An utterly ridiculous definition of fascism

The chief "rival identity", of course, is that of conservatism, and Goldberg, a noisy conservative pundit, has as his stated agenda the need "to dismantle the granite-like assumption in our political culture that American conservatism is an offshoot or cousin of fascism." He makes it abundantly clear that when some dopey lefty calls George W. Bush (or, for that matter, Jonah Goldberg) a fascist it really grates his cheese, and so he has set out to even the libellous score. He has taken it upon himself to make the case that fascism really has its antecedents on the left - that the American Progressive movement "was a sister movement of fascism." He shows that many American progressives in the 1920s, and even into the 1930s, expressed admiration for aspects of Italian or German society - Lincoln Steffens, or Rexford G Tugwell. (He also makes it clear with 32 citations of the New Republic that he considers it something like the historic house organ of liberal fascism.)

Goldberg proceeds to trace the development of liberal fascism from Woodrow Wilson - Goldberg states outright (he likes outing thoughts in their wildest form) that Wilson was "the twentieth century's first fascist dictator" - to Roosevelt to Kennedy to Johnson to SDS to Hollywood, culminating, natch, in Hillary Clinton's secret plan (very secret, for most of us) to have children removed from their families and reared by the state. Whatever their intentions, each and every one of the aforementioned liberal figures is nothing more than a victim of "the totalitarian temptation: the belief that there is a priesthood of experts capable of redesigning society in a 'progressive' manner".

Goldberg clearly means to shock us with these truffles that he has dug out of the woeful soil of the twentieth century. But very little of the story he tells is news to students of history. We had already heard that Steffens said of the Soviet Union, "I have been over into the future, and it works," so it is not exactly a shock to read that he had kind words for a similarly regimented society. We similarly understand that the Wilson administration did indeed shut down The Masses and fan racism and xenophobia and round up radicals, and no liberal today thinks of these moves as things to be proud of or to duplicate. We are also acutely aware that some New Dealers were fans of the totalitarian Soviet Union. Roosevelt's second vice-president was one such, and he kicked Henry Wallace off the ticket in 1944 for just that reason. Since Roosevelt did not manage to keep Wallace's expulsion out of the papers, it is not exactly a secret.

We have also recognised, since at least the 1950s and in some prescient instances even earlier, that certain consanguinities between the far left and the far right did exist in those days, and that the Nazi programme was in some respects a left-wing programme, appealing on a class basis - and, always, a racial basis - to German workers and the petit bourgeoisie. It was not called National Socialism for nothing. Goldberg goes into great detail on all this in his chapter titled - are you sitting down? - "Adolf Hitler: Man of the Left".

~ from Jackboots and Whole Foods ~

Dwindling numbers at traditional German peace marches this Easter

Hundreds of peace activists gathered in major centres in Germany Saturday to participate in traditional Easter marches against war, with the focus this year on Iraq and Afghanistan. Some 70 events were taking place across the country between Good Friday and Easter Monday, with the main marches on Saturday and Monday. This year, the demonstrators could be counted in dozens, rather than the hundreds of thousands seen at the highpoint of the peace movement. Some 250 participated at the start of a three-day march in the Ruhr region from Duisburg to Dortmund.

~ more... ~

"The True Story of the Bilderberg Group" undergoes fact check by publisher

“Regularly, what is discussed there, within a short period of time, 'miraculously' becomes a reality,” Millegan wrote in an announcement of a free appearance by Estulin this Saturday at Eugene's Tsunami Books.

TrineDay published the American version of Estulin's European best-selling expose, Millegan said, because decisions made at the elite gatherings “hugely affects the lives of Americans, yet these hidden conclaves are held with no press reports, even though media owners and high-level working press attend.”

Now in it's third printing, the U.S. version of “Bilderberg Group” is already TrineDay's most financially successful title, having sold more than 30,000 copies to date, Millegan said.

After Estulin's Eugene appearance, Millegan will accompany him to Hollywood where they will jointly announce a related movie deal.

In the book, first published in Spain in 2005, Estulin contends that an elite international group — which purportedly includes Bill Clinton, Henry Kissinger, the king of Spain, presidents of the world's largest corporations and financial organizations, and others — authorized the 2003 invasion of Iraq at their 2002 meeting in Virginia.

He said the group is now discussing plans for a North American Union, to include the United States, Canada and Mexico, yet operates in virtual secrecy.

As for fact-checking a book that relies in part on anonymous sources, Millegan said he felt somewhat comfortable publishing the U.S. version because it had already sold more than 1.5 million copies worldwide in 30 languages.

“A book doesn't sell a million and a half copies unless readers find a substance there that they want to share with other people,” he said, adding that Estulin predicted both oil hitting $100 barrel and this year's mortgage crisis based on his Bilderberg group reporting.

~ from Local publisher faces challenges verifying latest nonfiction book ~

'Telling the good guys from the bad guys'

History repeats itself. During World War Two, Germany's professional military such the Luftwaffa operated many remarkably humane POW camps obeying the Genva Conventions. American pilots in Luftwaffe custody did not have to fear systematic torture. However, Hitler's Nazi Brown Shirts and Gestapo operated under a different secret set of rules and employed many forms of torture. Although Germany had many officers who who did not commit crimes against humanity, it is most remembered for all those who did torture and murder. 

~ from Bush Vetoes Anti-Torture Legislation ~

'the devil has you all so convinced he doesn't exist'

yes, some rastas believe the illuminati exists... that there is a global
conspiracy to invoke a new world order. and while you might not hear
anything about the trilateral commision or the bilderbergers coming out of
their mouths, you know where they're going with this. of course this sounds
a bit odd or absurd; and perhaps i've read too much robert anton wilson, or
not enough; but how far off is this myth really? perhaps the wicked priests
have gotten so good at their magick that they don't even need to hide out at
masonic temples anymore-they take over seattle, davos, genoa, new york, for
their world economic forums and world trade organization conferences.

the devil has you all so convinced he doesn't exist, you welcome his minions
to your cities' finiest halls to sit behind darkened boardroom tables and
plot "innocent" world domination, all under the pretense of a "stronger
economy" and "increased prosperity."

worse yet, all the cultural elements and customary effects that are a
natural and fundamental part of the human experience have been stolen,
commodified, mass manufactured by foreign child labor, repackaged, shipped,
stocked, shelved, and sold back to you taxed, where at the counter you use
your high-interest rate credit card which records your shopping habits for
later sale to marketing agencies. and for every brick in that pyramid, every
concrete block blotting the sun from the sky, strangling our mothership
earth-you could've made the thing yourself or done without it. arts, crafts,
music, toys, games, clothes, food, inebriants... convenience is a dangerous
friend. and now there are a lot of people tangled up in this mess.

~ from travels of the zion froptic ~