The 14 Characteristics of Fascism
Political scientist Dr. Lawrence Britt recently wrote an article about fascism ("Fascism Anyone?," Free Inquiry, Spring 2003, page 20). Studying the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco(Spain), Suharto (Indonesia), and Pinochet (Chile), Dr. Britt found they all had 14 elements.
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On Anniversary Of Iraq War -
US Blasted For Creating Terrorism Quagmire
by Staff Writers
Asian newspapers Monday took the United States to task on the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, with one commentator saying it had created the ideal environment for terrorism to fester. "Three years into the Iraq war, and with no end in sight, it looks as if the United States, in creating a quagmire for itself in the Middle East, has also created the ideal environment in which the terrorism bacillus can fester, and then infect the whole world," said the Sydney Morning Herald.
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Humans Spur Worst Extinctions Since Dinosaurs
March 21, 2006 — By Alister Doyle, Reutersrs
OSLO — Humans are responsible for the worst spate of extinctions since the dinosaurs and must make unprecedented extra efforts to reach a goal of slowing losses by 2010, a U.N. report said on Monday.
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To the Editor:
I caught just the end of a news conference with White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan. He was saying he couldn't comment on an issue because of an ongoing investigation. Fair enough. But what was he talking about? I missed the introduction, so I was left wondering. Was he talking about the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal? Maybe Vice President Dick Cheney's Halliburton no-bid government contracts? The Bush Dubai ports deal?
It might have been the illegal National Security Agency domestic wiretapping issue. Then again, it could have been the Valerie Plame CIA leak case. Oh, I know, it was Tom Delay's corruption scandal.
Then again, maybe it had to do with the bungled Hurricane Katrina response? Perhaps it went way back to failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? There is the Abu Ghraib torture. And of course, Guantanamo Bay torture.
It could be about the scandalous deficit. Or failure to fund No Child Left Behind. The fraud of citizens in order to help the pharmaceutical companies. I know! Tax cuts for the rich. Maybe it's the so-called Social Security "reform." Or the healthy forests initiative. NASA scientists censorship.
Well, geez, Louise. Maybe I'm much better off not knowing. It could be a completely new investigation.
Harold Rail
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|  | | | To the Editor:
Because the National Security Agency's domestic spying has the president's full support, I've decided to switch sides. It seems much too risky being a liberal, non-fundamentalist anymore. I think it's probably much safer to just flush liberty, democracy and all that rot down the toilet and join the burgeoning legions of fascism. Because if we can't stop a government that's spending us into hell, that plunders the environment, that subsidizes oil, pharmaceuticals, Haliburton and that wages wars based on lies - well, you get my point - if we can't stop any of that, well then we're all basically up the creek.
So, my new thing is to watch Fox News in order to become significantly delusional, to vote for any rat on the take (multiple choice), and to vote for every Bush - George (let's go for three), Jeb, Neal, Jena, Hydrangea. If someone wants to dig up Prescott, I'll even vote for him. Then I'll buy a gas hog to sustain Exxon's profits, I'll litter to ruin the environment, smoke to subsidize health care, and I promise to die before I reach Social Security. Maybe I'll buy a lawn chair and become the first McHenry County Minuteman. Pass me them Freedom Fries - I wonder what it'll be like when we run out? (Of freedom, that is.)
Harold Rail
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WE DO IT EVERY
THURSDAY EVENING
....and once we did it all night long.
by Barbara Marian
We stand in the cold and gathering darkness on the corner of Main Street and Highway 14 in Crystal Lake holding signs that call for an end to the war and US occupation in Iraq and others that affirm our hopes for peace there and throughout the world.
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The Joy of Being Blameless
The New York Times Editorial
March 23, 2006
The contrast could not have been more stark, nor the message more clear. On the day that a court-martial imposed justice on a 24-year-old Army sergeant for tormenting detainees at Abu Ghraib with his dog, President Bush said once again that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, whose benighted policies and managerial incompetence led to the prisoner abuse scandal, was doing a "fine job" and should stay at his post.
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