Reply #91: Here's a few more points that should go on your list

[EstimatedProphet]

1) Bush has clearly used the military and members of the military as props. How many speeches has he given in front of military audiences, just to use the fact that they are in the military and supposedly support him? I'd say this counts as powerful nationalism.

For example: http://www.counterpunch.com/byrd05072003.html

And let's not forget "Mission Accomplished"!

2) Someone upthread made the point that habeas corpus also should be considered part of human rights. I agree.

3) The administration has made a systematic attempt to define Muslims as a scapegoat. In 2003 Bush was saying they don't have the same values as we do. He also talked about Islamic Radicalism - http://www.juancole.com/2006/08/bush-islamic-fascism-and-christians-of.html - and rarely does he mention Islam without trying to throw in some sort of scare modifier.

Also, I think it is a valid point that the people of the US do a lot of scapegoating too. Just because it isn't visibly put forward by the government, doesn't mean that the government is doing good.

6) This one is WAY off, in my opinion. Remember the bit where Letterman showed a clip of Bush speaking, and there was a kid clowning around within camera shot? If not, what happened was that Letterman showed the clip, the next morning CNN reported on it, and then a few minutes later they reported that Letterman had digitally inserted the kid into the clip as a joke. As it came out, they were told to say that by the White House. THAT is how much the media is actually controlled. Besides, you must have noticed by now how often the cable news outlets say word-for-word exactly the same thing, right? Those are talking points faxed out from the White House! If that doesn't constitute government control of the media, nothing possibly can.

8) Government is in bed with fundamentalism. As an example, how about the fact that the National Park Service is now required to sell books about the creationist theory of how the Grand Canyon was formed in the gift shop there? Also, what about Justice Sunday? Republican congresscreeps show up to fundie gatherings and campaign. Clear case of Government/religion complicity.

10) Outsourcing is a perfect example of this case. You can't have labor unions when the jobs are gone. And this government has given astounding tax breaks to outsourcing companies, which promotes more outsourcing.

11) I'd say that the government has been hostile to academia, but in a much more covert way. Things like NCLB (because this point is really about education per se) count towards this, but IMO the biggest hostility towards intellectualism (and it is definitely there) comes from the punditry. So, I'll leave this point to someone else.

12) Patriot Act. Loss of habeas corpus. Illegal wiretapping. Loss of posse commitatus. Loss of the "knock law". If you ask me, the police have been getting far too powerful. It doesn't matter that they haven't been nationalized, especially since the Patriot Act lets them act as one force through free communication.

14) Not even close to being arguable - elections have become a joke here. That's why the Repubs fought so hard to keep the voting machines, and called anyone who wanted verifiability traitors. And can you really say that elections haven't been run over by smear campaigns and media manipulation? YOU KNOW that's not true!

I think you're looking too hard at the trees to see the forest. There's only a couple points I would say may not be valid indications of fascism in America, and you don't have to have the whole list.