Obama’s shift-right continues…
In a stunning defense of President George W. Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program, President Barack Obama has broadened the government’s legal argument for immunizing his Administration and government agencies from lawsuits surrounding the National Security Agency’s eavesdropping efforts….
Mark:
I guess I don’t understand where the USA PATRIOT Act section comes into play. My understanding of sovereign immunity was that it was something that the government inherently possessed; that you couldn’t sue the government unless it specifically allowed you to do so.
Also, like it or not, aren’t the DOJ lawyers on the case still required to do everything they can to defend the former federal employees (per the CFR)? Is this significantly different from a criminal defense attorney trying to get a case tossed out on some technical ground?
My understanding of the legalities here is limited, so I appreciate any clarification.
10 April 2009, 8:49 amMichael Anderson:
To paraphrase H.L. Mencken; America voted for good government this last November, and now we’re getting it—good and hard.
You can’t fight the system with their own tools, because the system likes to play “Calvin Ball”…it’s a cruel and expensive joke, with a promise (of a fair hearing) as a tool. Guess they’ll let you know how big of a dog you are by the length of the leash they give you.
Peevishly—As long as the American public is cheaply wined, dined, and entertained, they won’t care if they’re screwed, blued, and tattooed.
I suppose that could apply to any “public’, but right now it’s here.
10 April 2009, 10:00 amLisa Sarinelli:
Between this, the choice of Geitner for Treasury, Vilsack for Agriculture, and most of all, not holding the Bush Administration responsible for torture, I am seriously disappointed with Obama. None of this is “change we can believe in”!
10 April 2009, 2:02 pmStan:
Here’s one from Matt Taibbi on Obama’s team and another on the predicitons of economists.
12 April 2009, 7:01 pmStan Moore:
Even before Obama was the Democrat nominee for the presidency, I saw and I said openly that he is not what he appears to be. His political genius is his ability to make people believe in him what they want to. This starts with the assumptions people make of Obama based on the color of his skin and his skillful use of deceitful rhetoric.
All of us was brought home to me this week when I watched some old DVD’s from the Dick Cavett television show and saw a youthful, beautiful Canadian singer, Joni Mitchell, sink one of her composition on the show in 1974. she introduced the song as the perspective of a Canadian living in the U.S. with words of advice for her American friends, and the song was called “The Fiddle and the Drum”. I post the lyrics below and they are as timeless as ever:
The Fiddle and the Drum
by Joni Mitchell
And so once again
My dear Johnny my dear friend
And so once again you are fightin’ us all
And when I ask you why
You raise your sticks and cry, and I fall
Oh, my friend
How did you come
To trade the fiddle for the drum
You say I have turned
Like the enemies you’ve earned
But I can remember
All the good things you are
And so I ask you please
Can I help you find the peace and the star
Oh, my friend
What time is this
To trade the handshake for the fist
And so once again
Oh, America my friend
And so once again
You are fighting us all
And when we ask you why
You raise your sticks and cry and we fall
Oh, my friend
How did you come
To trade the fiddle for the drum
You say we have turned
Like the enemies you’ve earned
But we can remember
All the good things you are
And so we ask you please
Can we help you find the peace and the star
Oh my friend
We have all come
To fear the beating of your drum
Stan Moore
12 April 2009, 8:29 pmPetaluma, CA
m.c.:
Requiring a FISA Court Warrant is very easy. Out of the ~20,000 warrant requests in the court’s history, only 4 or 5 have been rejected outright. My guess is that the executive branch doesn’t want(or doesn’t want to know) a paper trail which leads back to the NSA.
13 April 2009, 2:12 pmStan:
And on O’s econ policy:
FULL
16 April 2009, 4:29 pmBuddhalovesPaine:
This site is very quiet so I will pass on some really good news. The Czech government has decided that it will not allow the US to build a radar site there for the missile defense base in Poland. Perhaps the US will now try to build the Radar base in Slovakia or Poland. At least for now a monkey wrench has been thrown in to the gears.
20 April 2009, 6:46 amMark:
OK I’ve got some good news of my own. After being laid off for 6 weeks I finally recieved my first unemployment benefit check today. Now I only have to shuck and jive the bill collector for a few more days. Of course I always have that lucrative plasma donation money. Hey, I might end up with an extra $20 or so this week, maybe I’ll celebrate with a six pack of beer and a frozen pizza!!!
I just heard a commentator yesterday refer to the British Labor government under Brown as being “the most reactionary in decades.” Even further to the right than Thatcher. In the US the political climate has deteriorated IMO to the point where the candidate of the “left” can instill retrograde and fascistic policies and suffer no political ill effects. I think this was demonstrated fairly obviously with Clinton. I predict that this slide will continue under Obama unless significant gains can be made by the organized labor movements. Outside if this, maybe some “new left” organizations will be able to coalesce into some kind of coherant movement. It looks pretty grim from where I’m standing.
20 April 2009, 2:55 pmOuroboros:
Cry, the Unforgiven Country: Obama’s ‘Continuity’ in Haiti
WRITTEN BY CHRIS FLOYD
http://www.chris-floyd.com/component/content/article/3/1751-cry-the-unforgiven-country-obamas-continuity-in-haiti.html
28 April 2009, 2:20 pmStan:
Another legitimate litmus test he’s failed. Keep the imperial boot on the neck of the first Black nation.
28 April 2009, 4:59 pmG.:
It’s time we start looking to ourselves for “change we can believe in”.
4 May 2009, 7:53 pmStan:
Balochistan now.
Balochistan then.
Gobama! Jump right in.
8 May 2009, 6:14 amBuddhalovesPaine:
I was watching Russia Today TV a few days ago and they said that some US officials have said that since it appears that the US will not be able to use the Czech Republic or Switzerland to build its anti missile defense radar site the US is looking into to using a site in Armenia. Well, I guess that would be good for Russians and Armenians but it is still a fraudulent rip off of average Americans. It may also be a way to try to convince the Russians that they are not considered a target of hostility by the US and some in NATO circles.
10 May 2009, 4:49 pmHenry:
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13551
The Nature of the Current Financial Crisis: The System is designed to exert Total Control over the Lives of Individuals
The Report from Iron Mountain Revisited
by Richard C. Cook
10 May 2009, 6:07 pmBruce F:
Speaking of ‘the system’, there are some revealing statistics published recently by the OECD. The US’s ranking in many of the categories that measure people’s quality of life is startling:
11 May 2009, 5:51 pmMark:
And now the briefly suspended military tribunals at Gitmo are being reinstated.
15 May 2009, 6:48 am