How many nations are gravitating to orbit around China, Shooter?

-- Jebbie

With 1.3 billion in population, a huge market with money to burn from a huge trade surplus, all kinds of folks with something to sell are drooling over China. If these guys could resurrect Henry Ford and sell them the 21st century version of the Model T, they would. And that would definitely melt the polar ice caps.

And the list does provide a better example of a few actual police states for Achey-Achey-Headachey. Prison population alone is a poor metric.

What percentage of the population would have to be in prison for you to consider the US a "police state"?

Would 25% do the trick for you?

If there is a better metric I'd love to hear what you might think it is.

The number of people in cages is a poor metric of a nation's repressive tendencies indeed.

"Straight away there is a problem with a society that locks up one in twelve of its workers. Can it be true that there is a criminal in every family group in America? The facts show that you have a relative or friend that has had a serious encounter with the law, if in fact it wasn’t you, yourself.."

- Robert Murray, The Decline and Fall of the American Empire

If you do not see a mind bending irony in the country that prides itself on being "The Land of the Free" having the highest incarceration rate in the world then you are quite literally as brain dead as Terry Schiavo.

If a person who indulges in gluttony is a glutton, and a person who commits a felony is a felon, then God is an iron." -Spider Robinson

I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free -Lee Greenwood

"There are no sides. There's no Sunnis and Shiites. There's no Democrats and Republicans. There are only the HAVES, and the HAVE-NOTS"

-Senator Charles F. Meachum, from the

movie, "Shooter".

This is the State of our Nation in December, 2007.

Wealthy Criminals Rule in Washington, and the Citizenry look on helplessly in disbelief.

Ron Paul for President.

You are probably reading something from David Duke.

http://www.davidduke.com/general/evidence-linking-these-israelis-to-911-is-classified_2858.html

I'm not suggesting one thing or another but conspiracy theories and alarmist nonsense from Ron Pauliacs, LewRockwellians, antisemites and anti-statists, like InnerCynic's post about HR1955, (a meaningless, do nothing piece of legislation and waste of the one dollar per American it will cost), litter up the threads enough.

If HR1955 was a big deal, why aren't Glenn or the other attorneys at Balkanization writing about it? Instead we have some kook at Lew Rockwell, (an engineer, not even an attorney), shouting "Thought Crime!" To get everyone alarmed and drive up traffic at that POS Kook Konspiracy website.

You give me a headache.

Police State Checklist: Lawless Intelligence Agency, Accountable Only to Supreme Leader, Tortures Individuals, Destroys Evidence, Faces No Sanction

You've made a lot of great posts on this thread.

Since you seem to know so much about art guerrilla, is it you?

I think I stated in my letter if you'd read that it came from Fox News-Brit Hume. A 4 part series.

Good try with the David Duke-anti-semite crap though...

Don't even try that subterfuge "sand in the face" argument" again though-

Free country-needs to be discussed.

I have no problem with Israel or Jews-I DO have a problem with Jews like Likuds or Mossad who think it's the US responsiblity to protect them, while they go and instigate attacks on their neighbors,or violate the treaties they sign, or even goad us into a war (to protect them).

The US should not have to comply with being blackmailed-especially by an ally.

another note LWM-the neocon movement was started by a group called the NY intellectuals after the coldwar. They were vehemently anti-communism, thinking it the US role to spread democracy(be it by the barrel of a gun..)

Podhertz was one of them, Trilling another-they mostly worked for Jewish-owned magazines as writers and therefore developed an Israel-first mentality when it came to US policy (although they lived and were US citizens).They started off being liberal-then became radical Israel-firsters,being called "neocons"..

Sorry: Pollard, Franklin, the arrest of many Israelis after 9-11 make it more "mainstream news that is trying to be covered up"-than conspiracy theory.

The Telecom immunize vote by Harman/Rock. is just more evidence of that and what is being hidden-even from our own intel.

Police State Checklist by Eric Alterman

Police State Checklist: Lawless Intelligence Agency, Accountable Only to Supreme Leader, Tortures Individuals, Destroys Evidence, Faces No Sanction

-- Gordon

To an anti-statist, America under Nixon or Carter was a police state.

Many people stillwish to emigrate here with the intent of become legal residents and citizens. Must be one hell of a good police state. OTOH, Americam emigration is higher than it has ever been in our history. We are probably at what Jack Balkin calls the "National Surveillance State" stage.

http://balkin.blogspot.com/2006/05/twin-dangers-of-national-surveillance.html

Really? Lionel Trilling?!? A neocon?!?

Since you seem to know so much about art guerrilla, is it you?

-- Retired Military Patriot

But he's not bebop, either, which makes me happy for beeb.

One other conspicuous characterizing thing about police states - to me anyway - has been the cultural integration of citizens informing on each other. As you say, LWM, hard to define.

We do lock up too many people. I agree with you there.

A Marxian analysis of that would be that we warehouse surplus population. We are able to do that by overuse of the criminal sanction, but again, we can argue all day about what a police state is.

The Limits of the Criminal Sanction:

http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?book_id=%200899

http://faculty.ncwc.edu/toconnor/111/111lect01.htm

http://www.amazon.com/Limits-Criminal-Sanction-Herbert-Packer/dp/0804706565

Some of the best books on Amazon have only one review.They are very hard to read.

You tend to go off the rails at times. Enjoy the excursion but I'll stay on the main line this thread.