It’s About Making Babies!

Wired.com contributor Ryan Singel posted a thoughtful article “Bush Spy Revelations Anticipated When Obama Is Sworn In“. Singel hopes the next administration will release information about Bush’s Warrantless Wiretapping. Under Bush, the telecommunication companies have been turning over personal and private records and recordings for the feds to pick through. No one knows what is being found, who is using it for anything – and why it is going on when it violates the law and the constitution.

But at the end Mr. Singel gets silly. He wonders if Obama will discontinue eavesdropping, illegally, on US citizens.

Unlike most recent Presidents, President-elect Obama has a mandate from this election. Clearly, a staggering number of voters have a very specific objective they expect the next President of the United States to achieve, and to achieve quickly: Advance the prospects and stature of African Americans with respect to current ‘white’ institutions and influential white people.

And Obama will have in his hands a tool for monitoring whoever he pleases, already embedded into the heart of today’s industry and society – the wiretapping programs. Now, silly Mr. Singel, President-elect Obama, no matter what he says, will be discontinuing the ability to monitor those his African Community oppose. The songs about “We shall overcome” still ring down through the years.

And, Mr. Singel, you must be hiding under a rock, if you haven’t been encountering angry people, of both African-American descent and white, talking about violence and using violence to attack Americans. In that kind of turmoil the allure of calling civil unrest “a threat to the government” and use whatever means, fair or foul, to keep their seat of power, will be irresistible.

I don’t like what I encountered at the flea market, on a cold morning in middle Northern Oklahoma. Emotions are flaring higher, in spots, than they did for the election – and there is less cheering today.

The second amendment provides that the government will always be at risk from it’s citizenry. That in the case where the government becomes a tyrant, the people of the US will be able to defend themselves, and rid themselves of tyranny where ever it arises. But we are not there. It is unreasonable and improper to even suggest that Barack Obama is a tyrant, or a fit target of violence.

That might change – stuff happens. I heard Barack “redacted” Obama backtrack and change stories so many times during the campaigns that I believe his morals are still held to criminal defense standards – the story must fit the goal, and truth is a luxury for others. I feel as if Obama lies like an alcoholic or drug addict – the truth is not in him. We had President Nixon, with similar challenges regarding the truth, who was, aside from dodging the Watergate mess, a reasonably ‘good’ President. I am convinced, at this point, that Obama has a secret agenda or three that have not been made public. I am certain he has no intention of carrying out any campaign promise, statement, or comment that is inconvenient, in pursuit of his goals. I do *not* believe President-elect Obama will have a free hand to do as he pleases – the President’s powers are limited, and he may be impeached if he steps outside his authority – President Clinton showed that could happen.

I am concerned that, like his predecessor President Carter, Obama can turn our economic turmoil into a deep disaster. Like Carter, he may well gut our national defense in times of rising tensions. At a time when India and Pakistan are building and testing nuclear weapons and tensions between the two are rising, when China is starving and losing business, and already selling weapons to other states, when Russian warships are operating with Venezuela, when the Pentagon’s abuse of the National Guard and Reserves is causing employers to stop hiring reservists, Obama’s distaste for the military and for the use of our military in foreign affairs could be catastrophic.

Or not. Time will tell. I am not *that* worried today, though I will be watching more closely than I did when Clinton or Bush took office.

Do you know who your Congressmen are? Two senators for each state, one member of the House of Representatives for the district you live in. Dust off those addresses, be active. Writing letters, sending emails, making phone calls.

Blesse be.