What We Know About Violations Of Our Privacy

The Daily Kos puts together a great list.  This was the first time I’d seen everything on one page, some of which I’d missed over the weekend, and it deserves wide spread viewer ship. Some excerpts:

1. The NSA lost a huge court battle, and was found to be acting unconstitutionally by the Secret FISA Court. The Obama administration is keeping this judgement secret, even though the secret court said, secretly, that it should be public and produced to all America. Even Congress has been denied the secret decision from the secret court, keeping this judgment secret about how the secretive NSA violated your and my rights…

2. The NSA not only gathers and keeps data on your web and emails, it also tracks every single phone call of every single American.

3.  The Obama mistreatment of whistleblowers far exceeds anything that the Cheney Bush administration ever did. Snowden’s fear of returning to this country doesn’t seem all that farfetched, given how Bradley Manning was tortured.

4.  The Obama administration continues to lie to the American public, insisting that congress is fully informed about FISA and the NSA, despite every congressman and senator who answers the question, denies that they are getting any information from them.

5.  Cloud computing providers report that their international business is crashing. Various bar associations must examine whether lawyers can even use cloud computing for their offices, because of the great probability that their data is being access and scrutinized by the feds – which causes every cloud computing attorney to be violating their oath to keep the attorney client privilege intact.

6. Those intimately involved with FISA, repeatedly allege that daily, constant, and comprehensive domestic spying on 320,000,000 Americans has resulted in absolutely no actionable data that could catch terrorists or prevent terrorism.

7. Remember the original Patriot Act Color Coded Threat Alert?  It took 8 months, but even conservative critics began to notice that any rise on color assessment board (which looked like it was designed by a TV game show producer) had nothing to do with actual, viable threats, but rather, it was raised anytime and every time that the Cheney Bush Administration faced a potential political nightmare.

And so today… Sunday August 4th, Embassy closings galore in every Muslim country.

Hmmmm. (I bet the absence of any attempt will be touted as being the result of secret phone tappings by the NSA that were disallowed by the FISA court but were done anyways… )  Let’s see how the spin comes out on Monday.

Mitt’s Hometown Paper Picks Obama Over Their Own

Obama deserves another term the Salt Lake City Tribune said.

Perhaps the republicans didn’t hear that too good.

Obama deserves another term.

Obama deserves another term.

Obama deserves another term.

Obama deserves another term.

Obama deserves another term.

Obama deserves another term.

For over thirteen years I’ve been saying not all republicans are stupid… Now finally, finally,  FINALLY!..  I am proved correct…  The people on the Salt Lake City Tribune, are not stupid….  They are Republican.  Actually, all of Utah is Republican, (I believe it was two weeks ago split 80/20 in favor of Romney…)

Of course in America anyone can say what they want.  But few can put it as eloquently as this…..

First the build up of Mitt……

Nowhere has Mitt Romney’s pursuit of the presidency been more warmly welcomed or closely followed than here in Utah. The Republican nominee’s political and religious pedigrees, his adeptly bipartisan governorship of a Democratic state, and his head for business and the bottom line all inspire admiration and hope in our largely Mormon, Republican, business-friendly state.  
 But it was Romney’s singular role in rescuing Utah’s organization of the 2002 Olympics from a cesspool of scandal, and his oversight of the most successful Winter Games on record, that make him the Beehive State’s favorite adopted son. After all, Romney managed to save the state from ignominy, turning the extravaganza into a showcase for the matchless landscapes, volunteerism and efficiency that told the world what is best and most beautiful about Utah and its people.

Wow.. what a great guy… If that was all there was, even I’d think I’d might vote for him…. But the Salt Lake Tribune goes on… and expressly lays out why Mitt Romney would be “not good” for America.

It is not the only Romney, as his campaign for the White House has made abundantly clear, first in his servile courtship of the tea party in order to win the nomination, and now as the party’s shape-shifting nominee. From his embrace of the party’s radical right wing, to subsequent portrayals of himself as a moderate champion of the middle class, Romney has raised the most frequently asked question of the campaign: “Who is this guy, really, and what in the world does he truly believe?”

Then, the reason…..

The evidence suggests no clear answer….Romney, though, is shameless, lavishing vastly diverse audiences with words, any words, they would trade their votes to hear.

So, Romney once had it, but  lost their trust… Now what about Obama?

 For four years, President Barack Obama has attempted, with varying degrees of success, to pull the nation out of its worst financial meltdown since the Great Depression, a deepening crisis he inherited the day he took office.

In the first months of his presidency, Obama acted decisively to stimulate the economy. His leadership was essential to passage of the badly needed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Though Republicans criticize the stimulus for failing to create jobs, it clearly helped stop the hemorrhaging of public sector jobs. The Utah Legislature used hundreds of millions in stimulus funds to plug holes in the state’s budget.

The president also acted wisely to bail out the auto industry, which has since come roaring back. Romney, in so many words, said the carmakers should sink if they can’t swim.

Obama’s foreign policy record is perhaps his strongest suit, especially compared to Romney’s bellicose posture toward Russia and China and his inflammatory rhetoric regarding Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Obama’s measured reliance on tough economic embargoes to bring Iran to heel, and his equally measured disengagement from the war in Afghanistan, are examples of a nuanced approach to international affairs.

Then back to their former favorite son.

 The Salt Lake Tribune editorial board had hoped that Romney would exhibit the same talents for organization, pragmatic problem solving and inspired leadership that he displayed here more than a decade ago. Instead, we have watched him morph into a friend of the far right, then tack toward the center with breathtaking aplomb. Through a pair of presidential debates, Romney’s domestic agenda remains bereft of detail and worthy of mistrust.

And the final….

Our endorsement must go to the incumbent, a competent leader who, against tough odds, has guided the country through catastrophe and set a course that, while rocky, is pointing toward a brighter day. The president has earned a second term. Romney, in whatever guise, does not deserve a first.

That’s it…   Why any rational or unrational person would still support Mitt, after the performance we have seen, is completely beyond human understanding…

It’s the Tea Party’s fault.  They are the ones who ruined Mitt, making him kneel before them for their blessing, and then have to mainsteam himself  for a general election, causing him to look like a bumbling fool in the attempt…  Republicans… how long are you going to keep putting up with these Conservatives who not only ruined the Republican Party in this fair state, but ruined the Republicans chance at a national office?  If you can’t control your own,  how can the rest of us put any trust in you to run our lives without unnecessary drama?..

So now Massachusetts and Utah,  both Mitt’s home turfs, are telling us… “uhhh, we know him… don’t vote for this guy….”

It’s forward with Obama.  And if you don’t like that and have to blame someone… Blame the Tea Party….

For Those Who Follow DelawarePolitics.Net

I’m trying to put all your ideas together into one package. So, let me get this right… All you are asking is for, is a country where:

1) There is no universal healthcare.
2) Few entitlement programs.
3) Low Flat Tax System.
4) Faith based Government.
5) A deep reverence for God.
6) Extremely strict rules against abortion.
7) Marriage has already been strictly defined as between man and woman.
8) Homosexuality is a sin, and illegal.
9) Dress Codes are strictly enforced.
10) Tattoos, piercings, baggy pants, are banned.
11) Has the Death Penalty which they aren’t shy about using.
12) Strong private school system with religious focus.
13) Widespread dependency on oil and natural gas drilling.
14) Growing nuclear program
15) Nonexistent environmental nuisances
16) Culture that promotes family and stereotyped roles for men and women.

I’ve endeavored to put all your values on one page. I share your frustration because today, ever since 2008, it seems like America is moving further and further away from these values.

But you don’t have to be frustrated anymore. I have looked far and wide and have discovered a place already in existence that has those values in place, and more. If you sorely long for those values above, it is sincerely a place where you and your family would be very happy.

It is Iran.

You don’t have to pay me. I don’t need any commission. Just glad to help a fellow Delawarean out…. No problem.

Medicare/Medicaid: Did You Know?

Several very interesting facts came out of the first years data off this monstrosity Republicans like to call: Obamacare….

Two Texas public employee programs are among the top 25 beneficiaries of a $5-billion fund to shore up employer coverage for early retirees, despite Texas Gov. Rick Perry‘s vow to repeal what Republicans derisively call “Obamacare.”

The Huntsman family business, where GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman was once a top executive, received about $1 million.

“Lots of Texans are already benefiting from health care reform,” said Anne Dunkelberg, a health care expert at the Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities. “Other than for political theater, there would not be the kind of opposition there is.”

As candidates, both Perry and Huntsman have sworn to repeal Obama’s signature health care law, which gradually extends coverage to most of the uninsured and makes other changes, including a ban on denying coverage to people in poor health… Spokesmen for the Perry and Huntsman campaigns said they see no contradictions.

Republicans have tried to paint the early retiree program as a political reward to unions, even though both Perry and Huntsman are some of the largest recipients.

AT&T, Verizon, General Electric, General Motors, Qwest, Caterpillar and other private companies all find themselves in the top 25… Not to mention, Texas A&M University — Perry’s alma mater.

I guess the question that needs be asked: if it is so good for you, why is it so baaaaad for us?