Yes in deed I have been critical of Obama's promises and his failure to deliver with subatantive legislation but this other side-show is just that .
Is Donald Trump though making these claims based on Obama's color/ethnicity -was Obama given a pass because he is black.
2. *The Obama administration is still supporting various repressive regimes including Yemen , Saudi Arabia, Bhrain and so on while expending a great deal of effort to take out Qaddafi -for the oil, the geopolitical and strategic reasons ie to have more control over the Gulf Region and Northern Africa to make up for the possible loss of Egypt .
3. *Laura Flanders Time to admit America has its own group of Royals to whom most Americans bow to that is the wealthy .
4. Laura Flanders criticizes Obama for abandoning his election promises and has given in time and again to the GOP even when he had clear majority . He now appears to once again want to appease the Uberconservatives, the Tea Party Gang and the GOP rather than the liberals and progressive who put him into power.
----------------------------
Having produced the long form of his birth certificate now Donald Trump is questioning the legitimacy of Obama's university degrees and wants to see his university records -next Trump and others will want to see Obama's high school, Junior High and elementary school records. For all we know Obama may have cheated even in his finger painting class or was in some other way given a passing grade inspite of irregularities.
These are just tactics being used to undermine Obama's character his integrity and honesty rather than talk about important issues.
Trump: Obama Wasn't Qualified for Ivy League via The Raw Story
First here's Laura Flanders at Grittv:The "F" Word Dailymotion analysis of the interests and obsession over the upcoming Royal Wedding. But she says only 7% of Americans are keeping up with the daily news on the wedding.
Many Americans are erroneouly convinced that unlike the UK believe that America is a classless society She argues that the super wealthy in America are in fact America's royalty -they pay little taxes and are subsidized in various ways by the government -bailouts etc.
She notes that the USA is in fact a class based society in which the top 1% are in control of some 34% of America's wealth and are more often than not in control of the governments domestic and foreign relations.
GRITtv: The F Word: Let's Admit The Truth About ... by grittv
Obama is ignoring his supporters and is taking his cues from the GOP Tea Party rightwing and so adopts the GOP's concerns over deficits and continuing tax breaks for the rich and those in the upper income brackets.
Meanwhile Democrats and other Americans are more concerned about jobs and stimulating the economy without major hand outs to businesses.
The GOP is more interested in defending the wealthy and couldn't care less about average Americans let alone the unemployed, average families being crushed by debt filing for bankruptcy or the poor , the homeless or even Iraqi vets who have been abandoned by the GOP and the wealthy class.
Just a sidebar rant: its odd how uberconservatives in the USA (and here in Canada)are so gung-ho about supporting the troops but when they are against paying the troops better wedges or benefits and abandon them once they arrive back home and yet the mainstream media avoids this part of the story as best it can. Even after Obama was elected not much has been done to improve the situation of the troops via wages, benefits, medical care , housing , education and so on.
GRITtv: The F Word: Time For Obama To Join the Fight
GRITtv: The F Word: Time For Obama To Join the... by grittv
- The Obama administration make impressive speeches about spreading democracy but they are selective about which people in which country are deserving of democracy, freedom and basic civil and human rights.
Whereas Libya is permitted to struggle for a better government the people of Yemen, Bahrain , Saudi Arabia not so much.
"Hueys Over Yemen: Is U.S. Aid Suppressing Another Mideast Freedom Struggle?" by Nick Turse Tomdispatch April 28, 2011
In recent weeks, Yemeni protesters calling for an immediate end to the 32-year reign of U.S.-backed President Ali Abdullah Saleh have been met with increasing violence at the hands of state security forces. A recent pledge by Saleh to step down, one of many that haven’t met demonstrators’ demands, has yet to halt the protests or violence by the troops backing his regime. During a demonstration earlier this month in the city of Taiz, protesters marching down a central street were confronted by security forces and Saleh supporters, while government helicopters flew overhead. “The thugs and the security forces fired on us with live gunfire,” Mahmud al-Shaobi, one of the protesters told the New York Times. “Many people were shot.”
In the days since, more demonstrators have been attacked by government forces -- with the death toll now estimated to exceed 130. Witnesses have also been reporting the increased use of military helicopters in the crackdown. Some of those aircraft may be recent additions to Saleh’s arsenal, provided courtesy of the Obama administration as part of an $83-million military aviation aid package.
Since the beginning of 2011, under a program run by the U.S. Department of Defense, the United States has overseen the delivery of several new Bell UH-1Hs, or “Huey II” helicopters, current models of the iconic Huey that served as America’s primary gunship and troop transport during the Vietnam War. Although these helicopters are only the latest additions to a sizeable arsenal that the Pentagon has provided to Yemen in recent years, they call attention to how U.S. weapons and assistance support regimes actively suppressing democratic uprisings across the Middle East.
...In January, as freedom struggles were spreading across the region, President Barack Obama publicly avowed support for “certain core values that we believe in as Americans[,] that we believe are universal: freedom of speech, freedom of expression, people being able to use social networking or any other mechanisms to communicate with each other and express their concerns.” Just days earlier, however, his government had transferred military equipment to the security forces of Yemen’s so-called president for life.
Under the terms of a $27 million contract between the Pentagon and Bell Helicopter, Yemen received four Huey IIs. Prior to this, 12 Yemeni Air Force pilots and 20 maintenance personnel were trained to fly and service the aircraft at Bell’s flight instruction facility in Alliance, Texas. "The swift execution of the Yemen Huey II program demonstrates that the military departments -- in this case the U.S. Army -- can quickly deliver defense articles and services to U.S. partners with the cooperation of U.S. industry," said Brandon Denecke of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the branch of the Pentagon that coordinates sales and transfers of military equipment to allies.
The recent helicopter deal is just the latest example of Pentagon support for the forces of the Yemeni dictator through its so-called “1206 program,” a Congressionally-authorized arrangement that “allows the executive branch to rapidly provide foreign partners with military equipment and training...” Named for section 1206 of the 2006 National Defense Authorization Act, the program allows the Pentagon to enhance the capabilities of foreign military forces for “counterterrorism and stability operations.”
...All told, over the past five years, the U.S. has provided more than $300 million in aid to Yemen’s security forces, with the dollars escalating precipitously under the Obama administration. In 2008, under President George W. Bush, Yemen received $17.2 million in baseline military assistance (which does not include counterterrorism or humanitarian funding). In 2010, that number had risen to $72.3 million while, overall, Yemen received $155.3 million in U.S. aid that year, including a “$34.5 million special operations force counterterrorism enhancement package.” These funds have provided Yemen’s security forces with helicopters, Humvees, weapons, ammunition, radio systems, and night-vision goggles.
Additionally, U.S. special operations troops (along with British and Saudi military personnel) have been supporting, advising, and conducting training missions with some of Yemen’s elite forces -- including the Republican Guard, Special Operations Forces, and the National Security Bureau -- which are commanded and staffed by Saleh’s sons and other close relatives.
and so it goes,
GORD.
No comments:
Post a Comment