Note: I don't write this diary to engage in any counter-productive bitch sessions, to throw up my hands in despair, or to vent. I'm writing it because finally, FINALLY, I've seen enough evidence to convince me that I've been betrayed, and that it is time to organize around root causes and realities, rather than to continue to fall for the pipedreams of Obama's rhetoric. I really do recommend watching the John Pilger speech I link to below, "Obama and Empire."
So, my diary:
I've just read the following article by Michael Deutsch on truthout.org:
http://www.truth-out.org/...
I'm a bit too pissed to give a fully coherent summary here, but here's the gist:
Following the 6-3 Supreme Court Decision in Holder v Humanitarian Law Project our DOJ is now pursuing and prosecuting peaceful antiwar activists:
In late September, the FBI carried out a series of raids of homes and antiwar offices of public activists in Minneapolis and Chicago. Following the raids, the Obama Justice Department subpoenaed 14 activists to a grand jury in Chicago and also subpoenaed the files of several antiwar and community organizations.
That's right, the DOJ now uses a much explanded definition of "providing material aid to foreign terrorist organizations" -- now even those activists who are explicitly working towards peaceful aims can be targeted.
Finding a whole new exception to the First Amendment, the Court decided that any support, even if it involves nonviolent efforts towards peace, is illegal under the law since it "frees up other resources within the organization that may be put to violent ends," and also helps lend "legitimacy" to foreign terrorist groups.
(emphasis added.)
And our Obama-led Justice Department is working with this new definition.
How can this be?
The best explanation I've found for what's going on comes from John Pilger, the documentarian and journalist. (I first heard of Pilger a few days ago, when he made a statement in support of Julian Assange just after Assange's arrest in London. I've been on a bit of a film-fest since...)
I also urge you all to take a listen to this speech of Pilger's -- he makes a very compelling argument for the left to start to distinguish between the "brand called Obama" and the "policy-maker called Obama" --
The full speech:
Obama and Empire
Here's a 5-minute clip of the Pilger speech with the stuff about Obama:
Obama as a corporate marketing creation
That is all. I haven't been by Daily Kos in a while. I'm happy to be back. -- And apologies if the court case and the targeting of activists has already been diaried. As I said, I haven't been keeping up for a few months, so perhaps I've missed a lot of previous discussion of these things.