Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger
As someone who voted for and rejoiced in Barack Obama’s election in 2008, I had certain expectations for his Presidency. My expectations heightened with the Democratic party’s majorities in Congress. Foremost I wanted to see a swift end to both wars, which I believe are unjust and draining the resources of this country. Since Obama was presumably a constitutional law scholar, I expected that he would return this country to the Rule of Law. I expected the new President to eliminate the Bush constitutional usurpation of our government and people, occurring with Democratic Party compliance. The Administration would end the widespread use of torture, rendition, and the excesses of The Patriot Act. His Department Of Justice would prosecute those who were responsible. As far as the economic crisis engendered by Wall Street excesses, I had faith that he would deal with it through FDR like projects, by re-regulation/prosecution of the financial industry and ending the unjustified Bush Tax cuts for the wealthy.
That none of this has happened, or was even attempted has filled me with disappointment and anger towards this Administration’s performance. In my mind as I tried to make sense of it of this betrayal, there was a nagging suspicion. What if the “powers that be” in our Country including the Military-Industrial complex had sent the word to the newly elected President: “Play ball”, or find yourself and your family grievously threatened? I was a young adult through the 60’s as I watched the assassinations of my heroes, one of whom was a President. I’m not comfortable with the official explanation of these deaths, since there was much that didn’t make sense. In the 70’s The Pentagon Papers, Watergate, and later the Church Committee Report on the CIA gave credence to the possible actions of a secret government. In addition, we learned from General Smedley-Butler, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler that a group of businessmen had contacted him in 1934 about leading a coup against FDR. One of those conspirators was Prescott Bush, father of Bush I and grandfather of Bush II. Later, Prescott Bush was involved in a Bank that had financed the NAZI’s rise to power. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/sep/25/usa.secondworldwar.
On September 7th, Rob Kall’s OpEdNews published “Obama Team Feared Coup If He Prosecuted War Crimes”. Andrew Kreig, executive director of the Justice Integrity Project, wrote this article. There are some very persuasive points in it and I believe it is worth your perusal and comment:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/1/Obama-Team-Feared-Coup-If-by-Andrew-Kreig-110907-156.html
If this speculation were true, it would go a long way towards explaining what we’ve been seeing from the Obama Administration. It would also be a disaster for any notion of the Rule of Law.
This Administration has performed timidly in areas promised by their campaign and enumerated above. Their performance on even something like Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was timid and drawn out compared to the President’s campaign promises and its’ eventual resolution was a tortured process, to say the least. The easiest explanation of course is a timid Presidency and that as smart as he is, Barack Obama lacks the ability to lead with strength. This is indeed the simplest solution and “behind the scenes” threats are not needed to offer further explanation. However, I must admit that doesn’t fully satisfy me. Any man who runs for President is essentially audaciously self-confident. Who in hell would really want such a 24/7 high tension job, except for people who so believe in themselves that they are willing to go through the torture of a Presidential Campaign to get there? The “audaciousness of hope” had to possess some strong power behind it in the man out front.
Please understand that I am not yet willing to believe absolutely that our Government is so completely in the hands of a centralized power that our elected officials mean nothing. While having seen much in life that stimulates my cynical nature, I remain an optimist as a matter of mental health. The hubris needed to propound and continue such an ongoing plot would be massive. The logistics are enormous in terms of maintaining secrecy. I know too much of human fallibility to fully believe this could be executed completely, without consequence or rumor, yet there are those many strange assassinations to ponder.
Tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of America’s 9/11 tragedy. Our reaction to it as a country in that decade makes me feel at times that Al Qaeda triumphed by swerving our country away from its’ ideals and constitution. What then if this speculation is true and certain people with power have used the fear engendered to resort to illegal pressure upon our President? What can we do about it?
My own belief is that without ignoring it, we must proceed as if it isn’t true and to continue to fight for the ideals and Constitution we hold sacred. I believe that violent revolution never works and only begets new tyrants. However, revolutions don’t have to be violent to succeed, as Gandhi showed us and as Reverend King proved. Revolution can be as simple as a majority of the people refusing to buy into the mythology tyranny presents to maintain control over us. Tyranny needs acceptance of its faulty premises and fear via intimidation to work its will. Educating most people in what is occurring and how they are deceived represents a powerful force. Professor Turley in his legal Career has consistently fought against evils like torture and against the extra-constitutional actions of chief executives and legislators. These legal battles are an example of fighting back and are educational as well. I will never accept that the battle is over and that we have become a feudal, corporate-controlled country. However, I fully realize that my own proffered solutions are more hopeful than concrete
What do you, the reader, think about this news story? Do you find it credible? If it is creditable, what do you propose we can or should do about it?
Submitted by: Mike Spindell
I’m sorry, but this is laughable.
Mr. Spindell,
Superb.
Bringing these matters into the light is the only way forward.
As I look back over the course of my life, there was one point in particular that I had to make a decision which would make or break me…
I finally got around to reading Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” some years ago. It was a terrifying experience because by the third page, I recognized a genius. And by the fourth, I was having sensations of a continual whisper… “we are brothers, Nate, we are brothers.”
Freaky, terrifying, and as real to me as you are.
This sensation, this whisper, wanted an answer from me. It wanted me to say “yes”.
I managed 3quarters of the way through, spent a lot of time directing my thoughts to heaven and asking for help. Help, because my intellect was insufficient to counter the arguments and statements being put forth in this deep and dark tome. Until finally 3quarters of the way through, I gave my answer. “No. Because I love them.” Instantly the spell disappeared, the book became nothing more than uninteresting writing, and I moved on.
I bring this out only because this was an experience that colored and formed my own life. And through these lens, I perceive that Obama too had his decision to make. Prosecute or don’t. And in my perception, of his own free will he decided not to. And by so doing, he joined the fight against injustice.
Mike S.,
I think I got called some names as well as learning some new words for the same position….With that said….I think that it is plausible that “WE” really do have a secret government….I had read something similar to what you had posted but the “Coup against Obama”….That still would not surprise me….
Money brings corruption and we have the majority of shares/vote with the IMF….That is why I think that Strauss was set up….He was set to release some stringent loan policy’s that differed from the current world events…It seems peculiar that he was arrested the day before he was to implement his policy… of restriction in the world financial markets…Italy would have been severely hammered….If you see what happened to the market yesterday…I recall it had something to do with Italy’s unresolved markets……The question remains did he actually do what is claimed he did or was he set up….If he did what they said he did why would he send someone back to his hotel? I have heard that he was basically to egotistical that he did not think that he did anything wrong…
We also have the World Bank that is part of the UN….It is pretty much controlled by the US as well but with other member country cooperation….Unlike the IMF…where we call the majority of the shots…
If I recall both the IMF and WB were created in the late 40s….
Back to Obama….he has become the greatest disappointment with the most contradictory of campaign pledges being honored….
It initially cannot be blamed on not having control of congress….Unfortunately he has accomplished more with the House being Republican than with Pelosi as head of the Democratic Caucus….
Great article btw…
One more thing…
After I gave my answer, I discovered that all the reasons put forth in that tome to carry out what eventually came to pass were lies.
Mike I too am disappointed,but looking at the President and hearing different comments from people of color at different levels of media.I’m hearing that your questions may be answered in reading his books for they say a lot of his actions before he became President,may explain whats going on and why.
“…this is laughable.” -Chad S
Laughable? Not in the least. Rather, it goes directly to the heart of the matter. It’s quite brilliant… and soothes the soul this Saturday morning.
As Nate says, “Bringing these matters into the light is the only way forward.”
There’s a correction, the first that is truly important for me to make.
“And by so doing, he joined the fight *against* justice.
“My own belief is that without ignoring it, we must proceed as if it isn’t true and to continue to fight for the ideals and Constitution we hold sacred.”~Mike Spindell
I so agree. That and keeping the struggle and any ‘misdeeds’ in the light. It is when things are ignored, dispelled as unbelievable or ‘laughable’ that fear can seep into the dark plces of unknowing and unsureness. I do believe there has been a coup….a time to move forward has come and instead of allowing its most successfull potential to be realized we have been hoodwinked into believing that what we are experiencing is merely a ‘cycle’ or is of necessity. The power innate in the people of the USA has been stagnated, wasted and oppressed. I think president Obama has met with the kind of political opposition that topples governments, whether it is intentional or comes from a darker place is not of any consequence. Politics needs to clean up its act. Banks need to clean up thier act. The predatory behaviors in our markets and these institutions have soooooooo endangered Americans. Corporations have crapped all over our land and seem to have free reign to continue doing so. I also believe we won’t really know the truth of what is going on any more than we will know the truth of what happened that day when President Kennedy was shot.
The choice is between Obama and those that want to dismantle government. It is not a good place to be in but it is where we are at. The left is too disorganized to revolt but the right is not.
@anon nurse:
Where is even a single shred of proof that The White House feared a Coup?
This is a joke, and this blog should be ashamed for spreading this nonsense.
Nate1, September 10, 2011 at 1:18 pm
There’s a correction, the first that is truly important for me to make.
“And by so doing, he joined the fight *against* justice.
————————————————————————-
Nate I agree with your first posting. In not bringing at the least a timely trial to see to the accusations the Constitutional fabric and social contract of this Country have been denied, allowing an injustice to grow, perhaps flourish. He is now going to have to join the fight for justice because justice has fallen. Which has been a long time happening! we also saw when the supreme court declared the Bush Presidency….well they could pick thier sorry corporate asses up now couldn’t they….
Okay, I see where this nonsense is coming from. This line:
” it was thought that the CIA, NSA, and military would revolt”
Harman didn’t mean that literally. She meant that they would oppose the war crimes trials any way possible. This isn’t saying that they would try to overthrow Obama from office.
“Where is even a single shred of proof that The White House feared a Coup?”
Chad,
Did you even bother to read this link?
http://www.opednews.com/articles/1/Obama-Team-Feared-Coup-If-by-Andrew-Kreig-110907-156.html
That article was what my remarks are based on. It comes from a College Professor, who was the number 6 man on Obama’s election team, which to me would certainly supply some credibility. You are certainly entitled to disagree, as my writing made clear I’m not certain. However, it would seem only fair if you gave yourself a chance to view the entire point, prior to making your judgment.
Great job, Mike. I’m on the run at the moment (weekend errands don’t get done on their own), but I’ll drop back in for a more detailed comment later.
I read it mike. The “coup” talk is taking something Jane Harman said too literally. Harman is saying that the intel/Dod world would be very upset about trials over torture(nevermind that there are empaneled federal grand juries investigating this). She’s NOT saying that there would be a coup de’tat.
Shame on you for spreading this nonsense, shame on Jon Turley for giving you a forum to spread this nonsense.
I don’t think it’s nonsense at all. In fact, I think there is such an un-constituional and un-balanced direction in this ship that was a Country that NOT looking at the trim is foolish and fear of discussing a coup (or what looks like it) it would serve nothing more than to legitimize it.
Correction: Susan Harman, not Jane. My bad. The author of the original piece is taking too literally what Edley said. He’s clearly not saying that there would be a coup. He’s saying that the intel/military sphere of the US would be upset over a war crimes trial.
Still: Shame on you Mike.
The Choice is between Obama and those that want to dismantle the Government…..
What they hell do you think that people that have half a brain are complaining about…Obama is in charge and Obama is allowing the Government to be dismantled right before his very eyes….It is just a matter of who the hell is the president that actually makes a difference and most people cannot see any difference between Obama’s Policies or Bush’s Policies….It is a distinction without a difference…..
Now go ahead and call Mike or anyone else that thinks there has to be someone better than Obama a Republican, a Misogynist or to be viewed with Askance because they think….. You already said it to me…
No comparison that I see. Running late.
Oh my it appears that we have other people unhappy with Obama…oh my………so we can deduct from People being generally Unhappy with Obama that they really are republican…. So, by being unhappy with Obama and expressing that they really want the GOP to win…which means that if they are unhappy with Obama they are really women haters…..So anybody unhappy with Obama must be viewed with askance…..
No Comparison hell….The Government is being dismantled under Obama……
He signed the bill that allowed fewer employer/employee deductions for the future future funding of what is presently called SS….That is an abomination…..At least Bush as sick as he was was honest about wanting to get rid of it….
Chad S:
the intel/military sphere would clearly be upset. But I doubt many professional officers would go along with a coup. It is a real slam at the professional officer corps in this country to even suggest it would/might have undertaken a coup.
Although they clearly take an oath to the Constitution so maybe they should have when Obama didnt prosecute the war crimes done under the Bush Administration.
I am really confused now, according to everyone on this website, Obama should have prosecuted war crimes and to not do so was to shred the Constitution. Military officers take an oath to defend the Constitution so didnt they violate their oath by not removing Obama for not prosecuting war crimes?
Seems to me they are in a conspiracy with Obama to let him shred the Constitution.
Seems like a case of having your cake and eating it.
You missed my point.
Anonymously Yours:
I feel you!
by the way, if you simply google ‘coup d’etat’ you will find a plethora of conversations, according to NPR;
-August 17, 2008
Think of a coup d’etat and images of a far-flung banana republic likely come to mind. So it might come as a surprise that it happened here in the United States — just once, in 1898.
out of an article by Global Research;
‘Legal procedures for canceling/rescheduling the elections are under study, at the request of DHS Secretary Tom Ridge, by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which is examining the legal and constitutional implications. (Washington Post, 14 July, 2004)
The Military and Intelligence apparatus working in liaison with Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Authority (FEMA) are indelibly behind this process, pointing to the unthinkable: the possibility of a Coup d’Etat in America. ‘
Harpers Magazine fronted an article titled;
‘American coup d’etat:
Military thinkers discuss the unthinkable, ‘ in 2006
then there is, amongst the 28,600,000 hits,
An American Coup d’État? whatreallyhappened site;
An attempted coup d’etat censored out of our history books, courtesy of corporate America, but not … from traveling more than 200 miles from the U.S. coastline. …
The Stealth Coup D’Etat: U.S.A. 2008-2010
http://www.businessinsider site;
Oct 28, 2010 – The Stealth Coup D’Etat in the U.S. (called “The Quiet Coup” by Simon Johnson) was begun long ago, but the takeover reached fruition in the …
Part IV: The Financial Coup d’Etat — The Economic Elite Vs. The …
ampedstatus article;
Feb 21, 2010 – Part IV: The Financial Coup d’Etat — Economic Elite Vs. The Although most of the Economic Elite live and operate inside the US, they are not …
An American Coup D’état – First World Nation Style | ZeroHedgewww.zerohedge Blogs › Cognitive Dissonance’s blog
Nov 9, 2010 – An American Coup D’état – First World Nation Style Some say all this insanity is just greed and corruption run amuck. Others claim the political, …
come to the dark side, Chad, …. oh, maybe denial is the dark side…oh, maybe not…
Roco: torture is being prosecuted. The DOJ assigned an AUSA to investigated several cases involving the CIA.
And there’s no way on God’s Green Earth that the Pentagon would try to overthrow an elected president in this country. People have been watching “Seven Days in May” too much.
Chad S:
I am pretty sure you are correct.
eniobob,
LOL, Thank you….
Sounds like a Bill Hicks routine.
Warning: Contains Foul Language
The only point I missed was being called white….I think everything else is self explanatory….I don’t think Obama is doing the Job he promised to do. I would like to have the ability to have someone else run in his place…that ain’t gonna happen so I have to look outside the box…..When I did that the only viable options are the lesser of two evils…It only leaves you with a GOP field….Therefore I am a Republican, Woman hater to be viewed with askance….Don’t think I missed that….Now if you want to apologize….I am willing to listen….Other than that….I seem to think you used the term askance….so you need to define what you meant by it…I supplied what I think was the Merriam-Webster definition….Which is a generally accepted as a good source….used to use it when Black’s Law was lacking…. even cited it in a few appeals so I think it the source of the definition is pretty good…..
Chad S 1, September 10, 2011 at 1:26 pm
@anon nurse:
Where is even a single shred of proof that The White House feared a Coup?
This is a joke, and this blog should be ashamed for spreading this nonsense.
———————————–
Chad S,
No, this is anything but “a joke”… and the truth will out. While I’m old enough that I may not live to see it, I’m quite comfortable that the whole of it will come to the fore eventually. The “possibilities” about which Mike S. has written aren’t even close to nonsense. The whole story, while admittedly “stranger than fiction”, is working it’s way to the top… Slowly. Surely. Count on it.
This blog presents a wonderful forum for the exchange of information and ideas, and I can tell you, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that Mike is on the right track. Again… count on it.
Not nonsense. That is a Republican talking point. If you guys remember, a few days ago, I linked to a story by investigative reporter Roger Shuler. Like all decent reporters, he has sources that most of us do not have, although he cites the same stuff Mike used. I read his stuff regularly, and he has a good history of credible reporting. He has made it more or less his hobby to go after the corrupt DoJ cases prosecuted under Karl Rove’s guidance.
Link to Roger’s story in his blog, The Legal Schnauzer:
http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2011/09/obama-advisors-feared-coup-if.html
Michael Moore offers a glimpse of what’s taking place in America. The things of which he speaks are happening to rather ordinary Americans, as well, but most are without the resources to hire a team of ex-Navy Seals for protection.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/sep/07/michael-moore-hated-man-america
Excerpt:
For more than a year there had been threats, intimidation, harassment and even assaults in broad daylight.
…
Bombarded with hatred
When we got back to our home in northern Michigan, the local beautification committee had dumped three truckloads of horse manure waist-high in our driveway so that we wouldn’t be able to enter our property – a property which, by the way, was freshly decorated with a dozen or so signs nailed to our trees: GET OUT! MOVE TO CUBA! COMMIE SCUM! TRAITOR! LEAVE NOW OR ELSE!
I had no intention of leaving.
The hate mail after the Oscar speech was so voluminous, it almost seemed as if Hallmark had opened a new division where greeting card writers were assigned the task of penning odes to my passing. (“For a Special Motherfucker …” “Get Well Soon from Your Mysterious Car Accident!” “Here’s to a Happy Stroke!”)
The phone calls to my house were actually creepier. It’s a whole different fright machine when a human voice is attached to the madness and you think: “This person literally risked arrest to say this over a phone line!” You had to admire the balls – or insanity – of that.
But the worst moments were when people came on to our property. These individuals would just walk down the driveway, always looking like rejects from the cast of Night of the Living Dead, never moving very fast, but always advancing with singleminded purposefulness. Few were actual haters; most were just crazy. We kept the sheriff’s deputies busy until they finally suggested we might want to get our own security, or perhaps our own police force. Which we did.
We met with the head of the top security agency in the country, an elite outfit that did not hire ex-cops, nor any “tough guys” or bouncer-types. They preferred to use only Navy Seals and other ex–Special Forces. Guys who had a cool head and who could take you out with a piece of dental floss in a matter of nanoseconds. By the end of the year, due to the alarming increase of threats and attempts on me, I had nine ex-Seals surrounding me, round-the-clock. (end excerpt)
“Still: Shame on you Mike.”
“And there’s no way on God’s Green Earth that the Pentagon would try to overthrow an elected president in this country. People have been watching “Seven Days in May” too much.”
Chad,
I don’t know how old you are, but as I said in my post I remember indelibly the President of the US, his brother a Senator who would have been President and a great leader of the Civil Rights movement gunned down improbably. There were more than 50,000 deaths of our troops in Viet Nam, hundreds of thousands irreparably injured and perhaps a million Vietnamese killed, for what?
Well from a particular foreign policy perspective, shared by both our Armed Services Leaders and the “Wise Old Men” of foreign policy, people had to die in that silly war so that we could “stand up to the Russians.”
They believed anyone who disagreed was a traitor to the country and they apparently weren’t happy with JFK’s tepid support of the war and the opposition of RFK and MLK. Given those times they might well have seen assassination as a patriotic act.
As far as the President goes, I have clearly stated here on other threads that I will probably be forced to vote for him, given the alternatives. However, I’m extremely unhappy with his performance and his “turnaround” in many areas does arouse my suspicions. The mistake of “American Exceptionalism”, is a 7,000 year history replete with far crazier things happening to Nation’s leaders, many time with the leadership of a given country’s military, which is ignored by those thinking that laws or principles alone govern human behavior. The way things have gone on in our country’s history, as much as I love and feel a part of it, are not so easy to dismiss by merely saying it can’t happen here.
Mike,,, Great piece….so scary, so reasonable. This really makes much more sense than the stuff that’s been roaming around in my mind the past couple of years…
Michael Moore is a flake/fake with a camera and a big soap box. He spouts proletarian hyperbole while living a lavish bourgeois life style.
Yes, how dare Michael Moore enjoy the money he has made exposing the lies & hypocrisy that drive modern America? If he were really a true believer he would set fire to all that cash & like in a mud hut in the moldering remains of Flint, MI
We may not see a coup in the traditional sense of the word, but it would be naive to dismiss, out of hand, the possibility of a silent coup, in my opinion. If it happens, it won’t be an overnight occurrence and it may not even be obvious to most, but “step out of line”… and the state’s goons and thugs will step in to work their magic…
To think that it couldn’t happen here is foolhardy. These are dangerous times and those who believe otherwise are either fools or errand-boys.
we have the birthers, the truthers and now the coupers. A trifecta of conspiracy and political legerdemain.
Which one will be proven correct?
pronounced kooers.
Roco
pronounced kooers.
Is that the German spelling for what is known in America Coors….
AY:
Could be. Germans like both coups and beer.
In fact dont Germans have coups in beer halls?
Coors Light and an Egg McMuffin
A true continental breakfast.
“In fact dont Germans have coups in beer halls?”
9/11; the holiest day in the Nazi calendar.
http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/99feier.htm
American coup d’etat:
Military thinkers discuss the unthinkable (posted by Woosty earlier)
by A.J. Bacevich, Charles J., Jr. Dunlap, Richard H. Kohn, and Edward N. Luttwak
About one of the authors:
“BRIG. GEN. CHARLES J. DUNLAP JR. is a staff judge advocate at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia. In 1992 he published an essay entitled “The Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012.””
The link to his essay follows:
http://www.uwec.edu/sfpj/Origins.pdf
The Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012
CHARLES J. DUNLAP, JR.
Excerpt:
Finally, I would tell our classmates that democracy is a fragile institution that must be continuously nurtured and scrupulously protected. I would also tell them that they must speak out when they see the institution threatened; indeed, it is their duty to do so. Richard Gabriel aptly observed in his book To Serve with Honor that when one discusses dissent, loyalty, and the limits of military obligations, the central
problem is that the military represents a threat to civil order not because it will usurp authority, but because it does not speak out on critical policy decisions. The soldier fails to live up to his oath to serve the country if he does not speak out when he sees his civilian or military superiors executing policies he feels to be wrong.[96]
Gabriel was wrong when he dismissed the military’s potential to threaten civil order, but he was right when he described our responsibilities. The catastrophe that occurred on our watch took place because we failed to speak out against policies we knew were wrong. It’s too late for me to do any more. But it’s not for you.
Best regards,
Prisoner 222305759
(end of excerpt)
Lieutenant Colonel Charles J. Dunlap, Jr., USAF, is the Deputy Staff Judge Advocate, US Central Command, at MacDill AFB, Florida. He is a graduate of St. Joseph’s University (Pa.), the Villanova University School of Law, and the Armed Forces Staff College, and he is a Distinguished Graduate of the National War College, Class of 1992.
He has taught at the Air Force Judge Advocate General’s School, and served tours in Korea and the United Kingdom. In 1987 he was a Circuit Military Judge, First Judicial Circuit, and was subsequently assigned to the Air Staff in the Office of the Judge Advocate General.
Lieutenant Colonel Dunlap was recently named by the Judge
Advocates’ Association as the USAF’s Outstanding Career Armed Services Attorney of 1992. The present article is adapted from his National War College student paper that was co-winner of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 1991-92 Strategy Essay Competition, in which students from all the senior service colleges compete.
In short, I believe that Obama turned. In plain language, he joined the dark side just as surely as Cheney did.
I believe the solution is to bring him out of office with a candidate that caters to principles over party, and hold Obama and the previous administration culpable for their destruction of the rule of law.
Roco,
Apparently…Bob.Esq. is on the coup page too…
Bob, I have to admit that was good…I never recalled that the Bier Hall brew hause was celebrated so greatly….Now, if the calendar months actually were the actual months…then it would be Nine-Nine…as November is Nine, just as October is 8….then You have December and September….all the others are named from something Roman (Leaders or events)…..January through August….All of the months are the same August used to be Sextilis which literally translates to 6….
http://www.pantheon.org/miscellaneous/origin_months.html
or this if you like….
http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/1-2-2005-63689.asp
A) Obama is yet another corrupt/spineless/self-serving politician who knuckled under to interest groups and broke lots of his campaign promises.
B) He was threatened by shadowy forces.
I’m thinking “A”.
I’d give this article slightly more credence if it didn’t have as part of its foundation JFK conspiracy nonsense.
Nate,
Are you not afraid that someone is going to start calling you a misogynist as well? Don’t you know….we have no other candidate that is Pro choice….So you must hate women for expressing that view….and I bet you are really a Republican operative as well….Well, I will just have to view you with askance…or something like that….
wink, wink….
AY,
I think the coup comments made by Obama’s transition team were more hyperbole and conjecture than statements of fact.
Per the Beer Hall Putsch, the subtext takes on a whole new meaning if you make the tiny leap in thinking of 9/11 as a ‘homage.’
Per the idea of the existence of an actual threat of a coup, there’s only one way to analyze it–detached, neutral and slowly.
It’s kind of like when you go fishing with an open reel and you have to untangle a bird’s nest. You don’t focus on what ‘might’ be on the end of the line; you focus on the immediate issues/tangles as they come and let the process lead you to the ultimate conclusion.
“A new report by the U.S. Army War College talks about the possibility of Pentagon resources and troops being used should the economic crisis lead to civil unrest, such as protests against businesses and government or runs on beleaguered banks.
“Widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security,” said the War College report.
The study says economic collapse, terrorism and loss of legal order are among possible domestic shocks that might require military action within the U.S.”
Phoenix Business Journal
Nations can and do go crazy.
That is why our forefathers left England and later wrote the declaration of Independence.
England came to believe that “the king can do no wrong”.
Our constitution was the application of a remedy, a treatment for that craziness.
To the degree that we are losing the constitution is the degree to which this nation is going crazy.
Bob,
Exactly…
Dredd,
Could not agree more….
Anonymously Yours1, September 10, 2011 at 2:47 pm
….I don’t think Obama is doing the Job he promised to do. I would like to have the ability to have someone else run in his place…
—————————————————————
I don’t agree. Representative Republic/Democracy…is not a Dictatorship nor a 1 man show. Obama is taking the heat for a grand failure of State and there is more than enough blame to go around. Where he is now is looking more like a reflection of backstabbing , deliberate non-cooperation and disruption, in short political assassination by special interests and republicans that cant seem to see beyond the ends of thier own noses and we are all endangered by it and sufferring from it. I think our first black president has done as much as anyone could given the elements he has had to deal with. As far as ‘turning’…turning into what? The status quo? Well, I suppose he could be blamed for that…
Dredd1, September 10, 2011 at 6:57 pm
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Shock doctrine at its finest.
So,
“Et tu, Brute?”
Wootsy,
You statement is true…But the practicality of the two party systems…it is pretty had to beat an incumbent….on their own ticket….
Unlike LBJ whom I think orchestrated (or had his hand in it) the JFK would have served Ten years if his plans had worked out…but by the end of his first election…the writing was on the wall….Pretty amazing that Nixon then steps in and wins….after an awful loss six years before….
So he did not seek his party’s nomination…“My Lai Massacre” may have had something to do with it….
As it’s been said, “The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.”
“I believe that violent revolution never works and only begets new tyrants.”
As circumstances become more and more dire, the only thing that will keep the masses from that tipping point is the truth. As a wise man once noted, truth is the first casualty of war. Preventing war from within our own ranks, we simply have to put aside the lies.
There’s much trouble brewing in Europe. Let’s not focus solely on ourselves; solidarity will go far in creating a better world for ourselves and our children and their children.
Wow. So much whining in a blog post. I don’t even know where to begin.
It seems you want maximum political conflict as well as maximum political results. I don’t think you can have both.
What precedent can you name in which a president bypassed congress and was successful? W. Bush had only one such proposal – privatization of Social Security, and the only thing he succeeded in doing by taking his case directly to the people was to lower his popularity.
Obama got DADT repealed. I don’t care how he looked doing it. I don’t care that you don’t like the way looked while getting it done.
In fact, I don’t care about anything you have to say. You whine too much.
Tim in SF
1, September 10, 2011 at 8:24 pm
Wow. So much whining in a blog post. I don’t even know where to begin.
It seems you want maximum political conflict as well as maximum political results. I don’t think you can have both.
WHY NOT….
I don’t really think anyone wants conflict…I think people want bi-partisan results…
Your ideal is more conflict without resolution…I think this is the case that we are speaking of Tim…
Well this sure explains why O-Bomb-a was “looking forward, not backward”; he was afraid of a coup and he was helpless. Come to think of it, he was also helpless in the face of those nasty Republicans who blocked his every move on Gitmo and the Public Option.
Golly, he really, really wanted to keep those campaign promises on closing Gitmo and health care and he would have encouraged at least a primary investigation of former Bush $ Co officials regarding violations of the Convention Against Torture, but he was powerless in the face of such opposition so it’s not like he was lying or anything.
O-Bomb-a deserves another four year term, because THIS time he’s going to really change things and also because he’s not Michelle Bachmann.
Catullus,
Do I hear a hint of sarcasm…..
http://www.hulu.com/aol/http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.aol.com/embed/7PW20fV52h4P9iG4PYWvnA
Will do it this way:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/10/bill-maher-has-advice-for-obama_n_956894.html
“…Obama was presumably a constitutional law scholar.”
Can somebody cite any scholarly work Mr. Obama published?
He is not a great orator, as we all hear and witness, but this does not make him a “scholar.”
Only a list of publication, short or long, will affirm the above statement.
“Oh, yee mortals, abandon all hope!…”
If the Office of the President has acted in a manner even partly driven by fear of a coup, either independently or on the counsel of advisers (that did not tell the President of their fears) has not a coup been accomplished?
If the Wikipedia is correct in its definition of the kinds of coup did not the last President (or his VP or others of the same mind in his Cabinet) accomplish a coup and then codify it with bad law?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup_d'%C3%A9tat
“The self-coup denotes an incumbent government — aided and abetted by the military — assuming extra-constitutional powers. A historical example is President, then Emperor, Louis Napoléon Bonaparte. Modern examples include Alberto Fujimori, in Peru, who, although elected, temporarily suspended the legislature and the judiciary in 1992, becoming an authoritarian ruler, and King Gyanendra’s assumption of “emergency powers” in Nepal. Another form of self-coup is when a government, having been defeated in an election, refuses to step down.”
For those believing a coup so unlikely, wasn’t the attempted impeachment of Bill Clinton for “lying” about an affair an attempted coup?
When he said he never had sex with that woman he was telling the truth as far as the 65% of Americans who believe “to have sex” means to have intercourse. The ridiculously silly impeachment and the stasis it placed on Clinton’s Presidency, was from the perspective of those initiating it a success without his removal.
Curious too was the financial crisis that hit the country only a few months before the 2008 Election date, that in effect “hamstrung” Obama when he took office. Sheer coincidence, perhaps, but it certainly has dominated the time of his governance. Yet those who caused the financial collapse continue to make money and hold their positions.
This possibility does not relieve Obama of his responsibility. When you have the hubris to run for President, you are guaranteeing that you can handle all contingencies that might arise. He hasn’t kept that promise.
As LK and AY have inferred, coups can take many shapes. In the end we who are not in with “the in crowd”, can only watch the patterns on the wall of our collective cave and make our inferences.
Mike S.
“Yet those who caused the financial collapse continue to make money and hold their positions.”
And NO ONE has gone to jail,NO ONE.
Typically, a coup d’état uses the extant government’s power to assume political control of the country. In Coup d’État: A Practical Handbook, military historian Edward Luttwak says, “A coup consists of the infiltration of a small, but critical, segment of the state apparatus, which is then used to displace the government from its control of the remainder”, thus, armed force (either military or paramilitary) is not a defining feature of a coup d’état. (from wikipedia)
There may be a coup and it has already occurred but I don’t think it is what is generally called a Coup d’État. This is much more insidious. I’ll call them the Greedy Bastards.
The Greedy Bastards are were very subtle as they began their coup. But as more joined the Greedy Bastards they have become more blatant in their usurping of our democracy.
In the mid to late 19th century we had the robber baron class. And tho they were suppressed somewhat they were not governed properly to keep them from becoming our lords and masters. They just became more subtle in their coup. The Greedy Bastards have always known its best to own a Congresscritter or two. But they became more orchestrated joining together for their own profit etc. We all know that but they hit on the best policy to keep their insidious plotgoing by getting a certain segment of society on their side even if it meant the fools voted against their own financial best interest. Do this with fear, religiousosity, ignorance and hatred of anyone opposed to their views and opinions.
Talk radio has taught hatred and joy in ignorance. And to hate and ridicule anyone who denounces logical ideas. The greedy Bastards buy up communications and despoil the media written and broadcast. The media elite have the choice to hop on board of popular opinion or lose their jobs. Pay them very well if they go along if not make sure that even the Bohunk Observer won’t hire ‘em.
Tell the feudal slaves that learning is eliteism. Afterall good ole middle America is the heart of the country and ” We don’t need no booklearnin’ we have common sense” Good Grief.
Hate those who don’t have your religious views. Fear those who look different especially if they are darker complexioned. Punish anyone who doesn’t toe the party line. Punish those who are different. Punish… Punish… PUNISH! Authoritarianism is very nice if you are the ones telling rather than being the one told.
But now The Greedy Bastards have reached the point in their coup where they have so much power they don’t hide their agenda as well. You don’t have to tell the Prez to toe the line. He very quickly he gets the idea. The feudal slaves are have been conditioned to get a hard-on when seeing someone PUNISHED. Now when its them being punished (social security) there are enough who are a distance from the time when they will suffer and its so exciting to watch the old codgers suffer ( the lazy old geezers expecting My money to live it up) …………………………………………….
The Greedy Bastards sit back and smile.
and don’t get me started on the last administration!!!
Jo Atkins,
Love the formulation “Greedy Bastards” and I’ve been looking for such a simple derisive term for years. I will use it from now on and hope it will catch on more and more.
From Wikipedia
“Article II of the United States Constitution (Section 4) states that “The President, Vice President, and all civil Officers of the United States shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors.” ”
So if by a coup, Mr. Spindell means following the Constitution, yes a coup is virtual certainty.
And, for the record, it was not merely an attempt: President Clinton was impeached (but not convicted).
Roco,
“In fact dont Germans have coups in beer halls?”
Germans wouldn’t have a coup in beer hall–they’d have a putsch. I’ve heard that’s because beer drinkers are such putsch-overs.
Thanks Mike and I love your articles BTW
Mike,
I was going to smith some words of my own, but upon reading the responses to this point, I thought I’d let Denver based band Flobots speak for me . . .
“Rise”
So much pain we
Dont know how to be but angry
Feel infected like weve got gangrene
Please dont let anybody try to change me
Me
Just me
In the middle of a sea full of faces
Full of faces
Some laugh some salivate
Whats in your alleyway
Recycling bins or bullet cases
Its not equal
Its not fair
Were different people
But were not scared
We aint never scared
To pave a new path
Make a new street
Build a new bridge
Say can you see by the dawns early light
Free slaves running
Songs words werent right
Now a new days coming
The few stay stunning while the many are handsome
Your soul is alive but they want it for ransom
The base drumming is the anthem
We step to the heartbeats of our granddaughters and grandsons
And
Rise together we
Lost hope and found need
Grounded by our surroundings
Did the walls scream universities
Or you and i verse the tees
React automatic and we burst when squeezed
And make 9-11 each emergency
Urgency amber to red like the turning leaves
Oh please let the hurting cease
Don’t let apathy police the populace
We will march across
Those stereotypes that were marked for us
The answers obvious
We switch the consonants
Change the sword to words and lift continents
Rise together we
If you believe in redemption
I’m calling to you from another dimension
“Fight With Tools”
Echo echo one-nine
Hear the call through fault lines
Smoke signals, old rhymes
Shorted lights in store signs
Spelled in a broken code
Find that it is time to
Breath, build, bend, and refine you
We sky tenants
Give it all but wont give up
Radio soul antennas
Radio to lift spirits
Call sign commando
M.o. is independence
Scream till the walls fall,
Dissolve all the limits
Occupied minds
Unemployed skills
Desolation
Worn out
Torn down
Just for now thrill seekers
Slanging
Test tube babies in beakers
Where gun blasts pump straight from the speakers
The system where the
Poor get poorly paid
To hold the ladder
Where the rich get ricocheted
Into the stratosphere
And in between people are rushin’ like vladimir
With metals to make their status clear
Get us out of here
We need heroes
Build them
Don’t put your fist up
Fill them
Fight with our hopes and our hearts and our hands
We’re the architects of our last stand
[x2]
There’s a war going on for your mind
Those who seek to occupy it will stop at nothing
The battlefield is everywhere
There is no sanctuary
There are no civilians
You have two choices
Surrender or enlist
What kind of person are you
Always the first to argue
Or never down to stick your neck out
Cause it hurts you far too much
To see your rep suffer
Set you up a buffer
Well neither is enough for us cut from a tougher brand of duct tape
The propaganda’s stuck on us like sock pajamas
Spread like a virus
Through accepted thoughts and proper manners
But off the cameras
Somethings simmering across the land
About to bubble up
And knock the lids off of the pots and pans
We are non stop juggernauts
Stomp ziggurats
Spit manifestos
By terabytes and gigawatts
Shock paradigms
Give sense to a score
Throw thoughts through the sky
Activate twenty more
In these high and dry times
Expectorate on dogma
Pragmatic sycophants
Divide and conquer
We build bridges offer
Hard work and prosper
As hand made heroes brought to you by no sponsors
We need heroes
Build them
Don’t put your fist up
Fill them
Fight with our hopes and our hearts and our hands
We’re the architects of our last stand
[x4]
All free minds to the front
All free minds to the front
We call upon women
We call upon children
We call upon the handicapped
The infirmed
The weak of heart
We need your courage
Your dedication
Your passion
Your conviction
Gather up your platinum
Melt it down
Gather up your gold
Melt it down
Gather up your silver
Your bronze
Your aluminum
Melt it down
Melt it down
Melt it down
Our government derives its legitimacy and power from the people. It can only become our oppressor if we allow it to in the name of greed using our fear against us. We must not allow this path we are on as a nation to continue in the name of liberty and freedom. As the song says, “You have two choices. Surrender or enlist.” Start demanding accountability and responsiveness from our elected officials to the needs of all the people, not just the corporations, the monied “elites” and the self-perpetuating war machine. Don’t take “no” or “we must look forward, not backward” as an answer. We cannot know where we are going if we don’t know where we’ve been and redress and address our missteps and mistakes. Together we rise or united we will fall.
lottakatz1, September 11, 2011 at 3:06 am
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perhaps General Petraeus being called to the CIA is an act of re-couping..,
if our Government made mistakes and let the wrong ones in, they can correct…
Gene,
I love them and an old fart like me doesn’t normally dig Hip Hop style.
Great lyrics and good music. Maybe the new sound of revolution done right.
Woosty = ^..^, I saw a movie about 30 years ago wherein one of the characters wonders aloud why the same clues keep leading back to a handful of names and the PI working the case says that that is how it’s always worked in California, the names are always the same, they just push them around to fit the situation.
I think of that exchange often. That is how our government works. Same names, same architects building the same structure, they just wear different titles from day to day. As I recall, the President promised in some campaign speech to not make the mistake of putting the same people that screwed things up in charge of fixing it. I must have misunderstood what he was saying.
“re-couped”
I always read your postings because you have a good sense of word-play and generally get me smiling.
Gene H, excellent selections, thanks.
Surely Obama must have known the job was dangerous when he took it. It’s a poor excuse for not sticking to the mandate for change the country gave him when we elected him. Abraham Lincoln didn’t let it stop him, yes we had a civil war, but we ended slavery. It’s about time people in the country got organized and forced the government to our will, to represent the people, not the special interests of banks, corporations, etc.
The President either is to weak or has been bought. Explain how he isn’t going after the Senators and Congressmen of BOTH parties that have done insider deals. How come Goldman Sachs has not be touched…?The SEC punishments where the they are maintain their innocent don’t count. They are a slap on the wrist…the price of doing business raping America. Janine Diamond is still free after heading a bank that has taken the homes of thousands of active duty service men and women. Not one federal prosecution. NOT one!
How come the medical plan uses insurance companies with a15-20% loos ration when Medicare has a loss ratio of 8%. How is that affordable? The big Lie is the insurance companies are not an efficient delivery system. The sole plan similar in Europe is a non-profit insurance plan. Most European plans are government run at lower cost.
How about Libya? No congressional approval! No budget Just like BUSH! How come he has gotten the terrorist who did the Lockerbie Pan Am bombing? Isn’t justice for slaughtered Americans an agenda item for the Obama Whitehouse? No it isn’t They big dogs have the Secret Service and private body guards The average citizen depends on the who to provide then justice after being blown out of the sky. Why are our livers so cheap to pour leaders
When will KSM be tried and executed?
The president is all about PR and atmospherics and has no use for real reform of substance. He has never passed a budget. The basic planning tool of government. Don’t blame the Republicans for 2009 and 2010. He had a majority until he lost the Ted Kennedy seat…
As an aside, why does President Obama bow and kiss the Saudi King. A man who rules with no popular mandate. Who kills witches..yes, you read that right, witches in the 21 st century, He publicly wipes persons and jails women who drive. Nice foreign relations! How about Syria, Mr. President, If you went into Libya, why not Syria. No balls? But it was OK for Libya ..Can you explain why one is OK and the second isn’t OK
Democracy with the blessing of Big Business! A $1 billion presidency! They are all sell outs.