All Posts Tagged With: "anti-christ"

Part 2

In the first part of this article (posted May 26), the first four characteristics of fascist regimes were covered. By way of review, the basis for this article comes from Laurence Britt. His article, “Fascism Anyone?” details the 14 common characteristics of some of the world’s most potent fascist regimes, including Hitler (Germany); Mussolini (Italy); Franco (Spain); Suharto (Indonesia); Salazar (Portugal); Papadopoulos (Greece) and Pinochet (Indonesia). They are:

1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism
2. Disdain for the importance of human rights
3. Identification of enemies and/or scapegoats as a unifying cause
4. Military supremacy of paramount importance
5. Rampant sexism
6. Controlled mass media
7. Obsession with national security
8. Government and religion are intertwined
9. Power of the corporations is protected
10. Labor’s power is suppressed
11. Disdain for and suppression of intellectuals and the arts
12. Preoccupation with crime and punishment
13. Rampant cronyism and corruption
14. Fraudulent elections
    

Although George W. Bush is not the sole architect of our descent into fascism, the above 14 points are running rampant throughout his administration. If you do not recognize them, then you are either not paying attention or you prefer not to be confronted with reality.

Rampant sexism

In fascist states, the political elite was male-dominated and women were viewed as second-class citizens. They were anti-abortion and homophobic as well.

While there are a few women in notable positions (Nancy Pelosi, Condoleeza Rice), the American male can rest easy. The patriarchy is still very much alive here. Since 9-11, there has also been a feminist backlash of sorts. This singular event has once again relegated women to the position of ‘domestic divas’ needing to be protected by their manly men.

The government weaved an incredible story about Private Jessica Lynch’s capture in Iraq. According to the government, she had been shot and stabbed and even sexually violated by her captors. It was, of course, a complete lie concocted by the U.S. government to help gain support for the war, but what could be a more galvanizing event for the American public than the story of a helpless little girl being rescued by brave men who risked their lives to save hers.

The candidacy of Hillary Clinton should by now have dispelled the myth that America is ready for a woman president. It’s one thing to attack her positions and policies, but what the press and the pundits have attacked her on often has nothing to do with policy. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this out. Just do what I did and spend a few hours searching through the printed and electronic media coverage of her campaign. Sorry, folks, but Obama and McCain have committed some pretty big verbal gaffes and they are simply allowed to slide, particularly McCain’s (but that’s because he’s a white male).

This particular administration’s war on women is no better symbolized than by George W. Bush’s appointment of Dr. W. David Hager to the Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs in the Food & Drug Administration. A self-proclaimed leading conservative Christian voice on women’s health and sexuality, Hager is pro-life, anti-abortion and opposes contraception. In his book, As Jesus Cared for Women, Hager offers this observation, “Even though I was trained as a medical specialist, it wasn’t until I began to see how Jesus treated women that I understood how I, as a doctor, should treat women.” In another book, Hager suggests that women suffering from pre-menstrual syndrome should seek help through prayer and by reading the scriptures. In Hager’s world, women are subordinate to men; here to serve their needs, whatever they may be. In Hager’s mind, men know what type of health care is best for women. Whether or not Hager served out his term is not the issue. The fact that Hager could have ever been appointed to such a critical position by a sitting president is alarming, but he was and he served through 2005.

Expect the war on women to continue of John McCain is elected. He intends to make conservative Supreme Court appointees to tip the scales on Roe v. Wade. Reversing an earlier position, McCain now says that Roe v. Wade was a flawed decision and should be overturned.

Controlled mass media

In some fascist regimes, the mass media were simply ordered to cooperate and tow the party line. Others regimes were more subtle in their approach to keep the media in line, like control of licensing, access to resources and appeals to patriotism.

Since 9-11 the Bush administration has used the patriotism angle to neutralize the mainstream media, one of the most formidable of the checks and balances on his administration. The days of investigative journalism in America’s mainstream media are long over. The approach to the Bush regime is “big picture” coverage, which means that the administration can pretty much do as it pleases because nobody is paying attention to the details. The Bush administration controlled the media coverage of its two ill-advised wars by utilizing what is called embedded journalists.

Back in 1983, the experts were alarmed that there were only fifty corporations controlling the media in America. Today, they’d be positively apoplectic as just six major corporations control nearly all the media in the United States. They are Time-Warner, Disney, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, Bertelsmann AG (Germany), and Viacom (formerly CBS) and General Electric (NBC). The consolidation of the media actually began during the Reagan regime, but has really picked up steam over the past ten years. While the FCC has conducted an extensive PR campaign touting the benefits of relaxing media ownership rules, the fact is that media ‘corporatization’ is bad for democracy all the way around. If the public is to understand what our government is doing and to hold our leaders accountable, the news they rely on to effect this must be reliable and come from independent sources.

News Corp., Rupert Murdoch’s company, has had amazing success with Fox News Network, consistently thrashing rival CNN in the ratings in the battle of the 24-hour news networks. However, Fox feeds the general public a steady diet of right-wing commentators, like Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly, and is repeatedly accused of biased reporting. News Corp. gave $4,995,768 in individual, soft money and PAC contributions between 1997 and 2006, with $60.4% going to the Republican Party. That’s where one would expect the money to go since Murdoch is a conservative. Fox network’s biased messages are then further disseminated to its affiliates. Time-Warner operates in the same manner, except that the lions’ share of its individual, soft money and PAC contributions go to the Democrats. The point is that such far-reaching media influence on either side of the aisle results in bias and is unacceptable.

In February of 2006, a GAO report identified over $1.6 billion in public relations and media spending by the Bush administration during 2003, 2004 and the first two quarters of 2005. For example, the Department of Education contracted with Ketchum Communications, who then sub-contracted with conservative commentator Armstrong Williams to editorialize in favor of the No Child Left Behind Act. However, the most disturbing use of taxpayer dollars is in pre-packaging the news. The Bush administration has invested millions of dollars in ‘video news releases.’ These spots are made to look like independent newscasts and are designed to fit seamlessly into news broadcasts. While the issue of legality is not addressed in the report, prior GAO reports take the position that video news releases by federal agencies violate the ban on covert propaganda if they are broadcast to the public without revealing the role of the federal government.

The supposed adversarial relationship between the media and Washington is the stuff of urban legend. The government-constructed Jessica Lynch fantasy, detailed above under the ‘sexism’ point, could never have happened without a complicit media, a media that fails to question and investigate. The same can be said of the Pat Tillman story. It is amazing to me that the most in depth look at the Tillman incident comes from ESPN. In other times, the Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman stories would have been the impetus for a major investigative effort to uncover the Bush administration’s manipulation of the facts and the media. Not today. Yet, these are not the only major stories that have gone largely unreported by the mainstream media.

The Downing Street Memo, about Bush’s manipulation of the intelligence to fit the invasion of Iraq, ultimately brought down Tony Blair. Yet, it was nary a blip on the radar screen here in America. Although it was a direct indictment of the Bush administration (Tony Blair was a mere accessory after the fact), it had absolutely no effect on Bush’s presidency because it was not a story here. The memo received only passing mentions. In other instances, the media has indulged its creative writing side. The media has its election darling in John McCain, the man they continue to paint as a straight-talking maverick doing battle against the special interests. The facts, however, indicate that just the opposite is true.

Obsession with national security

Under fascist regimes, national security was under direct control of the ruling elite and was often an instrument of oppression. This arm of the ‘government’ operated in secret and without restraint. The Bush administration has used fear very successfully and has invoked ‘national security’ many times since the 9-11 terrorist attacks, and anyone who has questioned this position has been painted as ‘unpatriotic.’

Although no longer in use, the national terror alert scale was prevalent following the attacks. It continually ran down the bottom of the screen on nearly every cable network broadcast, a continual reminder of the events of 9-11. It has been reported that the Bush administration abused the system, periodically putting the U.S. on high alert when Homeland Security disagreed, saying there was little or no evidence to support such a move. In addition, Bush’s aides admitted to utilizing fear tactics to influence his re-election campaign against John Kerry by painting Kerry as soft on terror, while positioning Bush as the strong, steady protector against future attacks. Dick Cheney went so far as to state that, should Kerry be elected over Bush, the U.S. would suffer a “devastating attack.”

George Bush has used the cloak of national security (a.k.a., the threat of terrorism) to justify illegally wiretapping his own citizens without judicial oversight. In addition, he requested retroactive immunity for the giant telecommunications companies who aided and abetted him based on the fact that they were just doing their patriotic duty. He also claimed the same when justifying the use of torture on those he deemed to be ‘enemy combatants.’

The administration has never shied away from governing in secrecy. However, the tragic events of September 11, 2001, put the administration’s efforts into high gear. The president repeatedly invoked national security risks during his stonewalling of the 9-11 commission.

Government and religion are intertwined

Most fascist regimes aligned themselves with the predominant religion of the country and painted themselves as defenders of that religion, even though their behavior violates the general precepts of that religion. According to Britt, propaganda kept up the illusion that the rulers were defenders of the faith fighting the godless.

Prior to the 9-11 terrorist attacks, George Bush had spoken of God only in a personal sense…talking about how the Good Lord saved him from alcoholism and put him on the path toward the White House. After the 9-11 attacks, George Bush realized an opportunity was at hand and he used God to justify the war in Iraq, in spite of the fact most religions (including his own) are opposed to the war. While a Google search will show you that our president invokes God’s name with incredible frequency, it is a wrathful God, a God of pre-emptive strikes, and a God in line with Bush’s own world vision.

Under the Bush regime, evangelical Christian ministers have been allowed to blur the line separating Church and state. The Reverend John Hagee maintains a sister web site from his ministry website called The Christians United for Israel (CUFI). The site demonizes Iran’s president Ahmadinejad, calling him the new Hitler, and accusing Iran of developing nuclear weapons to wipe out Israel. In addition, the good Reverend Hagee calls on the United States to join Israel in a pre-emptive strike on Iran in order to fulfill God’s plan, which is a “biblically-prophesized end-time confrontation with Iran, which will lead to the Rapture, Tribulation, and Second Coming of Christ.”

The Evangelical Christian vote has become so critical to the Republican party that John McCain actively sought, and won, Hagee’s endorsement. In spite of Hagee’s outrageously un-Christian comments, McCain remained steadfastly loyal to Hagee until he heard an audiotape of Hagee rewriting history, preaching to his congregation “Hitler and the Nazis were sent by God, to chase the Jews back to the land of Israel.”

Recently, the Reverend Michael Pfleger, the Roman Catholic pastor of Saint Sabina’s Roman Catholic Church in Chicago, was invited by the Reverend Jeremiah Wright to speak at Barack Obama’s Trinity United Church. Instead of talking about spirituality, Reverend Pfleger went on a rant about Hillary Clinton, mocking her in front of the congregation and streaming on the church’s web site. Pfleger offered no excuse for his abhorrent behavior. Instead he offered an excuse for getting caught, claiming he didn’t know that Trinity’s streaming web site was working that day. Whether the world saw his sermon or not, his behavior was decidedly un-Christian. Apparently the archbishop of Chicago concurred because Reverend Pfleger has rightfully been placed on leave.

Part 3 of this article will be posted next week.