American politics - Page 8

bearbait · 02-27-2009, 01:49 PM

^A two-minority Republican ticket? The world might collapse if that ever happened.

Five Leaves Left · 02-27-2009, 04:35 PM

Obama's speech was very well stated. Unfortunately his economic policies are extremely unrealistic and though his administration did inherit a large deficit it is probably only a fraction of the one that he will leave.

Rai · 03-03-2009, 09:10 PM

Quote:

ne of the things that Prime Minister Brown and I talked about is how can we coordinate so that all the G20 countries, all the major countries around the world, in a coordinated fashion, are stimulating their economies; how can we make sure that there are a common set of principles, in terms of how we’re approaching banking, so that problems that exist in emerging markets like Hungary or the Ukraine don’t have these enormous ripple effects that wash back onto our shores, and we’re providing them with some help in a coordinated international fashion, as well.

Oh yeah! Finally its us the big US is scared of, ha-ha-ha!!! Knowing how insanely idiotic my country's leaders are I wouldn't be surprised if they managed to bring down the whole world economy. Trust me, they can do that.

Hendrik · 03-08-2009, 04:56 PM

http://www.obamadeception.net

Quote:

The Obama Deception is a hard-hitting film that completely destroys the myth that Barack Obama is working for the best interests of the American people.
The Obama phenomenon is a hoax carefully crafted by the captains of the New World Order. He is being pushed as savior in an attempt to con the American people into accepting global slavery.
We have reached a critical juncture in the New World Order’s plans. It’s not about Left or Right: it’s about a One World Government. The international banks plan to loot the people of the United States and turn them into slaves on a Global Plantation.
Covered in this film: who Obama works for, what lies he has told, and his real agenda. If you want to know the facts and cut through all the hype, this is the film for you.
Watch the Obama Deception and learn how:

Obama is continuing the process of transforming America into something that resembles Nazi Germany, with forced National Service, domestic civilian spies, warrantless wiretaps, the destruction of the Second Amendment, FEMA camps and Martial Law.
Obama’s handlers are openly announcing the creation of a new Bank of the World that will dominate every nation on earth through carbon taxes and military force.
International bankers purposefully engineered the worldwide financial meltdown to bankrupt the nations of the planet and bring in World Government.
Obama plans to loot the middle class, destroy pensions and federalize the states so that the population is completely dependent on the Central Government.
The Elite are using Obama to pacify the public so they can usher in the North American Union by stealth, launch a new Cold War and continue the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The information contained in this film is vital to the future of the Republic and to freedom worldwide. President Barack Obama is only the tool of a larger agenda. Until all are made aware, humanity will remain captive to the masters of the New World Order.

--

Obama's Militant Youth

Is this is a satire or real? What are these dudes up to?

Soon I'll create my own Kant Youth.

"Because of Immanuel Kant, I respect my own mind!"

"One sapere aude a day, keeps the doctor away"

lol

Any infos on impeachment about Bush/Cheney and Obama taking back the fu.cking Patriot Act?

Hendrik · 03-15-2009, 07:43 PM

The Obama Deception is available to watch now as a whole.

Full of "conspiracy theories"

, but it makes you think...

Hendrik · 04-07-2009, 02:28 PM

Timothy Geithner and Larry Summers - wall-street puppets

Hendrik · 04-08-2009, 11:03 PM

Keith Olberman, shut up, I don't wanna hear the truth!

No, seriously, what the hell is Obama doing?

And what about the Patriot Act being removed again? Any news on this?

Hendrik · 06-11-2009, 12:21 PM

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22762.htm

Quote:

Mr Obama: Resign Now

With Democrats Like Him, Who Needs Dictators?

By Ted Rall [liberal american cartoonist]

June 03, 2009 "Information Clearing House" -- MIAMI--We expected broken promises. But the gap between the soaring expectations that accompanied Barack Obama's inauguration and his wretched performance is the broadest such chasm in recent historical memory. This guy makes Bill Clinton look like a paragon of integrity and follow-through.

From healthcare to torture to the economy to war, Obama has reneged on pledges real and implied. So timid and so owned is he that he trembles in fear of offending, of all things, the government of Turkey. Obama has officially reneged on his campaign promise to acknowledge the Armenian genocide. When a president doesn't have the 'nads to annoy the Turks, why does he bother to show up for work in the morning?

Obama is useless. Worse than that, he's dangerous. Which is why, if he has any patriotism left after the thousands of meetings he has sat through with corporate contributors, blood-sucking lobbyists and corrupt politicians, he ought to step down now--before he drags us further into the abyss.

I refer here to Obama's plan for "preventive detentions." If a cop or other government official thinks you might want to commit a crime someday, you could be held in "prolonged detention." Reports in U.S. state-controlled media imply that Obama's shocking new policy would only apply to Islamic terrorists (or, in this case, wannabe Islamic terrorists, and also kinda-sorta-maybe-thinking-about-terrorism dudes). As if that made it OK.

In practice, Obama wants to let government goons snatch you, me and anyone else they deem annoying off the street.

Preventive detention is the classic defining characteristic of a military dictatorship. Because dictatorial regimes rely on fear rather than consensus, their priority is self-preservation rather than improving their people's lives. They worry obsessively over the one thing they can't control, what Orwell called "thoughtcrime"--contempt for rulers that might someday translate to direct action.

Locking up people who haven't done anything wrong is worse than un-American and a violent attack on the most basic principles of Western jurisprudence. It is contrary to the most essential notion of human decency. That anyone has ever been subjected to "preventive detention" is an outrage. That the President of the United States, a man who won an election because he promised to elevate our moral and political discourse, would even entertain such a revolting idea offends the idea of civilization itself.

Obama is cute. He is charming. But there is something rotten inside him. Unlike the Republicans who backed Bush, I won't follow a terrible leader just because I voted for him. Obama has revealed himself. He is a monster, and he should remove himself from power.

"Prolonged detention," reported The New York Times, would be inflicted upon "terrorism suspects who cannot be tried."

"Cannot be tried." Interesting choice of words.

Any "terrorism suspect" (can you be a suspect if you haven't been charged with a crime?) can be tried. Anyone can be tried for anything. At this writing, a Somali child is sitting in a prison in New York, charged with piracy in the Indian Ocean, where the U.S. has no jurisdiction. Anyone can be tried.
Why is it, exactly, that some prisoners "cannot be tried"?

The Old Grey Lady explains why Obama wants this "entirely new chapter in American law" in a boring little sentence buried a couple past the jump and a couple of hundred words down page A16: "Yet another question is what to do with the most problematic group of Guantánamo detainees: those who pose a national security threat but cannot be prosecuted, either for lack of evidence or because evidence is tainted."

In democracies with functioning legal systems, it is assumed that people against whom there is a "lack of evidence" are innocent. They walk free. In countries where the rule of law prevails, in places blessedly free of fearful leaders whose only concern is staying in power, "tainted evidence" is no evidence at all. If you can't prove that a defendant committed a crime--an actual crime, not a thoughtcrime--in a fair trial, you release him and apologize to the judge and jury for wasting their time.

It is amazing and incredible, after eight years of Bush's lawless behavior, to have to still have to explain these things. For that reason alone, Obama should resign.

...and yet, if Obama would resign, it wouldn't be any better because his follow-up won't be any good either. Because it is all about the people behind the president.

---

Corps:

Hendrik · 06-15-2009, 08:09 PM

Very good statement...

Quote:

June 10, 2009

Fear Rules By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
The power of irrational fear in the US is extraordinary. It ranks up there with the Israel Lobby, the military/security complex, and the financial gangsters. Indeed, fear might be the most powerful force in America.
Americans are at ease with their country’s aggression against Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan, which has resulted in a million dead Muslim civilians and several million refugees, because the US government has filled Americans with fear of terrorists. “We have to kill them over there before they come over here.”
Fearful of American citizens, the US government is building concentration camps, apparently all over the country. According to news reports, a $385 million US government contract was given by the Bush/Cheney Regime to Cheney’s company, Halliburton, to build “detention centers” in the US. The corporate media never explained for whom the detention centers are intended.
Most Americans dismiss such reports. “It can’t happen here.” However, In northeastern Florida not far from Tallahassee, I have seen what might be one of these camps. There is a building inside a huge open area fenced with razor wire. There is no one there and no signs. The facility appears new and unused and does not look like an abandoned prisoner work camp.
What is it for?
Who spent all that money for what?
There are Americans who are so terrified of their lives being taken by terrorists that they are hoping the US government will use nuclear weapons to destroy “the Muslim enemy.” The justifications concocted for the use of nuclear bombs against Japanese civilian populations have had their effect. There are millions of Americans who wish “their” government would kill everyone that “their” government has demonized.
When I tell these people that they will die of old age without ever seeing a terrorist, they think I am insane. Don’t I know that terrorists are everywhere in America? That’s why we have airport security and homeland security. That’s why the government is justified in breaking the law to spy on citizens without warrants. That’s why the government is justified to torture people in violation of US law and the Geneva Conventions. If we don’t torture them, American cities will go up in mushroom clouds. Dick Cheney tells us this every week.
Terrorists are everywhere. “They hate us for our freedom and democracy.” When I tell
America’s alarmed citizens that the US has as many stolen elections as any country and that our civil liberties have been eroded by “the war on terror” they lump me into the terrorist category. They automatically conflate factual truth with anti-Americanism.
The same mentality prevails with regard to domestic crime. Most Americans, including, unfortunately, juries, assume that if the police make a case against a person and a prosecutor prosecutes it, the defendant is guilty. Most Americans are incapable of believing that police or a prosecutor would frame an innocent person for career or bureaucratic reasons or out of pure meanness.
Yet, it happens all the time. Indeed, it is routine.
Frame-ups are so routine that 96 per cent of the criminally accused will not risk a “jury of their peers,” preferring to negotiate a plea bargain agreement with the prosecutor. The jury of their peers are a brainwashed lot, fearful of crime, which they have never experienced but hear about all the time. Criminals are everywhere, doing their evil deeds.
The US has a much higher percentage of its population in prison than “authoritarian” countries, such as China, a one-party state. An intelligent population might wonder how a “freedom and democracy” country could have incarceration rates far higher than a dictatorship, but Americans fail this test. The more people that are put in prison, the safer Americans feel.
Lawrence Stratton and I describe frame-up techniques in The Tyranny of Good Intentions. Police and prosecutors even frame the guilty, as it is easier than convicting them on the evidence.
One case that has been before us for years, but is resolutely neglected by the corporate media, whose function is to scare the people, is that of Troy Davis.
Troy Davis was convicted of killing a police officer. The only evidence connecting him to the crime is the testimony of “witnesses,” the vast majority of whom have withdrawn their testimony. The witnesses say they testified falsely against Troy Davis because of police intimidation and coercion.
One would think that this would lead to a new hearing and trial. But not in America. The Republican judicial nazis have created the concept of “finality.” Even if the evidence shows that a wrongfully convicted person is innocent, finality requires that we execute him. If the convicted person is executed, we can assume he was guilty, because America has a pure justice system and never punishes the innocent. Everyone in prison and everyone executed is guilty. Otherwise, they they wouldn’t be in prison or executed.
It is all very simple if you are an American. America is pure, but other countries, except for our allies, are barbaric.
The same goes for our wars. Everyone we kill, whether they are passengers on Serbian commuter trains or attending weddings, funerals, or children playing soccer in Iraq, is a terrorist, or we would not have killed them. So was the little girl who was raped by our terrorist-fighting troops and then murdered, brutally, along with her family.
America only kills terrorists. If we kill you, you are a terrorist.
Americans are the salt of the earth. They never do any wrong. Only those other people do. Not the Israelis, of course.
And police, prosecutors, and juries never make mistakes. Everyone accused is guilty.
Fear has made every American a suspect, eroded our rights, and compromised our humanity.

Ships_Were_Sailin · 06-16-2009, 09:50 AM

Sadly, that ^ post is pretty spot on.

Hendrik · 07-08-2009, 09:50 PM

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/6...er_on_honduras

He's so right.

By the way, how old is Amy?

Hendrik · 08-07-2009, 10:03 PM

Listen to the words of the wise man Pilger:

buddy · 08-12-2009, 02:13 AM

^ wow, crotchety old people are never happy, no matter which extreme end of the political spectrum they fall on.

at this point in the Bush presidency, we hadn't yet experienced September 11th. i don't think Obama is perfect, but let's give the man a chance to define his presidency before judging him.

i probably agree with many of mr. pilger's views, but i must be more of a realist than i thought. social change doesn't take place overnight. i suppose the baby steps of a climate change bill, a hispanic woman on the top court, a drastic reduction of troop levels in iraq, forced reform of the auto/manufacturing industry, a $787-billion spending bill and a healthcare reform debate are enough for me for the time being.

Hendrik · 01-15-2010, 06:56 PM

What's going on in Haiti?

Apparently, this.

It smells like a shock strategy.

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/1...ter_capitalism

Quote:

Journalist and author Naomi Klein spoke in New York last night and addressed the crisis in Haiti: “We have to be absolutely clear that this tragedy—which is part natural, part unnatural—must, under no circumstances, be used to, one, further indebt Haiti and, two, to push through unpopular corporatist policies in the interest of our corporations. This is not conspiracy theory. They have done it again and again.”

jasmineha · 01-16-2010, 01:32 AM

I was actually just wondering if Damien might do something to help the people of Haiti. It's pretty horrific what's happening.

Hendrik · 01-17-2010, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Mark Ames

"A lot of us have been wondering, despondently, why the Hell Barack Obama is keeping Timothy Geithner on the job as Treasury Secretary, given his central role in the plunder of trillions of dollars from American taxpayers, and his record of subverting democracy in the service of Wall Street billionaires. Geithner’s the guy that drove the getaway car in the heist — so why was he hired to run the Treasury? You’d expect to see a guy as corrupt as Geithner serving as the Finance Minister in some Central Asian autocracy — but not in Barack Obama’s government, not after all he promised in the campaign. Maybe a better question is: Why did Obama choose Geithner in the first place?"

http://exiledonline.com/are-obama-an...ins-from-hell/

I always wondered why Obama chose Kissinger protégé Geithner, too...

verenita · 01-17-2010, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jasmineha

I was actually just wondering if Damien might do something to help the people of Haiti. It's pretty horrific what's happening.

out of topic, i know, sorry. i don´t know about damien, but the swellies (among others) will do:

Quote:

The Swell Season, Patti Smith, Josh Ritter, Rosanne Cash and other musicians have signed up for Haiti benefit concerts, scheduled for the City Winery in New York Jan. 20-21 and 24-25.

The club hopes to raise $100,000 over the four nights, to be donated to Wyclef Jean’s YELE organization, to fund the Emergency Mobile Hospitals initiative administered by the U.N.

Glen and Mar will do a duet show on the Wednesday, 20th of Jan.

For information, and to buy tickets, visit http://www.citywinery.com

jasmineha · 01-17-2010, 07:54 PM

verenita ^^
that's awesome! I was hoping a lot of people would help. If I had the means, I would.

Mark Hogan · 01-18-2010, 01:54 PM

I kicked in through this:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/haitiearthquake

Hendrik · 03-23-2010, 08:55 PM

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/w...iran-1.1013151

Quote:

“It is clear that the US government continues to beat the drums of war over Iran, most recently in the statements of Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. It is depressingly similar to the rhetoric we heard prior to the war in Iraq in 2003.”

Flyingspaghettismonsterdamnit, here we go again!

Rai · 03-23-2010, 09:34 PM

^There are no war drums being beaten by Hillary or anyone else in the present administration. You should not trust Scottish tabloids on US foreign policy.

In fact this is the first US government which that tried to initiate discussions with Iran since the revolution.

The only thing threatening Iran is its own murderous regime, but the Green Movement will take care of that in time.

Hendrik · 04-03-2010, 09:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rai

^There are no war drums being beaten by Hillary or anyone else in the present administration. You should not trust Scottish tabloids on US foreign policy.

In fact this is the first US government which that tried to initiate discussions with Iran since the revolution.

The only thing threatening Iran is its own murderous regime, but the Green Movement will take care of that in time.

Well, I can certainly see that something strange is going on, not only with those military preparations mentioned in the article (and that's not made up, like you were suggesting). Why is Obama preparing sanctions against Iran (which are based on shaky assumptions and not on facts) and why isn't he doing that with apartheid-state Israel who breaks international law regularly and threatens the peace in the middle east since 1967? Bigottery, hypocracy. Israel hasn't even signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty (Iran did) and Israel is armed to its teeth. But in the logic of the Israeli right-wing government and their entourage the existence of human rights and international law are, by nature, "anti-Semitic"...lol They can't fool us, those fanatic inhumane, insane zionist ideology fascists. Sure, Ahmadinedshad is not better than they are, but at least he doesn't commit war crimes and violates international laws like Israel does on a scale that is almost unimageinable. Ahmadinedshad has to be stopped by the movements in Iran, not by Israel or the USA.

"You cannot sit and wait, while Saddam develops weapons of mass destruction...They are building missiles. And simply, you cannot sit and wait for meeting this challenge." (Shimon Peres, Israeli foreign minister, May 2002)

Eerily similar situation...just with different protagonists. "Iran has the bomb, we have to stop them by attacking them". Bollocks to that...

Quote:

True, Ahmadinejad is a repulsive leader. I hope that the Iranians will get rid of him, and assume that this will happen sooner or later. But our relations with Iran do not depend on one single person, whoever he may be. They go back to ancient times and were always friendly – from the time of Cyrus until the time of Khomeini (whom we provided with arms to fight the Iraqis.)

In Israel, the portrayal of Iran nowadays is a caricature: a primitive, crazy country, with nothing on its mind but the destruction of the Zionist state. But it suffices to read a few good books about Iran (I would recommend William Polk’s “Understanding Iran”) which describe one of the oldest civilized countries in the world, which has given birth to several great empires and made a remarkable contribution to human culture. It has an old and proud tradition. Some scholars believe that the Jewish religion was profoundly influenced by the ethical teachings of Zoroaster (Zarathustra).

Whatever the rantings of Ahmadinejad, the real rulers of the country, the clerics, conduct a cautious and sober policy, and have never attacked another country. They have many important interests, and Israel is not among them. The idea that they would sacrifice their own glorious homeland in order to destroy Israel is ludicrous.

The simple truth is that there is no way to prevent the Iranians from acquiring a nuclear bomb. Better to think seriously about the situation that would be created: a balance of terror like the one between India and Pakistan, the elevation of Iran to the rank of a regional power, the need to start a sober dialogue with it.

http://www.planetarymovement.org/go/newsflash/%93hold-me-back!%94-by-uri-avnery/

Rai · 04-05-2010, 08:15 AM

^Shipping bombs to the most important Air Force base outside of mainland USA doesn't prove anything.

Sanctions are being prepared against Iran because it is doing some really shady business. It has at least two enormous enrichment facilities (plus probably more secret ones) and it still lacks a single nuclear power plant. It has refused all deals that would outsource enrichment, something not needed for civilian nuclear use. Plus it's been working on long-range ballistic missiles and the methods of using high explosives that can be used to trigger a nuclear bomb. This is not the US's opinion, but that of the IAEA, France, England, basically every nation and international body that matters.

And Israel, even though it is definitely not an "Apartheid state", has just had its balls stepped on by the Obama administration. It is a very peculiar situation and just starting ****ing up Israel, the only somewhat democratic and free country in the region would be stupid.

And Ahmadinejad is dangerous to the world and to his own people whom he and his thugs have been slaughtering since he stole the last election. Iran doesn't openly start wars, but was behind terrorist attacks all round the world for decades. It is the financer of Hamas and Hizbullah, the two entities that provoked the last two wars of Israel, who are just as guilty in stirring up **** in that useless piece of desert as anyone.

Iran is much worse then Israel ever was. There are no human rights whatsoever. Women have no rights. Minorities have no rights. There is no free exercise of religion. Homosexuals and rape victims are punished with execution. There is no free press. Recently all university groupings have been forcibly dismantled, and there are regular violent attacks against university students by the regime's thugs. And you say that Israel is the apartheid state.

And the Supreme leader, that evil old bastard being "cautious and sober"? Whoever wrote this I'd like to have him talk to some of my Iranian refugee friends for about five minutes.

Hendrik · 04-06-2010, 08:11 PM

Quote:

^Shipping bombs to the most important Air Force base outside of mainland USA doesn't prove anything.

Let's hope so and assume for a second that they were shipping those bombs there only because they were bored and to test them for nothing...

Quote:

Sanctions are being prepared against Iran because it is doing some really shady business. It has at least two enormous enrichment facilities (plus probably more secret ones)

"Probably more secret ones"...see? This is what lead to the whole crap in the spring of 2003 when they assumed that Saddam was having weapons of mass destruction.

Quote:

And Israel, even though it is definitely not an "Apartheid state", has just had its balls stepped on by the Obama administration. It is a very peculiar situation and just starting ****ing up Israel, the only somewhat democratic and free country in the region would be stupid.

And Ahmadinejad is dangerous to the world and to his own people whom he and his thugs have been slaughtering since he stole the last election. Iran doesn't openly start wars, but was behind terrorist attacks all round the world for decades. It is the financer of Hamas and Hizbullah, the two entities that provoked the last two wars of Israel, who are just as guilty in stirring up **** in that useless piece of desert as anyone.

Iran is much worse then Israel ever was. There are no human rights whatsoever. Women have no rights. Minorities have no rights. There is no free exercise of religion. Homosexuals and rape victims are punished with execution. There is no free press. Recently all university groupings have been forcibly dismantled, and there are regular violent attacks against university students by the regime's thugs. And you say that Israel is the apartheid state.

And the Supreme leader, that evil old bastard being "cautious and sober"? Whoever wrote this I'd like to have him talk to some of my Iranian refugee friends for about five minutes.

Egypt and Saudi-Arabia are in partnership with the USA and those countries are horrible concerning the violation of human rights (even worse than Iran), including no rights for women and stoning and slaughtering people. Israel invaded Libanon five times during the last 30 years without any legal reason (with the help from their US friends). So, demanding sanctions for Iran is just one big f*cking joke. Iran is no threat to a peace in the middle east, it never was, everybody who says so is just repeating the US/Israeli propaganda (remember: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...inst-Iran.html, Obama hasn't backed off from this plan), the other mentioned countries are a threat to a peace in the middle east. In Iran jews are second-class and called "dhimmies", in Israel arab muslims are second-class, in Israel if you refuse going to the Israeli Defense Army (IDF), you get prosecuted and imprisoned. That's not what I would call a free and democratic country. Hell, in many Israeli country parts you can get cruel homophobia as well, not only in Iran. (just because they don't get killed in Israel doesn't make it any better)

Iran is coming into the focus, because it refuses to submit to US orders, simple as that. The situation is almost comparable to Cuba, which still has the US embargo, although it's no threat to the "west" and the "free world". Since 30 years...The US imperialists don't like independent countries, look to Bolivia (for many centuries it's been dependent to western powers) where the leftist Morales was elected...

Most people have forgotten that it were the USA which backed up a coup in 1953 to overthrow the Iranian government and installed a tyrann, the Sha. Just like they did in many other perverted coups, e.g. in Chile with the bloody exchange of Allende with Pinochet. (the publisher of "Public Affairs" even admitted that, back then, Chile had to be de-stabilized to be stabilizied...) The newest backed-up coup happened in Latin America, in Honduras. (which has an importan military base for the United States - why, just ask yourself...)

Rai · 04-06-2010, 08:42 PM

Quote: