Today comes news that « the Emperor is planning permanent gulags in a number of countries to hold persons merely suspected of … well, doing something of which the Emperor does not approve »:

‘The Bush administration is preparing plans for possible lifetime detention of suspected terrorists, including hundreds whom the government does not have enough evidence to charge in courts, The Washington Post reported Sunday. Citing intelligence, defense and diplomatic officials, the newspaper said the Pentagon and the CIA had asked the White House to decide on a more permanent approach for those it would not set free or turn over to courts at home or abroad. As part of a solution, the Defense Department, which holds 500 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, plans to ask the U.S. Congress for $25 million to build a 200-bed prison to hold detainees who are unlikely to ever go through a military tribunal for lack of evidence, defense officials told the newspaper.’

Folks, we’re no longer living in the America into which I was born and raised. This is something very different, very ugly and very evil.

The Republic is dead. Long live the Empire, eh?