Help me out on this, How bad is Garland?
Wall Streeter told Michael Hudson that Wall Street presented a front of being enraged at Obama, even as he structured programs to vastly enrich them via qualitative easing (1)
And he said that as long as Wall Street denounced Obama as a slimy dictator/communist etc that Obama could do what they wanted him to do.
Nominating a VERY business friendly Republican, because that is the only nominee that the Republican Senate will entertain, (but would really LOVE to have) seems like much the same kind of Kabuki to me. We are howling for the Republicans to confirm him instead of a real main street friendly liberal only because they seem not to want him.
Is there any evidence that he is any better than Scalia weather money is free speech, requiring equal time, prohibiting outside money in elections, on voting rights, labor rights, the endless extensions of patent and copyright, and most importantly net neutrality? Cause Tennessee and North Carolina are both suing to have bans on Municipal Internet reinstated.( And BTW Congress is writing a law as we speak to strip the FCC of its power to regulate the internet as a utility.)
Oh and thanks to SnoopyDawg for the help in my other post. The links were very much appreciated.
(1.) (helicopter money for the rich in return vie giving them face value for any worthless stock certificate they may have bought for 10 cents on the dollar, for instance.)
Comments
Marginally better than Scalia. IMO won't be looked at and
certainly not confirmed. PBO is doing his centrist, makes billions after his term, thing.
also a Prohibitionist
n/t
Not sure how he is on some stuff
but pretty much know that he is another corporatist. I have quit signing any petitions demanding that the Republicans do their job on this one.
*Sigh* on the net neutrality.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
GOOD question & love to hear analysis
i thought, from the get go, that this was all theater and the Rethug Congress vs Good Guy Obama Show was pulling yet another piece of bullshit on Democrats. notice I say Democrats, and not progressives.
progressives are pretty much starting to wise up to this game. which is why they won't vote hillary if she gets the nom
so i'm inclined to not be optimistic. and it's hard to find any thing really substantive on Garland (coincidence?).
please note, when people talk say DON'T WORRY, just look Obama appointed Kagan and Sotomeyer: but remember, they were both seated in his first term . . . in my analysis, he didn't have a choice but to nominate mods if he wanted backing of progressives for a second term.
“There are moments which are not calculable, and cannot be assessed in words; they live on in the solution of memory… ”
― Lawrence Durrell, "Justine"
Obama has always been a self-serving serial liar
It became really obvious with the appointment of his new economic 'advisers' -right after the election, even before his inauguration-that flew in the face of what he claimed were his goals. (Although a few people had his number from waaay back in his Chicago days, like the peeps at BAR, Paul Street, and Adolph Reed) Knowing his record, he will only ever pick a Constitution-shredding Corporatist just like himself for any court. As for his mastery of Kabuki-well, there are STILL people out there that think R obstructionism has kept him from achieving his goals (and that is true in only a few cases-alas, the Tea Party has actually done some good stuff due to their complete batshit insanity), when , in fact, he's been saying stuff like this in private:
"Privately, Obama had told Wall Street executives that he would protect them. On 27 March 2009, Obama assembled the top executives of the bailed-out financial firms in a secret meeting at the White House and he assured them that he would cover their backs; he promised “My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks”. "
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/03/28/obamas-big-lie/
I think there are many that understand the flaws
in the Obama administration. But, they are afraid to admit that they had been deceived by someone they believed in... someone who said all the right things during his campaign. Our family understood that we had "been had" pretty early on...
That denial could very well be why
many cling to HRC so ferociously. They have convinced themselves that she can be trusted, and most of those also staunchly stand up for Obama still. It could be that with dysfunctional government, we are seeing an equally dysfunctional voter base. Dysfunctional includes not just the gridlock but the fact that representatives no longer represent the majority of the people.
Thomas Frank clarifies the interests of today's parties:
Democrats = Wall Street
Republicans = Corporations and Oil
We are starting to see a lot of crossover though, and those interests all seem to come together with HRC.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
Counterpunch
Counterpunch has made its share of mistakes but is usually correct when it counts. I think they got it correct here.
The corporate wing of the Democratic Party could also be termed the Republican Wing of the DP. Bob Dole and George HW Bush would see a lot of friendly faces.
"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"
They are very close:
they all suck from the same tit.
“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” Voltaire
Obama has worked hand-in-glove with the
Republicans since his first day in office. They are all playing the same ground game they did with the Clinton's. The Republicans threw everything at Bill/Hill, yet Bill worked feverishly to push the Republican agenda that Bush hadn't finished. Obama does the same thing, pushing war, Guantanamo, banker bailout. It isn't so much legislation to get through now as it is to hold the line on what has been accomplished to date and to keep anyone from scrutinizing their war criminal status. That's why it is so important to get Hillary into office. She can continue the gatekeeping duties that Obama has held for eight years. They all want to stay out of jail. The corporations want to keep the stranglehold they have on the country and not allow any taxes that would improve living conditions for the rest of us. Game, set, match.
Just contrast what Obama said
to the banskters vs this:
https://theintercept.com/2016/02/08/why-goldman-ceo-lloyd-blankfein-call...
Thanks for this, truehawk
I thought I was the only one asking this question about Garland. Just another disappointment in Obama to add to my long list of other disappointments...
lost my support
To say I'm disappointed in Obama is an understatement. I saw it right away with the stimulus bill - that focused on tax breaks instead of infrastructure and jobs. The next big let down was accelerating the Afghan war WHILE accepting the peace prize. I did vote for him twice....caught in the lesser of two evils argument.
I'm not asking the rethugs to confirm Garland (not that they would listen to me anyhow). I'm waiting for Bernie's nominee!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
I voted for NOT HIM twice,
but the end result was the same.
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
I am more angry at Obama
than I have been at any other president. Probably because I believed him at first. Is there anything he hasn't lied about?
Garland is a republican. A right-winger. It took me 2 minutes to learn that after hearing his name so I could google it.
Thank you TrueHawk.
Does anyone else think of the movie "V" too often?
'Well, I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years, Doctor, and I’m happy to state I finally won out over it." Elwood P. Dowd "
same here, magicsister
Being lied to by someone who thought was for real is far more anger inciting than the devil you already knew. Obama was the biggest bait and switch I can remember in my very long life.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Agree with you 100%
Agree with you 100%
"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"
Thank you GulfGal,
You are so right about the bait and switch.
How on Earth did we end up with democratic presidents like Obama and Bill? I guess I am gullible; I admit it. It hurts when I get blamed for it because maybe they are right to blame me.
I have beautiful children and grandchildren, what have I done to them?
'Well, I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years, Doctor, and I’m happy to state I finally won out over it." Elwood P. Dowd "
You have done the best that you could.
Being deceived by an artful liar is not a fault: denying it and doubling down is a sin against humanity. And here I reach back to one of the main roots of the word "sin" which is "unnecessary". Dumb is when you don't know any better. Stupid is when you know better, but do it anyways. Crazy is when you know better, do it anyways, and you don't care.
“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” Voltaire
Thank you so much ThrownStone.
I have been hard pressed to trust my own judgement. I fell for TOP's propaganda for years believing I just wasn't smart enough to get it. Then I had a stroke. That helped a lot (snark). I think I found c99% just in time. I feel less lonely, and it is easier to breathe here.
I much prefer trusting until given a reason not to. It seems that is a bad idea when it comes to choosing the people who will be governing us. Actually, it seems like a bad idea to trust most things these days.
I think Bernie may be the exception to the rule. I am almost fanatical in my research, but can I trust the places I go for that research?
Ya, I'm a mess.
Thank you again for your kindness ThrowStone
'Well, I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years, Doctor, and I’m happy to state I finally won out over it." Elwood P. Dowd "
You are most welcome, magicsister.
Me, i trust everyone unreservedly unless and until the show that they don't warrant it. Then I never trust them again. Having pinned reality, we must now grapple with unreality in the hope of somehow slipping through between them. Onwards and upwards!
“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” Voltaire
His mama was a hippie but his grandma, who ran the show, was VP
at the Bank (and had some not so nice things to say about how she felt about black folks)
That "hippie" front was just that
From William Blum:
"Adding to the wonder is the fact that his mother, Ann Dunham, had been associated during the 1970s and 80s — as employee, consultant, grantee, or student — with at least five organizations with intimate CIA connections during the Cold War: The Ford Foundation, Agency for International Development (AID), the Asia Foundation, Development Alternatives, Inc., and the East-West Center of Hawaii.14 Much of this time she worked as an anthropologist in Indonesia and Hawaii, being in good position to gather intelligence about local communities. As one example of the CIA connections of these organizations, consider the disclosure by John Gilligan, Director of AID during the Carter administration (1977-81). "At one time, many AID field offices were infiltrated from top to bottom with CIA people. The idea was to plant operatives in every kind of activity we had overseas, government, volunteer, religious, every kind."15 And Development Alternatives, Inc. is the organization for whom Alan Gross was working when arrested in Cuba and charged with being part of the ongoing American operation to destabilize the Cuban government."
- See more at: http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2012/07/05/barack-obama-his-mother-and-t...
I grew up in Seattle and of an age with Obama's
mother. The first thing I found odd about the family was that they picked-up and moved from Kansas/Neb? to Seattle, when neither of them seemed to have a good reason for doing so - i.e. neither supposedly had a job to move to, etc. Then they drop everything and move to Hawaii, an even more unlikely move for a supposed furniture salesman and bank clerk. Hawaii had just become a state, I was there, in 1959 for the statehood celebration. Makes no sense at all.
Ann lived on Mercer Island, east of Seattle. To have become friendly with anyone in the black community at that point in time she would have had to frequent the Mt Baker area, Rainier Ave, etc - something unheard of in the late 50's for a white woman from the midwest.
Then in Hawaii, she takes up with not one but at least two black men - both rumored to be Obama's father. She has Barack in August, and moves back to Seattle, alone, to go to school the next month. She supposedly lived in the Central District, went to school, had babysitters for her child - none of this was that "doable" at that point in time. Where did all the money come from? Plane flights to and from Hawaii were not cheap, her parents didn't seem to have large amounts of money, etc. She could have attended the U of Hawaii, right there, some of my friends from Seattle went to school there and spent most of their time surfing! None of this adds up, unless grandma and grandpa were CIA agents, grandpa had been in the Navy in WWII and easily could have transitioned to CIA fro OSS. - it is a generational thing. They like to keep it in the family. Barack went to a prestigious school in Hawaii supposedly for polynesians. He could well be third generation CIA, that would explain how all of his early records are sealed and no one can get access to passport info from that period of time.
Yes I think we were had.
Spooks running the show since Bush pere?
If not even earlier - how deep is the "Deep State", and how long has it really been running things?
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
My guess is that is has been around since the
inception of the country in one form or another. But the current "deep state" I believe was formulated in the early 1900's when the Federal Reserve Bank was formed. WWI, the Depression, the Business Plot to overthrow FDR all worked to create Hitler and WWII. After WWII, we moved German Scientists and a lot of unsavory characters from the Hitler years who became part and parcel of the shiny new CIA created with the help of the same wealthy people who underwrote Hitler's rise to power. Prescott Bush and the Dulles Brothers were knee-deep in intrigue and the CIA was a vehicle to overthrow the country by other means. Alan Dulles was finally fired by JFK shortly before he was assassinated.
I could be all wet, but everything I read points to a concerted effort by industrialists to wrest the country from FDR and progressives. The Powell Memo of 1976 is a blue print for everything that has happened since. That's the short version.
who are those people in Kenya?
Here's a hint............................
Barack Obama, Sr., who met Dunham in 1959 in a Russian language class at the University of Hawaii, had been part of what was described as an airlift of 280 East African students to the United States to attend various colleges — merely “aided” by a grant from the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation, according to a September 12, 1960, Reuters report from London. The airlift was a CIA operation to train and indoctrinate future agents of influence in Africa, which was becoming a battleground between the United States and the Soviet Union and China for influence among newly-independent and soon-to-be independent countries on the continent.
I noticed at TOP when someone
I noticed at TOP when someone would make a negative comment about Garland or that Obama should have nominated someone a little more "progressive" they would get jumped on by none other than Hillary supporters. Coincidence? If this primary has shown me one thing glaringly, it's the "I've got mine so fuck you" wing of the Democratic party. And I always thought that was mostly a republican thing. Silly me. And it's a big part of the party. A bunch of pretend liberals/progressives. I wish they'd look in the mirror, realize what they are, go register as the republicans and stop fucking up the Democratic primaries...
It is one of the telltale signs
of the Establishment which has one hand up the spine of both parties as they argue about the fine points.
“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” Voltaire
Hillary supporters are not progressives. Period
This was an excellent article about the differences between her and Bernie and it is the question I have been asking her supporters but never got an answer.
For years we have been complaining how far the democratic party has moved to the right and now that we have a candidate that is standing for what the democrats used to stand for, the are throwing that chance away. How the hell does that make sense? This article asks the same question.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/04/01/the-hottest-seats-in-hell/
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.
We can't afford "free stuff" for the youngs that i got
No.
We need that money for my social security and medicare!
If you like Citizens United
Then you'll love Garland on the Supreme Court.
Obama's nomination of Garland
Obama's nomination of Garland counters any argument about voting for the Democrat because it's the Supreme Court, stupid. Everything that I have been able to find about Garland's record shows him to be an advocate for corporations. No one can really say how he feels about Roe vs Wade. I have read that he is more like a Justice Kennedy - someone who will bend in either direction. Just one more political trick, IMO.
The tenth backstab is free
I've been so backstabbed by this president.
"Love One Another" ~ George Harrison
We really need to see a senate hearing
to learn more about what he thinks.
He was highly approving of the justice who was behind the Row Vs. Wade decision. But I don't trust anyone promoted by Obama.
'Well, I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years, Doctor, and I’m happy to state I finally won out over it." Elwood P. Dowd "
We keep hearing "lesser evilism cause SCOTUS"
and then we get this.
Look at Obama's choices for Treasury
and his economic advisers, his chief of staff for crying out loud. Look at his refusal to go after the torturers and the vampire bankers. Look at his unrelenting attack on cbo's, what he accepted as a health care plan, what he regards as a "fair and balanced" trade agreement. Look at his carefully considered and compassionate decision to assassinate American citizens. And then ask yourself what sort of person he would appoint to the Supreme Court. Best scenario: the Repubs block Obama and Bernie gets elected.
“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” Voltaire
Just look at Obama's first Secretary of State!
Now there's a real slimy character ...