Dave, get over yourself. I would agree that conflating DUI checkpoints with Nazi or Stasi police-state actions is a bit over the top. The comparison was clearly hyperbolic, but i hardly think that this hyperbole should detract from Van's point, much less subject him to "thorough disgrace". Van was pointing out an historical trajectory toward police-state attrocities, not trivializing the experience of those under the iron heel of the 3rd Reich, at least not intentionally.

If you can't learn to pull useful information and valid analysis out of the viscera of enraged discourse, then maybe you shouldn't be reading indymedia. Stick to alternative news sites with a more heavy-handed (or rigorous, if you prefer) editorial culture, complete with their uncritical reproduction of that great journalistic myth: objectivity.