Can the people overthrow a modern dictatorship complete with all the trappings of modern military killing power?  Is it in Musharraf's power to arrest or kill all of his myriad enemies in Parliament?  

The outcome of this internal struggle between tyranny and freedom is not a new one, but this struggle in this time is something never seen before. It has always been possible with enough unrest to unseat anyone human being from power.  Today, technology may have finally made despots immune against all but military mutiny.  

I found this here and it references a report here.

It is purporting to discuss an article from the "Family Security Matters" "think tank", which is apparently associated with Dick Cheney. The sounds of the article are classic Dick.

I cannot comment on the sources: neither are familiar to me, but that sort of adds to the interest of this bit, because I tacitly accept that there would be another "think tank" hitherto unnoticed or unsung, that would have some dipshit policy like this with which to sally forth and make the attempt to deliver with the straightest of faces.

However it is filled with hate for America, hate for Democracy, and hate for Arabs, and encourages some very bad things.

We must demand repeal of the Fisa law.

Our Republic, as envisioned by the Founding Fathers, was intended to prevent us from being in the situation we find ourselves in. If everything worked as intended, Bush would never have been selected in 2000, re-elected in 2004, or would have been impeached by the end of 2007.

But everything has failed us. Our economy is declining. We're deep in debt. Our troops are bogged down in the Middle East. Our dependence on oil and fossil fuels threatens to cripple us further. (Ironic how the price of oil is hurting our economy so much, when steps to move away from it are often cast aside as likely to 'hurt our economy.')

And now, the venerable Seymour Hersh, who has been right about so many things these past eight years, brings us this: Preparing the Battlefield, a report on how the Bush Administration, with the consent of the so-called "Gang of Eight" have been stepping up covert activities inside Iran.

[Cross-posted at The Left Coaster.]

With an ever-present sense of incredulous disbelief I have watched over the past three weeks as Telecom immunity for FISA lawbreakers has somehow been reborn in the House.  President Bush feloniously chucked the FISA statue down the toilet, telecoms broke four more statutes to heinously take America into the habits of dictatorship, they got caught before the election but were enabled by the New York Times, and ever since Congress has beat back attempts to change the law and let the telecoms off the hook.

Talk about a perfect storm brewing: Martial law on the horizon. If there's riots in Denver at the Democratic convention in August look out!
As reported by the AP yesterday, "A deal to allow delegates from Florida and Michigan to participate at the Democratic National Convention is unlikely before summer, party chief Howard Dean said Sunday". Howard Dean goes on further stating, "It's going to take some time to work that out because these candidates are really focused on these primary battles in ... Pennsylvania and West Virginia and North Carolina and so forth and so on," Dean told "Face the Nation" on CBS. "And so it's going to take some time to work this out. But I think we can work it out, and I want to work it out," he said.

But remember Obama's "the fierce urgency of now" as I explain the importance of ending the primary season sooner rather than later, under the fold...

Though America, via its current deranged, imperialist leadership, could soon create circumstances which will inevitably lead to the end of our world, it does have a nucleus of people who, given the right environment, could turn the country around. Understanding this, surely we who live in the free world must try to help America to save itself because, in so doing, we will save ourselves.

I use the term ‘free world’ deliberately because, currently, America is not free in the normal sense of the word. Its citizens are under observation by the state and their freedoms are being curtailed; its seriously unintelligent President is acting more and more like a tyrant everyday; its politicians don’t represent the people but their own self-interest and/or that of religious and corporate lobby groups; those in Congress and the Senate are profiting mightily from the wars they keep initiating and supporting, etc.

So how can we from the free world assist those decent Americans who deplore what their country has become and where it is headed?

(Courtesy of Ridikulous Rangerz News Service)

    Life at the "Koswork Orange" has suddenly become more brutal, insiders say, as frontpager SusanG "Il Suce" has been promoted to Kos Jr. status.
    In her terrifying orange-starred military uniform, Kos' new copilot drilled her terrified fellow frontpagers into attention, with the help of her stormtrooper "Repressive Rangers" squad. "mcjoan, put on that sunflower uniform! We're gonnah have a little SHOW here! ...Hunter, squeeze into that daisy costume, NOW!!

    They don't call me the GARDENER for nothing!! HA HA HA HA HA! HAHAHAHA!!!

   HAAAAAAA!!!"

This morning Time named Russian President Vladmir Putin its 2007 Man of the Year.  It is altogether fitting that Time selected Putin as a successor to two-time winner George W. Bush.  Like his friend the American president, Putin for good or ill (mostly ill) has made his nation a major force in global affairs.  And as Time notes, he did so "at significant cost to the principles that free nations prize."

Recently, I have made arguments, confined to comments, that the United States has in fact, undergone a fascist coup. I’ll let those arguments speak for themselves as I reprise them here, but I decided to write a diary because my ominous warnings to my fellow Americans might lead some to conclude that I advocate and argue for the necessity of armed revolution to overthrow the fascist movement.

Not necessarily.

As this is a rather long diary I will make the introduction brief. What is considered fiction by many is happening right now and though the story in this diary is no great literary masterpiece like Orwell's 1984 what is today fiction will soon be reality. The final act to destroy this nation and republic has been introduced by a so called "blue dog Democrat" (those are her words on her web site) and sadly not only unoppossed by our so called ActBlue dems but in some cases supported by them.

Scary bedtime reading so make sure the lights are on.....

Not to mention Bush, Cornyn, Gonzo/Goodling/Taylor, Bloomberg, and tyrants and authoritarians in general, as seen in a NY Times article today, in a way that is not at all comforting, and which alarmingly parallels our own political situation at present.

I assume that everyone's heard about Pakistani General Pervez Musharraf's recent declaration of martial law, suspension of Pakistan's constitution and arrest of hundreds of political opponents, activists, judges, lawyers, journalists and others who are or are seen as a threat to his rule, under the excuse of maintaining order after a series of terrorist attacks and mounting political tension in Pakistan.

Well, Musharraf's defending this action by invoking, of all people, Abraham Lincoln and his suspension of Habeas Corpus during the Civil War. When in reality he is clearly invoking entirely other people of a decidely less prudent and more tyrannical sort. Read on for the details and decide for yourselves.

I am a Muslim who has renounced Islam. I am an apostate. I have had very unflattering things to say about the Prophet Mohamed(number one no-no of all time in the eyes of radical Islam). If an Islamic theocracy were to take over, I would be the first one strung up.

Islamic radicals are not known for their patience for Muslims who denounce Islam and the Prophet Mohamed. They're known for killing them.

Nonetheless, here are three reasons why I am not scared of the Islamofascists:

It's never a good sign when the President jokes.  I hope we recall the last time he made a similar joke.

At a press briefing this morning that touched on issues like the White House's extrajudicial wiretapping program and torture policies, the president was asked a question about Vladimir Putin's plan to hold on to power when his term as Russian president runs out.

   

Reporter: Mr. President, following up on Vladimir Putin for a moment, he said recently that next year, when he has to step down according to the constitution, as the president, he may become prime minister; in effect keeping power and dashing any hopes for a genuine democratic transition there ...

   Bush: I've been planning that myself.

The man, as candidate for President of the United States, was betrayed by his own nation.

Remember the Election of '00?

Remember who got the most popular votes?

Remember who probably won Florida?

Remember who got screwed with a red-hot poker?

Hint: It wasn't Al Gore...

Yet another example of police state style repression is eloquently chronicled in a Progressive Magazine September 17, 2007 story by Matthew Rothschild, Here, detailing illegal confiscation of photographs and abuse of a student photographer by police at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Syracuse, NY. I know it's getting a bit repetitive to replay these stories, but shining the spolight may be the only thing that can still save us from such Nazi style facism.

More below the fold.

Although I've been told all of my life that America is a representative democracy, I do not live in a representative democracy.

There it is. I said it.

Now it's up to me to back it up.

From time to time we see a lot of misinformation passed around by both sides of the American political machine pertaining to some foreign country or another.  So much of it passes for gospel in the United States, but, as has been the case over and over again in U.S. history, what the American public thinks it knows and what the reality is are two very different things.  

Hugo Chavez is a case in point.

Let's explore 4 myths about Hugo Chavez and see if we can bust them or not.