A Bit About Obama and FISA

It is imperative that we keep the heat on Obama about his capitulation on FISA. For those of you not familiar with this issue, FISA stands for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Recently the Dems in the House rolled over and gave the neo-cons and their buddies in the phone companies everything they wanted. If the current FISA bill passes the Senate without any changes it will be a disaster to all we hold dear - the right to free speech. Obama has voiced his support for the bill as passed by the House. I know what you are thinking - this bill does not prohibit free speech, but in a manner of speaking it does. It gives the government free reign to monitor any and all communications we may make with our friends and neighbors in other countries and in some cases in this country. If having the threat of what you say or write via the internet or over the ether net overheard and recorded by government agencies that think nothing of grabbing innocent citizens off of the streets and making them disappear, is not a deterrent to free speech, I don't know what is.

In addition to increased surveillance this bill would grant complete immunity to ALL phone companies that had an hand in illegal surveillance of it's customers. Obama thinks this is okay. We MUST keep the heat on him about this. It was announced today that this bill will not be voted on by the Senate until the 8th of July. Please go the Obama's web site and urge him to change his mind about this. In my opinion this decision by him is a serious breach of faith with his core progressive supporters.

The Lack of Network Coverage of Either War

Democracy Now! Just ran a piece about the lack of coverage being provided by the major networks of either the war in Iraq or the war in Afghanistan.

Everywhere you turn there are "support the troops" reminders. Yet this administration has solicited the cooperation of ABC, CBS, and NBC to keep the war out the public eye. They are successfully employing the old trick that if you don't see it it doesn't exist. It is imperative that we make sure that the public is made to understand that the war is still going on and that we are still losing American citizens unnecessarily everyday. The whole idea of keeping the public uninformed is to ensure they are not aware of the human tragedy that this regime has heaped on us and the Iraqi citizens.

Here is what Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! had to say -

The New York Times reports the major TV networks have drastically cut back on their coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan during their weeknight newscasts. So far this year, the three evening network newscasts have shown a total of 181 weekday minutes of Iraq coverage. That’s about two minutes of Iraq coverage per network per week. Just forty-six minutes have been spent by the three networks covering the war in Afghanistan.

NEW MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES STOOGE

Recently Governor Haley Barbour announced the retirement of retired Army Colonel (O-6) Don Taylor as the head of the Mississippi Department of Human Services (DHS). At the same press conference Barbour announced the appointment of retired Navy Captain (O-6) Don Thompson. he even made note that despite the fact that one was a retired Army Colonel and the other a retired Navy Captain, their retired ranks were equal.

My question is where does it say that just because both of these individuals were retired O-6's they were/are capable of handling an important agency like DHS?

Taylor has screwed up right and left. Look at the fiasco with the Columbia and Oakley training schools for juvenile offenders. Under his watch a lawsuit was brought against the state for Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib like conditions at both facilities. In 2004, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Mississippi over conditions at Columbia and Oakley. Among the accusations were claims that youngsters at Columbia were forced to eat their own vomit and were tossed naked into isolation cells.

Mississippi reached an agreement in May 2005 to end the lawsuit. As part of that four-year consent decree, a court monitor supervises progress at both facilities. A June 2007 report said some conditions had improved, but there were still problems.

The agency has not complied with all the terms of a lawsuit settlement requiring the state to fix its backlogged foster-care program. It will cost at least $34 million, officials estimate.

In addition to the accolades heap on Taylor by Barbour was what he ballyhooed as a successful abstinence sex education program. In a state with the highest teen pregnancy rate in the U.S., how can he possibly call it a successful program? All knowledgeable citizens know that the abstinence program pushed by the Bush regime has been a total failure and has not only resulted in higher teen pregnancy rates but has also led to higher STD rates.

As a retired Air Force enlisted member and also a 20 year civilian employee I know for a fact that just because a person attains the rank of O-6 in whatever branch of service they serve in it doesn't automatically mean they know what the hell they are talking about. In many cases they let their rank overload their mouths and brains.

Thompson may indeed be a more competent leader than Taylor was but I would still like to know what qualifications he has that makes him capable of leading an important agency like DHS. I understand that he previously served as vice chair of MEDICAID. We know how that agency screwed many needy citizens of this state. If this is any example of what we have in store for us, we are in for a long rough time.