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The Obama justice system - Glenn Greenwald

Highlighting not mine.
[...] Spencer Ackerman yesterday attended a Senate hearing at which the DOD's General Counsel, Jeh Johnson, testified.  As Ackerman highlighted, Johnson actually said that even for those detainees to whom the Obama administration deigns to give a real trial in a real court, the President has the power to continue to imprison them indefinitely even if they are acquitted at their trial.  About this assertion of "presidential post-acquittal detention power" -- an Orwellian term (and a Kafka-esque concept) that should send shivers down the spine of anyone who cares at all about the most basic liberties -- Ackerman wrote, with some understatement, that it "moved the Obama administration into new territory from a civil liberties perspective."
Law professor Jonathan Turley was more blunt:  "The Obama Administration continues its retention and expansion of abusive Bush policies — now clearly Obama policies on indefinite detention." [...]

I just made a birthday wish for my 51st birthday! Click here (Facebook Causes) to find out what it is.

Morality and Economics « Texas Freedom Network

Texas clearly doesn’t have a monopoly on right-wing nonsense. ( At least we aren't alone... )

The suppressed fact: deaths by U.S. torture - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com

( Answer, such as we know it, here... )

Obama's trail of broken promises

The prophet of hope now doesn't even bother with explanations when he reneges on his campaign pledges.

[...] We once respected democracy by at least demanding explanations -- however weak -- for unfulfilled promises. Then we became a country whose scorched-earth campaigns against flip-flopping desensitized us to reversals. Now, we don't flinch when our president appears tickled that a few poor souls still expect politicians to fulfill promises and justify broken ones. [...]

In regards to the murder of Dr. George Tiller, apocalypsos responds much better than I could ever hope to do. So go read what she said, and know that I completely agree with her.

Allow me to add that if ever we reach the point where the "War on Terror" has any real meaning, then people like Scott P. Roeder will be treated as terrorists.

ETA: Abortion Doctor Murder Suspect: The Far-Right Connections | Mother Jones

Notre Dame's stand against Catholic fundamentalism | Salon

President Obama goes to the University of Notre Dame this Sunday to deliver the commencement address and receive an honorary degree, the ninth U.S. president to be so honored. The event has stirred up a hornet's nest of conservative Catholics, with more than 40 bishops objecting, and hundreds of thousands of Catholics signing petitions in protest. In the words of South Bend's Bishop John M. D'Arcy, the complaint boils down to President Obama's "long-stated unwillingness to hold human life as sacred." Notre Dame, the bishop charged, has chosen "prestige over truth." [...]

From EndTheLies.org:

Have you noticed that these days, since it's no longer acceptable to say openly that you're against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality, extremists are resorting to lies and fear tactics?

The radical right says hate crimes laws will "silence people of faith" and put pastors in jail. Newt Gingrich warned on Fox News that a "gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to use violence..." Pat Boone called pro-equality protesters "sexual jihadists" similar to terrorists. They've taken out full-page ads in national papers and blanketed the talk shows.

We can't let these lies go unanswered, especially now that we have a chance to make real progress on LGBT equality.

EndTheLies.org is a new website showing some of the worst offenders.

My account name is the same on both LJ and dreamwidth. The link to me on DW is http://wyldraven.dreamwidth.org/ and my profile is located at http://wyldraven.dreamwidth.org/profile. So, if you are on DW as well, feel free to subscribe, and do give me access to read your stuff as well! I probably won't be posting a lot (you may have noticed I've been pretty quiet on LJ lately).

Drug-fueled madness! | Salon
Our nation's narcotics policy, that is. But there's good news as Hillary Clinton and Sen. Jim Webb take baby steps toward sanity.

[...] Though President Barack Obama childishly laughed at a question about legalization during his recent town hall meeting, his government implicitly admits that marijuana is safer than light beer. Indeed, as federal agencies acknowledge alcohol's key role in deadly illnesses and domestic violence, their latest anti-pot fear mongering is an ad campaign insisting -- I kid you not -- that marijuana is dangerous because it makes people zone out on their couches and diminishes video-gaming skills.

(This is your government on drugs: Cirrhosis and angry tank-topped lushes beating their wives are more acceptable risks than stoners sitting in their basements ineptly playing "Halo." ... Any questions?) [...]

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

A major difference between conservatives and progressives

The Right marched in uncritical, creepy devotion to Bush for the first six years of his presidency. The Left has been leading the way in criticizing Obama when warranted.

The virtues of public anger and the need for more

We are not suffering from an excess of citizen outrage, but rather, from a lack of it

( Read more... )

A political establishment that can function without any fear of the citizenry will inevitably trample on its interests. That is what has been happening more than anything else. And it is why we need far more public outrage, and fear of that outrage more deeply implanted in the minds of our political and financial elites.

May the coming spring bring fruition to whatever fertile plans you may have, and may you be blessed with love and happiness.

I'm not sure if you've heard, but there's a movement of citizens inspired by the presidential campaign who are deciding the top 10 ideas for how they think the Obama administration should change America. It's called "Ideas for Change in America," and it's being run by Change.org.

One idea is titled: Free Single Payer Health Care. I thought you might be interested in getting involved and recommend you check it out. You can read more and vote for the idea by clicking the following link:

http://www.change.org/ideas/view/free_single_payer_health_care

The top 10 ideas are going to be presented to the Obama administration at an event at the National Press Club in Washington, DC next week and will be supported by a national lobbying campaign run by Change.org in partnership with leading nonprofits after the Presidential Inauguration. So each idea has a real chance at becoming policy.

Thanks for the help!

W. and the damage done

President Bush inherited a peaceful, prosperous America. As he exits, Salon consults experts in seven fields to try to assess the devastation.

LiveJournal: The Russian Bear Slashes a Social Network

The bubble in social networking has burst, decisively. LiveJournal, the San Francisco-based arm of Sup, a Russian Internet startup, has cut about 20 of 28 employees — and offered them no severance, we're told.

liz_marcs