The clarifying Manning/Crowley controversy

From: Salon.com

By Glenn Greenwald

The forced "resignation" of State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley -- for the mortal sin of denouncing the abusive detention of Bradley Manning -- has apparently proven to be a clarifying moment for many commentators about what the President is and how he functions in these areas. Writing at Time's Swampland, Mark Benjamin identifies the real crux of the controversy:

Free speech advocates are shocked, and, as I wrote last week on TIME.com, concerned over Obama's record as the most aggressive prosecutor of suspected government leakers in U.S. history.

Those advocates have wondered whether the penchant for secrecy in the Obama administration comes from the President, or those around him. Obama's statement on Manning, followed by Crowley's resignation, seem to suggest some of this comes from the President himself.

It's long been obvious that the Obama administration's unprecedented war on whistleblowers "comes from the President himself," notwithstanding his campaign decree -- under the inspiring title "Protect Whistleblowers" -- that "such acts of courage and patriotism should be encouraged rather than stifled." The inhumane treatment of Manning plainly has two principal effects: it intimidates future would-be whistleblowers into knowing that they, too, will be abused without recourse, and it will break him psychologically (as prolonged solitary confinement and degrading treatment inevitably do) to render him incapable of a defense and to ensure he provides whatever statements they want about WikiLeaks. Other than Obama's tolerance for the same detainee abuse against which he campaigned and his ongoing subservience to the military that he supposedly "commands," it is the way in which this Manning/Crowley behavior bolsters the regime of secrecy and the President's obsessive attempts to destroy whistleblowing that makes this episode so important and so telling.


Read more at Salon.com

--------------------
That's not "change we can believe in."

Revolt: Obama escalates Bush policies of unlawful wars, economic looting

From: Examiner.com

By Carl Herman


Lifting the Veil is a two-hour film that documents how the Obama Administration is continuing and escalating the policies of the Bush Administration in the unlawful areas of US wars and economic fraud.

These policies are easily shown as Orwellian unlawful, as I explain and document here.


The American response will be revolution because:
the "emperor has no clothes" facts are right in front of us,
Americans will choose the US Constitution over their fear to act, and
Americans will reject psychopathic "leadership" that murders millions and steals trillions under our flag and honor.




Continue reading on Examiner.com: Revolt: Obama escalates Bush policies of unlawful wars, economic looting - National Nonpartisan | Examiner.com


--------------------
That's not "change we can believe in."

Obama signs Patriot Act extension into law

From: The Hill

President Obama on Friday signed into law a bill that extends three Patriot Act surveillance authorities until late May.

Obama signed the "FISA Sunsets Extension Act of 2011," which refers to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Surveillance authorities under that act were extended in part by amending the USA Patriot Improvement and Reauthorization Act.

With Obama's signature, the ability of the United States to access business records, conduct roving wiretaps and monitor individual terrorists is maintained until May 27. The administration has said it supports a longer extension, and the Senate next week will begin working on a three-year extension.


--------------------
That's not "change we can believe in."

As The Obamas And The Ultra-Wealthy Live The High Life Most Americans Are Going Through Economic Hell

From: Economic Collapse

Barack Obama recently made the following statement to American families that are struggling to survive in this economy: "If you’re a family trying to cut back, you might skip going out to dinner, or you might put off a vacation." A few days after making that statement Obama sent his wife and children off on yet another vacation, this time to a luxury ski hotel in Vail, Colorado. But the Obamas are not the only ones enjoying the high life. Wealthy corporate executives and greedy Wall Street fatcats insist that profit margins are too tight to hire more American workers, and yet sales of luxury cars, private jets and vacation homes are soaring. Meanwhile, most American families are going through economic hell right now. In 2010, more Americans than ever before were living below the poverty line. Over 4 million Americans have been unemployed for more than a year, and over 5 million Americans are at least two months behind on their mortgage payments. As the Obamas and wealthy corporate executives jet off to fancy ski resorts, half of all American workers are earning $505 or less per week and 55 percent of American families are living paycheck to paycheck. Something is very wrong with this picture.

Continue Reading...

--------------------
That's not "change we can believe in."

Hillary Hypocrisy?

The Orwellian nature of this incident is truly distrubing...


From Dissident Voice;

While the Secretary Calls for Free Speech, Veteran is Arrested and Abused Before Her Eyes for Exercising Free Speech

by Kevin Zeese / February 18th, 2011

On Tuesday, February 15th Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a speech on the importance of Freedom of Speech in the Internet age. She focused her attention on foreign countries and chided them for curtailing the speech of their citizens.

During that speech Ray McGovern, a veteran who also served for 27 years as a CIA analyst, exercised his freedom of speech by standing and silently turning his back on Secretary Clinton. He was protesting the ongoing wars, the treatment of Bradley Manning and the militarism of U.S. foreign policy. He did not shout at the Secretary of State or interrupt her speech. He merely stood in silence.



McGovern’s action was a powerful one and it threatened the Secretary of State. Two police officers roughed him up, pulled him from the audience and arrested him. As you can see from the pictures, the 71 year old McGovern, was battered and bruised; indeed, his attorney reports he was left in jail bleeding.

--------------------
That's not "change we can believe in."

Are you awake

There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware

I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind

I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side

It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away

We better stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, now, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

Pentagon is the ONLY agency of the federal government that cannot be audited

Of the federal government's discretionary spending, about half goes to the pentagon - yest the pentagon is the ONLY agency of the federal government that cannot be audited.

Does anyone see the problem with this picture?



--------------------
That's not "change we can believe in."