'A Coup Has Occurred'

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18456.htm

By Daniel Ellsberg

*snip*

If there’s another 9/11 under this regime … it means that they switch on full extent all the apparatus of a police state that has been patiently constructed, largely secretly at first but eventually leaked out and known and accepted by the Democratic people in Congress, by the Republicans and so forth.

*snip*

Will Hillary Clinton as president decide to turn off NSA after the last five years of illegal surveillance? Will she deprive her administration her ability to protect United States citizens from possible terrorism by blinding herself and deafening herself to all that NSA can provide? I don’t think so.

Unless this somehow, by a change in our political climate, of a radical change, unless this gets rolled back in the next year or two before a new administration comes in – and there’s no move to do this at this point – unless that happens I don’t see it happening under the next administration, whether Republican or Democratic.


more at the link above.

[Atman]

1. We. Are. Fucked.

A vote for Hillary is a vote for BushCo.

Sorry to have to say it, but it's the truth.

.

[acmavm]

7. Same for Barrie. There's only one dem running in this election.

(Well, maybe two. But one of 'em doesn't have a prayer.)

[fasttense]

2. The coup occurred in 2000, when the Supreme Court became a political junta

and totally ignored state rights and votes in order to pluck their neocon lover, bush, from obscurity.

[redqueen]

3. And we can't let dem senators off the hook

for ignoring all the principled calls from the house.

Say it with me: com-PLI-ci-ty.

[Raster]

10. Unfortunately there is an undercurrent here at DU that holds we should not criticize

our duly elected Dems in Congress. I find this appalling. I also have reached the conclusion that the majority of the Congressional Dems are COMPLICIT and collaborating with bush* and the rethuglicans.

[hootinholler]

14. The coup occurred long before that!

That was the final confirmation before it went overt.

-Hoot

[Dinger]

4. All I Can Say Is . . .

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[Hydra]

5. They won't even need another 9/11

they still get great mileage off of the first, even though they paved over the bodies at ground zero.

No, the sane among us will be marginalized by the supporters of the war, and that will be that. I would comment on how far we've fallen, but I rather doubt that now. We have rarely been fair and just as a nation, and this will simply be one more example.

[Journeyman]

6. Will the Dems give up any of their "new" powers? . . .

It's my hope they'll want to dismantle it, however, power is more easily grabbed than relinquished.

As recipients of a political reality altered beyond anything the wildest thinkers could have imagined just a few short years ago, it will take a remarkable will for anyone to revoke it, let alone strive to revert it to what it was before. Certainly, I see I quick return to some aspects of "normality," but the allure of unbridled power will remain and, despite readily accomplished cosmetic improvements, power's seduction will be a Siren song of indeterminate appeal. Yet another reason for us to choose very wisely in the coming elections.

[Dhalgren]

11. The only Democrats who might roll-back the coup, if elected President,

are Biden, Dodd, Kucinich, and Gravel. Kucinich would because he is actually a Constitutionalist and so is Gravel. Biden and Dodd, while both may be Constitutionalists, are long time members of the Senate and hold the chamber in high esteem. These last two would roll-back the Dictatorship because of their love and respect for the Senate. The other candidates do not, in my opinion, have any incentive nor apparent inclination to cut back on Presidential powers. Just my take...

[Wilber_Stool]

8. Well, look on the brite side.

At least we don't have to give them any more money.

[Deep13]

9. Why would our next imperial Caesar give up surveillance power?

Empires always have executive-heavy governance and this empire is no exception. Look at our military. Do we really need all those aircraft carriers, airplanes and soldiers just to guard U.S. borders? Of course not. They are for guarding a vast merchantile empire that funnels wealth from the rest of the world to the this country's ruling class with enough left over to keep the middle class happy.

[Dhalgren]

12. "with enough left over to keep the middle class happy"

Well, so far...

[Deep13]

13. well, yeah

That's the challenge of a "liberal" president, to redirect enough imperial resources to keep the middle class from thinking about serious reforms that might threaten the empire.

edit for spelling

[Indenturedebtor]

15. Well said and sadly true