William Rivers Pitt, Truthout: 'So, yeah, Obama is in. The President of the United States officially threw his hat into the 2012 election ring on Monday morning, and the nation reacted with a resounding, 'Oh.' What a mess. It wasnt even two and a half years ago. Can you believe it? Two and a half years ago, there was a detonation of optimism that echoed across the country once the returns were in on that November night. People took to the streets here in Boston, literally banging pots and pans together as they danced and shouted in celebration ... Hindsight, however, tells us today that much of that optimism was wildly misplaced. The long shadow of George W. Bush still hung low and dark over the land, as it does even now.'
http://www.truth-out.org/nowhere-man
American Militarism and the End(s) of Higher Education
Henry A. Giroux, Truthout: 'As the spirit of a hypermilitarized America bleeds into everyday life, politics increasingly becomes an extension of war, and right-wing, liberal and conservative politicians eagerly embrace a militaristic approach to policy and the need to cleanse the social order of any institution, mode of dissent, social group and public sphere willing to question its state of permanent war and its militarized and unchecked embrace of economic Darwinism. These foreign and domestic wars are not unrelated, given that they are waged in the interests of right-wing militarists, neoconservatives, liberals and corporate moguls - all of whom have a political and economic stake in such military incursions abroad and wars at home.'
http://www.truth-out.org/militarized-conservatism-and-endss-higher-education
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Pity the poor imperial executive
Independent Institute Independent Institute
by Anthony Gregory
04/04/11
Oh, the poor imperial presidency. It has every right and power in the world to detain people forever, and to try them in military commissions without traditional due process. This, after all, is a 'unique executive branch function.' Yet it is such a delicate flower, that poor, beleaguered executive branch, that some fellow Democrats and Congressional Republicans are capable of forestalling its efforts to bring about justice through their insistence on 'scoring political points.' Poor, poor Obama. He can bomb Libya without even giving a nod to Congress, but he cant bear to stand up to his own party when they criticize him for doing the (relatively) right thing...
http://www.independent.org/blog/index.php?p=10089
Holder, Obama, and the cowardly shame of Guantanamo
Future of Freedom Foundation Future of Freedom Foundation
by Andy Worthington
04/05/11
Since May 2009, when President Obama first bowed to Republican pressure on national-security issues and abandoned a plan by White House Counsel Greg Craig to rehouse on the U.S. mainland a couple of cleared prisoners at Guantanamo who were at risk of torture if repatriated, it has been apparent that no principles are sufficiently important to the administration that officials wont jettison them the moment that critics start howling...
http://www.fff.org/comment/com1104b.asp
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Obama
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Bush+legacy
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Eric+Holder
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=what+change
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Libya
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=imperial
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=national+security
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Republican
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=neocons
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=permanent+war
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=militarism
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=rightwing
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=conservative
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Guantanamo
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=military+commissions
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=detainee
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=torture
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=William+Rivers+Pitt
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Henry+A.+Giroux
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Anthony+Gregory
http://www.sharenews-blog.com:8090/helma/twoday/sharenews/search?q=Andy+Worthington
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