Obama and Throwing Money at Nukes

Throwing Money at Nukes - NYTimes.com
The United States has about 180 B61 gravity nuclear bombs based in Europe... tactical weapons deployed in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey to protect NATO allies from the once-feared Soviet advantage in conventional arms. But the cold war is long over, and no American military commander can conceive of their ever being used. Even so, President Obama has put $537 million in his 2014 budget proposal to upgrade these bombs. When all is said and done, experts say, the cost of the rebuilding program is expected to total around $10 billion — $4 billion more than an earlier projection.

Obama's Failure to Hold Banks Accountable for Fraud

Obama's Failure to Punish Banks Should Be Causing Serious Social Unrest | Alternet
A new PBS Frontline report examines outrageous steps Obama's administration took to protect Wall St. Wall Street from prosecutions.

The Trillion Dollar Coin: Joke or Game-changer?

The Trillion Dollar Coin: Joke or Game-changer? | Alternet
by Ellen Brown
The coin actually represents one of the most important principles of popular prosperity: the creation of money by sovereign governments, debt-free.

5 Ways President Obama Has Doubled Down on Bush's Most Tragic Mistakes

5 Ways President Obama Has Doubled Down on Bush's Most Tragic Mistakes | Alternet
Obama has kept the U.S. on a permanent war footing, from drone strikes and proxy detentions to warrant-less wiretapping and the continued operation of Guantanamo.

Warrantless Electronic Surveillance Surges Under Obama Justice Department

Warrantless Electronic Surveillance Surges Under Obama Justice Department
NEW YORK -- The Obama administration has overseen a sharp increase in the number of people subjected to warrantless electronic surveillance of their telephone, email and Facebook accounts by federal law enforcement agencies, new documents released by the American Civil Liberties Union on Friday revealed.
The documents, released by the ACLU after a months-long legal battle with the Department of Justice, show that in the last two years, more people were spied on by the government than in the preceding decade

5 Countries the U.S. Is Royally Screwing Over

 5 Countries the U.S. Is Royally Screwing Over | Alternet

From the drug war to the war on terror, the United States is wreaking havoc around the globe.

GOP Institutional Coup?

James Fallows: the GOP Pulled Off an Institutional Coup With the Help of Enablers in the Media | Election 2012 | AlterNet

Obama’s Scramble for Africa

Nick Turse: Obama’s Scramble for Africa

They call it the New Spice Route, an homage to the medieval trade network that connected Europe, Africa, and Asia, even if today’s “spice road” has nothing to do with cinnamon, cloves, or silks.  Instead, it’s a superpower’s superhighway, on which trucks and ships shuttle fuel, food, and military equipment through a growing maritime and ground transportation infrastructure to a network of supply depots, tiny camps, and airfields meant to service a fast-growing U.S. military presence in Africa.

As Evidence Mounts, DC Insiders Worry About Holder's Inaction on Wall Street Crime

Richard (RJ) Eskow: As Evidence Mounts, DC Insiders Worry About Holder's Inaction on Wall Street Crime

More and more Washington insiders are asking a question that was considered off-limits in the nation's capital just a few months ago: Who, exactly, is Attorney General Eric Holder representing? As scandal after scandal erupts on Wall Street, involving everything from global lending manipulation to cocaine and prostitution, more and more people are worrying about Holder's seeming inaction -- or worse -- in the face of mounting evidence.
Confidential sources say that the President's much-touted Mortgage Fraud Task Force is being starved for vital resources by the Holder Justice Department. Political insiders are fearful that this obstruction will threaten Democrats' chances at the polls. Investigators and prosecutors from other agencies are expressing their frustration as the ever-rowing list of documented crimes by individual Wall Street bankers continues to be ignored.

10 Reasons Most People Like Obamacare Once They Know What's Really In It | Personal Health | AlterNet

10 Reasons Most People Like Obamacare Once They Know What's Really In It | Personal Health | AlterNet
People are suspicious of Obamacare in the abstract, but when it gets to the specifics they tend to like it a lot better.

All the President’s Privileges - NYTimes.com

All the President’s Privileges - NYTimes.com
Obama campaigned as a consistent critic of the Bush administration’s understanding of executive power — and a critic with a background in constitutional law, no less. But apart from his disavowal of waterboarding (an interrogation practice the Bush White House had already abandoned), almost the entire Bush-era wartime architecture has endured: rendition is still with us, the Guantánamo detention center is still open, drone strikes have escalated dramatically, and the Obama White House has claimed the right — and, in the case of Anwar al-Awlaki, followed through on it — to assassinate American citizens without trial.

The Lethal Presidency of Barack Obama, by Tom Junod - Esquire

The Lethal Presidency of Barack Obama, by Tom Junod - Esquire
Sure, we as a nation have always killed people. A lot of people. But no president has ever waged war by killing enemies one by one, targeting them individually for execution, wherever they are. The Obama administration has taken pains to tell us, over and over again, that they are careful, scrupulous of our laws, and determined to avoid the loss of collateral, innocent lives. They're careful because when it comes to waging war on individuals, the distinction between war and murder becomes a fine one. Especially when, on occasion, the individuals we target are Americans and when, in one instance, the collateral damage was an American boy.

Weimar America: Four Major Ways We're Following In Germany's Fascist Footsteps | Visions | AlterNet

Weimar America: Four Major Ways We're Following In Germany's Fascist Footsteps | Visions | AlterNet

Terminator Planet: How America Became an Empire of Drones | World | AlterNet

Terminator Planet: How America Became an Empire of Drones | World | AlterNet

AlterNet: Joseph Stiglitz: The Price of Inequality

AlterNet: Joseph Stiglitz: The Price of Inequality

Sibel Edmonds: US government needs to keep the fear factor alive

Noam Chomsky on WikiLeaks, Obama’s Targeted Assassinations and Latin America’s Break from the U.S.

Noam Chomsky on WikiLeaks, Obama’s Targeted Assassinations and Latin America’s Break from the U.S.

Obama’s Unprecedented War on Whistleblowers | News & Politics | AlterNet

Obama’s Unprecedented War on Whistleblowers | News & Politics | AlterNet

Tomgram: Lawrence Weschler, The Great American Shakedown | TomDispatch

Tomgram: Lawrence Weschler, The Great American Shakedown | TomDispatch
In the U.S., corruption is seldom “corruption.” Take as an example our president, who has been utterly clear: he will not take money for his electoral campaign from lobbyists. Only problem: according to the New York Times, 15 of his top “bundlers,” who give their own money and solicit that of others -- none registered as federal lobbyists -- are “involved in lobbying for Washington consulting shops or private companies,” and they are raising millions for him. They also have access to the White House on policy matters. According to a June report from the Center for Public Integrity, “President Obama granted plum jobs and appointments to almost 200 people who raised large sums for his [2008] presidential campaign, and his top fundraisers have won millions of dollars in federal contracts.”

None of this is “corruption,” of course, just a pay-to-play way of life, which extends to the military-industrial complex and a Pentagon that has spent a mere $1 trillion in the last decade purchasing new weapons to “modernize” its arsenal. In the meantime, every top civilian official, general, or admiral there knows that some weapons company awaits him with (so to speak) open arms, whenever he decides to spin through the revolving door into "retirement" and the private sector. The results are stunning.