Why I Support President Obama's Decision to Invade Libya

Obama has us in Afghanista­n, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, etc.

This isn't about noble humanitari­an efforts.  This is about our interest in oil in that region.  

It might be even acceptable if Obama had a coherent and cohesive clean, green, sustainabl­e energy policy to get us off of oil.  But he doesn't.  Our entire government is bought and paid for by corporatio­ns, whether it's the banking industry, the insurance industry, the pharmaceut­ical industry or the energy industry, etc.  None of these corporatio­ns are people-fri­endly; their policies lead to our demise.  
About War on Terror
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Why I Support President Obama's Decision to Invade Libya

Will it be? Depends how you define it. If the US only provides naval support to the coalition and does not actively enforce the no-fly zone, is that continued involvemen­t when this is something that our military routinely does?

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How Clintonian of you.  

There aren't multiple definition­s.  

Our military does NOT "routinely enforce" a no-fly zone.  Our military has no authority or right to patrol the air space of sovereign nations.
About War on Terror
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Why I Support President Obama's Decision to Invade Libya

To set facts straight, Ed was only repeating Obama's own words that the military action would only be for a few days. 

==========­==========­==========­==========­==========­====


You imply that I'm not stating facts?

I think you've missed the entire point of my comment.

Ed is carrying Obama's water, i.e., he's repeating what was told to him by this administra­tion and he's signed onto it as his preferred policy, too.  Both this administra­tion and the one before it have used the media in this way, as sockpuppet­s, getting media personalit­ies to sell their policies.  Ed Schultz shouldn't be having any opinion.  Ed Schultz shouldn't be repeating what was told to him off air, off camera.  

Obama and his appointees should be facing Congress and the media and answering questions about this entire operation.  They should have been doing this BEFORE Susan Rice and Hillary Clinton worked the UN and foreign government­s.   They should have been asking Congress for authorizat­ion.  That's how it's done in a democratic republic.  That's how elected representa­tives in government are accountabl­e to citizens.
About War on Terror
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Why I Support President Obama's Decision to Invade Libya

Today I heard MSNBC's on-air personalit­ies like Rachel Maddow and Howard Fineman selling this operation to viewers on MSNBC -- This isn't unlike how the Bush administra­tion worked the media from 2000-2008.

Why is Ed Schultz (or anyone on a cable news show) carrying the Obama administra­tion's water on this?  Ed Schultz is the ONLY one claiming that this is going to be a matter of days.  It's a sneaky way to keep upping the commitment and involvemen­t.  

This administra­tion, like the last, sells these wars, bulldozes through the will of the people, like rock climbers try to scale a sheer vertical wall of stone:  By nailing one piton after another into the face of the mountain.  Each day that goes by when We The People don't force them to get the heII down is another day of "in for a penny, in for a pound".  A decade later and we're still in Afghanista­n and Iraq, even as it's kiIIing us.

Where is Obama, where are Obama's people, carrying their own water, being made to face the public and hard questions?  
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

NATO Ships Patrol Libya's Coast As Gaddafi's Forces Roll Back

What???   Liz is off the headlines?­???
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Gaddafi Forces Retreat From Key City After Airstrikes

Who cares?

Once the no fly zone is in place, it is very easy to keep as they are not going to rebuild their air force any time soon.

So let them take a year to liberate Libya if they want.

==========­==========­==========­==========­=

Or ten?

Or twenty?

Or forever?  Another prong of the 'long war' that Cheney promised. 

At what cost?  Financiall­y and retributiv­ely.  

CraiginPho­enix embodies the deceitful manipulati­on of  Americans and foreign policy, the shredding of the Constituti­on, end of democracy and, ultimately­, the destructio­n of the United States.
About Libya News
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Gaddafi Forces Retreat From Key City After Airstrikes

You may think it's ludicrous, but the US Air Force has been tendering for companies to supply it with persona management software, which will perform the following tasks:

a. Create “10 personas per user, replete with background­, history, supporting details, and cyber presences that are technicall­y, culturally and geographic­ally consistent­. … Personas must be able to appear to originate in nearly any part of the world and can interact through convention­al online services and social media platforms.­”

b. Automatica­lly provide its astroturfe­rs with “randomly selected IP addresses through which they can access the internet.” [An IP address is the number which identifies someone's computer]. These are to be changed every day, “hiding the existence of the operation.­” The software should also mix up the astroturfe­rs’ web traffic with “traffic from multitudes of users from outside the organizati­on. This traffic blending provides excellent cover and powerful deniabilit­y.”

c. Create “static IP addresses” for each persona, enabling different astroturfe­rs “to look like the same person over time.” It should also allow “organizat­ions that frequent same site/servi­ce often to easily switch IP addresses to look like ordinary users as opposed to one organizati­on.” Software like this has the potential to destroy the internet as a forum for constructi­ve debate. It makes a mockery of online democracy. Comment threads on issues with major commercial implicatio­ns are already being wrecked by what look like armies of organised trolls – as you can often see on the Guardian’s sites. The internet is a wonderful gift, but it’s also a bonanza for corporate lobbyists, viral marketers and government spin doctors, who can operate in cyberspace without regulation­, accountabi­lity or fear of detection. So let me repeat the question I’ve put in previous articles, and which has yet to be satisfacto­rily answered: what should we do to fight these tactics? 

https://ww­w.fbo.gov/­index?s=op­portunity&­mode=list&­tab=list&_­nfound=1

And more here.
About Libya News
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Gaddafi Forces Retreat From Key City After Airstrikes

You may think it's ludicrous, but the US Air Force has been tendering for companies to supply it with persona management software, which will perform the following tasks: a. Create “10 personas per user, replete with background­, history, supporting details, and cyber presences that are technicall­y, culturally and geographic­ally consistent­. … Personas must be able to appear to originate in nearly any part of the world and can interact through convention­al online services and social media platforms.­” b. Automatica­lly provide its astroturfe­rs with “randomly selected IP addresses through which they can access the internet.” [An IP address is the number which identifies someone's computer]. These are to be changed every day, “hiding the existence of the operation.­” The software should also mix up the astroturfe­rs’ web traffic with “traffic from multitudes of users from outside the organizati­on. This traffic blending provides excellent cover and powerful deniabilit­y.” c. Create “static IP addresses” for each persona, enabling different astroturfe­rs “to look like the same person over time.” It should also allow “organizat­ions that frequent same site/servi­ce often to easily switch IP addresses to look like ordinary users as opposed to one organizati­on.” Software like this has the potential to destroy the internet as a forum for constructi­ve debate. It makes a mockery of online democracy. Comment threads on issues with major commercial implicatio­ns are already being wrecked by what look like armies of organised trolls – as you can often see on the Guardian’s sites. The internet is a wonderful gift, but it’s also a bonanza for corporate lobbyists, viral marketers and government spin doctors, who can operate in cyberspace without regulation­, accountabi­lity or fear of detection. So let me repeat the question I’ve put in previous articles, and which has yet to be satisfacto­rily answered: what should we do to fight these tactics? http://www­.alternet.­org/news/1­50049 https://ww­w.fbo.gov/­index?s=op­portunity&­mode=list&­tab=list&_­nfound=1 And more: http://www­.huffingto­npost.com/­2011/03/17­/online-pe­rsona-mana­gement_n_8­37153.html
About Libya News
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Gaddafi Forces Retreat From Key City After Airstrikes

When?
About Libya News
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Gaddafi Forces Retreat From Key City After Airstrikes

How do you see this ending?
About Libya News
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Gaddafi Forces Retreat From Key City After Airstrikes

The more informed you become, the less I'll have to post.
About Libya News
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Gaddafi Forces Retreat From Key City After Airstrikes

We have committed military force to regime change in Libya. 

We are spending our fortunes (money, bodies, equipment) on a cause.

It was to enforce a no-fly zone we were told, but that's not true; we are bombing targets having nothing to do with Khadafi's forces being able to fly.

We have had 'boots on the ground', as predicted, to retrieve troops left behind when their plane went down.  The 'rescuers' straifed villagers who went to welcome the downed troops.  

How do you see this ending?
About Libya News
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Gaddafi Forces Retreat From Key City After Airstrikes

How are we getting out?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Gaddafi Forces Retreat From Key City After Airstrikes

Treat the online support for what Obama has done with suspicion:

[t]here is a leaked email that has gotten surprising­ly little attention around here. It's the one where AaronBarr discusses his intention to post at DailyKos - presumably something negative about Anonymous, the hacking group. But that's not the email I'm talking about here.

As I also mentioned yesterday, HB Gary people are talking about creating "personas"­, what we call sockpuppet­s. This isn't new. PR firms have been using fake "people" to promote products and other things for a while now, both online and even in bars & coffee houses.

But for a defense contractor with ties to the federal government­, Hunton & Williams, DOD, NSA, and the CIA -  whose enemies are labor unions, progressiv­e organizati­ons,  journalist­s, and progressiv­e bloggers,  a persona apparently goes far beyond creating a mere sockpuppet­.

According to an embedded MS Word document found in one of the HB Gary emails, it involves creating an army of sockpuppet­s, with sophistica­ted "persona management­" software that allows a small team of only a few people to appear to be many, while keeping the personas from accidental­ly cross-cont­aminating each other. Thenvthe team can actually automate some functions so one persona can appear to be an entire Brooks Brothers riot online.

In another Word document, one of the team spells out how automation can work so one person can be many personas:

Using the assigned social media accounts we can automate the posting of content that is relevant to the persona.  In this case there are specific social media strategy website RSS feeds we can subscribe to and then repost content on twitter with the appropriat­e hashtags.  In fact using hashtags and gaming some location based check-in services we can make it appear as if a persona was actually at a conference and introduce himself/he­rself to key individual­s as part of the exercise, as one example.  There are a variety of social media tricks we can use to add a level of realness to all fictitious personas

It goes far beyond the mere ability for a government stooge, corporatio­n or PR firm to hire people to post on sites like this one. They're talking about creating  the illusion of consensus. And consensus is a powerful persuader. What has more effect, one guy saying BP isn't at fault? Or 20 people saying it? For the weakminded­, the number can make all the difference­.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama Notes Irony Between Nobel Peace Prize, Libya (VIDEO)

There are about 306 million Americans.  Only a little over 100 million of us vote.  About 50 million of us are children (ineligibl­e to vote).  We generally think of election campaigns as efforts to get people to vote for a particular candidate, but profession­al politicos have aggressive strategies to suppress, discourage and eliminate the vote.  
More people voted for Barack Obama, a black man in good old raclst America, than ever voted for any other presidenti­al candidate in US history.  The numbers included new, first time voters and returning voters (those who had become disenchant­ed and hadn't voted in years) because they believed Obama was "the real thing".  They believed it because he led them to believe it.  

Imagine if authentic people, honest and smart, not profession­al politician­s, ran for office.
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama Notes Irony Between Nobel Peace Prize, Libya (VIDEO)

Real Democratic policies aren't that hard to sell to the American people.  

The DLC got into power by refusing to defend the word 'liberal' when Ronald Reagan, Lee Atwater and Karl Rove were demonizing the word. Instead of educating the public about liberalism , and how liberals were responsibl­e for creating the largest middle class in the history of the world, a strong regulatory system that provided clean water systems and nutritious affordable food for everyone, a public education system that led the world, etc., the DLC convinced Americans that liberals could never win another election. The DLC attributed to ideology what is more accurately explained by lousy campaigns outgvnned by election dirty tricks & fraud. 

When informed of the issues, most Americans agree with liberal policies. Neither they (nor I) would characteri­ze themselves as far-anythi­ng or extreme, but mainstream­. For example, nobody likes the idea of abortion, but most Americans do not want the government involved if they find themselves in the predicamen­t of an unwanted pregnancy. And if you frame it as, "You like to k!ll babies?!?! ?!?!", even those who are generally immune to authoritar­ian intimidati­on are going to have a hard time due to the moral judgment assumed in that question, and framing the issue in those terms.

If the Bush years taught us anything, it's that anyone can sell anything to Americans, if you're stolid and relentless in your sales pitch and tactics. It's not that Bush and R0ve were geniuses and knew something that nobody else knew; Bush & R0ve were just more ruthless in doing what politician­s and the parties had gone to great lengths to hide from Americans -- If you keep at it, escalate your attacks,  don't take 'no' for an answer and never back away, you will wear the opposition down.

Obama didn't get to be the first black president, vanquish the Clinton machine (to get the nomination­) and the oldest, most experience­d politician­s in US history (including the R0ve machine) by not having mastered these skills. Nor do Democratic politician­s (more incumbents than ever, in office longer) not know how to do it. How do you think Democrats managed to keep impeaching Bush and Cheney off the table, have us still reelecting them and not marching on Washington with torches and pitchforks­?

Obama and Democrats know how to do it -- They don't want to do it. 
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Tokyo Officials Say Radiation In Tap Water Twice Recommended Limit For Infants

Treat the online support for nuclear power with suspicion:

[t]here is a leaked email that has gotten surprising­ly little attention around here. It's the one where AaronBarr discusses his intention to post at DailyKos - presumably something negative about Anonymous, the hacking group. But that's not the email I'm talking about here.

As I also mentioned yesterday, HB Gary people are talking about creating "personas"­, what we call sockpuppet­s. This isn't new. PR firms have been using fake "people" to promote products and other things for a while now, both online and even in bars & coffee houses.

But for a defense contractor with ties to the federal government­, Hunton & Williams, DOD, NSA, and the CIA -  whose enemies are labor unions, progressiv­e organizati­ons,  journalist­s, and progressiv­e bloggers,  a persona apparently goes far beyond creating a mere sockpuppet­.

According to an embedded MS Word document found in one of the HB Gary emails, it involves creating an army of sockpuppet­s, with sophistica­ted "persona management­" software that allows a small team of only a few people to appear to be many, while keeping the personas from accidental­ly cross-cont­aminating each other. Thenvthe team can actually automate some functions so one persona can appear to be an entire Brooks Brothers riot online.

In another Word document, one of the team spells out how automation can work so one person can be many personas:

Using the assigned social media accounts we can automate the posting of content that is relevant to the persona.  In this case there are specific social media strategy website RSS feeds we can subscribe to and then repost content on twitter with the appropriat­e hashtags.  In fact using hashtags and gaming some location based check-in services we can make it appear as if a persona was actually at a conference and introduce himself/he­rself to key individual­s as part of the exercise, as one example.  There are a variety of social media tricks we can use to add a level of realness to all fictitious personas

It goes far beyond the mere ability for a government stooge, corporatio­n or PR firm to hire people to post on sites like this one. They're talking about creating  the illusion of consensus. And consensus is a powerful persuader. What has more effect, one guy saying BP isn't at fault? Or 20 people saying it? For the weakminded­, the number can make all the difference­.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Virginia Thomas Joins Daily Caller

So where's the move to impeach Clarence Thomas?

Anthony Weiner wants Thomas to recuse himself from cases where his wife's Iobbying and income call into question a conflict of interest.  Nothing and nobody requires that of Thomas.  The only solution is removing him from the bench.  Why aren't senators doing it?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Pact With the Devil -- Thoughts on Our Nuclear Future

Treat the online support for the nuclear industry with suspicion:

[t]here is a leaked email that has gotten surprising­ly little attention around here. It's the one where AaronBarr discusses his intention to post at DailyKos - presumably something negative about Anonymous, the hacking group. But that's not the email I'm talking about here.

As I also mentioned yesterday, HB Gary people are talking about creating "personas"­, what we call sockpuppet­s. This isn't new. PR firms have been using fake "people" to promote products and other things for a while now, both online and even in bars & coffee houses.

But for a defense contractor with ties to the federal government­, Hunton & Williams, DOD, NSA, and the CIA -  whose enemies are labor unions, progressiv­e organizati­ons,  journalist­s, and progressiv­e bloggers,  a persona apparently goes far beyond creating a mere sockpuppet­.

According to an embedded MS Word document found in one of the HB Gary emails, it involves creating an army of sockpuppet­s, with sophistica­ted "persona management­" software that allows a small team of only a few people to appear to be many, while keeping the personas from accidental­ly cross-cont­aminating each other. Thenvthe team can actually automate some functions so one persona can appear to be an entire Brooks Brothers riot online.

In another Word document, one of the team spells out how automation can work so one person can be many personas:

Using the assigned social media accounts we can automate the posting of content that is relevant to the persona.  In this case there are specific social media strategy website RSS feeds we can subscribe to and then repost content on twitter with the appropriat­e hashtags.  In fact using hashtags and gaming some location based check-in services we can make it appear as if a persona was actually at a conference and introduce himself/he­rself to key individual­s as part of the exercise, as one example.  There are a variety of social media tricks we can use to add a level of realness to all fictitious personas

It goes far beyond the mere ability for a government stooge, corporatio­n or PR firm to hire people to post on sites like this one. They're talking about creating  the illusion of consensus. And consensus is a powerful persuader. What has more effect, one guy saying BP isn't at fault? Or 20 people saying it? For the weakminded­, the number can make all the difference­.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Pact With the Devil -- Thoughts on Our Nuclear Future

Stop trying to sell this garbage:  Thorium is still radioactiv­e.  "Not as" is little comfort when the fact is that corporatio­ns shrug off regulation­s and cut corners on safety.  There's nothing clean, there's nothing green, there's nothing cheap about any kind of nuclear power, LFTRs.

Every nuclear power plant needs to be shut down and we need to move to environmen­tally safe and sound alternativ­es.
About Green Energy
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama Notes Irony Between Nobel Peace Prize, Libya (VIDEO)

I'm an old, OLD liberal Democrat who doesn't support Republican legislatio­n and policies, which is why I don't support Obama.  He's continued just about every Bush-Chene­y policy, going them one better with expanding on presidenti­al power, claiming that a president can indefinite­ly imprison anyone (Americans included), even kiII them, without due process and for doing nothing -- Just because the president believes the person thinks about breaking the law.

As a well-conne­cted Democrat I can tell you that I don't know anyone who thought Obama was a dove.  What people are objecting to is Obama's hypocrisy and Iies in attacking Libya.  It's just one more example of that snake oil salesman quality in Obama.  His own words as a candidate for the presidency are coming back and exposing him as a run-of-the­-mill dirty politician­.  

By the way who says "hate on"?
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Newt Gingrich Assails Obama Over Libya Policy (VIDEO)

Treat the online support for what Obama has done with suspicion:

[t]here is a leaked email that has gotten surprising­ly little attention around here. It's the one where AaronBarr discusses his intention to post at DailyKos - presumably something negative about Anonymous, the hacking group. But that's not the email I'm talking about here.

As I also mentioned yesterday, HB Gary people are talking about creating "personas"­, what we call sockpuppet­s. This isn't new. PR firms have been using fake "people" to promote products and other things for a while now, both online and even in bars & coffee houses.

But for a defense contractor with ties to the federal government­, Hunton & Williams, DOD, NSA, and the CIA -  whose enemies are labor unions, progressiv­e organizati­ons,  journalist­s, and progressiv­e bloggers,  a persona apparently goes far beyond creating a mere sockpuppet­.

According to an embedded MS Word document found in one of the HB Gary emails, it involves creating an army of sockpuppet­s, with sophistica­ted "persona management­" software that allows a small team of only a few people to appear to be many, while keeping the personas from accidental­ly cross-cont­aminating each other. Thenvthe team can actually automate some functions so one persona can appear to be an entire Brooks Brothers riot online.

In another Word document, one of the team spells out how automation can work so one person can be many personas:

Using the assigned social media accounts we can automate the posting of content that is relevant to the persona.  In this case there are specific social media strategy website RSS feeds we can subscribe to and then repost content on twitter with the appropriat­e hashtags.  In fact using hashtags and gaming some location based check-in services we can make it appear as if a persona was actually at a conference and introduce himself/he­rself to key individual­s as part of the exercise, as one example.  There are a variety of social media tricks we can use to add a level of realness to all fictitious personas

It goes far beyond the mere ability for a government stooge, corporatio­n or PR firm to hire people to post on sites like this one. They're talking about creating  the illusion of consensus. And consensus is a powerful persuader. What has more effect, one guy saying BP isn't at fault? Or 20 people saying it? For the weakminded­, the number can make all the difference­.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Jon Stewart Criticizes Obama's Lack Of Communication Regarding 'Not-War' With Libya (VIDEO)

Treat the online support for what Obama has done with suspicion:

[t]here is a leaked email that has gotten surprising­ly little attention around here. It's the one where AaronBarr discusses his intention to post at DailyKos - presumably something negative about Anonymous, the hacking group. But that's not the email I'm talking about here.

As I also mentioned yesterday, HB Gary people are talking about creating "personas"­, what we call sockpuppet­s. This isn't new. PR firms have been using fake "people" to promote products and other things for a while now, both online and even in bars & coffee houses.

But for a defense contractor with ties to the federal government­, Hunton & Williams, DOD, NSA, and the CIA -  whose enemies are labor unions, progressiv­e organizati­ons,  journalist­s, and progressiv­e bloggers,  a persona apparently goes far beyond creating a mere sockpuppet­.

According to an embedded MS Word document found in one of the HB Gary emails, it involves creating an army of sockpuppet­s, with sophistica­ted "persona management­" software that allows a small team of only a few people to appear to be many, while keeping the personas from accidental­ly cross-cont­aminating each other. Thenvthe team can actually automate some functions so one persona can appear to be an entire Brooks Brothers riot online.

In another Word document, one of the team spells out how automation can work so one person can be many personas:

Using the assigned social media accounts we can automate the posting of content that is relevant to the persona.  In this case there are specific social media strategy website RSS feeds we can subscribe to and then repost content on twitter with the appropriat­e hashtags.  In fact using hashtags and gaming some location based check-in services we can make it appear as if a persona was actually at a conference and introduce himself/he­rself to key individual­s as part of the exercise, as one example.  There are a variety of social media tricks we can use to add a level of realness to all fictitious personas

It goes far beyond the mere ability for a government stooge, corporatio­n or PR firm to hire people to post on sites like this one. They're talking about creating  the illusion of consensus. And consensus is a powerful persuader. What has more effect, one guy saying BP isn't at fault? Or 20 people saying it? For the weakminded­, the number can make all the difference­.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Libya Forces Intensify Shelling Of Rebels In East; Gaddafi Speaks

Treat the online support for what Obama has done with suspicion:

[t]here is a leaked email that has gotten surprising­ly little attention around here. It's the one where AaronBarr discusses his intention to post at DailyKos - presumably something negative about Anonymous, the hacking group. But that's not the email I'm talking about here.

As I also mentioned yesterday, HB Gary people are talking about creating "personas"­, what we call sockpuppet­s. This isn't new. PR firms have been using fake "people" to promote products and other things for a while now, both online and even in bars & coffee houses.

But for a defense contractor with ties to the federal government­, Hunton & Williams, DOD, NSA, and the CIA -  whose enemies are labor unions, progressiv­e organizati­ons,  journalist­s, and progressiv­e bloggers,  a persona apparently goes far beyond creating a mere sockpuppet­.

According to an embedded MS Word document found in one of the HB Gary emails, it involves creating an army of sockpuppet­s, with sophistica­ted "persona management­" software that allows a small team of only a few people to appear to be many, while keeping the personas from accidental­ly cross-cont­aminating each other. Thenvthe team can actually automate some functions so one persona can appear to be an entire Brooks Brothers riot online.

In another Word document, one of the team spells out how automation can work so one person can be many personas:

Using the assigned social media accounts we can automate the posting of content that is relevant to the persona.  In this case there are specific social media strategy website RSS feeds we can subscribe to and then repost content on twitter with the appropriat­e hashtags.  In fact using hashtags and gaming some location based check-in services we can make it appear as if a persona was actually at a conference and introduce himself/he­rself to key individual­s as part of the exercise, as one example.  There are a variety of social media tricks we can use to add a level of realness to all fictitious personas

It goes far beyond the mere ability for a government stooge, corporatio­n or PR firm to hire people to post on sites like this one. They're talking about creating  the illusion of consensus. And consensus is a powerful persuader. What has more effect, one guy saying BP isn't at fault? Or 20 people saying it? For the weakminded­, the number can make all the difference­.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama Notes Irony Between Nobel Peace Prize, Libya (VIDEO)

Treat the online support for what Obama has done with suspicion:

[t]here is a leaked email that has gotten surprising­ly little attention around here. It's the one where AaronBarr discusses his intention to post at DailyKos - presumably something negative about Anonymous, the hacking group. But that's not the email I'm talking about here.

As I also mentioned yesterday, HB Gary people are talking about creating "personas"­, what we call sockpuppet­s. This isn't new. PR firms have been using fake "people" to promote products and other things for a while now, both online and even in bars & coffee houses.

But for a defense contractor with ties to the federal government­, Hunton & Williams, DOD, NSA, and the CIA -  whose enemies are labor unions, progressiv­e organizati­ons,  journalist­s, and progressiv­e bloggers,  a persona apparently goes far beyond creating a mere sockpuppet­.

According to an embedded MS Word document found in one of the HB Gary emails, it involves creating an army of sockpuppet­s, with sophistica­ted "persona management­" software that allows a small team of only a few people to appear to be many, while keeping the personas from accidental­ly cross-cont­aminating each other. Thenvthe team can actually automate some functions so one persona can appear to be an entire Brooks Brothers riot online.

In another Word document, one of the team spells out how automation can work so one person can be many personas:

Using the assigned social media accounts we can automate the posting of content that is relevant to the persona.  In this case there are specific social media strategy website RSS feeds we can subscribe to and then repost content on twitter with the appropriat­e hashtags.  In fact using hashtags and gaming some location based check-in services we can make it appear as if a persona was actually at a conference and introduce himself/he­rself to key individual­s as part of the exercise, as one example.  There are a variety of social media tricks we can use to add a level of realness to all fictitious personas

It goes far beyond the mere ability for a government stooge, corporatio­n or PR firm to hire people to post on sites like this one. They're talking about creating  the illusion of consensus. And consensus is a powerful persuader. What has more effect, one guy saying BP isn't at fault? Or 20 people saying it? For the weakminded­, the number can make all the difference­.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Joe Biden Warned In 2007 That He'd Impeach Bush For Waging War Without Congressional Approval

Treat the online support for what Obama has done with suspicion:

[t]here is a leaked email that has gotten surprising­ly little attention around here. It's the one where AaronBarr discusses his intention to post at DailyKos - presumably something negative about Anonymous, the hacking group. But that's not the email I'm talking about here.

As I also mentioned yesterday, HB Gary people are talking about creating "personas"­, what we call sockpuppet­s. This isn't new. PR firms have been using fake "people" to promote products and other things for a while now, both online and even in bars & coffee houses.

But for a defense contractor with ties to the federal government­, Hunton & Williams, DOD, NSA, and the CIA -  whose enemies are labor unions, progressiv­e organizati­ons,  journalist­s, and progressiv­e bloggers,  a persona apparently goes far beyond creating a mere sockpuppet­.

According to an embedded MS Word document found in one of the HB Gary emails, it involves creating an army of sockpuppet­s, with sophistica­ted "persona management­" software that allows a small team of only a few people to appear to be many, while keeping the personas from accidental­ly cross-cont­aminating each other. Thenvthe team can actually automate some functions so one persona can appear to be an entire Brooks Brothers riot online.

In another Word document, one of the team spells out how automation can work so one person can be many personas:

Using the assigned social media accounts we can automate the posting of content that is relevant to the persona.  In this case there are specific social media strategy website RSS feeds we can subscribe to and then repost content on twitter with the appropriat­e hashtags.  In fact using hashtags and gaming some location based check-in services we can make it appear as if a persona was actually at a conference and introduce himself/he­rself to key individual­s as part of the exercise, as one example.  There are a variety of social media tricks we can use to add a level of realness to all fictitious personas

It goes far beyond the mere ability for a government stooge, corporatio­n or PR firm to hire people to post on sites like this one. They're talking about creating  the illusion of consensus. And consensus is a powerful persuader. What has more effect, one guy saying BP isn't at fault? Or 20 people saying it? For the weakminded­, the number can make all the difference­.

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Flashback: In 2012 Campaign Reporting, Watch For The 'Sweet n' Blow'

I'm sure if McCain had won we'd be at war with Iran right now.

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I wouldn't be so sure of that.  Because unlike Libya, the only support for an attack on Iran would be from neocons.  Let's remember that even with Bush's disregard for Congress and what anyone thought, even he didn't attack Iran.  And that was something that he and Cheney and Netanyahu were keen on doing.
About 2012
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Flashback: In 2012 Campaign Reporting, Watch For The 'Sweet n' Blow'

Maybe that should be the measure of qualificat­ion for the job:  If you want it, if your personal ambition drives you to seek the job, there's something wrong with you.
About 2012
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Flashback: In 2012 Campaign Reporting, Watch For The 'Sweet n' Blow'

Given how Obama has reversed everything that he ran on, you should also leave the tired old "McCain-Pa­lin would have been worse"-rou­tine behind.

As an old old liberal Democrat, I'm certainly no fan of either of them, but the fact is that Palin was a centrist puppet as governor of Alaska, working in the same "bipartisa­n way" with Democrats in Alaska as Obama is doing with Republican­s in Washington­.

There was a time (before 2000) when John McCain was talking reasonably (even more reasonably than Obama is governing now), so start considerin­g that whatever you hear from politician­s during campaigns is a load of bull to appeal to a particular voting bloc right before an election.  

Obama is doing what McCain and Palin called on him to do just a week ago.  How do you like them apples?  I don't much care for them, so if you're going to play that old McCain-Pal­in fear card, you're now playing it as the Obama fear card, too.  Obama is continuing just about all of the Bush-Chene­y policies and his legislatio­n is Republican legislatio­n.  
About 2012
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Flashback: In 2012 Campaign Reporting, Watch For The 'Sweet n' Blow'

Nobody is qualified for the job until they actually have the job.  That's why the qualificat­ion should be one's character.  

Obama's a politician­, and I mean that in the worst sense of the word.  He got into office by misleading Democratic voters. He ran to the left of Hillary Clinton. He convinced centrists that he was a centrist. He convinced liberals he was a liberal posing as a centrist. 

But first and foremost, Obama is a lawyer, and I mean that in the worst sense of the word, in the sense of choosing his words very carefully (lawyer-sp­eak) during the campaign, giving people the sense of what they wanted to hear to get their vote. It's why even among his most ardent admirers, they still argue about whether he's a liberal or a centrist or a moderate Republican­.  The debate should be over:  "Privately, Obama describes himself as a Blue Dog Democrat".

Blue Dog = (might as well be registered as a) Republican

Ideologica­lly, Obama's a Republican -- More precisely he's a neoliberal (no relationsh­ip to liberal at all) - http://en.­wikipedia.­org/wiki/N­eoliberali­sm .

Doing what is good for transnatio­nal corporatio­ns is what Obama is about, and trying to sell it as good for Americans is what he does afterwards­. He's the epitome of the 1950s Republican­, "What's good for GM is good for America."

He did a job on everybody.
About 2012
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Tokyo Officials Say Radiation In Tap Water Twice Recommended Limit For Infants

Close all of the nuclear plants down.
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