Fascism Watch and the Bird Flu

The World Health Organization has decided not to estimate how many victims might succumb in an avian flu pandemic. They finally admitted they can't give an estimate, but we should assume it would be a hell of a lot of people.

In case of a bird flu outbreak, President Bush says that he would have to call in the troops, here on U.S. soil, to keep us all safe. Somehow the thought doesn't make me feel any safer.

As I pointed out in a post on August 10, 2005, the Defense Department is coming up with a plan, CONPLAN, to be exact, that would take control from civilian authorities and give it to the military in case of a terror attack.

If you aren't scared you should be. Any proposal that gives the military further control over our lives ought to protested and vehemently opposed. The deafening silence you hear is the result of inertia, ignorance and post 9/11 propaganda. We have been told so often that we must choose between having civil liberties or being safe that most of us go along like sheep and accept atrocities like the Patriot Act. Our leaders did. Only one Senator, Russ Feingold, voted no.

Let's hope that a few others have gathered the courage they lacked after 9/11 and vociferously oppose the impositon of military control over our lives.