As the Bush Administration leaves the White House, it leaves behind not only an economy in tatters and an ongoing Global War, but also a legal infrastructure designed to empower a Unitary Executive. (PATRIOT 1, PATRIOT 2, The Military Commissions Act, PDD 51, many executive orders and signing statements) Will Obama set about dismantling this misplaced power and restore the constitutional balance of our government? I doubt it, and here are ten reasons you should too.
10. He Caves.
"I will work in the Senate to remove this provision so that we can seek full accountability for past offenses." Concerning retroactive immunity granted to telecommunication multi-national corporations by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008. From a statement given June 20, 2008.
"The phone company whose service you employ was involved in passing your personal data, without your consent, to federal agencies, without a warrant. At the time, the legality of the federal data-mining efforts was unclear, but several civil suits were underway in defense of your Constitutional right to privacy in your papers and effects. Obama pledged to defend those rights, then abandoned that pledge for a politically expedient poll-boost. After Obama voted in favor of the immunity, the civil litigation already filed against the Telecoms by the People of the United States was summarily dismissed and future litigation was rendered impossible."
But it gets worse, in October 2008, ABC News, along with the Financial Times of London and most other major outlets reported the account of two NSA linguists who said that under the guise of FISA they routinely spied on American Armed Service Personnel by listening to private conversations with loved ones stateside, conversations between spouses, parents, and children our men in women in uniform may never see again. These conversations included pillow talk and, in some cases even phone sex. It was then reported that NSA linguists would on occasion pass around salacious conversations between Americans in a voyeuristic or mocking manner. Senator Rockefeller (D-Va), who voted for the 2008 FISA revisions called the revelations "extremely disturbing," despite the fact that congressmen and women in both the house and senate had delivered warnings about just such a scenario on the floors of the bicameral legislature.9. American Monarchy
or Its all in the Family
or Its all in the Family
For the past 20 years (1988-2008) the office of the Presidency has been held by members of 2, count 'em, nuclear families. If you include the office of the Vice Presidency, those two families have ruled for 28 consecutive years, and nearly sneaked in another 4. (Remember all that Hillary for V.P. clamor) If we're factoring the time individuals have spent in the white house as we examine the diversity of the executive branch, it seems only fair that we add the distinguished career of Richard Bruce Cheney to the pot. Cheney entered the White House as a staff assistant in 1971, and became Deputy Assistant to President Gerald Ford in 1974. From 1975-77 he served as White House Chief of Staff. Cheney then wheeled over to congress in 1978, untill he returned to the White House, serving the administration of George Herbert Walker Bush as Secretary of Defense from 1989 through 1993. When Cheney once again leaves the White House in January 2009, he will have served within its walls for a total of 21 years.
Its pretty impressive when you think about it; for the past thirty years the genetic diversity of the occupants of the White House has mimicked that of critically endangered cheetah populations.
Obama's ethnicity is ground-breaking for a Chief Executive. With a father from Kenya and a mother from rural Kansas. You might easily assume his ancestry was similarly ground-breaking. But, alarmingly, it is not. Now, in fairness this may be a simple coincidence, but did you know that Barak H. Obama is a cousin of Richard Bruce Cheney? OK, a distant cousin. Obama and Cheney are descended from Mareen and Susannah Duvall, French immigrants who arrived in Maryland in 1650. Big Deal, Duvall has thousands of descendants, including John Miles Duvall, a revolutionary war veteran who turned sea merchant before his death at the hands of pirates in 1787. Also Gabriele Duvall, one of the first Supreme Court Justices. Obama and Cheney are ninth cousins once removed.
Alone, that fact could be dismissed as a quirk of the 'melting pot'. Obama has a still more interesting pair of ancestors, Samuel Hinckley and Sarah Soole Hinckley. The Hinckleys sailed to Massachusetts in 1634 aboard the Hercules of Sandwich. Their son, Thomas, became governor of the Plymouth colony. (The one with the rock, you know?) Their descendants include Frances Louise Tracy, the wife of J. P. Morgan(a.k.a. the Bank), their son John Pierpont Morgan Jr who was also a prominent banker, Dorothy Walker, the wife of Senator Prescott Sheldon Bush, and their son George Herbert Walker Bush, a former President, and his son George Walker Bush, the current President. George H.W. Bush and Obama are 10th cousins once removed. Barak H. Obama and George W. Bush are 11th cousins.
This sort of thing isn't unheard of. John Kerry and George W. were 16th cousins three times removed. Margaret De Clare, born in Ireland in 1281 a.d. originated a bloodline that includes Hillary Rodham Clinton, George W. Bush, and Queen Elizabeth II. Obama's relations could be simple coincidence. But its astronomically unlikely.
Because Obama's father was from Kenya, all of these early American relations are on Obama's mother's side. Barak is half as likely as an average American Citizen to be related to a President, any President. Obama's mother Stanley Ann Dunham is a relative of Cheney, Bush 1, Bush 2, and J.P. Morgan.
As Bush departs and his cousin takes over, we can only hope Obama doesn't share his traditional family values.
8. "The Test"
Occasionally politicians and intelligence agencies tap into something akin to precognition. Warnings from foreign and national intelligence agencies, and rhetoric about the need for a "new pearl harbor" published by Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld preceded the attacks of 9/11/01. In this context, its important to understand the magnitude and implications of Joe Biden's statement during the campaign:“Mark my words, it will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don’t remember anything else I said. Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”
"This is a very extraordinary statement. He actually says, "Mark my words, there will be some terrible international incident." He says he can think of five or six places it can come, and then he mentions the Middle East and Russia. He only mentions two of them. And he also then suggests that people won't be pleased with Barack Obama and people should stick with him. So this is a very big thought that he has, and I think he should explain what he's talking about. But the reality is that if he has this kind of concern, that people are going to test Barack Obama's mettle, maybe he was right in the first place when he said that Barack Obama isn't ready to be commander in chief at this stage of his career."
"Well, I think it’s just a statement of fact, frankly, and in my book, I talk about the fact that there are a lot of big issues out there, but that also something unexpected – you always have to be prepared for that."
The Los Angeles Times reported the concerns of European intelligence officials, and the challenge Obama will face in the form of a "shadow war against stateless networks of Islamic extremists." The paper then reinforced Biden's prediction.
“The announcement is mainly a way of putting pressure on and testing Barack Obama,” Antonio Missiroli, European expert on international security, said. It is, in other words, a bargaining chip Moscow thinks it can use, he said.
The Los Angeles Times reported the concerns of European intelligence officials, and the challenge Obama will face in the form of a "shadow war against stateless networks of Islamic extremists." The paper then reinforced Biden's prediction.
"Terrorism greeted the previous two presidents early in their terms. President Clinton faced the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 and President Bush the world-changing attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. 'I fear Al Qaeda could try to test Obama,' said a top Italian anti-terrorism official, who asked not to be identified because of the issue's sensitivity. A weaker Al Qaeda, tighter U.S. borders and the apparent lack of U.S. support networks make a new strike on American soil unlikely, though not impossible, according to Western anti-terrorism officials. Instead, the foremost possible scenario is an attack on U.S. targets in Europe similar to the alleged plot against American troops in Germany last year and transatlantic flights from
London in 2006."
Prophets? No. Insiders all, and they indeed seemed certain of the uncertain. Less than 24 hours after the news of Barak Obama's election, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev threatened to place "Iskander" missiles near the Polish city of Kaliningrad and radar stations with the capacity to "stun" American radar in the Czech Republic, in response to the deployment of American anti-missile system in Europe. The eastern-European American missile defense system, pushed aggressively by the Bush administration, is widely seen in Europe as a first-strike nuclear arsenal to intimidate Iran, Russia, and China.London in 2006."
“The announcement is mainly a way of putting pressure on and testing Barack Obama,” Antonio Missiroli, European expert on international security, said. It is, in other words, a bargaining chip Moscow thinks it can use, he said.
“Instead of emphasizing the positive elements of Obama's election - that marks the end of the Bush 'era' - he indulged in Cold War rhetoric and threats,” Missiroli, Director of Studies of the Belgian-based European Policy Centre.
This is senseless provocation firstly aimed at strengthening confrontation between Russia and West, Pavel Felgengauer, a Russian military expert told TrendNews by telephone from Moscow.
Could this be the first ominous beat of the war drums awaiting us all in January? Will we past the test? or will he?
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment