An American Gestapo -- coming to a city near you

A federal uniformed police force, empowered to "make arrests without warrant for any offense against the United States committed in their presence, or for any felony cognizable under the laws of the United States if they have reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing such felony".

Given that the Bush Administration defines dissent against its policies as an offense against the United States, can anyone doubt that this is designed to make protests and other forms of dissent that used to be protected by the First Amendment punishable by incarceration and whatever other form of punishment or detention the Administration alone deems appropriate?

Mark Crispin Miller has more.

And so it begins. The Bush Administration fears it can no longer use the terror threat alone to justify itself, so it is prepared to use whatever means necessary to maintain control.

(hat tip: Steve Gilliard)