Amy -

He's a democrat. This is WHAT THEY DO.

And because everything they say is projection, it tells you everything you need to know about their plans.

""This is like the Holocaust." Nothing is like the Holocaust."

Fran can't seem to tell the difference between "like" and"identical". Poor thing.

"He's a democrat. This is WHAT THEY DO."

Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck are going to be horrified to find out they are Democrats!

If the senator spent more time arguing on the Internet, he'd be aware of Godwin's law and wouldn't be prone to such gaffes.

When are you going to start thinking for a minute? Just one minute? Please?

See, there are valid comparisons to be made between any two governmental actions, but if you puff up right away like some outraged blowfish, you'll never see it.

Instances which are similar:

The Nazi Party is actually "National Socialist German Workers' Party". It was a tool, of course, to enlist the aid of "workers" - as many people as possible, of course - in establishing supreme governmental power.

See anything going on here?

In 1968, whole reams of the Gun Control Act of 1968 were nearly identical to German laws preceding WW2.

Governments and union act always to increase their power. Those cases which clearly illustrate this are valid comparisons when you want to show the consequences, and Godwin be damned. Godwin's word is not law, merely a fine way to shut somebody up.

When there is a similarity to something Germany did which led to atrocities, then call it - because the same things can be done to you TODAY.

Take Bush out of this article - not needed as it is happening under Democrats too. This is something powerful to think about.

In my opinion the danger our country is facing is from a different kind of fascism ... that controlled and run by corporations who pull the strings of their political puppets.

All this "Democrat VS Republican" stuff is just a distraction... but it keeps the sheeple busy.

Fascist America, in 10 Easy Steps
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/apr/24/usa.comment

For #3 - think of the addition of TSA screenings
For #4 - it's the Patriot Act and legal wiretappings and access to our computers via our providers
For #7 - think how much easier it is to eliminate Academics when you've eliminated their unions and rights and they can be fired at will for expressing a personal opinion.
For #8 - who controls the media now? With all these mergers, our main communication systems are in the hands a few mega corporations

I love Fran Liebowitz..thanks for that.

Fran Liebowitz?? Wasn't that the sorority sister that Otter references to get the other sisters to go out with the guys?

When there is a similarity to something Germany did which led to atrocities, then call it - because the same things can be done to you TODAY.

When the comparisons are entirely overblown – as is the case here – making them simply makes the speaker appear hyperbolic. There are real issues with the creeping security and surveillance state in the U.S.; those might be a legitimate source of comparisons. The collective bargaining rights of state employees? Not so much.

Sorry Sue, but you're wrong on a few key points.

It is not unions and the made up "rights" that keep academics from being fired for opinions, it's tenure. And tenure is frequently denied for people who do not toe the liberal/progressive line.

I'd like to see the "provider" that can access any of my computers. With a small amount of effort, any computer can be sufficiently secured.

The media? Are you joking? They are completely in the tank for Democrats and unions.

And what you describe is not fascism, it's corporatism. Fascism is explicitly where the government dictates the day-to-day operation of the corporations, but allows them the illusion of being privately held.

And we wouldn't have a corporatist state if the government wasn't sticking its little piggy nose in everywhere to try to implement their fascist ideas.

What's needed is a minimalist government, but that would require eliminating the progressives and communists (but I repeat myself) from power and delegitimizing their entire worldview.

Until the economic theories of Marx and Engels are relegated to the fiction/comedy section of the library, our work is not done.

This senator sure said a stupid thing. I'm glad that we're calling people on this sort of nonsense. They just don't seem to learn, though.

Oh, and the reason Hitler would have been dismantling unions is because he was nationalizing everything in line with his socialist beliefs. When "the workers control the means of production", who needs unions?

This is the fundamental flaw in socialism and communism. The workers CANNOT CONTROL THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION.

What irony. Hitler was pro-union, but he wanted National Worker's Unions. Unions were a source of power for the German fascist state.

02/21/11 - The Graph
== ==
[edited] Hitler moved to correct hyperinflation while keeping his national socialist views front and center. The Nazis disbanded the Weimar unions in 1933 and replaced them with the new and improved German Labor Front (DAF), comprised of two primary entities, the National Socialist Factory Organization and the National Socialist Trade and Industry Organization.

Weimar contracts were now honored by DAF. The Nazi's funded DAF with the Weimar unions’ stockpile of wealth (the existing unions were part of that inflation problem).
== ==

"The workers CANNOT CONTROL THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION."

Sure they can, they just need to come up with the down payment for the means. They don't, in most cases, because managing capital profitably is a real bitch, in reality, and relatively few people can do it. Those people who can do it, are doing it, by and large, and don't really want to work for unions.

Sure they can, they just need to come up with the down payment for the means.

Which instantly makes them the reviled bourgeois management.

What ends up happening in all such cases is that the government (claiming to be the representative of the people) seize the means of production, enslave the workers, kill the managers, and drive everything into the ground.

This is why socialism should become a dirty word, and a topic not spoken of in polite company.

Yeah, I want to know which corporations it was that demanded the TSA feel-ups. It definitely wasn't the airlines or the airplane manufacturers; they dare not say so in public, but they all see the TSA as being the death of their industry.

Off topic, but I just *had* to share!
If I lived in Toronto I would soooo be there http://yellingintothevoid.tumblr.com/post/3643471781/stfukyriarchy-walk-april-3rd-see-our-what
Excerpt:
On January 24th, 2011, a representative of the Toronto Police gave shocking insight into the Force’s view of sexual assault by stating: “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized”.

Great Googly Moogly, haven't we evolved past this point *yet*?!?!?! What knuckle-dragging neanderthal mouth-breather did they send out to give this statement anyways? I'm no knee-jerk feminista, but Jesus jumping on a pogo stick, the blame-the-victim mentality went out in the stone age, fer crying out loud!

Kat -

If he didn't say it that way, some muslim would drag him before the human rights courts and destroy him.

"“women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized”."

Didn't the consensus in a recent thread say rape WAS about sex? And if so, dressing sexily would seem to up one's odds of being victimized, no? You can't have it both ways.

"Hitler moved to correct hyperinflation while keeping his national socialist views front and center"....hyperinflation was suppressed in Germany long before Hitler came to power, via the introduction of the Rentenmark in 1923/1924. There were serious economic problems in 1933, but they involved mainly unemployment rather than extreme inflation.

Didn't the consensus in a recent thread say rape WAS about sex? And if so, dressing sexily would seem to up one's odds of being victimized, no? You can't have it both ways.

Rape is about sex. And although the way a woman dresses (or the street she walks down) can certainly contribute to her victimization, it's not really on her to be non-descript.

I have a big television, and you can see it from the street if I leave the curtains open. If someone breaks in and steals it, it's not because I left the curtains open, it's because the person that took it was a thief.

So a woman wearing heels and a pencil skirt is no more responsible for being raped. It's all on the piece of shit what done it. Sure, she might reduce the risk by not dressing nice, but she could also reduce the risk by staying home.

Or she could improve her chances of repelling the attack by being armed.

Just like I protect my TV by keeping the door locked.

Here are the top 10 most stolen cars in America:

http://editorial.autos.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=434545

Note the top 3 - 1995 Honda Civics, 1991 Honda Accords, 1989 Toyota Camrys. No Ferraris, Jaguars, Corvettes, Mustangs, nothing on the list with even a hint of sex appeal. Rape is about sex, like robbery is about money. Thieves steal humble, ordinary cars, not sexy cars, because ordinary cars are everywhere, and they are easy & convenient for scumbags to steal & sell.

I have no idea what you're wearing right now, momof4, but I know it would take a determined rapist 2 seconds to rip it off you (unless you're armed, and manage to shoot him first). The scumbag KNOWS there's a naked woman under there, and that he's bigger, stronger, and more aggressive than you are.

You really don't believe that, if you scrolled through the past 10 years of police reports on rape in Austin, you would find that most of the victims were ordinary women & girls, wearing ordinary clothes, going about their ordinary lives? What about all the naked women at Sunshine Valley Nudist Camp? Do they spend all day hiding in the bushes, trembling in terror?

"Yeah, I want to know which corporations it was that demanded the TSA feel-ups."

That would be Rapiscan and Chertoff (former Homeland directory) lobbying Congress/Gov..

@sio - They didn't "demand" it, they bought it.

"That would be Rapiscan and Chertoff (former Homeland directory) lobbying Congress/Gov.."

Excellent point.