This is a chilling little speech by Jesselyn Radick, a Bush administration whistleblower who was harassed aggressively by the Department of Justice, on how matters have gotten much worse for government whistleblowers under Obama, both in numbers and the ferocity of the retaliation.
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Obama will most likely win the November election. He will then proceed to intensify everything secretive and repressive so his legacy does not get publicly challenged for several generations. He’ll be able to go on as a rich 0.1%er, oblivious to the incalculable damage he has inflicted on the very foundations of this Republic, by making all the most egregious Bush decisions a bipartisan consensus in DC, but not on Main Street, which is a place he completely abhors anyway.
As for this country, I can’t fathom a good set of possible outcomes during the remainder of my lifetime, which should be around 35 to 40 years.
Lucky me, I got a 2nd passport.
I’ll be lucky to last another 20 years, but I feel pretty good about the chances of a positive outcome. I’ll keep trying to do right, but I don’t have any children so I don’t really care all that much if the majority breeders ultimately decide to annihilate theirs.
The fruits of democracy automatically count as a positive outcome, right? Rats, where’s Francis Fukuyama when you need him.
where will you go?
Australia, perhaps?
The lucky country eh, which won’t be for too much longer. We have waves of boat people trying to get in all the time and I have read recently of record numbers of southern Europeans applying to emigrate as well; while I personally welcome all and sundry wherever they hail from, our prosperity is a fragile thing, dependent to a large degree on Chinese demand, tricky enough in this climate anyway, and especially so with our political elites buried up America’s rectum, ‘the Alliance’ being THE article of faith on both sides of the aisle, with Marines shortly to be deployed in our north.
There is one exception to the all and sundry above; I worry that the 1% will, when the streets around them are in flames, decide to decampt to our sunny climes, and NZ’s too, and begin utilising their il-gotten gains to corrupt our polities as they have yours.
Australia will go up in flames due to global warming. I pity anyone who “escapes” there.
Let’s hope Canada kicks Harper out.
Oh and don’t expect protection if you are inclined to blow whistles over here either, we have a poor record of support for them, with Julian Assange only the most prominent example of a citizen our political class were happy to throw overboard on instruction from Washington.
Canada–Toronto?
«The fruits of democracy automatically count as a positive outcome, right?»
The vast majority of voters will be easy to persuade that democracy is far less important than quick and easy tax free capital gains for themselves. They have been selling their New Deal birthrights for thin messes of pottage since 1980…
The end of World War II brought about some demobilization, but not occupation of foreign countires. The end of the Cold War did not bring about any peace dividend, but did produce institutionalization of an imperial war machine. The end of the “War on Terror” (perhaps the most absurd and egregious announcements of the warfare state) will not bring about dismantling of the federal surveillance structure.
So we must all ask ourselves now, are we constituents or subjects? And which would we prefer?
Oh, actually, probably the end of the “War on Terror” will bring about the dismantlement of the surveillance state.
Neither of them is doing anything useful, even by the most cynical Machiavellian or Bismarckian analysis. In revolutions, deadweights get thrown away.
It would be different if the surveillance state were *competent*, but it isn’t; it’s an institutional disaster.
With the “war on whistleblowers” Obama’s DOJ is driving the getaway car.
Excellent post … lest we forget that both the Dems and Republicans represent crony capitalism soon to be totalitarianism …
Jesus. I wonder how high up this stuff goes. Are things that cynical, that perverted? Is this like some drama out of Gibbon’s Rise and Fall, some Roman wilderness of pain? Or is it just a broken machine whose minor moving parts have gone insane? The Grand Inquisitor is a demon weed, everywhere and nowhere. The more I see of reality, the more I marvell at what they did in the 1770s, as imperfect as it was. I can’t imagine it could be done today. Not here in America. Not now. God Bless you Ms. Radak. Not sure what your eternal reward will be, but Mr. Thomas Jefferson himself may hand it to you.
An excellent post, craazyman – and good, if sad, points! It IS a marvel what the Founders did in the late 1700’s! And I’m sure they’d be amazed and VERY disappointed, that we’ve pissed away 200 years of hard-won rights!
One thng’s very obvious to me, whatever Obummer’s original intentions, he’s decided it was more important for him to try for a second term than to try to “preserve, protect and defend” our Constitution, not to mention our personal liberties, the truth, and common decency.
What happened was technology, not evil in and of itself, but certainly exploited by those who consider democracy and our Constitution little more than useful facades. Too bad the founders were unable to see this future. There would at the very least be a provision for the right to an unpoisoned environment.
“Is this like some drama out of Gibbon’s Rise and Fall, some Roman wilderness of pain?”
What we’re missing is an Emperor Augustus to solidify the undemocratic state and make it function. One will probably eventually appear; but as long as one doesn’t, re-establishing liberal social democracy remains a viable option.
With NDAA, whistleblowers could be detained indefinitely or worse murdered in cold blood.
NDAA was just rearranging loopholes. All of the trappings were set in law/ tyranny long ago. To box oneself into an NDAA (or not) framing avoids a much bigger problem in existence for a long time. Of course the criminals, both major parties and their msm media love the box. This is why I couldn’t jump up and join fellow OWSers last month. They wanted to defeat or veto a bill, an act which would have accomplished nothing. All of the problems were already happening. Defeating the bill wouldn’t have changed a thing. It would have been much better to raise awareness of problem points with Mike Checks and such, rather than propose a false solution, imo.
So many OWS activists are being played like a two-dollar banjo. And they don’t seem to mind at all.
We’ve lost rule of law, representation, the right to assemble peacefully without taking a beating for it, or to know what the gov is doing on so many levels. I’m relieved more folk are waking up to these facts, but they need to quit pretending this all just “happened” with things like Citizens United, NDAA etc.. or that those simple changes would address decades to a century of bad law and policy.
The problems are systemic. Lack of whistleblower honor/protection, now tyrannical contempt, is also a huge tell. Thanks to Yves for highlighting this.
Jesselyn Radack said “…We don’t need to jettison ethics, or the Constitution, or the rule of law to achieve national security. I submit that the best way to obtain meaningful intelligence and true national security is to respect civil liberties, behave morally, and act within the law…”
My reaction to Ms Radack is similar to my reaction to Elizabeth Warren, and to Russ Feingold when he cast the lone vote against the so-called Patriot Act, and the 80-something granny who got a face full of pepper spray at an Occupy event. It takes real courage to stand up to those people who have lost sight of the highest ideals and goals of the American experiment.
Problem is, Feingold decide to not take a stand against Obama in any way. That ends my interest in his good intentions or past votes.
I can’t help but ask where the conservative members of the S.C.O.T.U.S. are? Their silence is deafening. One might be lead to compare them with the one in the 30’s, in Nazi Germany. Let’s hope that’s not the case here!
Seriously? The right-wingers on the Supreme Court are, for the most part, authoritarian fascists, and have been ruling this way consistently for years!
Hell, apart from shredding the Bill of Rights and ruling that it was OK to torture people, they stole the Presidential election.
I remember laughing when an Obama supporter told me the man would not repeat the grievous crimes of his predecessor. It doesn’t seem that funny anymore. The most amazing part is the blindness of Obama supporters to these crimes. They quake in their boots at the thought of a Romni or a Gingrich taking away their civil liberties, ignorant of the fact that their savior has already stripped them bare. At least the Republicans looked at the crimes of GWB in the face rather than averting their eyes. When I hear Democrats mock birthers, I can’t help but think that being born on American soil does not excuse murder.
Liberalism requires a government that has powerful tools to use when intervention is required. Sure, sometimes mistakes are made, but we should be thankful that Obama has the powers needed to intervene when necessary to protect the people from those who would harm our democracy.
We need to get behind Obama or else Romney will win in 2012 and the greedy corporations will exploit us and force us to buy their products and services.
Obviously the experts in Washington know more than any of us, so we should not second-guess them when decisions are made that we disagree with.
Honestly, if Obama were an Emperor Augustus type, I might just resign myself to the loss of freedom, knowing that he would only use his dictatorial powers against his enemies, and that his friends would be well rewarded.
But he isn’t. If he were, we’d have 0% unemployment, 0% hunger, and massive public works projects. Instead, he’s stupid and venal.
This whistleblower fixation is revealing about Obama. Most of his betrayals of the principles he seemed to value before his election could be chalked up to political ambition/cowardice or to admiration for, and deference to, wealthy elites and the intellectuals who serve them. His
fervor on this one, however, seems more a sign of inherent authoritarianism. He is an interesting character, and a national tragedy.
A-men. Not all functional psychopaths choose corporate careers. This man is a pathology. Fate has its little ironies – to have him suffer the televised indignity of a botched oath at the hands of an equally double-faced Chief Justice, followed by a “secret” do-over, illuminates his abdication of duty, his vanity, and the resulting weakness in equal measure. His retirement might not seem as fulfilling to him as it would be to an honest crook.
TrueBama 2012. Don’t vote for the guy who lies about his crimes. Vote for the one that does the crime *and* is proud to own it. Inkblot Election FTW!
“Dark Days for Govt. Whistleblowers”
http://original.antiwar.com/vlahos/2012/01/03/dark-days-for-govt-whistleblowers/
“Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of the day, but a series of oppressions begun at a distinguished period and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers,too plainly prove a deliberate, systematic plan of reducing [a people] to slavery.” Thomas Jefferson, Rights of British America, 1774 ME 1:193, Papers 1:125
Want to thank all of you, for your Powerfull stand against Oboma & His Corrupted political partners.
But there is so much more we can do. Being aggressive and focusing on the facts and truth is only the first step.
We musT follow Up with more details standing by our convictions and dont back down.
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HIMSELF
Barack Hussein Obama II ( Who hates American Values ) who is A ” SELF PROCLAIMED Enemy” ~of responsible, Morally Conscious HARD WORKING Americans.
oBOMAS Irresponsible & DRUG MAFIA and reckless supporters KNOW~ that Barack Hussein Obama II, WILL FORCE YOU to paY THEM, out of your PockeT .{ FOR all of their UNCHECKED Vices and THRILLS/
{ All on YOU
/ At your COST & Sacrifice
…This UN~CHANGABLE fraud, has done His VERY BEST to Inspire VIOLENCE. THESE ARE OBAMAS OWN WORDS.. saying ………To his supporters.Saying “Get ready for hand-to-hand combat with your Fellow Americans”
– Obama has ALSO DECLARED to his Supporters “I want all Americans to get in each others faces!– Obama demands !
“You bring a knife to a fight pal, we’ll bring a gun” –
THESE ARE OBAMAS OWN WORDS.. ANGER VIOLENCE and more taxes….. THIS IS OBAMAS Change for america /“Hit Back Twice As Hard”. He commands !*Obama on the private sector: ~~ “We talk to these folks…~ / so I know whose a*$ to KICK.“ OBOMA wants to KICK your a*$ /
Shouting THAT Republican victory would mean ~ hand to hand combat”
HE IS EXPECTING people to be on Edge and BORDERLINE killing MODE, VIOLENT / and STAND up for their immoral CAUSES and THIS IS WHAT HE LIVES FOR ./ ./ ./ THESE ARE OBAMAS OWN WORDS.. !
* Obama Tells democrats: “ I’m itching for a fight.” !
….PLEASE…. go to reXes NEW WebsiTe ~ ! Oboma *( Just like Adolf Hitler~~\oBOMA~~~ Demands ! — [ THE FINAL SOLUTION – For Un~Wanted Children .
Barak Obama is A MURDERER .~Torturing UNWANTED babys on DEATH ROE .
CLICK HERE http://obomlnation.webstarts.com/index.html
OBAMA TAKES a little NEW BORN innocent child. BORN. ALIVE sTabS it iN the head
and SUCKs ITS BRAINS OUT.
This is just to wrong and horrible. Please stand for Loving Children and the USA