Tag: Obamabots

Obamabots On the Attack

On the Open Salon version of my previous entry, some right-winger who supports Obama kept trying to lay the blame for next year’s results on the left for failing to properly support the candidate who has done far more to pass the Republicans’ agenda than any GOP office-holder could have.

I am about certain Obama will be a one term president–and that one of the Republican clowns will win in 2012.

Most of the blame for that will fall with the unrealistic expectations and shortsightedness of people devoted to a progressive agenda.

Have Scientists discovered the cure for Obama-bot-ism?

The following suggests a cure for Obama-bot-ism, analogous to a broad-spectrum anti-biotic. It also might help cure the mentation of Rush Limbaugh ditto-heads, and such. From a comment by jedimsnbcko19 on a recent diary by Jane Hamsher:

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ETA: The source is from somebody named “Hugh” (apparently no last name). From the comment, below, see:

The full table of content for all 260 items is here: http://obamascandalslist.blogs…

* Documentation for items 1 thru 100 is here: http://obamascandalslist.blogs…

* Documentation for items 101 thru 200 is here: http://obamascandalslist.blogs…

* Documentation for items 201-260 is here: http://obamascandalslist.blogs…

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

Let say Obama done 10 things for Progressives, he done a lot more for his GOP friends. LOL please read below Mike Sax

1. Reneged on pledge to filibuster FISA Amendments Act (July 2008)

2. Lobbied for $700 billion Paulson TARP bank bailout

3. Pushed for no sanctions against Lieberman despite his support for John McCain

4. Nominated healthcare company lobbyist Tom Daschle as Secretary of HHS

5. Had neoliberal Robert Rubin as his chief economics adviser

6. Then had the equally neoliberal Larry Summers assume this role

7. Chose the failing upwards Timothy Geithner to head Treasury

8. AIG bonuses and money to Goldman under Obama

9. Doubling down in Afghanistan

10. Delay and reduction of withdrawal from Iraq

11. Moving Guantanamo activities to Bagram

12. Military commissions for some detainees

13. Support for indefinite detention

14. Refusal to release torture photos under FOIA

15. Refusal to investigate and prosecute Bush era criminality

16. Geithner’s DOA economic rescue programs: the PPIP and TALF

17. Minimal help for homeowners and no cramdowns

18. Treatment of Chrysler and GM with bankrupcy compared to bank no fail “stress tests”

19. Kabuki of TARP repayment by banks while still dependent on government credit lines

20. Extra-Constitutional use of the Fed by the Executive for fiscal policy

21. Credit Card bill without usury caps and with 9 month delay for other reforms

22. Business friendly Mary Schapiro named to head SEC

23. Gary Gensler who helped deregulate derivatives named to head CFTC

24. $787 billion stimulus: too little, too late, poorly structured

25. Use of financial crisis to attack Social Security and Medicare

26. The great healthcare non-debate

27. Continued use of state secrets argument in ongoing Bush era cases

28. Use of signing statements, including one to punish whistleblowers

29. Vetting process problems, especially tax related ones

30. Leaving Dawn Johnsen’s nomination to head OLC twisting in the wind

31. Eric Holder, failure to reform DOJ, not removing worst of Bush USAs

32. Failure to move against new oil bubble

33. Retention of Bush Defense team: Gates, Patraeus, and Odierno

34. Continued missile strikes inside Pakistan

35. Keeping Bush’s domestic spying programs and adding a new one, cybersecurity

36. Choice of Elena Kagan who favors expansive Presidential powers as Sollicitor General, her subsequent nomination to the Supreme Court

37. Leaving EFCA (to help counter anti-union companies) to wither in Congress

38. Welcoming Arlen Specter who brings nothing to the Democrats into the party

39. Weak ineffective proposals for financial reform

40. Obama wanted John Brennan at CIA but settled for making him his counter- terrorism adviser

41. Chas Freeman with broader Mideast perspective done in by AIPAC

42. Dennis Blair made DNI; failed to act to stop atrocities in East Timor

43. Choice of McChrystal involved in torture in Iraq to head Afghanistan command

44. Obama threat to suspend intelligence cooperation with UK over Binyam Mohamed case

45. Efforts to keep Bush and Obama White House logs secret

46. Playing games with “Don’t ask, don’t tell”

47. Filing a brief to overturn Jackson (access to lawyer) in the Montejo case

48. Not withdrawing Bush brief in Osborne DNA case

49. Egregious brief in challenge to Defense of Marriage Act

50. The Supplemental which made Iraq and Afghanistan Democratic wars

51. Choice of Rahm Emanuel as the President’s Chief of Staff

52. Choice of Dennis Ross as Iran envoy and then his move to the White House

53. Politically embarrassing processes to fill Obama and Clinton’s Senate seats

54. Choice of Bill Richardson, then Judd Gregg to head Commerce Department

55. Reneging on pledge to re-negotiate NAFTA

56. Obama’s throwing his pastor Jeremiah Wright to the curb, then reaching out to religious conservative Rick Warren

57. Continued challenges to habeas corpus petitions over indefinite detention, the Janko case

58. The Obama White House website

59. Continuing an ineffective program that Iran can exploit politically

60. Going slow on climate change when there is no time to

61. Not withdrawing a Bush-era amicus brief in the Ricci v. DeStefano reverse discrimination case and supporting a rollback of Title VII

62. Appointment of a CIA General Counsel who doesn’t know if waterboarding is torture

63. Appointment of a DNI General Counsel who doesn’t know if waterboarding is torture

64. CIA delay in a FOIA request concerning torture

65. The influence of Goldman Sachs in the Obama Administration

66. Attempt to keep secret the Cheney interview on the Plame affair

67. Mountaintop removal under Obama

68. Attempt to restrict Congressional notification on intelligence matters

69. Opposition to a second stimulus

70. Another egregious attempt to fight a habeas corpus petition in the Jawad case

71. Continuing charter schools and standardized tests

72. Holder’s decision to support a weak, narrow review of torture

73. Re-appointment of Ben Bernanke as Fed Chairman

74. Continuing renditions

75. Politically dubious company was used to vet reporters in Afghanistan

76. Judge vetoes a too weak SEC plea bargain with Bank of America

77. Justice’s argument for making Bagram a new Guantanamo, the al Maqaleh case

78. Defense to turn over databases to poorly controlled fusion centers

79. Obama changes but keeps Bush’s Star Wars program

80. Failure to win an Israeli freeze on settlements

81. White House refuses to back its own staffer environmentalist Van Jones

82. Politicized US Attorney in the Siegelman case cleared by Office of Special Counsel

83. Criticism of Iranian nuclear program; support of Israeli nuclear weapons

84. Support for a weakened reporter’s shield law

85. Use of the Zazi case to retain broad Patriot Act surveillance provisions

86. Wilner v. NSA, continuing the coverup of warrantless surveillance of communications between attorneys and detainees

87. Attempt to spike the Goldstone report on Israeli-Hamas war crimes in Gaza

88. Slowness in filling federal judgeships

89. Inadequate aid to overwhelmed state budgets

90. Attempting to dodge the Supreme Court deciding whether innocent Guantanamo detainees can be resettled in the US

91. Allowing drilling in the waters off the north coast of Alaska

92. Keeping detainee accounts of CIA torture secret

93. Current FBI manual allows for widespread domestic spying

94. Securitization invalidates most foreclosures

95. Geithner wanting unlimited powers to save large banks

96. Another state secrets defense to conceal domestic spying

97. Circuit Court dismissal of Maher Arar suit

98. Weakening Sarbanes-Oxley and calling it financial reform

99. Unemployment

100. Inspector General for Fannie and Freddie ousted for investigating fraud

101. Gaming courts to convict Guantanamo detainees

102. White House counsel removed for his principled stands on torture and Guantanamo

103. US seizes mosques claiming Iranian connection

104. Howard Dean removed as head of the DNC

105. Scientist with close ties to Monsanto put in charge of all governmental agricultural research

106. Pesticide lobbyist nominated as Chief Agricultural Negotiator for trade

107. Effort to let some government contractors avoid paying taxes

108. A bad US Attorney nomination for Northern Iowa

109. Hunger in America

110. The breast cancer recommendations fiasco

111. Ongoing confusion and disorganization in the military commissions process

112. Phillip Carter another official in closing Guantanamo resigns

113. Refusal to sign anti-land mine treaty

114. The Ghizzawi case and the legal limbo of “cleared for release”

115. Black prisons at Balad and Bagram

116. Delay in declassifying historic documents

117. Max Baucus’ conflicts of interest in healthcare and with his girlfriend

118. Major security breach at a White House party and a ridiculous assertion of “executive privilege”

119. Dana “Pig Missile” Perino nominated to the Broadcasting Board of Governors

120. Cass Sunstein, an anti-regulator in a regulatory position

121. Warrantless for profit electronic surveillance by telecoms and search engines

122. The government sides with torture lawyer John Yoo and attacks Bevins actions again

123. The TSA publishes its security manual online

124. Toxic legal arguments in al Zahrani v. Rumsfeld, yet another Bevins action

125. The Nobel Peace Prize and a neocon acceptance speech

126. Blackwater’s involvement in military and CIA assassination and drone programs

127. Congressional Research Service censorship in the firing of Morris Davis

128. AIG writes off $25 billion in debt and sticks taxpayers with the bill

129. The Administration plays hardball to kill an amendment that would lower drug costs

130. A poorly considered blank check to Fannie and Freddie

131. Continuing a Bush botch in the Nisoor Square massacre case

132. Jonathan Gruber, a major defender of Obamacare was also a paid consultant for it

133. A Geithner related cover up of the AIG at par payments on swaps

134. Adoption of stealth signing statements

135. al Bihani, more bad legal reasoning in another Guantanamo habeas case

136. Cutting Medicare and Social Security by deficit commission proposed

137. A 3 year non-freeze budget freeze proposed

138. NASA flights privatized

139. OPR report on Yoo and Bybee watered down and its relation to the Padilla case

140. Government targeting of US citizens for assassination

141. Abuse of informants by ICE agents

142. Obama leaves Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board empty

143. Obama backs firing of teachers in Rhode Island

144. Irish human rights advocate Edward Horgan has US visa pulled

145. Threatened veto of 2010 Intelligence Authorization Act over Congressional notifications

146. Obama Administration intimidation of whistleblowing site: wikileaks

147. Fish and Wildlife Service continues to ignore science on endangered species

148. Senate vacation more important than jobless benefits

149. Government seeks to compel turnover of emails without a warrant

150. Obama goes after an NSA whistleblower: the Thomas Drake case

151. Obama goes after a CIA whistleblower: the James Risen case

152. Weakening Miranda rights in national security cases

153. Advocating the privatizing of public housing

154. Another step in making Bagram the new Guantanamo, the al Maqaleh case, the appeals court edition

155. Massey mining disaster, 29 die because of corporate greed and poor regulation

156. Obama proposal for a line item veto

157. A military commander allowed to use military forces for intelligence operations without Presidential approval

158. Political pandering in sending 1200 National Guardsmen to the Southwest border

159. A sad record on resisting Guantanamo habeas petitions

160. Israel attacks an aid convoy for Gaza; Obama punts

161. A further erosion of Miranda: Berghius v. Thompkins

162. Naming James Clapper, a Bush appointee, to be the next DNI

163. DOJ seeks to protect Vatican in sex abuse scandal

164. Yahya Wehelie, an American exiled without charge

165. Failure to replace National Labor Relations Board members means hundreds of decisions must be reviewed

166. SCOTUS opts for overly broad definition of material support to terrorist groups

167. Speaker Pelosi backstabs Social Security

168. Complaints by government scientists of political interference at Bush era levels

169. Flip flop on free trade agreement with Colombia

170. SEC declares major victory but lets Goldman off easy

171. Private contracting of intelligence continues under Obama

172. Two Guantanamo prisoners to be deported back to Algeria against their will

173. The Shirley Sherrod affair: trumped up charges of racism and a bungled response

174. Whitewash report on Bush era US Attorney firings

175. Despite its record, Blackwater still gets big US government contracts

176. Wikileaks releases government files showing Pakistan involvement with Taliban and admission that things are going poorly in Afghanistan

177. Obama seeks to get access to everyone’s web histories without a court order

178. Teacher funding sacrificed to keep Education Secretary Arne Duncan happy

179. State’s top Iran hand resigns over Obama’s Iran policy

180. Citizens United: validation of unlimited corporate political funding

181. Push to expand US arms sales around the world

182. Project Vigilant, Infragard and “volunteer” corporate spying for the government

183. Obama’s approval hits Bush levels in Arab world

184. Effort to pre-empt state environmental lawsuits involving green house gases

185. Justice’s Anti-trust division asleep at the wheel

186. Kagan’s recusals render her even more ineffective on the Supreme Court

187. Poverty level highest since 1994

188. Courts run interference for corporate violators of international law

189. Warren named to set up but not to run Consumer Financial Protection Board

190. Chief economic adviser Larry Summers leaves; Obama looks for someone even more pro-business to replace him

191. DOJ IG report goes soft on Bush era surveillance against peace groups and other activists; meanwhile the Obama Administration conducts raids against similar groups

192. Move to put backdoors in the internet to facilitate spying and more requirements on banks on international money transfers of any size

193. HHS Secretary Sebelius delays for at least two years required insurance coverage for contraception

194. Americans on Medicaid increased to 48.5 million in 2009

195. Big home lenders suspend foreclosures as their documentation gets challenged in court

196. HR 3808, a bill passed by Congress, to facilitate the acceptance of false documentation by banks in foreclosure proceedings

197. ICE raids and deportations increase under Obama

198. Social Security COLA frozen for second straight year; no action taken

199. Waivers for military aid to countries with child soldiers

200. Big and deserved losses in the 2010 elections

They shoot ponies don’t they?

I think we’ve all had too many of these conversations…

(Thanks to Gnocchi over at Firedoglake for making this fantastic video)

Obama’s method of consensus building

He watched her, his chin in his hand. All right, he said. This is the best I can do.

He straightened out his leg and reached into his pocket and drew out a few coins and took one and held it up. He turned it. For her to see the justice of it. He held it between his thumb and forefinger and weighed it and he flipped it spinning in the air and caught it and slapped it down on his wrist. Call it, he said.

She looked at him, at his outheld wrist. What? She said.

Call it.

I wont do it.

Yes you will. Call it

God would not want me to do that.

Of course he would. You should try to save yourself. Call it. This is your last chance.

Heads, she said.

He lifted his hand away. The coin was tails.

I’m sorry.

She didnt answer.

Maybe it’s for the best.

She looked away. You make it like it was the coin. But you’re the one.

It could have gone either way.

The coin didnt have no say. It was just you.

Perhaps. But look at it my way. I got here the same way the coin did.

She sat sobbing softly. She didnt answer.

For things at a common destination there is a common path. Not always easy to see. But there.

Everything I ever thought has turned out different, she said. There aint the least part of my life I could of guessed. Not this, not none of it.

I know.

You wouldnt of let me off noway.

I had no say in the matter. Every moment in your life is a turning and every one a choosing. Somewhere you made a choice. All followed to this. The accounting is scrupulous. The shape is drawn. No line can be erased. I had no belief in your ability to move a coin to your bidding. How could you? A person’s path through the world seldom changes and even more seldom will it change abruptly. And the shape of your path was visible from the beginning.

She sat sobbing. She shook her head.

Yet even though I could have told you how all of this would end I thought it not too much to ask that you have a final glimpse of hope in the world to lift your heart before the shroud drops, the darkness. Do you see?

Oh God, she said. Oh God.

I’m sorry.

She looked at him a final time. You dont have to, she said. You dont. You dont.

He shook his head. You’re asking that I make myself vulnerable and that I can never do. I have only one way to live. It doesnt allow for special cases. A coin toss perhaps. In this case to small purpose. Most people dont believe that there can be such a person. You can see what a problem that must be for them. How to prevail over that which you refuse to acknowledge the existence of. Do you understand? When I came into your life your life was over. It had a beginning, a middle, and an end. This is the end. You can say that things could have turned out differently. That they could have been some other way. But what does that mean? They are not some other way. They are this way. You’re asking that I second say the world. Do you see?

Yes, she said, sobbing. I do. I truly do.

Good, he said. That’s good. Then he shot her.

To be fair to Anton Chigur, he actually flipped the coin, but I couldn’t otherwise resist the parallel.