A Refreshing Rock River Times Letter

Since Rockford is the home to the Pale-Con Movement, this is a refreshing article to see here locally. We are not all dead around here it seems.

RockRiver Times
Guest Column:

Warning: the enemy is inside

It is time for “we the people” to wake up to the coup that is under way and put in place by the Bush administration, the GOP and other enablers. Our “land of the free” is becoming a country under siege by homeland terrorists. If we love this country, we must stop those working to end our freedoms, or we will soon be living in a fascist nation. If you don’t think this can happen in this country, you have your eyes and mind closed because all of the signs are there to see.

There are documented steps that have been used by past fascist states, i.e., Stalin, Pinochet and Hitler, to name a few, and they are slowly taking hold here. It does not come overnight but slips its way into our culture by a barrage of misinformation, deceptive leaders and a controlled media.
Steps to a fascist state include (Reference: The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot by Naomi Wolf)

1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy. Does Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and now the president of Iran ring a bell? Bush needs bogeymen to keep us afraid for the purpose of fear mongering.

2. Create a gulag. Create a prison system outside the rule of law, i.e., detention camps and our own Guantanamo. First, prisoners are seen by citizens as troublemakers, spies, enemies they cannot identify with. Eventually, society leaders, opposition members, labor activists, journalists and clergy are arrested as well.

3. Develop a thug caste. Think of Blackwater as one example. They recruit from groups of mercenaries around the world. They do not feel they need to follow the laws of the land. They kill for money and without allegiance to our country, and they are here now!

4. Set up an internal surveillance system. Bush, the FBI, CIA and other government agencies plus our telecoms have been busy since BEFORE 9/11, going over our private conversations and e-mails without a warrant and clearly against the law.

5. Harass citizen groups. Databases filled with peaceful anti-war protesters, infiltration of peace groups and tracking members as potential terrorists. A little-noticed new law has redefined activism such as animal rights protests as terrorism, so the definition of terror slowly expands to include any opposition.

6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release. People are put on no-fly lists for criticizing Bush, attending a peace march, attorneys for enemy combatants, teachers and clergy. This is a strategy to suppress freedom of speech and to silence the opposition.

7. Target key individuals. Threaten civil servants, academies, media, etc. Most recently, eight U.S. attorneys were purged for not following political objectives.

8. Control the press. This goes without saying, considering the misinformation coming from all major GOP donors who own the mainstream media. Bush will only meet with media members that agree with him. If they do not carry water for this administration, they are not given access, and this is only the tip of the iceberg.

9. Dissent equals treason. Designate dissent as treason and criticism as espionage. This has been in full bloom since 9/11!

10. Suspend the rule of law. The Patriot Act, Military Commissions Act and many executive orders and signing statements later, we are in the hands of a man who believes he is above the law, and we must all do his bidding. State secrecy is used to cover up criminal activity, and a compliant Congress has not been vigilant with oversight and have allowed Bush and company to change the balance of powers to a single decision maker, hence our “Decider.”

These are clearly signs of our times that are happening now! Our real fear should be of the dark dangers that are building within. If we want to stop this from overcoming our nation, we need to bang pots and pans, take to the streets and demand change. Call our congressional leaders and make our priorities heard loud and clear; this is the role of a patriot! It is our time to use whatever power we can muster to stop this coup, restore the rule of law and once more be a shining light to the world.

We must act now to stop torture, corruption, stop a coming war with Iran and to restore our Constitution, so future generations can say they live in a “free” democratic nation that cares for our neighbors, our families, our country and our world. We cannot allow our once-free nation to be destroyed by a handful of rich people that are politically connected; multi-national corporations that prey on the middle class and poor, lobbyists and an out-of-control criminal president, enabled by GOP politicians who have turned our democracy into a political Cosa Nostra.

Joanne Wood is a concerned citizen and resident of Sterling, Ill.
from the Dec. 12-18, 2007, issue

a refreshing newspaper.

I was shocked the first time I read it. It is so leftist! And it is free!

I pick it up every week.

The Rock River Times is a real kick in the arss to these Republicans around here. Wish they had a forum.

Rockford,Birthplace and Home of the Paleo-Cons.
What a crap hole.