"Your either with us, or your against us."

We should be happy (I snarkedly suggest) that we are only excluded from matters if we are Dems.

It would be worse when hit squads take out those opposed to BushCo. First however, we are likely to see more effective moves to brand Dems as traitors and terrorists.

The game plan for totalitarian control was pretty much completely written in the 1930's, so we just need to look back and we'll see what's coming for our future.

'and then they came for the Democrats'.

You can imagine what bimbo-bitch would be saying if Clinton had done this.

The only way to accomplish anything these days is precisely doing this--to Republicans. Start shutting them out of dialogues. Period.

If you want to imagine something, imagine if powerful voices on the left, and in the progressive movement, had this to say in response:

"We have always had deep-seated concerns about the role of money and influence in politics, and there is much we disagree with in both of the major parties in this country. We know our political system is corrupt, but the singling out of specific individuals and corporations in the telecommunications industry for punishment by the Bush White is un-American in every sense of the word. Anyone who believes that both parties are equally corrupt should understand that that is no longer true, and that the first order of business for progressives and liberals should be joining with the Democratic Party and bringing American values back to the American political process.

Bring back the fairness doctrine.

While that would be ideal, it's sadly not likely to happen. The boy king would then either have to accurately identify his little government produced "news" clips as the propaganda they are or give them up. Don't really see him giving up much.

I wonder if those bumped could sue for a violation of their first amendment right to freedom of association, for having been punished for supporting the "wrong" political party. I mean, would the White House be justified if it bumped representatives on the basis of race? Sex? There has to be a limit to discretion, here.

The practical consequence of this is that employees at Qualcomm, Nokia, etc. now understand that their careers depend on appearing loyal to the Republican Party. What career path exists for people who will their companies know be banned from high-level conferences and meetings? And the same goes for employees at many other companies that send people to government-associated conferences. And people who get licenses, certifications, security clearances, etc. have to wonder if they will be checked for political loyalties as well.

And aog that line, now we know that the government is checking who we donate to, right? So what else are they checking?

It's the same in the media. Say anything negative, and your entrance into press conferences is null and void.

If I was the head of Quailcomm, I would make damn sure that the Republican Party received zero in donations from this time forward. That would be my response to such pettiness.