Truth Collective

“Obama Fails in Middle East” by Robert Dreyfuss

This is money:

Girl: I’m a political science major, so like, I know my shit!
Interviewer: Do you know who Benjamin Netanyahu is?
Girl: No.

Not bad, not bad.

There has been quite a bit of commentary in the media about Obama’s first 100 days (which apparently is a lot of time to get stuff done).  Many gave mixed reviews–the conclusion one reaches depends much on which policy fronts one deems most important and the relative change or lack of change in that area.  If you want more than the fair and balanced opinion, consider coming to your own conclusion based on what matters most to you.  The Institute for Policy Studies has published a comprehensive and very readable guide to Obama’s first 100, rating him a modest 7 out of 10 (5 is no change) overall.  Download the report here.

Obama’s Department of Justice (DOJ) says “It’s alright to wiretap! It’s alright for the NSA to spy on anyone’s communications!” Throughout the years, I’ve come across several comments people have made in frustration with the developing trend of the US government, many of them throwing out terms like Orwell and 1984. I felt they were throwing out those terms a bit early. Sure we were on our way, but there was time to fix it. Well, the noose grows tighter.

Several months ago the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) brought forth a suit against facets of the Bush Administration for its illegal yet prevalent use of wiretapping. The EFF pushed the suit off for several months hoping that the DOJ under Obama would hear their plea, but it appears the DOJ under Obama is even more extremist. It’s frustrating.

Read the EFF’s take on this situation. The article is brief but it clearly spells out the horrendous web the government is spinning. Furthermore, Glenn Greenwald, a former constitutional law and civil rights litigator, has a blog of his own where he very clearly spells out what’s going on. He speaks, in very understandable terms, on the crap the DOJ is attempting to pull to have the EFF’s suit dropped entirely via the use of state secrecy privileges and sovereign immunity. Then, Tuesday night, on Count Down with Keith Olbermann (on MSNBC), Keith Olbermann, a strong supporter of Obama, heavily criticized Obama for this same bullshit. Glenn Greenwald spoke on this, as well, in a very well put blog that has clips from the Olbermann show and cites critical statements made by the DOJ, which are just full of shit, and not just regular shit or bull shit, but donkey shit and monkey shit, too.

All I have to say is: Octo-Mom may have been chosen as the 2009 National Douchebag Champion, but maybe, just maybe, Obama should have won it.

from Mind Hacks:

“Time magazine has a recent article on how the Obama team are making behavioural economics the centre of their financial policies in the hope of altering the behaviour of US citizens. But where are the sceptical voices?

For example, one major problem is knowing how well largely lab-based studies will scale up to whole-population economic systems.

And it’s notable that behavioural economists who specialise in making this link, a field they call behavioural macroeconomics, seem absent from the Obama inner circle.”

link to full article.