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White House Refuses To Comment On Petition To Investigate Chris Dodd

Posted by Soulskill on from the jurisprudence-ruins-another-party dept.

malraid writes "The White House has issued a statement in which they refuse to comment on the petition to investigate Chris Dodd for bribery from the MPAA to pass legislation. The reason given: 'because it requests a specific law enforcement action.'"

32 of 765 comments (clear)

  1. Dying from lack of surprise... by killfixx · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Good to know that greed and corruption still rule. I was worried that we may be entering some weird, "by and for the people" period in American history.

    Seriously though, what's it gonna take? How bad does it have to get before Joe Sixpack wakes up and takes notice? How much more before we finally have that revolution?

    I've been fighting with my votes, my dollar, and by educating everyone who will listen. I'm ready to lock and load to get MY America back.

    --
    "Helping to keep you two steps ahead of the Thought Police!"
    1. Re:Dying from lack of surprise... by icebike · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Exactly as I predicted when everybody here on Slashdot was insisting the would HAVE TO act.

      This is Obama, he need only make the promise. He doesn't have to DO anything.

      --
      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    2. Re:Dying from lack of surprise... by dbet · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well, any one of us can only stop voting for 3 of them. And to be honest, there's a lot of people out there who are totally okay with corruption.

    3. Re:Dying from lack of surprise... by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 5, Interesting

      its not about obama, dammit.

      it wasn't entirely about bush.

      its ENTIRELY about the system and how anyone who enters leaves corrupt.

      money makes the political system work and that's what's wrong.

      stop pointing fingers at one guy. can't you see beyond that (please?)

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    4. Re:Dying from lack of surprise... by epiphani · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm ready to lock and load to get MY America back.

      So as someone from outside (I'm Canadian), I've come to the conclusion that the US will only solve it's issues that way. I'm truly saddened by it, and I hope it's quick and mostly bloodless, but I doubt it will be.

      I know it's not a popular idea, but you have to admit: the level of vitriol in the USA has hit unbelievable levels. It makes my head hurt - for both of the major parties. You don't have political options any more - the only one that is an ACTUAL choice away from more of the same is Ron Paul. Too bad he's so far out to lunch. You're headed towards civil war. And right now all the religions folks have all the guns. Oh the irony.

      I wish you the best of luck. Please, keep your military out of it, and protect your nukes while you sort this shiat out.

      --
      .
    5. Re:Dying from lack of surprise... by letherial · · Score: 5, Insightful

      and what happens if everyone votes and they are still there? is the minority going to bring arms against majority to have it your way? is that a democracy? Im just challenging your thinking there, that's quite a jump.

    6. Re:Dying from lack of surprise... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Your little idealistic plea is nice and all, but I hope you see that you're perpetuating the system.

      Prosecuting one person is a good place to start at ending the systematic corruption. Whining about it and trying to divide attention makes it less likely that anything concrete will ever get started. That's why it's good to "point fingers at one guy". I don't think there's a single person that thinks all of the corruption in the entire system is due to one guy, but we need to direct attention somewhere.

    7. Re:Dying from lack of surprise... by ArcherB · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well, nothing is better than whatever the Repub's do.

      Your comment is the typical Democrat response. Here we have a story about a Democrat who is refusing to investigate another Democrat. Your response? You bad mouth Republicans. Of course, like Obama and all other Democrats, you are incapable of criticizing them, no matter how wrong they are.

      If Dodd were a Republican, the investigation would have been complete long ago, no petitions needed, and you would get first post saying that this is proof positive that Republicans are corrupt.

      --
      There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
    8. Re:Dying from lack of surprise... by evilRhino · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Let's not pretend that this is a partisan issue. Obama wouldn't investigate illegal activities of the former Republican administration. In fact, he retained many of Bush's people despite running on a platform of "change". Republicans and Democrats are different sides to the same coin. They have no interest in stopping corruption.

    9. Re:Dying from lack of surprise... by bky1701 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This "bullet box" rhetoric needs to end. The people who mod it up should be ashamed of themselves, and the people who post it ought to be on government watch lists.

      So, people saying what you don't like needs to put people on secret lists so they can be abused by the government while going about their legal business. Gotcha. I think I can see why you're not OK with the original idea.

      How about this: you don't deserve the freedom to post what you just did, and I think you need to be put on a list for conspiring to commit treason (by advocating violation of the constitution). If you can start deciding what is allowed, so can I. See how it works? Grow a brain.

      --
      Great Intellect...
    10. Re:Dying from lack of surprise... by gd2shoe · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If Dodd were a Republican, the investigation would have been complete long ago...

      I was with you till this point. It would have been more likely, but only very slightly. Nobody wants to start chucking the corruption grenade around. It might bounce back and bite them.

      --
      I won't join Slashcott. OTOH, If Beta goes live, I just won't be back until it's fixed. Sorry Dice.
    11. Re:Dying from lack of surprise... by Albanach · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Exactly as I predicted when everybody here on Slashdot was insisting the would HAVE TO act.

      This is Obama, he need only make the promise. He doesn't have to DO anything.

      Are you seriously suggesting there should be a criminal investigation against anyone where 25,000 people call for it?

      This has nothing to do with Obama. it has everything to do with Federal prosecutors. Write a letter to both the FBI and the US Attorney's Office stating that you believe a crime has been committed that is within their jurisdiction and requesting they investigate. 25,000 letters like that might achieve something.

    12. Re:Dying from lack of surprise... by Firehed · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's what Thomas Jefferson said to do.

      what country can preserve it's liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? let them take arms. the remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon & pacify them. what signify a few lives lost in a century or two? the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. it is it's natural manure.

      http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/105.html

      --
      How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
    13. Re:Dying from lack of surprise... by Grishnakh · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Who do you think is in charge of the FBI and the US Attorney's Office? That's right, the President. Stop being an apologist.

    14. Re:Dying from lack of surprise... by CelticWhisper · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I've usually seen it written as "Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to eat for dinner. Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote."

      --
      Help protect civil rights from abuse by the TSA - visit TSA News Blog.
      http://www.tsanewsblog.com
    15. Re:Dying from lack of surprise... by evanism · · Score: 5, Insightful

      As so they did to Rome. As an idea it worked. But only for those it worked for. The rest were slaves, conquered and crucified.

      Cruelty and injustice were exported. Wars were endless.

      Tyranny or empire might look just, even effective, but it eventually gets on everyone's goat. If you are within the system and benefiting, one cannot see the problems until viewed from the outside.

      --
      Just bought a new quantum computer, but I'm uncertain how it works.
    16. Re:Dying from lack of surprise... by AngryDeuce · · Score: 5, Interesting

      To get my way? I just want to be left the fuck alone! I want the government to stop listening in on my fucking phone calls, stop scraping my instant messages, stop trying to give me the fucking finger in the ass routine every time I have the audacity to get on an airplane, stop handing over my fucking tax dollars to goddamned Wall Street bankers, stop allowing these parasites we call "corporations" to put slaves across the world to work and bring their wares here for nothing while 1 in 5 of us are either unemployed or underemployed, stop allowing our infrastructure here to fucking fall apart while we're helping other countries build....

      The government has been wiping it's ass with the Bill of Rights for decades, but the last few years or so they've been ramping up. They see the writing on the wall. They know the jig is up, so they're making their last ditch cash/power grabs while enough people still have the faith in their government necessary to facilitate it. Once that's gone, it's all over. The locusts will pick up and move on to greener pastures while we fucking eat each other. The Occupy protests are going to look like a block party a year from now.

      I understand your point, I really do, but I truly believe it's too late for that now. We're stuck in a positive feedback loop. There's only going to be more civil disobedience, resulting in more of our rights being taken away, resulting in more civil disobedience, resulting in more rights taken away, resulting in more civil disobedience...you get my point. You may not share my opinions, but to be honest, I'd rather be prepared for that eventuality than not, and since buying more than 7 days worth of food or owning multiple guns is probably enough to get you on some government watch list (if me simply talking about my extreme dissatisfaction with my government as of late isn't enough), I'm probably fucked. But I am not going to be a victim.

    17. Re:Dying from lack of surprise... by artor3 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Obama is a Republican circa 1990. Modern Republicans add pro-corporate-personhood, anti-Medicare, anti-Social-Security, anti-taxes-of-any-kind (except sales taxes since they target the working class), anti-regulation, anti-intellectual, pro-occupation (very different from the Libya war), and so on to the list.

      The entire country has moved to the right. Democrats are where the Republicans used to be, and Republicans are out in Crazy Town (pop. Way Too Many).

    18. Re:Dying from lack of surprise... by Rakarra · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's interesting that outsiders can see the inevitability of civil war isn't it?

      Maybe they're young.
      Or they have short memories.

      But what we have today is nothing, nothing compared to the 60s and 70s.

    19. Re:Dying from lack of surprise... by gmhowell · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm sure he also envisioned a bunch of intellectuals debating theory, but who did he propose would lead this said 'revolt'?

      "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State..."

      --
      Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
    20. Re:Dying from lack of surprise... by Nikker · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It is topical and relevant to the conversation. The American Founding Fathers were inundated by intrests other than what they though was right. They wrote down their experiences and came up with the best way they knew how to make sure divide and conquer tactics would not work. The people could decide amongst themselves their destinations in their own lives and with whom they wished to travel with. This is shown by the First Amendment.

      While not being from the US but close by I can understand why people would refrence the American Founding Fathers in a time where the same issues they face are being encountered today.

      No loaves, no wine, no song, just politics.

      --
      A loop, by its nature, continues. If that didn't make sense, start reading this sentence again.
    21. Re:Dying from lack of surprise... by localtoast · · Score: 5, Funny

      en-US is open source. TJ had his own branch. Just sync to his branch, and you'll be fine.

    22. Re:Dying from lack of surprise... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Or, you know, he could just be choosing a quote that matches his personal views because it happens to put them over well, and of course suggests that famous and generally respected people share his ideas.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    23. Re:Dying from lack of surprise... by dkleinsc · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The entire country has moved to the right. Democrats are where the Republicans used to be, and Republicans are out in Crazy Town (pop. Way Too Many).

      Actually, there's a massive disconnect between the politicians and the people of the United States. If the country were majority rule, which it isn't, marijuana would be legalized, gay marriage would be legal in more places, we would be completely out of Afghanistan and Iraq (not the "we're out, but there are drones and 15,000 soldiers / mercenaries to ... uh ... protect our embassy" version), many congresspersons would be indicted for bribery, many many banking executives (as well as some other corporate executives) would be indicted for multi-billion dollar fraud, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau would be operating with full force, thousands of foreclosures would be ruled invalid and the people's homes restored, Bradley Manning and Julian Assange would be free, and there'd quite possibly be a massive public works program to keep people employed.

      And that's why both the Tea Party and the Occupiers exist - the system is failing to respond to what the people want.

      --
      I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
    24. Re:Dying from lack of surprise... by LoyalOpposition · · Score: 5, Funny

      Which is a call to authority, that is to say, a fallacy.

      Did someone tell you that?

      ~Loyal

      --
      I aim to misbehave.
    25. Re:Dying from lack of surprise... by silentcoder · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And THAT my friends is another example of a fallacy. In this case the false dichotomy.

      The poster is attempting to imply that to reject the fallacy of call-to-authority one must reject anything learned from another person, implying that all knowledge is either brand new or a call to authority.

      That is of course, a false dichotomy as those are NOT the only types of knowledge that exists. There is also knowledge backed up by empirical evidence. There are arguments founded on solid logical principles and valid conclusions - and that's just two other kinds.

      The point of the call to authority fallacy is to teach us, when evaluating an idea that:
      It's not about who said it, it's about whether what was said is a good argument.
      To judge the merit of the claim not the merit of the speaker. Why ? Because wise people still say stupid shit sometimes.

      --
      Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
  2. Did anyone really expect anything else? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The worst part about this petition and the result, is that it will get basically zero media coverage. All of the mainstream news organizations are tied into SOPA and the lobbyists just as tightly as Dodd.

  3. Darn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Darn. If only there were a department we could go to in order to get justice. We could even fill it with lawyers who could prosecute people who broke the law. Put someone in charge of it who people couldn't mess with - like a government official or something.

  4. Re:So let me get this straight... by ktappe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And the point of this 'service' is what, exactly? To provoke the administration to opine about non-specific social issues?

    Apparently the point of the service is to make it look like the White House is listening to the people. Look like. Not actually are.

    --
    "We can categorically state we have not released man-eating badgers into the area." - UK military spokesman, July 2007
  5. Re:Executive branch by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 5, Interesting

    people growing up, NOW, can realize this. the internet teaches much more of the truth than the textbooks or teachers (are allowed or will).

    we didn't have any kind of internet (not even BBS dialup, at the time) and our means to share info was very local and very limited. we were brought up in near total ignorance. 'trust authority'. all that stuff - that we now know is opposite and untrue.

    today, kids DO have the ability to hear more than one side of the story. well, for as long as the internet remains free...

    I hope that over the next 20 or so years, this generation weeds out the older guys and pushes thru a new style. I have zero hope for today's old rulers, but tomorrow's rulers could actually be from an informed base.

    and sadly, I think the old guys in charge know this, too. they want to milk things as they are for the next 5-25 years, until *they* die out. after that, they don't much care how the world runs. but they do want to keep the world and power base as it is right now.

    the struggle is: do we allow that and for how much longer?

    this is the class war. its real. its simmering, but its growing, to be sure.

    --

    --
    "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
  6. That's how it works. by Sturm · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Obama is the President. Obama HAS been the President for several years.

    That's how it works.

    Blame Bush all you want for taxes or the economy or high gas prices or even pimples on your ass if it makes you feel better.

    Obama is the current President and his administration is in charge. He should be held accountable for NOT holding people account for things that happen on his watch.

  7. Re:the plutocracy sucks by circletimessquare · · Score: 5, Insightful

    no we have assholes who have no clue what real fascism is and water down the real horror of the term by applying it to every minor quibble they have with the idea of authority. see: teenagers calling their parents fascists. see also how the term terrorism is abused and watered down by ignorants and demagogues

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it