That didn't last long: Obama hires Raytheon lobbyist for #2 at Defense

Signs along the way

There were lots of signs along the way that were ignored.

I'm not surprised. You shouldn't be either.

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality. -- John F. Kennedy (inspired by Dante's Inferno)

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by: oldbrit @ Sat Jan 24, 2009 at 12:01:08 PM CST

Hey, we have to be understanding.

How is Obama going to continue and expand his new war in Pakistan without the defense contractors on his side?  His motives must be pure.  No Democrat would ever get into bed with the party's big donors.  Don't even suggest such a thing.  These wars aren't about enriching the corporations.  Good gracious no.  They are about protecting us from Third World nations.  I feel so much safer now.

Cynic, n.  A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.  
-Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

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by: QScribe @ Sat Jan 24, 2009 at 12:30:02 PM CST

THIS IS BAD BAD BAD folks......

The retired Col. Wilkerson on Rachel M last noc...to discuss Guantanamo...Launched right into Rachel saying it was horrible, that there were thousands of other people who could do the job well.

Raytheon has sold 22 F22 Fighters to the AIR Force...The planes are so expensive. the AF has used NONE to date... They are waiting to use them against a resurrgence of  Communism??!!

BAD TOYS FOR BAD BOYS... and Obama is letting them have more. 

It's the Hammer of JUSTICE,
It's the Bell of FREEDOM,
It's the Song about LOVE between,
my Brothers and my Sisters
...All over this Land.

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by: Orion45 @ Sat Jan 24, 2009 at 12:34:16 PM CST

both ways tho

Yeah, that isn't good, but Obama also kept Gates on who has been pretty serious about getting rid of cold war military industrial complex crap, the F22 in particular.

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by: kathygnome @ Sat Jan 24, 2009 at 13:23:45 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I thought...

...Obama was increasing the distance between govt positions and lobbying, but I guess that's on a case-by-case basis.

Is there a way to do away with Paid Lobbying?  Not lobbying private citizens would do on their own time, just lobbying for pay.

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by: AdmNaismith @ Sat Jan 24, 2009 at 17:44:50 PM CST

Perhaps, we should look a little bit further at why Obama is doing this stuff

I keep coming back to this:

The most critical things we must do are to have voter owned elections (or "clean" elections), non-partisan election administration, non-partisan redistricting, and paper ballots which are actually marked by the voter.

As long as our elected officials are owned by special interests instead of the voters, they will always pay more attention to them than to us.

So, it should be no surprise that Obama knows where is bread is buttered.

If we want him to have any chance of doing the things he campaigned on, we have to help him by doing the things mentioned above.

2010 will have a U. S. Census followed by congressional redistricting. Imagine if the districts weren't drawn to protect incumbents?

http://www.google.com/search?q...


The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality. -- John F. Kennedy (inspired by Dante's Inferno)

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by: oldbrit @ Sat Jan 24, 2009 at 17:50:56 PM CST