[Peace-discuss] Creeping fascism

[C. G. Estabrook]

[The American public's acceptance of the Obama administration's police-state 
tactics is paralleled in 1930s Germany.  Milton Mayer's classic study /They 
Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45/ documents the institution of 
totalitarian tactics in a population that saw them as temporary and necessary 
measures. --CGE]

 From <http://www.antiwar.com/blog/>:

     Bradley Manning Visitor Confirms Mistreatment
     Posted: 23 Dec 2010 03:30 PM PST

David House, a friend of Bradley Manning, was allowed to visit him at the brig 
where he is currently imprisoned. He basically confirmed the mistreatment that 
has been outlined by Glenn Greenwald and others:

-- Solitary confinement in a small cell 23 hours a day
-- No sleeping allowed from 5am to 11pm (5am wake-up)
-- No exercise allowed in cell (allowed to walk in chains one hour a day)
-- No personal items in cell

House described a "remarkable decline in his psychological state and physical 
well-being." He also said the Pentagon is not telling the truth about his 
conditions. House recently wrote an article describing the visit.


     Travelers 'Feel a Little Safer' Seeing Rape Victim Dragged Across Airport 
by Police
     Posted: 23 Dec 2010 02:09 PM PST

In an example of how quickly many members of the public have become not only 
comfortable with by comforted by the harsh and seemingly arbitrary treatment 
received by others at the airport, 56-year-old rape victim Claire Hirschkind was 
hurled to the ground and dragged across the airport by police yesterday, 
reassuring others that the TSA was right on top of things.

"It makes me feel a little safer," noted Emily Protine, one of the other 
travelers who witnessed the arrest, the consequence of Hirschkind not wanting 
her breasts felt by TSA agents. "It is for our protection so I have no problems 
with it," added another witness, one Gwen Washington.

Hirschkind was apparently singled out because she has a pacemaker implanted in 
her chest, but objected when TSA officials announced they intended to feel her 
breasts. When she argued there was no due cause "the police actually pushed me 
to the floor, handcuffed me," Hirschkind report, prompting the extreme comfort 
of fellow would-be passengers Washington and Protine.

The TSA insisted that Hirschkind's arrest and her treatment were perfectly in 
keeping with their orders, and an airport spokesman added that she had the 
option to "not fly" if she objected to having her breasts groped. The TSA added 
that only about 3 percent of travelers are actually subjected to the treatment. 
The other 97 just get to feel a little safer because they didn't get singled out.



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