Beyond Obama

Noam Chomsky: Obama Would Have Been Called a ‘Moderate Republican’ in Recent Decades - a 42-minute critique of Obama via the Young Turks:

From one year ago — Thomas Drake disclosed secret NSA documents to the Baltimore Sun, leading to prize-winning articles on "financial waste, bureaucratic dysfunction, and dubious legal practices in N.S.A. counterterrorism programs." 

“I actually had hopes for Obama,” he said. He had not only expected the President to roll back the prosecutions launched by the Bush Administration; he had thought that Bush Administration officials would be investigated for overstepping the law in the “war on terror.”

“But power is incredibly destructive,” Drake said. “It’s a weird, pathological thing. I also think the intelligence community coöpted Obama, because he’s rather naïve about national security. He’s accepted the fear and secrecy. We’re in a scary space in this country.”

"...“We are witnessing the bipartisan normalization and legitimization of a national-surveillance state,” he says. In his view, zealous leak prosecutions are consonant with other political shifts since 9/11: the emergence of a vast new security bureaucracy, in which at least two and a half million people hold confidential, secret, or top-secret clearances; huge expenditures on electronic monitoring, along with a reinterpretation of the law in order to sanction it; and corporate partnerships with the government that have transformed the counterterrorism industry into a powerful lobbying force. Obama, Balkin says, has “systematically adopted policies consistent with the second term of the Bush Administration.”"

"Did we just kill a kid?" he asked the man sitting next to him. "Yeah, I guess that was a kid," the pilot replied.

Der Spiegel examines the strange character of remote warfare, offering an inside look at the experiences of the pilots who operate Air Force drones. After a work shift that might include blowing up human beings on the other side of the Earth, these pilots attempt to switch back to their normal lives and families. Many struggle with post-traumatic stress and sleeping disorders. After a while, many decide they won't sign on again, unable to muster the enthusiasm of colleagues who arrive saying things like, "so what motherfucker is going to die today?"

Modern warfare is as invisible as a thought, deprived of its meaning by distance. It is no unfettered war, but one that is controlled from small high-tech centers in various places in the world. The new (way of conducting) war is supposed to be more precise than the old one, which is why some call it "more humane." It's the war of an intellectual, a war United States President Barack Obama has promoted more than any of his predecessors. 

Tense protests and walkouts in Michigan this week as lawmakers fast-tracked what will soon become the nation's 24th "right to work" law. In short, the laws are generally designed to discourage and weaken union participation. The Economic Policy Institute explains the misleading name, and why these heavily-lobbied laws do the exact opposite of what they claim:

Large sums of money have been devoted to backing so-called “right-to-work” bills in numerous state legislatures. Lobbyists for these misleadingly named laws claim that they significantly improve both job growth and the wages people earn. The evidence shows that these claims are completely without scientific foundation.

The most rigorous scientific analysis shows the exact opposite is true:

—Right-to-work laws have no impact in boosting economic growth: research shows that there is no relationship between right-to-work laws and state unemployment rates, state per capita income, or state job growth.

—Right-to-work laws have no significant impact on attracting employers to a particular state; surveys of employers show that “right to work” is a minor or non-existent factor in location decisions, and that higher-wage, hi-tech firms in particular generally prefer free-bargaining states.

—Right-to-work laws lower wages—for both union and nonunion workers alike—by an average of $1,500 per year, after accounting for the cost of living in each state.

—Right-to-work laws also decrease the likelihood that employees get either health insurance or pensions through their jobs—again, for both union and nonunion workers.

—By cutting wages, right-to-work laws threaten to undermine job growth by reducing the discretionary income people have to spend in the local retail, real estate, construction, and service industries. Every $1 million in wage cuts translates into an additional six jobs lost in the economy. With 85 percent of Michigan’s economy concentrated in health care, retail, education, and other non-manufacturing industries, widespread wage and benefit cuts could translate into significant negative spillover effects for the state’s economy.

A report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child said that more than 200 detainees under the age of 18 were held at a military prison at the Detention Facility in Parwan for being characterized as “enemy combatants”.

Warrantless wiretapping is not news — but the scope of what our national protectors are up to keeps growing. Many reply, "I have nothing to hide, I'm not a terrorist, who cares?"

The problem is if they think they are not doing anything that’s wrong, they don’t get to define that. The central government does, the central government defines what is right and wrong and whether or not they target you. So, it’s not up to the individuals. Even if they think they aren't doing something wrong, if their position on something is against what the administration has, then they could easily become a target. — William Blinney, NSA whistleblower

Meet your shiny, new security state

The entire country is being monitored in ways never before possible, and never before allowed. In fact, what the government is doing is broadly considered to be illegal, unconstitutional, yet persists under President Obama's administration. Consider this important spotlight on the whole affair: NSA whistleblower William Binney, who recently won an award for risking and complicating his professional and personal lives to protect constitutional liberties:

Who cares?

Individuals don't get to decide whether they are targeted. Maybe you trust Obama, but who will sit in the oval office after him? Do we want these powers in place if the US is attacked again? There is an incredible degree of abuse possible.

Think about data security. Do you trust the government to consolidate not only personal details, but an archive of almost your entire digital life for all time?

The USA already has a history of targeting and interfering with legitimate political groups. Sound crazy? Martin Luther King himself was a target, and these programs are alleged to have played a role in crushing unions and organized labor. Read all about the little-known COINTELRPO operations of the FBI (1956-1971): "COINTELPRO tactics have been alleged to include discrediting targets through psychological warfare; smearing individuals and groups using forged documents and by planting false reports in the media; harassment; wrongful imprisonment; and illegal violence, including assassination... The FBI's stated motivation was "protecting national security, preventing violence, and maintaining the existing social and political order.""

What can you do?

Talk about it. This is the worst form of big government that should be ringing alarm bells across political aisles.

Write the White House and write your representative.

Washington Post defends picture of dead Gaza child after complaints from ‘Jews in large numbers’

Mondweiss calls attention to a story about a photograph published by the The Washington Post in connection with an Israeli rocket that struck a house and killed a young infant:

Jewish groups and American Jews in large numbers wrote to the ombudsman and to Post editors, protesting the photo as biased... [They] asked why The Post didn’t balance the photo of the grieving father with one of Israelis who had lost a loved one from the Gaza rocket fire. That’s a valid question.

The answer is that The Post cannot publish photographs that don’t exist. No Israeli civilian had been killed by Gaza rocket fire since Oct. 29, 2011, more than a year earlier.

This little side-story is telling: it suggests that many Americans missed the stunningly disproportionate nature of the November conflict. As the ombudsman of The Post puts it:

I think we can all agree that the Gaza rocket fire is reprehensible and is aimed at terrorizing Israeli civilians. It’s disruptive and traumatic. But let’s be clear: The overwhelming majority of rockets fired from Gaza are like bee stings on the Israeli bear’s behind... Gaza, meanwhile, is almost entirely urban and densely populated; bombs there will kill civilians no matter how precisely targeted...

Amidst all the madness unfolding, ask — without condoning Hamas' rocket attacks — why are they attacking Israel in the first place? The White House has effectively said, "Israel has a right to defend itself, but pretty please try not to kill too many civilians."

In reality — a nation not so divided

Gizmodo highlights some very poignant maps of Election 2012 results:

White, suburban Eric Garland is self-proclaimed "low-hanging fruit" for the Republican party. He's a white, tax-paying small-businessman in a Red state, but he didn't vote for Mitt Romney. Eric wrote a very compelling letter about why the Republican party will continue failing without wising up, being less insulting, and coming to terms with major ways that the world has changed. The GOP isn't exactly struggling to retain the white vote, but Romney underperformed compared to Bush in critical swing states.

"...If you want to know exactly where you failed in 2012, and will continue to fail, here it is. Look you assholes, I’m as traditional an American as it gets, and I do not “want free stuff.”  I am a taxpayer, and ALWAYS HAVE BEEN. I got my first job – dragging bags of cow manure, horse feed and fertilizer around a farm store – when I was 12. I started my first company when I was 28. I have followed the vast majority of the rules set out for middle class white males (for good and for ill.) And if it weren’t bad enough that your policy positions are a complete clusterfuck for the reasons I lay out in great detail, you manage to follow up the whole exercise with insulting me, my wife, and my friends of every stripe who didn’t vote for your political party – all of whom are hard-working, taxpaying, job creating, law abiding, great AMERICANS of EVERY COLOR AND CREED..."

Walmart workers are planning a major strike for Black Friday this year, following recent and some ongoing strikes against the low-wage, bargain juggernaut.