OBAMA OVERBOARD!

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LOBBYISTS & TORTURERS JOIN THE CREW

CHANGE IS JUST A NEW PAINT JOB ON THE OLD RUSTBUCKET

Now Are You Starting To Get It?

Well, we supported this guy because we believed he could and would bring about change. What we meant by "change" was a top-to-bottom systemic housecleaning, a scrubbing out of all the corporatist elements polluting our government under Republicans & DINO's since 1968. What we meant was a return to basic American progressive values, and a total rejection of the crypto-fascist neocon way of doing things: Torture, corruption, violence, lies & half-truths. You know, the whole Nixon-Bush banana republic thing?

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What we're getting is the same old stuff with a new face; or maybe it's two faces. A defense contractor's lobbyist will be number two at the Pentagon. A defense contractor board-member and co-conspirator in genocide, oppression and human rights abuses in Indonesia will oversee all of our "intelligence" operations, finally militarizing them all. Outside of Social Security, these are the two biggest budget items. They are now under corporate control. The SecDef himself will be the current ex-CIA chief & Bush appointee. The entire cabinet will be Republicans and Democrats In Name Only. This is not change. This is betrayal.

Stop Obama Now!


YAHOO NEWS
"Obama picks lobbyist as Pentagon No. 2"

' President-elect Barack Obama appointed a defense contractor's lobbyist Thursday to become the No. 2 official at the Defense Department, a choice that appeared to break with his self-imposed rules to keep lobbyists at arm's length. William J. Lynn III, Obama's choice for deputy defense secretary, is a former Pentagon official who now is senior vice president for government operations at Raytheon Co. Lynn hasn't been a registered lobbyist since July, meaning he can't personally lobby Congress or the White House. In the first three months of 2008, his lobbying team reported spending $1.15 million to influence issues including missiles, sensors and radar, advanced technology programs and intelligence funding. Obama has vowed that no political appointees in his administration would be permitted to work on areas that "directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years." Although Lynn heads Raytheon's division for government operations and strategy and was personally registered as a Raytheon lobbyist until July — both within that two-year period — Obama plans to give him the job. "We are aware that Mr. Lynn lobbied for Raytheon, and are working with Mr. Lynn to craft a role for him that is consistent with the President-elect's high standards while balancing the need to fill this critical national security position," Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said. Vietor declined to comment further on whether Lynn would have to remove himself from involvement on any issues. Some government watchdogs questioned the revolving-door aspect of Lynn's appointment even while acknowledging his qualifications. "He left public service and went into lobbying for one of the largest defense contractors in the nation. And that's the part that's troubling," said Bill Buzenberg, executive director of the Center for Public Integrity. "Even if he's completely above board and ethical, it raises questions about his loyalty." During his presidential campaign, Obama took pains to tell voters he wouldn't tolerate influence-peddling. "I am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in Washington are over," Obama said in November 2007 in Des Moines, Iowa. "I have done more than any other candidate in this race to take on lobbyists and won. They have not funded my campaign, they will not run my White House, and they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I am president." '

WAR ON YOU
"The Bloody Career of Admiral Dennis C. Blair"

' The presumptive appointment by President-elect Barack Obama of retired Admiral Dennis C. Blair as his new Director of National Intelligence is being greeted with cheers by the national media, which hail his experience, bureaucratic infighting skills and comparatively moderate views on national security issues. The New York Times, in a recent profile, seemed much impressed by the fact that the 34-year Navy veteran once water skied behind an aircraft carrier, in addition to his stints with the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Institute for Defense Analysis (from which he resigned in 2006 over conflict of interest charges involving the F-22 raptor). But human rights supporters are right to be worried that Dennis Blair will hardly lead the charge for reform in the nation’s intelligence community after the Bush Administration’s embrace of torture, rendition and other crimes. For in the period leading up to and following East Timor’s August 1999 referendum on independence from Indonesia Blair, from his perch as US Commander in Chief of the Pacific (CINCPAC) from February 1999 to May 2000, ran interference for the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) as they and their militia proxies committed crimes against humanity on an awesome scale. Following the ouster of long-time dictator Suharto in 1998, Indonesian president B.J. Habibie signaled that Indonesia would be willing to allow East Timor an up or down referendum on independence following 24 The Bloody Career of Admiral Dennis C. Blair years of brutal Indonesian occupation. The Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI), hoping to sway the vote in Jakarta’s favor, launched a campaign of terror and intimidation led by the Army, Police and local militia proxies in which they killed hundreds of people displaced tens of thousands, most infamously on April 6, 1999, when militia forces massacred 57 Timorese in a church at Liquica on the outskirts of the capitol Dili. Two days after the massacre, the Pentagon dispatched Blair two days later to meet with Wironto and demand that he disband the militias and allow a fair vote in East Timor. Instead, Blair offered assurances of continued US support for the TNI and invited Wironto to Pacific Command Headquarters in Hawaii as his personal guest. According to top secret CIA intelligence summary issued after the massacre, however (and recently declassified by the author through a Freedom of Information Act request), “Indonesian military had colluded with pro-Jakarta militia forces in events preceding the attack and were present in some numbers at the time of the killings.” A Top Secret Senior Executive Intelligence Brief from April 20, 1999 stated plainly that “to restore stability, the Indonesian security forces must stop supporting the militias and adopt a neutral posture.” A Top Secret CIA Intelligence Report dated May 10, 1999 reported that “local commanders would have required at least tacit approval from headquarters in Jakarta to allow the militias the blatant free hand they have enjoyed.” Blair’s performance, which prompted a rebuke by the State Department, was part of a fierce bureaucratic struggle between the Pentagon and State Department and Embassy officers seeking to reign in the TNI’s terror. '

NEWS FEED RESEARCHER.COM
"After news reports about the apparent conflict of interest, Blair resigned as the head of IDA and his board seat at EDO."

' He's also on the boards of the scandal-scarred Tyco International as well as Iridium Satellite, which has extensive Defense Department business. [22] Blair may also face a squall over his conduct as president of the influential Institute for Defense Analysis from 2003 to 2007.[22] Blair maintained government ties as president of the Institute for Defense Analyses, which is funded by Washington, from 2003-06.[17] '

[Posted by cosanostradamus of blog me no blogs.]
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