Great news about how your government spends your tax dollars and treats humans:

1) Dept. of Homeland Security has already announced its going to greatly increase the incarceration of undocumented immigrants, including the opening of new detention facilities for this purpose.
2) And guess who's ready to build 'em? That's right, a Halliburton subsidiary!
3) And Congress is ready to supply the people to fill them. With HR 4437's provisions for indefinite detention and the reclassification of even minor offenses as aggravated felonies it is quite possible that many of the 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country could shortly end up in internment camps no different from the refugee camps we see throughout the rest of the world. We just never think it will happen here.

On Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced that the Department of Homeland Security would be opening detention facilities in the next few weeks to house thousands of Chinese immigrants who have been denied immigration to the United States, yet were refused readmission by the Chinese government:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11825816/

Halliburton Subsidiary Gets $385 Million Contract to Add Temporary Immigration Detention Centers:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/04/national/04halliburton.html?ex=1296709200&en=0172899afda059e4&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

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Want to know more about our government's new "mandatory" and "indefinite" detentions? Or how about a new bill that creates a new felony called "Illegal Presence?"
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/3/17/13272/4156
-------------------- And now some fun: -------------- On this Day in History...,

An article in the Münchner Neueste Nachrichten (The Munich Latest News) of March 21, 1933 printed a press release from the Munich Chief of Police, Heinrich Himmler.

Himmler believed Hitler was the Messiah who was destined to lead Germany to greatness. Hitler recognized such astuteness, and decided to have Himmler head the S.S. or Schutzstaffel--Hitler's group of personal bodyguards. He later ran the German secret police or the Gestapo, who, under his Rumsfeldian leadership, quickly developed a reputation for using brutal interrogation methods in order to obtain confessions. Sound familiar? Here's the 1933 press release:
On Wednesday the first concentration camp is to be opened in Dachau with an accommodation for 5000 persons. All Communists and -- where necessary -- Reichsbanner and Social Democratic functionaries who endanger state security are to be concentrated here, as in the long run it is not possible to keep individual functionaries in the state prisons without overburdening these prisons, and on the other hand these people cannot be released because attempts have shown that they persist in their efforts to agitate and organize as soon as they are released.
I've attached a copy of the article to this email. The next similar article you read will be dated 2006 and will be in English. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Zeig Heil!

Most of you saw the "feel good" story about Bush meeting Jason McElwain, aka "J-Mac," the autistic basketball manager who scored 20 points in four minutes for his high school team. Many of you probably also the picture of Bush giving him a hug.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/preps/basketball/2006-03-14-bush-autistic_x.htm

Great photo-op. But here's what he really thinks of kids with autism:
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/03/15/bush-jmac/

While President Bush has publicly acknowledged his admiration for the young star, his FY07 budget shows an indifference towards autistic children:
- In his proposed budget for next year, Bush has cut all funding for the National Children’s Study, a project that planned to investigate the causes of autism, asthma, and other serious illnesses.
- The President’s budget will eliminate Medicaid reimbursements for schoolchildren with disabilities, denying them “access to medical services they need to fully participate in school and learn to their greatest abilities.”
- The number of children diagnosed with autism and served by schools under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) increased by more than 500 percent in the last decade, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The President’s FY07 budget, however, will fund IDEA at $6.3 billion below the amount Congress recommended.
Bush’s visit with J-Mac was a great photo-op. But the best way for Bush to show his support is by providing adequate funding for programs to help autistic children.

Billions of dollars for evil, death and destruction, and things that make the rich richer, he's all for it. But things that improve the lives of everyday citizens? Sorry, we can't afford it. Gotta cut it out of the budget.

What a two-faced asshole.