In Case You Don't Get It

The matter of the Arrest of Gates by Crowley dismays me terribly.  The privacy issues alone are worth discussion.  However, the case shows the absolute inability of the American People at large to detect bullshit whatsoever.  Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire is indeed fascism run amok.
But the American people first need to attune themselves to Reality and Reason before they can handle such things as discussion of an arrest. The Real World is inglorious, and the call on the case was made by Gates and Crowley, two pissed-off fellows trying to navigate the world as best they could.
The dangers of fascism do not come from the stoop of a Harvard residence. It runs deeper, and is far more our fault than we wish to admit.

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Here is the fundmental linguistic form of fascism.

(subject) should be (qualitative) (characteristic.)

Negroes should be more respectful.
Police should be less racist.

Any time that a missive is entered to THEM, and a subjunctive form of the indirect order is used, then fascism has whispered.  Officer Crowley might well indeed have lost control of the spiral by offering such advice, if he did so - Prof. Gates, you should be less agitated.
If Gates heard this (which is speculation) then he probably blew up (overreacted?) and the whole thing got on the Red Line to Hell.

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How we Became an Empire

To measure the course in history, the steps by which America became an Empire, one need only consider a few simple tenets of government.

We follow one variant of what we call limited government, but which is not by any means limited.

Some people believe in government which can expand or contract, in the semblance of a living organism, based upon the vicissitudes of the moment.  Government in times when all is well may remain small and unobtrusive; but when Great Events call, the Government must transform, in the manner of the children's toys, to meet the threat.

In a sense, we have a kept Republic, a pet form of representative government, that is quietly cared for by the Government.  The Senate and House may be thought of in the manner of the Smithsonian's other exhibits - a living museum of actors who go about their business in an orderly manner, to remind us of what government WAS.

The show is suspended, though, when crises of the present moment arise.  Extraordinary Government measures are what is necessary when things are afoot.  And, as any fan of GI Joe or Rambo knows, there are times when the law just doesn't apply.

We ceased to be a Republic and became an Empire when the planning for Extraordinary Measures took place.  Now, the history of empire snaps into focus.  The New Deal lead us into it - the time when the slow and ineffective Republic was left behind for the speedy now-now! form of limited totalitarianism.  The Bomb cemented it into our nature.  Jefferson, Washington, Franklin - who would have been comfortable with the President holding the Weapon of Great Destruction in his solitary hands? 

And yet, any American who pushes forth world-wide build-down of nuclear weapons is considered a loon.  The concept that nuclear weapons are "radioactive" to limited governments is seen as daffy.  "WE" must have them - we being the "Leader."  With this ultimate measure of the Leader's trustworthiness, the concentration of power in Government trickles down.  Yes, of course, it is reasonable for the Parks Service to have a SWAT team, for after all, "WE" trust Government with nucular weapons, don't we?

The question of what consists of a Governmental State of Emergency long remained inchoate.  George W. Bush simply reminded us of the definition:  that Government has a State of Emergency whenever the Government says so.  Few leaders were rude enough to mention that before; Mr. Bush had no scruples preventing him from doing so.

Limited government ended when the Government acquired its emergency powers; not by the paper Constitution, but by the English manner of Constitution, the unwritten rules which fell into place after the "Glorious Revolution."

In our case, though, our "Glorious Revolution" had the effect not to disempower the King, but to celebrate the coronation thereof.

politics empire

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Palin for President?

Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska intends to resign from office.  Sarah Palin is running for President.

WASILLA, Alaska - Sarah Palin made a surprise announcement Friday that she will resign as governor of Alaska in a few weeks, saying she will try to "effect positive change" from outside government.

How, in the name of Goodness, is the Republican Party to save itself NOW?  She has all of the electability and pizzaz of Rod Blagojevich, for Goodness's sake.

There are several possibilities:

1. The Republican Party has gone screw-the-pooch, bucck-nekkid on YouTube© Mad-Beyond-Belief whackadoodle.
2. The Republican Party has finally decided that this representative-government shit is a drag, and let's go for the Bolivian-Cuban-Paraguay junta approach.
3. Sarah flew to Argentina, also, too, 'coz she's the secret soulmate of Terry Sanford.
4. Somebody's got some fearsome negatives up there in Alaska, up there.
   

Time will tell.  Save yer canned goods, the Apocalypse Boyse are horsing up.
And read the letter right here. 
I'm very interested in the quote:

Todd and I are looking at more than half a million dollars in legal bills in order to set the record straight. And what about the people who offer up these silly accusations? It doesn’t cost them a dime so they’re not going to stop draining public resources – spending other peoples’ money in their game.
It’s pretty insane – my staff and I spend most of our day dealing with this instead of progressing our state now. I know I promised no more “politics as usual,” but this isn’t what anyone had in mind for Alaska.
Huh? If she's getting hounded by unsubstantiated legal abuse from the Left - nobody in the lower 49 can kick loose a dime for her Legal Defense fund? Something's smelling awful here.

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OR IS SHE PREGNANT AGAIN?

If so, the BTrog Blog predicts the following names:

1. If it's a boy, it'll be Twink (in honor of Michael Jackson.)
2. If it's a girl, it'll be Twit.  Junior.
   

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Why We Lust for Socialism in America.

Americans go about the pretense that we are somehow patriots and lovers of liberty. We resemble the patriots on the Concord Bridge, about as much as the late Michael Jackson and fellow musician Boy George resemble Clint Eastwood and John Wayne.

A living, breathing example - which is rampant in domestic government in that pretense of Liberty that calls itself Orange County, California - is the Homeowners' Association.

TEA PARTY INTERNATIONALE

Finding that they had insufficient Government for their comfort, the people of Orange County invented the Homeowners' Association which, by the merits of it being a private corporation, endowed it with infallibility - or so it appears from their actions.

Since this Government was broadly undefined, the people of Orange County and els where sought to imbue it with the breath of their political character. It was intended to be a common corporation which engaged in actions to beautify the common hold. Very quickly, it became a plush, exorbitantly-funded instrument of local Stalinism. Squealers hold the reins in the Homeowners' Associations across America. Protected by "confidential telephone numbers," they are eager to rat each other out, when a neighbor uses "wheat" colored paint on their house, when only "rust beige" has been approved.

The OC's and others don't seem to cop to their own identities, as for some reason they call themselves "conservatives" and vote Republican. Perhaps that should be a lesson about the character, or lack thereof, of the class of people who identify themselves as Republicans, conservatives and Americans, respectively.

Any pathetic "Tea Party Independence Rallies" which take place tomorrow in places within the little local soviets governed by Homeowners' Associations, should consider themselves up there with Joe Stalin and his Moscow "Peace and Freedom Parades." Suckers.Technorati Tags: teabagging

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