The extreme right policies of the Obama administration are a rather blatant example of a much larger problem: the futility of voting for Democrats.

In a series of postings and with a bit of help, I came up with 140 examples of Bush Regime policies that this administration has continued or expanded on. And, it wasn't like I was trying to write an exhaustive list. I didn't have to do much research at all to come up with those items.

Our economy still sucks, when Democrats had the power during the last congressional term, they refused to pass real healthcare reform, lower the Social Security retirement age, or get rid of the Bush tax cuts for the rich (much less the Clinton, Reagan, Carter, and Kennedy tax cuts for the rich). Although Obama got the legal authority to lift the military ban at the end of last year, his administration keeps putting up homophobic administrative obstacles to postpone lifting the ban forever.

Neither this administration nor the Democrats in Congress have done anything to fight AIDS, pass ENDA, fight the banksters, prosecute crooked Bush regime officials, or end the wars. It's been new bosses, same old shit. Now, Barack Obama is working with his Republican allies (the "conflict" between them is as fake as the WWE) to implement the Crusade of Obama's Cat Food Commission against Social Security, Medicare, and Medicare.

Obama and the Democrats have been just as callous and unconcerned as the Republicans about the plight of the middle class and the poor in this country who continue to suffer while their wealthy donors party down with money that rightfully belongs to the rest of us. This is an administration that is so brazenly corrupt that they have chosen to give hundreds of thousands of Americans cancer just to show favoritism to some well connected airport X-Ray scanner companies.

Where is the opposition to all of this in the Democratic Party?

Where indeed!

It is disturbing that there is no real Democrat left to fight for what the party used to stand for. No one is willing to take on the rightist political elites in the party who treat everyone else like garbage.

There really isn't anyone left in the Democratic Party to vote for. These days, voting for Democrats or Republicans is throwing away your vote. The only hope, and a slim one admittedly, is to vote Green. There really is nothing left in the party that once brought forth the New Deal and Civil Rights laws.

Top Photo: jurvetson

 

In previous postings on Barack Bush's Cat Food Commission, I discussed how he created a "deficit commission" to advocate tax cuts for the rich and the corporations they own while cutting government programs for the middle class and the poor. Stopping the wars, raising taxes on the rich/corporations, raising tariffs, and cutting corporate welfare were "oddly" off the table.

Now that Barack Bush's fellow Republicans control the House, he is using that opportunity to go after Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. This is reprehensible, and it shows the contempt that this administration and its GOP allies have for the non rich.

It's time for some brave Democrat (if such a person even exists in that party anymore) to launch a primary challenge against Barack Bush. Barack Bush has been fucking with the middle class and the poor for far too long.

In the meantime, some progressives are fighting back, I encourage you to join them in doing so.

1) From an Action Alert by Firedog Lake:

The war on our social safety net is now fully underway.

President Obama is offering cuts to Social Security benefits in exchange for GOP support for tax hikes. Democrats in the Senate and Congress will likely be forced to walk the plank and support those cuts, despite being deeply unpopular.

We refuse to sit by and watch the political classes get away with making cuts to Social Security. Firedoglake will make it as painful as possible for any politician from any party to participate in this wholesale looting of the public sphere.

Join us in demanding absolutely NO CUTS to social safety net programs like Medicare and Social Security.

Take the pledge:
"I pledge to withhold support for any politician who participates in cutting social safety net programs like Medicare and Social Security."

2. Bold Progressives Have Their Own Pledge You Can Sign:

President Obama: If you cut Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits for me, my family, or families like mine, don't ask for a penny of my money or an hour of my time in 2012. I'm going to focus on electing bold progressive candidates who will fight to protect our Democratic legacy.

Sadly, it's looking as though the only way protect the policies and values the Democratic Party used to stand for these days is to vote Green. The Democrats are just clones of the GOP these days.

3. Contact the White House:
It's no secret that Barack Bush is a plutocrat who hates poor and middle class Americans, but he does need our votes in 2012. It's important to contact the White House and let them know that you are outraged by the fascist policies he is proposing.

 

In a recent Nation blog entry, extreme right columnist Eric Alterman accuses Noam Chomsky of lying about him. Let's look at Alterman's rant first.

So Chomsky uses exactly one example to demonstrate his joint contention regarding both “America’s obsessive belief in capital punishment” and its “rejoicing in the manner of Bin Laden’s demise.” Regarding the death penalty, I do not support it and never have. Regarding “rejoicing,” Chomsky purposely ignored the sentence that followed the very one he chose to quote. It reads: “But it should not be occasion for joy. The Talmud tells the story of angels dancing and singing as the waters of the Red Sea close over the heads of the Egyptian troops after the Israelites have safely crossed over, only to be rebuked by their God: ‘How dare you dance and sing as my children drown in the sea?’”

This would sound convincing if one didn't bother to read Alterman's reprehensible commentary on bin Laden's extrajudicial murder. I should point out the fact that the very title of the piece, "Bin Gotten" rejoices in that murder. (Bolding and italics mine.)

The killing of Osama bin Laden was a just and necessary undertaking; just because he had the blood of thousands of innocents on his hands, and necessary because his continued escape from justice was an inspiration to others to try to follow in his footsteps. But it should not be occasion for joy. The Talmud tells the story of angels dancing and singing as the waters of the Red Sea close over the heads of the Egyptian troops after the Israelites have safely crossed over, only to be rebuked by their God: “How dare you dance and sing as my children drown in the sea?”

So, Alterman drools over the killing of bin Laden in the first sentence and the name of the essay, yet he admonishes people not to do exactly what he is doing. This nonsense is as self contradictory as the Bible, and equally irrational.

Let's look at some other things that Alterman said about this illegal, extrajudicial killing.

"Barack Obama’s solemn announcement of this tremendous achievement hit the perfect note."

"the president’s cool, calm decision-making and demeanor—coupled with the peerless professional execution of the operation—can only impress world opinion with the mature and steely determination of America’s post-Bush leadership."

Sick, sick, sick.

Chomsky is correct. Alterman was rejoicing.

In the italicized text, I noticed out a huge problem with Alterman's and the Nation's fact checking, assuming there actually is any by either party. Alterman makes the highly questionable claim that "he had the blood of thousands of innocents on his hands."

The Nation should know better than to publish unsubstantiated claims in defense of government murder. There still hasn't been a credible, independent investigation of 911. The "911 Commission" was a cruel joke. They didn't demand all of that illegal regime's emails, memos, etc. They didn't subpoena people.

Even worse, Bush spoke to that sham commission, not under oath, while Dickless Cheney was present. That is absolute proof that he and other Bush regime officials were lying about 911. That "911 Commission" did nothing about those lies.

There certainly is evidence supporting the theory that Bush regime officials knew that attacks were coming and deliberately allowed the attacks to take place. However, there also is evidence strongly suggesting that the 911 attacks were committed by the Bush regime itself. The most damaging evidence is that fact that all the amateur video footage of the attacks was stolen by the Bush regime under "national security" grounds. That footage has yet to be made public. (Gee, I wonder why.)

The most any professional journalist can say about bin Laden is that he is alleged to be the mastermind of the 911 attacks, and that the allegations are rather weak.

I am so sick of incredibly evil politicians like George W. Bush and Barack Bush shitting on our Constitution and our nation's values. I am equally sick and tired of their gleeful enablers like Alterman.

The killing of a man without trial in a legitimate civilian court is murder, cold blooded murder. The lack of convincing evidence of guilt only makes the crime more heinous. How can a "liberal" magazine like the Nation allow someone like Alterman to post disturbing, fascist nonsense on their website?

Is it any wonder why The Nation is always begging for money and subscriptions? They have become such partisan Democrats that they have gone to shocking lengths to pander to an extreme right President like Barack Bush. If that magazine wants more liberal and progressive supporters, then they should fire the shills for this corrupt, rightist administration and hire some real liberals and progressives to write for them.

Ted Rall is absolutely correct about The Nation when he discusses their censorship of writers criticizing this execrable administration from the perspectives of the left.

I was merciless to Obama. I was cruel in my criticisms of Obama’s sellouts to the right. In my writings and drawings I tried to tell it as it was, or anyway, as I saw it. I thought—still think—that’s my job. I’m a critic, not a suck-up. The Obama Administration doesn’t need journalists or pundits to carry its water. That’s what press secretaries and PR flacks are for.

Does Obama ever do anything right? Not often, but sure. And when he does, I shut up about it. Cartoonists and columnists who promote government policy are an embarrassment.

But that’s what “liberal” media outlets want in the age of Obama.

I can’t prove it in every case. (That’s how blackballing works.) The Nation and Mother Jones and Harper’s, liberal magazines that gave me freelance work under Clinton and Bush, now ignore my queries. Even when I offered them first-person, unembedded war reporting from Afghanistan. Hey, maybe they’re too busy to answer email or voicemail. You never know.

Other censors are brazen.

Even if The Nation didn't specifically target Rall, their censorship of genuine liberal and progressive views about Barack Bush is so blatant one cannot help but notice it.

Yet, a rightist like Alterman is published regularly by The Nation. It's truly reprehensible.

 

The world's biggest excuse is dead.

We still don't know who was responsible for 911. There never has been a credible, legitimate, and politically independent investigation of 911. However, our political and media elites have insisted that the 911 attacks were orchestrated by Osama bin Laden and have tried to marginalize and demonize anyone who questions any aspect of the officially sanctioned conspiracy theory to explain those horrific attacks.

We still are in an illegal and insane war in Iraq. There are roughly 47,000 of our troops still stuck in Iraq, occupying that country. There are over 60,000 mercenaries still in Iraq. That's right. Occupying forces are at over 100,000 in a war that the corporate media pretend isn't even going on.

We are in a war in Afghanistan that is primarily focused on establishing a natural gas pipeline going through that country. The natural gas will end up being used in India to outsource US jobs and to switch US jobs that had been outsourced to China over to India, where labor costs have not increased as they have in China.

Osama bin Laden has been used as a pretext to keep us in hugely expensive and murderous wars that have even killed more Americans than were killed in the 911 attacks. That excuse is dead.

It's time to push harder to end these deadly and costly wars that create profits for evil corporations and the rich, but screw the rest of us over.

 

Note: This is not a prioritized list.

121) Refusing to respect any treaties with the indigenous population of this country.

122) Demanding the "right" to assassinate US citizens.

123) Continuing the Bush-era policy of opposing the return of Haiti’s ousted former president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was overthrown in a 2004 U.S./France/Canada-backed coup.

124) Supports government Internet ID to spy on Americans.

125) Sicking a grand jury on peace activists.

126) Pushes a salary freeze on federal workers.

127) Votes against ending Cuban trade embargo at UN.

128) Rebuilding a Pentagon database that was shut down three years ago after it was found to have been used to monitor US peace activists.

129) Deploying Special Forces to over 70 countries.

130) Supports mountaintop removal mining.

131) Siding with Cheney and Rove in Plamegate lawsuit.

132) Trying to slash Pell Grants.

133) Trying to cut heating assistance to poor people.

134) Supporting another rigged election in Afghanistan, keeping the widely loathed Karzai in power.

135) Refuses to support taking "In God We Trust" off of US currency.

136) Continuing to endanger the food supply by approving genetically modified crops, including alfalfa which is fed to cattle and sugar beats that are refined and put into many processed foods.

137) Censored reporters covering military tribunals at Guantanamo. (Thanks to Christopher of From the Left for reminding me about that one.)

138) Trying to put in place an "Internet Kill Switch" similar to the efforts by dictators to shut off the Internet when they face popular unrest. (Thanks again to Christopher of From the Left.)

139) Starting yet another war for oil in Libya.

140) Taking the necessary steps to ensure technical and legal obstacles to warrantless surveillance are removed.

Some of the items in this entry were from a list by St. Pete for Peace.

Got more? List them in the comments section so I can add them.

 

Note: This is not a prioritized list.

101) Continuing ethanol subsidies (corn based ethanol in the US takes more fossil fuel based energy to grow than it actually produces) instead of shifting the money to public transportation.

102) Continues to keep hundreds of thousands of Americans on no fly lists.

103) Continues operating the kangaroo courts known as "military tribunals."

104) Blocking efforts by clean government groups to get access to Bush regime emails.

105) Supports Bush's 11th hour directive to allow concealed firearms in national parks

106) Refuses to condemn Israel's nuclear arsenal or demand compensation for the attack on the US Navy vessel that gave Israel its nuclear capacity.

107) Refuses to prosecute Ratzi or other high level Roman Catholic officials for obstruction of justice in child molestation cases.

108) Opposed shifting target of TARP bailout from banksters to homeowners.

109) Exempting global warming from protections afforded polar bears by the Endangered Species Act.

110) Continuing the Bush administration's exclusion of Alaska's Tongass rainforest from roadless protections.

111) Got the House to drop family planning funding from stimulus bill which they had added to his original proposal.

112) Pushing tax cuts for corporations.

113) Refuses to do anything about homelessness, even during the Great Recession.

114) Continues bowing and scraping before the fundamentalist, terrorist regime in Saudi Arabia.

115) Refuses to condemn Israel for their apartheid policies against the indigenous population of Palestine.

116) Continues providing economic and military aid to Israel.

117) Continues arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

118) Opposing a windfall profits tax on Big Oil.

119) Pushing the myth of "clean coal."

120) Treating African Americans as if they don't even exist.

Please put other items in the comments. I've already done more of this list in posts scheduled in the future, but there is room for new items at the end.

 

Demonstrating the same fanatical misogyny that he proudly proclaimed when he involved the neo Nazi fundamentalist Rick Warren in his campaign and inauguration, President Obama is actually blocking entry of a women's rights activist from Afghanistan on a pretext that is so flimsy it insults the intelligence of anyone with an IQ over 60. (From the Afghan Women's Mission's 3/17/11 Press Release - Hat Tip: Peace Action West)

The United States has denied a travel visa to Malalai Joya, an acclaimed women’s rights activist and former member of Afghanistan’s parliament. Ms. Joya, who was named one of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world in 2010, was set to begin a three-week US tour to promote an updated edition of her memoir, A Woman Among Warlords, published by Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

Joya’s publisher at Scribner, Alexis Gargagliano, said, “We had the privilege to publish Ms. Joya, and her earlier 2009 book tour met with wide acclaim. The right of authors to travel and promote their work is central to freedom of expression and the full exchange of ideas.” Joya’s memoir has been translated into over a dozen languages, and she has toured widely including Australia, the UK, Canada, Norway, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, and the Netherlands in support of the book over the past two years.

Colleagues of Ms. Joya’s report that when she presented herself as scheduled at the U.S. embassy, she was told she was being denied because she was “unemployed” and “lives underground.” Then 27, Joya was the youngest woman elected to Afghanistan’s parliament in 2005. Because of her harsh criticism of warlords and fundamentalists in Afghanistan, she has been the target of at least five assassination attempts. “The reason Joya lives underground is because she faces the constant threat of death for having had the courage to speak up for women’s rights – it’s obscene that the U.S. government would deny her entry,” said Sonali Kolhatkar of the Afghan Women’s Mission, a U.S. based organization that has hosted Joya for speaking tours in the past and is a sponsor of this year’s national tour.

This is ironic, given how both George W. Bush and Barack Bush both used women's rights violations by the Taliban as a justification for war. Yet, neither has lifted a finger to stop human rights violations against women by their puppet regime. Outside of Kabul, the situation for women is the same as it was under the Taliban.

Also, let's not forget the role of Hillary Clinton in this outrage. She may pretend to be a feminist when it is politically convenient to do so, but she is, in fact, a militant, Christian fundamentalist who gleefully embraces the misogyny of the Christian Right. (Ms. Clinton is so extreme in her fundamentalism that she is deeply involved in the dangerous, secretive cult known as "The Family" which, among other things, runs the C Street apartments for horny Republicans.)

In her short tenure in the Senate, Ms. Clinton demonstrated her militant fundamentalism by voting for the Iraq War and making her highest legislative priority trying to get us into war with Iran. As Secretary of State, Ms. Clinton has worked tirelessly to trigger a US-Iran war and to encourage Israel to provoke an Arab-Israeli war that Clinton and other fundamentalists believe is predicted by the nonsense in "Revelations."

Obama's action also is a subtle insult against writers and other artists. Treating creative people as "unemployed" is typical of the anti intellectualism of the right. Barack Bush is acting just like George W. Bush this time.

As Ronald Reagan's eighth term drags on, I still want real change. The bigotry and war mongering keep dragging on.

Hillary Clinton Photo: World Economic Forum

 

 


Please Sign Public Citizen's Petition Against Nuclear Power Subsidies

Back in 2/17/10, Kate Sheppard wrote in the Guardian about President Obama's reprehensible sellout of our country to the dangerous and irresponsible nuclear power industry.

In his first state of the union address last month, Barack Obama declared that creating new clean energy jobs "means building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country". The following week, his administration proposed tripling the amount of money available for loan guarantees for nuclear power, to $54.5bn. And today, the administration took the next logical step in their plan to kick-start the nuclear revival in the United States, announcing that they will award the first loan to two new reactors in Burke County, Georgia – marking the first expansion of nuclear power in the United States in three decades.

The Obama administration's big payouts to the nuclear industry will be essential for expanding nuclear power; the industry has made it clear that there will be no nuclear renaissance unless the US taxpayer foots the bill. The economics of the nuclear industry are so dicey that Wall Street, no strangers to high-risk investments, have for years refused to finance new plants unless the government underwrites the deal. The nuclear industry has made its reliance on the taxpayer clear. "Without loan guarantees we will not build nuclear power plants," Michael J Wallace, co-chief executive of UniStar Nuclear and vice president of Constellation Energy, told the New York Times in 2007.

If jobs were Obama's real concern, he would have chosen the safer and more patriotic option of public transportation. Obama is perfectly aware of the fact that terrorists could easily attack any nuclear power plant in this country and create a nuclear disaster at least as bad as Chernobyl. Yet, he doesn't care because the only thing that matters to him is selling out America to big money campaign contributors.

And, the earthquake in Japan demonstrates just how vulnerable nuclear power plants are. Here are some relevant facts to keep in mind about earthquakes and nuclear power plants.

1) Earthquakes of the magnitude of the Japan quake happen a few times per century.

2) There are far more nuclear plants throughout this country and the world than most people realize. There are 442 nuclear power plants operating in the world, and over 100 nuclear reactors operating in 31 US states.

3) The epicenter of the recent earthquake in Japan was 60 miles from Japan's coast, and even farther from the nuclear power plants in catastrophe mode. A somewhat lower magnitude earthquake whose epicenter was closer to a nuclear power plant would do at least as much damage or more than Japan is experiencing now.

4) Alternative energy and conservation could make phasing out nuclear power plants out easy, given a decent amount of government spending.

Why does the nuclear industry even need insurance from the government? Private insurers have placed very narrow limits on what they will cover, limits that are far below the actual damages caused by even a relatively small nuclear disaster. The private sector recognizes that nuclear is too risky, and this government subsidy of powerful corporations and their wealthy owners is the only way to keep the nuclear industry operating.

That's why I find it so bizarre and hypocritical for "free market" conservatives and libertarians to defend the nuclear industry.

Please Take Action Towards Ending the Threat of Nuclear Power to Our Country!

 

Note: This is not a prioritized list.

81) Opposes banning land mines.

82) Is working to certify meat and dairy produced with genetically modified alfalfa as "organic."

83) Opposes truth in labeling laws on genetically modified foods.

84) Continues to spy on the emails and text messages of all Americans.

85) Expanding charter schools despite the fact that they aren't working.

86) Engaging in union busting against teachers unions.

87) Continues to deny detainees access to the courts.

88) Opposes any new gun control legislation.

89) Supported phony "elections" in Haiti where the balloting is rigged and the most popular political party is banned.

90) Working with George W. Bush and Bill Clinton to block aid to Haiti and to restrict it to corporations like KBR.

91) Keeping secret the names of White House visitors, even in cases not involving national security or diplomacy.

92) Fought in court for immunity for telecoms who helped the Bush Regime engage in illegal wiretapping.

93) Refused to vigorously enforce antitrust laws (e.g., break up Microsoft, Wal-Mart, Exxon-Mobil, Apple, Macys, etc.)

94) Opposes legalization of marijuana.

95) Continues to support the Unpatriotic Act.

96) Continues to issue illegal signing statements.

97) Supports outsourcing US jobs to India.

98) Continues to operate the torture center at Gitmo.

99) Resisting Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

100) Interrogating innocent Americans who have traveled abroad, including demanding access to emails and other electronic records.

Even this doesn't come close to getting all of it.

Please put other items in the comments. I've already done more of this list in posts scheduled in the future, but there is room for new items at the end.

 

"Tell President Obama and Senate Democrats: Stand up to Republican budget cuts"
From The Color of Change's Action Alert:

If the Republicans triumph in the current budget battle underway in Washington, Black communities could lose big. What’s at stake? Access to basic health care, housing assistance and job training programs that we need, especially during these tough economic times.

If Democrats cave to the GOP’s war on poor and working folks, the most vulnerable among us will be left to figure out how to make do with less while the wealthiest Americans aren’t asked to compromise on much at all.

Please tell President Obama and Senate Democrats to stand up to the Republican budget.

Take Action!

Terribly important government programs for the middle class and the poor are being slashed for highly profitable wars and tax cuts for the rich and the corporations they own. We need to make it clear that politicians in all political parties need to represent the needs and interests of the vast majority, not the wealthy few.

 

Note: This is not a prioritized list.

61) Demonizes liberals and progressives.

62) Lionizes the extreme right.

63) Through his Cat Food Commission, supported starting the privatization of Social Security.

64) Pushed through huge Medicaid cuts.

65) Flat funding US domestic AIDS budgets.

66) Improved relations with brutal military government in Burma in order to benefit Unocal.

67) Dramatically increased government subsidies for nuclear power plants, which are the most dangerous and vulnerable targets for terrorists while producing waste that cannot be disposed of safely.

68) Opposed a House resolution which would have recognized the Armenian Genocide.

69) Continuing the policy of creating AFRICOM instead of shutting the latest over extension of the US empire down.

70) Expanding military action in Afghanistan.

71) Expanding covert military operations in Iran.

72) Refusing to even propose an anti poverty initiative of any kind.

73) Refusing to acknowledge the problem of military suicides or help our veterans because it would show the damaging consequences of the wars.

74) Failing to support the Gulf Coast Civil Works Project, a long overdue program to create jobs and to help the recovery from Hurricane Katrina which still is far from done.

75) Supported tearing down safe and usable public housing in New Orleans and replacing it with far fewer units in a city where homelessness already had gotten worse.

76) Hired a Monsanto lobbyist as an administration adviser on food safety.

77) Condoned the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. for being at home while black.

78) Refused to lift a finger to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.

79) Met with a leader of the Mormon hate church in the White House.

80) Following the Bush regime policy of covering up the photos of torture at US detention facilities.

Continued next week.

Please put other items in the comments. I've already done more of this list in posts scheduled in the future, but there is room for new items at the end.

 

Note: This is not a prioritized list.

41) Opposes a federal SUV tax.

42) Has taken no action to reduce the number of tax loopholes for wealthy and corporations.

43) Opposes treating capital gains (except from home sales) as regular income, taking income earned by working at higher rates.

44) Supports reducing the inheritance tax instead of raising it.

45) Uses high profile banksters as his top economic advisers.

46) Gradually eroding Net Neutrality.

47) Illegally criminalizing whistleblowers instead of going after the crooks they expose.

48) Sabotages global climate change summits and bullies poor nations in attendance.

49) Continues to make big promises on global AIDS but doesn't even include the funding in his proposed budgets.

50) Refuses to even propose a national safer sex campaign.

51) Supports fundamentalist "abstinence only" campaigns in the public schools.

52) Put carcinogenic body scanners in airports in order to help a lobbyist from the Bush Regime.

53) Continues to wildly exaggerate risks of terrorism to promote wars abroad.

54) Opposes an independent investigation of 911.

55) Continuing to practice torture at Guantanamo and throughout the world.

56) Siding with British Petroleum against the environment and the people in the Gulf Coast.

57) Discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in Cabinet level appointments.

58) Engaging in saber rattling with Iran and Venezuela.

59) Reappointed corrupt and incompetent Federal Reserve Board Chair Ben Bernanke.

60) Lied about the "cleanup" after the British Petroleum oil spill.

More next week.

Please put other items in the comments. I've already done more of this list in posts scheduled in the future, but there is room for new items at the end.

 

Notes: This is not a prioritized list. This is part of a series of blog postings that will appear over the next few weeks.

21) Negotiated a corporate controlled trade deal with South Korea.

22) Opposes the US withdrawal from the World Trade Organization.

23) Opposes the repeal of NAFTA, CAFTA, and other corporate controlled trade agreements.

24) Continues Most Favored Trade Nation status with China.

25) Opposes increasing tariffs to balance budgets.

26) Opposes making it a felony to ship US jobs abroad.

27) Supports Israel's military siege of Gaza.

28) Gone along with Israel's illegal settlements in Palestinian territory.

29) Opposes the Gaza flotilla and has refused to challenge Israel's violations of the human rights of Americans involved in it.

30) Has used the IMF and World Bank (which the US dominates) to impose The Shock Doctrine on Greece and Ireland.

31) Opposes Medicare for All.

32) Opposes even the Public Option.

33) Participates in unconstitutional National Hate Breakfast.

34) Opposes moratorium on foreclosures.

35) Opposes subjecting hedge funds to the same regulations as legitimate mutual funds.

36) Opposes criminalizing derivatives.

37) Obnoxiously flaunts Christianity even though this is not a Christian nation. (at least according to George Washington and other founders)

38) Opposes a ban on all offshore oil drilling.

39) Continues government contracts with Halliburton, KBR, Xe, etc. despite their blatant misconduct.

40) Opposes closing unnecessary military bases abroad.

Stay tuned. There's more to come.

Please put other items in the comments. I've already done more of this list in posts scheduled in the future, but there is room for new items at the end.

Notes: This is not a prioritized list. This is part of a series of blog postings that will appear over the next few weeks.

1) Opposes reinstating the Glass-Steagall restrictions on the banksters and brokesters.

2) Supports the coup government in Honduras.

3) Continues to involve high profile misogynist and heterosexist preachers in public events and public policy.

4) Continues to drag out the Iraq War.

5) Continues to drag out the Afghanistan War.

6) Is making our military increasingly dependent on mercenaries.

7) Continues to kidnap and torture people under "extraordinary rendition."

8) Refuses to prosecute crooked Bush regime officials.

9) Refuses to prosecute Wall St. crooks.

10) Opposes moratorium or even limits on interest rate increases on predatory mortgages.

11) Is expanding Bush's Hate Based Initiatives.

12) Cut taxes on the rich.

13) Raised taxes on the poor.

14) Opposed seizing British Petroleum and revoking its corporate charter.

15) Has barely funded public transportation in his budgets while making roads a high priority.

16) Supports the military dictatorship in Egypt against the Egyptian people.

17) Illegally wiretaps Americans without warrants.

18) Opposes nationalizing the banks and brokerages.

19) Compared homosexuality to bestiality and necrophilia in DOMA court filings.

20) Opposes government funding for abortion, a perfectly legitimate medical procedure.

Sadly, there's a lot more fodder for this list. Stay tuned.

Please put other items in the comments. I've already done more of this list in posts scheduled in the future, but there is room for new items at the end.

 

From TruthOut 2/15/11:

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has approved plantings of three genetically engineered (GE) crops in as many weeks, including Monsanto Co.'s Roundup Ready sugar beets and alfalfa that are engineered to tolerate Roundup Ready weed-killing herbicide.

The USDA on February 11 also legalized, without restriction, the world's first GE corn crop meant for biofuel production. Biotech giant Syngenta's Event 3272 seed corn will simplify ethanol production and is not meant to feed animals or humans.

Farming corn for ethanol is a process that contributes to Global Warming because it takes more energy from fossil fuels to grow the corn in this country than the ethanol generates. Corn millers also are afraid that this corn will contaminate the food corn supply as well.




The alfalfa and sugar beet approvals are even more dangerous. Alfalfa is used for animal feed, and sugar beets get refined into sugar that goes into all sorts of processed foods without any knowledge by the people eating it.

You may have read biotech interests claiming that genetically modified food crops are the same as regular food crops. They even claim that they are being "scientific." However, it is not economically feasible to make a genuinely scientific claim that the food produced is the same.

1) There are too many non protein biochemicals alone to test.

2) There are too many proteins to test for the levels of each one.

3) It would be necessary to sequence every protein and RNA sequence or the corresponding DNA sequences. (This would be needed to guard against multiple DNA sequence insertions into the genome, modifying the structures of protein and RNA.)

4) The levels of pesticides and herbicides would need to be tested.

5) The levels of every biologically active air and water pollutant would need to be tested as well, since genetic changes could affect absorption and secretion of these chemicals. (For instance, if any corporate shill says that their frankenfood is the same, ask them to cite a specific study showing that the levels of hormones in common birth control pills are the same. Ask for similar citations about Viagra and Cialis while you are at it. Or, try Lipitor...maybe Naproxen.)

Think that's bad enough? It gets worse.

Instead of Truth in Labeling laws so people can be informed about the food they are eating contains genetically modified organisms, the laws are set up so that the chemical/biotech companies can actually sue food producers who put the fact that their items do not contain genetically modified organisms.

The only way to be sure that genetically modified foods are safe is to do long terms studies like the famous "nurses studies" where people report when they are eating the GMO foods and when they are eating non-frankenfoods. The chemical/biotech industry has made damned sure to make those studies impossible.

As usual, the Obama administration has put short term corporate profits above human needs and peoples' safety. Corporate pseudoscience is being tarted up like it was the actual product of the Scientific Method. It's as if Bush is still in the White House.

Photo: jurvetson

 

Here are some interesting news stories that haven't been emphasized by the US corporate media.


Hundreds of Iraqis protest lack of basic services (Reuters 2/11/11)

Lawyers lead anti-government protest in Baghdad (AP 2/11/11)

Iraqis step up protest in job and food crisis (The National - Abu Dhabi 2/6/11)

Iraq's Maliki says he won't seek 3rd term, in possible reverberations from Egypt (Washington Post 2/11/11)

Someone who hasn't followed the Iraq story might be asking, "But, isn't Iraq a democracy?" Hardly. George W. and Barack Bush have rigged all the elections there to keep a divided and impotent government in place, a government that was so weak it couldn't even kick out Blackwater (now Xe) after that employees had gotten caught killing Iraqi civilians. If this vote rigging sounds shocking, remember that the 2000 and 2004 US presidential elections were stolen.

If freedom and democracy keep spreading in the Middle East, would it really be that surprising if the Iraqis decided they want some too? No one could blame them for taking what supposedly had been given to them by Saddam Hussein and then by George W. Bush.

Let's hope the Iraqis finally get their freedom.

 

Check this bullshit out. (CNN International 2/12/11)

The plan focuses on three tiers of training:

-- Tier one for experts who may frequently deal with "don't ask, don't tell" repeal matters, like chaplains and military lawyers.

-- Tier two for senior leaders who will need to oversee education and training of the troops in their command.

-- Tier three for the rank-and-file, active-duty service members, reservists and civilians working for the Defense Department.

On March 1 Clifford Stanley, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, will provide a progress report on the preparation for repeal to the White House, the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The memo says the "don't ask, don't tell" law will not be repealed until, among other milestones, the tier one and tier two training is complete and tier three training is underway.

That's correct. The first "progress report" will be due on March 1. Big fucking deal!

Lifting the ban isn't some highly complicated military maneuver. All that is needed is an order to end all the discharges and witchhunts. That's it.

I smell a rat.

Remember a couple of months ago when the military ban supposedly was lifted? There was legislation overturning "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," Bill Clinton's more draconian version of the military ban that passed early in that heterosexist administration.

The Obama Administration's record on the military ban hasn't been good either. They have given us a steady diet of foot dragging. When pressed by queer activists on the issue, Obama and his toadies kept saying they had "more important" things they had to get done. Those "more important" things always involved stealing from the middle class and the poor to give to the rich and the corporations they own.

Although President Obama claimed to be so worried about government spending, he insisted on spending government funds on appealing two rulings in separate court cases which overturned the ban as unconstitutional. His PR people flat out lied when they said he was obligated to appeal the cases.

In Congress, Obama and the Democrats responded to LGBT activists with delay, delay, delay. It was only after liberal and moderate voters were horrified at their deal to continue and expand on tax cuts for the rich (while raising taxes on the poor), that the Democrats threw their base and voted to "overturn" the current version of the military ban.

However, there was a catch. The ban would only be lifted when Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a homophobic holdover from the Bush regime, felt like it.

He hasn't felt like it.

I'm starting to wonder if Obama is deliberately delaying again in hopes he can make another "compromise" with the GOP that keeps the ban in place after all. After all the lies and betrayals we have seen from this administration, there is no way that anyone with an IQ over 60 will trust them on anything.

Photo: afagen

 

After blogging about the possibility that Barack Bush may hire the infamous bankster William Daley as his next Chief of Staff, it occurred to me that I should look into whether Daley's bank, JP Morgan Chase, has been involved in the big foreclosure scandal.

It turns out that JP Morgan Chase was one of the banks that suspended foreclosures over "paperwork."

Is Obama completely out of his mind?

 

You would think that President Obama would learn from the disastrous defeat for the Democrats in 2010. The defeat resulted from almost 10 million more Obama voters staying home than "Keating Five" McCain voters.

Obama governed like a Republican, which alienated and demoralized core Democratic constituencies. It was as if his administration and the Democratic congressional "leadership" were on a deliberate campaign to tell Democratic voters that their views and their votes count for nothing. They got exactly the results one would have expected and many of us warned about. It was nearly as big of a defeat as Bill Clinton caused in 1994, which makes sense because he governed like a Republican too.

Many people had hoped that when the corrupt former Clinton Administration figure, Rahm Emanuel, left the administration, things might get better. Sadly, it's starting to look like the opposite.

Mock, Paper, Scissors warned me that President Obama has been considering hiring an infamous bankster and member of the rightist and corrupt Daley Klan in Chicago as his most senior adviser. The Guardian is reporting that Barack Bush has approached this monster to discuss the job.

When is this administration going to stop selling the American people out to our enemies, the banksters?

The Democrats lost in 2010 because they kept sending the message to their own voters that they don't count and that voting is futile. So, what is Obama doing again? He's sending the message that our votes are exercises in futility.

The Democratic core constituencies aren't the only people who despise and distrust the banksters. Those views are shared by the overwhelming majority of the people of this country, with good reason. Besides, no one outside of the corrupt Chicago political machine has much fondness for it, to put it mildly.

It's beginning to look like Obama has learned nothing from the 2010 results and is determined to keep the House in GOP hands and make the White House dependent on just how stupid and crazy the GOP nominee turns out to be. Obama may hand the Senate to the GOP with his corruption and incompetence.

I only voted for one Democrat in 2010. The rest of my votes went Green last year. The Green Party is looking really good for 2012 too.

Photos: jurvetson

elisfanclub

 

Healthcare reform: What he pushed though is a step backwards that favors the HMOs health insurers, and Big Pharma while taking money and care away from the middle class, the poor, and lower income elders.

Wall St. reform: He hasn't passed any kind of meaningful reform of Wall St, nor has he tried.

Net Neutrality: Wireless is much of the future of the Internet, so Obama makes sure that wireless can be censored by corporations.

Open Government: Look at the retaliation against Wikileaks.

Iraq: He still has between 125,000 and 150,000 mercenaries and troops there.

Protecting Social Security: He has used his Cat Food Commission to undermine support for Social Security and his plan to cut taxes for the rich and raise them for the poor includes an attack on the fund for Social Security.

Which other broken Obama promises are you pissed off about?