Notice to the 99%: You are ALL eminently disposable. The 'drone white paper'

[coalition_unwilling]

uncovered by Michael Isikoff is just an exclamation point on a general stance and philosophy of the ruling elite that anyone who works for a living is a disposable commodity, just like petroleum and pork bellies, when you no longer serve the interests of the global 1%.

I'm really astounded that Obama has so little integrity that he allows his name to be forever besmirched by association with this drone policy, but then I remember that American democracy is basically a system to protect the interests of the private property owners and has been since 1776.

So if you work for a living, you are now on notice: you too are completely and totally disposable at the whim of an executive branch unencumbered by such quaint and obsolete notions as due process or judicial review and you are nothing to the global 1%, those who do not earn their livings by the sweat of their brows.

The question, as V.I. Lenin stated 100 years ago, is "What is to be done?"

[Catherina]

1. "completely and totally disposable" sums it up n/t

[coalition_unwilling]

3. I've enjoyed my time at DU and have profited intellectually and emotionally from

many of the wonderful people I've met here. So I'm trying to avoid saying or writing anything for now to put my standing in jeopardy. But there comes a time when one must cast aside such fond associations when perfidy is in progress. I fear I am rapidly reaching that point and that I may have to soon bid DU adieu.

[Luminous Animal]

10. Please stay. Don't let the Admin propagandists win. DU is a modern public square

and still a place where we can moderate our dissent without diluting the message. Can you imagine this place without you and woo, and Willy, and a couple of the Mads, Highpointdem, KPete, Xchrom, Starry Messenger, and a handful of others? Sabrina rarely posts here now and I miss her. The more those who disappear from the good fight, the more we cede ground the architects of propaganda.

[Catherina]

11. I intellectually and emotionally disassociated myself long ago

the first sight of the pom poms years ago made me question what I was doing here. Since then so many nails have been driven into that coffin that I just pop in to get news from other Leftists and basically check out with lots of eye-rolling. Too many posters here are not people I want to be associated with in any way, shape or form. It's not even interesting to read what they write, much less discuss anything with them.

[green for victory]

21. + alot

[EastKYLiberal]

2. The 99% hiding out in shacks with mass murderers. nt

[coalition_unwilling]

5. Like the 16-year-old kid in Yemen? Don't bother responding. I've already put

you on Ignore.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

29. My son just asked me about that

16-year-old kid, in a text message. I could only respond with the "It was highly immoral, but then we have never been a moral nation" I
wish I knew what we could do to make this a better nation for everyone, everywhere.

[kenny blankenship]

4. Sounds like someone woke on the wrong side of the Disposition Matrix this morning!

[coalition_unwilling]

6. I'm so upset I can barely think. And some of the responses justifying this

outrage have made me question whether I belong any longer at DU.

[greytdemocrat]

7. OMG!!! They're Coming...

[coalition_unwilling]

8. On a positive note, this thread is definitely allowing me to fine

tune my Ignore list.

Buh-bye.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

12. I'm not sure I understand how this white paper, or excuses like it,

were reviled under Lil Boots but not now.

Killing civilians should never be tolerated.

[lunasun]

9. I listened to big ed while driving today and he had a great discussion with R Greenwald

(and many callers, of course).
May be online Ed Schultz Show not sure

Scary - For future use by anyone who becomes POTUS!!

[Demo_Chris]

13. When the same corporations and industries give money to both parties...

If ExxonMobile, Lockheed, Goldman, Monsanto, UnitedHealth, etc do not feel that it matters who wins, then...

Ah... what I meant to say is:

TRUE DEMOCRATS LOVE DISPOSABLE PEOPLE! I LOVE DISPOSABLE PEOPLE! AUSTERITY IS PROSPERITY! MANDATES ARE GREAT! WE CANNOT AFFORD SOCIAL SECURITY! Anyone who disagrees with this is a right wing plant and agent of Rove and Bush! It's hyper-dimentional CHESS!1!

I, for one, welcome our drone overlords.

[DogPawsBiscuitsNGrav]

22. Yeah, they call us "useless eaters". It's starting to look like we're on our own.

[rhett o rick]

14. The oligarch overlords that control our government use distractions

like the fear that illegal immigrants will take our jobs and kill us in our sleep, and gun control to keep us from noticing that they are stealing all our wealth. Pres Obama is doing wonders with social issues but getting an "F" with regard to human rights. The overlords are willing to give in on issues like same-sex marriage but wont give in on the Patriot Act, indefinite detention, domestic spying and killer drones.

[jeff47]

15. Could you do me a favor?

Could you point out where in the Constitution it says the Constitution applies outside US jurisdiction?

If you wanna save some time, it doesn't.

Every single president has had the authority to kill anyone outside US jurisdiction on their whim. The only thing reigning it in is an Executive Order signed by Ford, and Congress's willingness to pay for it.

[TheKentuckian]

23. The constitution always applies to the government

[jeff47]

24. Only within the jurisdiction of the government

Otherwise, we'd have to guarantee due process rights in other countries.

The theory here is that the Constitution's due process rights apply to citizens outside US jurisdiction.

If that was true, we'd have to do something to rescue a US citizen arrested in France - France has no equivalent to our 5th amendment right against self-incrimination. Since our citizens are supposed to have that right, we'd have to do something to protect them.

In order to affect the change people want - stopping the drone strike assassinations - we can't pretend that there's a violation of rights. Because those rights don't extend beyond US jurisdiction. A different tactic is needed, which is to reign in the Executive branch's near-absolute power in foreign affairs via an amendment to the Constitution or via Congress's power of the purse.

[Arctic Dave]

16. Do like I do when all else fails.

Spit in their eye and tell them to pound sand.


Never give up a chance to tell an asshole to pound sand.

[coalition_unwilling]

26. Thanks. I will be calling and writing Maxine Waters (my rep) today and

doing likewise for Sens. Boxer and Feinstein.

[jsr]

17. Informed, high-level officials have the power to kill you at will

Helluva country.

[DonCoquixote]

18. Lenin is a poor choice

Aswhat is loathsome is that we have chosen to act LIKE LENIN and make citizen's lives cheap.

[coalition_unwilling]

25. Au contraire, Lenin's question is quite a propos: What is to be done? - n/t

[DonCoquixote]

30. Lenin is still a poor choice

As we know what his answer to that question was, kill lots of citizens and paved the way for Josef Stalin, something that some communists may like to imitate.

Frankly, protests are the only thing that will work, and in particular, boycotts of products associated with the defense industry. Even if you put Dennis K or bernie Sanders in the Oval Office, the powers that be would sneak in,unless you cut off their MONEY.

[coalition_unwilling]

31. Forget about Lenin. It's the question that is all important, not who asked it. We

are a scourge now to anything resembling civilization. We deserve to go the way of the Roman Empire and Third Reich.

[Egalitarian Thug]

20. Reducing principle and patriotism to a team sport in a rigged game while the

audience, long ago, stopped paying any attention.

I always want to believe that there is hope, but this is just the latest in such a long series of excused outrages...

Do we any longer have even the vaguest idea of what our goals once were?

[woo me with science]

33. Go, Blue!

Blue! Blue! Blue!



Can people wake up and figure out how the partisan game is used against us? Is too late for Americans to decide to unite together, regardless of party, against these assaults?

Is it too late?

[Egalitarian Thug]

34. Is it too late? I keep saying no, but to be honest, I'm finding it difficult

to find any rationale for that optimism. I suspect that we may have reached the critical mass of dumb and the reaction has started.

[Cary]

27. I hear you but I don't think you're being entirely fair.

Yes we must vigorously oppose the drone policy. Yes, the kind of abuse you're talking about here frightening, but has it actually happened yet? I don't think so.

Don't discount the power of our traditions. The top 1% are vigorously attempting to subvert those traditions but their failure to steal the past two elections, despite their extraordinary and enormous efforts, is proof positive of the limitations of their powers. We must fight them. Freedom isn't free and it is a never ending struggle.

There is another side to the drone argument. You may not agree with that other side but there is a legitimate concern being addressed. What is to be done? Lots and lots, that's what.

We will get through this and we will end up being better for it. Keep fighting.

[Taverner]

28. That's capitalism - YOU are a commodity

You and I are nothing but resources

[Blue_Tires]

32. Well, to be honest, we were all that long before that paper was ever written...

[woo me with science]

35. kick