The Signs Are Ominous

Politics makes strange bedfellows indeed. Who could have ever imagined that conservatives such as Bruce Fein would be aligned with liberals -- in the cause of impeachment of a Republican president? And now there is another convert to the cause.

According to Raw Story, referring to a new Executive Order which allows the government to seize the assets of anyone who interferes with its Iraq policies, Old-line Republican warns 'something's in the works' to trigger a police state:

Thom Hartmann . . . introduced old-line conservative Paul Craig Roberts -- a former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under Reagan who has recently become known for his strong opposition to the Bush administration and the Iraq War -- by quoting the 'strong words' which open Roberts' latest column: 'Unless Congress immediately impeaches Bush and Cheney, a year from now the US could be a dictatorial police state at war with Iran.'

'I don't actually think they're very strong,' said Roberts of his words. 'I get a lot of flak that they're understated and the situation is worse than I say. ... When Bush exercises this authority [under the new Executive Order] ... there's no check to it. It doesn't have to be ratified by Congress. The people who bear the brunt of these dictatorial police state actions have no recourse to the judiciary. So it really is a form of total, absolute, one-man rule. ... The American people don't really understand the danger that they face.'

* * * *

Roberts believes instead that Cheney and Rove intend to use a renewal of the War on Terror to rally the American people around the Republican Party. "Something's in the works," he said, adding that the Executive Orders need to create a police state are already in place.

"The administration figures themselves and prominent Republican propagandists ... are preparing us for another 9/11 event or series of events," Roberts continued. "Chertoff has predicted them. ... The National Intelligence Estimate is saying that al Qaeda has regrouped. ... You have to count on the fact that if al Qaeda's not going to do it, it's going to be orchestrated. ... The Republicans are praying for another 9/11."

* * * *

"Americans think their danger is terrorists," said Roberts. "They don't understand the terrorists cannot take away habeas corpus, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution. ... The terrorists are not anything like the threat that we face to the Bill of Rights and the Constitution from our own government in the name of fighting terrorism. Americans just aren't able to perceive that."

Roberts pointed out that it's old-line Republicans like himself, former Reagan associate deputy attorney general Bruce Fein, and Pat Buchanan who are the diehards in warning of the danger. "It's so obvious to people like us who have long been associated in the corridors of power," he said. "There's no belief in the people or anything like that. They have agendas. The people are in the way. The Constitution is in the way. ... Americans need to comprehend and look at how ruthless Cheney is. ... A person like that would do anything."

See Roberts' article, Impeach Now, at Counterpunch.

A reading of this new "Executive Order" will put fear in your heart. Not the fear of terrorists, but of the Bush Administration. And that is not all. The pieces are all slowly being put in place for a total takeover of the government by the Lawless Administration. In a post a few months ago, The Alarms are Ringing, I noted the passage of a new law that amounts to a re-writing of the Insurrection Act, which "makes it easier for a president to override local control of law enforcement and declare martial law."

I am normally not an alarmist, but the signs are ominous. I fell like those Jews in Germany who couldn't believe that their government would actually turn on them, so didn't flee when they had an opportunity. The signs were there, but they kept rationalizing what it meant, disbelieving the worst -- until it happened.

After you read this, check out the video. You'll be a convert yet -- and that means you, Susan.

Tags: Civil Liberties, Bush, Law, Impeachment