Tag: Obama
drive-by planet: Snowden leaks: NSA whistleblower William Binney warns of ‘totalitarian state’
Following news of leaks by NSA whistleblower Ed Snowden, Obama was asked by a reporter about massive NSA surveillance that involves not just phone tracking, but all types of online user communications. In the course of his defense of this unparalleled invasion of privacy, Obama dropped the “Big Brother” term
Continue reading350 or bust: Whistleblower Snowden: NSA Surveillance Will Lead To “Turnkey Tyranny”
This incredibly brave young man’s story needs to be shared far and wide. 29 year old Edward Snowden, through The Guardian newspaper, went public as the NSA whistleblower yesterday. His revelations last week that the US National Security Agency’s Prism program has direct access to the systems of Google, Facebook,
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Who is the real terrorist?: LowKey – Terrorist video
Definitions of terrorism: “The systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion.” – Merriam Webster “Systematic use of violence and intimidation to achieve some goal.“ – Free Dictionary “The use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes.” – Dictionary.com Noam Chomsky clarifies the
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Bostonians once supported NorAid and civil rights in N. Ireland: Americans should oppose disastrous US foreign policy
The Irish-Americans of Boston were once a source of support and inspiration for nationalists in the north of Ireland during the dark days of The Troubles. During the hunger strikes by republican prisoners, the people of Boston protested the vile policies of Margaret Thatcher and raised funds. Cash was collected
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Eric Schmidt’s privacy concerns about drones more than a little ironic
Executive chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt, recently went public with his concerns about ‘everyman’ drones getting into the wrong hands. Thinks they should be banned… might be a privacy threat. Guess Schmidt should know being a top exec of a company that some regard as one of the biggest privacy
Continue readingdrive-by planet: ‘Bugsplats’: civilian death count from U.S. drone strikes
Some child casualties of covert US drone war The Pakistan government has released its figures for civilian casualties of American drone strikes. The Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that CIA drones have killed at least 2,200 people in the country, including at least 400 civilians. Around 600 have received
Continue readingLeft Over: ‘Winds’ Of Change: Is That the Smell of Filthy Lucre?
Winds of change blowing hard as B.C. goes to the polls Can Liberal Premier Christy Clark break the NDP’s momentum? By Stephen Smart, CBC News Posted: Apr 15, 2013 2:18 AM PT Hey, Christy, the funny thing about having a big ol’ corporate-sponsored war chest…it no longer guarantees an election win
Continue readingLeft Over: Droning on and On at the NDP Convention…(but no drones, please!)
Tiny socialist caucus raises ruckus at NDP convention Party forces protesting delegates to put away anti-drone banner By Laura Payton, CBC News What a bunch of middle of the road drones the NDP has become…now there is a muzzling of dissent? I have always voted NDP – not because I agreed
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Obama’s Grand Betrayal of Ordinary America
Barack Obama’s carefully nurtured image as a man of the people has been blown to shreds. Rob Urie, writing for CounterPunch, captures the event in one paragraph: With Barack Obama putting his plan to cut Social Security and Medicare expenditures into writing in his Federal budget proposal the ability of
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Speech We Didn’t Hear from Obama in Israel.
Wouldn’t it be nice if this is what Obama actually said? Quotes taken from the Counterpunch article by Uri Avnery “No nation, great or small, can prosper for long without peace. War is the curse of mankind. It coarsens our spirit, consumes our resources, spreads death and destruction. In our
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Rashid Khalidi’s ‘Brokers of Deceit’: how the U.S. has undermined the peace process
In Jerusalem at the start of his current visit to Israel, Obama went over-the-top with superlatives in a speech that employed high flown rhetoric and symbolism. He painted the US/Israel relationship in transcendent terms – “eternal” no less. In a later speech, adopting a more pragmatic approach, the president characterized
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper’s Most Horrible Day
Golly. For a moment today it looked like an old Christopher Lee movie.When somebody opens the window, daylight streams in, and all the Con vampires turn to stone.But alas, it was only Stephen Harper having a REALLY bad day.A day when you really had to wonder whether he's losing control of
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: America’s Hugo Chavez – Certainly NOT Obama
I’m starting to like CounterPunch more and more. Go read the full article at their site as it is insightful and though provoking. […] “As part of the national mythology many Americans, and likely nearly all liberals and progressives, accept the premise that policies designed to boost the fortunes
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper and the Carbon Trap
It's been the weirdest winter ever where I live.It was so warm for so long it took forever for the canal to freeze, until it was safe enough to skate on.Then it thawed so quickly, the net got stranded in the middle of nowhere, with the ice too thin to
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: How The US Used Pussy Riot And You Liked It
Why were you outraged over Russia locking up Pussy Riot but ambivalent over America bringing its full weight down on open access activist Aaron Swartz? Simple, because hating a Russian government is easier than improving your own. When Russian punk band Pussy Riot received 2 years for “hooliganism motivated by
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Americans Now Primed for WWIII
(Gallup: Staggering 99 Percent of Americans See Iran’s Nuclear Program as ‘Threat’ Americans See Civilian Program as a Bigger Threat Than North Korea’s Actual Nukes by Jason Ditz, February 20, 2013) ”A grim new poll from Gallup shows an overwhelming majority of Americans, indeed 99 percent of them, believe
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Why Canada Needs An Elected Senate Just Like America’s
“Washington is broken.” – Barack Obama Looking at the Canadian Senate in isolation might motivate many to question it, but compared to the American Senate, Canadians should be proud of their upper chamber. Besides the fact that googling “Ottawa is broken” brings zero related results, the American Senate is so
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