Guest Editorial by Sibel Edmonds
During the campaign, amid their state of elation, many disregarded Presidential Candidate Senator Barack Obama’s past record and took any criticism of these past actions as partisan attacks deserving equally partisan counterattacks. Some continued their reluctant support after candidate Obama became grand finalist and prayed for the best. And a few still continue their rationalizing and defense, with illogical excuses such as ‘He’s been in office for only 20 days, give the man a break!’ and ‘He’s had only 50 days in office, give him a chance!’ and currently, ‘be reasonable – how much can a man do in 120 days?!’ I am going to give this logic, or lack of, a slight spicing of reason, then, turn it around, and present it as: If ‘the man’ can do this much astounding damage, whether to our civil liberties, or to our notion of democracy, or to government integrity, in ‘only’ 120 days, may God help us with the next [(4 X 365) – 120] days.
I know there are those who have been tackling President Obama’s changes on change; they have been challenging his flipping, or rather flopping, on issues central to getting him elected. While some have been covering the changes comprehensively, others have been running right and left like headless chickens in the field – pick one hypocrisy, scream a bit, then move on to the next outrageous flop, the same, and then to the next, basically, looking and treating this entire mosaic one piece at a time.
Despite all the promises Mr. Obama made during his campaign, especially on those issues that were absolutely central to those whose support he garnered, so far the President of Change has followed in the footsteps of his predecessor. Not only that, his administration has made it clear that they intend to continue this trend. Some call it a major betrayal. Can we go so far as to call it a ‘swindling of the voters’?
On the State Secrets Privilege
Yes, I am going to begin with the issue of State Secrets Privilege; because I was the first recipient of this ‘privilege’ during the now gone Administration; because long before it became ‘a popular’ topic among the ‘progressive experts,’ during the time when these same experts avoided writing or speaking about it; when many constitutional attorneys had no idea we even had this “law” – similar to and based on the British ‘Official Secret Act; when many journalists did not dare to question this draconian abuse of Executive Power; I was out there, writing, speaking, making the rounds in Congress, and fighting this ‘privilege’ in the courts. And because in 2004 I stood up in front of the Federal Court building in DC, turned to less than a handful of reporters, and said, ‘This, my case, is setting a precedent, and you are letting this happen by your fear-induced censorship. Now that they have gotten away with this, now that you have let them get away, we’ll be seeing this ‘privilege’ invoked in case after case involving government criminal deeds in need of cover up.’ Unfortunately I was proven right.
So far The Obama administration has invoked the state secrets privilege in three cases in the first 100 days: Al Haramain Islamic Foundation v. Obama, Mohammed v. Jeppesen Dataplan, and Jewel v. NSA.
In defending the NSA illegal wiretapping, the Obama administration maintained that the State Secrets Privilege, the same draconian executive privilege used and abused voraciously by the previous administration, required the dismissal of the case in courts.
Not only has the new administration continued the practice of invoking SSP to shield government wrongdoing, it has expanded its abuses much further. In the Al Haramain case, Obama’s Justice Department has threatened to have the FBI or federal marshals break into a judge’s office and remove evidence already turned over in the case, according to the plaintiff’s attorney. Even Bush didn’t go this far so brazenly. In a well-written, disgust-provoking piece plaintiff’s attorney Jon Eisenberg, poses the question: “The president’s lawyers continue to block access to information that could expose warrantless wiretapping. Is this change we can believe in?”
This is the same President, the same well-spoken showman, who went on record in 2007, during the campaign shenanigans, and said the following:
“When I am president we won’t work in secret to avoid honoring our laws and Constitution.” –Presidential Candidate Barack Obama, 2007
Yes, this is the same President who had frowned upon and criticized the abuses and misuse of the State Secrets Privilege.
[Update 5/23/09: Judge threatens Obama administration with sanctions if they fail to obey court’s order by refusing to turn over documents detailing illegal wiretaps in the Al Haramain case, by “continuing to assert legal positions already specifically rejected by the court in previous orders”. Details…]On NSA Warrantless Wiretapping
The new Administration has pledged to defend the Telecommunications Industry by giving them immunity against any lawsuit that may involve their participation in the illegal NSA wiretapping program. In 2007, Obama’s office released the following position of then Senator Obama: “Senator Obama unequivocally opposes giving retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies … Senator Obama will not be among those voting to end the filibuster.” But then Senator Obama made his 180 degree flip, and voted to end the filibuster. After that, along with other colleagues in Congress, he tried to placate the critics of his move by falsely assuring them that the immunity did not extend to the Bush Administration – the Executive Branch who did break the law. Another flip was yet to come, awaiting his presidency, when Obama’s Justice Department defended its predecessor not only by using the State Secrets Privilege, but taking it even further, by astoundingly granting [PDF] the Executive Branch an unlimited immunity for any kind of ‘illegal’ government surveillance.
Let me emphasize, the Obama Administration’s action in this regard was not about ‘being trapped’ in situations created and put in place by the previous administration. These were willful acts fully reviewed, decided upon, and then implemented by the new president and his Justice Department.
Accountability on Torture
President Obama’s action and inaction on Torture can be summarized very clearly as follows: First give an absolute pass, under the guise of ‘looking forward not backward,’ to the ultimate culprits who had ordered it. Next, absolve all the implementers, practitioners and related agencies, under the excuse of ‘complying with orders without questioning,’ and then start giving the ‘drafters’ of the memos an out by transferring the decision for action to the states.
After granting the ‘untouchable’ status to all involved in this shameful chapter in our nation’s dangerous downward slide, he now refuses to release the photos, the incriminating evidence, and is doing so by using the exact same justification used repeatedly by his predecessors: ‘Their release would endanger the troops,’ as in ‘the revelation on NSA would endanger our national security’ and ‘stronger whistleblower laws would endanger our intelligence agencies’ and so on and so forth.
Not only that, he goes even further to shove his secrecy promotion down other nations’ courts throat. In the case of Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian citizen and a legal resident in Britain who was held and tortured in Guantanamo from 2004 to 2009, and filed lawsuits in the British courts to have the evidence of his torture released, Mr. Obama’s position has been to threaten the British Government in order to conceal all facts and related evidence. This case involves the brutal torture and so very ‘extraordinary’ rendition practices of the previous administration, the same practices that ‘in words’ were strongly condemned by the President during his candidacy.
Today he and his administration unapologetically maintain the same Bush Administration position on extraordinary rendition, torture, and related secrecy to cover up. Here is Ben Wizner’s, the attorney who argued the case for the ACLU, response “We are shocked and deeply disappointed that the Justice Department has chosen to continue the Bush administration’s practice of dodging judicial scrutiny of extraordinary rendition and torture. This was an opportunity for the new administration to act on its condemnation of torture and rendition, but instead it has chosen to stay the course.” Yes indeed, President Obama has chosen to protect and support the course involving torture, rendition and the abuse of secrecy to cover them all up.
The Revival of Bush Era Military Commission
After all the talk and pretty speeches given during his presidential campaign on the ‘failure’ of Bush era military tribunals of Guantanamo inmates, Mr. Obama has decided to revive the same style military commission, albeit with a little cosmetic tweak here and there to re-brand it as his own. Many former supporters of Mr. Obama who’ve been vocal and active on Human Rights fronts have expressed their ‘total shock’ by this move and its pretense of being different and improved, “As a constitutional lawyer, Obama must know that he can put lipstick on this pig – but it will always be a pig,” said Zachary Katznelson, legal director of Reprieve.
Thankfully the ‘on the record’ statements of Candidate Obama in 2008 on this issue, contradicting his action today, are accessible to all:
“It’s time to better protect the American people and our values by bringing swift and sure justice to terrorists through our courts and our Uniform Code of Military Justice.”
Suspect terrorists (emphasis on ‘suspect’) cannot have just trials consistent/in line with our ‘courts and Uniform Code of Military Justice’ via military commissions. It’s almost an oxymoron! And if you add to that the other Obama-approved ingredients such as secrecy, rendition, and evidence obtained under torture, what have we got? Anything resembling our courts and Uniform Code of Military Justice system?
On War and Bodies Piling Up
Here is the first paragraph in a New York Times report on May 15, 2009:
“The number of civilians killed by the American air strikes in Farah Province last week may never be fully known. But villagers, including two girls recovering from burn wounds, described devastation that officials and human rights workers are calling the worst episode of civilian casualties in eight years of war in Afghanistan.”
The report also includes the disagreement over the exact number of ‘Civilian Casualties’ in Afghanistan by our military airstrike:
“Government officials have accepted handwritten lists compiled by the villagers of 147 dead civilians. An independent Afghan human rights group said it had accounts from interviews of 117 dead. American officials say that even 100 is an exaggeration but have yet to issue their own count.”
Does it really matter – the difference between 147 and 117 or just 100 when it comes to children, grandmothers…innocent lives lost in a war with no well-defined objectives or plans? If for some it indeed does matter, then here is a more specific and detailed report:
“A copy of the government’s list of the names, ages and father’s names of each of the 140 dead was obtained by Reuters earlier this week. It shows that 93 of those killed were children — the youngest eight days old — and only 22 were adult males.”
Maybe releasing the photographs of the nameless unrepresented victims of these airstrikes should be as important as those of torture. Because, from what I see, they and their loss of lives have been reduced to some petty number to fight about.
When I was around twelve years old, in Iran, during the Iran-Iraq war, my father, a surgeon in charge of a hospital specializing in burns and reconstructive surgery, decided to take me to the hospital to teach me an unforgettable lesson on war. I think one of the factors that prompted him was my new obsession with classic war movies; you know, ones like ‘the Great Escape.’ Anyhow, he took my hand and we entered a ‘transition ICU Unit.’ In that room, on a standard size hospital bunk bed, laid an infant of eight or nine months of age, or what was remaining of her. Over eighty percent of her body was burned; to a degree that the skin had melted and absorbed the melting clothing on top -impossible to remove without removing the skin with it. Instead of a nose two holes were drilled in the middle of her face with tubes inserted allowing breathing, the upper eyelids were melted and glued to the lower ones, and…I am not going to go further – I believe you get the picture.
This baby was the victim of an air strike, a bombing that killed her entire family and leveled her modest home to the ground. My father pointed at this heartbreaking baby and said, “Sibel, this is war. This is the real face of war. This is the result of war. Do you think anything can justify this? I want to replace the glamorous exciting phony images of those war movies in your head. I want you to remember this for the rest of your life and stand against this kind of destruction…”
And I do. This is why I am offended by those petty numbers when it comes to civilian deaths. This is the reason I believe some may need pictures of these atrocities as much as those of torture to replace those ‘Shock & Awe’ footages fed to them by our MSM.
All this death and destruction is carried out while the administration’s Afghan policy is still murky and confused, and it’s strategy ambiguous. Sure, our so-called ‘New’ Afghan Strategy includes more troops and asks for a much larger budget allocation; nothing new there. It is another war with no time table. It is the continuation of the same abstract ‘War on Terror’ without any definition of what would constitute an ‘accomplished mission.’ One minute there is pondering on possible ‘reconciliation’ with the Taliban, and the next minute seeking to topple it. In fact, to confuse the matter even further, we now hear this distinction between ‘Good Taliban, Bad Taliban, and the Plain Ugly Taliban.’ As stated by Karzai on Meet the Press on May 10, 2009, not all Taliban are equal!!
I can go on listing cases of Mr. Obama’s change on change. Whether it is his reversal on protection for whistleblowers, despite his campaign promise to the contrary, or his expansion of the Un-American title of ‘Czardom,’ where we now have more czars than ever: Border Czar, Energy Czar, Cyber Security Czar…Car Czar…maybe even a Bicycle Czar!. Or…But for now I’ll stick with the major promises that were ‘Central’ to him getting elected, all of which he has flipped on in less than 150 days in office, a track record indeed.
What I want the readers to do is to read the extremely important cases above, step back in time to those un-ending campaign trail days, and answer the following questions:
How would Senator McCain have acted on these same issues if he had been elected? How would Senator Hilary Clinton? Do you believe there would have been any major differences? Weren’t their records almost identical to Senator Obama’s on these issues? If you are like me, and answer ‘same,’ ‘same,’ ‘no,’ and ‘yes,’ then, why do you think we ended up with these exact same candidates, those deemed ‘viable’ and sold to us as such?
With too much at stake, too many unfinished agendas for the course of our nation, and too many skeletons in the closet in need of hiding for self-preservation, the ‘permanent establishment’ made certain that they took no risk by giving the public, via their MSM tentacles, a coin that no matter how many times flipped would come up the same – Heads, Heads.
Cross-posted at Sibel’s personal site, 123 Real Change
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Sibel Edmonds is the founder and director of National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC). Ms. Edmonds worked as a language specialist for the FBI. During her work with the bureau, she discovered and reported serious acts of security breaches, cover-ups, and intentional blocking of intelligence that had national security implications. After she reported these acts to FBI management, she was retaliated against by the FBI and ultimately fired in March 2002. Since that time, court proceedings on her case have been blocked by the assertion of “State Secret Privilege”; the Congress of the United States has been gagged and prevented from any discussion of her case through retroactive re-classification by the Department of Justice. Ms. Edmonds is fluent in Turkish, Farsi and Azerbaijani; and has a MA in Public Policy and International Commerce from George Mason University, and a BA in Criminal Justice and Psychology from George Washington University. PEN American Center awarded Ms. Edmonds the 2006 PEN/Newman’s Own First Amendment Award.
Obama is clearly a figure head.
Howard Dean out. Rahm Emmanuel in.
I think Hillary is running for 2012 and eliminating rivals including Obama. Chris Dodd said he got orders from the WH to take out the CEO cap in the bail out bill.
John Edwards being investigated for campaign finances misspent. Don Seigleman still indicted.
The justice dept. is going after dems. And dems. who might run for president.
I remember when then candidate Obama signed the American Freedom Campaign Pledge in October 2007 which went as follows:
“We are Americans, and in our America we do not torture, we do not imprison people without charge or legal remedy, we do not tap people’s phones and emails without a court order, and above all we do not give any President unchecked power.
“I pledge to fight to protect and defend the Constitution from attack by any President.”
Seems quaint now, eh? Anyway, thanks Sibel and keep the pressure on.
I think anybody who has been following all this gets it with the only question remaining, what can we do about it?
We can’t hold our officials accountable, since we can’t validate our elections which now use invisible electronic tabulation devices. (We need to outlaw all electronic vote tabulation devices.)
We can’t get corporate media to behave. They effectively choose our candidates for us. (We need the FCC to force them to make their public file available online so we can complain and get their frequency allocation and station renewal denied)
We can’t block the streets in protest.
(Patriot act? I, II, III? )
Our military who has sworn an oath, can’t arrest them.
For all we know FISA is being used to stop us from attempting to hold them accountable, by using information and timing as a weapon against us. We don’t know. Nobody can be trusted and nobody should be trusted without oversight.
The internet is under attack from multiple regulatory angles.
Congress refuses to regulate our monetary system, and our officials are willfully perpetrating fraud on us.
The US Constitution is effectively shredded.
When people speak out too loud they get labeled as homegrown terrorists.
I don’t have any answers, beyond what I suggested above. I don’t see a bright future.
1 and done.
WE voted for change Obama, if you can’t cope with that, then you can expect to be fired.
fucking 1 party system we have sucks.
While I agree with 98% of what you are saying, here is where we slightly differ…
I think Obama turning over the torture matter to the state is pretty much what he should do, isn’t it? I mean, he is not the judicial branch, and shouldn’t the AG be the one to say if charges are going to be brought against responsible parties or not? Or to say how that pursuit will be handled? It was my understanding that Obama releasing the memos was doing his part (a piece anyway), and that the rest should follow through (other) appropriate venues. It’s also my understanding that according to the same treaty against torture that was violated, a failure to prosecute known offenses is a crime in itself; so if Obama obstructs or prevents the prosecution, couldn’t he be prosecuted too?
Please tell me if I’m wrong here. I’m not saying he has done everything he should, but is there not some merit in his declassifying of the memos?
Also, there is no doubt in my mind that our new administration has continued on down the same bad path as the last, but I’m somewhat hesitant to lay ALL the blame on Obama. The only reason why I say this is because, as I do every issue in the US, I think it perfectly appropriate to lay a decent amount of it at Americans’ feet as well. After all, it is Congress that is authoring and enacting law, and they are technically our representatives – thus our responsibility to a certain extent. Again, I cannot say ours is a perfect system functioning as it should (that’s laughable), but when it comes to responsibility I tend to lean heavily towards the idea, “America: When it’s right, it’s right; and when it’s wrong, I right it.†At least to the best of my ability, I do try to do my civic duty as often as possible.
Otherwise, I can’t disagree with anything you’ve said here; it’s spot on.
As far as the first 100 days BS that was going on, I think the “leave him alone†mentality is complete hypocrisy coming from the Left! Any progressive with half a brain knows that leaving BushCo. alone to “take care of everything†for us was precisely what got us into the nasty mess we find ourselves in now! So I was writing into every available receptor that Obama had put out there, signed petitions, and whatever else there was available to voice opposition to MANY of the appointees (and to Congress about confirmations too); but those days are (sadly) over, and I can’t even think of a single one that was actually prevented. Not that I would ever give up , but it’s still frustrating. I know he is surrounded by poisonous ideals, to the point that the very best of intentions would surely drown. Not that it’s an excuse either, but it sure doesn’t help.
Good that you mentioned this fiasco: ‘stronger whistleblower laws would endanger our intelligence agencies’
Actually, I just put together a blog about whistle blowers (and a LOT about you, Sibel), and asked everybody to contact their reps to demand they support the current bills for stronger protections sitting in the House & the Senate right now (or thank them if they already do). S.372
HR1507
I have held a deep appreciation for you, Sibel. Your tenacity is admirable, and performance of patriotic duties astounding! ‘Thank you’ isn’t nearly enough, but I still want to say thanks so much for everything you have done for all of us.
Meet the new boss…
I don’t know about you guys, but I was screaming at my monitor while watching his speech on the C-SPAN video archive yesterday.
Glenn Greenwald did a nearly perfect job of explaining why.
I think I’d been holding out a scintilla of hope until just a few minutes into it.
Then I just started screaming. 🙁
Here it is in a nutshell: the media, or those who control (or try to control) the way America thinks, want the public to think the MINOR differences between Bush and Obama are MAJOR, so that’s what all the pundits talk about – the MINOR differences. And they don’t want us to notice the MAJOR issues they are the same on, so they don’t talk about that.
The media controls the public discourse, it’s as simple as that. The day the media is back in the peoples hands is the day shit will happen.
Sybil, this is an outstanding summary of the changes that have Obama has flip-FLOPPED on. All stem from Bush’s “war on terror”. He DID change the name of the “global war on terror” to the “overseas contingency operation” but it seems the name change was just a cover-up and that the GWOT continues in full force.
Unfortunately the election euphoria is still working and the number of concerned people is less than half of what it was before. Maybe as low as 1/3. I agree with Phil above that it’s really hard to figure out what to do. But Progressive Mews is absolutely right too about the fact that, at this point, responsibility has to lie with the American people. We got to keep thinking because there has to be a way to reach more people.
geee – the obamabots are not going to like these posts one bit, though he has clearly proven that his rhetoric does not match his actions.
More to the point – HE IS A LIAR!
I am so sick of hearing apologists continue to argue that it is all some kind of “grand plan” and the he is merely outsmarting the repugs when he takes their sides and supports the policies and criminality of he bush administration.
HOW CAN RESPONSIBILITY LIE WITH THE AMERICAN PEOPLE when we have no real choices, the mainstream media if full of lying liars, candidates like obama are just slickly packaged versions of more-of-the-same, and we can’t even objectively verify our votes?
No real choices, few sources of good information, and elections that are anything but open, free, and verifiable…
…and this is the voters fault?
Give me a break!
Let me join the chorus of compliments to Sibel for this hardhitting piece.
But I do get a sense of resignation to the “inevitable” – as in “what can we do? – all the avenues for change are blocked?” Come on people, this is still America, and we the people can change it if we wish. The media only controls us if we let it dictate our choices – we knew there were other candidates in the race, and know that there will be in the future if we’re willing to give them our support; in fact we can be those candidates ourselves (good to see Coleen Rowley here). We don’t have to roll over & die, but we do need to actively work for change.
Sibel is doing her part – putting the facts out there for us to digest and debate and come up with solutions.
Good article Ms. Edmonds. Thank you for your courageous stands. Sorry for how our government has abused your rights.
But when are we going to ask Mr. Transparency “Where’s the birth certificate?” Why has Me. Obama repeatedly refused to comply with this simple task and why has he continually refused to produce his birth certificate?
Better question: Why have we let him get away with it? Everyone of us must produce our birth certificate to get a driver’s license or passport. Obama created this moral and Constitutional mandate on himself when he chose to throw his hat in the ring to run for president (what has been said is the most powerful office in the world) – but he has repeatedly refused to produce such during the campaign, continued after he won the nomination and the election and continues to refuse since he has taken office.
Yet Obama goes around falsely claiming that he Mr. Transparancy, Mr. Responsiblility, Mr. Righteous, Mr. Constitution. And in his speech on Thursday at the National Archives, he had the temerity to use the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution as props – while still refusing to produce his birth certificate.
And where is America’s 4th Estate, the media/press? Almost all sycophantic lap dogs, groveling for his attention, his favor.
And where is the Republican party? Cowards.
Recall Hans Christian Anderson’s fable “The Emperor’s New Clothes”? Well where’s Obama’s birth certificate?
Again the question: Why have we let him get away with it? When are we going to stop asking – and start DEMANDING that Obama produce his birth certificate? After all it is only a Constitutional requirement.
Are we men or are we mice? We, America, will contiune our race to the bottom until we start DEMANDING we live by Constitutional first principles.
Where’s the birth certiciate – Mr. Obama?
Thank you Sibel! A true American hero and patriot. She gets it.
Phil (#3) Well said, my thoughts exactly.
Floridiot (#9) “Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.â€
– Goebbels
Obama broke his word, his oath, and our hearts. Our nation is morally and fiscally bankrupt, I just don’t see much hope for the future.
gary
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/birthcertificate.asp
To Phil & Another Joe:
however futile it seems, I just can’t accept that there is nothing we can do, nor that the public’s complicity in much of this isn’t partially responsible.
For example, near to nobody protested the bankruptcy law a few years back. Senator Sanders had a bill on the floor that would have had credit cards comply to the SAME rules for interest rates & fees as credit unions have complied to for decades; but even amongst strong activists I didn’t know anybody that even knew of it – and it was easily defeated. People should be in an uproar about single-payer health care not being an option considered by Congress – where are people? And although I agree with you that our election system is spoiled, one of the ways to combat it is to show up in giant numbers – and yet, here in CA about 19% of registered voters showed up at the polls for the special election that just passed! There are states where we can write legislation and have it put on the ballot, and of course anybody can run for office (not saying it’s easy, but it can be done). So don’t tell me there is nothing to be done, there’s PLENTY, but not enough people are doing it.
Sibel does point towards civil disobedience too, and as bad as things have become, do you really think that our civic duties are going to be as simple as voting? Of course not, that’s ridiculous. Just because our means have become more and more difficult doesn’t mean we should simply concede! To quote Senator Sanders, “Despair is not an option!”
And if you visit Sibel’s new blog ( http://123realchange.blogspot.com/ ) then you can join her efforts there too, I think she has the right idea: go after the media, who are also largely responsible for this mess!
I am in no way saying that the Obama administration is innocent, but the ugly truth is that if we are going to have real change, the ONLY place it will EVER come from is US. Such is the history of all great changes in our nation, like it or not.
Great to see all these thought provoking, sincere, and yet passionate comments!
Progressive Miews: “To quote Senator Sanders, “Despair is not an option!” Right on! We must put all these into action, and do so collectively, and set aside minor differences for this greater objective. Sure, raising awareness is the first step, but it seems as if we’ve stopped, have been stuck, at this stage.
Jeffersonian: “But I do get a sense of resignation to the “inevitable” – as in “what can we do?” Let’s change that, and do so quickly.
Coleen: “at this point, responsibility has to lie with the American people. We got to keep thinking because there has to be a way to reach more people.” As always, nicely and effectively put. Let’s.
Also, thank you all for your support and kind words. It is refreshing to see people like yours and not feel too lonely:-) After 6+ years of going after the previous administration on accountability and government integrity issues, it is disheartening to see many people who supported those notions are now attacking them due to partisanship. Right is right, it doesn’t belong to a particular party or ideology.
For the record, I never said there was nothing we can do.
While we are not at the point of no return, (as some have told me, you’ll know it when it’s here) I do feel our toolbox for fixing the United States Of America is missing some tools, tools which should never have been checked out, and tools which should have been forced to be returned or accounted for. It’s hard to remove a stripped screw, not impossible.
I have given several suggestions, in my opinion that would deliver a one-two-punch to the solar plexus of a lot of this nonsense.
As far as our monetary system goes, I would follow what Karl Denninger has been saying for two years now.
But the media falls under the FCC. I believe that is where we should dig up their roots. It’s OUR SPECTRUM.
If we could get a broadcast quality network going over the air, with the only admission fee being a TRUE JOURNALIST get’s air-time as opposed to a “professional journalist.” There is a difference. I am not one. I don’t have what it takes. I do entertainment. Music, guitars, bass, feedback elimination, video.
My specialty is electronics, and electrical power distribution, with some knowledge of aircraft. My toolbox is the simpson meter, the TDR, the O-scope, the spectrum analyzer, programming, and common sense. Not politics, lies, psychology, legal double speak, entrapment games, murder, torture, corruption, hate or treason.
Let’s find the cracks in the current system and let the sunlight in!!
peace.
What’s PUMA for “I told you so”?
I was one of those who said “give him a chance, give him the benefit of the doubt.” I would have done so for any newly elected office-holder, not because I’m an Obama-bot. Far from it. I was actually a tepid Hillary supporter but I did not dislike Obama either. I have said he is a politician and will do what politicians do.
However, Sibel has laid out the facts that show what Obama is about very clearly. I am cynical enough to speculate that the Rovian cabal knew that their best bet to further their agenda was to help Obama get elected in return for certain favors. I wouldn’t put it past them for an instant. They have no loyalty to any party, in the end. They have only a fanatical desire to advance their plans for corporate-military global domination.
Once again, the presidency is the figurehead for the agenda of the shadowy powermongers who have no conscience, no morals, and no hesitation to do whatever needs to be done for them to attain and keep power.
IMO, It’s not so much that Obama is bad. More like he’s a pawn in their game just like the spineless Democrats which Sibel so excellently detailed in an earlier post.
Phil, you lost all credibility by citing Karl Denninger, who holds the same positions as the right wing neo-conservativelibertarian, fuck everyone but me. Go back under your rock.
Perry Logan asked:
“You think this is bad? Just imagine how much worse it likely would have been under Hillary.”
But maybe I’m just guessing.
Wake up the progressives and the Air America hosts. they’re all still in denial. I smelled a rat long ago and sorry to say I have seen nothing to make me feel that Obusha is anything more than a brilliant deception on the world by the Neocons. Did anyone really think the Neocons would cede power voluntarily? It is now clear: Obama = Bush III. Sorry, world.
Oh, and we love you, Sibel!
Oh, Paul Craig Roberts also gets it.
http://original.antiwar.com/roberts/2009/05/20/watching-obama-morph-into-dick-cheney/
Chris,
I never claimed or had any credibility. I would rather you challenge those who claim credibility. The only thing I do have is an honorable discharge from the USAF, (the dd214 to prove it) and the ability to think for myself, common sense, and also the ability to recognize when I am wrong, apologize and admit it. As I have right here on Bradblog humbled myself many times over the last four years. I am human, I get frustrated, and sometimes drunk and say things I regret later. Frankly I am burned out with all the corruption, where ever it exists.
In order to truly understand Karl, you’ll need to follow what he said going back a year or more. If you haven’t, you really know not what you speak.
So let’s test your knowledge about Karl’s market and banking ideas.
1. What is the Genesis Plan? Who in congress has read it? And what has happened since then?
2. never-happens-again.pdf is how many pages?
3. The organization fedupusa.org is for or against bailouts?
4. What financially could bring our government to it’s knees literally overnight? Who’s fault?
5. And the final question. It’s a tricky one, who has authority over our monetary system?
Answers:
(don’t cheat now, plug your little nose where politics = 1 and go do the research.)
1. http://www.denninger.net/letters/genesis.pdf
A document written by Karl Denninger offering a solution to fixing the banking system. Every member of congress received a faxed copy. Sadly it’s been ignored nearly completely.
2. 11 http://market-ticker.denninger.net/uploads/never-happens-again.pdf
3. Against
4. A bond market crash
5. Congress
During the primaries, it seemed there was a consensus that we would hold Obama’s feet to the fire to stick by campaign promises.
Now there seems to be a rule that no Democrat can disagree with anything our President does.
It seems that even collectively the Democrats do not have enough backbone to make a spine.
Thanks for pointing out the forbidden obvious observations, Sybil.
There were no commercial planes on 911. The very reason for the GWOT is a lie. The very reason for torture is based on a lie. The very reason to use State Secrets as an excuse is based on a lie. There were no commercial planes on 911. It was all a lie. The reason given by the FBI for never having tested or verified a single piece of debris from any of the planes on 911?…..”we all saw it on TV” (FOIA 2008)
As long as we continue to believe there were commercial planes on 911 you will never see any change in politcal stategies. Other countries, including Iran, have known that there were no commercial planes on 911. Why have they not exposed it? Collusion….even with Iran?
Sibel Edmonds for President.
Beautiful and courageous.
Stay safe, cheri, we need more like you.
Sibel, thank you for your courage and tenacity. I’ve been thinking the last few days that Cheney and Obama have actively been working together; and also that Cheney may make a run for the prez.
I’ve bookmarked your website and here’s a quote from today’s speech from Las Vegas:
“WE’RE FUNDING BOTH SIDES OF THE WAR ON TERROR.”
What he’s saying is that we’re paying people to kill our soldiers! This needs to be shouted from the rooftops!
We need a challenger in 2012 and I don’t recommend Hillary. She’s also a warmonger IMO. I’m thinking Feingold. But we need a CM who will not marginalize who we want. And we need to stop standing in corners in IA during the first primary.
Thank you for your new website!! Bless you, Sibel.
Why are some of the smaller words highlighted with pink or blue and yellow in all of the above posts?
[ed note: If you google something by a number of words, do a word search, sometimes the page comes up with all the words you used highlighted in different colors. –99]
Now the colors are gone. Huh
Thank you, ed!! I thought that was rather odd redaction! 🙂
Wow great post! I love it, the information which you have posted is very useful for me and these posts has cleared all of mine queries related to real estate. Thank you a lot!
[ed note: Comment deleted. Igor, please read our rules for commenting. We don’t usually mind people linking their own blogs if they have a post that is on topic, but just coming in with a bunch of senseless phrases and promising a link to the vaunted birth certificate doesn’t cut it. Thank you. –99]