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US Pressing Its Crackdown Against Leaks
NotSanguine writes with this quote from a NY Times article:
"The Justice Department shows no sign of rethinking its campaign to punish unauthorized disclosures to the news media, with five criminal cases so far under President Obama, compared with three under all previous presidents combined. This week, a grand jury in Virginia heard testimony in a continuing investigation of WikiLeaks, the antisecrecy group, a rare effort to prosecute those who publish secrets, rather than those who leak them. The string of cases reflects a broad belief across two administrations and in both parties in Congress that leaks have gotten out of hand, endangering intelligence agents and exposing American spying methods."
Is paid for by the public, so is owned by the public. ( well so is classified, but there is a difference )
The government works for US, remember? Or at least that is how its supposed to work.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
"Everything secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity." - Lord Acton. This is from the same guy that said, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts, absolutely.
Government needs to be accountable.
Two parties are twice as free as one.
One party that uses two divisions to pretend to be two distinct parties is slightly more free than one party that drops the entire facade altogether.
Jesse Ventura gave a good explanation of how politics works. He said it's like pro wrestling. Sure, in the ring the wrestlers talk trash about each other and appear to be fighting each other. After the rigged match, they go out together and have a beer as friends. With wrestling it's the advertising money that does the rigging; with politics it's campaign funds.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
Simply blaming the Republicans doesn't hold water since the Democrats had a majority in Congress and the White House for two years. I have no doubt that the Republicans refused to cooperate, but the Democrats failed us, too.
I think they just practice the same strategy - get into office, spend everything you can while cancelling anything the other team was doing, then sit back and take credit for whatever 21st century stuff happened while you were in.
In that case, why the exclusivity? Have you ever actually read about what happens when any third party tries to even get on the ballot? Suddenly the most obscure laws and technical details become supremely important. It is not a straightforward process and it is not intended to be.
Then after getting on the ballot, there's the matter of funding your campaign so you even have a chance of election. Unless you're independently very wealthy like Ross Perot was, you either join one of the two major parties and play by their rules or you have no support. Even with his billionaire bankroll, Perot could do nothing more than split the Republican vote.
The two parties are different branches of a single organization. That organization's purpose is to do for modern politics what the guilds of old did for trade: to raise the barrier of entry in order to lock out competitors. Then the duopoly (really a monopoly, not that there's much difference) is maintained and can never be seriously challenged.
To see this purpose, this function of a guild, is crucial if you are to understand the actual nature and purpose of the USA's two-party system. Only a certain kind of politician will be vetted and accepted by it. That's why the government is going to grow in size and power no matter who wins the election. They're both puppets because both are afraid to bite the hands that feed them. They are not free to vote their conscience even if they do have one.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
That may be true, but it doesn't absolve Obama of responsibility for the things he does or supports, no matter the level of coercion brought about by others.
As far as I know, John F. Kennedy was the last President to actively stand up to "them". All since have been ball-less wonders in comparison.