President Obama's Most Inexplicable Failure

Thursday 15 July 2010

by: Melvin A. Goodman, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

President Obama's Most Inexplicable Failure
President Barack Obama. (Image: Jared Rodriguez / t r u t h o u t; Adapted: voteprime, CIA)

President Barack Obama has been a major disappointment to a liberal community that rallied to his call for genuine change. His administration has made no attempt to investigate the crimes that were committed by the Bush administration, including torture and abuse, secret prisons and renditions. President Obama rescued Wall Street, but not Main Street. And he has expanded the self-destructive war in Afghanistan, where there is no end in sight. President Obama cannot be blamed for the failure to close Guantanamo, but he continues to favor preventive detention. But the president's most inexplicable failure, in view of his Harvard Law School background and commitment to constitutional rights, is his unwillingness to name a statutory inspector general (IG) at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

First, some background. The CIA's transgressions in the Iran-Contra scandal in the 1980s led to the creation of a statutory and independent IG, appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate. A powerful IG was required because the CIA's internal investigations of its role in the sale of arms to Iran were inadequate in comparison with the investigations of Congressional and independent counsels. Until the creation of the statutory IG, Congressional oversight committees were not given full access to the CIA investigations, and not even the Justice Department received reports detailing suspected illegalities. The efforts of CIA director William Casey to prevent the attorney general from receiving reports on illegalities led Sens. Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania) and David Boren (D-Oklahoma) to sponsor a bill to create an independent IG.

The most recent IG, John Helgerson, proved to be an effective watchdog. This earned him the ire of the last four CIA directors, who mounted an unprecedented attack on the the CIA's only genuinely independent watchdog. Helgerson retired in February 2009 and has not been replaced. Clearly, CIA management prefers to operate without oversight. But it is less clear why President Obama, apparently with the shocking support of Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-California), has chosen to name no successor to Helgerson.

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It is essential to understand the important work of the CIA's IG. In 2004, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) produced the only official and authoritative study of the abuses of the CIA detentions and interrogations program. It also produced seminal studies of accountability for the 9/11 attacks as well as the CIA shooting down of a missionary plane in Peru in 2001 and its subsequent coverup of the shooting down. A former Deputy Director for Intelligence and Chairman of the National Intelligence Council, John Gannon, has labeled this work "vindictive," but it is simply the IG doing his job. The current CIA Director, Leon Panetta, has continued the policies of his three immediate successors (George Tenet, Porter Goss and Michael Hayden), ensuring the absence of aggressive internal investigations. These directors have ignored provisions in the 1989 law that required them to inform Congress of attempts to hinder the IG in the execution of his duties.

President Obama is also continuing, if not intensifying, the policies of his predecessor, George W. Bush. He is moving aggressively to punish unauthorized leaks to the press and to limit the actions of government whistleblowers. At the same time, the president and the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee have made sure that there are no outlets for legitimate whistleblowers. The Obama administration has resorted to a state security defense to prevent revelations of renditions policies in US courts and has threatened to cut off sensitive intelligence to Britain if a British court reveals details of the CIA renditions in Europe.

The current case of Thomas Drake, formerly with the National Security Agency (NSA), demonstrates President Obama's repressive approach. Drake appears to be a classic whistleblower; his revelations to the media were designed to strengthen NSA's capabilities in the exploitation of email and cell phone information. He did not reveal secret intelligence and did not go to the press until he failed to elicit responses from the IGs at the NSA and the Department of Defense as well as the Congressional intelligence committees. Nevertheless, Drake has been indicted for illegal "retention" of classified information and faces years in prison.

Neither President Obama nor Senator Feinstein has shown any interest in the criminal investigation of the CIA's destruction of videotapes five years ago that documented sadistic interrogations in CIA prisons. They are also fighting the use of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to strengthen Congressional oversight of the intelligence community, which was favored by CIA Director Panetta in the 1980s when he was a Congressman. Today, of course, Panetta opposes the use of GAO in oversight of the CIA.

Currently, the only entity with real oversight capability over the CIA is the OIG. President Obama's failure to name a statutory IG ensures that there will be neither oversight nor accountability in the intelligence community. The president is unwilling to address the CIA's controversial, possibly illegal, actions and is making sure that no internal oversight body does so. President Obama seems to have succumbed to what his favorite philosopher, Reinhold Niebuhr termed the "false security to which all men are tempted" - the security of power.

This work by Truthout is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

Melvin A. Goodman is national security and intelligence columnist for Truthout. He is senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and adjunct professor of government at Johns Hopkins University. His 42-year government career included service at the CIA, State Department, Defense Department and the US Army. His latest book is "Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA."

Comments

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Nah! He's just the Idle

Thu, 07/15/2010 - 09:05 — Vic Anderson (not verified)

Nah! He's just the Idle Class President. Let US hope he's just a 'ICP!

If it is going to be

Thu, 07/15/2010 - 09:20 — mysterioso (not verified)

If it is going to be business as usual in Washington, then our votes are wasted and an insult to all citizens of the United States. The flag waving, the campaign promises and the smiles and baby kissing are Hollywood window dressing. We are being "governed" by a cabal like the world has never seen. At least in the old Soviet Union they were up front about it. Down with the cabal. Americans wake up.

as an european i was from

Thu, 07/15/2010 - 09:34 — stan van houcke (not verified)

as an european i was from the beginning very surprised that educated americans really thought that obama meant real change. obama like all presidential candidates went through all kinds of filters before he was chosen as a candidate. the people who really run the usa would not have permitted obama's candidacy if he had meant what he said. it is that simple.

Wow, you mean Obama is not

Thu, 07/15/2010 - 09:54 — Anonymous (not verified)

Wow, you mean Obama is not going to save us?

There has been a coup d'état in the United States. The barbarians are through the gates and have infiltrated the highest positions in our government. This is not hyperbole. How else do you explain Obama's actions? Banksters and miscreants litter his Cabinet and his policies contradict his words. This will only become more draconian short of a complete house cleaning. Yes, WAKE UP AMERICA! We have been occupied by the enemy and the real threat is from within. All of the commiserating and fretting in the world wont fix this. It is time to take to the streets and demand our country back!

Of course Obama has done

Thu, 07/15/2010 - 10:00 — Anonymous (not verified)

Of course Obama has done this. He is nothing but a sock puppet for the U.S. national security state, for the "New World Order (NWO)" militarized police state that it is intentionally being turned in to, and for making it the crown jewel in the erection of one-world government and the enslavement of the entire world under global corporate-fascism.

Obama is the ultimate Manchurian candidate and U.S. president. He was groomed by the CIA to become the ultimate sellout of the U.S. and the world, and everything being done is being perpetrated as planned by global government, bringing about the final destruction of the Constitutional republic and sovereignty of the U.S. right on schedule.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO24XmP1c5E&NR=1&feature=fvwp

indeed, he was hand picked

Thu, 07/15/2010 - 10:07 — Anonymous (not verified)

indeed, he was hand picked like a product, run by the corporate agenda to continue their pillaging of the citizenry.
a puppet of his masters who own the wealth.
continuing the same policies as Bush, and squandering the one chance we thought we had for change of direction.
how foolish we were to hope.

It isn't "inexplicable" AT

Thu, 07/15/2010 - 10:32 — Anonymous (not verified)

It isn't "inexplicable" AT ALL. So of course it takes a "former" CIA employee, and apparently present CIA propagandist, to attempt to make the opposite of inexplicable look "surprising" and "baffling" when it is anything but, in order to get most people to remain skeptical of any and all of the true explanations for why this complete traitor "President", Obama, is really doing what he is doing, and about what is really going on at the behest of the globalists.

Enough of this prevaricating, TruthOut! Get off the pot and tell it completely, and only, like it IS, and get completely out of the propaganda business, or get out of the kitchen and stop being used to distract and detract from those who ARE doing nothing but tell it like it is! If you truly and completely stand for truth, which I don't believe you do, then the likes of Melvin A. Goodman should not be allowed to propagandize us here!

Unfortunately, many if not most of your readers don't want 100% truth, but there are undoubtedly countless numbers of people who come here hoping to find unadulterated truth; and, when they fail to find it here, leave. And they would be some of your greatest supporters if you would cease being a disingenuous news organization and website. In the true interests of promoting nothing but the truth, you should not worry about what you get labeled.

The People perish for lack of 100% truth, and you could aid immensely in bringing those who now don't want to know the whole truth, over to being truly awakened and then wanting to know 100% truth, and nothing but. So they will no longer allow our country and world, and all of its liberties and freedoms, to be destroyed, and the whole world to be brought under the curse and repression of total global enslavement of all humankind.

Anon 15.00 has willfully

Thu, 07/15/2010 - 10:33 — basta (not verified)

Anon 15.00 has willfully 'forgotten' the last ten years of republican misrule, speaking of militarized police states.
Stan van Houcke is exactly right.

Correction: In the true

Thu, 07/15/2010 - 10:38 — Anonymous (not verified)

Correction:

In the true interests of promoting nothing but the truth, you should not worry about what you get labeled IF YOU DO.

I find the suffering of

Thu, 07/15/2010 - 10:39 — Mulga Mumblebrain (not verified)

I find the suffering of Obummer's 'Hope Fiends' very touching. However they only have themselves to blame. Chomsky and Nader both predicted Obummer's future path accurately,by just looking at his record.Given that no-one, ever,rises to the top in the corrupt farce of US politics unless they represent no threat to the real rulers of the country, the kleptocratic rich,hoping that Obummer would change anything was rank self-delusion.
In reality Obummer has been the confidence-man par excellence,presenting a flawless but utterly false persona for propaganda purposes, then ruling in the opposite way once in power.This is a familar tactic nowadays in the corrupt farce of Western 'democracies' Tony Blair was,in fact, a Thatcherite,then worse, but he pretended otherwise. He conned the Pommies three times. 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times..vote Tory'.Then the Tories pretended to love the underclass, to have put Thatcherism behind them, etc...but,within weeks of gaining power with the Lib/Dems who sold out their sucker voters,it's back to pure Thatcherite class hatred, red in tooth and claw.
Obummer is also a 'Tel Avivian Candidate' totally loyal to Israel, which comes as no surprise given his background. For that one need only read 'Obama and the Jews' from the Chicago Jewish News of October 24, 2008,where Paula Dubkin outlines Obummer's recruitment and finmancing by Zionists. Soon following, after his election,Obummer's very first appointment was Zionist fanatic Rahm Emanuel, his Dick Cheney.
In truth Obummer has been worse than Bush.He refuses to recognise the elected Palestinian Government, Hamas,preferring the Quisling 'President for Life' Abbas. He refuses to negotiate with Hezbollah, that won 53% of the vote in Lebanon, despite US and Israeli threats to the Lebanese electorate. He keeps up,indeed intensifies, the campaign of lies and vilification aimed at Iran, so exactly alike the campaign of lies and vilification aimed at Iraq by Bush. Obummer has done nothing but sabotage efforts to avert catastrophic climate change, has supported the psychopath Saakashvilli in Georgia, has ratcheted up the rhetoric against Russia andChina, has ordered drone missile strikes on sleeping civilians in Pakistan intensified and shovelled trillions at the finance industry,( but, after all, they were his biggest campaign contributors).
The Hope Fiends are in a difficult position. It is hard to admit that you have been conned, that your hopes for a more decent, sane, world have been sold out by a conscienceless psychopath and rank opportunist.To admit that someone you idealised is the exact opposite of your hopes is devastating. So they have retreated to denial. The next stage of mourning, anger, has been cunningly cut off, by making a quasi-black man, Obama, President.You can't get angry at Obummer because that would make you a racist, surely? So the Hope Fiends internalise their anger,poisoning themselves. They shouldn't worry,however,about getting angry at Obummer, because he is what Malcolm X called a "house Negro' a black lackey who cares more for his bosses than he does for himself, or the suckers who fell into his trap.

The Soviets had them, the

Thu, 07/15/2010 - 11:39 — Anonymous (not verified)

The Soviets had them, the Chinese have them, the North Korean's have them, and the Cuban's have them. They're called elections. And they mean just about the same as the ones in the USA. Whoever the shadow government wants in the white house will be "elected". For eight years it was Bush, before him it was Clinton and now we have Obama. Some have told me that Obama changed consiousness in the world. I disagree. I believe that the consiousness of the world was changed by Cheney/Bush in the eight years previously and that Obama simply was thrust into its headlights. Seemingly the profit. In the light of day, the false profit.

"Perhaps the greatest

Thu, 07/15/2010 - 11:48 — Maxwell Bridges (not verified)

"Perhaps the greatest fantasy of the present moment is that there is a choice here. We can look forward or backward, turn the page on history or not. Don't believe it. History matters.
~ Tom Engelhardt

"Belief produces the results of belief, and the penalties it affixes last so long as the belief and are inseparable from it. The remedy consists in probing the trouble to the bottom."
~ Mary Baker Eddy

War crimes and murder don't have any time limitations on filing charges.

The (erroneous) belief that 9/11 was perpetrated soley by 19 hijackers has affixed us with penalties: wars, war profiteering, war crimes, deaths, maimings, injuries, Constitution shredding, rendition, torture, ... 9/11 was even participant in the looting of global wealth with stock bubbles, housing bubbles, banking bailouts, etc.

As long as we believe the goverment lie of 9/11, we can be sucked into continual war and bad public policy. Probing the trouble to the bottom requires seeing the 9/11 dot in the clear pattern of lies, disception, and crimes foisted on us by the US Government and the Bush Administration in particular.

To ignore 9/11 truth is to shred everything we individually and collectively stand for as Americans, as patriots, and adherents of some religious faith like Christianity, Islam.

The 9/11 Litmus Test has to be re-framed in accordance with a trend line that is based on science and doesn't shirk from the truth -- where ever it may lead, whatever public figure is discredited for supporting and propagating lies, and whatever government institutions are scattered to the four winds of heaven in consequence of un-Constitutional, illegal, and immoral deeds.

The reframing of the 9/11 Litmus Test should begin with the 1,100 architects and engineers who are calling for a new, independent investigation into the destruction of the three World Trade Center towers on 9/11/01. To these professionals, the math and physics in the destruction of these buildings do not add up.

No longer will it be acceptable to make decisions or take positions that contradict sound science.

"The avoidance of justice and the denial of truth tend to perpetuate sin, invoke crime, jeopardize self-control, and mock divine mercy."
~ Mary Baker Eddy

What is the alternative to

Thu, 07/15/2010 - 12:19 — radline9 (not verified)

What is the alternative to Obama? Bush? Sarah Palin? Does anyone in their right mind want to return to those failed policies? Maybe Obama is just doing everything he can to hold this disaster of a nation together.

Lynne Stewart is a political

Thu, 07/15/2010 - 12:30 — NYCartist (not verified)

Lynne Stewart is a political prisoner and the Obama DOJ wants her in jail longer than the initial sentence by the judge. We are fast becoming the police state that was spoken of by the late William Moses Kunstler Esq.

No, "Basta" 15:33, I have

Thu, 07/15/2010 - 12:54 — Anonymous (not verified)

No, "Basta" 15:33, I have not forgotten, whatsoever, the eight years of "RepugnantCON" misrule. Previous presidents, particularly BushCON, began the turning of the U.S. into a militarized police state, and "O-bomb-'al-CIA-duh'-into-the-Stone-Age (aka Obama)" appears to be finishing it. I say, "appears", simply because it remains to be seen if the U.S. has any further presidents to preside over what's left of the U.S. as it is absorbed into world government and the "New World Order (NWO)"; for it seems "Osama-bin-bummer (aka Obama)" is putting the finishing touches on the eradication of all U.S. sovereignty and rule of law, other than unconstitutional law(s).

"NYCartist" 17:30, we ain't

Thu, 07/15/2010 - 13:06 — Anonymous (not verified)

"NYCartist" 17:30, we ain't seen nothin' yet. There are very soon going to be a lot more, and greater and greater numbers of, political prisoners in the U.S.; and, very soon after that, those political prisoners are going to be expeditiously exterminated as so-called "terrorists", "unlawful enemy combatants", "unprivileged enemy belligerents", "traitors", "communists", "enemies of the state", and "'guilty' of committing 'perceived threatening conduct'", etc., by the true terrorists and traitors who are putting the finishing touches on completely, as well as successfully, destroying the United States.

Given the power of the elite

Thu, 07/15/2010 - 15:39 — Anonymous (not verified)

Given the power of the elite in the military industrial complex, no politico is able to do anything which disturbs the flow of easy money to them. They run the show from behind the curtains, get all the benefits from the system but make the rest of us to pay for their benefits with our money and lives, including unnecessary (from the peoples perspective) wars, rescuing their banks and their corporations.... They cannot go wrong because they have the whole society at their disposal to shift around, give or take their jobs, prop or destroy governments around the world (with limitations) and to act like gods of the earth and heaven. Don't blame Obama or the Democrats/Republicans. They are serving at the pleasure of the elite. That is why GW, the dumbest appointed leader and his trainer, DICK were given the executive position twice despite people electing another person and not voting for them the second time (rigged voting machines).

Given the power of the elite

Thu, 07/15/2010 - 15:51 — Anonymous (not verified)

HELLLOOOOOO MELVIN! We know

Thu, 07/15/2010 - 20:21 — EDGEOFNOWHERE (not verified)

HELLLOOOOOO MELVIN! We know about 9/11 and we know you know. All the fake "bafflement" about our current White House shill and his relationship with your alma mater is just dross. Someday the truth about 9/11 will become viral and then you and your friends will have some explaining to do.

Groomed By Kissinger, This

Fri, 07/16/2010 - 06:55 — Bill O'Rights (not verified)

Groomed By Kissinger, This President is no different than the rest - the parties are a fraud. The biggest failure is that none of the dictatorial aspects of the Presidency have been undone - all those signing statements from Bush - O could have rescinded those unilaterally as his first act but he left them all in place. That didn't even require any bipartisan support. We live in a dictatorship with phony, hackable elections on paperless vote machines, with a Gestapo security force authorized to arrest, abduct, and torture - all without due process of law or a trial. Does somebody have to kick you in the face for you to realize that you're under assault? This is not just 'incompetency' or a 'stuffed shirt' - it is heavy aggression, while we dither. Maybe after a few more of our beloved slaughter or are slaughtered for nothing, it will become worth doing something about. This man has committed a long list of impeachable offenses and for us to continue to do nothing is exactly like the family of the child molester who continues to rape baby sister while everyone pretends it's not happening.

Wow, the vitriolic comments

Fri, 07/16/2010 - 09:02 — Frieda People (not verified)

Wow, the vitriolic comments here sound strangely like many from the "tea partiers," don't they? [BTW, I am mostly in agreement with the sentiments posted]. Could we not use this immense distrust of government/powers-that-be as a unifying principle to rally around? "Divided we fall..."

Freida - I was a lifelong

Fri, 07/16/2010 - 11:44 — Bill O'Rights (not verified)

Freida - I was a lifelong Democrat - gave a large sum to O's campaign - no longer in a party. Your mention of posters here being 'tea-partier' is not descriptive - do you mean the Palin/Beck Warmonger 'Tea-Partier' or the Ron Paul 'let's close down most of our military bases and stop invading other countries' wing that is never distinguished in the press from the first group?

The CIA having an IG will

Fri, 07/16/2010 - 21:11 — Oh my goodness! (not verified)

The CIA having an IG will save us as soon as pigs begin to fly. Are we really to believe that somehow some IG is going to bring al CIA-da under control?

It is a good storyline but not very believable.

I agree...the CIA having an

Fri, 07/16/2010 - 23:47 — Anonymous (not verified)

I agree...the CIA having an IG will save us as soon as pigs can fly...however, in this article, many of the posts that Obama wants to fill have been rejected by the house and senate or filabustered...I believe that it's over 100. I wonder if the authors agenda was to bring about an anti-Obama debate...perhaps a follow-up article is in order to inquire as to the real reason this position hasn't been filled. Obama has had an over flowing plate when he steeped onto the presidential stage and despite the barking dogs of the republicans...has been able to pass a Health Care bill, Wallstreet Reform while int he middle of the Gulf coast catastrophe which, by the way, has everything to do with the past administration...and I'm sorry for going there but it's a truth that should not be ignored.... No one is more focused in trying to pull the U.S. out of the shit hole than Obama...you're irrational if you believe otherwise.

that was an excellent piece

Sat, 07/17/2010 - 00:46 — Anonymous (not verified)

that was an excellent piece

Despicable, yes; but not

Sat, 07/17/2010 - 04:00 — Jack B. Nimble (not verified)

Despicable, yes; but not 'inexplicable' or 'baffling' as the many excellent comments show. Thoroughly explicable & predictable by any informed citizen with a certain amount of objectivity or distance who hasn't drunk the 'we're the good guys kool-aid'... "My country right (far right) or wrong".... has replaced " My country right or left.... the left being by definition the wrong. Screw 'em. That "a people get the government they deserve" is even more immediately true in a democracy, esp. a racist democracy that was founded (like Israel) on the genocide & neutralization of the original inhabitants. No future civil rights catastrophe is beyond what this bloodthirsty (highest murder rate in the world), barbaric (9 years of slaughter in Afghanistan & Iraq), criminal (highest incarceration rate in the world) & clinically/ terminally ignorant population deserves. Palin for President. This election I will vote for change, drastic change..I'll vote straight ticket Republican as America needs it's come-comeuppance & who more capable of delivering it than the Republicans? They have a GOOD track record.

I guess he got the message

Sat, 07/17/2010 - 08:15 — Anonymous (not verified)

I guess he got the message sent by the CIA with the JFK murder. That message would be "Mess with the CIA and you're a dead duck." The CIA and the Military-Industrial Complex have prevailed just as Eisenhower predicted. No president will ever be able to over ride them now.

Freida and all of her ilk

Sat, 07/17/2010 - 12:58 — Anonymous (not verified)

Freida and all of her ilk are idiots, "Bill O'Rights". They are "believe-the-MSM-lies", "took-the-blue-pill", "prefer-to-continue-to-be-a-'Copper-Top'-battery-in-the-enabling-of-absolute-insanity-and-complete-enslavement-and-absolute-destruction-of-us-all" brainwashed morons. They are all so depressing that I can't refrain anymore from calling them the idiots that they are. In fact, I almost can't take anymore of such ignorance and the ignoramuses that perpetuate it. They are (completely?) controlled by evil; and, of course, don't realize it.

Wake the hell up, all of you idiots! Take the "red pill" and stop being, not only moronic, but complicit in absolute evil in the guise of "good", or "right", or "sane", or "logical", or "intelligent"! Otherwise, or until then, you won't know True good, right, sane, logical or intelligent, if it bit you on the buttocks!

Uh, could you be a little

Sat, 07/17/2010 - 17:58 — Frieda People (not verified)

Uh, could you be a little more specific [Anon. 17:58] about why I'm an "evil idiot?" I certainly do not deserve to be called that - what exactly did I say that set you to frothing at the mouth?

My message was pretty simple: there are a lot of people in this country who are angry at the government/corporations/powers-that-be - can we try to find some things that we agree on in order to take on "the man?" There's power in numbers, you know. Otherwise we're all just separate little voices in the wind.

To Anon 17:58: People of

Sat, 07/17/2010 - 19:20 — Jack B. Nimble (not verified)

To Anon 17:58: People of faith cannot be swayed by fact nor can they be convinced by history.
Put a name on your posts you coward... so typical. Hide in the crowd & shout vague epithets from anonymity. I'll bet 9/11 opened your mind from dead sleep to REM, a rapid-eye-movement dream state. Have a cup of rational coffee & state your specifics.

Frieda, I'm talking about

Sun, 07/18/2010 - 00:02 — Anonymous (not verified)

Frieda, I'm talking about your calling truthtelling comments "vitriolic", showing your deep ignorance, and avoidance and denial, of the truth. And, like on the MSM, showing how you much too easily and conveniently write off that which you don't understand as supposedly being "tea partier" material, etcetera. Therefore, you DO deserve to be called an evil idiot. Most people are being taken over by evil, which is becoming more and more obvious, and proven by how mass-insane, living in a fantasy world, and willing to support the attacking of the truth they are. You can't see the forest for the trees because you really believe the evil is "normal" and "a part of life", the "yang with the yin"; all lies.

You ARE controlled by evil, and you either know it or you don't, but most likely you don't unless you're an out and out, knowing Satanist like Obama, the neolibs and the neocons, who all ultimately one and the same. I call it like it is, and I can't mince words anymore, or try to be "nice" to evil people like yourself anymore. There is no reasoning with people whose lord and master is Evil. Many will come back to their Maker and Creator, Jesus the Christ, as a result of attempts to reason with them, but most will not; for people like yourself prefer evil and lies, and living (a) lie(s). You reject and turn your back on God, so He has to turn his back you and all of those who do likewise, which makes you insane.

And, "Jack B. (Un)Nimble", I am swayed by fact and convinced by much of history, or that part of the history that is true anyway, much more than you are. It is your lack of faith in your Maker / Creator that make you and your ilk unable to be swayed by True Fact, or the True Facts that are most important, and unable to be convinced by True History, which all you do in response to is believe lies that it is supposedly history that was not proven, or you just claim the truth of that history allegedly doesn't exist when it has been proven over and over again.

I wasn't knowingly calling you specifically an evil idiot, but you have clearly proven that you are, especially defending an evil idiot like Frieda. It is typical of you braindead morons that you are guilty of everything you accuse others of being. You reject the truth of 9/11 obviously having been an inside job to everyone who looks at the tons of evidence that it was; and you reject outright that great deal of evidence and the countless experts who have proven that it had to been an inside job perpetrated by rogue elements of the U.S. government at the behest of the international globalist shadow government, and that it was "false-flagged" in order for it to be pinned on patsies and scapegoats, and used to start the endless "War (OF!) Terrorism" and bring in one-world government, all of which it has been, or is being, extremely successful in doing.

We who are of truth, and promulgators of nothing but truth, can't join with and be in unity with rejectors of truth like yourselves; nor would you join with those who you write off as such things as "tea partiers". It would be like Jesus the Christ joining together with Satan, holiness joining together with evil, or matter joining together with anti-matter; it will never happen. You either stop rejecting truth, and join together with those who completely face the truth of what is really going on, or you remain joined to evil rejection of truth, and rejection of those who stand for nothing but truth. And those who stand for nothing but truth are not "separate little voices in the wind".

I'm not only "angry at the government/corporations/powers-that-be", which of course I am angry at; but I'm also angry with the evil idiots who let themselves continue to be used of evil to undermine truth and those who tell nothing but the truth, and I'm sick and tired of all of you. The problem is, you are getting to be in greater and greater numbers, and to be getting worse and worse. I know I should be more diplomatic and "loving", but I'm so tired of this evil world that I'm losing all patience with it and all of its evil minions, including know-nothings and rejectors of truth like yourselves. Dear God, please forgive me and help me to be loving to and patient with these braindead nimrods, dimwits and rejectors of truth.

It is obvious that I have more than good reason to be fed up and angry with this evil world and its mostly-deceived, mass-insane fruitloops who call truth and those who stand for nothing but truth "insane". The inmates in the worldwide asylum call the truly sane the so-called "crazy" ones. And, because it is getting worse and worse, it is getting increasingly difficult not to get more and more angry at the level of true, and increasing, madness and idiocy. I'm watching all liberty and freedom, and almost all semblance of true sanity, dissintegrate right before my very eyes; and seeing evil taking over, unchecked, more and more; and, because I care so much about what is happening, and who it is happening to, I get more and more disgusted, frustrated and perturbed by what is going on, and I'm at my wits end in dealing with it.

Wake up you brainwashed slaves, cowards, traitors and servants of evil, and stop rejecting truth. And stop letting yourselves be used of evil to turn others away from truth and those who stand for nothing but truth.

Sorry, I meant to check my

Sun, 07/18/2010 - 00:21 — Anonymous (not verified)

Sorry, I meant to check my spelling before posting the foregoing... "Disintegrate", not "dissintegrate".

ADDITION(S) [in capital

Mon, 07/19/2010 - 06:28 — Anonymous (not verified)

ADDITION(S) [in capital letters]: ...You reject the truth of 9/11 obviously having been an inside job to everyone who looks at the tons of evidence that it was; and you reject outright that great deal of evidence and the countless experts who have proven that it had to been an inside job perpetrated by rogue elements of the U.S. government at the behest of the international globalist shadow government, and that it was "false-flagged" in order for it to be pinned on patsies and scapegoats, and used to start the endless "War (OF!) Terrorism"; TURN THE U.S. INTO A CORPORATE-FASCIST, MILITARIZED, MARTIAL LAW POLICE STATE WITH THE CONSTITUTION, BILL OF RIGHTS AND ALL TRUE LIBERTIES AND FREEDOMS ABOLISHED; and bring in one-world government, all of which it has been, or is being, extremely successful in doing...

Speaking of political

Tue, 07/20/2010 - 13:22 — Anonymous-Non-Sheeple (not verified)

Speaking of political prisoners...

Modern Political Prisoners in America

Szandor Blestman
July 20, 2010

When I was growing up, I learned in school that one of the reasons the United States of America was better than the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was because we didn’t hold political prisoners in our jails. That was something the bad, bad communists did. That was something that was done in communist countries to keep dissidents in line and to silence them. Such a thing could never be done in America. I don’t know if this is still taught in the schools, but if it is then I believe our children are being grossly misinformed. The United States of America has become the leading nation when it comes to jailing its citizens, and the vast majority of them have been jailed for non violent crimes. We are, in effect, being jailed by the political class for disobeying rules they have deigned necessary, not for actions that have harmed another human being or his property. Most of those jailed are, in effect, political prisoners.

The federal government of the United States of America has declared war on its own civilians and the majority of those spending time in jail are prisoners of that war. They call this war many things, the war on drugs and the war on terror being the most prevalent, but it is really a war fought against people in order to try to keep a concept hidden from the public consciousness. That concept is the concept of freedom, the concept that individuals own their own bodies, their own labor, their own property and best know how to run their own lives.

The power elite and their political puppets use such emotionally charged terms as “war” to elicit specific responses from the populace. They want people to believe that anyone with a differing or divergent point of view from that of the establishment is a bad person. They want people to believe that anyone with a difference of opinion is a menace to society and a threat to all that is good and just. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most of the people who are spending time in prison are not only ordinary non violent folk who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, they are likely kind, loving individuals with family and friends who care for them and miss them dearly. Many of them were likely hard working, productive members of society until they were caught or reported breaking one of the multitude of “laws” created by control freaks who seem to see us common folk as cash cows meant to be milked for their benefit.

This war has spilled across the borders of the United States and is affecting the population worldwide. The DEA seems to think it has the right to enforce the laws of the United States in whatever country it deems necessary. I don’t know that the DEA has the right to do this, but it certainly has the power thanks to your tax dollars. A good example of this is the case of Marc Emery. Mr. Emery is a Canadian. He was simply selling marijuana seeds. This is a practice that is not illegal in Canada. Yet it is illegal in the US, though hardly ever enforced. Mr. Emery was set up by the DEA in a sting operation in which he sold seed across the border. The DEA then used its power as a federal agency of the United States to coerce the federal Canadian government into extraditing Mr. Emery to the United States.

Mr. Emery’s business harmed no one. It only maybe hurt the feelings of a few bureaucrats who felt perhaps Mr. Emery’s opinions were becoming too popular. You see, Marc Emery not only sold marijuana seeds, he ran a magazine named Cannabis Culture and used the money to fund marijuana legalization activism worldwide. He believes, as I do, that everyone owns their own bodies and can determine for themselves which substances to use and which to avoid. He would likely still be free if he had just pocketed his profits rather than using them to promote his marijuana legalization efforts. It appears as if Marc Emery was targeted not for his illegal activity, but for his political activism. And they had to use an unethical sting setup to make it look legitimate.

The same is true of tax protestors. People fighting the unethical, unconstitutional income tax have been forced into prison despite the obvious unpopularity of this theft. Even though the vast majority of the populace seems to be brainwashed into thinking the federal income tax is legitimate, the arguments against it are intriguing and compelling on both legal and moral grounds. Ed and Elaine Brown were two such protestors who wished to make such arguments during their trail. The federal judge presiding over their trail denied them the opportunity to make over thirty such arguments in their defense. As a result, they realized the court system was rigged in favor of the state and refused to take part in it any longer.

Ed, a contractor, and Elaine, a dentist, gathered together such a following that the Feds determined that the only way to get to them would be to unethically infiltrate their supporters. It appears as if the Feds are worried about their image and don’t want to be thought of by the general public as the violent agency they are. They want people to forget such incidents as Waco and Ruby Ridge, but a leopard cannot change its spots. Ed and Elaine Brown were productive members of society until the Feds put them in unproductive prison cells.

People such as Ed and Elaine Brown and Wesley Snipes aren’t in jail because they didn’t pay their taxes, they’re in jail because they refused to obey. They refused to knuckle under to the coercion and threats of the federal government and decided to exercise their rights. They refused to cower in fear before the political gang that runs this nation and decided to show them for what they are, a violent gang of thugs who believe they own us and a portion of our labor. These are arguments the authoritarian power mongers don’t want to hear because they’re true, and the truth is sometimes hard to face. They would rather do harm to those who have never harmed another than face the reality that they are greedy failures in a coercive monopoly funded by theft and unable to compete in a legitimate marketplace.

What happens when the practices used by the policing agencies are used against them? Barry Cooper is a good example to look at. A former narcotics officer, he created a sting operation to catch the police breaking the law and disobeying the constitution. His police training served him well as he had learned to setup drug dealers. He filmed the police breaking their own laws and streamed it to the web in such a way so that their guilt could not be denied. This angered the cops. As a result, Barry Cooper and his family have been harassed by authorities ever since. Candi, his wife, lost custody of her eight year old son. They have both been arrested and charged with filing a false police report. They await trial on said charges. It seems what’s good for the goose is not good for the gander. It seems that the police can setup and harass ordinary folk to catch them breaking laws, but when ordinary folk do the same to the police, the ordinary folk better watch out.

The system is plagued with unfairness. It is set up so that those with authority aren’t burdened with any personal responsibility for their decisions. They are not held accountable for their actions even when such actions harm others or are financially unsound. It takes those who rail against it and make honest, sensible arguments and silences them by removing them to cold prison cells. We might not have the cruel and unforgiving gulags the Russians had under communist rule in the last century, but we have prisons populated with political prisoners who don’t even know they are political prisoners. Our government has interrupted and ruined the lives of millions for its political power, expediency and agenda.

The war against the people needs to end. The federal government needs to step aside. The common folk need to reestablish their lust for freedom. The bureaucrats need to start respecting the rights of the individual once again. The federal government needs to be recognized for the monstrous mechanism of tyranny it has become. Hopefully, the cogs inside that mechanism will start refusing to allow it to run smoothly. We should be allowed to spend our money as we see fit, to smoke what we want to smoke, to say what we wish to say, and to live our lives as we wish to live them without fear of government intrusion and imprisonment. The disobedience of a few have shown us the ugly truth. The disobedience of many will help set us free.

Apologies, I forgot the

Tue, 07/20/2010 - 13:23 — Anonymous-Non-Sheeple (not verified)

Apologies, I forgot the link:

http://www.infowars.com/modern-political-prisoners-in-america/

To the Anonymous repeat

Mon, 07/26/2010 - 13:45 — Frances in California (not verified)

To the Anonymous repeat commenter - who isn't even focusing on the article's content - heaping scorn upon Frieda and others; we already see through you. Blathering in super-heated terms about One-World-Government, when you don't even understand how re-regulation can save this country, you have relegated yourself to the nether classes, the bought-and-paid-for Tea-Party-fomentors, the Astroturfers who trot out your buzzwords in no particular order at the mere mention of reasoned debate, much less cooperation. This is Comment Section pollution; no one learns from it; no one benefits from it. Just go away.

Excuse me, Prof. Goodman:

Mon, 07/26/2010 - 14:03 — Frances in California Again (not verified)

Excuse me, Prof. Goodman: Is this not largely Rahm Emanuel's doing (or lack of doing?)? I realize that makes Obama a capitulator, but no one over the age of 50 believes that the CIA didn't assassinate JFK (some blame them for RFK and MLK as well, but those of us who read know MI off'd MLK) and wouldn't eliminate Obama if he got in the way of their plans. Since the Criminal Oligarchy still has all the money and all the thugs, what good would a largely ceremonial appointment do Obama?

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Wed, 03/23/2011 - 00:39 — Debbie Phinisee (not verified)

Only tossing you a word of advice.

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President Obama's Most Inexplicable Failure

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