Having skin in the game helps to have an informed & active electorate that pressures Congress and the White House to end wars.
That's what ended the Vietnam war -- The middle class's sons getting drafted and sent overseas.
About Taxes
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
New target of rights erosions: U.S. citizens
A primary reason Bush and Cheney succeeded in their radical erosion of core liberties is because they focused their assault on non-citizens with foreign-sounding names, casting the appearance that none of what they were doing would ever affect the average American. There were several exceptions to that tactic -- the due-process-free imprisonment of Americans Yaser Hamdi and Jose Padilla, the abuse of the "material witness" statute to detain American Muslims, the eavesdropping on Americans' communications without warrants -- but the vast bulk of the abuses were aimed at non-citizens. That is now clearly changing.
The most recent liberty-abridging, Terrorism-justified controversies have focused on diluting the legal rights of American citizens (in part because the rights of non-citizens are largely gone already and there are none left to attack). A bipartisan group from Congress sponsors legislation to strip Americans of their citizenship based on Terrorism accusations. Barack Obama claims the right to assassinate Americans far from any battlefield and with no due process of any kind. The Obama administration begins covertly abandoning long-standing Miranda protections for American suspects by vastly expanding what had long been a very narrow "public safety" exception, and now Eric Holder explicitly advocates legislation to codify that erosion.
http://www
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Obama wins the right to detain people with no habeas review
Few issues highlight Barack Obama's extreme hypocrisy the way that Bagram does. One of Bush’s most extreme policies was abducting people from all over the world -- far away from any battlefield -- & then detaining them at Guantanamo with no legal rights of any kind, not even the most minimal right to a habeas review in a federal court.
The Bush DOJ -- in a lawsuit brought by Bagram detainees seeking habeas review of their detention -- contended that if they abduct someone & ship them to Guantanamo, then that person has the right to a habeas hearing, but if they instead ship them to Bagram, then the detainee has no rights of any kind. In other words, the detainee's Constitutional rights depends on where the Government decides to drop them off to be encaged.
One of the first acts undertaken by the Obama DOJ that actually shocked civil libertarians was when Obama lawyers told a federal judge that military detainees in Afghanistan have no legal right to challenge their imprisonment there, embracing a key argument of Bush’s legal team.
http://www
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Obama Administration on the Verge of Giant Sell-Out to Conservatives -- How to Stop Them
The Obama Administration's move to the right is about to give conservatives a victory they could not have anticipated, even under Bush: the privatization of public housing.
http://www
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Obama To Announce Tougher Offshore Drilling Rules
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He just doesn't f**king get it.
There is no way to safely drill offshore.
This was malfeasance, misfeasance and nonfeasance, by both the government regulators and BP. He can't guarantee that offshore drilling can be done safely, and in the absence of that guarantee, the risk is too great.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
As far as Sarah Palin goes, who gives a chit what she has to say on anything?
Obama and Rahm Emanuel would love to have the Democratic base distracted by her and Limbaugh, focused on what they, who have no authority or role in the Republican Party, are saying.
Democrats control the Congress and the White House, and have the power to do anything they want, and what the DLC wants is for Democratic voters not to realize that the DLC works for Big Business. All it takes is 50 + one to pass the reforms that voters put Democrats into power to achieve. The supermajority is a red herring, continued by Democrats.
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
You imply it's all good and been taken care of. And yet the latest report does not attempt to link the alleged activities of MMS employees in the Lake Charles office to the accident involving the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. And does nothing about the fact that investigators were told that some MMS inspectors had allowed oil company workers to fill out inspection forms in pencil that the inspectors then traced over in pen and filed as their own findings.
As far as Obama being "behind a cover-up", let's say that Obama isn't behind getting to the bottom of and pulling out all of the stop toward insuring this doesn't happen again. He hasn't shut down other offshore oil drilling, in spite of the fact that there are known problems, particularly with BP's Atlantis rig.
Obama's has a habit and practice of deceptive speech (go back and listen to his campaign speeches, interviews and the debates with your now 'experienced' ears), never so obvious as his latest order suspending the issuance of drilling permits. It turns out it was an oral order, nothing legal, nothing in writing.
And why would he support any caps on oil companies' liability for the damage their actions do to Americans and the nation?
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
You don't have to go through all 13,000. You just have to come up with 1 which makes you believe that I'm not a liberal Democrat.
You made the claim, "I see a preponderance of criticisms of the administration on grounds that are not reasonable
That's about you, assessing what's a reasonable liberal position from your perspective (which is NOT liberal).
So put up, kid.
And by the way, why are you playing here on your employer's time and money? That's stealing, and it's NOT anything that liberals support.
About Gulf Oil Spill
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Speaking of which -
The Obama administration in a brief to the Supreme Court has backed the Vatican's claim of immunity from lawsuits arising from cases of sexual abuse by priests in the United States.
http://raw
About Gulf Oil Spill
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
After revisiting Obama's speeches during the campaign, the debates and his interviews, listening with now-experienced ears, the weasel-like lawyer-speak, his use of language and terms-of-art, is now really obvious in light of his actions these last 16 months. It's not that he's inept -- He's the problem he used to talk about during the campaign. He's part of the corruption, and it's apparent in how he's blocked real reform (it's not Congress doing it -- Obama prevented real healthcare reform, cut deals to let the insurance & pharmaceutical industries make fortunes without cost-controls) and prevented investigations and prosecutions into the Bush-Cheney administration.
You really have to want to remain dvmb, keep your head in a hole in the ground, not to recognize it. It really is "Houston, we've got a problem"-time.
About Gulf Oil Spill
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
There are different legs of this catastrophe - BP's failure to follow safe standards in an effort to make more money, and the government overseers' failure to perform inspections and enforce regulations.
The government's failure began, apparently, during the Bush administration and has continued through the past 16 months of the Obama administration.
Failure by government regulators hasn't been a secret. Not in MMS, nor in the executive branches other departments. The FAA, for example.
Obama has done nothing to change it. Nothing. He's pretty much continued ALL of Bush's policies, and even gone them one better, being more brazen about going after executive power beyond what even Bush and Cheney tried.
Watch this to understand what's going on with all industries in the US and the government agencies charged with oversight over them -
http://www
About Gulf Oil Spill
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
What positions have I expressed in my over 13,000 comments on HP are not those of a liberal Democrat, kid?
About Gulf Oil Spill
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
There are 3 branches of government, but We the People can only choose to represent us in two of those branches.
About Barack Obama
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The best?
A man who is in bed with corporations, who is blocking investigations and prosecutions into what the Bush-Cheney administration did that has led to one catastrophic failure after another, and you think he's the best????
I want you to listen to this http://www
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
If you believe that, then you don't understand the failure of oversight and the regulatory system.
The government regulator with oversight of offshore drilling allowed industry officials to fill in their own inspection reports and federal employees accepted gifts -- including meals and tickets to sporting events -- from oil and natural gas companies, according to a new report by the Interior Department's Inspector General.
In addition, Mineral Management Service employees viewed porn on government computers -- similar to a recent scandal involving the Securities and Exchange Commission -- according to the report.
http://www
About Gulf Oil Spill
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Why do I, a liberal Democrat, say that Barack Obama is a weasel, in bed with corporations?:
Obama's Freeze On Offshore Drilling Was Verbal Order
It was lip service, nothing more.
The Minerals Management Service (MMS) has issued at least 17 drilling permits in the past month. Administration officials say those permits do not violate the ban. The moratorium was not put into writing, which can make the details of the drilling freeze difficult to assess.
http://www
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Watch this to understand what's going on with all industries in the US and the government agencies charged with oversight over them -
http://www
We don't need leaders in government who work "in a bipartisan manner", who "look for consensus". We don't need any more "uniters, not dividers".
We need "cleaners".
We need crusaders. Fighters. A president who knows right from wrong, doesn't split the difference on corruption for the sake of expediency. We need a president with convictions, who will set the full power of the DoJ and all investigative arms of the executive branch loose to expose, purge and separate (with a cleaver) Big Business's hold on the People's government.
We need representatives in all branches of our government more loyal to the Constitution and the People than to a political party flush with corporate pay-offs.
That's not Obama and this current Congress.
About Gulf Oil Spill
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Obama is just another Washington insider, perpetuating the status quo, blocking real reform. He isn't fixing anything. He's continuing the same failed deregulatory system that's allowed corporations to prosper at the expense of Americans' lives.
To excuse Obama, to pass the buck, say "It's Congress's job", is to be ig.nor.ant of the executive branch agencies under a president's control & all of these agencies' cozy relationships with Big Business. Obama's done nothing to change it.
One example is Obama's reaction to the oil blow-out in the Gulf. How does separating MMS into two or three agencies (where one would issue the drilling permits, another would inspect the drilling operations, etc.) change employees' behavior, where inspectors didn't inspect but had oil companies' employees write up the inspection sheets?
People need to be fired & face criminal charges. But Obama doesn't like doing that. Obama blocks investigations & prosecutions, preferring to "look forward, not back".
Career politicians (professional Democrats & Republicans) have gamed the government so that everyone, from Congress to the White House, can point their fingers at someone else & say, "It's not my fault, it was his responsibility".
And then after years of investigations and hearings, watered down findings are published and then buried. Business continues as before. If anyone is left holding the bag it's some low-level flunkie, someone who has retired (with full pension & benefits) before the finding is published, and is never prosecuted.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Watch this to understand what's going on with all industries in the US and the government agencies charged with oversight over them -
http://www
We don't need leaders in government who work "in a bipartisan manner", who "look for consensus". We don't need any more "uniters, not dividers".
We need "cleaners".
We need crusaders. Fighters. A president who knows right from wrong, doesn't split the difference on corruption for the sake of expediency. We need a president with convictions, who will set the full power of the DoJ and all investigative arms of the executive branch loose to expose, purge and separate (with a cleaver) Big Business's hold on the People's government.
We need representatives in all branches of our government more loyal to the Constitution and the People than to a political party.
That's not Obama and this current Congress.
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Obama is just another Washington insider, perpetuating the status quo, blocking real reform. He isn't fixing anything. He's continuing the same failed deregulatory system that's allowed corporations to prosper at the expense of Americans' lives.
To excuse Obama, to pass the buck, say "It's Congress's job", is to be ig.nor.ant of the executive branch agencies under a president's control & all of these agencies' cozy relationships with Big Business. Obama's done nothing to change it.
One example is Obama's reaction to the oil blow-out in the Gulf. How does separating MMS into two or three agencies (where one would issue the drilling permits, another would inspect the drilling operations, etc.) change employees' behavior, where inspectors didn't inspect but had oil companies' employees write up the inspection sheets?
People need to be fired & face criminal charges. But Obama doesn't like doing that. Obama blocks investigations & prosecutions, preferring to "look forward, not back".
Career politicians (professional Democrats & Republicans) have gamed the government so that everyone, from Congress to the White House, can point their fingers at someone else & say, "It's not my fault, it was his responsibility".
And then after years of investigations and hearings, watered down findings are published and then buried. Business continues as before. If anyone is left holding the bag it's some low-level flunkie, someone who has retired (with full pension & benefits) before the finding is published, and is never prosecuted.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Obama isn't fixing anything.
Obama is continuing the same failed deregulatory system that has allowed corporations to prosper at the expense of the lives of American citizens.
Watch this to understand what's going on with all industries in the US and the government agencies charged with oversight over them -
http://www
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
The Finance Bill, Fully Supported By Obama, Does Nothing To Reform Wall Street -
http://www
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Why do I, a liberal Democrat, say that Barack Obama is a weasel, in bed with corporations?:
Obama's Freeze On Offshore Drilling Was Verbal Order
It was lip service, nothing more.
The Minerals Management Service (MMS) has issued at least 17 drilling permits in the past month. Administration officials say those permits do not violate the ban. The moratorium was not put into writing, which can make the details of the drilling freeze difficult to assess.
The administration's statements about the ban on new drilling have been straightforward. "We've announced that no permits for drilling new wells will go forward until the 30-day safety and environmental review that I requested is complete," President Obama said May 14 in the White House Rose Garden.
Testifying before Congress on May 18, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar made it sound equally clear. "The president has been very clear with me: Hit the pause button," Salazar said. "We have hit the pause button."
The day of that hearing, the AP reported that MMS had approved at least nine deepwater exploration wells in the Gulf since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion on April 20, with minimal environmental reviews.
http://www
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
As a deep sea oil blow-out is gushing out of control and destroying the Gulf and the southeast region of the US (& will destroy the eastern seaboard and the North Atlantic Ocean unless it is stopped), Obama refuses to shut down BP's other operations that have worse safety problems than the Deepwater Horizon oil rig.
http://www
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Obama Supports Lifting Liability Cap for 'Future' Oil Spills (But Not This One) -
http://www
Why a cap at all? Why isn't Obama insisting that oil companies pay for all of the damage they cause? Why is Obama taking the REPUBLICAN position?
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
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