Same shit, different administration

[unixronin]

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- The Obama administration says it will continue its predecessor's policy of using state secrets authority to block disclosures about warrantless eavesdropping.

OK, so ... anyone out there still believe in Obama enough to try to spin this?

Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney Kevin Bankson told CNN Holder's move represented a continuation of Bush's policies and stands in sharp contrast to the promises of greater government transparency and accountability Obama made during his presidential campaign.

"It turns out that 'change we can believe in' hasn't really resulted in any change at all when it comes to government secrecy," he told the broadcaster.

But at least the Bush administration didn't make any empty boasts about being "the most open administration in history".

Republican.  Democrat.  It makes no damned difference.  Both are rotten to the core, united by their love of power.  There is no "lesser evil" on Capitol Hill.  There is only the same evil wearing two different faces.  They play different favorites; but they both play favorites.  They take different special interests' money; but they're both owned body and soul by special interests.  They go after different Constitutional and civil rights first; but they both attack and undermine Constitutional and civil rights. They sometimes tell the voters different lies; but they are both cut from the same pack of habitual liars.  Only when both parties' followers learn that, will there be any chance of changing it.

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Comments

[yndy.livejournal.com]

I guess I'm lucky... I didn't believe in "the change" so I wasn't terribly disappointed when it didn't happen.

Obama is better than Bush in some aspects - his administration is simply maintaining the evils visited upon us by the previous one - Bush's kept coming up with new and different indignities to visit upon us.

Honestly? I feel so much sympathy for my friends who thought that things were going to change radically. They seem so disillusioned these days.
:(

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Obama is better than Bush in some aspects - his administration is simply maintaining the evils visited upon us by the previous one - Bush's kept coming up with new and different indignities to visit upon us.

Actually, that's not entirely true. I doubt that I could find the article after all this time, but months ago it was pointed out that the Obama administration is not merely maintaining the Bush administrations secretiveness, but expanding upon it. (Oh, and then theres the proliferation of this czar, that czar, economy czar, healthcare czar, energy czar, kitchen czar, front door czar, czar czar, all of them with no accountability, and no-one really knows what any of them are doing or what powers they have...)
For another example, no administration prior to Obama's has taken it upon itself to order the CEOs of private-sector corporations to resign. One of the few things Obama has made no secret is that he intends to bring about a massive redistribution of wealth and radically change the face of the United States, and given the nature of many of Obama's associates, I suspect that change, if accomplished, will not be one that anyone but the radical left will like. In the words of Ringo Starr, "Everything government touches turns to crap."

(Actually, on the subject of maintaining evils, it's worth remembering that the "designated free speech zones" for which many liberals love to slam Bush were, in fact, only "maintained" by Bush, having been invented by his predecessor in turn, Bill Clinton.)


As for disillusionment ... well, it's one of the early steps on the path to enlightenment. You can't open yourself up to see what is true before you first unlearn what is false.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

"For another example, no administration prior to Obama's has taken it upon itself to order the CEOs of private-sector corporations to resign."

Sic transit gloria Reagan, who had his own banking bailout.

When you talk about "redistribution," are you referring to the financial system bailout? That was a huge redistribution! The radical and moderate left regards Obama as far too conservative and corporatist, and Obama has treated us like poison from the beginning of his campaign, regardless of any prior allegiances. After the financial system bailout and the various defenses and continuations of Bush II authoritarian policies, is anyone seriously arguing that Obama is a radical socialist of any stripe? I can only wonder at arguments that Obama is a radical socialist! Those arguments are being made because the people who make them do not like socialists, not because there is any evidence for them. All the evidence points the other way: Obama has made a deal with the big money and the warmongers, if he has not simply sold out.

[yndy.livejournal.com]

good points...
I've been really just rather trying to ignore the politispeech of late - especially concerning the Obama/change thing - country is as polarized as ever if not moreso.

I find I just get David Byrne stuck in my head repeating "same as it ever was... same as it ever was..." whenever I do get reeled in.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

You too, huh? That and "Meet the new boss / Same as the old boss..."