On ‘State Secrets,’ Meet Barack W. Obama

Thank God we have a Bush appointee, right-wing Judge John D. Bates, to rein in Obama’s efforts to destroy the Consitution. This is from the right-wingers at Slate:
“Last week, in the case Fadi al Maqaleh, United States District Judge John D. Bates denied that President Obama could make suspected “enemy combatants” disappear into the Bagram Theater Internment Facility at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan without an opportunity for exoneration. (While President Obama has abandoned the term enemy combatant for Guantanamo Bay detainees, he has retained the label for detainees held elsewhere.)
“Bates’ ruling is a welcome check on an emerging pattern of mightily expansive claims of executive authority by the new administration.”

So many of my friends were so naively hopeful about this man. Blind adulation is actually a better term. For the 1st time in my life I voted for a Republican over a Democrat. I have no regrets today about my personal choice. He is a fraud, plain and simple.

I suppose once Obama became President, those men who actually run the country had a little meeting with him and said…
“This is how it is….”
Has anyone heard of Brandon Mayfield?
Arrested by the FBI at his law office (where a Newsweek reporter was already waiting) for his supposed involvement in the Madrid, Spain train bombings in 2004.
He wasn’t charged, his wife and family wasn’t informed where or why he was taken, and it wasn’t until the FBI released information to the LOCAL MEDIA that his family learned about their motives while watching the news one night. Hard to believe.
His wife is an Egyptian and he converted to Islam years ago.
So he was arrested without charges while the FBI was putting the finishing touches on their investigation. The officials in Spain insisted that the fingerprint found WASN’T that of Mayfields. Finally Mayfield was let go.
He later sued the government and won $2 million. Brandon Mayfield was himself a lawyer.
The FBI never said which one of their agents leaked the arrest to Newsweek….
A U.S. citizen (born and raised) arrested without charges and could have possibly been executed without any trial or explanation.
Welcome to America.
Although the FBI afterwards apologized for their acts, Mayfield filed several lawsuits over this invasion of his privacy. One sought to force the government to return or destroy copies of items seized from his home. Another, which was argued before U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken on July 15, 2005, challenged the law which was used against him as unconstitutional.

Funny how everyone who challenged the Bush “Patriot” Act was shouted down as a traitor – but now that Obama isn’t moving quickly enough to abolish BUSH’S rules he’s a dictator …
Repubs: please try to get your story straight.

Thank you, Jim. It is important to keep the President honest.
‘Don’t spy on me’ might be the new ‘Don’t tread on me.’

I’d imagine Obama has a slightly different take on the Bush era now that he’s in the White House.

LMAO At Obama
Ready for the tea parties ABC? Got your people in with ACORN and the HUFF and PUFFERS to cover the set-up disruptions?

It’s good that this is getting attention. It’s too bad the commentators here don’t really care about the issues (and probably don’t understand them either) and are just glad to score any point against Obama.
But it’s great that the left is really challenging Obama for his continuation of Bush’s expansion of exec. power.

Look! A hat has dropped. Attack!
Oh hang on that’s what idiots do.

“Leftists, as much as Rightists, enjoy police state tactics and, in most cases, even go further in their dreams for total control, indoctrination, surveillence, and reeducation of citizen that don’t agree with the “dear leader”.”
wrong. it is actaully leftists that are going after obama on this. we don’t have the same immature hero-worship/daddy’s-my-protector habits that conservatives cling to.
in fact, the only people defending this are conservatives, like redstate

Vindication for Bush is so sweet.

Glenn Greenwald has an incredible update on the lawyer(Smith) on the Binyam Mohamed case, in which he reveals the following:
…the Privilege Review Team blocked Smith from communicating to President Obama the facts surrounding his client’s torture at Guantanamo. Smith then sent that redacted memo directly to Obama along with a new cover letter informing Obama of the “bizarre reality” that “you, as commander in chief, are being denied access to material that would help prove that crimes have been committed by US personnel. This decision is being made by the very people who you command.”
As a response to that new letter, Smith and a colleague of his have now been summoned to appear before a Washington court on May 11, to answer a criminal complaint filed by the Privilege Review Team, alleging that Smith — merely by sending Obama the redacted memo — has violated the secrecy terms to which he is bound. He faces up to six months in prison if found guilty.

MayBee, apparently not. The bizarre claim of ‘vindication’ of Bush aside, it seems that the dominant view from the right is once more IOKIFAR.

Obama is a mythical figure. He only exists in people’s minds. The real Obama has been revealed to be a snake oil salesman.

Except that Obama is worse. From the Telgraph of London:
“President Barack Obama has recently completed the most successful foreign policy tour since Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow.
You name it, he blew it. What was his big deal economic programme that he was determined to drive through the G20 summit? Another massive stimulus package, globally funded and co-ordinated. Did he achieve it? Not so as you’d notice.
Barack is not the first New World ingenue to discover that European leaders will load him with praise, struggle sycophantically to be photographed with him and outdo him in Utopian rhetoric. But when it comes to the critical moment of opening their wallets – suddenly it is flag-day in Aberdeen. Okay, put the G20 down to inexperience, beginner’s nerves, what you will.
On to Nato and the next big objective: to persuade the same European evasion experts that America, Britain and Canada should no longer bear the brunt of the Afghan struggle virtually unassisted. The Old World sucked through its teeth, said that was asking a lot – but, seeing it was Barack, to whom they could refuse nothing, they would graciously accede to his wishes.
So The One retired triumphant, having secured a massive contribution of 5,000 extra troops – all of them non-combatant, of course – which must really have put the wind up the Taliban, at the prospect of 5,000 more infidel cooks and bottle-washers swarming into the less hazardous regions of Afghanistan.”

Flash- I think “concerned” is being tongue-in-cheek. Bush had to deal with accusations of the wars being illegal every day. Now Obama is in charge, and Code Pink has moved on to Wall Street, and Cindy Sheehan isn’t camping outside of his house.

Told you so!
But did anyone in the media listen to the libertarians? NO!

Obama: The socialists best friend

MayBee:
“Does it make anybody reconsider the idea that perhaps it is the right thing to do?”
No. It was wrong when Bush did it, and it’s wrong now that Obama is doing it. There absolutely must be oversight of any government surveillance apparatus, because we’ve seen time and time again that it is human nature to abuse power when there’s no one to hold you accountable.

Tell me again exactly when Mr. Hopey Changey is going to, you know, start changing things to give us some hope that his administration isn’t taking this country down the express elevator to hell?

Well I guess he came across information that changed his mind.

I voted for Obama in 2008. I will not be voting for lawlessness in 2012.

Allow me to summarize: So B ush was right after all.

Some of this stuff has scared me as well, but when contrasted with the rest of Obama’s actions since in office, such as comments about “moving on” when bringing up possible war crimes against the previous administration, it seems like he’s trying to focus on one issue at a time, and not allow our country to get into an issue that may further damage our credibility and our sense of stability in an already incredibly unstable time. These things may be dealt with in time, and if not we can take him to the street about it, but he’s had a somewhat discernible MO of “one at a time”, brushing off issues that are important to many but do not represent the most pressing threat. I could be wrong though.

“The people who voted for him know that he’s not the hard core leftie that Republicans tried to paint him as and can accept that politics is not a zero tolerance matter of with us or against us.”
That seems a little different from the Obama-Biden campaign website where “The Problem” is described in part as the Bush administration having “invoked a legal tool known as the ‘state secrets’ privilege more than any other previous administration to get cases thrown out of civil court.”
It is amazing what you learn when go form being a peon in the Senate to the Presidency. You learn that just maybe the other guy was right more often than not!

Here is how Mr. Obama “made his centrist views known” on the campaign trail in January, 2008:
“In our own Technology Voters’ Guide, when asked whether he supports shielding telecommunications and Internet companies from lawsuits accusing them of illegal spying, Obama gave us a one-word response: ‘No.’”

Bwaahahahahaha!!!!!
All he needed was your votes, and he got them. Now that he’s in, what you think doesn’t mean squat. Suckers!!

Wow, and yet there seems to be people crying foul, yet these are the same people checking their mailboxes and check stubs for the beneficial “stimulus” aid, looking to refinance your homes and purchasing hybrids to qualify for the tax deduction programs which the Obama cabinet created. I have held this in for a while and I can’t restrain it anymore…..
You people disgust me and give me anxiety for future generations. How dare you fault Barack when this mess was created by the bumbling idiots of the Bush administration for the past 8 years. For Christ Sakes, you republican politicians have only been out of office for 12 weeks (you guys act as those this is over 2 decades long)
Why don’t those that feel Obama is doing such a horrible job, start paying attention to YOUR local congressman and state senators. You will see that your main problem has nothing to do with the President or his current administration, but with your state’s politicians.

Obama will try to make you believe that he has the right to “change his mind” due to the current state of affairs, giving him the power to shred the constitution.
He bowed to King Abdullah, (the president should not bow to anyone).. he accused Americans of being “arrogant, derisive and dismissive. He further dissed us saying that “Americans do not respect the muslim world”. Obama to me, was NOT an option for President due to his backround, his associations, his appalling arrogance and his socialist tendencies. I knew he was a poser from the beginning.

Obama hasnt kept his promises to the American public. And all we have left to do (other than complain) is vote for the other guy in 2012 and pray, in the meantime, he doesn’t keep screwing us and the country too badly.
Yeah, sure, anyone can compare him to Bush or say that he has a really tough job because of how Bush left things – but I don’t see that anymore. What I see is a man that is President who fooled us all. And I feel like an idiot.

if you want to look at U.S. future you only need to look at Rome, with it’s two party system and plebian riots. But in Rome they didn’t allow woman to come in to become Ceasar, that might be the difference, the results i am pretty sure will be no different. I just hope people understand democracy doesn’t mean a republic. This surveillance thing has been done for a long time, since FDR decided to become dictator for life.
I think what is important is that, one view it as no “coincidence” that the financial crisis demands all these new things to control people with, when the management of these too big to fail should of been replaced and the companies names bought out as these companies bought out others. This financial crisis is a perfect storm to bring on the big brother systems that some in Britain says is called democracy/freedom while in reality there is none and no security.
financial brother
healthcare sister
All for the sake of transparency and other words to create the sense of comfort. kind of like the cameras in britain and yet there is no comfort there.

A Real American said: “Why don’t those that feel Obama is doing such a horrible job, start paying attention to YOUR local congressman and state senators. You will see that your main problem has nothing to do with the President or his current administration, but with your state’s politicians.”
For the last eight years you liberals have been saying everything was Bush’s fault. A little inconsistent, don’t you think?

j: “On the other hand I won’t hold my breath for another Olbermann special comment.”
Olbermann has already devoted a large portion of two shows to covering this.

You go, Jake Tapper. This story should be on the front page of ABC’s website, but we all know the most important story out of Washington today is the President’s dog. Shameful.

Of course it’s not shredding the Constitution when a (R)epublican does it, YES?
Of course it’s not warrantless wiretapping when a (R)epublican does it, YES?
Of course it’s not fighting illegal wars when a (R)epublican started them, YES?
Of course it’s not tanking the economy when a (R)epublican did it, YES?
Dear (R)epublicans,
Where was your outrage when a (R)epublican did it?
p.s.
And of course it’s not Fascism when it’s a (R)epublican giving those marching orders, no?

Max-1: We were outraged enough to elect A Democrat to the White House. Arguments that rationalize away the actions of the Democrats now in power are really getting tiresome. There are no excuses for the financial hole we are digging, this continued assault on our Constitution. And if you can defend Obama’s actions only by continuing to refer to the Bush administration and what they did or didn’t do, the message is clear that the actions of the Democrats in power now are simply indefensible.

“Of course it’s not shredding the Constitution when a (R)epublican does it,”
Were you alive during the Bush administration? He was roundly pilloried throughout the now-silent press for shredding it.
And ditto for everything else you’re whining about. And by the way, if the war in Afghanistan is illegal, what is Obama doing sending 21,000 additional troops there, and why did he support that war from the beginning?
As for trashing the economy, let’s look at today’s news:
“Of course it’s not shredding the Constitution when a (R)epublican does it,

Meet the new boss..same as the old boss.

See. BHO broke every promise he made during the campaign trail. Anyone who listens or believe him is a FOOl. Look an American captain is held hostage by pirate and a reporter asking BHO direct question about the situation and the answer was ” Guys we are talking about housing today.” Yeah Americans fool, it is OK if you are held hostage or Dead as long as I am on the roll with my agendas. Pathetic, we got a fool, a cons and a chicken droop in the whitehouse. How did he end up there? He has lied all the way to there.

well the George W Lovers on Board and Fox News and Rush Limbaugh and Glen crybaby Beck should love this!

“And by the way, if the war in Afghanistan is illegal, what is Obama doing sending 21,000 additional troops there, and why did he support that war from the beginning”
Nope, the War in Afghanistan has the blessing of the UN and NATO.
That is where our enemies are.
The illegal war you are thinking of is Iraq which was started based on Bush’s lies.

It bugs me how you guys glory over Obama making decisions. Kind of how you guys got all hysterical when Rev. Wright was pumped on FIX NEWZ, how you got all anxious about how his campaign was sure to be over, how he had no chance. My advice is sit back and watch the man show you how to stay focused (a good lesson for the youth), when everything around you seems to crumble (i.e. the USA economy). Obama will not always do what you want but one thing is for sure he will surely try to do what is best for the people.
This article tells me it must have been a slow news day.

Obama: Still a Chicago mobster!

Wow. The vindication of GWB is speeding along quite nicely, no?

Folks, the US Government is not the answer to our problems. If we take the responsibility ourselves, we can fix most of the problems. A fine example was in the State of Hawai’i (Island of Kauai). If the people had waited for the Federal Government fix the proble, there is no true telling as to just how long it could have, would have take to fix this problem? When the people band together (hence strenght in numbers). My hat is off to those fine folks who have shown what true community spirit is. They dam sure didn’t need a community organizer to assist in the process. They pulled together their resources, labor, monies,and time to fix the problem. In all the problem was solved in 8 days. If left to the Federal Government, they could not have achieved anything in that amount of time. This is a lesson to all of us, that we can do it ourselves. And not a government that is full of waste, manusha, along with the cost of government going thru the roof. Wake-up people.

Will somebody please tell whomever controls the teleprompter to do what we elected him to do?
His teleprompter is the only thing he listens to!

I gotta tell you, it is absolutely hilarious reading comments by the Obama sycophants claiming that now that a guy with a D behind his name is doing this stuff, it somehow doesn’t matter anymore. It is topnotch hypocritical entertainment at its finest. And to make matters worse, Obama wants to vastly expand these programs. Go on Obama drones, keep telling us why it doesn’t matter anymore, just like you tried to tell us with signing statements, rendition, earmarks, increased troops in Afghanistan, deficit spending, etc. The hypocrisy would be absolutely hilarious if it weren’t so damaging to the country. But as this and other episodes of Obama’s hypocrisy prove, the Democrats and those on the left didn’t oppose Bush’s plans out of principle, it was solely for political gain.
This president has proven himself to be an incompetent fraud whose tendency toward hypocrisy is absolutely staggering. When he is not nominating tax cheats, he is shredding the Constitution.

You can’t traverse through Europe, you can only traverse it. Good copy editors are relatively cheap, you know.

So, all you poor silly slobs are confused now that obama has ‘grown up’ in his presidency and supports state secrets. He is W all over again! Well, more simply, he is now privy to the state secrets and agrees with W. Just as he will close gitmo as he promised you, when he can find another prison for its inmates. Liberals and dems in general are boring, paranoid and just plain wrong in their single-minded blatherings…

Obama is a nut, and even worse he is a clueless nut. No backbone and no clue, he has already broken most of his campaign promises and flip flops openingly in the wind.

Shredding the constitution should be automatic impeachment.

THIS GUY HAS HIS FINGERS ON “THE FOOTBALL?” TALK ABOUT ANOTHER DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN!!!

I thought Bush was bad on alot of things, but geez Obama is far far far far worse. He has to go before he buys enough votes with giving the illegal criminals citizenship by the millions and free health care at the cost of the rest of us.

OBAMA IS TAKING ALL THE HARD DECISIONS AND ACCEPTING ALL THE TOUGH RESPONSIBILITIES WHILST…
I have to admit, whatever you’ve been having, it must be pretty good. When it wears off, do you sleep for a whole day? Or do you wake up with a throbbing headache?

Why are people surprised? Did anyone who voted for Obama know Obama? No one that I know personally who voted for Obama for president had any idea what he might do. They voted for him based on his Harvard law degree and his rhetoric. They thought McCain and Palin were dumb. They thought Obama was the smartest man in Washington. But no one could tell me what he would do once president based on any track record or past action; nor could they tell me what qualifications he had to tackle our economic crisis or global issues. They just thought he was going to be great. Oh, goody. Now he has proven in only 3 months to be an unmitigated disaster. We have over 3 more years of this. It’s only going to get worse. Good luck to us all.

Thanks for spending the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love reading more on this topic.