First, I know its a strong term, and I clearly understand your reference to
past atrocities and respect it greatly.

Fortunately, we have not allowed that to happen here (although its still
happening in Africa where there is not enough oil to make it worth our time to
do anything about it, apparently)

Bear in mind that until this election, I typically voted Republican for fiscal
reasons. I am not what you'd consider a died in the wool Liberal by any
stretch.

This current administration -- particularly many at the cabinet level --
definitely fall into my definition of fascists in the very true sense of the
word. The only thing separating some of them from those you reference, is that
they've been less successful. I credit the strength of our system for that.

I do not include W in this list -- But I also do not believe he has paid enough
attention to managing the ones around him that are.

Here's the dictionary definition, and why I see it fitting.

fas·cist

1. often Fascist An advocate or adherent of fascism.
2. A reactionary or dictatorial person.

fas·cism

marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic
controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and
typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.

Breaking this down and applying it to the current administration:

-- we absolutely cannot call W a Dictator, however we do have many examples of
centralization of authority. By stringent socioeconomic controls, surely
unfunded federal requirements that tie specific decisions previously treated as
matters of local control (e.g. school boards) which are now federally
stipulated as conditions for distribution of federal education funds (a
returning to the state some portion of money taken from the citizens of that
state for that purupose).

Now, take a look at the so called "Patriot" act, passed in a moment of blind
panic following the 911 attack, which radically alters citizen rights. It
remains my opinion that the constant beating of the terrorism drum and the "war
on terror" (terrorism is a tactic commonly used by an underfunded side in a
conflict -- you cannot have a war against a tactic) as an excuse to ignore
virtually everything else, when in fact worldwide the terror situation is not
significantly changed from what it was before 911.

Attempts at censorship have failed, for the most part, but anti-voter
registration moves in Florida are blocking and have blocked likely opposition
voters, and now we find actual fraud in Nevada, where a company hired to do
registration was so powerfully encouraged to only register like minded
citizens, that they THREW AWAY opposition registration documents. Pressure to
prevent the release of Mike Moore's film on Disney nearly prevented that PROFIT
driven company from releasing the #1 film of the year in terms of
profitability. HBO pulled a controversial anti-administration film that it
produced after airing it only 1 time in the US on the East coast, and
cancelling it half way through the west coast show. The movie was pulled from
the schedule, the web site, the discussion boards, etc. It did continue to
show in Canada.

Need we go into what could be described as "belligerent nationalism" -- and
how different is homophobia from racism? This administration put forward the
first constitutional amendment EVER that would have removed rights specifically
not added to them.