The Incomplete Greatness of Barack Obama

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Thu, 2012-03-22 18:18

knownothing knownothing's picture

Sky Captain wrote:

knownothing wrote:

Is this supposed to be a joke?

Obama is not your friend. The Democrats are not your friends. Wake up people! Remember Mouseland!

What would be the realistically electable left-wing alternative? Do you even have one to give the rest of us? And one that could beat Santorum and the rest of the GOP? Tell me, and the rest of us, now.

I have already made it clear to babblers that I am supporting Ron Paul for President. I believe that it is worth a free market experiment if he would actually bring the troops home. Politics is not just about left-right it is also about up-down.

Thu, 2012-03-22 19:29

#53

Sky Captain Sky Captain's picture

M. Spector wrote:

Gaian wrote:
And he should simply fall on it...

Try to stick with the metaphor that you started. There are not one but two Damoclean swords hanging over the United States - a Republican one and a Democratic one. Both are lethal. The election will decide which one will fall on their heads.

Then the far left and moderate left know what they have to do to get the candidates they want in power at the next election, as I've said before. Or they can continue to collectively sulk in a corner-again, it's their call.

knownothing wrote:
I have already made it clear to babblers that I am supporting Ron Paul for President. I believe that it is worth a free market experiment if he would actually bring the troops home. Politics is not just about left-right it is also about up-down.

It's also about being realistic and possible, two things that the Ron Paul candidacy has to be able to convey, but so far hasn't. Right now, for both Dem and GOP contenders, neither has a snowball's chance in you-know-what to beat Obama, and the left, as usual, have no way of fielding a candidate that would do what they want due to the same SOB that they always use. So, what's changed? Not much

Fri, 2012-03-23 00:16

#54

Gaian

It has always seemed strange that people would take offense at the term "Great Misled," when $billions are spent misleading. And if any party does NOT spend, they get that sword up the ass.

And this, of course, is just an example of the racism that confronts Obama in the oh so polite circles of the left poseurs south of the 49th:

"What are the people who tell us President Obama hasn't got a 'magic wand' really saying? That we have no right to expect a president to use the power of his office to address mass incarceration, housing, foreclosure, student and consumer debt crises, or end our murderous colonial wars around the world? That we're immature and unsophisticated to demand or expect much of anything more than his pretty black face in that big white house?"

Pretty sad, NDPP.

Fri, 2012-03-23 01:02

#55

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

Gaian wrote:
And this, of course, is just an example of the racism that confronts Obama in the oh so polite circles of the left poseurs south of the 49th: "What are the people who tell us President Obama hasn't got a 'magic wand' really saying? That we have no right to expect a president to use the power of his office to address mass incarceration, housing, foreclosure, student and consumer debt crises, or end our murderous colonial wars around the world? That we're immature and unsophisticated to demand or expect much of anything more than his pretty black face in that big white house?"

That quote you claim is "an example of racism" is from Bruce A. Dixon, the managing editor of the [url=http://blackagendareport.com/]Black Agenda Report[/url], a website with which you are no doubt quite unfamiliar. Dixon himself is a black man.

But of course, he is also one of those [b]far-left wack-jobs[/b], so his analysis can be safely ignored and dismissed out of hand.

Fri, 2012-03-23 01:08

#56

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

And here's a quote from another far-left wack-job, Howard Zinn:

Quote:
I think people are dazzled by Obama's rhetoric, and that people ought to begin to understand that Obama is going to be a mediocre president — which means, in our time, a dangerous president — unless there is some national movement to push him in a better direction.

Fri, 2012-03-23 02:04

#57

NDPP

Workers Face Loss of More Than 100,000 Jobs As Obama Joins Attack on Postal Service

http://wsws.org/articles/2012/mar2012/post-m22.shtml

"The US Postal Service, claiming that it faces annual losses that will amount to $18.2 Billion by 2015, has announced that, it will go ahead with the elimination of up to 264 mail proecessing centers around the country, reducing the postal workforce by up to 155,000 jobs, on top of the 130,000 jobs that have been cut over the past three years.

The only response of the unions to the devastating attacks on postal jobs and services has been to organize toothless protests and ad campaigns, while solidifying their alliance with the Democratic representatives of big business. The AFL-CIO Executive Board, including representatives of the National Association of Letter Carriers and American Postal Workers Union, just voted unanimously to endorse Obama's bid for a second term.

Michael Quinn is a letter carrier from the Cambria Heights Post Office. 'These are the Democrats making this decision. We thought the Democrats were on our side. Clifford Flottee, a technical letter carrier in Great Neck Long Island, NY, one of the biggest post offices in the metro New York area said..

'I won't vote for Obama. Why should you vote for someone who is cutting your throat?"

Fri, 2012-03-23 08:34

#58

Gaian

Hey, Patrick! Could you explain to the last defenders of the American worker and black progressives hereabouts what this media is doing to diminish racism in Georgia : see link to Black Agenda Report.

Or to encourage environmentalism: "Whistleblowers achieved their greatest legislative victory in modern times in a fight against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Now headed by a Black woman, Lisa Jackson, the EPA continues to put corporate interests over people’s health and welfare. “ 'Women whistleblowers in general and Black women whistleblowers in particular seem to fall under the knife of the black woman leading the EPA.' ”

Please, Patrick. Some down-home feedback? It has to be more nuanced than this reportage of internecine warfare in the black community leaves us with.

Fri, 2012-03-23 08:40

#59

Gaian

And even Bernie Sanders is not safe:

"Meanwhile Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has secured the signatures of 26 other Senate Democrats who object to the drastic cuts and propose various other measures and less draconian attacks. Sanders, who sometimes calls himself a “socialist,” in fact functions as a loyal member of the Democratic caucus and a supporter of the Obama administration. The Obama White House has itself announced its agreement with many of the cuts, including the elimination of Saturday mail delivery. Obama’s proposed 2013 budget also calls for the restructuring of postal employee health benefits, which will translate into postal workers paying more for their health benefits and receiving less."

Fri, 2012-03-23 10:34

#60

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

Ooh, Gaian has discovered Black Agenda Report!

Of course his champion Obamapologist, a white guy who spends a lot of time in Georgia and — after all that's happened in the last four years! — is still unashamed to say he is a community organizer for Obomba, is in a much better position to know what life is really like for black Americans today than those wacked-out loonies at Black Agenda Report.

Please tell us, O wise one, how wonderful your President is. For some reason we have a tendency to forget.

Fri, 2012-03-23 12:41

#61

Westcoast Granny

Quote:

We will hear it said countless times that while president Obama has indeed been a colossal let-down to his initial boosters, voting for him next November is imperative “given the alternative.” He may be “a disappointment,” but the other guy will be much worse. This is surely the reasoning behind the AFL’s (Richard Trumpka’s) recent strong endorsement of Obama’s candidacy. Let’s spell out the logic at work here. The thought pattern is clear enough to represent in the form of a deductive chain of reasoning from premises to conclusion:

http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/03/22/the-strange-case-of-the-liberal-o...

Fri, 2012-03-23 14:58

#62

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

It's worth quoting what comes next:

Quote:

The thought pattern is clear enough to represent in the form of a deductive chain of reasoning from premises to conclusion:

1. The world of politics is coextensive with the range of possibilities permitted by the Democrat-Republican Party system. (To think otherwise is unrealistic, utopian, naïve and, worst of all, unpragmatic. The idea is to win, and right now the only possible winner is a Democrat or a Republican. To vote otherwise is to “throw away your vote.”)

2. Therefore, when voting the choice is always and only between a Republican or a Democrat. TINA.

3. There are no finite limits to the possibilities of greater badness. (However bad a policy might be, it could always be worse. ‘Worst possible policy’ is like ‘greatest possible number’. No such thing.)

4. However bad the Democratic candidate may be, the Republican will be worse. (well confirmed empirical generalization)

5. The lesser evil is always a better choice than the greater evil. (self-evident tautology)

6. Therefore, when voting the best choice is always the Democrat. (follows from 2-5, and note that when the only choice is between a greater and a lesser evil, the lesser evil is not only the better choice, it is the best choice)

7. However bad the Democrat is -and there are no limits to how bad he can be [cf. 3 above]- it’s always best to vote for him. (follows from 4-6)

8. It doesn’t matter how bad the Democrat is, I’ll vote for him. (follows trivially from 7)

9. Actually, I need know nothing more than that a candidate is a Democrat to justify voting for him. Being sufficiently informed about a candidate’s politics just is… knowing whether he’s a Democrat! (follows from 7 and 8).

This little exercise in Logic 101 does not suggest that the voter is Mr. Spock, always and only moved by unadulterated reason. Outside of philosophy class no such creature is recognizably human. Still, though reasoning in accord with logical canons is not sufficient to render one’s thinking impeccable, it is necessary. Our lesser-evil liberal is unassailable on this ground: his conclusion does indeed follow from his premisses. (Let’s ignore for the moment the problematic premisses.)

Fri, 2012-03-23 16:10

#63

Gaian

When the propagandists churn out things like this:"... which helped Reagan push another Contra Aid appropriation through a reluctant congress...", recognizing that a president needs Congress onside; and even the best of the Congressional bunch are found in fault: "Meanwhile Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has secured the signatures of 26 other Senate Democrats who object to the drastic cuts and propose various other measures and less draconian attacks. Sanders, who sometimes calls himself a “socialist,” in fact functions as a loyal member of the Democratic caucus and a supporter of the Obama administration, " one can understand why they wind up only talking among themselves.

Fri, 2012-03-23 18:48

#64

6079_Smith_W

Fri, 2012-03-23 18:49

#65

6079_Smith_W

well someone is going to post this shit sooner or later. I may as well ante up with the prupaganda that is out there: Powerful propaganda, and a great load of shit

Fri, 2012-03-23 21:48

#66

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

6079_Smith_W wrote:

well someone is going to post this shit sooner or later.

And guess who it turned out to be. Quelle surprise!

Fri, 2012-03-23 22:03

#67

contrarianna

Torture.
Imprisonment without charges.
Kangaroo military tribunals to try enemies of the state.
Murder of citizens based on "secret evidence" without trial.

All these, and many more, are hallmarks of totalitarianism furthered by the current regime.

But such does not guarantee the permanent slide to fascism.

The deepening of fascism is guaranteed the cheerleading of the general population, and "progressives", who make it a point vilify anyone who objects to the reality of these policies --policies that would be thought horrific a decade ago, and still bring outrage when committed by non-allies.

Ironies in American justice and political cheerleading

Fri, 2012-03-23 22:18

#68

Bec.De.Corbin Bec.De.Corbin's picture

6079_Smith_W wrote:

Oh look a picture of President Obama showing what the far right whack job Republicans will do to the Constitution...

(perception is everhting)

Fri, 2012-03-23 22:46

#69

Buddy Kat

Yep he played the game flawlessly...vote for me ..real change, and just continued down the same paved road ..fed up vote for the Republican ...and so it repeats ...the good cop /bad cop game...both parties controlled by the same puppet master pulling the wool over the publics eyes with corrupt media.

Here in canada it's the Lib/Con culture of merry go roundmanship...the same old story.. and you know the only real good things both countries offer were all NDP ideas to begin with... As they are on the cusp of victory it says there is still hope here in Canada anyways...

New http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zky2bn0Gtyg New

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-QvXax88J8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0eQgUpkJ1Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns8LD5Q8ecc

Sat, 2012-03-24 00:56

#70

6079_Smith_W

Though Bec, I think there are plenty on all sides who would say the same thing. I think it is only remarkable in that no one ever made a picture like that with george Bush as the subject.

Sat, 2012-03-24 02:11

#71

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

6079_Smith_W wrote:

I think it is only remarkable in that no one ever made a picture like that with george Bush as the subject.

[img]http://img369.imageshack.us/img369/7716/bushburnsconstitutionxd9.jpg[/img]

Sat, 2012-03-24 10:22

#72

6079_Smith_W

Well there you go. THanks Spector.

Even so, I think this one has a particularly dark quality about it. It's not a cartoon. Kind of in the same vein as the real calls for people to assassinate him..

Sat, 2012-03-24 11:11

#73

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

Yes, it's a vicious painting done by a right-wing scumbag. You should be ashamed of yourself for posting it here, not only because of its origins, but because posting it here is an attempt to smear all critics of Obama on the right or left, as racists.

Sat, 2012-03-24 11:41

#74

6079_Smith_W

Excuse me, what?

In the first place, even though the work is called "One Nation under Socialism" there are some from all political stripes who feel some of his actions have violated the constitution.

I think it is important to consider because of its dark nature, and the fact that it goes beyond a political cartoon.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/cougars/53779357-90/artist-constitution-jes...

And racist? I'll wait for a ruling on that one, and perhaps you should wait until tomorrow for the Sunday School Master act. You don't want to look at the lengths to which some people are going to discredit him? Fine, but I do, and it speaks directly to the topic of this thread.

Mon, 2012-03-26 20:58

#75

NDPP

The Polite Conference Rooms Where Liberties Are Saved and Lost - by Chris Hedges

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_polite_conference_rooms_where_li...

"Chris Hedges is suing the president over the National Defense Authorization Act, which legalizes the indefinite detention of American Citizens without due process..'"

Mon, 2012-03-26 22:39

#76

contrarianna

NDPP wrote:

The Polite Conference Rooms Where Liberties Are Saved and Lost - by Chris Hedges

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_polite_conference_rooms_where_li...

"Chris Hedges is suing the president over the National Defense Authorization Act, which legalizes the indefinite detention of American Citizens without due process..'"

From the above Hedges article:

Quote:
...The NDAA implodes our most cherished constitutional protections. It permits the military to function on U.S. soil as a civilian law enforcement agency. It authorizes the executive branch to order the military to selectively suspend due process and habeas corpus for citizens. The law can be used to detain people deemed threats to national security, including dissidents whose rights were once protected under the First Amendment, and hold them until what is termed “the end of the hostilities.” Even the name itself—the Homeland Battlefield Bill—suggests the totalitarian concept that endless war has to be waged within “the homeland” against internal enemies as well as foreign enemies.
....
It is in conference rooms like this one, where attorneys speak in the arcane and formal language of legal statutes, that we lose or save our civil liberties. The 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force Act, the employment of the Espionage Act by the Obama White House against six suspected whistle-blowers and leakers, and the Homeland Battlefield Bill have crippled the work of investigative reporters in every major newsroom in the country. Government sources that once provided information to counter official narratives and lies have largely severed contact with the press. They are acutely aware that there is no longer any legal protection for those who dissent or who expose the crimes of state. The NDAA threw in a new and dangerous component that permits the government not only to silence journalists but imprison them and deny them due process because they “substantially supported” terrorist groups or “associated forces.”
....
Totalitarian systems always begin by rewriting the law. They make legal what was once illegal. Crimes become patriotic acts. The defense of freedom and truth becomes a crime. Foreign and domestic subjugation merges into the same brutal mechanism. Citizens are colonized. And it is always done in the name of national security. We obey the new laws as we obeyed the old laws, as if there was no difference. And we spend our energy and our lives appealing to a dead system....

Tue, 2012-03-27 00:20

#77

NDPP

The Massacre of the Afghan 17 and the Obama Coverup - by James Petras

http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_64397.shtml

"...After the cold-blooded murder of the 17 Afghan villagers in Kandahar Province the US military and the ever-complicit Obama regime constructed an elaborate cover-up, exposing the Administration to charges of conspiracy to suppress the essential facts, falsify data and obstruct justice; All are grounds for criminal prosecution and impeachment.

Obama's deliberate lies about the events surrounding the massacre and the responsibility of the high military command for the crimes committed by its troops underscores the breakdown of the occupation of Afghanistan, the very centerpiece of Obama's war policy. The President of the United States personally played a major role in the cover-up. From a political vantage point, the executive conspiracy charge has wider and deeper implications than the massacre itself, as horrible as that is.."

Tue, 2012-03-27 00:39

#78

Bec.De.Corbin Bec.De.Corbin's picture

So NDPP are you saying more than one person did this? Do you agree with what you post? Do you think most Americans, like me, don't give a fuck what happed that night... and only care about a cover up?

What? Do you think this guy will take the fall for others and not say nothing?

Tue, 2012-03-27 00:55

#79

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

Bec.De.Corbin wrote:

What? Do you think this guy will take the fall for others and not say nothing?

I'm sure he would sing like a canary if subjected to Obomba's torture chambers. And that's why he won't be.

Tue, 2012-03-27 12:22

#80

contrarianna

M. Spector wrote:

Bec.De.Corbin wrote:

What? Do you think this guy will take the fall for others and not say nothing?

I'm sure he would sing like a canary if subjected to Obomba's torture chambers. And that's why he won't be.

He will not even be made much of a "fall guy" and I doubt very much he will spend significant time behind bars.

There are established expected responses for similar acts depending on who is committing the atrocities:

Freelance slaughter of innocent civilians, by one of THEM = a vile diabolical ideological jihadist, an indication of the more general depravity of the designated Enemy.
Expected response: Rage and fear, continued foreign intervention and justifiable suppression of liberties in the Homeland.

Freelance slaughter of innocent civilians, by one of US = a tragic response to provocation by someone who has suffrered trauma or is suffering from mental illness.
Expected response: Sorrow--and compassion for the hapless perpertrator.

Tue, 2012-03-27 14:58

#81

NDPP

Personally I agree with Petras, Raimondo and others, that this appears to be the work of more than one and possibly a platoon. Some villagers report hearing helicopters. I also am not buying that this was 'freelance' by one or more poor stressed out soldiers.I believe this is all part of the coverup and spin designed to obscure the fact there was a command decision, for which Obama has responsibility as Commander in Chief.

Tue, 2012-03-27 23:20

#82

Bec.De.Corbin Bec.De.Corbin's picture

NDPP wrote:

Personally I agree with Petras, Raimondo and others, that this appears to be the work of more than one and possibly a platoon. Some villagers report hearing helicopters. I also am not buying that this was 'freelance' by one or more poor stressed out soldiers.I believe this is all part of the coverup and spin designed to obscure the fact there was a command decision, for which Obama has responsibility as Commander in Chief.

Well Petras has some big errors in his assertions like the villages being only 100 meters form the camp... from his article...

Quote:

Considering even the US official story, why would the Special Forces commanders in charge of the Sgt. Bales base ignore the loud bursts of gunfire and screams of women and children in a village within 100 meters of its perimeter at 3 am?

Even the Afghan investigation team he refers to in his article proves him wrong...

Quote:

Lali stated that the attack lasted an entire hour and involved two different groups of American soldiers.
"The villages are one and a half kilometer[s] from the American military base. We are convinced that one soldier cannot kill so many people in two villages within one hour at the same time, and the 16 civilians, most of them children and women, have been killed by the two groups," he said.

That's 1500 meters away, and two miles apart. He got that wrong one could wonder what else he got wrong... Also he fails to mention helicopters and solders went out to the massacre sites after he surrendered at the gate. Those very well could have been the helicopters and soldiers the Afghan villagers seen.

In the end time will tell... there's no way Bales will take the fall for others if they were with him and there's very little chance IF a platoon supported by helicopters (which would involve command and control personnel as well) was involved EVEYONE would remain silent over such a crime. You're looking at 50 to 60 people minimum being involved if it wasn't one person. Believe what you want, hate whom you want but in the end someone always comes forward for fucked up stuff like that.

I believe Bales did it and the sorry fuck some how managed to do it all by himself... He was the only US soldier missing when they did role call after the second guard reported seeing a soldier leave the camp around 02:30.

Wed, 2012-03-28 00:12

#83

NDPP

Sure smells fishy to me, but we'll see. It's early days yet and as you say these things frequently unravel in time.

Wed, 2012-04-04 03:55

#84

NDPP

Why Barack Obama is the More Effective Evil - by Glen Ford

http://blackagendareport.com/content/why-barack-obama-more-effective-evil

"No matter how much evil Barack Obama actually accomplishes during his presidency, people that call themselves leftists insist on dubbing him the Lesser Evil. Not only is Obama not given proper credit for out-evil-ing George Bush, domestically and internationally, but the First Black President is awarded positive grades for his intentions versus the presumed intentions of Republicans. As the author says, 'this is psychobabble, not analysis. No real Left would engage in it. Let me say from the very beginning that we at BAR do not think that Barack Obama is the Lesser Evil. He is the more Effective Evil.."

Wed, 2012-04-04 13:17

#85

contrarianna

Obama now "owns" torture by preventing any prosecution of the Bushites for it and, more importantly, by legalizing it under the NDAA.

Bush's attempt to destroy all copies of this now exposed torture memo were therfore completely unnecessary:

Quote:

Wednesday, Apr 4, 2012 9:45 AM Pacific Daylight Time

The memo Bush tried to destroy
A document advising the Bush administration against torture has resurfaced, despite his best efforts to hide it

....
The memo argues that the Convention Against Torture, and the Constitution’s prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment, do indeed apply to the CIA’s use of “waterboard[ing], walling, dousing, stress positions, and cramped confinement.” Zelikow further wrote in the memo that “we are unaware of any precedent in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, or any subsequent conflict for authorized, systematic interrogation practices similar to those in question here, even when the prisoners were presumed to be unlawful combatants.” According to the memo, the techniques are legally prohibited, even if there is a compelling state interest to justify them, since they should be considered cruel and unusual punishment and “shock the conscience.”

Chillingly, the memo notes that “corrective techniques, such as slaps,” may be legally sustained, as might be “[C]ontrol conditions, such as nudity, sleep deprivation, and liquid diets…depending on the circumstances and details of how these techniques are used.” However much distress Zelikow’s memo caused the White House, it was not an ACLU briefing paper....

http://www.salon.com/2012/04/04/the_memo_bush_tried_to_destroy/

Wed, 2012-04-04 15:43

#86

knownothing knownothing's picture

Obama and Bush are the same

Good cop bad cop

Works on lots of lefties

Wed, 2012-04-04 18:32

#87

Gaian

It's the reliance on the use of "torture" and "evil" tht wears very, very thin after a bit.

Wed, 2012-04-04 20:07

#88

contrarianna

Gaian wrote:
It's the reliance on the use of "torture" and "evil" tht wears very, very thin after a bit.

Yes, very very tedious, the Greatness of Obama should not be besmirched by carping bleeding hearts and trifling international legalities.
Torture, admittedly, used to thought "evil", but now in the caring hands of the kind leader it is doubleplusgood.

Fri, 2012-04-06 00:53

#89

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

<a href="http://www.thepaltrysapien.com/2012/03/liberalism-a-remedial-assessment/">Andrew Loewen</a> wrote:
If the Obama Administration’s defenders are correct, it is the best (the “least worst”) government possible for the world’s most scientifically advanced industrial country. According to them, any more progressive and/or principled leader and campaign could not have taken office. This is the best liberal democracy can offer.

I think we should take these claims seriously.

If we do, we must accept the conclusion that “the least worst” system possible is a failure of catastrophic global proportions. The “least worst” is a historically indefensible disaster.

Thu, 2012-04-19 02:03

#90

NDPP

Obama's Atomic Solyndra - by Harvey Wasserman

http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/04/18/obamas-atomic-solyndra/

"The future of nuclear power now hangs on a single decision by President Obama - and us..."

Wed, 2012-05-16 20:50

#91

contrarianna

Court causes a temporary tumble for Obama's totalitarian two-step.
The lawsuit brought by "looney leftists", including Chris Hedges, Dan Ellsberg, Noam Chomsky, and Brigitta Jonsdottir, against Obama's National Defense Authorization Act, which legalizes the indefinite detention of American citizens without due process.

Constitutional lawyer Glenn Greenwald sums up the case here:

Quote:
Wednesday, May 16, 2012 02:14 PM PDT
Federal court enjoins NDAA
An Obama-appointed judge rules its indefinite detention provisions likely violate the 1st and 5th Amendments

http://www.salon.com/2012/05/16/federal_court_enjoins_ndaa/singleton/

Thu, 2012-05-17 02:11

#92

Buddy Kat

The US is turning itself into what they used to fear the most ...there is only one logical reason.... they are just one major incident away from total collapse or revolt? I haven't heard this kind of desperation and fear since the Mcarthy era.

Thu, 2012-05-31 15:24

#93

NDPP

Americans To Wage Civil War Against Capitalist One-Percenters: Analyst (and vid)

http://presstv.com/detail/2012/05/31/244010/us-on-brink-of-civil-war-on-...

Discussion of Obama's Asassination drones, and one percenters continuing crimes of international agression, as well as possible consquences and domestic resistance.

Thu, 2012-05-31 15:30

#94

Catchfire

The Kill List

Quote:
I talked to Cornel West for another piece I'm working on, and one thing he said sticks with me:

Quote:
You have Martin Luther King's statue in your office, but you are sending these unmanned drones out, and bombs are dropping on innocent people. That's not a small thing. That's not a small thing. We know from historic examples that if you engage in a certain kind of foreign policy it eats at your soul on the domestic front.

And there is no real sense of an "end." Has there ever been a point since America's inception when someone, somewhere, wasn't plotting our downfall? I have great difficulty perceiving a time when this won't be true. And so drone strategy comes to self-replicate. We bomb your village. You declare war on us for the bombing. We deem you a terrorist and bomb again. Rinse. Repeat.

The Obama administration considers any military-age male in the vicinity of a bombing to be a combatant. That is an amazing standard that shares an ugly synergy with the sort of broad-swath logic that we see employed in Stop and Frisk, with NYPD national spy network, with the killer of Trayvon Martin.

Policy is informed by the morality of a country. I think the repercussions of this unending era of death by silver bird will be profound.

Fri, 2012-06-01 20:59

#95

mmphosis

Obama At Large: Where Are The Lawyers? (nader.org)

Mon, 2012-06-04 11:45

#96

contrarianna

Quote:
Monday, Jun 4, 2012 02:39 AM PDT
U.S. again bombs mourners
The Obama policy of attacking rescuers and grieving rituals continues this weekend in Pakistan
By Glenn Greenwald

(updated below)

In February, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism documented that after the U.S. kills people with drones in Pakistan, it then targets for death those who show up at the scene to rescue the survivors and retrieve the bodies, as well as those who gather to mourn the dead at funerals: “the CIA’s drone campaign in Pakistan has killed dozens of civilians who had gone to help rescue victims or were attending funerals.” As The New York Times summarized those findings: “at least 50 civilians had been killed in follow-up strikes after they rushed to help those hit by a drone-fired missile” while “the bureau counted more than 20 other civilians killed in strikes on funerals....

http://www.salon.com/2012/06/04/obama_again_bombs_mourners/singleton/

Mon, 2012-06-04 18:42

#97

knownothing knownothing's picture

Webster Tarpley destroys Adam Kokesh on Ron Paul debate at Occupy Bilderberg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i7bzyKUBoU

Tue, 2012-06-05 13:51

#98

Caissa

Senior al-Qaeda leader Abu Yahya al-Libi was killed in a drone strike in Pakistan on Monday, a US official has told the BBC.

US officials said Libi was the target of a drone strike which hit a volatile tribal area of Pakistan's north-west, killing 15 suspected militants.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18334377

Tue, 2012-06-05 16:26

#99

contrarianna

Caissa wrote:

Senior al-Qaeda leader Abu Yahya al-Libi was killed in a drone strike in Pakistan on Monday, a US official has told the BBC.

US officials said Libi was the target of a drone strike which hit a volatile tribal area of Pakistan's north-west, killing 15 suspected militants.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18334377[/quote]

The quoted passage is revealing--but not necessarily of what took place.

The BBC article, while hedging their bets on whether or not Libi was in fact killed (stating that he was previously reported killed by the US, and by saying "Reporters are prevented by the authorities from travelling to the area.") the BBC demonstrates the same subservience to the US disinformation propaganda as the US press.

The exact phrasing as used by the BBC here is discussed by Glen Greenwald as revealed US policy to describe those killed as "militants" to hide civilian deaths.

Quote:
Earlier this week, The New York Times reported that the Obama administration, in order to conceal civilian deaths caused by their drone attacks, “counts all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants.” Although I wrote at length about the NYT‘s various revelations, I wrote separately about that specific disclosure, in order to emphasize the implications for media outlets reporting on American drone attacks:

What kind of self-respecting media outlet would be party to this practice? Here’s the New York Times documenting that this is what the term “militant” means when used by government officials. Any media outlet that continues using it while knowing this is explicitly choosing to be an instrument for state propaganda
....
There is, as usual, no indication that these media outlets have any idea whatsoever about who was killed in these strikes. All they know is that “officials” (whether American or Pakistani) told them that they were “militants,” so they blindly repeat that as fact. They “report” this not only without having the slightest idea whether it’s true, but worse, with the full knowledge that the word “militant” is being aggressively distorted by deceitful U.S. government propaganda that defines the term to mean: any “military-age males” whom we kill (the use of the phrase “suspected militants” in the body of the article suffers the same infirmity)....

http://www.salon.com/2012/06/02/deliberate_media_propaganda/singleton/

Additionally, the BBC article, without spelling it out, illustrates the Obama policy of targetting rescuers as described in my previous post (a tactic described elsewhere by the US administration as a hallmark of depraved terrorist bombers):
Quote:
The first missile struck the compound, killing three militants, Pakistani security officials said.

A second missile then killed 12 more militants who had arrived at the scene, they added.

Tue, 2012-06-05 17:14

#100

Slumberjack

Salon wrote:
Any media outlet that continues using it while knowing this is explicitly choosing to be an instrument for state propaganda.

There's no choosing for the outlets because they are nothing other than instruments of state propaganda, just as there's nothing anyone working within them can do about it if they wish to remain employed in their role as propagandists.

Wed, 2012-06-06 08:49

#101

NDPP

From Dreams to Drones: Who is the Real Barack Obama - by Pankaj Mishra

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31510.htm

"The Guardian - Barack Obama, according to Foreign Policy magazine, 'has become George W Bush on steroids'. Armed with a 'kill list' the Nobel peace laureate now hosts 'Tuesday terror' meetings at the White House to discuss targets of drone attacks in Pakistan and at least five other countries. The latest of these killed 17 people near the border with Afghanistan.."

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