If you’re the primary writer or owner of a Liberal/Progressive Blog, the week’s news has been sobering even though it isn’t reported on the Mainstream News Media. We may suspect dirty tricks and threats - but when they emanate from the government, it opens your eyes that we’re entering the era of the American Police State:
MSNBC: Bush creating ‘embryonic police state’
“Now that the Democrats were nice enough to fold up on FISA,” MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann said, “the issue is all contained now. Right? Not exactly.”
The Justice Department has proposed changes to police intelligence-gathering rules that would ease the transfer of information about citizens to federal intelligence agencies, who would then keep the information for at least 10 years. The changes, the first since 1993, were introduced for public comment on July 31.
Under the proposed changes, law enforcement agencies would be allowed to target groups and individuals on the basis of suspicion of participation in terrorist acts or providing material support to terrorists. Former FBI agent and American Civil Liberties Union policy counsel Michael German, however, told the Washington Post that the proposed changes could lead to abuse of constitutional rights by law enforcement agencies, citing cases where police have eavesdropped on political dissenters and infiltrated their ranks.
“It turns police officers into spies on behalf of the federal government,” German said. “If police officers no longer see themselves as engaged in protecting their communities from criminals and instead as domestic intelligence agents working on behalf of the CIA, they will be encouraged to collect more information.” LINK WITH VIDEO
Making it worse than the above article demonstrates, it appears there are high-level NSA employees that actually advocate the murder of some high-profile Bloggers:
NSA Security Officer: We Should Just Kill These People
When somebody within your own government calls you out, do you show up? How do you handle it?
Wayne Madsen, always spoiling for a fight with Bush and Cheney, or the chance to show off his undies to minimum wage airport TSA workers, has an executive level NSA staff person on record saying that significant sentiment exists within the NSA to kill troublesome bloggers and journalists.
The NSA executive staffer was, apparently, not the source of the sentiment, but this individual did pass along the context and the precise wording of the “junior G-man” working in the NSA. Prominent names listed in the NSA database of troublemakers? MUCH MORE, INCLUDING NAMES
After you read the above article and the significance of it starts to permeate your being, the harsh reality descends upon us that we may be taking our lives in our hands by exercising our rights to free speech. It’s one thing to make a political statement, attempt to decimate what the MSM won’t, and point out obvious discrepancies and omissions in our Mainstream News Media. That seems to me to be a worthy cause, embedded in our spirit from countless patriots before us, and now that medium of communication may be under siege. If we were that much of a threat to national security and harmful to the general populace, why wouldn’t they simply legislate archaic laws that further limit free speech? Why is their first and only option Murder? Is this what right-wing America brings to the table as Presidents may change - murder and mayhem? The hate-mongering and police brutality is rising nationwide, and it’s obvious that something on the federal level must be implemented to halt our evolution into a 21st Century Police State.
Bush and Cheney are refusing to go quietly, and sources, including accusations from Russia blame the Georgian war against Dick Cheney:
Russia Says Georgia Conflict Was Plot By Cheney Against Obama
Friday, August 15, 2008
Uh-huh.
Russia claimed that the conflict in Georgia is a plot by Dick Cheney against Obama.
–It might make Barack Obama look weak.
The site I quoted above is definitely against Obama and I posted it so those of us on the left begin to understand the constant barrage he is taking from the right-wing of America. Appearing to be questioned by none other than Rick Warren, America’s premier right-wing “stealth” televangelist LINK, I wondered aloud if he was attempting to throw the election. Rick Warren is definitely on the fringes when all is revealed and people understand what he truly represents, but nonetheless, both candidates acquiesced that the prohibition against religion in politics make this session destined to be mired in constitutional questions as to its place in a federal election cycle. and how all of the free publicity wound-up in the hands of America’s right-wing televangelists at taxpayer cost.
I believe that out of the two Presidential candidates, Obama far outshines his opponent, but he’s losing in the pols, and it has to do with understanding the GOP and fighting them at their level - displacing the not so well created myth that surrounds John McCain and taking this fight anywhere it might lead to ensure a win of the Presidential election. I’m a pragmatist; if Obama is the better candidate but has a broken campaign machine, then he needs it fixed immediately and then we can go on to defeat the GOP. If it isn’t fixed, we must nominate a candidate that can fight McCain on his own turf, and that’s Hillary Clinton. I want to see a Democrat win this race, and if Obama doesn’t start campaigning like Presidential material, he either needs to announce that Hillary is his running mate, or simply move over and admit that he doesn’t have the campaign experience to pull off a win… This election is too important to the future of our nation to be partisan about who wins, and I’m rooting for Obama, but he either has it or he doesn’t. I don’t have the answer to that one, but in the next few days, Obama could salvage his credibility by attacking McCain where it hurts - everywhere he’s placed both feet in his mouth, and the times are too numerous to mention.
The above quote and substantiation demonstrates that McCain is another George W. Bush, an underachiever and an individual that has no curiosity or understanding of the world as it operates today. I once admired John McCain when he was a maverick, but in these days when he hugs a man that defamed him and hinted he might have been a North Korean collaborator (The Bush propaganda machine.) during the 2000 Presidential elections, I have to question that individuals motives and self-esteem if this is indeed someone qualified to be Commander in Chief. McCain had it tough for the years he was a P.O.W., however, as tragic as it was, being a P.O.W. in no way qualifies him as a military leader nor does it exemplify his “unblemished” record in civil service (sic). Where are the Presidential qualifications? Do we need someone of his age and backward thinking in charge of the nations nuclear arsenal? Is the oval office somewhere his rabid and sometimes famous anger should reside, when in a fit of fury, be could condemn us all to obscurity and extinction?
Is Obama the man that can bring change to the United States? If you weigh one candidate against the other, Obama wins by a wide margin. McCain offers us nothing but a continuance of the same, and his resemblance to Bush is remarkable, underachieving and all; We don’t need four more years of an underachieving President that is intent on starting wars in stead of ending them, but need to extricate ourselves from Iraq in a fashion where the U.S. bows out gracefully with the least possible amount of collateral damage.
We need change and leadership, but it has to be fought for, by the Obama campaign itself and then the Bloggers who will support and keep a cause burning to replace the GOP in the Executive Branch of government. We need to back a winner, and now it’s time for Obama to come out swinging, and connecting with every proverbial punch. The McCain Camp is so weak that a concerted effort could easily unmask the personage that represents himself as the John McCain of old, but has been replaced by a Neo-conned McCain who eagerly looks forward to continuing and exacerbating Bush’s wars.
U.S. May Ease Police Spy Rules
More Federal Intelligence Changes Planned
By Spencer S. Hsu and Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, August 16, 2008
The Justice Department has proposed a new domestic spying measure that would make it easier for state and local police to collect intelligence about Americans, share the sensitive data with federal agencies and retain it for at least 10 years.
The proposed changes would revise the federal government’s rules for police intelligence-gathering for the first time since 1993 and would apply to any of the nation’s 18,000 state and local police agencies that receive roughly $1.6 billion each year in federal grants.
Quietly unveiled late last month, the proposal is part of a flurry of domestic intelligence changes issued and planned by the Bush administration in its waning months. They include a recent executive order that guides the reorganization of federal spy agencies and a pending Justice Department overhaul of FBI procedures for gathering intelligence and investigating terrorism cases within U.S. borders. Much, Much MORE
We noted that Cheney was blamed for supporting or starting the War in Georgia, and President Bush isn’t faring too well either:
Crisis in the Caucasus. What Were They Smoking in the White House?
By Eric Margolis
19/08/08 “Lew Rockwell” — - The Bush administration appears to have pulled off its latest military fiasco in the Caucasus. What was supposed to have been a swift and painless takeover of rebellious South Ossetia by America’s favorite new ally, Georgia, has turned into a disaster that left Georgia battered, Russia enraged, and NATO badly demoralized. Not bad for two days work.
Equally important, Russia’s Vladimir Putin swiftly and decisively checkmated the Bush administration’s clumsy attempt last week to expand US influence into the Caucasus, and made the Americans and their Georgian satraps look like fools.
We are not facing a return to the Cold War – yet. But the current US-Russian crisis over Georgia, a tiny nation of only 4.6 million, and its linkage to a US anti-ballistic missile system in Eastern Europe, is deeply worrying and increasingly dangerous. MUCH MORE
Bush seems to be happy prodding Russia with a stick, and that makes me wonder if the President is completely sane. How can he call Putin a hypocrite for engaging in exactly the same actions that Bush brought to the Middle-East and continues today? Whatever they are attempting to prove, Bush is showing us all that is his last few months of the Presidency, he has destroyed NATO ties between Russia and the EU, we lost (probably) an oil pipeline or two from the Caspian region, and to stir-up matters even greater, the United States signed an agreement with the Poland to host some of the most provocative components of our largely unproven “Missile Shield” which so far, appears to have aided defense contractors more then it’s enhanced the security of the United States.
Finally, to ice the cake this week, we learned the Bush administration has been actively hiding ties that Musharraf had with the Taliban and Al Qaeda; It was quoted that “al Qaeda was not a high priority for the Bush administration.” Well, that’s a revelation, one that Congress should have known about and acted upon immediately, but with Bush and Cheney’s interference and a complicit MSM, I suppose it stands to reason most of America is not aware of these facts:
POLITICS: Bush Covered up Musharraf Ties with Qaeda, Khan
Analysis by Gareth Porter*
WASHINGTON, Aug 19 (IPS) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf’s resignation Monday brings to an end an extraordinarily close relationship between Musharraf and the George W. Bush administration, in which Musharraf was lavished with political and economic benefits from the United States despite policies that were in sharp conflict with U.S. security interests.
It is well known that Bush repeatedly praised Musharraf as the most loyal ally of the United States against terrorism, even though the Pakistani military was deeply compromised by its relationship with the Taliban and Pakistani Islamic militants.
What has not been reported is that the Bush administration covered up the Musharraf regime’s involvement in the activities of the A. Q. Khan nuclear technology export programme and its deals with al Qaeda’s Pakistani tribal allies.
The problem faced by the Bush administration when it came into office was that the Pakistani military, over which Musharraf presided, was the real terrorist nexus with the Taliban and al Qaeda. As Bruce Riedel, National Security Council (NSC) senior director for South Asia in the Bill Clinton administration, who stayed on the NSC staff under the Bush administration, observed in an interview with this writer last September, al Qaeda “was a creation of the jihadist culture of the Pakistani army”. Much More
For all practical purposes, President Bush and Dick Cheney seem intent on destroying democracy in America and are leaping forward to a Police State that is unnecessary and contrary to our constitution, the Bill of Rights and the rule of law. In any other circumstance, the U.S. would brand a similar nation’s slide into fascism as “abhorrent” and would demand international sanctions and possibly, military/political action to help such a state from decaying completely into chaos and totalitarianism - except when it concerns our own internal problems that are now affecting world peace and stability. The Police State is here - and will remain until McCain is defeated in the 2008 elections, if they even occur, and those who don’t believe impeachment is the answer are living in a fantasy world where the epitome of evil - The Bush administration, is somehow being allowed to infiltrate and murder a constitutional government that belongs to the people but is being dismantled by America’s true “evil-doers” - the GOP, corporate America, and a Presidency that is devoid of compassion and is effectively destroying the American Dream.
I would be utterly confounded, confused, upset, hopeless and most of all, hurting like hell. Even though I’m not a Democrat, I still feel all of these particular emotions. It feels as if the end of the world is coming and there is not a thing I can do about it, and unfortunately, nobody seems to care, especially the Democrats.
I can’t help but be the eternal optimist. Somehow, someway, we are all going to understand what’s happening to this country and we will demand that the corporate politicians and the corporate media stop this march towards fascism and imperialism, and give this nation back to its people. There are some that believe in a second coming of a political messiah that will right all the wrongs and make the government represent the people. This is a pipedream. There is no single person, no political party and no movement that can, or will, do this. We must do it ourselves if we want to see it done.
The Democrats are wondering why their candidate’s numbers are slowly circling the drain. How stupid is that? Could it be that the man chosen by the mainstream corporate media and the corporate political party is behaving like a corporatist? This entire drama between the two political parties has got to be the most expensive con job that this world has ever seen. Barack Obama is either incredibly naive, or the worst straw man that has ever appeared on the American political scene. If there was any chance in hell of America voting in a Republican after two terms of George W. Bush, the Democrats have found that chance in the hell that is the neo-con theories of war and corporate rape of America.
If Obama is not a plant, if he is really trying to win this election (and I have my doubts about that), than he has to stop listening to his “advisers”, this practice of reaching out to dissatisfied Republicans and vying for their votes must cease. Why elect a make-believe neo-con when you can have the real thing? Democrats must realize that they have completely lost the support of anyone that thinks. This can be turned around in a flash if the Democrats will do but a few simple things.
First of all, stop competing with the Republicans for the right wing polemic. It’s just not going to work. Obama must demand that Congress restore the Constitution. Demand the rescission of the Patriot Acts, the Military Commissions Act of 2006, the John Warner Defense Bill (the revamped Insurrection Act that eliminated Posse Comitatus and allows the government to use Federal troops for law enforcement on the whim of the president) close Guantanamo, denounce torture in any form, and join the International Community. He must state his intention of limiting the powers of the Executive Branch that Bush instituted with the “Unitary Executive” theory. This must be done before the elections so that he will not use these powers for his own administration. The prospect of that much power in the hands of one man is too inviting to ignore.
The next thing he must do is to denounce these wars of aggression against the Muslims in the Middle-East. Moving the war from Iraq to Afghanistan is not the way to peace in that region. This Afghan adventure could easily spill into Pakistan, and even if it is contained in Afghanistan, it is a war that will never be won. It will require an endless supply of dollars we don’t have, and an infinite amount of time that we also can ill-afford. The war in Afghanistan is a trap that will bleed the life from the United States, and killing members of the Taliban will not solve anything. Hamid Karzi, a former Unocal executive that built the Afghan oil pipeline is but one example of America’s war for resources.
Obama must also disengage this nation from the right wing government of Israel. Genuflecting to AIPAC is horrifying to every liberal or moderate voter in this country. Most American Jews do not support AIPAC, in fact, 60 to 80% of them (depending on the source) despise the lobby. Obama must demand that Israel seriously engage its neighbors in peace negotiations or risk the cut-off of US aid. The siege of Gaza must end and Israel must drop its demands that the Palestinians’ surrender their right of return and the payment of reparations for seized property for Hamas to recognize the Israeli State.
The Senator from Illinois must also revamp his foreign policy team of Richard Holbrooke, Madeleine Albright and Zbigniew Brzezinski. Democratic neo-cons of the first order, they may be smarter than the Republican neo-cons, but that makes them infinitely more dangerous. Barack must declare his intention to abrogate the missile defense shield treaty with Poland. Inserting nuclear warheads into Poland is as provocative as putting them in Cuba in 1963 and will lead to the same results, tension and a possible thermo nuclear war between Russia and the United States. Attempting to surround Russia with military force and first strike nuclear capability is insane. The American people understand this, for some unknown reason, the Democratic leadership does not.
Barack Obama must call for paper trail elections and for individual States to stop using electronic voting machines that are totally vulnerable to hacking. Waiting until he loses in November in States that show he won by the exit polls will be too late. It has happened before and it will no doubt happen again.
Corporate ownership of the mass media and corporate censorship of the networks must end. The Fairness Doctrine must be reintroduced and Obama should speak out against any attempt to censor or regulate the internet. The internet is the only thing that resembles a free press in this country.
Suggesting that corporate CEO’s and other corporate executives must have a salary cap. It makes no sense for a corporate executive to be drawing an annual salary of two hundred fifty million dollars plus perks and stock options while cutting the hourly pay of workers and shifting health care benefits to the unions because the company is running in the red. All one has to do is look at the automakers to understand what I’m talking about.
The Democrats should call for the nationalization of all segments of the economy that deal with all facets of the population. The oil industry, the railroads, the water systems, the electric companies, the nuclear power plants, the ports and the healthcare industry should be nationalized as quickly as possible. The sustainability of life and our economy should not be left to the discretion of multi-national corporations. Just as the economy should be regulated, the military industrial complex should be also. Declare the intention to eliminate no-bid contracts and wean the nation off the armament industry as our industrial base. We have been on a war economy since 1940. This is not sustainable and will eventually lead to the collapse of our economy. The United States spends 48% of the entire planets military budget. China spends 8% of what the US spends, and Russia 5% http://www.globalissues.org/article/75/world-military-spending.
Putting people back to work by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure will bring dividends in two ways. It will boost employment and restore the value of our roads, bridges and utilities. A New Deal approach similar to the FDR years should be instituted. The government should rid itself of the Federal Reserve that allows multi-national bankers to sell us our own money at interest is deplorable! Credit to Americans should be offered at low interest to Americans and lenders that practice deceptive and predatory lending practices should be regulated. Usury laws must be re-instituted to prevent the economic rape of American citizens. It is no coincidence that the richest 10% of the population owns 71% of this nation’s wealth. 1% of the wealthiest families own 38% of the wealth. The division between rich and poor grows each year, while the middle-class shrinks. Taxing the rich and forcing them to pay their fair share is essential. The public must be told that the median income for a Senator is 1.2 million dollars and 675,000 dollars for a Representative (Center for Responsive Politics, www.opensecrets.org). Congress will not tax itself without a push from America’s citizens that vote.
I could go on and on. These are the most important issues that come to mind. Weapons of mass destruction used by our own Armed Forces such as depleted uranium-235 (DU) white phosphorus and napalm should be outlawed as well as cluster bobs that kill innocent civilians. There will no doubt be a second and maybe a third part of this article. Obama should read this. I did not think of all of these ideas myself; I gratuitously stole them from some of the best liberal minds in America. If I were a Democrat I would send this to the Obama campaign, but then again I’m not a Democrat and frankly I wouldn’t waste my time. They believe they have all the answers anyway.
It’s sad that the only news items that motivate the right-wing attack dogs are an affair by John Edwards, an affair that’s none of our business, but does well to detract from other scandals that are rife in the GOP and constantly pervade the White House.
Rush and Ann are silent in regard Dick Cheney’s recent fiasco when he attempted to figure out how to start a war with Iran, and as this news settles-in as another treasonous action by our Executive Branch, right-wing radio is desperate to bring the nations attention to other issues that are non-starters in today’s political process, but allow them to spew their hate and deception to American’s that have been conditioned to trust these two with real issues - and then are lied to and given inaccurate and at times, completely false information. It should also be noted that the right-wing radio hosts, which dominate the airwaves, are pushing an extremist doctrine and openly state that Liberals and some Democrats would be better off dead. That’s their message, and it’s being picked up by the loony’s that live to listen to hate and deception rather than fact and truth. If we disagree with our government, whom has constantly lied to and deceived the American people - these hate-mongers imply that we are somehow “less American” or patriotic than them, all because we don’t buy into their fascist and warmongering agenda. Lying to the American people should be a crime, as should promoting hate and violence, but in today’s America, the hate-mongers are protected and the Liberal/Democrats face a rising array of brain-washed loony-tunes that buy into their constant barrage of hate and deception. [Read more →]
I am made of flesh and bone. I have a mind and a conscience that tells me what I believe is right or wrong. I was born in America, but that doesn’t mean that the American society, the American way of life meets the criteria of what I believe is moral. My being born American was an accident of birth. The truth of the matter is that through the great celestial scheme of things, I could have been born in China or India or in Iran.
I am a product of my learned experiences. The schools, the institutions I belonged to and my society helped shape my views. If we are all a product of our environment, than we should all basically have the same views, the same morality and the same world outlook. This has basically been the norm in this world for quite a while. The problem with this is that as we are exposed to different societies and the world grows smaller, our worldview changes. Sometimes I can no longer think of myself as an American, sometimes I think of myself as a citizen of the world.
Two story’s caught my eye this week, and the headlines alone reveal that Police Brutality is rising, we seem to see stories on a weekly basis, and unnecessary use of Tasers is also rising, sometimes resulting in the death of the victim:
Witnesses allege police brutality in death of tasered man
Even though the Mainstream News Media has remained quiet on the issue, the United States sending two more aircraft carrier groups to the Middle-East is alarming at this stage of the failed negotiations between the Europeans, the United States, and Israel. Cheney has been outed for plotting to fabricate a reason for starting a war with Iran - par for the course for a Vice-President that openly shows his disgust for the American people; now, with two more carrier groups, another nuclear submarine, two (2) more U.S. destroyers, a supply ship, and who knows what else has entered the Persian Gulf unannounced:
Normally, I would view this news as a positive development as regarding the US Attacking Iran, or alternatively, helping Israel to attack, backing their play and being sucked into war buy a possible “false-flag” attack on one of our ships in the Persian Gulf - when our own military is warning Israel against staging a false-flag attack. This should have been front-page news and heard on all of our news media, but in this instance, them not covering this issue borders on criminal complicity. This was a major news item, but finding it was another matter - unless you get your news regularly from the alternative news media, you probably haven’t seen this:
US Warns Israel –There Will Be No ‘USS Liberty Pt II’
July 28, 2008 — crescentandcross
For the last 41 years, Israel’s attack on the USS Liberty has been a taboo topic about which neither the Jewish state nor the US has allowed free and open discussion. Like a paid-off judge in the service of organized crime interests pounding his gavel on the bench, for the last 4 decades Israel and her supporters in the US government have bellowed ‘case closed’ and have raked over the coals anyone–including the survivors of the attack themselves–from arguing otherwise. Realizing the tidal wave of outrage that would occur if the American people were to come of age and lose their innocence in realizing what Israel did in murdering 34 American servicemen 4 decades ago in a premeditated act of war (to say nothing of the cover-up perpetrated by the US government) it has been on the list of forbidden topics……until recently.
We all know that the foreclosure crisis in America is serious and is causing several banks to fail. The situation is actually becoming worse, and an unintended consequence of foreclosure is causing several problems across the nation which receive very little press, and most Americans who still are financially solvent fail to understand that foreclosure constitutes a “double-whammy” to those who have lost their homes, and it affects the poor and lower income people the worst - some who have not experienced a foreclosure. Foreclosures are also posing a unique problem for law enforcement, and Atlanta, Georgia, is leading the fight in what appears to be a losing battle to protect homes that are vacant - and it’s costing the banks even more money as vacant homes are razed by thieves, stripping copper and anything of value that can be carted away.
To appreciate the huge number of foreclosures that are occurring, this brief article adds insight but still only scratches the surface of the depth of the issue - and to show the increase in how serious these issues are, the first article was written in August of 2007, and the second was posted by the NT Times in June of this year:
Death by Taser is increasing, and as the safety of the Taser is being debated, how do Americans protect themselves against a weapon the police believe (maybe) is safe, while testing proves it’s not, especially when wielded by police officers that use it as an instrument of torture. Most cases aren’t that extreme, however, the latest in the news is, and even in CNN’s article, the contradictions are striking - and no matter who dies, the police still attempt to defend themselves by claiming it’s safe - while the evidence proves it isn’t:
Ex-cop may be charged in case of man Tasered to death
From Drew Griffin and David Fitzpatrick
WINNFIELD, Louisiana (CNN) — A police officer shocked a handcuffed Baron “Scooter” Pikes nine times with a Taser after arresting him on a cocaine charge.
He stopped twitching after seven, according to a coroner’s report. Soon afterward, Pikes was dead.
Now the officer, since fired, could end up facing criminal charges in Pikes’ January death after medical examiners ruled it a homicide.
Dr. Randolph Williams, the Winn Parish coroner, told CNN the 21-year-old sawmill worker was jolted so many times by the 50,000-volt Taser that he might have been dead before the last two shocks were delivered. Much More
Today we learned that the “Terrorist Watch List” has grown to over 1,000,665 Names and is still Growing! Obviously, something is wrong with DHS, and for that many people to be on the list, it has to include people whose only “act of terror” was to disagree with a fascist, unconstitutional Presidency:
The Terrorist Watch List reaches 1,000,665 Names and is still Growing!
