America is one of the most open and freest nation in the world. But, some of the decisions taken, as consequences of  9/11, and the War on Terror  have eroded its freedoms at the altar of  national security. Unfortunately, for the free world this is bad news, because, when America sneezes, the rest of the world  gets a cold. Shortly ,the so-called subliminal fascist governments masquerading as democracies around the world, will follow suit with draconian laws in the name of national security.

The aftershocks of US curtailment of Civil Liberties will be felt around the world. Movements n support of Civil Liberties and Individual Freedoms will be crushed in the name of national security. The perception of safety and security at the expense of personal liberties is just a mirage. Free people can stop acts of terrorism by speaking out. Fearful people are too meek to get involved. And, that dear friends is a real Catch-22.

Political Fall-out for US Allies, including Pakistan

Pakistan should not follow this poor example set by President Obama. We should protect our hard won individual freedoms; through the Lawyers Movement for Democracy. Pakistani people have to keep Nawaz Sharif within the bounds of Pakistan’s Constitution. Otherwise, if he gets too big for his breeches, he should be booted out through our parliamentary process this time around, instead of a military takeover.

Nawaz Sharif has Megalomaniac Tendencies .

He dreams of becoming the head of Muslim Ummah, such megalomaniacs have to be kept within the boundaries of their constitutional role. Otherwise, they can go haywire and By nature, he cannot suppress his desire to once again fulfill his dream to become Ameer-ul-Momineen once again (it is an obsession with control freaks like him). Human history is replete with such examples from Hitler to Mussolini.

Litmus Test For Nawaz Sharif:

How many of the listed megalomaniac characteristics Nawaz Sharif  or how to identify the Symptoms of Megalomania in Nawaz Sharif

Megalomania is a psychopathological disorder where in the person experiences delusional fantasies of greatness, wealth, grandeur, omnipotence and superiority. The person with this type of mental illness will be obsessed with doing extravagant things, will think only about themselves, will not have any concern for others and will have lust for power and money. A megalomaniac person will also exaggerate his/her talent in an unrealistic egoistic way, consider them as unique and will be self centered. According to the experts, this mental disorder is related to Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) which means self-love. How and why this type of illness develops may be because of different behavioral characteristics, childhood and nature of parenting during childhood days. One of the best examples of a megalomaniac in the history was Adolf Hitler (1).

TIPS to identify the symptoms of megalomania in Nawaz Sharif:

• Delusion of being superior to others (including all the politicians of Pakistan)
• Delusion of greatness (wanted to Proclaim himself as Amir-ul-Momineen)
• Delusion of having great social and political power (delusion of being loved by Pakistanis, even though elected by rigged and foreign manipulated elections)
• Lack of empathy for anything (disappeared from lahore in middle of Kargil War)
• Delusion of importance (wants to follow his mentor, the late”Amir-ul-Momineen” Gen.Zia-ul Haq)
• Egoistic (shabby treatment of those close to him, including Ishaq Dar, Mushahidullah, Khaqan Abbasi, who seems to have disappeared)
• Violent tendencies (bad temper & vengeful against Pakistan Armed Forces)
• Self centered (Tried to seduce Kim Barker with his narcissism)
• Want others to be fear of him (he has goons like Khaqan Abbasi, Mirza Iqbal, Rana Sanaullah, and Saad Rafiq, a hoodlum of Royal Park, Lahore)
• High self confidence (Speaks as though, he has received communication from high heavens)
• Manipulation over others (He is a master manipulator and is taking the US, Taliban, PML(N), and People of Pakistan for a ride)
• Exaggerations (Lies and twists facts to suit political arguments)
• Feeling of being a famous person (Delusion of being the Amir-ul-Momineen)
• Symptoms of mania or paranoid disorder (Always watching his back to see if Army is trying to get rid of him. That is why he nominated his man Gen.Ziau-uddin Butt, as COAS)
• Belief of being a god like figure (Megalomania)
• Bad temper (Needs Anger Management counseling)
• Frequent depressions(Attention Deficit Disorder & Paranoia)
• Mood swings (Goes from fire to ice and back. Ask those who know him)

Though a megalomaniac posses himself o have a high esteem and ego, he will have a very low self-esteem and fragile ego.

An Open Letter to Dianne Feinstein, Head of the Senate Intelligence Committee

by Norman Solomon, June 08, 2013

Dear Senator Feinstein:

On Thursday, when you responded to news about massive ongoing surveillance of phone records of people in the United States, you slipped past the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. As the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, you seem to be in the habit of treating the Bill of Rights as merely advisory.

The Constitution doesn’t get any better than this: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

The greatness of the Fourth Amendment explains why so many Americans took it to heart in civics class and why so many of us treasure it today. But, along with other high-ranking members of Congress and the president of the United States, you have continued to chip away at this sacred bedrock of civil liberties.

As The Guardian reported the night before your sudden news conference, the leaked secret court order “shows for the first time that under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of U.S. citizens are being collected indiscriminately and in bulk — regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing.”

One of the most chilling parts of that just-revealed Surveillance Court order can be found at the bottom of the first page, where it says “Declassify on: 12 April 2038.”

Apparently you thought — or at least hoped — that we, the people of the United States, wouldn’t find out for 25 years. And the fact that we learned about this extreme violation of our rights in 2013 instead of 2038 seems to bother you a lot.

Rather than call for protection of the Fourth Amendment, you want authorities to catch and punish whoever leaked this secret order. You seem to fear that people can actually discover what their own government is doing to them with vast surveillance.

Meanwhile, the executive branch is being run by kindred spirits, as hostile to the First Amendment as to the Fourth. On Thursday night, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper issued a statement saying the “unauthorized disclosure of a top secret U.S. court document threatens potentially long-lasting and irreversible harm to our ability to identify and respond to the many threats facing our nation.”

That statement from Clapper is utter and complete hogwash. Whoever leaked the four-page Surveillance Court document to Glenn Greenwald at The Guardiandeserves a medal and an honorary parade down Pennsylvania Avenue in the Nation’s capital. The only “threats” assisted by disclosure of that document are the possibilities of meaningful public discourse and informed consent of the governed.

Let’s be candid about the most clear and present danger to our country’s democratic values. The poisonous danger is spewing from arrogance of power in the highest places. The antidotes depend on transparency of sunlight that only whistleblowers, a free press, and an engaged citizenry can bring.

As Greenwald tweeted after your news conference: “The reason there are leakers is precisely because the government is filled with people like Dianne Feinstein who do horrendous things in secret.” And, he pointed out, “The real story isn’t just the spying itself: it’s that we have this massive, ubiquitous Surveillance State, operating in total secrecy.”

Obviously, you like it that way, and so do most other members of the Senate and House. And so does the president. You’re all playing abhorrent roles, maintaining a destructive siege of precious civil liberties. While building a surveillance state, you are patting citizens on the head and telling them not to worry.

Perhaps you should have a conversation with Al Gore and ask about his statement: “Is it just me, or is secret blanket surveillance obscenely outrageous?” Actually, many millions of Americans understand that the blanket surveillance is obscenely outrageous.

As a constituent, I would like to offer an invitation. A short drive from your mansion overlooking San Francisco Bay, hundreds of us will be meeting June 11 at a public forum on “Disappearing Civil Liberties in the United States.” (You’d be welcome to my time on the panel.) One of the speakers, Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, could explain to you how the assaults on civil liberties and the wars you keep supporting go hand in hand, undermining the Constitution and causing untold misery.

Senator Feinstein, your energetic contempt for the Bill of Rights is serving a bipartisan power structure that threatens to crush our democratic possibilities.

A huge number of people in California and around the country will oppose your efforts for the surveillance state at every turn.

Sincerely,

Norman Solomon

Fascism In Defense of Freedom is a Vice

by James Heddle

OK. Let me try and understand this.

The reason terrorists hate us Americans so much is because of our Freedoms. That’s what the President says. So Attorney General John Ashcroft comes up with the only logical Christian solution: Eliminate our ‘Freedoms’ and they won’t hate us any more. Simple. Why didn’t we think of this before’ We might have avoided WW II! Perhaps even the American Revolution. Think of all the property, not to mention lives, that could have been saved!

Now we can see that Barry Goldwater’s infamous dictum, ‘extremism in defense of liberty is no vice’ – which by most accounts lost him the election – had more truth to it than met the eye at the time. We were so blind. But now we see. Goldwater was a prophet without honor in his own country.

Duuh! Gut the Bill of Rights and eviscerate the Constitution and presto chango oppressed peoples around the world living under despotic regimes supported and trained in domestic dissent suppression by the United States will have nothing for which to envy us. They’ll look at us with pity as equals. Like the rats regarded Jud in the musical ‘Oklahoma!’ And what’s more, they’ll be correct! Totalitarianism in defense of national security is all right. I can see the bumper stickers now – ‘Another Fascist for Freedom!’ ‘Another Totalitarian for Liberty!’ ‘Another Compassionate Conservative for Total Annihilation!’

Check it out, Ari, you Fleischer, you. Am I stating the argument accurately to this point’ As you said recently, “People have to watch what they say ….” I wouldn’t want to get it wrong.

OK. So now, if we outsource our manufacturing jobs to slave-wage Third World countries; compensate transnational corporations for ‘terrorist-induced’ business losses with retroactive tax refunds, defense contracts and multi-million dollar bailouts; lay off millions of American workers; give tax breaks to the wealthy; privatize and loot the coffers of Social Security; and create a permanent ‘worldwide-war-on-terrorism’ economy – why then, will we not forestall the plunge into global economic depression which was looming on the horizon even before 9/11’

Next, if we cluster bomb and bunker buster Afghanistan back to the Paleolithic, Vice President Dick Cheney and his buddies at Haliburton will rebuild it – adding a pipeline through it and Pakistan from the petroleum-rich Central Asian Republics (where National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and her Exxon colleagues have business interests) – then the G-8 countries’ ‘privileged’ access to all the major sources of oil in the world will have been secured until the Final Rapture.

Am I getting it right so far’

Of course, in the interest of a stable global investment climate (not to be confused with industry-produced global climate change), the unelected, anonymous trade lawyers and technocrats of the U.S.-dominated World Trade Organization (WTO), World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) must achieve and maintain the power to over-ride for trade profitability purposes the democratically established labor, environmental and human rights laws in all the world’s sovereign nations. This goes without saying.

Then finally – and this is the clincher – if we follow War (excuse me, Defense) Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s scenario, which is also laid out in the Air Force’s ‘Vision 2020’ Report, and project America’s nuclear-and-other-weapons-of-mass-destruction monopoly into space, why then we achieve ‘Full Spectrum Dominance’ over the planet and become at the same time ‘Masters of Space.’ This is not my own megalomaniacal fantasy, mind you. This is the current, articulated official U.S. government policy. The world will at last be safe for American corporate investment.

So -please correct me if I’m wrong – totalitarianism in defense of liberty is a vise. It’s being tightened. And we’re all in it. The question is – how do we get out’

James Heddle is an award-winning documentary film-maker and Co-Director of EON – the Ecological Options Network, an organization dedicated to mapping and reporting on sustainability success stories worldwide. To contact him: opt2000@veriomail.com