DemocratsForProgress

DemocratsForProgress's Journal

October 31, 2013

Walter Rhett: Gen. Alexander’s Failed Cold War Spy Tactics

This week, the Congressional testimony of National Security Agency (NSA) General Keith Alexander was brutish and boring. He is wrong in his view of spycraft, its role and service in the cause of national security. He lives and thinks in a world that has disappeared. His voice is an echo from a past season. He is obsessed, which is obvious from first glimpse—no need to tap his phone. Mainly, he is dangerous.

Here’s why. The outlines of Gen. Alexander’s world describe a dark, clandestine place full of murky potential threats. It is marked by passages between shadowy cell leaders who channel money, plan bad acts, and train committed followers with the intent of terrorist actions that will disrupt society, kill civilians, embarrass governments, and emblazon others to take up the cause—a glorified short-sighted excuse that over-amplifies the despicable act of deliberately killing human beings who have brought no harm to those who bring them under attack.

Terrorism has widened the battlefield to every civilian door; it rules nothing out, and the technology of arms enables even small attacks to do great damage and kill innocents. Terrorism crosses national borders. It has no battle plan. Each act is an end in itself. Within the crazy quilt of random forces that constitutes terrorism, the NSA has gone into a frenzy of tapping phone calls, building high-tech platforms that are listening posts for personal e-mails to the personal smartphones of the heads of state. (Dear NSA: Can we get some cross-government cooperation to fix the healthcare.gov website?) No wonder there was insistence that President Obama surrender his Blackberry in 2009.

General Alexander’s view is that of the Cold War warrior. Serpentine, byzantine subroutines fill his thinking. He who was programmed to take every inch of territory, believes he can cover every global binary byte...

More at: http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2013/10/30/gen-alexanders-failed-cold-war-spy-tactics/

October 29, 2013

Stormy Monday, 10/28/13

Jeff Rosenzweig: Stormy Monday, 10/28/13

Will HHS Secretary Sebelius fall on her sword? Will Websitegate force Barack Obama from office? Will Republicans ever shut their damn mouths and concentrate, for once, on doing something positive, rather than devoting all their time and tons of public money to futile attempts at de-legitimizing this President? No, no, and hell no.

After initial refusals, followed by scheduling issues, it now appears that Secretary Sebelius will testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday. Expect majority members on the Committee to grandstand vigorously, hoping to compile some tasty video clips they can use for next year’s reelection efforts when they try to convince their constituents to save them from having to go and earn an honest living for another two years.

Wednesday morning, the 29-member Conference Committee holds its first meeting on the budget. Can Democrats and Republicans agree on a way forward? Can anything actually get done? Well, one thing that might get done this week is the passage of a House resolution formally giving the President a wag of the finger for having the colossal temerity to suspend the debt ceiling until February 7. Laissez les bipartisan temps rouler!

More at: http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2013/10/29/stormy-monday-102813/

October 27, 2013

Nance Greggs: “Frothy Mixture of Fecal Matter” Strikes Again

Well, Lil’ Ricky, I am in receipt of your latest “Patriot Voices” newsletter – and, as always, my mind is boggled (although never surprised) by your blatant self-serving hypocrisy.

“Patriot Voices has always stood up for the traditional values that made America strong and great. But that’s not enough. We have to stand up to what Hollywood entertainment is peddling to the country.”

Well, who’da thunk it! You get a job with a movie production company, and you’re now deeply concerned about the evil-doers in Hollywood. But, as they say, wait – there’s more:

“While the challenging economy is taking its toll on our country, the moral decay and lack of decent quality entertainment is every bit as great a danger.”

Let me ‘splain something to you, Lil’ Ricky (and as always, don’t be ashamed to ask for help with the big words that you probably don’t understand)...

More at: http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2013/10/26/frothy-mixture-of-fecal-matter-strikes-again/

October 23, 2013

Walter Rhett: Obama’s Political Second Line

0 – 2!

Boehner lost the fight, as I predicted in my last article! Barack Obama kept alive the string that began with Boehner’s loss to Oklahoma Representative J.C Watts (R) for Chair of the House Republican Conference in 2001; that began Boehner’s string of losing fights of personal importance (important because Boehner makes them personal) to astute African-American politicians who take advantage of Boehner’s weaknesses and overreach.

Okay, the string is a twist: Boehner lost because his position was untenable. But the coincidence is history and makes good myth.

And from the mythical traditions of how the dead are buried, Obama has introduced something new to American politics: the political second line. It defines the way politics moves forward after a tough fight, when grief and anger are heavy in the air, and fury burns in the hearts of those vanquished, as, their ideals trounced, they walk past inanimate spirits of dead goals lying in the political infirmary of conference rooms.

In the recent battle of the bulge over the budget and debt ceiling, we knew the Republican defeat was nigh and the plug was pulled on its life support when the Koch Companies Public Sector, LLC sent a widely publicized letter to the each member of the US Senate. The letter accused Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, of lying, as the Koch organization categorically denied any effort in funding or directing Congressional Republicans to shut down government and default on debt to force an Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) repeal or rollback...

More at: http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2013/10/23/obamas-political-second-line/

October 21, 2013

Stormy Monday, 10/21/13

Jeff Rosenzweig: Stormy Monday, 10/21/13

Whew. Debt ceiling raised, spending resolution passed, constitutional crisis averted. Now everything can get back to normal: more meaningless votes to kill Obamacare, more putrescent hypocrisy about deficits, more infantile refusal to compromise, more chicken fried grandstanding, more outrageous policy “ideas” that were intellectually stillborn the first, second or third time they were proposed, back at the lowering, ominous dawn of the Reagan era.

“Positive Bunny” kicks off the week with a Monday morning performance of his “sunny bunny” dance outside the Capitol. Brainchild of “Purge Day” activist Patricia Taylor, the event is somehow intended to help restore America’s “sunny disposition.” I can assure Ms. Taylor that this American, at least, doesn’t have a sunny disposition, and this stunt won’t do a thing to change that, though I applaud her work on behalf of troubled teens.

Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, speaks Tuesday at the Institute of Peace, an event moderated (in an astonishingly garish display of irony) by war criminal and former Bush National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley.

Sharif then visits the White House on Wednesday, as the Obama Administration prepares to restore $1.5 billion in aid suspended shortly after the killing of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad in 2011...

More at: http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2013/10/20/stormy-monday-102113/

October 14, 2013

Stormy Monday, 10/14/13

Jeff Rosenzweig: Stormy Monday, 10/14/13

Can Wall Street talk sense to Congressional Republicans? It’s a trick question, of course; nobody can talk sense to Congressional Republicans. Still, all eyes will be on the financial markets Monday as sluggish negotiations to reopen the government and avert a default continue.

After a weekend marked – make that marred by contrived freak show events, Debtpocalypse, a mere three days away, begins to seem almost appealing, like Snake Plissken triggering a global EMP at the end of Escape from LA. From the grubby spectacle at the World War II Memorial, featuring a joint appearance by Sarah Palin and Ted Cruz (picture two egos the size of Macy’s parade balloons vying for attention) to the farcical Truckers Ride for the Constitution protest (which caused less traffic disruption than the recent surprise lunchtime stroll to Taylor Gourmet by the President and Vice President) to the supremely offensive display of a Confederate flag outside the First Family’s residence, Republicans have spent most of the weekend scribbling new chapters in the history of American public service. Poorly.

If you’re curious about White House doings this week, a visit to whitehouse.gov won’t provide much information, but you will see this message:

Due to Congress’s failure to pass legislation to fund the government, the information on this web site may not be up to date. Some submissions may not be processed, and we may not be able to respond to your inquiries.

More at: http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2013/10/14/stormy-monday-101413/

October 2, 2013

Walter Rhett: The Spoils of War: For One Side, Healthcare; For the Other, an Incurable Condition

War is a series of battles, but is always about a bigger prize. The I Ching warns of this, and every hunter knows: watch with your eyes, listen with your ears. Know where you are and what’s ahead before you make your next step.

War has two goals: 1) win; take away, tie up or use up options to bring defeat to your enemies and put people, resources and authority under your control; 2) a new system; alter the methods and positions of power, both as a deterrent and control.

Without guns, America is witnessing a political civil war. It’s not loose talk or noise. It is advanced by legislative procedures that breach trust, crater resources, and weaken the entire Republic. It leaves opponents without a defense. It accumulates power for a well funded, fortressed minority. Its losses embolden its backers and voters.

Let’s look at the logic of the healthcare-government funding fight: why will Republicans not eliminate tax credits for Big Oil not tied to life or death, or cut defense? Why will they endanger the lives of citizens by denying healthcare in the name of freedom and jobs?

More at: http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2013/10/02/the-spoils-of-war-for-one-side-healthcare-for-the-other-an-incurable-condition/

Profile Information

Member since: Mon May 28, 2012, 12:11 AM
Number of posts: 545