9 Responses

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   Soul Rebel said on 3/26/2010 @ 2:35pm PT: [Permalink]

   O’Keefe’s Felony charge for entering federal property under false pretenses has just been reduced to a misdemeanor.

   Also, and you can delete this part, the ‘to’ in the post title should be ‘too.’

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   Brad Friedman said on 3/26/2010 @ 4:41pm PT: [Permalink]

   Thanks, SR. Fixed!

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   Mark E. Smith said on 3/26/2010 @ 6:32pm PT: [Permalink]

   Here’s the difference in how the left and the right are treated in this country. ACORN never committed any crime and never defrauded the government of a dime, yet Congress voted for an unconstitutional bill of attainder against it and the corporate media drove it out of existence as part of the right-ring/FBI harassment campaign against ACORN that went on for decades at the cost of millions of dollars without finding any wrongdoing.

   Contrast that with how KBR is REWARDED for defrauding the government:

   KBR Bills $5 Million For Mechanics Who Work 43 Minutes a Month

   I don’t get it. When your government can indebt you, your children, and your grandchildren to the tune of trillions of dollars, without consulting you and against the expressed will of the majority of citizens, you are living under a tyrannical rather than a democratic form of government. You are NOT free. Why is it that Democrats, including both liberals and progressives, are content with tyranny and happy to ignore the mandate in the Declaration of Independence that it is not just our right, but our duty to oppose tyranny and to establish a democratic form of government?

   I can understand that fearful people might prefer slavery to freedom, but passing it along to your children and grandchildren is unconscionable.

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   Ancient said on 3/27/2010 @ 5:12am PT: [Permalink]

   Doesn’t Laura Flanders have some pull at npr? I think it would be nice if npr would get the whole story straight!

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   BlueHawk said on 3/27/2010 @ 7:29am PT: [Permalink]

   Mark E. Smith @3

   Mark it’s NOT the government indebting the nation!

   It is corporations UNDER THE GUISE of government indebting the nation. There is a HUGE difference.

   Corporate corruption and welfare is the largest government expense…not human services welfare or anything like that.

   Corporations are the government now, and have been for over 20 years. The right wing meme about government not working is actually an elementary shell game. Corporate America has hijacked and sabotaged the government; and they then propagandize the people into the notion that all the ills of the nation are government’s fault and the “free market”(see corporate rule) is the only solution …when in actuality it’s been corporate corruption and welfare that has America on the brink of default.

   I find it amazing that all the anti-government screamers never offer an alternative to government…or give the people a clear picture of what countries with small, weak governments actually look like. Those countries look like fascist plutocracies…feudal systems where business is government and people are just serfs or slaves to the ruling corporate nobility.

   It was a robust government that created the stout middle class that this country enjoyed until around 1980…Then Reagan came telling everyone how government is the problem, how government needs to be shackled and dismantled. That has led directly to what we have today…a huge wealth transfer upward, a middle class under economic attack and the nation on the brink of financial default.

   In a democracy, government should represent the will of the people; not the will of the corporation; which is actually a very small group. The will of the people has been left behind for the will of a cabal of economic bullies.
   That is your government Mark. All your anti-government rhetoric is actually assisting fascist rule.

   America doesn’t need less government, America needs BETTER government that is truly representative of the will of it’s citizens.

   A majority of citizens want a healthy social safety net.
   A majority of citizens want a public option in healthcare.
   A majority of citizens want the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan over and ALL the troops brought home.
   A majority of citizens want their privacy protected; and the violators of their privacy prosecuted.
   A majority of Americans want a government jobs program when greedy corporations fail in their duty to employ Americans.
   A majority of Americans want anti-trust laws to ensure a diversity of ideas and product in the marketplace.

   I could go on but you get the picture…democratic government doesn’t need to be dismantled. We the people need to demand that government does it’s constitutional duty before it’s too late and the corporate fascists change the laws…it may be too late though. I hope not.

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   hearya said on 3/27/2010 @ 8:49pm PT: [Permalink]

   NYT is never gonna get it right. Today, Sunday March 27th, (page A-11, NYT), Campbell Robertson wrote about Okeefe and the other three charged with entering a Senator’s office on false pretenses. “Mr. O’keefe” writes Robertson, “is best known for posing as a pimp and recording his conversations with workers for Acorn.”
   Didn’t the retraction say he didn’t pose as a pimp when he was recording those conversations? Even their reporter Campbell Robertson doesn’t get the retraction?
   I mean, Campbell, technically you could argue that O’Keefe is known for something he didn’t do,’pimping’ at the Acorn office, but isn’t that partly the fault of the NYT? And shouldn’t you get up to speed finally?

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   daleyrocks said on 3/28/2010 @ 11:01am PT: [Permalink]

   “Contrast that with how KBR is REWARDED for defrauding the government:”

   Mark @3 – If you read the actual audit report, KBR doesn’t take the blame for the underutilization of their mechanics, the Army does. Sorry.

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   PatG in SD said on 3/28/2010 @ 11:47am PT: [Permalink]

   What BlueHawk said. Ditto.

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   Chris Hooten said on 3/31/2010 @ 2:26am PT: [Permalink]

   What about all of those electrocuted soldiers from shoddy KBR work? Fraud comes in many forms, my friend, especially from KBR.