REDWAVE
Urban Jungle Dweller
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2001
- Posts
- 6,013
It is impossible to view the U.S. political system today with anything other than outrage, contempt, and horror. The stealing of the White House in 2000 was followed by the buying of Congress in 2002. (Not to mention the suspicious death of Paul Wellstone, a leading progressive, right before the election, which proved to be highly convenient for Bush & Co. Coleman's Senate seat, when he sits down in it, will be soaked with blood.) The overwhelming majority of Americans did not vote, showing their alienation from the political circus in which no matter which side wins, the people lose. Big money wielded its influence with no effective restraints whatsoever, as the GOP rushed to reward its corporate benefactors with goodies slipped into the "Homeland Security" bill at the last second. The myth that the two house legislature, with its aristocratic and highly undemocratic upper house, the Senate, prevents the passage of rash, ill-considered legislation was shattered by Congress passing both the (now infamous) "Patriot" Act and now the "Homeland Security" bill, over 480 pages long, without even having the time to read them! The fairy tale of "checks and balances" has also been exposed as a lie: with a hammerlock on all three branches of government, a compliant and demoralized opposition party (terrified of assassination), and a corporate media serving as a shameless propaganda arm of government, the Bush regime has no obstacles to its mad drive toward an outright police state. The ominous recent decision by the FISCOR (Fiscal Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review) highlights this point. The lower court, the FISC (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court) operates mainly in secret, and serves essentially as a rubber stamp for the intelligence agencies. It provides a thin veneer of "legality" to gangsterism and thuggery on a massive scale. For the first time in its history, it actually ruled against the "Justice" Department on something other than minor procedural grounds. (And even that had happened very rarely!) The "Just Us" Dept. appealed, and the FISCOR got to hear its first case ever. Not surprisingly, the three judge panel appointed by Rehnquist reversed the lower court's decision and ruled in favor of the government, vastly increasing its power to spy on us and trample upon our rights. Since the "Justice" Dept. is the only party to the case, no one else can now appeal. And this is what they call "justice"! What a total farce and travesty of justice!
The only possible check left to the total dictatorship of capital is the armed people resisting tyranny. The massive callup of reservists and National Guard, ostensibly to protect military bases at home, is really for the purpose of bloodily suppressing the massive popular protests which are already taking place, and no doubt will mushroom greatly after the war begins in earnest, and large numbers of young Americans begin returning home in body bags.
The only possible check left to the total dictatorship of capital is the armed people resisting tyranny. The massive callup of reservists and National Guard, ostensibly to protect military bases at home, is really for the purpose of bloodily suppressing the massive popular protests which are already taking place, and no doubt will mushroom greatly after the war begins in earnest, and large numbers of young Americans begin returning home in body bags.
