction, like Perpetual war for perpetual peace.

I hope this new line of asinine talking points, which invokes Stalin and Hitler, creates a backlash with the public. Its obviously an act of desperation, since you know Rove has cooked this shit up.

No one should miss the irony of an administration making comparisons to Stalin and Hitler that holds its own citizens incommunicado, skirts the illegal court established to skirt the fourth amendment to eavesdrop on its own people without warrants, institutes a doctrine of torture and when congress reacts and passes a law to uphold the Geneva Convention, which we were already a signator of in the first place, the President signs a signing statement indicating that he will not abide by the law.

In a knee jerk reaction to the countrys rising tide of right wing tendencies, the Supreme Court rules that it is constitutional for private property to be confiscated for private development. Hows that for imminent domain?

The vote went right down ideological lines, opposed by conservatives and favored by liberal leaning judges. But heres the kicker, if you subscribe to the notion that in general, the wealthy tend to be conservative and lower income people tend to be democrat, then the court has just handed the right/wealthy a gift on a silver platter. I hate to quote Boortz, but he made a good point. Whos ever heard of property being seized to put up low income housing? Nobody. Municipalities want to put in condos to generate more income from property taxes. The modern day definition of blight being, those $100K houses are in the way of putting up a row of condos, they gotta go.

I dont subscribe to the notion that some nebulous, grand conspiracy exists that is allowing oil companies in collusion with the government to gouge the consumer, however, why is it a stretch to believe that politicians from the ranks of the oil business wouldnt be supportive of legislation that curries favor with the oil industry? And we know this to be the case because the energy policy of the Bush administration provides tax exemptions for oil companies. It is simply the nature of the relationships of the politicians in power at any given time. They are going to look out for their donors and supporters, all politicians do.

Isnt it pertinent to suspect that when Jimmy Carter was president he supported favorable legislation for farmers? That he pressured law makers behind the scenes to get votes for an agricultural bill that was supportive of food growers? I think that an investigation into legislation from that era would reveal this to be the case.

That being said, I find it comical when I hear people who were encouraged to buy SUVs by the administration after 911, who have the furthest commutes and who are ardent Bush supporters, complain about the cost of gasoline. And many go so far as to claim that oil companies are gouging. Whether or not oil companies are gouging is a topic for another day. The one thing that is irrefutable is that oil companies are making record profits. So shouldnt people who profess to be conservative and support Bush be ecstatic that big oil is reaping record profits? You are capitalists arent you? Dont you invest in natural resource stocks?

Clearly they either have no fundamental core values or they are totally misguided and ill informed and dont really have any idea what it means to be conservative, in the historical sense. I suspect it is a little of both and what its devolved into now is team sports cheerleading. We root for the team in red, no matter how difficult it makes our lives.

A rise in gas prices in and of itself is bad enough. Couple that with the fact that many families have recently purchased homes. A large majority of these new buyers have been lured into buying more house than they can actually afford through creative financing. Many new home buyers have forgone the traditional mortgage that locks in a rate for thirty years in favor of interest only loans and adjustable rate mortgages. People who have left themselves no room for safety are now being squeezed by higher gas prices and rising interest rates.

Greenspans unprecedented interest rate slashing has fueled a bubble in the housing market. The housing bubble has given rise to suspect lending practices. People who wouldnt have been able to attain a mortgage five years ago are now handing out advice on real-estate as though they were tycoons.

The reality is that they have been bamboozled into thinking their house is a piggy bank. One day soon they are going to realize that extracting equity from their houses isnt increasing their wealth, merely their debt.

Rising interest rates, rising fuel costs, rising heating bills, increased minimum monthly credit card payments, and a zero savings rates are all merging at a time when the new bankruptcy law, essentially written by the banking industry, will make it much more difficult for Americans to declare bankruptcy.