A Whiff of Fascism?

Now we have learned the latest horror from the Bush Administration -- the president's secret authorization to the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans making overseas calls without court-approved warrants. This follows such grants of powers to the FBI under the Patriot Act as the infamous "national security letters" which allow the FBI to demand private medical and financial records and library data without judicial OK -- and make it illegal for record-holders to talk publicly about the request. This is in addition to moving toward a system where a president can put away American citizens forever simply based on his own suspicions of terrorism. And a government that has endorsed torture and deepsixed the Geneva Convention and most global treaties. And an administration that impugns and smears the integrity of any opponent for disagreeing with its policies -- most recently, Ambassador Joe Wilson and his wife Valerie Plame, the Swifts Boats attack on John Kerrey, etc. This is just the short list of abuses. Does one smell a whiff of fascism in Washington these days?